The Inhabitants Of Aden Appear To Be A Peaceable Race, Generally Well
Affected To The Government, From Which They Cannot Fail To Derive
Advantage.
The Jews, as I have before mentioned, are the most
important, both in consequence of their number and of their superior
wealth; they belong to the tribe of Judah, and are very industrious,
being the manufacturers of the place.
It is by the Jews and their families, the females assisting, that a
coarse kind of cloth, employed for their own garments, and also sold
to strangers, is spun and woven. This cloth is in much esteem
amongst the Arabs: when prepared for them, it is dyed blue, sometimes
ornamented with red borders, indigo being employed, together with
extracts from other plants. The women generally wear a single loose
garment, covering the head with a handkerchief when they leave the
house; they do not, however, conceal their faces. Previous to the
occupation of Aden, the Jewesses were remarkable for the propriety of
their manners, but as they are esteemed handsome, and moreover attract
by their good temper and intelligence, it is to be feared that they
will meet with many temptations to depart from the decorum they have
hitherto maintained. Like their sex and peculiar race, they are
fond of ornaments, adorning themselves with large silver ear-rings,
bracelets, necklaces, and armlets. Hitherto, whatever wealth they
possessed, they were obliged to conceal, the Arabs proving very severe
and oppressive masters; their prospects are now brightening, and they
have already shown a disposition to profit by the new order of things,
having opened shops in the bazaar, and commenced trading in a way they
never ventured upon before.
Nor is it in spinning and weaving alone that the Jews of Aden excel;
artizans in silver and copper are to be found amongst them, together
with stone-cutters, and other handicrafts-men. They have a school for
the education of their male youth, the females not having yet enjoyed
this advantage, in consequence of the intolerance of the Arabs, who
view with prejudiced eyes every attempt to emancipate women from the
condition to which they have been so long reduced.
The means of instruction possessed by the Jews of Aden are not very
extensive, a few printed Bibles and MS. extracts forming the whole
of their literature. It has been thought that missionaries would here
find a fair field for their exertions; but, unfortunately, the most
promising places in the East are, by some mistake, either of ignorance
or ambition, left wholly destitute of Christian teachers. While the
pledges of Government are compromised in India, and its stability
threatened, by the daring attempts to make converts at the
presidencies, and other considerable places, where success is
attended with great noise and clamour, many portions of the Company's
territories, in which much quiet good might be effected, are left
entirely without religious aid.
The Banians, though small in number, rank next to the Jews in
importance, and are, perhaps, more wealthy; they are not, however,
so completely identified with the soil, for they do not bring their
families with them when emigrating to Aden from the places of their
birth.
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