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ASIA.

ADEN, PERIM, SOKOTRA, AND KURIA MURIA ISLANDS.

Aden is a volcanic peninsula on the Arabian coast, about 100 miles east of Bab-el-Mandeb. It forms an important coaling-station on the highway to the East, and is strongly fortified. The settlement includes Little Aden, a peninsula very similar to Aden itself, and the settlement and town of Shaikh Othman on the mainland with the villages of Imad, Hiswa, and Bir Jabir.

In April, 1905, after demarcation of the frontier, Ottoman and British Commissioners signed an agreement which determines the boundary of the hinterland from Sheikh Murad on the Ked Sea to Bana river, and thence north-east to the great Desert. The settlement also includes the island of Perim at the entrance to the Red Sea, and is subject to the Bombay Govern- ment. The Government is administered by a Political Resident, who is also General Officer commanding the troops.

Political itmfZt^n^— Major-General Sir James A. Bell, K.C.Y.O.

The only Government revenue is from duty on liquor, opium, and salt, and from income tax, court fees and judicial fines ; local taxes go to the Aden Settlement Fund, There is a Port Trust ; the harbour is being dredged.

Area 75 square miles, including the Protectorate, about 9,000 square miles ; of Perim, 5 square miles. Population, in 1911, 46,165 (31,290 males and 14,875 females), against 43,974 in 1901. Imports (1911-12), by sea, 2,472,494Z. ; by land, 170,782Z. ; treasure, 613,967^. Exports, by sea, 2,203,745Z. ; by land, 114,850Z. ; treasure, 613,772Z. These statistics are exclusive of government stores and treasure. In 1911-12, 1,510 merchant steamers of 3,594,888 tons (net) entered the port of Aden ; of these, 804 were British ; local craft, 982, of 30,307 tons. At Perim 517 merchant vessels entered, of which 372 called for coal.

Chief exports : Coffee, gums, hides and skins, piece goods, tobacco. Chief imports : Cotton twist, piece goods, grain, hides and skins, tobacco. Aden itself is non-productive, and the trade is a purely transhipment one, except that from the interior of Arabia.

The island of Sokotra oft' the coast of Africa is under British protection, and the Kuria Muria islands, off the coast of Arabia, are attached to Aden. Area of former, 1,382 square miles. Population about 12,000, mostly pastoral and migratory inland, fishing on the coast. Religion, at one time Christian, Moham- medan since the end of the 17th century. The island came under British pro- tection in 1876, by treaty with the Sultan. Chief products, dates and various gums ; sheep, cattle, and goats are plentiful ; butter is exported. The Kuria Muria Islands, five in number, were ceded by the Sultan of Muskat for the purpose of landing the Red Sea cable.

Rkferences.— Foreign Office Reports. Annual Series. London.

Return : India (Aden), Part I., containing Report on Aden Harbour by Aden Coromis- sion appointed in 1901, and Figures of recent Trade in Aden (163). London, 1905.

Bartet (Dr.), Souvenirs de Croisi6re dans la mer Rouge, Rochefort. 1904.

Bent (J. Th.), Sokotra. In ' XIX Century' Magazine for June, 1897.

Bent (J. Th. and Mrs.). Southern Arabia. London, 1900.

Forbes (H. O.), The Natural History of Sokotra and Abd-el-Kuri. Liverpool 1903.

Kossmat (F."), Geologie der Inseln Sokotra, Semha, &c. Vienna, 1902.

Lucas (Ci P ), Historical Geography of the British Colonies. 2nd, ed. 'Vcl. I. London, 1906..