passive mood when last it flung
its constituents together; for, with the exception of a few circling
acres forming a rim around the harbor, high, broken, and frowning
battlements of rock, ungainly and sterile, look down upon you as far as
the eye can reach. No sprig, or tree, or blade of grass takes root in
its parched soil or stony bed, or survives the blasting heat. Scattered
and dotted on crag, hilltop or slope, in glaring white, are the many
offices and residence buildings of the camp. While in hidden crevices
and forbidden paths are planted the most approved armament, with its
"dogs of war" to dispute a passage from the Gulf.

In a dilapidated four-wheeler, drawn by one horse, after considerable
time spent by my friend in agreeing on terms (concerning which I pause
to remark that these benighted Jehus can give a Bowery cabman points on
"how not to do it"), over a macadam road of five miles we reach Aden
proper--the site of hotels, stores and residences with little
pretensions to architectural beauty; the buildings are quite all
constructed of stone, that material being in superabundance on every
intended site; their massive walls contributing to a cool interior
indispensable as a refuge from the blistering heat. Pure water for
drinking is a luxury, spasmodic in its supply. I once heard an hilarious
Irish song that stated:

"We are jolly and happy, for we know without doubt,
That the whisky is plenty, and the water is out."

This, I learn is the normal condition at Aden as to the relative status
of whisky and water--a very elysium for the toper who could not
understand why whisky should be spoiled by mixing it with water.

Rains are infrequent and well water unpalatable. Sea water is distilled,
but the mineral and health-giving qualities are said to be absent. The
water highly prized and sold is the rainwater caught in tanks. Hollowed
out at the foot of the rock hills, there are numbers of peculiar
construction, connected and on different elevations. But for the last
three years the non-rainfall has kept them without a tenant. As I looked
in them not a drop sparkled within their capacious confines; they are
seldom filled, and the supply is ever deficient. The population is from
6,000 to 8,000, amid which the Parsee, the Mohammedan, Jew, Portuguese,
and other nationalities compete for the commerce of the interior. The
natives are of varied castes, the Samiles the most energetic and
prevailing type. The in