ADEN. . 87 
repass Bab-el-Mandeb during the S. W. monsoon. The present heaps 
of ruins and solitary minarets, give but little idea of the splendour 
which Marco Polo describes it as possessing in the thirteenth cen- 
tury; any more than the humble Sultaun of a little territory will 
bear a comparison with the Mussulmaun chieftain who could then 
bring into the field 30,000 horse. 
Aden must then have been at its highest state of prosperity, and 
was, probably, from the commercial convenience it afforded, the 
capital of Arabia Felix. Its decline seems to have been gradual, 
for in 1513, Don Alphonso Alburquerque found the fortifications 
sufficiently strong to twice resist his attack, although trade had in 
a great degree fled to iMocha and Loheia. 
Aden appears to have tranquilly remained under its Arabian 
masters till this period, when hostilities between the Soldan of 
Egypt and the Portuguese having induced the former to bring 
ships across the desert, and embark them on the Red Sea, a naval 
war took place betw^een the tw^o powders, and its excellent harbour 
rendered Aden an object of great importance to each party. In 
15 J 6 it was attacked by the fleet of Selim, who had conquered the 
Soldan of Egypt ; but without success : however, in 1539 SooHmaun 
Basha, when proceeding to attack the Portuguese in India, treacher- 
ously seized the sovereign of Aden, and got possession of the place. 
The fortifications were greatly increased by the Turks, and some of 
their enormous pieces of cannon were mounted on the walls. It was 
considered as a place of such importance, that so late as 1610, when 
Sir Henry Middleton was there, it had a Basha, as Governor, and 
the walls were still very strong. 
As the power of the Turks gradually declined, the Arabians^ 
