DESERT CARRIAGE.
The whole distance is traversed without inconvenience, in carriages, on horseback, on chairs, or on donkeys; the latter a very superior animal to those in this country. The Egyptian ass is easy in his pace, capable of great fatigue, and, it is said, will perform the whole distance with but little provender.
Travellers now embark on board the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer, and, as soon as the luggage has been shipped, and every other arrangement made, the anchor is weighed, and the steamer starts for Aden. Beyond certain historical associations, the Red Sea presents little that can interest the traveller in his brief and expeditious trip. The shores are dreary and barren, and are only agreeable to the eye of the landsman, because they present a somewhat less monotonous scene than the expanse of "blue above and blue below," which distinguishes the ocean in parts remote from land.
ADEN.
Aden, which was formerly called "Portus Romanicus," is a town of the Yemen, which, from its position, and now, on account of its recent occupation by the English, promises to become a commercial and military station of great importance. The town is built on the crater of an exhausted volcano, and is situate at the extremity of a small peninsula, formed of volcanic matter, and attached to the continent solely by a low neck of land from 500 to 600 yards wide, and which might be easily isolated by a canal. The harbour is a magnificent basin, capable of containing an immense fleet; and is entered by a narrow passage between two other craters. It would be easy to establish defensive works on the rocks, which would place the fort in safety against any attack. One redoubt has been already raised, as a security against the Arabs, ever ready to attack the English. From this point to the gate of the town has been traced a road of about a league in length, by which the defile is reached that forms the entrance to Aden. This defile is being fortified with a gate, evidently constructed to resist other attacks than those of the Arabs, and is about 100 yards long, and four or five wide; it is cut out of a rock which stands 150 yards above the level of the sea. A formidable battery, commanding the entrance, is in process of being erected above the rock on the left of the defile. A covered way, with an arch thrown from one rock to another, unites the system of defence which the batteries on the summit of the rocks on the left will complete.
In despite of sickness and desolation, the population of Aden has greatly augmented in a short space of time. When first occupied, the population did not exceed 4,000; it is now upwards of 30,000; and every morning at daybreak 50 to 200 camels may be seen coming into the town, laden with the produce of the interior, provisions, vegetables, &c., to console and comfort the otherwise benighted occupants of this extinguished crater. The fact is, the security to property afforded by a residence within the limits of British possession and influence, has contributed, in no inconsiderable degree, to this outward sign of prosperity.
An hotel on the sea-shore, kept by some enterprising Parsees from Bombay, and a great number of donkeys, attended by their drivers or proprietors (little woollyheaded urchins), offer to the passenger who may go ashore, the contrast of a dinner of fish and a ride to the town and cantonment of Aden. Beyond these, the attractions of the place may be represented by a cipher.
At Aden the steamer takes in a supply of coal, and then starts for Ceylon; which island she reaches in ten days, and where she remains but for a few hours. Here will be found a branch steamer ready to start for China; and, to the traveller thenceward, we can promise that this portion of the journey, touching at Penang and Singapore, en route, will surpass in picturesque and romantic scenery all that his eye has hitherto beheld—we do not mean to say that, in many parts of Europe or America, there are not isolated spots equally beautiful and sublime; but, whether, for a continuous sea-journey of so many miles, for the most part, in water as smooth as a "milk pan," it can be equalled? certainly, it cannot be surpassed. The voyage from Ceylon to Penang is commonly made in six days,—the steamer stopping there six hours; that to Singapore in three days, with a stay of twenty-four hours; and, finally, to Hong Kong, in another six days. Four days under steam from Ceylon carry us to Madras, where, after another supply of fuel, we proceed to Calcutta, occupying four days in the trip; and there terminates our interesting journey. We have given a brief description of the three last-named places in the section appropriated to the details of the homeward trip, and therefore consider it unnecessary to offer any remarks here.