t conspicuous, bear testimony, not less than the
extent and magnitude of the ruinous fortifications, to the
population and splendour of the town under the Ottomans.--(See
WELLSTED'S _Arabia_, vol. ii, chap. 19.) From the time, however, of
its return into the hands of its former owners, its decline was rapid.
Niebuhr, who visited it in the latter part of the last century, says,
that it had but little trade, as its Sheikh [39] (who had long since
shaken off his dependence on the Iman of Sana) was not on good terms
with his neighbors; and, though Sir Home Popham concluded a commercial
treaty with the uncle and predecessor of the present Sultan Mahassan,
no steps appear to have been taken in consequence of this arrangement.

[Footnote 39: The town would appear to have passed into the hands of
another tribe since Niebuhr's time, as he gives the Sheikh the surname
of _El-Foddeli_ (Futhali,) the present chief being of the Abdalli
tribe.]

In 1835, according to Wellsted, the inhabitants of this once
flourishing emporium did not exceed 800, the only industrious class
among whom were the Jews, who numbered from 250 to 300. The
remainder were "the descendants of Arabs, Sumaulis," (a tribe of the
African coast,) "and the offspring of slaves," who dwelt in wretched
huts, or rather tents, on the ruins of the former city. "Not more
than twenty families are now engaged in mercantile pursuits, the
rest gaining a miserable existence either by supplying the Hadj
boats with wood and water, or by fishing." The chief, Sultan Mahassan,
did not even reside in Aden, but in a town called Lahedj, about
eighteen miles distant, where he kept the treasures which his uncle,
who was a brave and politic ruler, had succeeded in amassing. He
reputation for wealth, however, and the inadequacy of his means for
defending it, drew on him the hostility of the more warlike tribes
in the vicinity; and in 1836 Aden was sacked by the Futhalis,
who not only carried off booty to the value of 30,000 dollars,
(principally the property of the Banians and the Sumauli merchants in
the port,) but compelled the Sultan to agree to an annual payment of
360 dollars; while two other tribes, the Yaffaees and the Houshibees,
took the opportunity to exhort from him a tribute of half that amount.
There can be no doubt but that, if the Arabs had been left to
themselves, this state of things would have ended in all the
contending parties being speedily swallowed up in the dominio