Wretched And Miserable As The Appearance Of Aden Must Be Deemed At
The Present Moment, Its Commanding Situation Rendered It Of Great
Importance In Former Times.
During the reign of Constantine, it was an
opulent city, forming one of the great emporia for the commerce of
the East.
The sole remains of the grandeur it once boasted consists of
about ninety dilapidated stone houses, the greater number of dwellings
which seem to shelter its scanty population being nothing more than
huts rudely constructed of reeds. These wretched tenements, huddled
together without the slightest attempt at regularity, occupy the
crater of an extinct volcano. Unrelieved by trees, and assimilating
in colour with the arid soil and barren hills rising around, they
scarcely convey an idea of the purpose for which they are designed.
A stranger, entering Aden, finds it difficult to believe that he is in
the midst of an inhabited place, the houses appearing to be fewer in
number, and more insignificant, than a closer inspection proves them
to be. No splendid fragment, imposing in its ruin, records the glory
and opulence of the populous city, as it existed in the days of
Solyman the Magnificent, the era from whence it dates its decline. The
possession of Aden was eagerly contended for by the two great powers,
the Turks and the Portuguese, struggling for mastery in the East, and
when they were no longer able to maintain their rivalry, it reverted
into the hands of its ancient masters, the Arabs. The security
afforded by its natural defences, aided by the fortifications, the
work of former times, rendered it a suitable retreat for the piratical
hordes of the desert. The lawless sons of Ishmael could, from this
stronghold, rush out upon the adjacent waters, and make themselves
masters of the wealth of those adventurers who dared to encounter the
dangers of the Red Sea.
With the loss of every thing approaching to good government, Aden lost
its trade. The system of monopoly, which enriches the sovereign at the
expense of the subject, speedily ends in ruin. The superior classes of
the inhabitants were either driven away, in consequence of the tyranny
which they endured, or, reduced to a state of destitution, perished
miserably upon the soil, until at length the traces of former
magnificence became few and faint, the once flourishing city falling
into one wide waste of desolation. The remains of a splendid aqueduct,
which was at the first survey mistaken for a Roman road; a solitary
watch-tower, and a series of broken walls, alone attest the ancient
glories of the place.
Previous to the occupation of the British, the population of Aden
scarcely exceeded six hundred souls; it is now, independently of the
garrison, more nearly approaching to a thousand, and of these the
principal number are Jews, who, together with about fifty Banians,
have contrived to amass a little of what, by comparison, may be called
wealth. The trade of Aden, for a long time before we obtained our
present possession, was very trifling, the imports consisting of a few
English cotton cloths, together with lead, iron, and tin, which
were brought by Buglas on their way to Mocha; rice, dates, and small
numbers of cattle, likewise, coming from neighbouring places; while
the exports were limited to a little coffee, millet, and a few drugs.
At the period of my visit to Aden, the garrison were in almost
momentary expectation of an attack from the Arabs, who had gathered
to the amount of five thousand in the neighbourhood, and kept the new
occupants continually upon the alert. Of course, in such a state of
affairs, great differences of opinion existed respecting the ultimate
fate of this interesting place. Many acute persons consider the
project of colonizing a barren spot, surrounded by hostile tribes, by
a handful of soldiers from India, chimerical, especially in the teeth
of predictions which have for so long a period been fulfilled to the
letter. It is stated that the Imaum of Muscat asked, in astonishment,
whether we were mad enough to contemplate the subjugation of the
Arabs, the sons of his father Ishmael; since we could not be so
ignorant of our own Scriptures as not to know that their hands were to
be eternally against every man, and every man's hand against theirs.
But, although the Arabs should continue hostile, while we are masters
of the sea, and can strengthen Aden so completely upon the land-side,
as to render it, what many people believe it can be made, a second
Gibraltar, we have a wide field for commercial speculation in the
opposite coast of Africa.
Aden is, at present, a very expensive possession, and the long period
which has elapsed since our occupation, without preparations
having been commenced for a permanent residence, has occasioned an
apprehension that it may be ultimately abandoned. Many persons are,
however, sanguine in the hope that, as soon as scientific men have
decided upon the best site for a cantonment, buildings will be erected
for the reception of the garrison. These, it is confidently expected,
will be upon a grand scale, and of solid construction. The greater
portion of the materials must be brought from distant places, and
already some of the European inhabitants are conveying from Bombay
those portable houses which are commonly set up during the cold season
on the Esplanade, and which will afford a great improvement upon
the dwellings of bamboos, reeds, and mats, which at present form
the abodes of the officers of this establishment. It has been
satisfactorily ascertained, that the clearing out and repairing the
old tanks and wells will be sufficient to secure an ample supply of
water for a very extensive population, the report of those gentlemen
employed in analyzing its quality being highly favourable.
A little allowance must, of course, be made for the sanguine nature of
the expectations formed by persons whose imaginations are dazzled by
the splendid visions of the future arising before them; still, enough
appears to have been demonstrated to justify a strong hope that there
are no serious difficulties in the way of our permanent occupation of
a place which we have succeeded in rescuing from Arab tyranny.
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