Ill— THE VEGETATION. 
1. Statistical Account. Ibn Batuta who travelled in Arabia 
between 1328 and 1330 paid also a visit to Aden. He writes : 
I left the town of Aden, the port of the country of Yemen, which 
is situated on the coast of the Great Ocean. It is surrounded by moun- 
tains and it is accessible on one side only. It is a large town, but there 
are neither seeds nor trees nor water. There are only tanks which 
receive the rainwater, but fresh water is to be found a great distance 
from the town.” 1 
Aden is, however, not so entirely destitute of vegetation as might 
be inferred from this description of the famous traveller. Many of the 
valleys are thickly studded with small trees and shrubs, producing 
beautiful flowers, and it is no uncommon circumstance for the inhabitants 
of Shaikh Oth man to send their goats and camels to find pasturage 
amongst the valleys on the west side of the peninsula, when none is 
procurable in their own district. 2 
We must, nevertheless, call the flora of Aden a very poor one if we 
compare the total of species with the comparatively considerable area 
they occupy, Me shall describe 250 indigenous species which represent 
55 orders and 138 genera. 
The accompanying table will give an idea of the small proportion of 
species to the number of genera and natural orders : 
Ibn Batuta Trad, de MM. Defremery efc Sanguinetti, vol. II, p. 177. 
2 Playfair, R. L. A History of Arabia Felix or Yemen. Select, from the Rer. of the 
Bombay Government, 1859, p. (3. 
