It is strange that sharks do not frequent the harbour at Aden; the more so, as they swarm just outside its mouth. As soon as a steamer drops anchor there, she is surrounded by numbers of little Arab boys, amphibious brats and experts at diving, who clamour for coins to be thrown overboard, which they at once retrieve with amazing dexterity. So nice is their sense of touch under water, that they can at once discriminate between a coin of the realm and a piece of tin cut the exact size. I have often tried the deception, and the diver invariably came to the surface uttering unmistakable exclamations of disgust. The absence of sharks may be accepted as fact, since I never heard of an accident happening to any of these children. Yet boats were constantly coming in with several small sharks on board, taken in the nets, which readily sold for native consumption. The environs of Amherst proved unsatisfactory, especially as dangerous snakes abounded in the rank undergrowth that had almost obliterated what had once been roads and footpaths. Everything told of decay: there were a few _Amherstias_ being slowly killed by parasitic creepers, just as ivy or honeysuckle will sap the vitality of our trees at home. I remember, too, the remains of a once prosperous sugar-factory, the walls of which had been forced asunder by vegetation, which was fast reclaiming the land. The only other points of interest were some enormous samples of sugar-cane, the largest examples of the saccharine bamboo that I had ever beheld. Thankful at being able to return in company, and still smarting from our twofold disappointment, we re-ascended the river at a slow pace. Nevertheless the change had done us a deal of good. CHAPTER XVII. TAVOY. “Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part.” The somewhat tedious journey up the river was to an extent beguiled by a review of our recent experiences, which, if not unique, were by no means commonplace. My friend, taking up the parable, contrasted our present position with what might have been, if he had perforce returned alone. He made one of the longest speeches I ever heard from him, which for obvious reasons I shall not reproduce; remarking, _inter alia_, that he would not have had the courage to face the others without me, and making an unwarrantable pun about the bruising of my sole! As originally arranged, the time of my departure was now drawing nigh. In two days more the steamer that had brought us would take me back, and I should make a fresh start from the “whited sepulchre,” only in the reverse direction.