Page 411 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

384
SOUTHERN ARABIA. [CM.

The result justified his anticipations, for he
was eventually obliged to retire without hav­
ing made any impression on it; but from this
5
i period we may date the decline of Aden. It
: :'y
owed its riches and importance to being the
I
entrepot of the Indian trade, so long as it
flowed through Egypt into the cities of
■-
Venice and Genoa; but after the discovery
of the passage round the Cape it fell to de-
cay. Though its commerce had thus re-
ceived its death blow, yet for some time

afterwards it sustained a languid existence.
Its merchants, enriched by their former
gains, continued to reside there, and as the
port of Yemen it still received some supplies.
About the middle of the eighteenth century
the Turks, having held possession for nearly
a hundred years, were compelled to evacuate
Yemen, and Aden again fell into the hands
of its former masters.
It appears, therefore, that this city has been
celebrated from the remotest period, on ac­
count of its commerce and its harbours. Who-

ever might have been the founder the site was
happily selected, and well calculated, by its
imposing appearance, not only to display the