86 ADEN. 
of south. Still the air was cooler than at Mocha, and 1 felt myself 
most sensibly relieved. 
July 18. — With variable winds we got by four o'clock to an 
anchor in Aden roads, distant from Fortified Island about a mile. 
The swell was much more considerable than I could have ex- 
pected, as the wind came right over the land. The town of Aden 
has a most miserable appearance from the sea. It is nearly a heap 
of ruins, out of which two minarets and two mosques rear their 
whitewashed heads. The rocky peninsula, on which the town is 
situated, has all the appearance of the half of a volcano, the 
crater of which is covered by the sea, and on the edge of which 
lies the town: the rocks rise to a very considerable height. On the 
summits are numerous small square forts; and a second ridge 
towards the bay is covered with the ruins of lines and forts. For- 
tified Island was also covered with works, so as to resemble the 
hill forts of India. It must have been impregnable ; and a very little 
trouble would render it so again. 
That the trade of Arabia should at present have quitted Aden, 
with its excellent harbour, for Mocha, an open road, liable to very 
heavy gales of wind, can only be attributed to the sovereign of 
Mocha having been till lately in possession of the whole of the 
coffee country ; but as his kingdom is torn in pieces by the Waha- 
bees, Aden will probably recover its former importance, and again 
become the mart of an extensive trade, as it was in the time of the 
author of the Periplus ; who most certainly designated it under the 
name of Eudaimon. It is the only good sea-port in Arabia Felix, 
and has the great advantage over every harbour, w^ithin the straits, 
that it can be quitted at all seasons, while it is amost impossible to 
