It Is Stated That The Imaum Of Muscat Asked, In Astonishment,
Whether We Were Mad Enough To Contemplate The Subjugation
Of the
Arabs, the sons of his father Ishmael; since we could not be so
ignorant of our own Scriptures
As not to know that their hands were to
be eternally against every man, and every man's hand against theirs.
But, although the Arabs should continue hostile, while we are masters
of the sea, and can strengthen Aden so completely upon the land-side,
as to render it, what many people believe it can be made, a second
Gibraltar, we have a wide field for commercial speculation in the
opposite coast of Africa.
Aden is, at present, a very expensive possession, and the long period
which has elapsed since our occupation, without preparations
having been commenced for a permanent residence, has occasioned an
apprehension that it may be ultimately abandoned. Many persons are,
however, sanguine in the hope that, as soon as scientific men have
decided upon the best site for a cantonment, buildings will be erected
for the reception of the garrison. These, it is confidently expected,
will be upon a grand scale, and of solid construction. The greater
portion of the materials must be brought from distant places, and
already some of the European inhabitants are conveying from Bombay
those portable houses which are commonly set up during the cold season
on the Esplanade, and which will afford a great improvement upon
the dwellings of bamboos, reeds, and mats, which at present form
the abodes of the officers of this establishment.
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