Immediately on our arrival the gate was thrown open, and we entered a veritable paradise—a walled garden many acres in extent, and filled with gorgeous trees and shrubs, which the owner is said to have collected from all quarters of the tropics. Irrigation was carried on by water-wheels and wells, and streamlets flowed in every direction. Under the shade of the large trees summer-houses had been erected of trellis-work, over which jasmine and roses and many a creeper, the name of which I did not know, climbed in luxuriance. In these divans were arranged, and one could enjoy the sight of the flowers in cool shade. Wonderful they were, those shrubs and trees and plants, hung with great masses of bloom of every colour, while here and there tall lilies raised their stately heads. The trees were full of birds, and the garden was sweet with the scent of the flowers and the hum of the insects’ wings. Long into the moonlit night we sat there, until the chill dew told us it was time to seek more secure shelter. Yet in all their loveliness there lurks poison in this paradise, and nearly all our party suffered from fever in consequence of our visit. But few Europeans live in Hodaidah, with the exception of the Greeks. The wife of the British Vice-Consul was the one English lady in the place, the only other British subject, excepting natives of India, &c., being a Maltese gentleman, agent for a British firm. A few Americans, however, are to be found, the trade in skins to America being an important one. Of the other nationalities there are perhaps in all half-a-dozen representatives. During my stay the port was visited by a small Turkish gunboat, the captain of which, whose name I never discovered, paid me a call. He had been educated at the Naval College at Constantinople, and spoke English remarkably well. He was tired of his berth, he said, his weariness being materially added to by the irregularity of his pay. In this respect, he added, he was better off than most of the Turkish soldiers in the Yemen, for they received none at all. Although at Hodaidah the condition of the troops seemed fairly good as regards food and clothing, we had found at more than one place in the interior the soldiers bootless and payless, and receiving as rations only two loaves of bread a-day, one of which they usually ate, the other being exchanged for tobacco. A piastre or two to a soldier won as genuine thanks as ever one heard. It meant little luxuries which his heart longed for, cigarettes and coffee, and which for weeks very likely he had been unable to attain to.