112 
EXCCJRSION TO LAHADJ. 
Banians, under the protection of Aboo Biickr, the Dola of Aden, 
who had received orders from the Sultaun to attend us with a 
guard of his Ascari. This chieftain, who was descended from a 
tribe of Abada Bedowee; was one of the handsomest men I ever 
saw : he was taller than the generality of his countrymen, active, 
and of a daring disposition, and displayed a high spirit of manly 
independence that seemed to excite universal admiration. 
The first part of our road conducted us round the bottom of 
Back Bay, near which stands a small building called ''*beit el 
mi,'^ or the ' water-house,' now forming a shelter for the natives 
who bring supplies to tlie town, behind which the remains of 
some large stone walls are observable, carried a considerable way 
across the adjacent peninsula. These appear to have formed 
part of an immense reservoir, which, at a very early period, was 
constructed for the supply of the shipping in Back Bay. 
About half a mile further, a causeway built on seven arches 
connects to the continent, the ' peninsula' of Aden, as it is called, 
though it might with more propriety be termed an island, as at 
high tide a considerable body of salt water rushes through 
the arches, uniting two inlets of the sea. 
Directly north from this causeway runs an ancient aqueduct, now 
out of repair, constructed of solid stonework about five feet wide, 
of an uniform breadth, and rising about two feet above the present 
level of the ground,theruins ofwhich maybe clearly traced for about 
eight miles into the country, a circumstance that may serve to give 
some idea of the importance of Aden during the period of its flour- 
ishing condition. There is reason to believe, from a passage in a 
curious tract written in Latin by Besendius, bearing datel530, and 
