218 Extracts from an Arabic work relating to Aden. [Dec. 



2. From the Under-Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign 

 Department, forwarding copies of a translation furnished by Lieut. -Col. 

 S. B. Miles, Political Agent, Maskat, of extracts from an Arabic work 

 relating to Aden as follow : 



Extracts prom an Arabic work relating to Aden. 

 The following notes giving a glimpse at the state of Aden six centuries 

 ago are taken from the Itinerary of Ibn El Mojawir called the TariJch-el- 

 Mostabsir and have been selected, not as being by any means the most 

 interesting portion of the book, but as relating to a part of Arabia to which 

 more than usual interest attaches as being a British possession. The author 

 does not give a connected account of current events at Aden, but he offers 

 some information respecting the internal condition of the place and the 

 fiscal arrangements of the Government, which is not altogether without 

 interest. Ibn El Mojawir was not a native of Aden, but kept a journal, 

 and noted down what he saw and heard in the towns and countries he 

 visited; he is quoted by El Khuzraji, the historian of Yemeu, as an 

 authority for the period at which he wrote. The text of the manuscript is 

 very corrupt and full of lacunce, which may account for some of the defici- 

 encies of translation.* 



(Sd.) S. B. Miles, Lieut. -Col. 

 H. B. M.!s Poltl. Agent and Consul, Muscat. 



On the state of Aden in former times. 

 From the Bed Sea to Aden and beyond Jebel Sokotera was one united 

 expanse of land ; there was no sea in it and no gulf. Then came Dhul- 

 Karnein in his tour of concpiest and arrived at that place, and Abu Jafar 

 having opened the gulf towards the ocean, the sea flowed into it until it 

 stopped at Bab-el-Mandeb, and Aden remained in the sea which surrounded 

 it. After that nothing was visible from Aden except the summits of moun- 

 tains like islands, and we have proofs of that. Firstty, it is known that 

 the marks which the sea and the waves have left remain visible on the 

 summits of Jebel el Kar and on the mountain on which is the fort of Ta'kar 

 and on Jebel Akhdar. And the second proof is that Sheclad bin 'Ad did 

 not build Irem Dhat 'Imad except between Lahej and the gulf on one side, 

 and Mawya, which is on the road to Mafalis, on the other, and that side 

 which is toward Jebel Darrina is desert. He did not build it except in 

 the most odoriferous lands and breezes and airs in a delicious country far 

 from the sea. At the present time the sea has returned to the neighbour- 

 hood of Irem Dhat 'Imad and swallowed up part of it, and the sea would 



* In the absence of the Arabic text the spelling' of the names of persons and places 

 has been left, with a few exceptions, as given in Col. Males' original translation. Ed. 



