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[Page 52]

Lieut. Col. Nash.

S.S. Kyarra
Off Aden
6-1-15.

My dear Car Joseph Kitty:/

11-55 p.m. with us, 5-5 a.m. on 7-1-15 with you. The Kyarra dropped anchor in the outer harbour at Aden about 3-30 p.m. The O.C., Captain, with attendant officers, went ashore on official business, and returned about 6 p.m. The important news brought by them concerned the sinking of a large man of war in the English Channel, The Audacious said to be her name. One of the largest and latest of the British fleet. Bad fortune. Many lives of good and well trained men no doubt were lost with the ship.

Aden is an odd looking outpost of the Empire. The serrated crest of the steep hills which form a background for the English settlement look as if not long ago they had been thrown straight up out of the ocean, and no alteration has taken place in the contour of the sides and peaks as the result of age and storms. The buildings, and the many signal stations perched on the most outstanding points, bespeak an importance derived from other source than the land. How different from Colombo & Ceylon where the land was overflowing with milk & honey. Here no trees no grass no verdure. Yet there is said to be a large native resident population away beyond the area occupied by the garrison. For untold ages on the shores of the Bay of Aden there have been traders with Arabia and Asia as their background and the Coast of Africa, Somaliland, Abyssenia – just across the water. The gate to Asia it must be from this point of the Compass. Those officers

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