In July 1516 Zayla was taken, and the town burned by a Portuguese
armament, under Lopez Suarez Alberguiera.
When the Turks were compelled
to retire from Southern Arabia, it became subject to the Prince of Senaa,
who gave it in perpetuity to the family of a Senaani merchant.
The kingdom of Yemen falling into decay, Zayla passed under the authority
of the Sherif of Mocha, who, though receiving no part of the revenue, had
yet the power of displacing the Governor. By him it was farmed out to the
Hajj Sharmarkay, who paid annually to Sayyid Mohammed el Barr, at Mocha,
the sum of 750 crowns, and reserved all that he could collect above that
sum for himself. In A.D. 1848 Zayla was taken from the family El Barr, and
farmed out to Sharmarkay by the Turkish Governor of Mocha and Hodaydah.
The extant remains at Saad el Din are principally those of water-courses,
rude lines of coralline, stretching across the plain towards wells, now
lost [13], and diminutive tanks, made apparently to collect rain water.
One of these latter is a work of some art--a long sunken vault, with a
pointed arch projecting a few feet above the surface of the ground;
outside it is of rough stone, the interior is carefully coated with fine
lime, and from the roof long stalactites depend. Near it is a cemetery:
the graves are, for the most part, provided with large slabs of close
black basalt, planted in the ground edgeways, and in the shape of a small
oblong. The material was most probably brought from the mountains near
Tajurrah: at another part of the island I found it in the shape of a
gigantic mill-stone, half imbedded in the loose sand. Near the cemetery we
observed a mound of rough stones surrounding an upright pole; this is the
tomb of Shaykh Saad el Din, formerly the hero, now the favourite patron
saint of Zayla,--still popularly venerated, as was proved by the remains
of votive banquets, broken bones, dried garbage, and stones blackened by
the fire.
After wandering through the island, which contained not a human being save
a party of Somal boatmen, cutting firewood for Aden, and having massacred
a number of large fishing hawks and small sea-birds, to astonish the
natives, our companions, we returned to the landing-place. Here an awning
had been spread; the goat destined for our dinner--I have long since
conquered all dislike, dear L., to seeing dinner perambulating--had been
boiled and disposed in hunches upon small mountains of rice, and jars of
sweet water stood in the air to cool. After feeding, regardless of
Quartana and her weird sisterhood, we all lay down for siesta in the light
sea-breeze. Our slumbers were heavy, as the Zayla people say is ever the
case at Saad el Din, and the sun had declined low ere we awoke. The tide
was out, and we waded a quarter of a mile to the boat, amongst giant crabs
who showed grisly claws, sharp coralline, and sea-weed so thick as to
become almost a mat.
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