S8 Memoir on the Aden Reservoirs, [no. 3, new series,, 



Lord Valentia and Mr. Salt, regarding the origin of the tanks on 

 the Islands of Dhalak and Kutto. 



Colonel Chesney mentions the fact of similar reservoirs un- 

 doubtedly of Saracenic origin, existing in Granada, Cordova, Seville 

 and Gibraltar, these, from the perfection of their coating, continue 

 to be water-tight, though some of them, as those under the Castle 

 of Gibraltar, must have been in use upwards of seven centuries. 



Two very remarkable cisterns exist in the ancient fortress on the 

 summit of mount Agatha, in the Termino of Mercadel, in the Island 

 of Minorca, the Moorish origin of which is attested by an Arabic 

 inscription. These differ from those of Gibraltar, by being raised 

 structures instead of excavations, and they are of much greater di- 

 mensions, being capable of containing 2173 tuns, or upwards of 

 half a million gallons of water. 



Numerous other instances might be cited, but with the single 

 exception of the great dam of Mareb, none equal the magnificent 

 series lately discovered at Aden, which, when restored, will proba- 

 bly contain not less than twenty or thirty million imperial gallons. 



There is no certain record of the construction of the Aden reser- 

 voirs, and the natives of the place have no tradition regarding them 

 in which they place much confidence. It is probable that some 

 are of great antiquity, and that others were built as the necessity 

 for them arose, or as the piety of individuals prompted them to con- 

 struct some work, by which a great public benefit 'might be con- 

 ferred upon their city. This latter supposition is supported by the 

 fact, that under the domed entrance to one of them lately restored, 

 a tomb, probably that of the founder, was discovered, and I have 

 been given to understand that an inscription was removed from 

 this tank by the late Surgeon Malcolmson, which probably would 

 have afforded some clue to its history. 



My impression is, that the construction of these reservoirs was 

 first commenced after the second Persian invasion of Yemen, about 

 A. D. 600, but of this fact we have no authentic record. 



It is related by the Imam AH ibn Hoosain-el-Khuzraji, that 

 Melek-el-Mansoor Taj-ed-Din Abd-el-Wahab ibn Tahir, sovereign 



