[1] From whose work the Engraving is copied.

"Its appearance from the sea is, he says, tolerably handsome, as all the
buildings are white-washed, and the minarets of the three mosques rise to
a considerable height. The uniform line of the flat-roofed houses is also
broken by several circular domes of _kobbas_, or chapels. On landing at a
pier, which has been constructed for the convenience of trade, the effect
is improved by the battlements of the walls, and a lofty tower on which
cannon are mounted, which advances before the town, and is meant to
protect the sea gate. The moment, however, that the traveller passes the
gates, these pleasing ideas are put to flight by the filth that abounds in
every street, and more particularly in the open spaces which are left
within the walls, by the gradual decay of the deserted habitations which
once filled them. The principal building in the town is the residence of
the dola, which is large and lofty, having one front to the sea, and
another to a square. Another side of the square, which is the only regular
place in the town, is filled up by the official residence of the _bas
kateb_, or secretary of state, and an extensive serai, built by the
Turkish pacha during the time that Mocha was tributary to the Grand
Seignior. These buildings externally have no pretensions to architectural
elegance, yet are by no means ugly objects, from their turretted tops, and
fantastic ornaments in white stucco. The windows are in general small,
stuck into the wall in an irregular manner, closed with lattices, and
sometimes opening into a wooden, carved-work balcony. In the upper
apartments, there is generally a range of circular windows above the
others, filled with thin strata of a transparent stone, which is found in
veins in a mountain near Sanaa. None of these can be opened, and only a
few of the lower ones, in consequence of which, a thorough air is rare in
their houses; yet the people of rank do not seem oppressed by the heat,
which is frequently almost insupportable to a European.