14 mallet: ADEN AND VICINITY. 



As the time at my disposal was so shorty I did not think it advi- 

 sable to curtail my visit to the interior, in order 

 Little Aden. 



to examine Little Aden, on the other side of the 



harbour, in detail. The hills there, however, being also volcanic, and 

 similar to those of Aden itself,'^ it is, I think, certain that any artesian 

 boring- there would be equally hopeless. A small quantity of water 

 could probably be obtained from common wells similar to those of Aden, 

 but not in sufficient amount to be worth the expense of transport either 

 across the harbour in water-boats, or round it by an aqueduct. 



A sandy plain (see Plate B.) stretches northward from Aden to the 

 foot of the hills, a distance of five and thirty 



Plain to the north of . t i n i r^ i • 



Aden. miles or thereabouts. As I had only one fixed point 



Physical aspect. ^ ^^^^ -^ggj^^ ^^^^ ^^j^-^^ to take hearings with 



the prismatic compass, I was unable to fix the position of the hills with 

 accuracy, and the distance therefore is open to some little uncertainty. 

 The isthmus connecting Aden with the main land is scarcely above 'high 

 water mark, and thence northwards one passes over a sandy plain, which 

 is almost a dead level until, within perhaps half a mile of Shaik Othman, 

 the country rises a few feet. At this village there is some alluvial 

 soil. From this northward to Majhafa the country rises very slightly. 

 It is a sandy, slightly gravelly plain, with fine blown sand in places, 

 and covered thinly in parts with scrub jungle ; the jungle was in former 

 years much tliicker, but it has been constantly reduced by the demand 

 for firewood at Aden. To the west of this line, from Dharab north- 

 wards for many miles, there is a lai-ge tract of rich and well cultivated 

 soil in the midst of which stands Hota or Lahej, the residence of the 

 Sultan who rules tTie Abdali tribes of the surrounding country. This 



* Since my return to Calcutta I find that Dr. Carter in his Memoir on the geology of 

 the south-east coast of Arabia, states that it is said that these hills are composed partly of 

 granite, but gives no authority for the statement. Even if this be the fact, the chances for 

 a successful boring would not be greatly increased. 



* ( 270 ) 



