EXCURSION TO L AH AD J. 
Ill 
two pieces of cannon, (many ofwliicli are now lying useless at 
Bombay) as a present to the Sultaun of Aden, on condition of 
their being placed on a point near the tomb of Sheik Hamed, in 
which position they would completely command and protect the 
anchorage. This is now become more particularly advisable 
should any commercial intercourse take place with the Red Sea, 
on account of our being at war with the Americans, who are 
intimately acquainted with these ports, and whose ships are 
generally of a force superior to any of our merchant vessels likely 
to be employed in the service. The plan above-mentioned would 
not only benefit our own concerns, but prove a just return for the 
alliance of a chief, who has, by repeated and substantial acts of 
kindness, evinced his attachment to the British interests. If a 
small fort were erected for the guns, it might render them still 
more serviceable. 
The ship not being likely to complete her stock of water in 
less than three days, I determined to take the opportunity of 
making a journey to Lahadj, the residence and capital of the 
Sultaun;* and as soon as we were satisfied respecting the vessel, 
we set out on this expedition, accompanied by Duroz, one of the 
* An early description of this place is given by Ludovico Barthema, who Was made 
captive by the Moors and sent up here in the year 1504. He calls itLaji. His narrative is 
very entertaining, and, I conceive, accurate, from his having given in the peculiar dialect 
of the country several of the conversations which took place, the greater part of which I 
have succeeded in making out, notwithstanding their being set down from the ear only in 
Roman characters, by which the words have been often strangely jumbled together. This 
dialect is supposed by the learned and indefatigable Niebuhr, to be more nearly related to 
that of the ancient Hamyarites, than any other now spoken in Arabia. Vide Itinerario di 
Ludovico di Barthema, stampato a Vinegia 1535. The same journal is given in Ramusio, 
but without the Arabic. Vide Vol. I. p. 154, et seq. 
