returned to the Point again by way of the Isthmus, and went to Government House, which gets a fresh breeze from every quarter.  They say that to-day is hotter than usual, but it is never really very oppressive here unless there is an exceptionally hot wind blowing from the desert, but even that is partially cooled before it arrives.  To us it appears delightful after our sultry voyage and the heat at Penang and Singapore.

We are all agreeably disappointed with Aden, and find that it is by no means the oven we expected; it is prettier too than I thought, the mountains and rocks are so peaked and pointed, and although the general effect is one of barrenness, still, if you look closely, every crack and crevice is full of something green.  The soil, being of volcanic origin, is readily fertilised by moisture, and at once produces some kind of vegetation.  This adds of course greatly to the effect of colour, which in the rocks themselves is extremely beautiful, especially at sunrise and sunset.  The sea, too, is delightfully blue on one side of the peninsula, and pale green on the other, according to the wind, and the white surf curls and breaks on the sandy shore beyond the crisp waves.

We went back to the hotel a little before one, and found many friends had called during our absence.  After superintending the children’s dinner, I went with Tom to luncheon at Government House.  It was very pleasant; General and Mrs. Schneider were more than kind, and the house felt deliciously cool and airy.

We are told that thirty miles inland the country is sometimes very beautiful.  There are exquisitely green valleys, with a stream running through them, amongst peaks, and rocky mountains, which one rarely sees in the desert.  Here the natives cultivate their crops of corn—­such corn as it is too, reaching six feet above a man’s head!  All sorts of useful vegetables grow abundantly, besides roses, fruits, and fragrant flowers, large supplies of which are brought daily into Aden.  About ten miles from the town there are acres of the most fertile garden ground, which is cultivated to supply the garrison with vegetables.  Sometimes a party of seventy or eighty men, and ten or twenty Arab guides, goes out for three weeks or a month at a time surveying.  The natives are much more friendly than they used to be a few years ago, when people were afraid even to ride outside the town.  Now pleasant excursions lasting a few days may be made, especially as there is very fair shooting to be got.  After luncheon I was shown some lovely feathers.  The contrast between these and the steamer-feathers is ludicrous; the price, too, is proportionately cheaper, for the feathers are infinitely better.  Long, white, full, and curly feathers can be bought for much less than you give for them in England.  We drove down to the town, finished our business transactions, and then went in the ‘Vestal’s’ steam launch on board the ‘Gamma,’ one of the new Chinese gunboats on her way out to China.