222 Extracts from an Arabic worlt relating to Aden. [Dec. 



and deserted, and the peninsula was inhabited only by fishermen who 

 pursued their occupation there. These remained a long time provided by 

 God's bounty, until the men of Kamar came in their ships in great numbers 

 and took possession of the peninsula after they had expelled the fishermen by 

 force, and they dwelt on the summits of Jebel Ahmar and Kokat and Jebel 

 Munzhir which overlook the farms, and their signs and works are extant to 

 this day in stone and mortar filling the valleys and hills. The poet says — 



As for me I weep copiously ; for their houses have become empty. 



And the leader of their camels has departed. 



The anguish of separation makes me mad. 



I stand on their habitations raving about them and asking : — 



houses ! have you news of them ? 



lieturn me an answer quickly. 



It was answered me from their houses wailing and crying : — 



Weep blood, neglectful one ! 



The caravans have departed. 



My slave girl is with them : in elegance and qualities perfect ; 



In face and form roselike and thornlike. 



They used to start from El Kamar reaching Aden in one voyage and 

 in one season. Ibn El Mojawir says that that race of people has died out? 

 and their dynasty become extinct and their career terminated, and no one 

 is to be found in our time who knows the history of them or can relate 

 their condition and actions. Ibn El Mojawir says : — From Aden to 

 Makdasho is one season (or journey), and from Makdasho to Kilwa an- 

 other season's voyage, and from Kilwa to Kamar a third season ; but that 

 tribe used to perform the three seasons' journey in one season, for one 

 ship actually performed the voyage from Kamar to Aden in this way in the 

 year 626 A. H. ; starting from El Kamar and bound for Kilwa it anchored 

 at Aden. Their vessels had outriggers on account of the straitness of the 

 seas and danger of the currents, and shallowness of the water there. When 

 the tribe became enfeebled the Berbers overpowered them and expelled 

 them thence, and possessed the land and inhabited the valley, the space 

 now occupied by mat huts, and they were the first who erected mat huts 

 in Aden. After them the place became ruined, and so remained until the 

 men of Siraf invaded it, and mention has already been made of them before. 

 And "Sultan Shah bin Jemshid proceeded to Aden, and having disembarked 

 established himself there, and the place became re-peopled thereby. It was 

 his intention to have brought drinking water by aqueduct for the people 

 from Zeila,^ f but the distance proved too great, so he built tanks to collect 

 the rain water, and the clay used for building them was brought from the 



* Zeila is a hamlet about forty miles north, of Aden, where there is a perennial 

 stream. 



