APRIL— JUNE 1857.] Memoir on the Aden Reservoirs, 27 
This traveller did not observe any in the Tehama, probably they 
are not required there, as the softer nature of the soil admits of con- 
siderable absorption, whereby a suflGlcient supply of water can be ob- 
tained from wells. 
Lieutenant Burton in his *' First footsteps in Eastern Africa" de- 
scribes several tanks ani water-courses on the Island of Saad-ed-din 
near Zailah, one of them is a work of some art,»it consists of a long 
sunken vault with a pointed arch projecting a few feet above the 
surface of the ground, the exterior is of rough stone, and the inside 
is carefully pla^stered with fine chunam. 
Mr. Salt describes a connected set of four reservoirs on the Is- 
land of Kutto, in the bay of Amphila, they are excavated in the 
form of a cross, each being thirty fee^ long, nine broad, and seven 
deep, lined with chunam, and together capable of containing about 
120,000 gallons of water; a tradition current amongst the natives 
ascribes their construction to the Persians, who conquered Yemen 
from the Abyssinians early in the seventh century, and for some 
time held unrivalled possession of the commerce of the Red Sea. 
The same traveller, in his previous voyage with Lord Valentia, 
discovered a number of similar cisterns in the Island of Dhalak 
near Massowah, but of larger dimensions, the natives have a simi- 
lar tradition regarding their construction to that current at Kutto, 
they asserted that the original number was 316, but admitted that 
they had never seen more than thirteen or fourteen. 
The Island of Massowah also contains a number of oblong tanks, 
some of which are of great extent, and are chiefly private property, 
the scanty supply of rain water which they contain, is kept under 
lock and key. 
Captain Haines, in his Memoirs on the South coast of Arabia, 
mentions the discovery of several tanks amongst the ruins of Hosii 
Ghorab, the cement of which was as hard as the soli^ rock, local 
tradition assigned the peopling of that district, and the construc- 
tion of the buildings there, to a race whom he calls Koum Harmas, 
probably Koui7i Hormuz " people of Hormuz," or Persians, thus 
confirming, in a remarkable manner, the traditions recorded by 
