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



scribed by Mr. Salt himself in 1809, who describes the latter as be- 

 ing near a Beit-el-ma or water 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 rilled 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 {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, much 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 



