Page 437 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

410
SOUTHERN ARABIA. [ch.
m
He seemed very desirous to establish a more

extended commercial intercourse between
i
m India and Aden, and produced the treaty
which his predecessor had, with the same
view, entered into with Sir Home Popham ;
gj-s
I but during his lifetime it is not likely this

;V will ever be effected.
m Sultan Mahassan is about seventy years of
age, low of stature, of a corpulent habit,
I and a grave and saturnine disposition ; and it

4 might easily be perceived that he was greatly
feared by all around him. The predominant
feature in his character is avarice. His uncle
Ahmed, from whom he inherited the greater
part of the treasure he now possesses, is de­
scribed to have been the bravest and the
most politic of the chiefs of Yemen. He en­
couraged commerce, invited merchants from
India and Egypt to reside in his territories,
had a well-organised body of troops at his
disposal, and Aden then bid fair to recover
some portion of its lost importance ; but Sul­
tan Mahassan in nowise resembles him : from
I the time he first assumed the government
until the present hour, his time has been I