We Continued
Our Course With A Good Breeze All Day, But Shortened Sail During The
Night, Not To Overshoot Aden, Having For The Most Part Twenty-Five,
Twenty, Fifteen, Twelve, Ten, And Eight Fathoms Water.
At sun-set on the
7th, we suddenly got sight of Aden, which stands at the foot of a
Barren
mountain, where one could scarcely have expected to find a town; but it
has been placed here for strength, being very defensible, and not to be
easily won, if the defendants are men of resolution, and are provided
with victuals and ammunition. To seaward, though in a manner dry at low
water, there stands a high rock, rather larger than the Tower of London,
which is very steep, and not easily ascended by an enemy, having but one
narrow passage to go up by means of steps, where four resolute men may
withstand a multitude. This rock is walled, flanked, and furnished with
cannon, and seems to me capable of commanding both the town and road;
yet any ship may anchor in nine fathoms beyond reach of its guns. The
anchorage under its command is in nine fathoms downwards. At a little
distance, northwards of the former rock, is another of small compass,
quite low, and almost even with the water, on which likewise there is a
fort well furnished with ordnance. I could not learn what garrison is
usually kept at Aden, but as occasion requires it has reinforcements
from other towns in the interior. It is supplied with provisions partly
from the low adjoining country, and partly by means of barks from
Barbara, on the opposite coast of Abexin,[353] whence they bring
cattle, grain, and other provisions, with myrrh and frankincence. Aden
is in lat. 12 deg. 35' N. the variation being 12 deg. 40'.[354] The tide, by
estimation, flows between six and seven feet at the change of the moon.
The mountain, at the foot of which this city is built, is a peninsula
jutting out to seaward, joined to the main by a narrow neck of sandy
ground, beyond which a large extent of marsh-like ground stretches
towards the interior mountains, which may be some sixteen or twenty
miles from the town.
[Footnote 353: Abyssinia, as Downton always names this north-east coast
of Africa, but which ought rather to be called the coast of Adel or
Zeyla, Abyssinia being, properly speaking, confined to the interior
mountainous country at the head of the Nile. The south-west coast of the
Red Sea indeed, from Swaken south-east to the Straits of Bab-al-Mondub,
is generally called the coast of Habash, or Abyssinia, although its
ports are all occupied by Turks or Arabs. - E.]
[Footnote 354: The latitude of Aden is in 12 deg. 45' N. and its longitude
nearly 45 deg. E. from Greenwich. - E.]
At our first anchoring, the governor sent an Arab in a canoe to view our
ships, but though called to, he refused to come aboard.
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