Chap. II. to the E A S,T -INDIES. 745 
It is computed that Aden and the adjacent Places in that 
Valley, are able to raife 40000 Men ; but they have no 
Fire-Arms or Powder, for the King keeps thole up in the 
Cattle, as well as his Artillery. That Prince has above 
two thoufand Rrafs-Guns in his Gallies, Forts, and two 
Houfes, where they are heaped one above another. He 
is likewife well furniflied with Fjrelocks, but they are 
ihort, and ill mounted. 
But his greateft Strength he places in 900 Elephants, 
which are bred to tread Fire under their Feet, and to be 
unmoved at the Shot of a Cannon •, and likewife to falute 
the King when they pafs by his Apartments, by bending 
their Knees and railing their Trunks three Times. The 
King gives a Name to each Elephant, and confers many 
Honours on fuch of them as are moft ftout and docile, for 
he orders Umbrellas to be carried before them as they pafs 
the Streets, for fome fix, for others four, and for others 
two, in Proportion to their Merit. Now there is not a Man 
in Aden befides the King, that is allowed the Privilege of an 
Umbrella. He matches the Male- Elephants with their Fe- 
males, and to fome that are deareft to him, he allows feveral 
Concubines. The Elephants that the King commonly 
makes ufe of, have a great deal of Honour paid them, for 
as they pafs along every body flops and makes Way for 
them •, for which Purpofe a Boy goes before them with a 
copper Iriftrument in his Hand, with which he makes a 
Noife to give the People Notice. When the Oil drops 
from their Ears they are furious, and it is not fafe to come 
near them ; and at that Time the Boy runs above two 
hundred Paces before them, to give the People earlier No- 
tice, for they will fteal upon a Man ftrangely ; and not- 
withftanding their huge Bulk, make no more Noife when 
they walk than a Rat •, though, at the fame time, upon 
that marttiy hollow Ground, the Trot of a Horfe makes 
the Earth in a manner tremble. 
Sometimes the King is out of Humour with his Ele- 
phants, as well as with his Subjects, and fhews his Dif- 
pleafure by robbing them of their Wives, Concubines, and 
other Honours, and inflibling corporal Punifhments in 
the Prefence of the reft-, for exemplary Corredlion has 
the fame Influence upon them as upon Men, as appears 
by the following Inftance. The King having ordered 
the Embarkation of an hundred Elephants for the Siege of 
Uehly , when the Elephants were brought down to the 
Shore, not one of them would enter the Ship. The King 
being acquainted with the Matter (which fome took to be 
an ill Omen) came in Perfon to the Shore, and having 
checked and chid them with a great deal of Paffion, and 
upbraiding them with the Breeding and Honour he had be- 
llowed upon them, caufed one of the principal Elephants 
to be cut in two before their Eyes, threatening the reft 
with the fame Ufage if they did not embark immediately. 
This done, they embarked very peaceably, and were ex- 
treme tradable during the whole Voyage. 
There never was a Prince in Aden that had fuch a Dex- 
terity in managing thefe Animals ; he will Hand up- 
right upon their Backs while they run a full Speed : For 
my part, I had rather run ten Stages on Foot than ride 
four Leagues upon an Elephant, for it is a very uneafy Po- 
fture to thofe who are not accuftomed to it, efpecially if one 
fits behind, for the Forepart of the Shoulders is the fofteft. 
When the King was well, he ufed to hunt every other 
Day. In his Stables he has' about two hundred Horfes, 
fifty of which might be worth five hundred Crowns- a- 
piece in France. All of them have rich and magnificent 
Trapping. 
42. The King of Aden is ftronger by Sea than any of 
his Neighbours, for he has about an hundred great Gallies, 
of which a third Part is much larger than any we build in 
Chriftendom. I faw the Keel of an ordinary one that was 
an hundred and twenty Foot long, all in one Piece. They 
build their Gallies very prettily in that Country, but they 
are too heavy, for they are broader and higher than they 
. ought to be •, befides, their Rigging is too weak for their 
Bulk. Their Oars have neither Length nor Weight fuffi- 
cient, being only Poles, with a Piece of Board at one End. 
They put but two Men to an Oar, who Hand upright 
when they row. Their Sails are not made like Mizen- 
Sails, but fquare, like thofe of a Ship. The Sides or 
Numb. 50. 
Planks of thefe Gallies are fix Inches thick ; fo that con- 
fidering their Dulnefs, one of our European Gallies might 
beat ten of them. 
They have commonly three good Pieces of Cannon, of 
which that planted in the Bourfey is not lefs than a Battery- 
Gun ; for fome of them will carry a Bullet of forty Pound : 
Befides thefe they have feveral Falconets, which they 
plant before and abaft. The largeft Gallies have commonly 
fix or eight hundred Men. Their Crew conftfts not of 
Slaves, but of poor People, that row very well. The 
King’s Wars are not very chargeable to him, for all his 
Subjects are obliged to march at his Command upon their 
own Charges, and carry Provifion with them for three 
Months. The King gives them Arms, of which a Regi- 
fter is kept, they being obliged to reflore them at their 
Return. Their Wives, and Children, and their Parents, 
if they have any, are anfwerable for their Behaviour ; for 
if they fhrink, or give way before the Enemy, not only 
themfelves but thefe, their innocent Relations, fuffer for it. 
By this means the King has brought them to be good Sol- 
diers, and the Terror of their Neighbours. If they con- 
tinue above three Mon ths in the Field, the King is at the 
Charge of Rice to maintain them. 
His Gallies coft him as little as his Land Armies, for 
he divides them among his principal Orankays, obliging 
them to fit them out, take care of them when they re- 
turn, and repair them at their own Charges, and orders a 
certain Number of People to be ready upon the Command 
of fuch and fuch an Orankay, to aflift at thefe Services. 
The Orankays are very careful of the Gallies, for if thefe 
fail, they either Jofe their Lives, or build new ones in 
their room. For that reafon, when the Gallies come into 
the River to be laid up, they cleanfe the Dock very care- 
fully, and then lay great Pieces of Wood acrofs it, which 
are ten Feet diftant from one another, and lie upon an ex- 
ad Level, left the Gallies fhould bow when they lie upon 
them. When the Tide comes in the Elephants draw 
the Gallies up upon thefe Sommers, which lie above ten 
Feet from the Ground, that they may get underneath to 
view and caulk the Ship’s Bottom. This done, they run a 
Dyke of Turf, Stone, and Planks between it and the River, 
and then fill the Dock with Water, to the upper Surface 
of the Sommers this they do, that the Gallies my be re- 
frefhed by the Water, but fo as not to dip into it, left: 
Sea- Worms fhould breed in them. Having laid up the Sails 
and Rigging, they cover the Mails very carefully with 
Palm-tree Leaves, fo that neither Rain nor Sun can hurt 
them ; befides, they have a great Roof that they bring 
entirely over the Galley. After that, they put Water in- 
to it, to the Depth of four or five Feet, to keep the 
Planks frefh, and prevent their being fplit by the Heat. 
All this is done in five or fix Days, and one cannot ima- 
gine how well they preferve the Galley, and how readily 
they launch it again : For, the Dock being full of Water, 
there is no Occafion for caulking, and the Rigging is at 
Hand, and the Roof is taken off in a Minute. The Water 
in the Galley being thrown out into the Dock, augments 
the Water there, which fets the Sommers afloat, fo that 
they are eafily removed ; upon which the Water rufhing 
into the River, carries the Galley along with it. Every 
Morning and Evening, upon the opening and fhutting of 
the Caftle Gates, the King caufes a Gun to be fired, and 
if any of the neighbouring Kings fhould offer to do the like, 
he would declare War againft him, alledging, that be- 
ing the Inventor of that Cuftom, he has a Right to en- 
grofs it, as a Mark of his Grandeur: He prohibits the 
'{hooting of Mufkets, or Firelocks, in the City, on any 
other Days but Mondays and Thurfdays. 
43. From what has been laid, it is manifeft, that this 
King cannot but be very rich, for in War he is only at 
the Charge of Arms, Powder, Lead, and Rice, which is 
very inconfiderable, and in Peace he fpends yet lefs ; for 
as to the Maintainance of his Family, he has more Rice 
Flefli, Fifh, Fowl, Oils, Sugar, and Herbs, paid him by 
his Subjects, than is confumed in the Caftle, and the Sur- 
plus is fold in the Market for his Advantage : Befides, he 
allows his Servants nothing but Rice-, if they eat any 
thing elfe, they muft purchafe it by their own Labour and 
Induftry, He amaffes together great Quantities of Rice 
9 E every 
