Before entering upon any description of Aden as it appears to the traveller of to-day, it may be as well to finish such statistics as are necessary here. First, as to the anchorage that Aden affords to shipping. The bay, which attains its greatest length almost due east and west, consists of two distinct portions, the inner and the outer harbour. The former, almost landlocked, extends to a length of some five miles, while the latter is the large portion lying between Little Aden and Aden. The depth varies from three to five fathoms in the western bay and at the entrance, while a couple of miles outside ten and twelve fathoms can be found. A small island in the inner harbour, opposite Tawahi, serves the purpose of a quarantine station. Very considerable improvements have lately been carried out, and the depth of certain anchorage in the inner bay successfully increased by aid of a large dredger—a veritable eyesore amongst the strange and picturesque native craft with which at certain times the bay is crowded. The larger steamers, such as the P. and O. and the Messageries Maritimes, lie at some distance from the shore, toward the mouth of the harbour; but the British India, Austrian Lloyd’s, and several other important lines, bring their ships in close under Steamer Point. This, however, is due to the fact that they usually remain a longer time there, and that it affords them greater and cheaper facilities for coaling. It is, of course, as a coaling-station that Aden is most renowned. In 1891 some 165,000 tons were imported, which, together with the other trade of the colony, brings the value of imports and exports up to a sum of over five millions sterling per annum. What result the opening of the coaling-station on the island of Perim may have on the coal trade of Aden remains yet to be seen, but it seems improbable that, as was said at the time, it will ever become a more important place than the other. Apart from the commerce in coal, there is by no means an unimportant trade carried on with the neighbouring coasts of Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the African coast. This is principally in the hands of native merchants, and a very considerable quantity of the cargo is transported in native sailing craft. The chief articles are hides, coffee, feathers, gums, dyes, spices and perfumes, silk, and mother-of-pearl shells and ivory.