38 ADEN. 



Deserta be like, if this, which might be taken 

 for the cinder-cellar of Pandemonium, can be 

 part of Arabia Felix? I was told, however, 

 that cultivation commenced at a very short dis- 

 tance beyond the British boundary, but as to 

 the port itself, there is not a shade of difference 

 in colour between the soil of the place and the 

 vast piles of coal upon the beach, awaiting ship- 

 ment on the steamers. Some of the passengers 

 went up to the cantonments, distant about five 

 miles, but the horses and donkeys for hire were 

 insufficient in number to mount all who required 

 them. The Meer got a barouche, which, judg- 

 ing from its appearance, must have been the 

 earliest specimen of the kind that was ever seen 

 in Arabia. At Aden His Highness picked up a 

 Hadjee, or pilgrim, returning from Mecca, whose 

 passage he directed me to pay, in the supposi- 

 tion, I believe, that the relief thus afforded to 

 a Hadjee would be only second to performing 

 the pilgrimage in person, which His Highness 

 had intended doing on his way back to India, 

 but was prevented by the necessity for his 

 speedy return to his own country. Our new 

 compagnon de voyage was, however, so exceed- 

 ingly unclean in his person, that I suggested 



