Page:Early English adventurers in the East (1917).djvu/99

Rh before it had got very far with the result that the native nacodah, or master, resigned himself to the inevitable and agreed, for a consideration, to take the English fleet into Aden.

Under the skilled guidance of the Indian pilot the journey was continued, and on the evening of April 7, 1609, the Ascension and the Union dropped anchor under the shadow of the frowning natural ramparts of Aden. If we may judge by Jourdain's diary, they were immensely impressed by the aspect of this "stronge place." We have in the narrator's graphic words a detailed description of the fortress, which might be adopted with very little change as a picture of it as it is to-day. The town, he noted, "is situated in a valley environed about with great mountains, except on the north side, where there are three gates. And on the mountains there are castles and watchhouses round about, with ordnance in them and a watch in all of them, though with few men, for they are situated in such a strong place that one may keep out twenty." "In this ruinated city," continues Jourdain, "there is no fresh water but some wells, which are as brackish as the sea, where the common people drink; and being so used unto it doeth them no hurt. It is an inconsiderable city, for within the walls there is not any green: only your delight must be in the cragged rocks and decayed houses. It does seldom or never rain in this city, which is the reason that there is nothing that groweth within it. It was reported unto us that in seven years they had seen no rain within the city."

The far from cheerful first impressions of the visitors were not removed by closer acquaintance with the town and its inhabitants. Here, as at Surat, there was a presiding genius who looked upon the strangers in the light of