The Captain Had Kindly Promised
To Take Me On Shore With Him; But, Unfortunately, The Heat And The
Fatigue Which
I had sustained had occasioned a slight attack of fever,
and as we did not arrive before the town until
Nearly twelve o'clock,
I was afraid to encounter the rays of the sun during the day. We could
obtain a good view of the city from the vessel; it appeared to
be large and well built, that is, comparatively speaking; but its
unsheltered walls, absolutely baked in the sun, and the arid waste on
which it stood, gave to it a wild and desolate appearance.
We were told that already, since the British occupation of Aden, the
trade of Mocha had fallen off. It seldom happens that a steamer passes
down the Red Sea without bringing emigrants from Mocha, anxious to
establish themselves in the new settlement; and if Aden were made
a free port, there can be little doubt that it would monopolize the
whole commerce of the neighbourhood. The persons desirous to colonize
the place say, very justly, that they cannot afford to pay duties,
having to quit their own houses at a loss, and to construct others,
Aden being at present destitute of accommodation for strangers. If,
however, encouragement should be given them, they will flock thither
in great numbers; and, under proper management, there is every reason
to hope that Aden will recover all its former importance and wealth,
and become one of the most useful dependencies of the British crown.
We were to take in coals and water at Aden, and arriving there in the
afternoon of Saturday, the 19th of October, every body determined to
go on shore, if possible, on the ensuing morning. By the kindness of
some friends, we had palanquins in waiting at day-break, which were
to convey us a distance of five miles to the place now occupied
as cantonments. Our road conducted us for a mile or two along the
sea-shore, with high crags piled on one side, a rugged path, and rocks
rising out of the water to a considerable distance. We then ascended
a height, which led to an aperture in the hills, called the Pass.
Here we found a gate and a guard of sepoys. The scenery was wild, and
though nearly destitute of vegetation - a few coarse plants occurring
here and there scarcely deserving the name - very beautiful.
It would, perhaps, be too much to designate the bare and lofty cliffs,
which piled themselves upwards in confused masses, with the name of
mountains; they nevertheless conveyed ideas of sublimity which I had
not associated with other landscapes of a similar nature. The Pass,
narrow and enclosed on either side by winding rocks, brought us at
length down a rather steep declivity to a sort of basin, surrounded
upon three sides with lofty hills, and on the fourth by the sea.
Cape Aden forms a high and rocky promontory, the most elevated portion
being 1,776 feet above the level of the sea.
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