ADEN. 
On our return we passed close by the wall erected by Colonel 
Murray at the time the British troops were stationed at Aden, pre- 
paratory to their expedition into Egypt. The plan appears to 
have been formed with judgment/ and would have efFectually pro- 
tected the town on the only point where it was before assailable. 
On the 8th of October a brig came in sight at day-break, 
steering direct into the harbour as if her pilot had been accus- 
tomed to the bay. As we could not distinguish the flag she 
carried, the Dola hastened with a party of soldiers to the water- 
gate, while I proceeded with a few others to the ship. Our 
alarm arose from the fear that it might be a French privateer, as 
the ships of that nation have been in the habit of frequently 
running to this port for refreshment, notwithstanding it has been 
repeatedly refused ; an instance of which occurred in the early 
part of this same year. Fortunately on the present occasion the 
vessel proved to be an American, which gratified us with the 
pleasing intelligence of the continuance of peace between our 
respective nations, a circumstance which we had strong reason to 
doubt, from information received in the Mosambique. 
This occurrence led me to notice the exposed situation of the 
anchorage in this bay, where a French privateer or pirate might, 
with facility, cut any vessel out of the harbour, without the pos- 
sibility of her receiving aid from the shore. The means of reme- 
dying this evil are very obvious, and might be accomplished at a 
small expense ; I therefore ventured to suggest to the Governor 
of Bombay, in a subsequent visit to that Settlement, that it should 
be carried into effect at the charge of the East India Company. 
The plan which I proposed was that the Governor should send 
