April— june 1857.] Memoir on the Aden Reservoirs. %1 



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 sufficient supply of water can be ob- 

 tained from wells. 



Lieutenant Burton in his " First footsteps in Eastern Africa" de- 

 scribes several tanks and water- courses on the Island of Saad-ed-dia 

 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 plastered 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 feet 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 Hosn 

 Ghorab, the cement of which was as hard as the solid 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 Koum Hormuz " people of Hormuz," or Persians, thus 

 confirming, in a remarkable manner, the traditions recorded by 



