80 Memoir on the Aden Reiertoirs. [no. 3, new series^ 
scribed by Mr. Salt himself in 1809, who describes the latter as be- 
ing near a Beit-el-ma or icater house, which formed a shelter for the 
natives who brought supplies into the town. 
The remains of the aqueduct still exist, and those of the reser- 
voir were only destroyed by our Engineers a few years ago, when 
constructing the Isthmus defences. ' 
If then the aqueduct was not built during the visit of Resendius 
the object of the cistern on the Isthmus, in a position where it 
could never be filled by rain water, is not apparent, the more proba- 
ble supposition is that water was brought in on camels during some 
temporary stoppage of the aqueduct, and that the local tradition 
which assigns the discontinuance of the use of the reservoirs for 
the reception of rain water to this period, is correct. 
The following is the description given by Mr. Salt of the tanks 
within the crater of Aden : — ^' Amongst the ruins some fine remains 
of ancient splendour are to be met with, but these only serve to 
cast a darker shade' over the desolation of the scene. The most re- 
markable of these remains consists of a line of cisterns situated on 
the N. W. side of the town, three of which are fully 80 feet square 
and proportionably deep, all excavated out of the solid rock, and 
lined with a thick coat of fine stucco, which externally bears a strong 
resemblance to marble ; a broad aqueduct may still be traced which 
formerly conducted the water to these cisterns, from a deep ravine 
in the mountain above ; higher up is another still entire, which at 
the time we visited it f November J was partly filled with water, in 
front of it, extends a handsome terrace formerly covered with stuc- 
co, and behind it rise some immense masses of granite, which being 
in some parts perpendicular, and in others overhanging it, formed 
during the hot weather a most delightful retreat. 
Some Arab children who followed us in our excursions were high- 
ly pleased when we arrived at the spot, and plunging headlong into 
the water, mucn amused us by their sportive tricks." 
When Captain Haines visited Aden in 1835 several of the reser- 
voirs appear still to have been in a tolerable state of preservation ; 
besides the hanging tanks, or those built high upon the sides of the 
