Several times along the road we passed the deep rock-cut tanks that even to-day form the water-supply of the passing caravans. One that we stopped to drink at as evening was approaching bore rough designs of men on horseback, and inscriptions in the Himyaric language cut in the plaster that lined the rock walls. Like so many of these tanks, a flight of steps led to the water’s edge, at the summit of which was a smaller pool, to be filled by hand for the beasts of burden to drink from, and, like the main reservoir, circular in form. The mountains we had seen all the afternoon far ahead of us were now growing nearer, and as evening drew on we found ourselves in a large open valley, semicircular in form, and closed at the far end by steep broken crags. The soil here was well cultivated, though, as we were still nearly nine thousand feet above the sea-level, the young crops had not yet begun to show, and the place looked dreary and burnt up. That the soil must repay cultivation is evident from the great number of wells distributed over the country. At many of these, men, women, and camels were engaged in drawing water. A couple of tree-trunks form uprights to a beam laid across their tops, over which the rope that supports the skins in which the water is raised passes. At the other end of the rope, men, women, or some beast of burden is harnessed. Owing to the great depth of these wells, and the size of the skins used as buckets, the weight to be raised is very great, and the labour of raising it proportionately so. But the natives have discovered a means by which the work is lessened, while at the same time their irrigation is rendered more practicable—namely, by building the wells upon the summits of mounds. A long sloping path leads from the high mouth of the well to the level of the surrounding fields, so that the drawer, harnessed to the end of the rope, is assisted by the centre of gravity, instead of being dependent upon his, her, or its personal strength. This raising of the wells above the fields also renders easy the carrying of the water in little dikes to whatever spot it is needed. The skin, on reaching the well’s mouth, empties itself into a trough from which the water pours into the irrigating channels. The fact that these channels consist of only small ditches adds much to the toil and labour, as the thirsty soil sucks up a large quantity of the fluid before it reaches its destination. However, labour is cheap, and a man, so long as he possesses a donkey, a camel, or a wife to work his well, can sit and smoke and look on himself.