Page 50 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

JISTRICTS AND TOWNS 203

in series that the overflow of one reservoir may be conducted into
the succeeding one, and thus a complete chain has been formed.
Of late years it has been the practice to put the tanks up to auction
for a definite period, the highest bidder trusting to a good fall of
rain to recoup his outlay. The water collected used to be sold at
R. 1 per 100 gallons, and, when the tanks are full, the annual
revenue amounts to Rs. 30,000 ; but when the rain fails, and the
tanks are exhausted, a skin containing 5 gallons of brackish well-
water has at times sold for 8 annas.
Shortly before the opening of the Suez Canal the Government
foresaw the necessity of obtaining a plentiful and unfailing supply
of good water, and in 1867 several condensers, on the most approved
principle, were ordered out from England. Six condensers are
now worked by the Government and private companies, capable of
yielding 52,000 gallons a day, or a sufficient supply for 10,400
Europeans at 5 gallons per head. In 1903-4 condensed water was
sold at about R. 1£ per 100 gallons.
The following are the principal towns of the district, with adjacent
islands: ,
1. Aden Town comprises Aden 'prosper, situated on the eastern
side of the peninsula, with a population of some 20,000 ; and
Tawdhi, the port at Steamer Point on the western side of the
peninsula, containing some 700 to 800 houses. The two parts are
separated by a. distance of about four miles and connected by
a good carriage-road. Half-way between them lies the important
village of Mafia, consisting partly of stone houses but chiefly of
mat huts occupied largely by Somalis ; here the local craft anchor,
and nearly all the native trade of the Aden interior is shipped and
loaded. Aden proper faces north-east and consists of some 2,000
or more whitewashed houses of stone or mud, few of which are
noteworthy for their architecture. The streets are regularly laid
out, and the whole town has been practically rebuilt since the
British occupation. The dry bed of a water-course runs down to
the sea from the valley in which the reservoirs are situated, and
divides the town into two nearly equal parts ; it serves to carry off
the surplus of water when the reservoirs happen to overflow.

The only building of any pretension in Aden proper contains the
court-house and treasury office ; the barracks are commodious but
not handsome ; the Protestant church, erected in 1869, is situated
on a hill; and there is a Roman Catholic convent, which, among its
other activities, gives shelter to emancipated slave-girls. The
bazaars are extensive, and are notable for the meiley of strange
peoples, in gorgeous and varied costumes, to be seen there. One of