4 MALLET : ADEN" AND VICINITY. 



Shumsluim, the highest peak of Aden^ is on the edge of the 

 ancient crater which may be traced by eye from thence^ running 

 south-east^ east and east north-east to Fisherman^s Pass. In Front 

 Bay the wall of the crater has been broken through by the sea, 

 but again from Sher Surra point it runs along over the tunnel, 

 past the main gate and along the northern side of the Khusaf 

 Valley to Shumshum Peak. The crater, as it now stands, has a 

 diameter of IJ to nearly 2 miles, the height of the walls, except 

 where broken through at Front Bay, varying from a few hundred to 

 nearly 1,800 feet. The crater, however, as well as the whole volcanic 

 mass, has been greatly altered by the action of sea and rain since 

 the time when the volcano was active. To passing travellers it may 

 appear strange to speak of pluvial denudation at Aden, but residents 

 of the place are well acquainted with its force and extent. Rain 

 seldom falls, it is true, but when it does it generally comes down in 

 torrents. Of Aden it may be said with some degree of truth that 

 there ''it never rains but it pours." During the last fall which has 

 occurred there (in the early part of last year), seven inches fell in a 

 couple of hours. The water swept along in torrents, filling all the 

 drains with stones, many of them bigger than a man's head, and 

 doing considerable damag'e to the station. Such very heavy falls 

 only occur once in ten years or so, but other smaller but still heavy 

 ones occur at shorter intervals. 



A section from west to east across Shumshum and Seerah island 

 is somewhat like the sketch given below, which is drawn approximately 

 to true scale, and in which I have indicated by dotted lines the portions 



Fig. 2. Outline section acrnss Shnmshnm and Seerah Island. 

 a. Sliumsliurn, 1,776 feet. b-d. Plateau inside cratei", deeply scored by ravines, c. Supposed central- 

 crater, e. Cantonments. /. Sea. g. Seerah Island. 



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