'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎22] (37/1050)

22
ADA.-A.DE
sarcophagi are of gypsum cement, about 5 feet long, 1 foot 8 inches broad and 2 feet
deep ; the thickness of the sides is about 4 inches ; they are buried 3 to 4 feet below
ground and a large number of stones of irregular shape, each about 2 cubic feet in
content are piled over them. There are no inscriptions. A copper coin found there
seemed to be Persian, of Baghdad mintage, belonging to the 17 th or 18th century
A.D.
As used in Bahrain and Hasa the term 'Adan designates the whole desert tract which
extends along the coast between the Qatif Oasis and Kuwait. See Barr-al- 'Adan.
'ADAN (BARR-AL-)—
A term sometimes applied by mariners to the entire coastal region between the towns
of Kuwait and Qatif in Eastern Arabia. Bedouins, however, seem to be unaware of
any such general application of the name ; and among them, as among the settled
population of the Kuwait Principality also, the term 'Adan is only understood as
referring to the small tract near Kuwait Town which is described in this Gazetteer
under the title 'Adan.
The shore between Kuwait and Qr.tlf is a low sandy and stony desert with occasional
date-groves, owned by Bedouins, and a few isolated hills at intervals; it is fronted
throughout almost its entire length by extensive reefs, which in places have a passage
between them and the mainland ; the bottom of the sea in many parts consists of white
clay, and the water in consequence is not generally so clear as it is further to the south.
The pearl banks decrease in number off this coast, and, though there are some small
pearl fisheries further to the northwards, they may be said to end near Abu 'Ali island.
The districts composing Barr-al- 'Adan are enumerated in the articles upon the Kuwait
Principality and the Hasa Sanjaq, and most of them form the subject of separate articles
under their own names.
ADAR—
A hamlet in lower Mesopotamia, situated about 6 or 7 miles north-west from Qurnah.
'ADARI ( or 'ADHARI)—
A spring in Bahrain Island [q. v.),
'AD A WIN—
An alternative name for the Ziyainah tribe {q. v.) of Bahrain.
'ADD (J abal) —
The large islet of the group known as Jazair Suwadi (q. v.) off the Batinah coast
of the 'Oman Sultanate,
ADEN (PORT) —
The principal seaport of the Aden Protectorate (g.v.). It is situated in Lat. 12° 45'
N., Lo ig. 45° 4' E., on a pen.nsula near the entrance to ths Red Sea, anJ about
100 miles east of the Straits of Bab-al-Mandab. The penh.sula of Aden consists
chiefly of a mass of barren and desolate volcanic rocks, extending 5 miles from east to
west, and 3 from its northern shore to Ras Sanaikh, or Cape Aden, its most southerly
point; it is connected with the mainland by a neck of fiat, sandy ground only a few
feet high ; and its greatest elevation is Jabal Shamsham, 1,725 feet above the level of
the sea. The town is built on the eastern coast, in what is probably the crater of an
extinct volcano, and is surrounded by precipitous rocks that form an admirable natural
defence. There are two harbours, a small one on the east protected by the island of Sirah
but now partially choked with mud and only used by trading dhows and fishing boats,
and the main harbour formerly called Aden Back-bay, or by the Arabs, Bandar Tawahi',
on the western side of the peninsula, which at all periods of the year admits vessels
drawing 29 feet.
Aden was captured and annexed to British India on the 16th of January, 1839. This
is the date usually accepted, though one authority gives the 20th January. From time to
time additional land on the mainland has been acquired by cession or purchase. Further
inland, and along the coast, all the Arab chiefs are under the politiw control of the British