CHAPTER VIII.Arrival at Aden—Arabia the Ancient Nursery of Commerce—How Aden became a British Possession—Description of the Peninsula, Town, Tanks, &c.—Departure from Aden—Perim—Sight the Comet—Crossing the Desert—Arrival in England.
Arrival at Aden—Arabia the Ancient Nursery of Commerce—How Aden became a British Possession—Description of the Peninsula, Town, Tanks, &c.—Departure from Aden—Perim—Sight the Comet—Crossing the Desert—Arrival in England.
On the 25th September, just one week after leaving the Seychelles, the “Granada” arrived at Aden, where we expected to meet with the steamer from Bombay on her way to Suez.
The “Simla,” the vessel expected from Bombay, had not arrived; and there being no hotel at Aden, the passengers were thrown upon the small village at Steamer Point, to find accommodation as best they could. This is a subject of continuedcomplaint, and one great objection to the overland route, which the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company might easily obviate by erecting an hotel with reasonable charges, and keeping a steamer in the port of Aden until such time as the hotel is adapted for use. The accidents occurring in the Red Sea, and the frequent breaking down of the machinery of some of these vessels, will render a reserve vessel always necessary either at Suez or Aden; and, under existing circumstances, for the accommodation of passengers arriving at the latter place, and awaiting the irregular arrival of the company’s ships, Aden ought never to be without a reserve vessel.
For myself, I always make it a point to pay respect to my flag, and therefore paid my respects to the chief authority at Aden, Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident and Commandant of the forces at Aden.
The Brigadier was kind enough to give me a very hearty invitation to reside with him while at Aden; and Mrs. M’Leod and myself felt the benefit of the change from the “Granada,” inthe harbour of Back Bay, to the Brigadier’s cool bungalow on Steamer Point.
Bunder Toowaï, or Aden Harbour, has at various periods of the world’s history commanded the commerce of the East; and, from the remotest antiquity, it has been an emporium for the great commercial nation of the age. It is not, therefore, surprising that at the present date the British flag should float triumphantly over the seaport of the Queen of Sheba.
On looking at a chart of the world we are at once struck with the position of Arabia, whose seaport Aden is.
It is almost insular, lying between Asia, Africa, and India. On two sides it is bounded by the ocean, on a third by the desert, and on the fourth side it was thepoint d’appuiof the commerce established, by way of the Persian Gulf, between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
On the one side it has Egypt, on the other Palestine, Syria, Babylon, Chaldea; and the Divine Creator has given it the patient and unwearied camel, the ship of the desert, to cross the ocean of sand which divides it from those countries.
On the east lies the Gulf of Persia, which, by the river Euphrates, reaches the heart of Western Asia; while the island of Ormus forms a stepping-stone from its coast to that of India.
On the west the Red Sea protects it from the invasion of the Ethiopian nations; placing it in communication with Egypt and Abyssinia: while on the south the continent of Africa, at the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, visibly invites the natives of Arabia to visit its coasts.
Thus it is protected by a desert of sand, for the crossing of which there is an animal specially provided on the one side; and on two others by the ocean, which along six hundred miles of its coast invites the enterprise of its inhabitants to search for richer lands.
By its proximity to Africa, from which it is visible, the western shore of the Indian Ocean became known to the Arabs at an early date, with all its gold, pearls, precious stones, and valuable woods and spices; and, by way of the Persian Gulf, these first pioneers of commerce found a route to its eastern shores, and likewise formed colonies in Western India.
When we remember that the Arabs were the first astronomers, it is natural to suppose that these early observers of the heavens had, from the south of Arabia, remarked that the wind blew from one quarter half the year, and from the opposite for the remainder; and thus had been acquainted with the regularity of the monsoons for ages before this wonderful phenomenon of nature dawned upon the mind of the Greek philosopher and mariner, Hippalus.
The knowledge of this remarkable fact would enable them to put to sea with confidence, in search of the Arabian colonies already formed in India and Africa.
From the former country did they obtain a knowledge of the needle which points ever to the pole? This is probable, for the inhabitants of China were acquainted with the mariner’s compass ages before Flavio Gioia of Amalfi gave it to guide the wonderful discoveries of the European era of conquest; and from the remotest antiquity China had commercial relations with India.
From the Arab word “Maussem” (meaning “remarkable epoch”) the modern name, monsoon, forthe periodical winds which blow in the Indian Ocean, is derived; and we know that when Vasco de Gama arrived at Mozambique, the Arab dhows which he met with there, trading to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, Madagascar, and India, were all supplied with an astrolabe, or instrument for taking the altitude of the sun, moon, and stars, and with the mariner’s compass. This is very natural; the Arabs had been astronomers and navigators for many ages.
More than ten centuries before the advent of the Messiah, these Arabs must have traded with India and Ophir, or Sofala, in East Africa, for we find that the Queen of Sheba, or Saba or Yemen or Arabia (all names for the land of the Arabs), on visiting Solomon at Jerusalem,B.C.981, “gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones; there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”[5]
These spices came from India, or north-eastern Africa, and the gold and precious stones fromOphir;[6]for we have already proved that not one of these articles was the produce of Arabia. In the time of Moses spices were known and much used among the Hebrews, and the nearest places for obtaining them were north-eastern Africa, the Malabar coast and Ceylon, through the Arab’s emporium at Aden.
Aden has been successively occupied by the Persians and the Romans, and, in more modern times, by the Turks, and the Portuguese. It became a British possession under the following circumstances, as stated by Captain Playfair, assistant political agent, in his “History of Arabia Felix or Yemen” recently published, with the sanction of the Honourable East India Company.
On the morning of the 4th of January, 1836, the Madras ship, “Deria Dowlat,” under British colours, went on shore in the Koobet Sailán, a few miles distant from Aden, having on board a valuable cargo, and a number of pilgrims bound for Jedda. As daylight dawned she was boarded by crowds of Arabs from Aden, who plundered her of everything that could be removed. The passengers,amongst whom were several ladies of rank, landed on rafts, in doing which fourteen perished. The survivors were seized by the Arabs, stripped naked, and the females subjected to the most brutal indignities, and only saved from being carried off into the interior by the intercession of the Seyed of Aidroos, an influential family in Aden, who supplied them with food and clothing.
The government of Bombay felt bound not only to demand redress for this outrage, but to take such further precautions as should preclude the recurrence of similar atrocities.
For this purpose Captain Haines, I.N., was despatched to Aden in the Honourable Company’s sloop-of-war, “Coote;” and he was instructed, in the event of his negotiations proving successful, to endeavour to obtain the place by purchase, in order that British commerce in the Red Sea might be placed on a safer footing for the future, and that a secure coal depôt for the vessels engaged in the overland transit might be established.
On Captain Haines arrival at Aden, he had an interview with the Sultan of Aden, when the latter denied, most solemnly, all knowledge of, orparticipation in, the atrocity with which he was charged; but as the property of the “Deria Dowlet” was being sold publicly in the market, his assertion was not received. A formal demand was accordingly made for the sum of 12,000 dollars, as an indemnity, or the entire restitution of the plundered property. After much negotiation, goods to the value of 7,808 dollars were restored; and the Sultan passed a bill, at twelve months’ sight, to Captain Haynes, for the remaining 4,192 dollars.
Having thus settled the primary object of his mission, Captain Haynes succeeded in obtaining from the Sultan a written bond, dated 23rd January, 1838, that he would cede the peninsula on which Aden is built to the British in the following March, in consideration of an annual pension of 8,700 dollars. But before this could be embodied in a treaty, a plot had been formed by the Sultan’s son for the seizure of the papers and person of the political agent after the parting interview. Intelligence of the meditated treachery having reached Captain Haines, the interview was evaded, and he proceeded to Bombay.
On the 24th October, he again returned to Aden, authorized by his government to enforce the completion of the stipulated agreement.
Captain Haynes’ requisition to the Sultan was met with language and conduct the most violent and insulting. The Sultan refused to allow the plundered property, which had formerly been restored, to be removed from Aden: he issued orders that the “Coote” should not be supplied with water or provisions, and his soldiers fired upon the pinnace of that vessel, without the slightest provocation, slightly wounding two sailors.
In consequence of these outrages the port was blockaded; but ere a month had elapsed the Sultan begged a truce of three days, which he treacherously employed in sending a boat to Saiárah, on the African coast, whence the “Coote” was supplied with provisions, to endeavour, by a bribe of 200 dollars, to induce the Somalies to murder all the English who landed there.
On the 18th December, the H.C. schooner “Mahi” and the barque “Anne Crichton,”laden with coals, arrived; a most significant intimation to the Sultan, had he chosen to accept it, that the British were determined to enforce the fulfilment of the agreement into which he had voluntarily entered.
On the 11th of January a skirmish took place off Seerah Island, between the battery on the Mole, and the schooner “Mahi,” with two gunboats. Two seamen were wounded, and about twenty or thirty of the Arabs puthors de combat. On the 16th of January a force, consisting of H.M.S. “Volage,” 28 guns, under the command of Captain Smith, H.M.S. “Cruizer,” 10 guns, with 300 European and 400 native troops, commanded by Major Baillie, arrived at Aden. A final message was sent to the Sultan, directing him to deliver up the place; but as this was not complied with the town was bombarded and taken by assault. The loss on the side of the British was 15, and on that of the Arabs 150 men, killed and wounded.
The garrison consisted of 700 soldiers from the interior, and the remaining population did notexceed 600, of whom a great proportion were Jews. The Sultan, his family, and a number of the chief people of the city effected their escape to Láhej.
Thus Aden fell into the hands of the British, being the first capture in the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and from this period the process of its restoration to something like its former importance was not less rapid than had been its decline.
I have been thus particular in giving the official account of the British conquest of Aden, as various erroneous statements have been made relative to its seizure by England. These statements are marked by that ignorance which usually accompanies the malevolent attacks on “perfide Albion.”
The British settlement of Aden is a peninsula of about fifteen miles in circumference, of an irregular oval form, five miles in its greater and three miles in its lesser diameter, connected with the continent by a low, narrow neck of land, 1,350 yards in breadth, but which is in one place nearly covered by the sea at high spring tides.
The formation of Aden is purely volcanic, and bears the appearance of having been in recent activity. It is supposed that the peninsula was originally an island, and became gradually connected by the accumulation of sand in the narrow channel which intervened between it and the mainland.
The whole peninsula is a large crater, formed by lofty and precipitous hills, the highest of which, Shumshum, has an elevation of 1,755 feet, but, being entirely destitute of vegetation, looks much higher.
The range of hills which forms the wall of the crater is nearly circular: on the western side the hills are very precipitous, and the rain-water descending from them is carried rapidly to the sea; on the interior, or eastern side, the hills are quite as abrupt, but the descent is broken by a table-land occurring midway between the summit and the sea-level, which occupies about one-fourth of the entire superficies of Aden. This plateau is intersected by numerous ravines, nearly all of which converge into one valley, which thus receives the drainage of the peninsula. From theremotest times this provision of nature has been seized upon for supplying the town of Aden with water. Tanks of various dimensions, and the most fantastic shapes, have been formed, in many cases by simply building a dyke across a ravine; while they are so constructed that on the overflowing of one the water reaches the next—and thus a complete chain has been formed, reaching the heart of the town.
The annual fall of rain in Aden is very limited, seldom exceeding seven inches; and as the neighbouring country is in too unsettled a state to restore the aqueduct built by the Sultan of Yemen, Melek-el-Mansoor, towards the close of the fifteenth century, which conveyed the water of the Bir Hameed into Aden, and it having been found that increasing the number of wells does not proportionately increase the supply of water, recourse is now being had to condensing the water of the bay into fresh water.
The scarcity of water in such a climate, and at a place of such importance, both in a commercial and also a strategic light, is a matter of serious consideration, and is engaging all the energies ofBrigadier Coghlan to remedy, by clearing out and repairing all the ancient tanks.
The town and the principal portion of the military cantonments are within the crater already described, and consequently they are surrounded on all sides by hills, except on the eastern face, where a gap exists opposite the fortified island of Sheerah. This inlet is called Front or East Bay.
The crater has been cleft from north to south, and the rents thus produced are called the northern and southern passes; the former, better known as the main pass, is the only entrance into the town from the interior or from the harbour.
When this town was visited by Captain Haynes, of the Indian navy, the ruin of Aden appears to have been complete. It was nothing but a wretched village, built on the ruins of the former city, containing about ninety stone houses, in a dilapidated state, and only one mosque in a state of repair. The remainder of the dwelling-places were miserable huts made of mats. Its trade was annihilated, its wells brackish from neglect, and everything bearing the mark of ruin and decay.
Since the conquest in 1839, how rapidly has it changed! A neat and well-built town has superseded the former squalid-looking village. The population has increased from 600 to 25,000; while the value of the trade, including imports and exports, amounts to upwards of one million sterling per annum.
All the ancient defences have been abandoned, and the place has been entirely re-fortified. Strong by nature, immense sums have been expended, and the highest engineering skill employed, to render it impregnable to any probable attack. Nothing short of a large European force, naval and military, supplied with a complete siege train, could succeed in making any impression on it; and as long as Great Britain rules the ocean, with the aid which our navy would render in case of being attacked, it may be deemed impregnable, and pronounced the British Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean.
Curious coins have frequently been found after heavy rains, and also some highly interesting Himyaritic inscriptions. One had reached the Brigadier’s hands while we were at Aden, and wewere politely favoured with a view of what may, by some, be deemed a portion of the inscription on the tomb of the Queen of Sheba.
On the 29th of September, the “Simla” called at Aden, and we took leave of our hospitable host, embarked, and were steamed out of Aden that evening.
At daylight on the next day we were off Perim, a small island commanding the entrance of the Red Sea, which has lately been re-occupied by the British.
As this island holds a very important position in the event of war, and is attached to the government of Aden, some account of it may be acceptable to the general reader.
By the Arabs it is called Mayoon; to the ancients it was most probably known as the island of Diodorus. It is situated in the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, a mile and a half from the Arabian shore, and eleven miles from the coast of Africa. The safe channel for shipping is on the north or Arabian side, and is barely half a mile in width. The passage on the southern shore is exceedingly difficult, and may with alittle ingenuity be made impassable. It will thus be seen, that with suitable fortifications, rendered bomb-proof, and built with a ventilation so that the smoke of the gunpowder would clear away to enable the gunners to keep up a constant fire, Perim may command the passage of the Red Sea, and, if provided with impregnable fortifications, no fleet could force the passage.
Of late years, in consequence of increasing steam navigation in the Red Sea, the attention of the British government has been directed to the necessity of a lighthouse to facilitate the navigation of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. And as the French government had early in 1857 despatched a ship-of-war to hoist the tri-color on this island, the political agent at Aden, very probably on being apprized of the circumstance, despatched the assistant political agent, Capt. R. L. Playfair, to Perim, for the purpose of re-occupying an island which, in the hands of Great Britain, will be a Pharos for the Red Sea, instead of a standing menace to the peaceful navigation of the East. With this intention the works have been already commenced, and Perim will soon become anotherlink of that chain which shows our power to enlighten ignorance, and, if need be, to check arrogance.
The formation of Perim is purely volcanic, and consists of long, low, and gradually sloping hills, surrounding an excellent harbour, about a mile and a half in length, and half a mile broad. This capacious harbour has a depth of from four to six fathoms in the best anchorage, and could easily accommodate a numerous fleet of ships, having a large draught of water, should they be required for the protection of the island. About one-fourth of the island, on the north side, consists of low plains of sand and coral, scantily covered with salsola, sea-lavender, wild mignonette, and other plants which delight in a salt sandy soil. The remainder of the island is covered with a layer of loose boulders, or masses of black vesicular lava, in some places so thickly set as to resemble a rude pavement. Captain Playfair states the highest point of the island to be 245 feet above the level of the sea.[7]
Perim has never been permanently occupied by any nation except the British. The great Albuquerque landed upon it in 1513, on his return from his unsuccessful expedition in the Red Sea. He erected a cross upon an eminence, and called the island Vera Cruz.
The pirates who kept the Indian Ocean in such a state of excitement, during a great portion of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, made this their stronghold for some time; but having dug through the solid lava a distance of fifteen feet in search of water, they abandoned their intention of settling there, and took up their abode in St. Mary’s island, on the east coast of Madagascar. In 1799, a force from Bombay, under Lieutenant Colonel Murray, was sent to occupy it, with the view of preventing the French troops, then engaged in the occupation of Egypt, from proceeding to India to effect a junction with Tippoo Saib. The troops were subsequently withdrawn, and it has remained unoccupied until the British standard was again hoisted upon it in 1857.
There being no water on the island, and but a scanty supply to be obtained from the adjoiningmainland, the water-tanks which have been lately constructed are supplied from Aden, and reservoirs to collect the rain are being erected, which, together with a condensing apparatus, will fully supply its wants in this respect.
In proceeding up the Red Sea the weather was oppressively hot, and at night the majority of the passengers were to be found on deck—sleep being almost out of the question. In the day time the awnings—good, strong, and thick as they were, well fitted, and beautifully spread—afforded but a poor protection against the powerful sun. From noon to three in the afternoon one was best below to avoid a sun-stroke, which with some appeared imminent.
The ship was greatly over-crowded with passengers; all invalids, and many of them in a most critical position. There was abundance of discontent, but those on board the vessel were not at all to blame; everything the vessel afforded was dealt out with a liberal hand, and from Captain Cooper, the commodore of the line, to the youngest subordinate, all was attention and civility.
Soon after passing Perim we sighted the comet, and this afforded a subject of wonder and conversation to all. Two days before arriving at Suez, the coals in the bunkers ignited, and the fire was kept down by large applications of water; but the matter was well concealed by the officers of the “Simla,” and I believe that few of those on board were aware of the great danger we were in at one time.
We arrived at Suez on the morning of the 6th October, and the “Columbia” arrived a few hours after us, with the Australian mails and passengers. As it was telegraphed from Alexandria that the steamer of the Australian line was at anchor in that harbour, and the Peninsular and Oriental steamer had not arrived, of course the “Australians” got the preference, and the “Indians” had to wait until the former were despatched by train.
By a succession of blunders, caused by theemployéson shore, we had neither lunch nor dinner on board the “Simla;” and as we were all hurried to our breakfast at six o’clock in the morning, we were in want of some refreshment on landing at Suez at 4P.M.
At the hotel they could have given us some dinner, but the railway people told them that a sumptuous entertainment was provided on the road.
The railroad not being finished to Suez, we had to perform some portion of the journey in two-wheeled machines, very similar to those used in England for sea-bathing. Each of these machines contained six persons, and they were drawn by two horses in the shafts and two mules for leaders. There were about thirty of these machines to start together, and having formed our party of six, we took possession of one of these vehicles.
All being ready we started off together, amidst a shouting, yelling, cheering, and general vociferation. The vehicles had each a guard and driver, the duty of the guard being to keep company with the mules, and urge them to the utmost speed.
The animals were allowed to breathe about every half hour, after which a general race took place until the next resting-place. At last, some time after dark, when we all began to think thatwe were going on to Cairo in these vehicles without any rest, we suddenly came to a stand-still in the midst of the desert.
The horses were taken out, and as these carriages would not remain upright on the two wheels, we were obliged to turn out. It was very cold, and all that could be seen of a railroad was one single line of rails in the sand.
There were a number of small low canvas tents pitched closely adjoining, but these were for some troops which were expected by the approaching train. We had only to walk about and keep ourselves warm the best way we could; it was very trying for the ladies, and, indeed, for all who were more or less invalids. Some foolish people asked for dinner, and all for the train. After exercising two hours’ patience, a long train made its appearance; but instead of proceeding as soon as we were seated, the officials told us that they dare not start without 2,500 packages of raw silk which the camels were bringing up from Suez. About ten o’clock a long string of these patient, wearied beasts made their appearance, and a littleafter midnight the train was loaded. At one in the morning we started; and while the train was progressing it was amusing to hear these hungry people in their dreams apparently enjoying the most sumptuous banquets. After a journey of one hour the train stopped, and we found large tents containing refreshment, which consisted of one dish, being a description of hash made of camel and vegetables of every variety. Those who could eat this did so, and those who could not, and there were very many, went without.
One hour was allowed for refreshment and then we renewed our journey. In another hour we stopped, the reason for which only a few of the initiated learned. The engineer wanted his supper, and pulled up at his “cabin in the desert.” Here we remained two good hours, while the guard and driver were refreshing themselves on good Irish stew. Some of the passengers induced them to supply their wants, and were very liberal in rewarding them in consequence.
The next morning early we arrived at Cairo, and fortunately we obtained rooms at Shepherd’sHotel, so justly celebrated for its comfort and economy. Many of the passengers suffered severely from the previous twenty-four hours, myself among the number. However, although threatened with an attack of fever, I managed to get into the train again at 2P.M., when it started for the Nile; here we crossed in a steamer, where we came in contact with the “Australians,” whom we had overtaken. The mixing of the two descriptions of people was quite amusing. The haughty soldier, the wealthy planter, and the skilful diplomatists, side by side with the successful miner, the wealthy publican, and the colonial adept. The former marked by the lightness and simplicity of their garments, while the latter were bedecked with massive and ostentatious jewellery sufficient to pay their ransom if seized by the sons of the desert. The Australians all had private feuds, and it was with difficulty that at times they could be prevented from renewing them as the accidents of the journey brought them into collision with each other.
At last we arrived at Alexandria, and finding that H.M. Consul-General had received no telegram forbidding my pushing on to England, I feltbound to continue by the most direct route,—and proceeded by way of Malta, Marseilles, and Paris, arriving in London on 17th day of October, when, twenty minutes after I got out of the train, I reported myself at the Foreign Office.
The subsequent history of the “Charles et Georges” is a matter of public notoriety, and so here I end my narrative.