SC - ODD DAY

[Huette von Ahrens]

> Lord Bear, thanks for this post.  One question I have though is the Mocha
> part.  I am unfamiliar with this area/port and was wondering if you could
> provide some more information about it.  At first I had wondered if it was
> another name for the area surrounding the Straights of Malacca (sp?), but
> then we also have the modern term Mocha.  Is there any connection there?
> 
Mocha is a seaport in southwest Yemen at the point (the strait of Bab el
Mandeb) where the Red Sea enters the Gulf of Aden.  It was favorably
positioned to receive the annual voyages from India and Ceylon and to act as
a center for the Red Sea trade and the trade into Eastern Africa,
Madagascar, etc.  Because of its proximity to Abyssinia, Mocha became the
hub of the new Islamic coffee trade in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

At the north end of the Red Sea, there has been an occasionally used canal
(or a short land transit when the canal was out of commission) between the
Red Sea and Cairo since the 14th Century B.C.E. which made Cairo the hub for
the Mediterranean trade with the Red Sea, while Eilat fed Red Sea goods into
the east-bound caravan routes. 

> I'm presuming the
> difference in quality was due to longer transit time in a more hot and
> arid
> climate?  In the waters surrounding the Middle East and India the weather
> is
> close to unbearably hot, but compared to the climate ashore its downright
> comfortable at most times of the year.
> 
> regards, Puck
> 
That's part of it.  Transit time by caravan was two to three times what it
was by sea, even when the voyages were made only once a year taking
advantage of the wind changes around the monsoon.  Also, some spices were
degraded by becoming flavored with camel sweat, according to one source.

Bear
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