more than bare north, owing to the current, so that on falling in with the land we were little less than sixty leagues short of Aden.  We continued our course with a good breeze all day, but shortened sail during the night, not to overshoot Aden, having for the most part twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, twelve, ten, and eight fathoms water.  At sun-set on the 7th, we suddenly got sight of Aden, which stands at the foot of a barren mountain, where one could scarcely have expected to find a town; but it has been placed here for strength, being very defensible, and not to be easily won, if the defendants are men of resolution, and are provided with victuals and ammunition.  To seaward, though in a manner dry at low water, there stands a high rock, rather larger than the Tower of London, which is very steep, and not easily ascended by an enemy, having but one narrow passage to go up by means of steps, where four resolute men may withstand a multitude.  This rock is walled, flanked, and furnished with cannon, and seems to me capable of commanding both the town and road; yet any ship may anchor in nine fathoms beyond reach of its guns.  The anchorage under its command is in nine fathoms downwards.  At a little distance, northwards of the former rock, is another of small compass, quite low, and almost even with the water, on which likewise there is a fort well furnished with ordnance.  I could not learn what garrison is usually kept at Aden, but as occasion requires it has reinforcements from other towns in the interior.  It is supplied with provisions partly from the low adjoining country, and partly by means of barks from Barbara, on the opposite coast of Abexin,[353] whence they bring cattle, grain, and other provisions, with myrrh and frankincence.  Aden is in lat. 12 deg. 35’ N. the variation being 12 deg. 40’.[354] The tide, by estimation, flows between six and seven feet at the change of the moon.  The mountain, at the foot of which this city is built, is a peninsula jutting out to seaward, joined to the main by a narrow neck of sandy ground, beyond which a large extent of marsh-like ground stretches towards the interior mountains, which may be some sixteen or twenty miles from the town.

[Footnote 353:  Abyssinia, as Downton always names this north-east coast of Africa, but which ought rather to be called the coast of Adel or Zeyla, Abyssinia being, properly speaking, confined to the interior mountainous country at the head of the Nile.  The south-west coast of the Red Sea indeed, from Swaken south-east to the Straits of Bab-al-Mondub, is generally called the coast of Habash, or Abyssinia, although its ports are all occupied by Turks or Arabs.—­E.]

[Footnote 354:  The latitude of Aden is in 12 deg. 45’ N. and its longitude nearly 45 deg.  E. from Greenwich.—­E.]