by the scene; and though we had been only nine days at sea, the prospect of once more setting our foot on land was to every one very exhilarating. Rounding Rás Tarshein, the most westerly headland of the peninsula, we cast anchor at two o'clock P.M., in the bandar Tawayyí, or the Western or Back Bay, at the place called by our countrymen "Steamer Point." An exchange of signal guns, followed by the hoisting of various ensigns, had announced our approach; and several of our friends from the encampment at Aden, eager to learn from us the Indian news, were ready to bid us welcome. We found, in the harbour, two or three merchant vessels, one of the East India Company's cruisers, and a disabled steamer, now used as a coal-charger. The smaller craft is generally anchored in the eastern bay, nearer to the

town.

Will my gracious reader tolerate a word from me on the topography of our promising Arabian colony, so celebrated from the days of old as a commercial emporium, before I ask him to leave with me the steamer? A reference to the subjoined plan of Aden will, I hope, render my remarks intelligible.

From Rás Tarshein on the west to Rás Marshigh on the east, the length of the peninsula of Aden is about five and a half miles; and its breadth, from north to south, terminating at Rás Sinailah, is about four. Jebel Shamshán, so called from the turretted peaks on its summit, extends about five miles from east to west, by three in breadth. This mountain is partly of tufa and limestone, borne aloft by the heavings and swellings, or covered by the streams, of the volcanic fires and floods which have given origin to the other bare and barren heights with which it is associated. Numerous rocky

mentioned are found on the opposite coast, from which they are conveyed to the different seaports of the south

and west of Arabia; but they are raised in considerable quantities in Arabia Felix itself.

PENINSULA OF ADEN.

11

points and spurs project from the mass of hills, which form small bays, affording shelter to native craft of all descriptions. The peninsula is joined to the mainland on the north by a low stripe of land, over which ran the brick aqueduct of Abd-ulWahab, of which considerable remains are still visible, and which terminates at the Bír Um-Heit, upwards of eight miles from the Durab el Horaibi, where it commences in Aden. This strip is narrowest near the creek called Khaur Makṣå. The western bay, formed by the projecting headlands of Jebel Hasan on the west, and Jebel Shamshán on the east, is about eight miles by four, its entrance between Rás Salil on the west, and Rás Tarshein, being by measurement three miles and 750 yards wide. It is very convenient for anchorage, even close to the shore. To the east of this bay, and to the north of the peninsula, there is another expansion of the sea, sometimes called the "eastern bay," nearer the town of Aden. The point of Hejáf forms the southern and western limit of the inner bay. Near its entrance is the rock Jeramah, and north of it the small islets Jám Alí and Alíyah, which, at low-water spring-tides are connected with the mainland towards the north, and having the flat which they form with it running about half a mile southward, leaving only half a mile for a passage into the bay, with a depth of two and a half fathoms of water. Within the bay are five little islets, the largest of which, rising to a height of 200 feet, is denominated Sawáyih, the others being Marzúk Kebír, Keis el Hammán, Kalfetein, and Firinjí. On the south we have the small islet, named Denáfah. Passing from it eastward, we have the headlands of Sinailah and Teiyah. Between Rás Teiyah and Rás Marshigh, turning to the north, we have the bandar Darás; and, rounding Rás Marshigh, we have the small bandar of Hokat, close to the town of Aden, which occupies the eastern part of the peninsula. Before Aden, and fully commanding it, is the little fortified islet of Sirah,

a triangular rock of about 430 feet high towards the southern end, and half a mile long by 600 yards wide. This rock at low-water is now joined to the coast of Arabia, a small creek which used to separate it from the mainland having been filled up with sand. The position of the north point of this island, which may be taken as that of the town of Aden, is 12° 46′ 15′′ N. lat., by means of numerous observations of sun and stars on shore; and 45° 10′ 20′′ E. long., being the mean of eight chronometers measured from Bombay, the flagstaff there being assumed at 72° 54′ 26′′ E.1 North of Aden are the headlands of Kulagh and El Eregh.

At the place where we cast anchor we had a distinct view, across the bay, of Jebel Hasan, a mountainous peninsula, not unlike that of Aden itself, and rising to the height of 1237 feet. The whole scene around us, when the first feeling of disappointment at which I have already hinted is over, owing to its singularity and novelty, is not without interest. Great masses of dark-coloured volcanic rock and mountain rise behind and before, on the peninsula of Aden, with peaks frequently turretted and castellated, in the wildest and most fantastic forms, with flanks bleak and bare as they appeared when first upheaved amidst the convulsions of nature, or first glazed with the lava streams which flowed over their surface. Not a pile of vegetation is visible, even in the fissures, furrows, and dingles, where the loose and pulverized scoriae and drift-sand are collected, if we except here and there a stunted and languishing "shoot out

1 Captain Haines on the S. coast of Arabia, in Royal Geograph. Soc. Journ., vol. ix., p. 733.-There is a typographical error in the Journal in reference to the longitude of Bombay, which is usually given at 72° 54′ 36′′. But two corrections respecting the longitude of Bombay affecting that of 'Aden, require to be made. The tri

gonometrical survey of India, based upon the longitude of Madras, considered to be 80° 17′ 21′′, placed the longitude of Bombay about three minutes more west, viz. 72° 51′ 15′′. But recent discoveries make Madras to be in 80° 14' 0". See Horsburgh's India Directory, vol. i., p. 298.

of a dry ground.” Close to the anchorage there is a small extension of land, of a sandy formation, stretching about 180 feet from the base of a large rock, which has afforded a site for the erection of a few huts and storehouses, and where a small cluster of cottages, dignified by the name of a hotel, was rising for the accommodation of voyagers. The coals collected for the steamers were lying along the shore, and a considerable number of Africans and Arabs were busily engaged in piling them into heaps.

Leaving our draftsman to exercise his pencil and brush in sketching the curious scenery which had attracted our attention, I went ashore with my young charge in a small boat manned by Sumálís, natives of the north-western peninsula, with which Africa terminates on the coast adjoining the mouth of the Red Sea, and reaching from Cape Kardafui to Báb el-Mandeb. They were but very poorly clothed, like the boatmen and fishermen of India. The people of these tribes, a considerable number of whom are now settled in Aden, are fine-limbed, comely and handsome in their shape, and without the prominent and pouted lip, and protuberant belly and hips of most of their continental neighbours. Their skin is of a dark copper colour. Their teeth are beautifully white and clean. Their hair is more curly than woolly, and naturally black; but, by the aid of shell-lime which they apply to it, they frequently change it to a light brown or red, and give it a sort of wiry form. They resemble the Nubians in appearance, and they are remarkable both for sprightliness and intelligence. Most of them frequenting the shores of Arabia have picked up the language of that country; but they have a language of their own quite distinct from that tongue, a few specimens of the vocables of which I received from Dr. Wolff during his last visit to Bombay.

The town and encampment of Aden are about five miles

distant from Steamer Point. A couple of donkeys were offered to us as a means of transport thither, by a Jewish boy with sparkling eyes and ringed locks, who commenced his negotiations with us for a settlement of the charge by exhausting his whole stock of English in the single sentence, "Give one rupee to one donkey." We scampered along the road, which leads close to the shore, and sometimes below the impending cliffs. Shells, and fragments of shells, of various species, lay scattered among the sands to such an extent, that any quantity of lime could be procured from them for the purposes of building. Leaving the shore, at the distance of about three miles from our starting point now mentioned, the road begins to ascend the clift of a hill, where it is artificially cut. Near the highest part, there is a large barrier-gate kept by sentries, with a wall running along the hill on each of its sides. On the adjacent rocks, rising to a height of about 500 feet, there are also defences, from which effectual resistance could easily be given to any invaders. The pathway from the gate onwards is cut through the solid rock, its walls rising high on each side for the distance of about a quarter of a mile.

On emerging from the defile, we met Mordecai, a Jew from Bombay, whom I had engaged to accompany me on my travels, and whom I had sent forward the preceding month, that, with reference to various matters which I had brought to his notice, he might collect information for me respecting his kindred according to the flesh residing in Aden, and the province of Yemen in general, of whom so little is yet known in Europe. He was the first to point our attention to the town, ensconced in an amphitheatre of rocky mountains, literally in the crater of a volcano, and with its only opening in the direction of the lofty and fortified islet of Sirah, which, when we first observed it, appeared merely part of the circle of hills on the margin of which it is situated. The town, if found in another locality, would appear mean to extremity;