Page 428 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XX.] SOUTHERN ARABIA. 401

sent an express to Aden, requesting to see
me; and desiring, if willing, that I should

accompany a large cafila, which was to leave
the town on the following day. On the morning
of the 5th of March we mounted our camels,
and set forward. Our route, after leading
a
over and between several mounds, containing
the ruins of the suburbs of the former city,
extended in a north-west direction along a
broad valley, which terminated at the distance
of a mile from the town, in a narrow defile.
The sandstone rocks on either side have an
extraordinary appearance. They expose al­
ternately red, purple, or yellow streaks, ex­
tending in nearly a vertical direction, and

exhibiting, by the brightness and variety of
their colouring, a singular contrast to the
sombre hue of the limestone by which they
were surrounded. Ascending by a steep and
rocky road, for about four hundred feet, we
arrived at a spot where the first gate has been
placed. Near to this, the natural limits of
the ravine are so contracted, that they have
been widened by art, the marks of the chisels
still remaining on the face of the rock. An
abutment of masonry on either side, and
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