The midland journal., 1916-05-12
GREAT BRITISH FORT
ADEN ONE OF EMPIRES MOST
PRICED POSSESSIONS.
BY No Means the Least Of Strategic
Points on the Way to india and
the Far East-can Defy
Mighty Fleets.

Alden is the unhappy gateway into
happy Araby, and, moreover, it is one
Of the foremost strategic points on
England's trade route through the Red
sea to India and the Far East, says
war primer issued by the National
Geographic society, which tells Of the
first stronghold on the London-India
route to Withstand a severe attack by
the Turks. One Arabian author says
of the country behind Alden, that coun-
try known as Arabia Felix: "Its in
habitants are all hale and strong, sick
ness is unknown, nor are there poison
Gus plants or animals; nor fools, nor
blind people, and the women are ever
young; the climate is like paradise
and one wears the same garment sum-
mer and winter"
Alden, however, where the British
and Turkish forces are opposing one
another, enjoys none Of these advan-
tages catalogued as inherent in Arabia
Felix.
Spread over its ragged hills Of sun
made ash and cinder, sweltering,
gloomy, and unrelieved by vegetation,
Alden invites little attention in peace
times. '.Aden is valley surrounded
by the sea; it's climate is SO bad that
it turns wine into vinegar In the space
OF ten days." complained one disap-
pointed Arab traveller of the Middle
Ages. And in the centuries since his
visit the climate has not improved. In
spite, nevertheless, of the terrible heat
that gathers ever Aden's valley and
clings to its low hills and its lack Of
a good water supply, the place main
tains reputation as healthy one.
The town is built on desolate vol
canic rocks that constitute peninsula
near the entrance to the Red sea. The
strait of Bab-el-Mandeb lies 100 miles
away; and Alden is the British Gibral-
tar toward the Indian ocean that keeps
an eternal vigilance over the safety OF
the rich English commerce that goes
this way. The British captured and
annexed the place on January 16, 1889,
since which time they have made the
place most emphatic fortress, one
of the strongest anywhere in southern
Asia. Money and labor without stint
have been expended there to make the
city absolutely impregnable from land
and sea. Massive lines Of defense,
strengthened by broad moat, guard
the neck OF the isthmus, and these de-
fenses conceal powerful batteries. Tur
rets, hidden forts, mined harbors,
great naval guns, obstruction piers,
barracks, redoubts in solid rock, all arc
elements in the British plan to guard
this southern end of their important
trade route beyond all possible chance
of failure against superior and sus
tanned attack. Alden may be last in
matters of climate, but it is among the
first in matters of fortifcation.
The narrow peninsula on which this
queen of southern fortresses rears it
self is only about fifteen miles in cir
cumference. It is the bowl Of an ex-
tinct volcano. The lofty hills around
are the remains of the crater sides,
and, Of these, Shem Shem has an alti
tude CT nearly 1900 feet. All food
and water for use on the peninsula has
to be brought in from the outside.
Much of the water is supplied from
the government condensers, which
were designed to make the fortress in.
dependent in case of wars necessities.
The population OF $4,000 is mixture
OF all the elements of the Orient, with
an intersprinkling Of western drum.
mers and British administrators and
military men. Arabs, Chinese, Per-
SLAMS, Turks, Hindus, Parsees, Egyp-
tfans, Soudanese and Jews compose
the stolid, stable population that en-,
dures the climate year in and year out,
and carries on the labors of the great
fortress camp.