After afternoon tea we all adjourned to the ‘Sunbeam,’ where we found many other friends already arrived or arriving.  We had only just time to look round before the sun set, and the short twilight was succeeded by the swift tropical darkness.  All too soon good-bye had to be said; the anchor was raised, and we were actually drifting slowly along under our head canvas before our friends took their departure.  It was a lovely evening, with a light fair breeze, and although there appeared hardly any wind, it was wonderful how swiftly we crept out of the harbour, and, as sail after sail was spread, how rapidly we glided past the land.

Our visit to Aden has been short but very agreeable; it is not by any means such a dreadful place as we had always fancied.  Most of the people we have seen to-day seem rather to like it; there is good boating, excellent sea fishing, moderate shooting, and many rides and excursions.  A vehicle of some sort is an absolute necessity, however, if you want to see anything of your friends, for the three divisions of the settlement are at least four miles apart, and the heat is far too great for driving or riding in the middle of the day, except on business.  I cannot say, however, that we ourselves found it intolerably hot to-day.

CHAPTER XXVII.

TO SUEZ.

                               Round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck; boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Tuesday, April 17th.—­The breeze still continued and freshened, and we sailed along pleasantly before it, finding it a great relief to be rid of the thud and beat of the engine.  There is no vibration, but the noise is unpleasant.  About eleven o’clock we passed the island of Perim, a most desolate-looking place.  I do not wonder that officers so much dislike being quartered there.  It is an important position though, and is shortly to be strengthened, when water-tanks will be built, and attempts made to cultivate the soil.  At present there does not appear to be a blade of vegetation, and on the side we passed, between the island and the coast of Arabia, nothing is to be seen but the little white lighthouse and the path leading up to it.  On the southern side there is a very fair harbour and a moderate town.  On the shore all round the island turtles are caught at the season when they land to deposit their eggs.  To pass the island of Perim we sailed through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, or ‘Gate of Tears,’ thus called on account of the numerous wrecks which took place there in former years.  Once through the straits, we were fairly in the Red Sea.  The colour of the Red Sea is certainly the bluest of ultramarines.  In the afternoon the town of Mocha Yamen, celebrated alike for its breed of Arab horses and its coffee, was visible from the masthead.  It is a large white town, full of cupolas and minarets, surrounded with green as far as irrigation extends, and looking like a pearl set in emeralds on the margin of the deep blue sea against a background of red and yellow sand-mountains.  Later in the afternoon we passed Great and Little Hamish, where the P. and O. boat, ‘Alma,’ was wrecked some fifteen years ago, and during the night sailed by Jebel Zibayar and Tukar.