april — june 1857.] Memoir on the Aden Reservoirs. 25 



II. A Memoir on the Ancient Reservoirs at Aden. By 

 Lieut. R. L. Playfair, of the Madras Artillery, Assist- 

 ant Political Resident, Aden. 



The expedient of constructing reservoirs in which to collect and 

 store rain water, has prevailed in Arabia from the remotest anti- 

 quity, these are generally found in localities devoid of perennial 

 springs, and dependant on the winter rains for a supply of water 

 during the summer months ; or in those insular positions which 

 are cut off from the copious torrents, that descending from the moun- 

 tains, fertilize the Tehama of Yemen, and in the beds of which a 

 constant supply of pure water may be procured by digging, a few 

 feet below the surface of the soil. 



The first and most remarkable instance on record is the great 

 dam of Mareb, attributed by Aboo'l-Feda to Abd-esh-Shems sur- 

 named Saba, who founded the city from him named Saba, and af- 

 terwards Mareb. 



Other historians however assign to it an earlier origin, and it is 

 related that Lokman, king of that remnant of the Adites who had 

 renounced idolatry at the preaching of the Prophet Hud, and who 

 are usually called the second Adites, took up his abode about 

 B, C. 1750 in the region of Saba. 



This country was frequently ravaged by impetuous mountain tor- 

 rents, while at other times it was parched for want of a sufficient 

 supply of water, in order therefore to remedy these evils, he con- 

 ceived the idea of building a dam across' the gorge of a valley con- 

 tained between two mountains, which he thus converted into a vast 

 reservoir of five leagues in length, for the reception of the rain water 

 descending from the hills. 



The dam was built of cut stone, secured by iron or copper cramps, 

 and cemented with bitumen, forming a prodigious mass of masonry, 

 300 cubits broad, 120 feet high, and two miles in length ; it was 

 provided with thirty sluices, through which the water was convey- 



