Metnoir on the Aden Reservoirs, [xo. 3, new series, 
Water containing three parts of saline matterjn every 2000 is 
usually considered unfit for domestic purposes, but in Aden, at least 
15,000 of the inhabitants are compelled to drink water containing 
as much as from five to ten parts in 2000. It cannot therefore be 
doubted that the large increase to the water supply which these cis- 
terns must afford, will prove an inestimable olessing which would be 
cheaply purchased at almost any price. 
Probably in the most unfavorable season not less than 6,000,000 
gallons will be collected, this at once doubles the annual supply, 
and reckoning the value of this increase at the mi'himum rate at 
which water is ever sold in Aden, and at which it has a ready sale, 
viz., one Rupee per hundred gallons, we have an annual revenue of 
Rupees 60,000. Thus in a single year, and one far below the aver- 
age, a greater sum of money will be collected than is likely to be re- 
quired for the restoration of all the tanks. 
I cannot refrain from quoting an extract of a letter addressed 
to the Right Hon-orable Lord Elphinstone, under date the 27th 
of July 1856, by one who saw the tanks on his route to England, 
and which was communicated to the Political Resident by Govern- 
ment. 
" I was much interested in the tanks which Brigadier Coghlan 
showed me ; a short time ago they were as completely buried as 
Herculaneum, and we passed over some, which being filled up to 
the brim with rubbish, have less the appearance of being what they 
are than Pompeii must have had before it was excavated. Six of 
these have been cleared out and are quite ready to catch any drop 
of water which falls, they are admirable and substantial works, most 
beautifully chunamed, and most fantastic in their shapes, with all 
sorts of queer steps : when they are all cleared out, Aden will be 
quite independent of exterior sources for its water supply." 
Table C is an abstract statement of the receipts and expenditure 
on account o1 the restoration of the reservoirs, from the commence- 
ment of the work in 1855 to the end of 1856. 
The total amount is Rupees 11,543-0-3 of which only Rupees 
6,500 has been paid by the State, the balance having been collect- 
ed from local sources. 
