1875.] Extracts from an Arabic worlc relating to Aden. 225 



amassed property, and many Arabs from all parts came and settled there. 

 Afterwards Motamid Muhammad bin Ali built a beautiful bath, and the 

 people dug wells and erected mosques with pulpits, and its splendour 

 returned, and it is certain that it arose after the port of Abien had become 

 ruined. And the merchants removed from the city of Abien and dwelt at 

 Kalhat and Magdisho, and the three cities grew up at that time, but God 

 knows. 



Description of Aden. 

 The town is in a valley surrounded by the sea ; its climate is so bad 

 that it turns wine into vinegar in the space of ten days. The water is 

 derived from wells, and is also brought in by an aqueduct two fursakhs 

 long. The sweet water wells in Aden are — Bir Hulkum and El. Sultaniya, 

 Bir Ali bin Abi Burkat ibn El Katib, very old ; Bir Ahmed bin El Musib ; 

 Bir ibn Abi Gharat, very old, it is- near the gate of Aden ; Bir Mukaddum, 

 also very old; three wells belonging to Daud bin Muzmun, the Jew, and 

 three wells belonging to Sheikh Omar bin Hossein, a well of Ali bin Hos- 

 sein El Azruk ; Bir Jaafir, very ancient and forty cubits deep ; Bir Zafran 

 known by its trough, and which is set apart for Moslems. I was informed 

 by Abdulla bin Muhammad bin Yehia that the water of the Zafran well 

 was carried to all the towns of Yemen, because, he said, Seif-ul-Dowla 

 Ababak Soukar, a slave of Malik El Maiz Ismail bin Taghtageni, drank at 

 the house of Mutamid Muhammad bin Ali El Tukriti some wine of very 

 agreeable flavour, and he said to him — " Of what is this wine made ?" Mu- 

 tamid replied, " Of water from the Zafran well. If I steep Kadhy in this 

 water and leave it in the sun, it becomes wine (Nebid), and it requires 

 neither honey nor anything else being put in." From that time they were 

 used to transport this water to Jend, Taiz, Sanaa, and Zebid to make wine 

 with it. The water certainly is now earthy, though they say it was origi- 

 nally as (sweet) as the Euphrates, but that it has now become somewhat 

 salt on account of the evil deeds of the people. I was informed by Muham- 

 mad bin Zankal bin Hassan El Kirmani that an inhabitant of Aden assert- 

 ed he had been told by Abdulla bin Muhammad Ishaaki El Dai that there 

 were 180 sweet water wells in Aden, and that the water never decreased, 

 but God knows. 



Account of the arrival of Ships. 

 When a ship arrives near Aden, and the watchmen on the hill perceive 

 it, they shout with a loud voice " Hirya." These watchmen are stationed 

 at the end of Jebel Akhdar, upon which is built the fort El Akhdar, origi- 

 nally called Sir.siat. The watchman is unable to distinguish clearly except 

 at the rising and setting of the sun, because at those times the rays of the 

 sun glance on the surface of the water and distant objects appear. He fixes 



