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diff --git a/76757-0.txt b/76757-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f04ee22 --- /dev/null +++ b/76757-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9743 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76757 *** + + + + + +A JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEMEN + +[Illustration: BAZAAR AT DHAMAR.] + + + + + A + JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEMEN + AND + SOME GENERAL REMARKS UPON + THAT COUNTRY + + BY + WALTER B. HARRIS, F.R.G.S. + AUTHOR OF + ‘THE LAND OF AN AFRICAN SULTAN; TRAVELS IN MOROCCO’ + + _ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS + TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR_ + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + MDCCCXCIII + + _All Rights reserved_ + + + + + TO + + MY FATHER AND MOTHER + + _I DEDICATE THIS BOOK_. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +But very few words are necessary as a preface to this book, as more than +once in its pages its objects are stated. + +An account of my journey through the Yemen appeared last autumn in a +series of articles in the ‘Illustrated London News,’ and it is with +kind permission of the proprietors of that paper that some of the +illustrations reappear here. Many of the illustrations, however, have not +seen the light of day before. + +The chapter on the Yemen rebellion was published as an article in +‘Blackwood’s Magazine’ for February last. + +The remainder of the book consists of entirely new matter. + +I cannot attempt to thank here the many persons who aided me and rendered +me services during the time I was in the Yemen. Without their assistance +my journey would probably have failed. To them I am most grateful. + + W. B. H. + +_Sept. 1893._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + PART I.—SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON THE YEMEN. + + I. THE YEMEN, 3 + + II. THE YEMEN BEFORE THE HEJIRA, 27 + + III. THE YEMEN SINCE THE HEJIRA, 47 + + IV. THE INFLUENCES OF ISLAM IN THE YEMEN, 70 + + V. THE REBELLION IN THE YEMEN, 92 + + PART II.—A JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEMEN. + + I. ADEN, 121 + + II. ADEN TO LAHEJ, 151 + + III. LAHEJ TO KHOREIBA, 174 + + IV. ACROSS THE TURKISH FRONTIER, 200 + + V. SOBEH TO YERIM, 223 + + VI. YERIM TO DHAMAR, 247 + + VII. DHAMAR TO SANAA, 263 + + VIII. SANAA, THE CAPITAL OF THE YEMEN, 299 + + IX. SANAA TO MENAKHA, 323 + + X. MENAKHA To HODAIDAH, 341 + + XI. HODAIDAH, 358 + + APPENDIX. + + GENEALOGICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL TREE OF THE IMAMS OF SANAA, 374 + + A LIST OF THE IMAMS OF SANAA, GIVING THEIR FULL TITLES, 375 + + PEDIGREE OF THE REIGNING ABDALI SULTAN OF LAHEJ, 376 + + INDEX, 377 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. + + BAZAAR AT DHAMAR, _Frontispiece_ + + COFFEE PLANTATION ON TERRACES AT ATTARA, NEAR + MENAKHA, _To face page_ 8 + + VIEW OF MOUNTAIN-RANGES NEAR SÔK EL-KHAMIS, ON THE + ROAD FROM SANAA TO HODAIDAH, ” 18 + + ANCIENT TANK AT MENURA, NEAR DHAMAR, ” 38 + + HOWTA, THE CAPITAL OF LAHEJ, ” 60 + + MENAKHA, ” 110 + + TOMB AND MOSQUE OF SHEIKH OTHMAN NEAR ADEN, ” 122 + + PALACE OF THE SULTAN OF LAHEJ, ” 162 + + MY RECEPTION BY THE SULTAN OF LAHEJ, ” 170 + + KHOREIBA, ” 198 + + VIEW OF AZAB, ” 218 + + MAN AND WOMAN OF THE HIGHLANDS OF THE YEMEN, ” 228 + + MOSQUE AT BEIT SAÏD, ” 232 + + UPPER FLOOR OF A KHAN AT YERIM, ” 248 + + MY QUARTERS AT DHAMAR, ” 260 + + KARIAT EN-NEGIL, ” 262 + + JIBEL DORAN—EARLY MORNING, ” 282 + + KHADAR, ” 286 + + VIEW FROM WAALAN, ” 288 + + THE AUTHOR BEING EXAMINED AND HIS PASSPORT READ IN THE + PRESENCE OF AHMED FEIZI PASHA, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF + THE YEMEN, ” 292 + + MENAKHA, FROM THE NORTH, ” 322 + + THE VILLAGE OF EL-HAJRA, ” 342 + + TURKISH CAMP OF HOJAILA, ” 348 + + GATE OF A WALLED VILLAGE IN THE YEMEN, ” 354 + + ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. + + A NATIVE OF THE TEHÁMA, 68 + + A YEMENI, 78 + + JEW OF THE YEMEN, 82 + + TURKISH TROOPS ON THE MARCH, 103 + + MAIN PASS, ADEN, 144 + + A VALLEY IN YEMEN, 193 + + CASTLE OF AMIR OF DHALA, 195 + + A GIRL OF THE YEMEN, 204 + + VILLAGE OF AREDOAH, 213 + + BEIT EN-NEDISH, 226 + + INSCRIBED STONE AT MUNKAT, NEAR YERIM, 243 + + MOSQUE AND MINARET AT DHAMAR, 259 + + HIRRAN, 273 + + CAVE-TOMBS, HIRRAN, 274 + + GROUND-PLAN OF TOMB III., 275 + + INTERIOR OF TOMB III., HAIT HIRRAN, 276 + + ENTRANCE TO TOMB IV., HAIT HIRRAN, 277 + + THE AUTHOR IN PRISON AT SANAA, 295 + + TURKISH OFFICERS IN A _CAFÉ_ AT SANAA, 308 + + TURKISH MOSQUE AT SANAA, AS SEEN FROM THE PRISON WINDOW, 316 + + TURKISH SOLDIER, 317 + + GORGE NEAR MENAKHA, 332 + + VIEW NEAR WISIL, 344 + + A STREET IN HODAIDAH, 364 + + MAPS. + + ADEN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS, _To face page_ 122 + + DHAMAR TO SANAA, ” 264 + + THE COUNTRY OF THE YEMEN, _At the end_ + + + + +A JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEMEN. + + + + +PART I. + +SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON THE YEMEN + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE YEMEN. + + +The Yemen may be described as forming the south-west corner of Arabia. +So little is known of the geography of the interior, and to such a +slight extent do even the natives define the boundaries between their +own land and the surrounding provinces, that any exact description of +the country is impossible. The same may be said of nearly all oriental +frontiers, except where, taking an example from European customs, a clear +line of demarcation has been agreed upon; for, as a rule, limits depend +far more upon tribal position and inheritance than upon any natural +features of the land in question; and in many cases in the settlement of +frontier questions with oriental Powers, even European Governments have +been obliged to follow upon these lines. This is especially clearly +exemplified in the case of the Algerian and Moroccan frontier, in the +southern parts of which no absolute boundary has been fixed, certain +tribes, whether in French or Moorish territory, belonging to whichever of +the two nationalities under which they are enrolled. + +How infinitely difficult it is, then, in the case of the Yemen, to state +where that province begins and ends, will be appreciated. + +As to two of its limits, the task of definition is simple; for on the +west the Red Sea, and on the south that portion of the Indian Ocean +known as the Gulf of Aden, allow of no question. On the north and east +far more serious difficulties arise. Without attempting to delineate any +exact frontier, which, with our present geographical knowledge of the +country, would fail at the best to be anything more than roughly correct, +more general terms must be used than would be justifiable in a more +pretentious work than the present. + +It may be stated, then, that the province of Arabia known as the Yemen +is bounded on the east by the Hadramaut tribes, and on the north by the +Asir, although some authorities include the latter, making the north +frontier of the Yemen adjacent with the southern limit of the Hejaz, +the province of Arabia in which are situated the holy cities of Mecca +and Medina. As far as the writer was able to gather, however, from the +natives themselves, the Asir is considered to be an entirely different +district, although its inhabitants are nearly related to the Yemenis by +blood. In fact, it may be said without much exaggeration that the present +divisions of Arabia as marked upon the maps are but little in advance +geographically of the ancient Greek and Roman arbitrary distinctions of +Arabia Felix, Arabia Petræa, and Arabia Deserta. Even allowing for the +widest limits claimed for the Yemen, the whole country lies between 42° +and 46° east longitude and 12° and 20° north latitude. + +Although no natural formation of the Yemen can assist one in correctly +determining its inland frontiers, the same cannot be said of the two +great divisions into which the country is split up. These are so apparent +that, from the earliest geographers to the present day, they have +remained unchanged and fully recognised. But in order to appreciate this, +a few words must be said as to the formation of the country. While the +interior consists of vast mountain-ranges and elevated plateaux, some of +which lie at an altitude of over eight thousand feet above the sea-level, +the seaboard consists, both on the west and south, of low-lying sandy +deserts and plains, varying in breadth from thirty to nearly a hundred +miles. The only exception where a spur of the mountains approaches the +sea is at the headland of Sidi Sheikh, the south-west corner of the Red +Sea—a spur of land a few miles in width exactly opposite the island of +Perim, from which it is divided by a narrow channel. It may be remembered +that only a few years back there was a false report that France had +purchased this advantageous spot from the Turkish Government. + +The formation of these maritime plains is such that it may be safely +surmised that a very considerable portion, at least of what is now +desert, was at one time covered by the sea. So fast, indeed, has been the +silting action, that more than one former port now lies well inland. As +an example of this, Sir R. L. Playfair, in his excellent ‘History of the +Yemen,’ mentions the town of Muza, once a flourishing sea-port, now over +twenty miles inland. In many places, too, shells and chips of coral are +to be found at great distances from the coast. The same retrograde action +of the sea can be traced, too, at Aden, which was, no doubt, at one time +an island, and is now joined to the mainland by a low isthmus, formed by +the silting of sea-sand upon a submarine basis of rock. + +The name Teháma is applied to these plains of the Yemen. It is a district +exceedingly subject to drought, and with a very small rainfall. What +water-supply it boasts, with the exception of oases, is principally due +to the mountain torrents, which, originating in the highlands, rush +impetuously down the steep slopes, usually to be entirely exhausted by +the desert before reaching the sea. It is said, however, that even in +the driest seasons water may be found by sinking wells in the river-beds. +Although the supply thus obtained is sufficient to maintain the lives +of Bedouins and their flocks and herds, it is far from proving of any +great utility to cultivation, in such spots where, even in good years, +cultivation is possible. However, fortunately for the inhabitants, +there are scattered over these deserts many oases, where cereals can be +reared with tolerable certainty of reaping the crops. The poor quality +of the soil as a rule renders agriculture, except in the most favourable +positions, an unprofitable pursuit. The plains serve, too, for the +breeding of camels,—those of the Abdali and Foudtheli country, lying +to the north and north-east of Aden, being especially famous for their +swiftness and carrying capabilities. + +The Jibál, or highlands, display entirely opposite features. Enormous +ranges of mountains rise abruptly from the Teháma to great altitudes, in +places probably 14,000 and 15,000 feet. These ranges for the most part +take a general south-easterly direction, and are split up into a series +of wide, fertile, parallel valleys. It was doubtless the luxuriance and +agricultural wealth, added to the attractiveness of the climate, of this +portion of Arabia, that won for the Yemen in former days the title of +Arabia Felix. In these great valleys the coffee is grown, sharing with +the production of the indigo-plant and other dye-giving species the +attention of the mountaineers. Added to this, the climate is such as to +allow nearly all European vegetables to grow and flourish, and also many +varieties of fruit-trees. The nature of the country renders necessary +for cultivation the terracing of the steep mountain-sides, and over this +laborious task an almost incredible amount of work and time is expended. +But of this I shall have opportunity of speaking anon. + +There is, as might be expected, a vast difference in the temperature of +the highlands and the plains. While at Aden and the surrounding country +the thermometer averages all the year round some 85° Fahrenheit, it +probably does not rise above a mean of 61° or 62° in the shade at Sanaa, +the capital of the Yemen, where, as in all the elevated country, frosts +are by no means uncommon in winter. Nor is it solely in temperature +that great differences are apparent with regard to the low and high +elevations; for whereas also in the former the rainfall is uncertain and +sometimes almost nil,[1] the mountain country boasts two regular wet +seasons—in spring and in autumn respectively. In this respect the seasons +may be said to correspond with those of the plateaux of Harrar and the +Galla country. In both cases the rain is said to be of almost daily +occurrence, but lasting only a short time, the showers being broken by +periods of bright sunshine. + +Nothing can be imagined more beautiful than the scenery of the mountains +of the Yemen. Torn into all manner of fantastic peaks, the rocky crags +add a wildness to a view that otherwise possesses the most peaceful +charms. Rich green valleys, well timbered in places, and threaded +by silvery streams of dancing water; sloping fields, gay with crops +and wild-flowers; the terraced or jungle-covered slopes,—all are so +luxuriant, so verdant, that one’s ideas as to the nature of Arabia are +entirely upset. Well known as is, and always has been, the fertility +of this region, its extent is almost startling, and it can little be +wondered at that Alexander the Great intended, after his conquest of +India, to take up his abode in the Yemen, had not death cut short his +career. + +[Illustration: COFFEE PLANTATION ON TERRACES AT ATTARA, NEAR MENAKHA.] + +Thus briefly described, it will be seen that the Yemen consists of +two entirely different systems of country, influenced by two entirely +different climates: the one arid plains, without much appreciable +rainfall; the other a mountainous district, producing cereals, dyes, +aromatic gums, coffee, and other rich produce—a country of valleys and +plateaux, well watered withal, and enjoying a climate that for salubrity +may be said to equal any in the tropics. Having now pointed out in a +general way the difference of the two districts, I purpose to enter a +little more definitely into the description of each. + +To commence with the Teháma, as being the seaboard. It consists, as +already stated, of plains varying from thirty to a hundred miles in +breadth, and separating the highlands from the sea, both on the west +and south. These, for the sake of distinction, I shall call respectively +the western and southern Teháma. The former contains some five cities +of importance, situated either on the coast of the Red Sea or in that +district which divides it from the mountains. Almost in the Asir country +lies Lohaya, a small town on the coast, to which I shall refer more +particularly in a chapter on the Yemen rebellion. Proceeding south, the +next coast town of importance is Hodaidah, to-day the capital of that +portion of the Yemen, and still farther south Mokha. As it was my lot +to spend a week in the fever-stricken town of Hodaidah, I shall reserve +anything I have to say about it for another opportunity; but as it was +my ill fortune to see Mokha only from the sea and not to land there, +and as I shall therefore not have to narrate any personal experiences +in reference to it, I shall add some description of the place and its +history at this juncture. + +There is certainly no name of any city in the Yemen as familiar to +Englishmen as that of Mokha, with the exception of Aden. This it owes +to its having for a long time enjoyed almost the sole reputation of the +export city of the coffee-berry. However, it is not generally known that +no coffee grows at all in the immediate vicinity of Mokha, and that +all that was shipped from there was previously carried to the city by +caravans from the mountains, often over very great distances. Almost as +suddenly as Mokha rose to fame has it fallen again. Before the arrival in +the Red Sea of the English and Portuguese traders it scarcely existed at +all, the outlets for the trade of this portion of the Yemen being Okelis +and Muza. It was not, in fact, until the fifteenth century A.D. that +Mokha became a place of resort for ships, and it owes its origin more +to the discovery of coffee than to any advantages or attractions of its +own. In the early part of the seventeenth century the English and Dutch +founded trading “factories” there, and from that time for a period of +some two hundred years its fame and wealth were renowned. Van den Broeck +describes the place as it existed at the time of his visit in 1616, and +notes that to such an extent has its trade recently augmented that goods +from Hungary and Venice were found in the market, which had been carried +by caravans the whole length of Arabia, to be exchanged for the produce +of the far east.[2] He further describes the town as a most flourishing +community, containing within its walls numbers of numerous nationalities +who had flocked there on hearing of its fame and renown. + +A century after the Dutch and English had founded their factories the +French followed their example, while in 1803 the Americans commenced +to trade direct with the Red Sea ports. On the British occupation of +Aden in 1839, the immense superiority of that place as a port, and the +security and advantages assured by British rule, drew the commerce from +Mokha thence, the former celebrated city fast falling to decay and +ruin.[3] Before this period, however, serious outrages had been offered +to British subjects, and during the first twenty years of this century +there had been constant trouble brewing between the fanatical natives and +the Christians, augmented no doubt by the jealousy felt by the former +for the manner in which the Europeans had annexed their trade. More +extraordinary still than these outrages was the manner in which their +perpetration was looked upon by the British Government, and it was not +until things became unbearable that forcible means were taken to punish +the offenders, and in 1820 a force under Captain Bruce, who had been sent +thither to enforce a treaty with the Imam’s Amir, and Captain Lumley of +H.M.S. Topaz, bombarded Mokha, and succeeded in forcing an entry into the +town. The result of this long-delayed act of reparation on the part of +the Indian Government was the placing upon an honourable footing of the +British “factory,” and the carrying through of a treaty of commerce with +the Government of the Yemen.[4] + +Although the author did not land in Mokha, the captain of the steamer +on which he proceeded from Hodaidah to Aden very kindly approached as +near the shore as was compatible with the ship’s course, and with the aid +of glasses a very good view of the place was obtained. From a distance +it still has the appearance of being a flourishing town, but on nearer +approach one can see that, although the walls of the houses are still +standing, the roofs and floors have for the most part fallen in, and +Mokha is to-day little more than a vast ruin, from which a few tall +minarets still rise to tell of its former beauties. A handful of Turkish +soldiers and a few Bedouins are all that remain of its once heterogeneous +population; and where once the streets were filled with richly robed +merchants, goats feed to-day on the coarse weeds. + +As Lohaya and Hodaidah are more particularly mentioned elsewhere in this +book, little more remains to be said of the ports of the western Teháma. +Some mention must be made, however, of the islands of Kamaran and Perim, +the two most important of the many that lie on the eastern side of this +part of the Red Sea. The former owes its importance to-day from the fact +that it is a British possession, and serves as the quarantine station of +the pilgrims going to and returning from Jeddah, _en route_ to and from +Mecca. It is situated in latitude 15° 20′ N. and longitude 42° 30′ E., +and is about ten miles in length, varying from two to four wide. In some +parts it is little more than a swamp, in others some low hills allow of +the growth of palm-trees; but the inhabitants are nearly all engaged in +the pearl and turtle fisheries.[5] + +The other island which may be included in a description of the Teháma +is Perim. It is situated in the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, a mile and a +half from the Arabian and about ten miles from the African shores. It is +formed of dark volcanic igneous rock and plains of sand on which a few +sand-loving flowers grow. The highest point of the island is between two +and three hundred feet above the sea-level. What, however, compensates +for its aridness and hideous character is the grand harbour it possesses. +This bay is a mile long by half a mile wide, well sheltered, and +averaging a depth of five fathoms in the good anchorages. In 1799, in +consequence of the invasion of Egypt by the French, a British naval +force, under Admiral Blanket, proceeded to the Red Sea, while the +Bombay Government, acting in conjunction with the other force, seized +Perim in the name of the East India Company. No fresh water, however, +being procurable, it was during the next year abandoned as a station +for troops. To-day, under the hands of the Perim Coal Company not only +offices but a hotel has been erected there, and the place promises to +become a flourishing coaling-station. All the water is, of course, +produced by condensers. A few British troops are habitually quartered +there, being sent from time to time for that purpose from Aden, and there +is telegraphic communication both with that port and Hodaidah. + +Two cities of importance lie in the interior of the western +Teháma—namely, Zebeed and Beit el-Fakih. The former has throughout all +the medieval history of the Yemen played a part of great importance; +for not only has Zebeed been a seat of learning and art, but also has +been inseparably connected with all the great civil wars and religious +differences that have from time to time shaken the Yemen to its very +foundations. Before the invasion of the Turks it was the capital and +seat of government of the Teháma, though to-day Hodaidah has usurped its +position as such. + +The foundations of Zebeed were laid by Ibn Ziad after his conquest of +the Teháma in 204 A.H.[6] The city is described not only by Omarah but +also by many other native historians, who one and all make mention of +its political importance as well as of its size. The account most to +the point, perhaps, is that of El Khasraji, who states that the city is +circular in form; that near it to the south flows the river of the same +name, while to the north is the Wadi Rima, the two ensuring a fertile +situation and a constant water-supply. He adds that it stood midway +between the mountains and the sea, and almost equidistant from both, the +time taken to reach either the one or the other being half a day. + +Of Beit el-Fakih little need be said here, as to-day it is a place of but +slight importance. Like all these cities of the Teháma, it is irregularly +built of sun-dried mud bricks. Its name, “The House of the Scholar,” +is derived from its being the place of burial of a certain Seyed Ahmed +ibn Musa, whose tomb is still much reverenced and visited as a place of +veneration. The town possesses no claim to interest either politically or +commercially. + +The next portion of the Yemen of which notice must here be taken are +the plains commencing from the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, and extending +to some sixty miles east of Aden. These plains are included in the +Teháma, but in order to distinguish them from that part already noticed, +I describe them as the southern Teháma. Like the western Teháma, they +separate the mountains from the sea, and in many respects these two +portions of desert bear great resemblance. The southern Teháma varies +from fifty to a hundred miles in breadth, and is inhabited by wild +tribes, the most important of which are the Subaiha, the Abdali, and +the Foudtheli, the first being nomad in character. These plains boast +no cities of any size except Howta, the capital of the Sultan of Lahej, +chief of the Abdali tribe, which lies some twenty-seven miles north-west +of Aden, and Taiz,—though the latter, from its situation on a spur of +the mountains, may be said rather to dominate than to belong to these +southern plains. Ibn Khaldun, in his geography of the Yemen, refers to +Taiz as an important city overlooking the Teháma, and mentions that it +had at all times been a royal residence. Without much further mention +of this city, which the author did not visit, a few remarks may be made +upon its later history. Owing to jealousies between members of its ruling +family, a certain Seyed Kassim, uncle to the then ruling Imam, Ali +Mansur, treacherously sold the place to the Egyptians in 1837, and it +was taken without resistance by Ibrahim Pasha, a general in the service +of the famous Mahammed Ali Pasha, who held it until in 1840 a fanatical +Mahdi el-Fakih Saïd took the town, only to have it wrested from him in +1841 by the Imam Seyed Mahammed el-Hadi. During the late Yemen rebellion +it fell into the hands of the Arabs, for formerly it lay within the limit +of Turkish influence, and has probably by this time been reoccupied by +the Osmanli troops. + +With these few remarks upon the plain districts of the Yemen, scanty as +they are, notice may now be taken of the mountainous districts. Such +parts as the author travelled through will be more minutely treated +of in the narration of his journey, together with the towns of Yerim, +Dhamar, and Sanaa, the three principal cities of the Yemen plateaux. +However, there are other places of importance to which reference must +be made here, and which, although not situated upon the plateau, must +by their position be included in this division of the Yemen. Of these +the most important are Ibb and Jiblah. Both of these mountain-fortresses +are of some antiquity, and have played no mean part in the history of +the country. Ibb is mentioned by Omarah as being situated upon the great +pilgrim-road built by Huseyn ibn Salaamah, a slave-vizier, which led +from the Hadramaut, east of Aden, to Mecca itself, which was constructed +about the year 400 A.H. After leaving Aden this great pilgrim-route was +split up into two parts, one proceeding _viâ_ Ibb and the mountains, +joining the author’s route at Kariat en-Nekil, north of Dhamar; the other +following the Teháma. The road which leads _viâ_ Ibb proceeds through +Sanaa, and thence _viâ_ Sadah and Taif to the Holy City. + +Jiblah, or Dhu Jiblah, as it was formerly called, owes its name to +the fact that it was built upon the site of a pottery belonging to a +Jew, Jiblah by name. It lies some ten miles to the south-west of Ibb. +Ibn Khaldun gives a short description of the place. It is, he says, a +fortress, and was founded by Abdullah, the Sulayhite, in the year 458 +A.H. Like Taiz, it was a royal residence. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF MOUNTAIN-RANGES NEAR SÔK EL-KHAMIS. + +_On the road from Sanaa to Hodaidah._] + +The other cities of the mountain district, lying principally north of +Sanaa, the capital, and therefore not coming under that portion of the +country which it was the author’s lot to travel over, will be noticed +anon. + +Rough as these notes are, they will, I venture to think, help to +illustrate the map. To attempt here the task of identifying the ancient +sites with modern names would be not only a task of great difficulty, +but also one unsuitable to the present book. Mr Kay, in his most able +translation of Omarah’s History, has pointed out how extremely laborious +and uncertain has been his attempt to do so, even with such maps as +to-day exist of the country. The author, after consideration, thought it +more advisable to avoid entering into discussions that bear but little +relation to his work, and would, he fears, but prove uninteresting to +the general reader. He has therefore confined his geographical notes to +such portions of the country as he himself passed through, supplemented +by a few remarks upon places that demand some notice, either from their +importance to-day or from historical interest. In the chapter relating to +the history of the country the same course has been pursued, a few pages +of print being put aside for what would fill volumes were it taken in +hand. + +Having now treated of the Yemen as it appears from a cursory glance +at the map, it is intended to enter a little more fully into its +description, unconnected with its natural formation of plains and +highlands. + +Ibn Khaldun, in the preface to his Geography, states that the Yemen +is divided into seven royal seats of Government;[7] but Niebuhr gives +a larger list of provinces, which is again added to by Sir Lambert +Playfair. These divisions of the country, it must be understood, are +entirely Arab in origin, and to-day have been more or less altered to +suit the Turks. However, on inquiry from the natives, the writer found +that, although disregarded by the Osmanli conquerors, the names are still +in common use amongst the indigenous peoples. + +The author gives the list of these provinces in the order in which they +are printed in Playfair’s ‘Yemen’:— + + Aden. + The Teháma. + Sanaa. + Lahej. + Kaukeban. + Beled el-Kabail (Hashid wa Bakil). + Abou Arish. + A district lying between Abou Arish and the Hejaz, inhabited by + Bedouins, &c. + Khaulán. + Sahán (including Sadah). + Nejrán. + Nehm. + East Khaulán (several small principalities). + Beled el-Jehaf (or Mareb), + and + Yaffa. + +“These are,” says Playfair, “as nearly as they can be classified, the +great political divisions of the country; but numerous smaller states +and tribes exist which cannot be classed with propriety in any of the +above districts, yet which are too insignificant to require a separate +notice.”[8] + +The first two of these provinces, the _Teháma_ and _Aden_, are described +elsewhere. The third is _Sanaa_, taking its name from the city, the +capital of the Yemen. On account of continued wars and struggles, its +boundaries have for ever been shifting. Within the province are situated +the cities of Dhamar, Yerim, Rodaa, Ibb, Jiblah, Kátaba, Taiz, and Hais. + +_Lahej_ is described more fully elsewhere, so there is little further +need to make mention of it here, except to roughly indicate its limits; +for under this title are contained not only the tribe-lands of the Abdali +Sultan, but also the Subaiha, Akrabi, Foudtheli, and Houshabi tribes. +The country inhabited by these Arabs of the Plains may be said to extend +from the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb to about eighty miles east of Aden. The +country is poor, and boasts but one or two towns, but many large villages. + +The next province is _Kaukeban_, which, with _Beled el-Kabail_, _Abou +Arish_, and _Beni Hallel_, may be taken altogether. The latter tribe +inhabit a strip of plain country along the borders of the Red Sea, +while the three former include that portion of the country lying to the +north-east and east of Beni Hallel, and extending as far east as a line +drawn from Sanaa due north. + +North again of Abou Arish, and between that country and the Hejaz, is the +Asir, part of which is mountainous and part plains—the former inhabited +by dwellers in fixed abodes, and the latter by wild Bedouins. + +North of Sanaa, and upon the road connecting that city with Mecca, +the continuation of the pilgrim-road of Huseyn ibn Salaamah mentioned +elsewhere, is the province of _Khaulán_, east of which again is _Sahán_, +included in the province and former principality of Sadah. This forms +one of the richest portions of the Yemen, being famous for fruits, +honey, and cattle. It consists of large valleys well watered, and at +such an elevation as to render them not only suitable for the growing of +fruit-trees, but also exceedingly healthy. Niebuhr mentions these tribes +as hospitable but inclined to robbery, and as speaking as pure Arabic as +is anywhere in use. + +The next province is still more mountainous, and, on account of its +inaccessibility, has remained almost unconquered. It is known as +_Nejrán_, and consists of wide fertile valleys reaching nearly to the +desert of Akhaf. Like Khaulán, it is renowned for its cattle and fruit, +the breed of horses, too, being celebrated. They are said to be of the +famous Nejed strain. + +The province of _Kahtan_, situated eleven days’ journey north of the +valley of Nejrán, is another example of the difficulties of fixing any +reliable frontier to the Yemen. Evidently it is inhabited by Yemeni +people, as it takes its name from the founder of that stock, Kahtan, who +is said to be no other than Joktan of the Jewish Scriptures. + +_Eastern Khaulán_ lies to the north-east of the capital Sanaa. It +possessed formerly a celebrated city of the Jews, which is now said to be +almost entirely deserted. Although generally known by the name of Eastern +Khaulán, it in reality consists of a number of small principalities. + +_Beled el-Jehaf_ may be said to form the extreme eastern division of +the northern portion of the Yemen, but whether it should be considered +as part of that country is open to doubt. It extends from a few days’ +journey east of Sanaa as far as the desert that divides Oman from +Western Arabia. It is in this district that is situated the city of +Mareb, otherwise known as Saba or Sheba, whence the celebrated queen +visited Solomon. The natives have traditions of a Queen Balkis, whom +they affirm to have been the lady in question. However, this has been +proved impossible, as the dates do not correspond. It was at Saba that +the celebrated dam was built, the destruction of which, about one hundred +years A.D., wrought such widespread destruction. A few words about this +prodigious building will be found in reference to the tanks at Aden in +the chapter upon that possession. + +The last of the list of provinces is _Yaffa_, which lies between the +Hadramaut on the east and south, and the districts of Lahej and Sanaa on +the north and west. It became independent some two centuries ago, up to +that time having been under the rule of the Imams of Sanaa.[9] It is a +rich fertile country, producing gums, cereals, and coffee. It possesses +three towns—Yaffa, Medinet el-Asfal, and Gharrah. Living in close +conjunction with the Yaffai tribe are the Oulaki, divided into the upper +and lower, their capitals being respectively Nisáb inland, and Howr on +the coast.[10] + +These, then, are the principal provinces into which the Yemen is +considered by the natives to be divided, though to define exactly their +boundaries, as in the case of the frontiers of the whole country, would +be an impossible task. + +With regard to the geography of the Yemen but few more words are needed, +in order to render clear the following pages of the narrative of the +author’s journey. Although an account is given elsewhere of the Turkish +dominion of the Yemen, it may be as well to delineate the present +frontier since the Osmanli occupation of the country, although again it +is almost an arbitrary one. + +To commence from the south. The division between the Arab tribes of the +southern Teháma and Turkish Yemen commences some ten miles east of the +Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, and so includes the promontory of Sidi Sheikh, +which projects toward Perim Island, from which it is divided by a narrow +strait a mile and a half in width. From thence the frontier runs in a +north-easterly direction, passing a little to the east of Taiz, from +which it again turns more directly east, passing to the south of Mavia, +and, skirting the territory of the Amir of Dhala, includes the town of +Kátaba. From this spot it turns almost due north, keeping well to the +east of Yerim and Dhamar, although these towns, as a matter of fact, form +practically the eastern boundary of the Turkish Yemen. From Dhamar to +Sanaa the frontier runs almost due north and south, and may be said to +exist about forty to fifty miles east of a straight line drawn between +these two cities. + +From Sanaa to the north the Turks claim authority as within their limits +over all the country lying to the west of a line drawn from Sanaa to the +south-eastern corner of the province of the Hejaz, although over the Asir +and other inaccessible mountain tribes their authority is purely nominal, +and has never been acknowledged to any extent. + +It must not be thought that all the country lying within the frontier +thus described is securely under Turkish rule, for there are whole tribes +which do not, nor ever have done so, acknowledge anything more than a +nominal subjection to the Sublime Porte. + +That these notes upon the geography of the Yemen will prove of but little +value to _savants_ the writer knows only too well; but if his journey was +unproductive of any scientific or historical discoveries, it must be +borne in mind the period at which it was undertaken: that not only was +a rebellion still taking place, that a month or two before had shaken +the whole country to its very foundations, but also that the author was +by the Turks treated as a spy, and was more than once in great personal +danger from the Arabs. Under these circumstances he feels that he cannot +be blamed if his journey was devoid of any great results. All that he can +boast to have brought back with him is a story of travel and adventure, +and numerous photographs and notes, that will tend to throw light upon +the present condition of the Yemen, especially on what has been taking +place in that country since the Turkish occupation of the highlands in +1872. His narrative of travel tells a story of long night marches, and +of days spent in hiding; of a sojourn in a Turkish prison; and this +story, he trusts, will prove sufficient evidence that he had little or no +opportunity for research. It was owing to a mere chance that his notes +and photographs were saved from destruction by the Turkish authorities at +Sanaa. + +If these pages tend to throw some light upon this most interesting corner +of Arabia, and help to show what the country and its inhabitants are +like, the author will be well satisfied with the result. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE YEMEN BEFORE THE HEJIRA. + + +Having in the last chapter briefly sketched the principal geographical +features of the Yemen, it remains now to make mention of its history. +The same remarks as were made as to the geography are applicable here, +that with the exception of certain periods which have been made the study +of archæologists and orientalists, there is but very little known of +the history of the Yemen, and there are long periods existing between +the times of which something has been written or translated that are +almost blanks. Nor is it on this account alone that the task of compiling +in two chapters so many centuries of historical matter is a difficult +one, for many of the times and dynasties of which there exists some +trustworthy account are all but unimportant in treating of the country +in general, what knowledge we possess in very many cases being simply +the genealogies of local princes and rulers. However, it is only by a +study of these shreds of history that we are able to gain any facts +concerning the condition of the country during the early centuries after +the introduction of Islam, for instance; and if they in themselves appeal +almost solely to the student of things oriental, they yet tend to throw +more light upon the inner life of the people than it would be possible to +gather elsewhere. + +But the history of the Yemen is by no means confined to such a brief +period as that which has passed between the birth of Islam and to-day. +There exists a far more ancient and more wonderful history, of which, +unhappily, we know as yet but little, but which, should it even be +possible to make thorough examination of its monuments and records, may +prove that many of the existing civilisations sprang from the Yemen +and Hadramaut, and that the ancient Egyptians themselves, owed the +foundations of their arts and learning to the inhabitants of Southern +Arabia. Some light has been thrown lately upon the old civilisation of +Southern Arabia by the successful excavations carried on by Mr Theodore +Bent in Mashonaland, which have proved most clearly that the Arabs of +Southern Arabia were in touch with that distant quarter of Africa, and +not only in touch, but even so firmly rooted there as to erect forts and +temples, to build and to decorate, and to work the mines of that country. + +At present scientific exploration of the Yemen and the other divisions of +Southern Arabia has been, for many reasons, so seldom undertaken that +there remains to be discovered there more than is probably to be found in +any part of the world. How rich the country is in archæological remains +may be judged from the quantity of inscriptions, &c., brought back by the +enterprising and scholarly Austrian Dr Glaser, to whom we owe nearly all +that is known of the earlier periods of Yemenite history. It was through +the extensive researches of this _savant_ that any conclusive data have +been given not only to individual sovereigns but to whole dynasties, with +the result that although far from perfect knowledge, very considerable +light has been thrown upon the early days of the Yemen. + +Before, however, entering into any precise account of the historical +records of the Yemen, it may be as well to briefly mention a few +well-founded traditions generally accepted amongst the natives and +believed by themselves to be undisputable. In this they are, no doubt, +mainly right in the origin; but in attempting to trace their descent, +through periods later than those of the earliest times, they have to some +extent become confused. This is most apparent in the cases of the two +great divisions, or nations, which inhabited the Yemen, the weaker of +which, at times, finding similarity between names, claimed descent from a +common ancestor with the stronger, until by force of time no clear line +of division was possible in many cases. + +Although there can be little doubt of a prehistoric and almost +pretraditional race inhabiting Southern Arabia, the only record worthy of +acceptance from native sources of their existence is their mention in the +Koran. No traditions exist as to them amongst the people to-day, or even +amongst those Arab historians of the middle ages who made special studies +of the subject. + +The inhabitants of Southern Arabia may be divided into two great stems, +to which the names of Yemenite and Ishmaelite tribes have been very +properly given. + +The Yemenite nation are the direct descendants of Kahtan, generally +identified with Joktan of the Jewish Scriptures, of the line of Shem, the +son of Noah, another of whose descendants, Hazarmaveth, gave his name to +what is to-day known as Hadramaut. + +The second great division into which the inhabitants of the Yemen may be +divided are the descendants of Adnan, who was of the family of Ishmael, +son of Abraham: although unfortunately the connecting links are absent, +yet in spite of this there can be no doubt as to the fact. This Adnan +is said to have been the contemporary of Bukht Nasser, in other words +Nebuchadnezzar;[11] and it was the fierce wars waged by this monarch, +tradition relates, that drove the Ishmaelite tribes to seek refuge +amongst the Yemenite peoples. If this be the case, it is a marvellous +fact that two nations inhabiting the same country for such an enormous +period of time, and for the last twelve or thirteen hundred years united +in religious ideas, are able to-day to speak with any certainty as to +which branch they belong. Yet such is the case, with the exception of +certain Arab tribes who claim descent from Kahtan, the mistake arising +through certain similarities of names to be found amongst his descendants +and those of Adnan. + +Each of these two divisions of the population are again split up into +sections, though in the case of the Yemenites such is not to be found +until the days of Himyar, son of Abd esh-shems and great-grandson of +Kahtan. It is unnecessary here to enumerate the tribes still existing +which claim to have sprung from the family of Himyar, more than to +mention the three principal ancestors on which their claims are based. +These are respectively Himyar himself, and Malik and Arib, sons of Zayd, +son of Kahtan, son of Abd esh-shems. + +The family of Ishmael are likewise split up into many tribes, claiming +descent from three separate members of the posterity of Abraham—namely, +El-Yas, Kays Aylan, and Rabiah. + +There yet remains another section which cannot be passed over without +notice, as commentators differ as to from which stem they originated. +These are the descendants of Kudaah. While some protest that their +ancestor was Himyar, son of Abd esh-shems, others claim that they are of +Ishmaelite descent, and ought to be enrolled under the heading of Arab +tribes. It is more than possible that in their case an early amalgamation +took place between the two stocks, and individuals adopted as their +ancestor whichever of the founders of the parties it best suited their +interests to put forward. + +Such, then, was the origin of the two nations which to-day, still to be +distinguished from one another by their traditions of ancestry, form the +population of the Yemen. + +Although there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of these traditions, +and in fact everything points to their being authentic, the next period +with which we come in contact is no longer a traditional one, but has +been handed down to us in monuments and inscriptions still existing. The +knowledge we have upon this period of the history of the Yemen is due to +the aforementioned Dr Edouard Glaser, who has successfully translated +over a thousand inscriptions, with the result of practically proving +the existence of two separate great dynasties that in succession held +sway over the country. In so doing, what was commonly believed to have +been the fact until his discoveries were made has been disproved, and an +entirely new epoch in the history of the world brought to light. I refer +to the dominion of the Minæan and Sabæan kings. It is, too, from these +records that there has been found to have existed, contemporarily with +early Egyptian times, a remarkable state of civilisation and commerce +in the Yemen, and what was wrongly believed to have been in early +pre-Islamic days a country of savagery, has been proved to have contained +a cultured population, skilled in art and excelling in commerce. +This fact doubtless to no small degree influenced the history of the +civilisation of the ancient world. + +The earlier of the two great dynasties which at different epochs held +sway over the Yemen, if not also over the surrounding coasts of Africa, +was that of the Minæans, who are known in tradition as the Maïn. +Thirty-two names of kings of this dynasty have already been discovered; +and as a proof of the immense power they must have held, tablets +commemorative of their wars have been found as far removed from the +seat of their government as Teima, on the road from Damascus to Sinai; +while an inscription from Southern Arabia renders thanks to Astarte for +their escape from the ruler of Egypt and their safe return to their +own city of Quarnu. This votive tablet was erected by the governors of +Tsar and Ashur, which again speaks for the immense tract of country +owing allegiance to the Minæan king; for of these places one has been +identified as being situated near where the Suez Canal now passes. This +extension of frontier was doubtless owing to the great importance of the +trade-routes from East to West, the possession of which in later times +brought the otherwise unimportant Jewish kingdom so much to the fore. +But more important, perhaps, than the discovery that these peoples were +living in a state of considerable civilisation, and carrying on most +profitable commerce, is the fact of their knowledge of writing; for many +of the recently discovered inscriptions in the Yemen date from a period +contemporary with Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chaldæan cuneiform, and +earlier than any known inscription in the Phœnician characters. + +Following upon the Minæan dynasty, of which, as before stated, thirty-two +kings are known by name, is that of the Sabæans: yet the nature of +the inscriptions shows that a very considerable period of time must +have elapsed between the two; for whereas, in the earlier specimens of +writing, full grammatical forms are found, the latter is not nearly +so complete. Yet the Sabæan dynasty can be traced back with certainty +to the time of Solomon, one thousand years B.C., and there is every +reason to believe that they had been in power at that time for a very +considerable period. How very remote, then, must be the antiquity of the +preceding dynasty, which we know to have been separated from the latter +by a sufficient lapse of years to have allowed of radical changes in the +formation and grammar of their written language! Besides which, although +comparatively few inscriptions have been discovered of this period, we +have a list of no less than thirty-two Minæan sovereigns. Professor +Sayce, in an able article upon this subject, states that he believes +that it is quite possible that inscriptions may be discovered which will +prove Southern Arabia to have been in a state of civilisation in the +days of Sargon I., or even of Menes, who is supposed to have lived some +five thousand years B.C.: nay more, he expresses his opinion, which many +traditions tend to prove, that all civilisation may have sprung from the +Yemen and its adjacent provinces.[12] + +Apart from the great interest attending this alone, another point must at +once attract our attention—namely, the existence of an alphabet earlier +than that of the oldest discovered Phœnician inscriptions. Until these +researches into the writings of the Yemen, it was believed that the +Phœnician formation of letters was an abridgment of the hieroglyphics of +Egypt; but there seems now to be reason to suppose that this still more +ancient writing of Southern Arabia may prove to be not only the source +from which the Phœnicians derived their alphabet, but also the origin of +those of all modern nations, including Greece and Rome. What may be said +almost to prove this theory, says Professor Sayce, is the fact that while +the Phœnician letters, described by name as animals and things, have but +little resemblance to the object from which the name is taken, this still +older form of Semitic writing bears a decided resemblance to the objects +described in the names of the Phœnician letters. + +Probable as all this is, it must remain for the time at least only a +theory, until further discoveries are forthcoming; but apart from all +suppositious matters, it may safely be stated that, be the Aryan origin +what it may, it is to Southern Arabia that we must look for the home of +the Semitic peoples. Referring back to the earlier paragraphs of this +chapter, in which mention is made of the two great divisions of the +inhabitants of the Yemen, it will be seen that the tradition existed +in the time of Mahammed, and is mentioned in the Koran, of an older +population, whom it may be inferred were the original Semitic stock,—for +it must be remembered that the present geographical position of the +Semitic races is almost entirely owing to the spread of Islam, and it is +to Arabia, and Arabia alone, that we must look for their origin,—at a +time preceding the first Minæan kings, and probably at a period when the +stone age was passing into that of metal, and fishers and hunters were +becoming traders and agriculturists.[13] But of all the incidents of the +ancient history of the Yemen, there is one that will especially appeal +to all. I refer to the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon about the +year one thousand B.C. Sheba has always been identified with Saba, the +capital of the Sabæan empire, a city lying some seven days’ journey to +the north-east of Sanaa, the present capital of Turkish Yemen. The story +is too well known to need any comment here; it need only be noticed that +the point it is written from is that of a Jewish historian, who would +naturally tend to magnify the glories of Solomon and the admiration of +the queen at his wonderful city, palace, and temple. Yet, as a matter of +fact, it is not at all improbable that Saba possessed buildings as fine +as any of those of Solomon; and certainly, whereas no ruins remain of +the latter, the great dam, built some seventeen hundred years B.C. at +Saba, still stands, though of course in ruins, to tell the tale of the +vast building powers of the Sabæan architects. Nor do we in the gorgeous +description of Solomon’s works find reference to anything that could +possibly have compared in size and structure with this extraordinary +_barrage_, of which it is sufficient to say that it measured three +hundred cubits thick, one hundred and twenty feet high, and two _miles_ +in length.[14] The presents which the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon +tend as much as anything to prove that she was a native of Southern +Arabia, for her offerings will be found either to be produce of that +country, or such articles as could, owing to the enormous commerce of +Saba, find an outlet in that direction from farther south and east. + +Although the already discovered inscriptions point to Saba having been +the capital of a great and civilised empire eight hundred years B.C., +the existence of the great dam, which may be attributed to Lokman, who +lived 1750 years B.C., and the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, +speak of greater antiquity. + +The religion of the Sabæans is too large a question to attempt here, +more especially as there are evidences that during the long periods of +the Minæan and Sabæan dynasties it underwent many changes, merging from +a primitive idolatry into worship of the planets and stars, and even, +in cases, to the recognition of a supreme deity. They believed in the +immortality of the soul, a future state of reward or punishment, and +many also in transmigration. The gradual change of doctrine appreciable +in the religion, besides being due to the natural outcome of increased +civilisation and culture, was no doubt largely influenced by the +astronomers and astrologers of Chaldæa. Doubtless, too, there existed in +their religious traditions a sort of hero-worship, for we read in various +authorities of certain names as being those of deities and of men. Thus +we find the city of Saba was called after a god of that name, while again +the founder is mentioned as being Saba the son of Abd esh-shems, the +father of the so-called Himyaric dynasty. + +[Illustration: ANCIENT TANK AT MENURA, NEAR DHAMAR.] + +Any attempt, with the space at disposal here, to draw conclusions from +the traditions existing as to the earliest inhabitants of the Yemen, is +out of the question; and rather than do so, it will better suit our +purpose to keep to what have been proved to be facts—the existence of +the Minæan and later the Sabæan dynasties; the high state of culture and +commerce in Southern Arabia at a very remote period; and the existence +of a written language that was possibly, if not probably, the origin of +Phœnician, and so of all European forms of writing; and the still greater +idea that Southern Arabia may be proved to be the land of “Punt,” and the +birthplace of the Egyptian race, and their arts and culture. + +Shortly before the commencement of the Christian era Egypt became a Roman +province, and a few years later an expedition under Ælius Gallus was +sent to explore Arabia and Ethiopia. How difficult would be the task was +evidently realised, for when the expedition started from Cleopatris, near +the modern Suez, it consisted of no less than eighty vessels of war and a +hundred and thirty transports, with ten thousand Roman troops and fifteen +thousand mercenaries.[15] But the expedition was destined to disaster, +for although it penetrated as far as Southern Arabia—probably Nejrán—the +troops were decimated by famine and disease, and only a small handful +ever returned. + +In looking through these early pages of the history of the Yemen, one +cannot but be struck with the important part that women played in +politics; and even after the introduction of Islam, and the women had +been assigned a lower position, the old custom crops up again and again, +and we find women seizing the reins of government. + +The first example that we find of the power exercised by women is without +doubt the Queen of Sheba; while a second example follows within a few +years after the failure of the expedition of Ælius Gallus, in the person +of Queen Balkis, whose real name was Belkama or Yalkama, and who was +sufficiently strong-minded to amalgamate two kingdoms by marrying her +rival, whom she immediately removed by poison. + +About A.D. 120 the great dam of Saba or Mareb burst, spreading wholesale +destruction throughout the wide fertile valley below it. About this +period, too, an expedition was carried by the then King Tubba el-Akran as +far as Samarcand, and thence into China; and in A.D. 206, Abou Kariba, +one of the most illustrious of all the Himyaric kings, invaded Chaldæa +and defeated the Tartars of Adirbijan. He started on a second expedition +to conquer Syria, but returned after taking the Hejaz to the Yemen, where +he is said to have renounced idolatry and embraced Judaism. + +A legend, quoted by Sir Lambert Playfair in his ‘History of the Yemen,’ +tells of the introduction of the Jewish faith into the Yemen during the +reign of this Sultan. It savours of the priests of Baal; for, wishing to +put to the test the merits of Judaism and idolatry, the priests of either +creed proceeded to a certain spot whence fire emerged from the ground. +Pushed on by the crowd, the test was tried, and while the Jewish priests +passed through the flame unscathed, the idolaters perished. But the +feeling between the two was by no means destined from this fact to become +a cordial one, and constant fights occurred between the two parties. +Although Christianity seems to have appeared in the Yemen previous to +the year 297 A.D., it was not until that date that it became a religion +of importance in the country. It was during the reign of the king Tubba +ibn Hassan, who held the throne at this period, that Christianity was +introduced into Abyssinia; and about the middle half of the fourth +century the Emperor Constantius sent a certain bishop, Theophilus Indus, +to convert the Yemenis, of whom the king was so far tolerant, even if he +did not himself embrace Christianity, to allow the building of churches. +One was erected at Zafar, near Yerim; another at Aden; and a third at a +port in the Arabian Sea, supposed generally to be Hormuzd. + +So king succeeded king with the usual rapidity of oriental countries, +until in 478 A.D. a certain Lakhnia (or Lakhtiaa) Tanú usurped the +throne, whose cruelties to the surviving members of the royal family +are recorded by more than one historian. However, it remained for one +of these, a youth by name Asaad abou Karib, or Dhu Nowas, to revenge +his relations by stabbing the usurper with a dagger, he himself being +unanimously elected to the throne. He embraced Judaism, and adopted the +name of Yusef (Joseph). However, like many converts, he became a fanatic, +and his cruelties toward the Christians are perhaps unparalleled in +history. Dhu Nowas attacked them in Nejrán, and having foully broken his +promise that no harm should befall them, gave them the choice between +death or Judaism. Twenty thousand, it is said, were burned alive in huge +pits filled with blazing wood. The Koran commends these people who died +for their religion, and calls a curse upon their persecutor.[16] + +But the cruelty of Dhu Nowas was to reap its reward. A few Christians +who escaped fled to the Court of the Christian emperor of the East, +who presented them with letters to the Christian king of Abyssinia, +requesting him to punish the perpetrator of these cruel outrages. + +In A.D. 525, accordingly, the Abyssinians invaded the Yemen, and Dhu +Nowas was defeated, being drowned, purposely, it is said, after the first +battle. From that moment the Abyssinian general Aryat met with but futile +resistance, and pushed into the heart of the country, destroying and +razing the cities as he went along. + +Thus was overthrown, never to rise again, the Himyaric dynasty, which had +held the throne of the Yemen for over two thousand years. Many of the +kings had been celebrated both for war and culture, but their ancestors +were now, on account of their fanatical persecution of the Christians, +in return to suffer from cruelties and oppression as severe as any they +themselves had ever practised. + +It is but one of the many examples of the terrible bloodshed consequent +upon diversity of opinion on religious subjects,—for with bloodshed did +Christianity force itself into the Yemen, and with bloodshed was it +destined a few years later to disappear. Aryat, having conquered the +Yemen, was appointed Viceroy of the King of Abyssinia in that country, +and reigned until nearly the middle half of the sixth century, being +succeeded by Abrahá, in fighting with whom Aryat was slain. + +Meanwhile, by every means of cruelty and oppression Christianity had been +pushed forward; but at length a bishop was appointed at Zafar, whose +name is to-day included in the calendar of saints as St Gregentius, +who persuaded Abrahá to adopt more lenient measures than those of his +predecessor; and even the Arab authors acknowledge him to have been +a just and compassionate prince. That he was, however, a fanatic is +certain; for the church at Sanaa having been defiled by an Arab from +Mecca, where for centuries the Kaabah had been a place of pilgrimage, he +vowed to destroy that place, and at the head of a great army marched into +the Hejaz. Approaching Mecca, the inhabitants fled; but Abrahá, mounted +upon his famous white elephant Mahmoud, failed,—for it is said not +only did the huge pachyderm refuse to turn toward the city, but that a +miraculous flight of birds dropped pebbles upon the heads of the invading +army, killing both men and elephants. This miracle is generally explained +as an epidemic of smallpox: however, be it what it may, it ended in the +total rout and flight of the Abyssinian troops, who in a miserable plight +resought the Yemen, where shortly afterwards Abrahá died. + +This “battle of the elephant,” as the Arab historians called it, is +doubly famous, as it happened in the year of the birth of Mahammed. + +But the Abyssinian rule was soon to end. Acts of tyranny and cruelty +hurried on its termination, and Jaskum, the last sovereign, died in 575 +A.D., when the ancestors of the Himyaric dynasty, certain of being unable +to regain the throne for themselves, and having failed to persuade the +Romans to take up their cause, implored the aid of the Persian monarch +Kesra, who after many delays fitted out an expedition, formed for the +most part of convicts from the prisons, which reached Aden, under the +personal conduct of a descendant of Himyar, Maadi Karib, and a Persian +general of the name of Wahraz. A battle ensued with the Abyssinians, in +which their monarch—for the Viceroys had by this time taken imperial +rights—was killed. Sanaa was reached, and the gates broken down to allow +the Persian conqueror to enter with uplifted banners, and Maadi Karib +was proclaimed viceroy, paying tribute and owning allegiance to the +Persian sovereign. + +The event of the return of a descendant of Himyar to power is celebrated +by many an Arab historian and poet. + +Amongst many other ambassadors and men of repute who flocked to the +court at Sanaa, after the overthrow of Christianity, was the grandfather +of Mahammed, Abd el-Mutalib, who was received with special honours, as +belonging to the powerful tribe of the Koreish, lords of Mecca. But +Maadi Karib was destined to fall a victim to Abyssinian treachery, being +murdered by his body-guard, which consisted of javelin-throwers of +Habesh. A state of anarchy ensued, in which the natives struggled with +the Abyssinians for the supreme power; and finally the Persian monarch +Kesra Paruiz was forced to send an expedition, which proved entirely +successful. But bloodshed was the result, and the Abyssinians were put +to the sword with great cruelty, even the half-breed children being +slaughtered. + +Great as was the number of the slain, both the Abyssinian and Persian +occupation has left its mark in the Yemen, and a particular and despised +race exists there to-day known as the Akhdam.[17] Authorities differ +as to whether they are the descendants of the Abyssinians or Persians; +but so closely did one occupation follow upon the other that it may be +reasonably supposed that, owing to the youth of the children at the time, +and the rapidity with which both nationalities died out of the country, +but little distinction would exist, in spite of diversity of colour, +between the two. + +Meanwhile the Persian rule was for a time fairly established, though +many tribes were almost entirely governed by their own local chiefs. +All religions were tolerated, and Christianity maintained its ground, +principally in Nejrán, and we find mention amongst early authorities of +a Christian bishop of that province, Kos by name. It was probably in his +time that a Christian Church was erected in Nejrán. + +At this period a great change was to take place in the religion and +government of Arabia, for there had arisen at Mecca a prophet, Mahammed +by name, of the tribe of the Koreish, who was destined to influence not +only all Arabia but the whole history of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE YEMEN SINCE THE HEJIRA. + + +Mahammed was destined to overthrow the whole social and religious status +of Arabia. But the Yemen was by no means anxious at the first to accept +the new doctrine, and for a time remained steadfast to the Persian cause +and religion, under the viceroyalty of Budhan, who, though eventually he +accepted the faith of Islam, hesitated until pressure was brought to bear +upon him, and until he had obtained, to him, satisfactory evidence of the +Prophet’s miracles. + +The dissensions at this period existing amongst the Christians of +the Yemen added not a little to the success of the spread of the new +religion. Yet in these first days of conversion every leniency was shown +to the Christians, and a treaty was made between the princes of Nejrán, +which, it may be remembered, was the stronghold of Christianity in the +Yemen, and Mahammed himself, very advantageous to the former, one of the +clauses stipulating that tolerance was to be allowed, and no Christians +forcibly converted to Islam. + +But the Prophet had fixed his heart on the conversion of Arabia Felix, +and for this purpose, in the tenth year of the Hejira, Ali ibn Abou +Taleb, his son-in-law and nephew, was despatched thither. Failing by +moderate means to bring over the people, the sword was resorted to; but +in spite of this fact, authorities state that Islam was grafted in the +country with the loss of only some twenty lives. + +But its course was to be by no means a smooth one, for amongst several +other pretenders two arose at the same period, 632 A.D., who laid claim +to the prophetic office. Both had been converts to Islam, and one at +least had actually seen Mahammed, and it was no doubt the report of his +enormous success that stirred these men to rival his claims. + +The first, Mosailma by name, was a chief of the tribe of Hanífa. Being of +a diplomatic turn of mind, he thought to make an alliance with Mahammed, +and a correspondence took place between the two, worthy of repetition +here. The letters ran as follows:— + +“From Mosailma, the Prophet of God, to Mahammed, the Prophet of God! Let +the earth be half mine and half thine.” + +Mahammed’s answer was short but to the point:— + +“From Mahammed, the Prophet of God, to Mosailma, the Liar. The earth +belongs to God. He giveth it as an inheritance to such of his servants as +pleaseth him, and the happy issue shall attend such as fear him.” + +But Mosailma was not to be discouraged by this reply, and continued his +career until, shortly after the death of Mahammed, his successor the +Caliph Abou Bekr sent an expedition under a certain general Khalid to +attack him. In a battle near Akriba Mosailma was slain, and his followers +disbanded; who, seeing their leader die, once more reverted to Islam. + +The second impostor was El-Aswad, chief of the tribe of Anis. He had +previously been an idolater, but had become a convert to the Mahammedan +faith. Meeting at first with every success, he installed himself at +Sanaa, and nearly the whole of the Yemen acknowledged his authority. But +at the instigation of Mahammed, who was at this time still alive, he was +treacherously slain by his wife and accomplices. + +These two impostors, although their career did not to any extent +permanently affect the history of the Yemen, are celebrated throughout +Arab traditions, in which they are known as “The Liars.” + +But the troubles in the Yemen were by no means at an end. Every preceding +dynasty had left dissension and rival blood in the country, and for a +long period, during the reign of the early Caliphs, the country was +constantly disturbed with war and bloodshed. Pretender to the throne +followed pretender, and it was not for a period of some years that any +tranquillity was restored to the Yemen. + +In A.D. 655 Ali succeeded to the Caliphate on the death of Othman, and +having to quell many disturbances and dissensions at home, he did not +for some time turn his attention to the Yemen, where, after a lapse in +the war between Muavia, governor of Syria, and the Caliph, a large band +of the troops of the former, under the leadership of Bashir ibn Ardeb, +carried out the most horrible atrocities on the partisans of the cause +of Ali. But revenge was near, and a short time later—39 A.H.—troops +to the number of four thousand were despatched by Ali from Kufa, who +equalled perhaps the cruelties of Muavia’s adherents; but they succeeded +in stamping out the cause of Othman, the lately assassinated Caliph, +and Ali’s son was proclaimed governor of the Yemen. Islam had by this +period made such a firm footing in the country, that, in spite of the +dissensions between Christians, idolaters, and Jews, we find the troubles +confined almost entirely to the many sects of Islam itself. Some of the +most important of these will be found mentioned elsewhere, so that no +reference is necessary to them here, except as showing how firm a hold +the acceptance of the new religion had gained amongst the inhabitants of +the Yemen. + +The country after the death of Ali became subject to the Omeyyad dynasty +of Caliphs, until in A.D. 749 the Abbasides exterminated them, with +unparalleled bloodshed and cruelty, the conquest of the Yemen being +carried out by Mahammed Abousi Mahammed. The typical cruelty of this +man is well exemplified by a paragraph in Sir R. L. Playfair’s ‘History +of the Yemen.’ Finding the inhabitants suffering from what is now known +as “Yemen boils,” an exceedingly common complaint in that country, he +ordered all those who showed any signs of the sickness to be buried alive +as unclean. Happily his own death prevented this cruel order from being +carried out. Sharing the ups and downs of the Abbaside dynasty, to whom +the Yemen acknowledged a varying system of vassalage, in 811 A.D. the +inhabitants declared for El-Mamun, son of Harun el-Rashid, the great +Caliph of the East, who was sharing with his brother Amin the government. +Under this Caliph the governor of the Yemen was Mahammed, son of Ziad. +He conquered the Teháma, or western plains, and became sovereign of the +whole country. + +There remained at this period a tribe of the name of Beni Yafur, +descendants of the old Himyaric kings, who lived at Sanaa. Acknowledging +the Abbaside Caliphs, they were by force obliged to fall under the +jurisdiction of Ibn Ziad; but Asaad ibn Yafur, the last of the family, +took advantage of the Karmathian rising throughout the Yemen to usurp +the power, which he held until his death. He was the last prince of the +Himyaric people; and although his family held the throne for a few years +they never arrived at any great power, their position being materially +weakened by insurrections and family strifes. + +Ibn Ziad having died, and been succeeded by several members of his +family, Abou’l-Jaysh his grandson came to the throne. On the death of +the Caliph El-Mutawakil and the abdication of El-Mustain, he disclaimed +all allegiance to the Caliphate, and took to himself regal honours, +though there seems to be some apparent discord as to dates, for the +assassination and abdication of the Caliphs occurred before Abou’l-Jaysh +came to the throne. Probably he was the first to assume regal power, +although his immediate predecessors had ceased paying tribute to the +Caliphs.[18] + +Apparently Abou’l-Jaysh was a man of great power, and by the time of his +death he was master of the whole of the Yemen, while his revenues reached +an enormous sum. It was during his reign that the Zaidite dynasty sprung +up. The foundation of what afterwards was the principal line of the +Imams, or Sultans of the Yemen, is not without interest. Although to-day +ousted from power by the Turks, the leader of the late rebellion was no +less a personage than a descendant of the great family who in A.H. 288 +(A.D. 901) founded at Sadah the Zaidite dynasty. As of the direct family +of the prophet Mahammed, it may be interesting to trace the line from +the founder of Islam to Yahya, who returned to the Yemen from India in +288 A.H. to announce the supremacy of the Zaidis. This is best done by a +short genealogical tree. + + MAHAMMED. + | + Fatima and Ali. + | + Hasan. + | + Hasan. + | + Ibrahim. + | + Ismail. + | + Ibrahim. + Tabátabá. + | + Kasim er-Rassi. + | + Huseyn. + | + El-Hadi Yahya. + (D. 298 A.H.) + +Although Yahya succeeded in wresting Sanaa from Asaad ibn Yafur, he was +unable to hold it, and eventually returned to Sadah, where descendants of +his family are to-day living. + +From this period we find a constant rise and fall of dynasties. While +Imams alternately held and lost authority, there were springing up, +generally to disappear, princes in many parts of the country, so that at +times the Yemen was divided into a number of principalities. Celebrated +amongst these were the Sulayhites and the Zurayites, of whom the latter +for centuries held possession of the southern province of Aden. But, +meanwhile, in the north the Imams were succeeding one another with the +usual rapidity of oriental sovereigns, and with very varied authority. In +the fifth century A.H. we find the Abyssinian line again in possession of +Zebeed, at this time the principal city of the Teháma. + +Meanwhile the Zaidi family of Rassites continued to govern at Sadah +without serious interruption. + +In 1173 A.D. the then reigning Sultan of Sanaa surrendered his power to +Turan Shah, brother of Salah ed-din (Saladdin), the Ayyubite Caliph of +Egypt; and Ali, son of the Sultan El-Mansur Hatim, was nominated governor +of that city. + +It would be out of place here to trace the long lines of governors and +rulers who dominated the Yemen during the next two centuries. A few +names, however, are remembered to-day, and mentioned by authorities as +being men of great power or culture. The first is El-Muzaffer, who united +for the time at least all the Yemen under his sway, and who died at the +end of the thirteenth century; and again, Abdul-Wahab, who reigned early +in the sixteenth century, and founded many colleges at Sanaa, Taiz, and +Zebeed, and built a number of cisterns and aqueducts at places where +water was scarce. + +During the next period of the history of the Yemen, we come in contact +for the first time with European traders and the Turks, who were destined +in no small degree to influence the future of the country. + +About the year 1445 A.D. the Christian king of Abyssinia sent a mission +to Florence, and a famous missive to the priests of Jerusalem. This +king is well known to history from these two acts alone, and to-day is +celebrated as Prester John. Whether his embassy stirred the religious +zeal or the cupidity of Europe it is difficult to say, but it resulted, +whatever its cause may have been, in a Portuguese expedition to the far +East, which eventually ended in the leader, De Covilham, marrying and +settling in Shoa. + +I think there is but little need here to repeat the adventures of many +European expeditions that were sent at various periods to visit this +portion of the globe. Such as refer more immediately to Aden will be +found mentioned in the chapter on that possession, while I have elsewhere +referred to the “factories” at Mokha. + +Early in the sixteenth century the Mamlook power in Egypt was overthrown +by the Sultan Selim I., upon which event the larger portion of the +Arabian states went over to the new cause. This Selim was desirous +of himself leading an expedition for the conquest of Arabia, but was +obliged to abandon the idea on account of ill health; nor did he ever +recover sufficiently to carry out his purpose. His son, Suleiman the +Magnificent, was equally intent upon the conquest of India, and for +this purpose fitted out a fleet in A.D. 1520. On the 27th June 1538 the +fleet left Suez, and Aden was reached a few months later, and the town +was taken. Proceeding to India, Suleiman Pasha was forced to retire on +being attacked by the Viceroy of Goa, and returned to Aden, where he +left sufficient troops to garrison the town, and proceeded to Mokha, +whence messengers were sent to Zebeed with the demand that the governor +of that city should at once proceed to the coast. The Arab’s refusal +to comply with this order cost him his life, for a few months later +Zebeed was taken, and a number of its inhabitants put to the sword. This +completed the conquests of Suleiman the Magnificent, and all the coast of +Arabia acknowledged the Turkish rule, Sanaa itself becoming the seat of +the Pasha of the Yemen. But although firmly rooted in the country, the +Turkish forces were unable to extract tribute from the numerous tribes, +many of which remained practically independent. A revolt occurred at Aden +in 1551, which was, however, put down by Peri Pasha, who wrested the +town from the Portuguese, to whom it had been handed over by its Arab +inhabitants. + +Eight years later a still greater rebellion broke out throughout the +whole of the Yemen. However, the Turks, under Hasan Pasha, were able to +quell it, and continue their rule in the country. + +At the beginning of the seventeenth century the English appear for the +first time in this part of the world, the first ship to trade in the Red +Sea being the East India Company’s vessel Ascension, Captain Sharpey, +who, however, failed in his desire to establish commercial relations +between the two countries. This voyage was followed by several others, +but of these mention will be found in the chapter relating to Aden. + +In 1630 the Turks withdrew from the Yemen, and the government fell into +the hands of a descendant of Ali ibn Abou Taleb, who married Fatima, +the daughter of the Prophet Mahammed. This man was by name Kasim, whose +full titles were Mansur el-Kasim el-Kebir. His ancestor, El-Hadi Yahia, +had founded the Rassite dynasty in 284 A.H. The family of Kasim, which +now commenced to hold the government of the Yemen, continued until the +conquest of Sanaa by the Turks in 1872 to fill the posts of Imams.[19] +A few words are necessary in explanation of this title, by which the +rulers of the Yemen have been so long known. The word Imam literally +means the leader of prayer in the mosque. Thus it will be seen that the +office was not merely a temporal one, but was also imbued with religious +rights, enjoyed on account of their descent from the Prophet. Not daring +to assume the title of “Caliph,” they preferred the minor one “Imam,” +though practically by carrying out the old-established customs, such as +changing their names on succeeding to power, they took upon themselves +the position enjoyed by the direct successors of Mahammed himself. The +office was a hereditary one, and generally succeeded to by primogeniture, +provided the eldest son was of an age and character suitable to his being +able to carry out the necessary duties. + +Niebuhr gives an interesting account of the principal officers in the +service of the Imams, a portion of which may be mentioned here.[20] The +various provinces were, he says, under the governorship of a “Dowla,” +or military governor, who was responsible for his district, collected +the taxes, commanded the troops, and regulated all local affairs. It was +customary for a man only to hold the office for a few years, in order +to prevent his acquiring great wealth or influence. Their position was +always an uncertain one, as they necessarily made many enemies, who +were ready to do them some ill turn at headquarters. The Bas-Katéb was +secretary, appointed by the Imam, under each, whose principal work was to +spy upon and report to their lord and ruler the actions of the “Dowla.” +As ordained by the tenets of Islam, all cases relating to laws laid down +in the Koran were tried by the Cadi, or chief judge. The ports were +under the rule of three officers,—an Amir el-Bahr, or captain of the +port; an Amir es-Sôk, whose duty lay in regulating the markets; and a +Sheikh el-Beled, who collected the taxes. El-Kasim was succeeded by his +son El-Muayyad Mahammed, who in turn was succeeded by his brother Ismail, +who lived a life of supreme simplicity, and died after a long reign, +mourned by the whole country. + +So Imam succeeded Imam with all the changing fortunes of oriental rulers, +and without apparently performing any deeds which redound to their own +praise or raised the splendour of their country. In all probability their +lives were simply spent in Eastern uxoriousness, and in keeping in order +the turbulent tribes by which they were surrounded. + +In 1709 the French appeared for the first time in the Red Sea, and +carried out a treaty with the governor of Mokha, on behalf of the then +Imam El-Mehdi. The principal clauses referred to religious toleration, +the duties on merchandise, and that redress should be given for any +insults offered to French subjects.[21] In spite of this treaty in 1738 +Mokha was bombarded by the French, on account of debts owing to the +traders by the governor of that city. The town was taken, but handed back +to the Imam on the payment of the debt. This ended in the drawing up of a +second treaty, somewhat reducing the duty chargeable on the imports and +exports. + +For the next twenty years affairs in the Yemen remained in a state +of tolerable peace. From time to time tribes raised the standard of +independence; but there seems to have been no organised attack upon the +Imams, although the family was continually engaged in intrigue as to +the succession. However, in 1758 a serious rebellion broke out, under a +certain Abd er-Rabi ibn Ahmed, who had been governor of a small province +in the service of the Imam. Abd er-Rabi had made enemies in the household +of the Imam, and at their instigation was recalled. He refused, however, +to obey, whereupon the Imam sent a force of some three thousand men to +bring him. Nevertheless, he was able to hold out within the walls of +Kátaba for no less a period than nearly a year, and eventually made his +escape by night to his followers in the tribe of Hajeriya. Finding it +impossible to capture Abd er-Rabi, the Imam made overtures to the Sultan +of Aden to assist him. Abd er-Rabi hearing of this, entered Lahej and +blockaded Aden. He was destined, however, to fall a victim to an act +of treachery. The Imam was at this period attacking the city of Taiz, +which he was unable to capture, and, hoping to kill two birds with one +stone, invited Abd er-Rabi to join him. This the latter did, and the city +was taken. The Imam, delighted with his success, under the most solemn +protestations of friendship invited him to Sanaa, where on his arrival +he was, after every ignominy had been showered upon him, decapitated.[22] + +[Illustration: HOWTA, THE CAPITAL OF LAHEJ.] + +In 1762 King Frederick V. of Denmark organised an expedition for the +exploration of Arabia under the leadership of Karsten Niebuhr. With +him were associated three other Danes, who all died either during the +expedition or immediately upon its termination. In spite of the fact that +more than a century has elapsed since this expedition took place, we +have never since been given a clearer or more interesting and valuable +account of the Yemen. The social state of the country is particularly +well described, and no one can overestimate the value of Niebuhr’s work. +He twice interviewed the Imam during his stay at Sanaa, and the second +time greatly interested his royal host by exhibiting and explaining +his scientific instruments. Niebuhr’s account of the Imam and his +surroundings is most interesting, but unfortunately space does not allow +of my giving any extracts here. + +In 1770 an attack was made upon the British factory at Mokha. However, +two British men-of-war were sent to the spot, and an indemnity was +paid, which it was found out eventually had been extracted from Indian +merchants, who were, of course, British subjects! The Yemen at this time +had attracted a few European adventurers, who had become Moslems and +entered the service of the Imam. Amongst these was a certain Scotchman +of the name of Campbell, who was commanding the artillery of El-Mehdi +Abbas, the then Imam. A rebellion had burst out in the country, and the +rebels had seized upon a stronghold in the vicinity of Sanaa, in which +was water, and where they had collected a quantity of provisions. Such, +however, was the fear of the natives for the ingenuity of these European +renegades, that they surrendered on hearing that Campbell and his +companions were engaged upon the manufacture of shells—a task they had +neither the means nor the knowledge of carrying to a successful end. The +episode is merely interesting as showing the acknowledgment of the Arabs +of the superiority of the European over themselves in such things—an +allowance readily made to-day by nearly all classes of the Arab world. + +In 1799 a British force was sent to cruise in the Red Sea, on account +of the French having taken possession of Egypt; and Perim, an island +situated in the straits of Bab el-Mandeb, was occupied, though, on +account of the scarcity of water, it was only held for a period of four +months. + +The trade of the Red Sea with India had up to this period been a very +considerable one, but owing to the misgovernment of the Imams, and +their inability to offer security to traders, it had greatly diminished +in the last few years. On this account Sir Home Popham was sent on a +special mission to the Yemen in 1801, and was nominated Ambassador to +the Southern Arabian states. He arrived at Mokha on his return from +Calcutta in 1802, and set out for Sanaa. However, he reached only as far +as Taiz, and there, as had been the case along the entire route, he was +treated with every ignominy. The Imam protested that the treatment of +the Ambassador had been carried on without his knowledge and contrary to +his orders, and he promised to punish the offenders. In all probability +Ali Mansur, who then held the throne at Sanaa, was entirely unable to +cope with the turbulent tribes, and it is known for certain that from his +extravagances he was always in arrears with the subsidised chiefs of the +neighbouring districts. + +I have briefly mentioned elsewhere the Wahabi sect, which, under the +leadership of Abd el-Wahab en-Nejdi, sprang up in the eighteenth century. +It had not, however, seriously made itself felt in the Yemen until this +period, its progress being no doubt largely influenced by the Wahabi +conquest of Mecca and Medina. During the years 1804 and 1805 the Yemen +suffered from continual raids of the Wahabi leaders, for the most part +chiefs of the Beni Asir, the tribes lying between the Hejaz and the Yemen +proper. But treachery was on foot, and certain Shereefs nominally owing +allegiance to the Wahabi doctrine were really working in the interests +of the Imam of Sanaa, and in this manner the marauders were held more or +less in check. Meanwhile the Imam Ali Mansur had been deposed by his son +Ahmed, who had seized the reins of government. But the city of Mokha +refused to acknowledge Ahmed while the old Imam was still alive, and on +that account Ahmed put an expedition into the field against the Dowla of +that town. Happily for the country Ali Mansur died, and the people of +Mokha were then able to acknowledge his son as Imam, and so a disastrous +war was staved off. + +So great had become the power of the Wahabis that in 1813 Mahammed Ali +Pasha invaded the Hejaz in the name of Turkey, and restored Mecca and +Medina to the Osmanli Sultan. Thence an envoy was sent to the Imam at +Sanaa, requesting his co-operation in the stamping out of the Wahabis. +This was readily granted, for the Imam evidently saw that Mahammed Ali’s +eyes were turned in the direction of the Yemen; and although he protested +that he himself was devoid of means to carry on warfare, he gave the +envoy letters to the Dowla of Mokha to supply him with vessels and +material, knowing full well that he possessed neither.[23] + +In 1814 Mahammed Ali’s troops took the town of Konfoda, north of Lohaya; +but the Asir tribes surprised it a few months later, drove the Turks out, +and seized an enormous quantity of booty and supplies. So worn out were +the Turkish troops with their long campaign that Mahammed Ali was obliged +to abandon his scheme for the taking of the Yemen, and retired to Cairo, +leaving Ibrahim Pasha to continue the campaign, which ended in the +downfall of the Wahabis. The viceroyalty of Ibrahim was marked with every +kind of cruelty and despicable corruption, and his departure from Jeddah +in 1819 was the signal for great rejoicings. Mahammed Ali then carried +out a treaty with the Imam, who, on the condition of paying one hundred +thousand dollars a-year, was to be restored several provinces which he +had lately lost, including Konfoda and Lohaya, which the Turks themselves +had taken. + +On account of a brutal attack that was made upon Lieutenant Dommicetti, +at the time confined to his bed with fever, and upon the employees of +the British factory, a force was sent to that place in 1819 to demand +reparation, and a treaty from the Imam, in which certain privileges were +granted to British subjects. Difficulties arose, and in December 1820 +Mokha was bombarded by Captain Bruce, and full reparation made by the +governor. + +The Porte meanwhile had become uneasy at the great success attending +the campaigns of Mahammed Ali Pasha; and on a Mamlook, Mahammed Agha, +generally known as Turkchee Bilmas, rebelling against Mahammed Ali, the +Sultan of Turkey, hoping to profit through his agency, installed him +governor of the Hejaz. Marching south, Turkchee Bilmas took Hodaidah in +1832. Zebeed was the next city to fall, whence he marched upon Mokha, +which also surrendered; but the tide changed, and a year later Mokha +alone remained in Turkchee Bilmas’ hands, where he was attacked by a +large force by sea, under Ahmed Pasha, and by some 20,000 of the Asir +tribes by land. In the attack upon the city Turkchee Bilmas escaped to +the East India Company’s vessel Tigris, and was conveyed in her to Bombay. + +In 1837 the Imam’s uncle, Seyed Kasim, treacherously sold Taiz to the +Egyptians; but their power there was of short duration, for in 1840 the +Egyptians evacuated the Yemen, which thereupon became distracted with +strife. Although Ibrahim Pasha had previously agreed to hand over the +Teháma to Mahammed ibn Oun, Shereef of Mecca, he was not successful, for +a Shereef of the Abou Arish disputed its possession. The Shereef of Mecca +therefore despatched troops to the coast, who occupied Hodaidah the very +day the Pasha left it, but only to hold it for a very short time, for a +month later the Asir tribe entered the town. Shereef Huseyn, brother of +Mahammed el-Meccawi, assumed the governorship of Mokha, and commenced to +ill-treat the British subjects there, at the same time demanding, in an +insulting letter, the surrender of Aden.[24] + +The Imam was not at first able to attend to these matters, as a religious +rebellion had broken out under the leadership of a fanatic, El-Faki Saïd, +who called himself “Medhi el-Mantether.” But as soon as this impostor +had been attacked and killed, the Imam turned his attention to the +Teháma. Failing in obtaining the aid of the British, it appears that both +he and her Majesty’s Government referred the matter to Constantinople, +with the result that a commissioner was sent by the Porte to confer +with the Shereef. However, he appears, says Playfair in his notes upon +the subject, to have been bribed by Shereef Huseyn, and returned to +Constantinople with but little accomplished. The result, however, of his +mission became apparent a year later, when the Sultan appointed him Pasha +of the Teháma, on the understanding that he paid a tribute of 70,000 +dollars per annum to the Porte. + +[Illustration: _A Native of the Teháma._] + +The Imam, El-Hadi Mahammed, died in 1844, and was succeeded by Ali +Mansur, who had been formerly deposed, and whose great idea seemed to +be to retrieve the losses his predecessors had suffered. Fighting at +once commenced, but the Imam’s troops met with but little success, and +smallpox carried off a very considerable number. A rebellion broke out a +few months later, the Imam was deposed, and his cousin, Mahammed Yahya, +placed on the throne in his stead. Desirous of carrying out the scheme +of his predecessor for the recovery of the Teháma, he took the field and +finally routed the Shereef Huseyn at Bajil, near Hodaidah, the Shereef +himself being taken prisoner. Hodaidah, Zebeed, and Beit el-Fakih were +handed over to the Imam, and shortly afterwards he captured Mokha, +where he learned that another division of the Shereef Huseyn’s army had +retaken Zebeed. The Imam fled to Sanaa, and a few weeks later Mokha fell +once more into the hands of Huseyn. The Turks, seeing the opportunity +a suitable one to push their interests in Southern Arabia, sent an +expedition to Hodaidah, on the arrival of which the Shereef Huseyn handed +over the place to the new-comers. The Imam was compelled to visit the +Pasha at Hodaidah, and a treaty was signed, the principal clauses of +which were as follows:— + +1. The country governed by the Imam was to continue under his +jurisdiction, but he was himself to be considered as a vassal to the +Porte. + +2. The revenues of the country were to be equally divided between the +Porte and the Imam. + +3. Sanaa was to be garrisoned with a thousand regular Turkish troops. + +4. The Imam was to receive 37,000 dollars per month from the revenue +previous to its division.[25] + +Both the Turks and the Imam suffered, however, from the results of this +treaty—the former by being almost annihilated on their arrival at Sanaa, +the latter by being deposed and murdered. The power of the Imams was +gone; the Turks, although driven out of the highlands of the Yemen, +retained their footing on the coast, and carried on desultory warfare in +many directions. The country, after years of war and bloodshed, remained +in a state of anarchy, and the descendants of the great Imams seemed to +lose all spirit and authority. They sank into private life at Sanaa, +giving themselves up to luxury and vice; and the greatness of the Yemen +was finished. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE INFLUENCES OF ISLAM IN THE YEMEN. + + +Before entering upon any account of the various religious influences +that have since the time of Mahammed disturbed the Yemen, it may be +as well to put aside a few pages for some general remarks upon the +religion of Islam, the tenets of which are well known enough to those +who have made any study of the subject, but are to the general world +almost a closed book. It is this disregard of religions other than our +own which so weakens the constant cry of their inferiority. Rather it +should be the desire of such as wish to uphold Christianity to carefully +study and compare its doctrines with those of the beliefs they are so +ready to cry down. The world has arrived at a stage when people are not +satisfied with a mere assertion, but demand to hear both sides of the +question and to reason for themselves; and to those who have taken up or +made even a small study of Islam it is a pain, or perhaps at times an +amusement, to listen to the rabid cries as to its inferiority, issuing +from the throats of men who base their action upon a few what they call +“practical results.” It is not the author’s purpose here to enter into +a long discussion upon the subject, or to point out at any length the +many fallacies which are believed to be doctrines of Islam by a large +proportion of the British public. + +But of all the arguments used to show the inferiority of the Mahammedan +religion, there is none so loved and so often brought into use as the +present condition of countries practising its belief. How little real +value this argument possesses it will not take long to prove; and it may +be generally stated that the backward condition of Mahammedan states +is not owing to their form of religion to nearly so great an extent +as it is owing to the nature of the people who profess it; in other +words, the low standpoint of most Islamic countries can be traced to +the origin of its inhabitants rather than to their beliefs. Strong as +is this statement, there is at least one very good example to prove its +truth—namely, that under similar circumstances of breed and climate we +find Christian nations sunk deeper in degradation and vice than their +Moslem neighbours. Take, for example, Abyssinia, into which Christianity +was introduced between the years 300 and 320 A.D. Why then, since from +that period they have been pursuing the Christian belief, do we not find +them to-day in a state infinitely superior to the surrounding Moslem +countries—in fact, living in a state of civilisation equalling that of +the European nations, or even of the Yemenite Arabs or the Turks? Why do +we find Abyssinia to-day a country given over to drink and debauchery, +when they are regular attendants at church? Why do we find them living +in the circular thatch-huts and wearing the same apparel that they did +probably when Christianity first made its appearance amongst them? +Because, I say, their nature is such that it is untouchable by any +religion, no matter how lofty be its aims and aspirations. “Can the +Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Certainly not, no +matter how much he may be painted over with gaudy colours. Again, why +in Egypt do we not find the Kopts in a far higher state of civilisation +and intellectual superiority than their neighbours? It may be argued +that their Christianity is not an example of true Christianity, just as +it may be argued that the Islam of to-day is not the true Islam. Yet it +strikes one that Islam is very much nearer its original ideal than we +are to ours, who have turned our religion round and round and inside +out to make it fit the requirements of modern progress and personal +comforts. Before, Christian reader, you turn to smite your neighbour the +Moslem, look round you. Before you begin to pull the mote out of his +eye, pay a little attention to the beam that is in your own. Look at +the great armies of Europe ready to tear one another to pieces! Look at +the streets of the great cities flocked with prostitutes! Look at the +swarming drunken population of our towns! Look at the financial robberies +and the uncharitableness of our own lands,—and when you have mended that, +then you may turn to show your brotherly love, which is so engrafted in +the Christian’s heart, and rend your neighbour. + +Justice, I say! If it be one’s desire to take up the cudgels against what +millions hold most dear, then let it not be done until the cudgels can +be taken up and victory assured by making a careful study of what one +is going to fight against. Religious tolerance is one of the boasts of +Englishmen; let it be their care that the boast is not a vain one. + +Again, it is often said that by its so carefully laying down the laws, +Islam has prevented any material change from taking place in the +condition of those that profess it. How about Judaism? The laws are as +equally, if not more specifically, laid down in their books than even +they are in the Koran, and yet we find to-day the Jews in all material +matters almost the leaders of the world. + +There can be no doubt that Christianity is a far finer religion than +Islam. Christianity is beautiful in its simplicity—beautiful in that +it touches so little upon affairs of worldly importance; but it is +doubtless a religion founded for Western and Northern people. There is no +doubt that, coming from Palestine, it chose its natural course when it +proceeded to Europe. Why was it not embraced by the Arabs and peoples +of the south, who at that time, with the exception of such as were +Jews, were professing the foul rites of idolatry? The southerner, wild +turbulent son of the desert, is unsuited to Christianity; he must have +some belief that touches him deeper, that inspires his ardour by teaching +something he can understand,—some religion that regulates his course +of life, as well as offers him hereafter a future existence. Mentally +and bodily, he is different to us northern people. His mind runs in an +entirely different channel. He exists, he thinks, in a different sphere, +and it was this sphere that Islam touched. + +He was tempted by earthly spoil, by the love of persecution, and promised +licentiousness hereafter, it is often said. Perhaps; but has not the same +over and over again tempted Christian Powers?—has not love of persecution +found sufficient examples in the history of Christianity to deter us +from looking for it abroad? Is not our heaven, painted by St John in the +Revelation, tended to increase our desire to share in it by picturing +its beauties? The Revelation, it may be answered, is an allegory; yet he +who argues thus would have been burned at the stake for his pernicious +views not many centuries ago. To those who are capable, though generally +unwilling, to understand Christianity, it is a religion at once perfect +and superlative. It is an ideal seldom if ever reached. It is a goal to +be striven after, with but little hopes of doing more than one’s feeble +best to reach; and more, far more than all, it is the truth. But so is +Islam to the Mahammedan. It is a goal which many reach, because its +ideals are tangible and comprehensible. It is a religion founded by a man +of vast intellect to enforce a belief in the existence of one God, which +the intricacies of Christianity had failed to prove to the Arab races. To +them, materialists to the very backbone, the Trinity is impossible. To us +it is incomprehensible, but acknowledged. Christ was the Son of God! This +alone is sufficient to drive to a distance the Arab, who acknowledges +the Messiah’s origin as divine and supernatural, but to whom the idea of +filial relationship with the Deity is revolting and incredible. + +An example of the power that Islam asserted over the minds of the +inhabitants of the Yemen is near at hand. There were many Christians +in that country at the moment when they received the tidings of the +Prophet’s mission. Nejrán, a large province, was governed by a Christian +family, and boasted a bishop, by name Kos, who died during the earlier +half of the seventh century A.D., probably during the lifetime of +Mahammed; yet but a comparatively few years later we find all traces of +Christianity disappeared. Not so in Abyssinia, where it exists to-day +amongst a people given up to one vice at least, drunkenness, from which +were they Moslems they would be free. Were Europe a Mahammedan Power, +there is no reason to doubt that we should not be in the same state of +civilisation as we enjoy to-day. The Turks are an oriental race, and +cannot be taken as a fair example; yet they have so far followed upon the +lines of Christian Powers that we find them to-day squeezing their people +to obtain the means wherewithal to purchase the destructive implements +of war, and existing in a very tolerable state of civilisation and +drunkenness. + +No! the Ethiopian cannot change his skin; and just as Christianity is +the religion best suited, apart from its inestimable truth, to Northern +people, so is Islam to the Arabs and the children of the south. Each has +sorted itself and taken root where best it will flourish. Any attempt +to influence one by the introduction of the other must, by the laws of +nature which have thus sorted them, be prejudicial to the world at large. + +A few words as to the general tenets of the Mahammedan religion. + +It must not be forgotten that it was in A.H. 12, a year after the +Prophet’s death, that the Koran was collected by Zaid, and that therefore +there can be little doubt that in its arrangement and sequence it is far +from the order in which the words were uttered. The fragments of which +it is composed were collected from every source, but although it may be +said in its present form to follow no particular chronological order, at +the same time there can be little doubt that, apart from this weakness, +it contains the words of the Prophet himself. However, in the building up +of a new religion, it was impossible to ordain for every class of society +likely to embrace it; and on this account the Moslems, especially the +Sunnis, hold that, after the sacred book, the “traditions” are next in +sanctity. These “traditions” are the teaching, verbal or in example, of +the Prophet himself, not absolutely inculcated in the Koran, but handed +down upon the authority of “his companions.” On these traditions many +schools of theology and law have been built up, referring to them in +cases in which the Koran does not sufficiently render clear, or perhaps +omits altogether some point. Needless to say these “traditions,” being +almost innumerable and often disputed, have caused more dissension +amongst the world of Islam than any passages in the Koran itself. + +The central idea of Islam is the unity of God, and the association of any +other with the Deity is the one mortal sin.[26] There is no priesthood; +the religion is a religion of the people, explained to them by doctors, +such as the Sheikh el-Islam, the Moulas, and the Cadis, whose authority +is acknowledged, but solely as exponents of religion and law, which it +is in no one’s power to revise or alter. Idolatry is to be rooted out +and trampled under foot. “There is no God but God, and Mahammed is the +prophet of God.” Soundless, rhythmless, as are the words to us, their +very repetition stirs the Moslem heart; their very mention is sufficient +for an infidel to become a Moslem. They are the only bond that binds +Sunnis and Sheiyas together, the common birthright of all Islam. + +[Illustration: _A Yemeni._] + +The principal and best known of the Mahammedan tenets, as well as being +those on which the religion is most founded, are the immortality of the +soul; the resurrection of the body; the judgment of good and evil; heaven +and hell; predestination, about which, however, contradictory remarks are +found in the Koran; the ministry of good angels, and the evil influence +of the bad. To none of these precepts can exception be found, for, after +all, they resemble to a great extent our own. But at this point the Koran +steps ahead of us by the prohibition of wine, games of chance, usurious +dealings, the flesh of swine, or of things strangled or which have died a +natural death, all of which are strictly forbidden. How beneficial this +has proved and is proving to the Mahammedan races is very clear; and it +may be said that it is only when Moslems have come into contact with Jews +or Christians that they have broken through these ordinances. + +As to other restrictions laid by Mahammed upon his followers, and other +privileges allowed to them, a few words must be said. Polygamy is legal, +and it is this more than anything, perhaps, that raises indignation +amongst Christians. Every Moslem is allowed four wives and as many slaves +as he likes. Shocking! yet do we not decorate our church windows with +pictures of David and Solomon? do we not read their words in our places +of worship? and I doubt if either would have been satisfied with this +small allowance. Were not the patriarchs, who after Christ we are taught +most to reverence, polygamists? They at least, like the Arabs, have an +excuse, which Solomon and David certainly had not—namely, the constant +wars in which they were engaged killed off so large a population of the +men that the women were greatly in excess. Yet to-day in many Moslem +countries it is unusual to find amongst the respectable classes more +than one wife. We are by law restricted to one, they are by law and by +religion allowed four. After all, they have just as much right to swear +that their custom is the best one as we have to put forward our own. + +That divorce is lax amongst the Arab races is true; so are the morals of +both men and women. But let us look again at the Kopts in Egypt, or the +Christian race of Abyssinians,—are they any better? Certainly not. Again, +in Moslem countries, these laws of divorce are appealed to more by the +poorest classes than by the rich. In England the fact that a wretched +couple of paupers do not agree has no remedy, until one day the husband +jumps on his wife and kills her. In Moslem countries he divorces her, and +probably both are married again in the course of a month. + +The fact of the case is simply this. To attempt to judge Islam from a +Christian standpoint is as ridiculous as to attempt to judge Christianity +from a Moslem one. We shudder at the civil codes and conditions of the +Mahammedans; they are horrified at our Trinity, at the decoration of our +churches, at lax laws as to purification, at our drunken habits, at the +Pope, at our paid clergy, and at a hundred other details. To criticise +Islam one must have seen it in its own lands, and that with unprejudiced +eyes. + +There is but one more question that must be touched upon here—namely, +slavery. Never have there been more exaggerated reports as to slavery in +oriental countries than are from time to time cropping up to-day. It must +be understood what slavery really is in the East; it must be remembered +that it is not agricultural slavery—that it is entirely domestic slavery. +Stories are from time to time appearing of atrocious cruelties to slaves: +they are true, no doubt, but they are exceptional—just as, happily, the +cruel treatment of children is exceptional in England. It is not after +the slaves have passed through the market that they suffer, it is on the +long desert-marches in which they are brought from the interior. Another +point is scarcely understood in England—namely, that probably ninety-nine +hundredths of the slaves in servitude in oriental countries have been +born in servitude, and never were brought from the Soudan at all. In this +case they have been often reared in the houses of their masters, and as +often as not treated as his children. + +That slavery is contrary to law and nature all will acknowledge; that it +ought and must be put down is equally true; but as to the means of doing +it? The slave-trade must be stopped from the interior of Africa, not by +the freeing of the slaves already arrived at their journey’s end. For +instance, the emancipation of slaves in Morocco would mean thousands of +men thrown out of doors to gain a livelihood by murder and robbery, or +starve; and thousands of women driven to be prostitutes. And this is +what we are attempting to do in the name of progress and religion! + +[Illustration: _Jew of the Yemen._] + +How vastly Islam was in advance of the pagan religions, which for the +most part it replaced in Arabia, need not be mentioned here. From +practising horrible rites of “fetich,” from the offering even of human +sacrifices, from dissensions and religious tribal wars, the mission of +Mahammed called the Arabs to something far higher—far above anything +they had known before. Christianity had failed, in spite of repeated +efforts, to attract them to anything more than the smallest extent; +Judaism was out of date, and unsuited to the epoch they had reached. They +were ready, were yearning, for a new religion, and Mahammed took the +opportunity to found one. In place of hideous pagan rites, in place of a +few converts to an unappreciated Christianity, in place of Judaic laws of +which the people were weary, he brought amongst them a new inspiriting +religion, lofty in its recognition of monotheism, higher than anything +they had as yet known in its moral code. + +But from this simple form of monotheism numerous branches were destined +to sprout; and just as Christianity is split up into innumerable sects, +so is Islam divided into many differences and brotherhoods. It is with +comparatively few, however, of these that we have to deal in regard to +the Yemen,—for although in early times changes had begun to be apparent +in the course of the religion, it is only comparatively lately that the +enormous quantity of sectarian differences now existing sprang into +life; and these, with few exceptions, have but to a very slight extent +influenced the political aspect of the country. + +The first important dissension in the course of Islam occurred about the +year 37 A.H., when the theocratic party, recognising that the existence +of the Caliphs was likely to become, and was even at that time becoming, +an excuse for power and a cause of strife, and that the religious +influence was lapsing into an autocratic supremacy, stood aside and +cried for an oath of allegiance to God alone, and an elected Council of +State to regulate affairs. Revolting first against Ali, the nephew and +son-in-law of the Prophet, we find them again and again all through the +history of Islam bursting forth, egged on by such wild fanaticism as +only men of those countries can know. High though, perhaps, the original +motives of the Kharejites were, they were too often in after-times fanned +by the aspirations of pretenders to power, and it needed all the force +of temporal and spiritual rulers to check these outbursts of fanaticism. +The Kharejites were again split up into many divisions, all more or less +founded upon the idea of treating sin as infidelity, which it would be +straying from the objects of this book to specially mention here, except +that of the Obadites, who from time to time recur in the history of the +Yemen. + +Although the Kharejites formed the first absolute split in Islam, there +had been gradually growing up what have always formed, and to-day form, +the two great divisions of the Mahammedan belief—namely, the sects +of the Sunnis and the Sheiyas. To mention some of the standpoints of +both. The Sunni tenets are held by Turkey and the greater part of +Mahammedan-professing India, while Southern Arabia and Persia and +portions of North Africa profess Sheiyism. The differences of the two, +briefly stated, are as follows. While the Sunnis acknowledge the election +of the Caliphs from the general professors of Islam, the Sheiyas assert +that Ali, the fourth Caliph, was the natural successor of the Prophet, +ignoring Abou Bekr, Omar, and Othman. But here again the Sheiya sect +becomes split up; for one division, which continued under the name of +Sheiyas, contend that Ali held his right to succeed the Prophet in +office in virtue of his personality; while the other side, the Zaidis, +contend that Ali was the legitimate successor and heir of the Prophet, +not by reason of his personality, but through his merits. Consequently +they assert that the successors in the Caliphate, or Imams, as they +were called in the Yemen, must necessarily be of the Prophet’s family, +but were to be chosen to fill the holy office on account of merit and +character, in place of succession by birthright alone, but that in +the veins of those elected to the post must flow the Prophet’s blood. +Amongst those of the former persuasion was the sect of Imamites, and its +sub-sects, the Dodekites and Ismailites, the latter of which was founded +and flourished in the third century A.H. It was from this branch that the +Fatimide dynasty sprang, and their descendants are to be found in the +mountains of Lebanon under the name of Druses, who are still awaiting the +return of their prophet Hakim. The point on which the Zaidis separated +from the sects of the Dodekites and Ismailites is as to the lawful +holders of the Imamate or Caliphate after the death of the grandson of +Ali. + +But the Zaidis were destined also to divide, and at a subsequent period +we find the Arab and Persian Zaidis submitting to the allegiance of two +separate Imams, one of whom reigned in Arabia and one in Persia. + +Even to-day intense hatred exists between the followers of Sunni and +Sheiya doctrines. No better example of this is to be found than the +fact that when Russia was engaged in a war with Turkey that threatened +to be a death-blow to Islam in Europe, not one sword was raised by the +Sheiya-professing Mahammedans for her assistance; and Persia and other +parts who do not acknowledge the Sultan Abdul Hamid as the rightful +Caliph—for the Prophet’s blood does not flow in his veins—sat impassively +and watched, with but comparatively little interest, the struggle. + +The Sunnis derive their name from the Arabic word _sunnat_, a precedent; +and their faith is built up, apart from the differences already +specified, upon the example established by the Prophet himself, as handed +down to them by history and tradition. Their belief can be justly called, +perhaps, the orthodox one, for Mahammed himself chose as his successor in +office Abou Bekr, who was not of his family. Therefore to them it is no +prejudice that the present holder of the Caliphate, or successor in the +religious supremacy of Islam, is the Sultan of Turkey, who, it will be +seen, fails to be acknowledged by any of the branches of the Sheiya faith +on account of his descent. + +These few words may prove sufficient to throw as much light as is +necessary in the question of the Yemen upon the two great divisions of +Islam. It need only be added to how great an extent the Turks, though +co-religionists in as far as they profess Mahammedanism, would be +separated from the Yemeni people in religious ideas; and it is this fact, +more than even the extortion they practised, that gave rise to the Yemen +rebellion. + +About 280 A.H. there appeared a new sect in the Yemen, that of the +Karmathians, who sprang from the Dodekites and Ismailites, though far +exceeding them in fanaticism and excesses. They arose in the Yemen under +the leadership of two powerful men, Ali ibn Fadl and Mansur ibn Hasan, of +whom the former appears to have been most implicated in promulgating the +extraordinary and often revolting tenets of the new belief. Beginning as +a hermit, he collected round him a little band of devoted followers, and +setting forth, he commenced a series of victories. At length, overpowered +with success, he acknowledged himself a prophet, and preached from the +pulpit of Janad the rightful use of wine and permission of incest. +Continuing his march, his cause grew, and both Dhamar and Sanaa fell +before him. At the latter place his excesses were beyond recording.[27] +Seventeen years after having gained his enormous power, Ibn Fadl died at +the hands of an assassin, who, taking advantage of the common Eastern +habit of the drawing of blood, secreted poison in his long hair, and +after having sucked the lancet to prove it was clean, dried it in his +poisoned locks. The historian, El-Janadi, states that there were great +rejoicings at his death. The remnants of this sect, inoffensive now and +law-abiding, still exist in Bombay. + +The next great secession from the direct Islam was that of the Nizarites +or Assassins, a name derived from _Hashishiyin_—in other words, the +eaters of _hashish_, a narcotic much resorted to in the East. This +word was the origin of our present “assassin,” but in the East to-day +has no deeper meaning than that given above. The brotherhood arose +about 400 A.H., a few years after the death of Nizar, son of the +Khalifa el-Mustansir, whom they asserted had been wrongfully withheld +from succeeding his father. Thus they gained their first title, that +of “Nizarites.” They swore an oath to devote their energies to the +propagation of their faith, and many perils they undertook for this +purpose, often sacrificing their lives in the fulfilment of their vows. +The remains of this once dreaded sect are to-day to be found in Bombay, +in Zanzibar, and in the Lebanon. + +The later sect of the Wahabis shows a tendency on the part of orthodox +Arabs to the ancient tenets of Kharejite theocracy. With the Sheiyas +the contrary is the case, and they incline rather toward transcendental +doctrines, bursting out into such mystical rites as those of the sects of +Mutazelites and Sufis, or, in the Yemen, in their devotion for a divine +Imamate. + +How important have been these sects in forming the history, not only of +the Yemen but of all Arabia, cannot be exaggerated. Whole dynasties have +been built up or overthrown by their fanatical devotees. From the very +earliest years of Islam we are constantly coming across the turbulent +risings of one or the other; and while the Sunnis have more or less +strictly upheld until to-day their original orthodoxy, with any variation +of which they are intolerant, we see the other great division, the +Sheiyas, split up again and again into sects and sub-sects, struggling +for a theocracy that was impossible, or used by unscrupulous pretenders +as a road to power. + +Looking at Islam to-day, we find the Sunnis in very much the same +religious position as they have always held, even from the very first. +Their key-note, so to speak, has been unswerving allegiance to the +_sunnat_, or precedent of the Prophet. On the other hand, we find the +Sheiyas split up into hundreds of sects and brotherhoods, each following +some particular instruction or belief of their several founders, who for +the most part have been descendants of the Prophet himself. + +One of these sects, now making itself felt in the Yemen, as it is doing +all over the Moslem world, is a modern one. I refer to the followers of +El-Mehdi Senussi, about which, as one of the coming powers of Islam, +a few words may not be out of place. The idea of Sheikh Senussi was +to bring Islam back to its original purity—to revive its great social +laws, moral and religious, as instituted by the Prophet, and to defend +and propagate the same.[28] In this it will be seen that the tenets of +Senussism resemble both those of the Sheiyas and the Sunnis—the former +in the desire for a theocracy, the latter in the punctilious observance +of precedent. Its sole distinctive feature is in its transcendentalism +and in the repetition of certain prayers. Like the Wahabis, too, music, +dancing, singing, and coffee are forbidden. In fact, the Sheikh Senussi +seems to have introduced into his new revival of Islam the doctrines of +many of the former sects. The Sheikh himself is dead, being followed in +office by his son, who is still living near Siwah, in the desert between +Egypt and Tripoli. But what makes this sect so vastly important is its +political power, and it may safely be prophesied that the next great +revolt of Islam against the Christians in Africa, no matter what form +it may take, will owe its origin to this movement. The author, within a +few months, heard Senussism preached in Somali-land and in Morocco, in +both of which countries, not to speak of the more central Tunis, Tripoli, +and the state of Fezzan, it is deeply rooted. If, then, a new movement +in Islam is able in the lifetime of two men to gain converts, and many +converts, in countries so distantly removed from one another and from the +headquarters of its founder, it can clearly be understood the immense +power it must hold over the minds of the people; and one of the greatest +drawbacks to European venture in Africa is the undoubted fact that this +smouldering fanaticism will one day burst into flame. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE REBELLION IN THE YEMEN. + + +It is seldom that the Sublime Porte is free from trouble regarding one +at least of her possessions; and although the Turkish Government has +taken, in the case of the rebellion in the Yemen, every means to throw +dust in the eyes of Europe, yet sufficient has from time to time leaked +out to show how seriously the affair was regarded by the Sultan and his +Ministers. From such scraps of information it would be impossible to +piece together a history of what has taken place; but the writer, by +making a journey of over four hundred miles through the country at the +very time of the rebellion, was, as the only European in the interior, +with the exception of a few Greek shopkeepers, able to take advantage +of his unique opportunity of seeing for himself, and gathering a +considerable amount of information on the subject. + +But before any account is given of the rebellion, it must be explained of +how great a value to the Sultan of Turkey are his possessions in Arabia. +It is on them, and on them alone, that he bases his claim to the title +of Caliph—a title on which his prestige in the eyes of the Moslem mainly +rests. Amongst Mahammedan potentates he is the greatest; for although +many sects of Islam do not hold that one in whose veins the blood of +the Prophet does not flow is able by divine right to succeed to the +Caliphate, the possession of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina cannot +but add to his fame. From all parts of the world the pilgrims flock +yearly to Mecca, there to come in contact with the Turks as a governing +power, to hear the name of Abdul Hamid blessed daily in the mosque; +and in their eyes, by force of circumstance, the Sultan is inseparably +connected with the Holy Places. + +True it is that the Yemen is separated from the Hejaz, the province in +which Mecca and Medina are situated, by a large tract of country, known +as the Asir. But the tribes inhabiting this district are, and always have +been, largely influenced by the Yemenite faction, and like them are in +their belief of the Sheiya sect, holding that the claim of the Sultan +of Turkey to the Caliphate is irregular and illegal. This alliance, not +only by blood but by doctrine, which is perhaps the strongest tie of all +amongst the Moslems, caused the rebellion in the Yemen to be a likely +forerunner to a war in the Asir. The Turkish rule has never been more +than nominal amongst the mountains of the latter, so that the repudiation +by them of the Osmanli Government, which has taken place, is fraught +with no great danger to Turkey, provided the discontent and consequent +rebellion remains within bounds, and does not reach the Hejaz. Although +largely subsidised by the Turkish Government, there can be little doubt +that, did they clearly see their way to success, the members of the +Shereefian family of Mecca, direct descendants of the Prophet Mahammed, +would attempt to bring back the succession of the Caliphate into their +own line, and thus into the strain of the descendants of the Prophet; and +to a cause so nearly touching their doctrinal beliefs there is but little +doubt the Bedouins of the Hejaz, as well as many of the inhabitants of +the cities, would readily lend their aid and assistance. + +Therefore it will be seen that to the Turks a successful rebellion in +the Yemen meant not only the loss of the southernmost of their Arabian +States, but also the probable ensuing loss of the Hejaz, and the fall +of the Sultan of Turkey in the eyes of the larger portion of the world +of Islam. How many thousands of Mahammedans daily in the mosques call +for blessings on the head of Abdul Hamid the Caliph, who would never +pray for Abdul Hamid the Sultan! The difference is enormous, though to +us somewhat incomprehensible; and it is said, and no doubt rightly so, +that his Majesty of Stamboul values far more than his temporal powers the +title of “Commander of the faithful.” In the one case, as Caliph, he is +in the eyes of all Sunnis[29] Sultan of the Moslem world, and as such +successor to the Prophet himself. In the other, as a Sultan, he is merely +a stranger, an Osmanli, not even of the great Arab race, whose ancestors +have by force of arms conquered and left him a kingdom. + +From these remarks it will be inferred how vastly important it is to the +Sultan and the Porte to retain intact the Turkish possessions in Arabia. + +Although it was not until the summer of 1891 that the rebellion in the +Yemen took any outward form, the Turks must have been aware, for a +long period previous to that time, that their relations with the Arabs +were becoming day by day more strained. Yet such is the character of +Turkish provincial officials, especially of those so far removed from +the seat of the Government as in the Yemen, that they still continued +their policy of oppression, trusting to fate that there would be no +open hostilities until the jobbery that had put them into power would +follow its inevitable course by removing them and reinstating others in +their places, on whom would fall the brunt of a rebellion, which they +saw might for a time be postponed but impossible to avert. “Make your +hay while the sun shines,” is the motto of the Turkish official; and +for him, as a rule, the sun shines but for a very short period. It is +this extraordinary want of forethought and co-operation, this shifting +of responsibilities upon successors in office, amongst those who help +to rule the destinies of the Turkish provinces, that is the chief root +and origin of all their troubles. “Let me enrich myself,” thinks the +official. “In a month or two I may no longer have the opportunities. I +must make enough in this short period of office to retire upon. What may +follow, what may be the result of my policy, I care not; it interests me +not at all.” + +It was the perpetual practice of these theories that gradually drove the +Arabs into resistance. The rebellion was no sudden affair; as long ago as +several years back there had commenced on the part of the Arabs a series +of outrages against Turkish officials that would have rendered apparent +to any other nation but the Turks the danger that was threatening. Cruel +and bloodthirsty as many of these outrages were, they were the only means +in the power of the Arabs of protesting against the exorbitant taxation +and the oppression that were ruining them. Their appeals to Sanaa, +and even to Constantinople, had resulted in no amelioration of their +condition. + +It is necessary, I think, to give but one example of these outrages. At +Dhamar, one of the largest cities of the Yemen, there lived a certain +general, by name Mahammed Rushti Pasha, between whom and a neighbouring +tribe there had arisen misunderstanding as to the amount of taxation to +be levied upon them. The pasha insisted on the full sum, and a quarrel +ensued between the Arab sheikh and himself, the former fleeing from the +city swearing revenge. Shortly afterwards Mahammed Rushti being called +away to another part of the country, the tribe in question took advantage +of his absence to blow up his house and family with gunpowder. His wives, +children, and servants died that night, in all some eleven persons. +Returning with all speed to Dhamar, the general, with such forces as were +at the time in the city, almost exterminated the little tribe who had +accomplished so horrible a vengeance. Over the grave of those that died +that night Mahammed Rushti raised a mosque and a domed tomb, the interior +of which he hung with rich silks. Thither he would repair and sit alone. +On the taking of Dhamar by the Arabs in November last, this tomb was +looted, and when visited by the writer at the end of January, the city +by that time having been reconquered by the Turks, he found the tomb and +mosque in ruins, robbed of all its treasures. + +That the feeling was so strong as to find vent in such outrages as +these—and that mentioned is but one of many—would have made it apparent, +one would have thought, that the existing state of affairs could not +continue with impunity. But the lot of the Yemeni was to be squeezed +to fill the coffers at Constantinople, and to pay for the harems and +pleasures of unscrupulous officialdom. Such, then, apart from all +religious differences, was the existing state of feeling in the Yemen +when in the summer of the year before last the rebellion broke out. +Before the conquest of the Yemen by the Turks in 1872—for although they +possessed a firm footing on the coast previous to that period, their +power had not made itself felt in the interior—the Yemen was governed by +a ruler after their own hearts; for, being of the Sheiya sect—Zaidis they +call themselves—it was necessary to the tenets of their belief that their +Sultan should be of direct descent from the Prophet, through Ali ibn Abou +Taleb, his nephew and son-in-law. This condition their Imam fulfilled; +for although the Yemen had at different times fallen into foreign hands, +still the direct family had never disappeared. + +Sanaa, now the capital of Turkish Yemen, was his residence. It is a +large city, situated roughly two hundred and forty miles north of Aden, +and a hundred and sixty east of Hodaidah. Here the Imam lived the usual +secluded and sensual life of an oriental despot, looked upon by the Arabs +as a spiritual Sultan, but powerless to hold in check the depredations +and robberies of the many tribes under his nominal sway, who, with true +oriental zeal, were continually doing their best to exterminate one +another. As long as money was forthcoming, the Imam was content to dwell +at Sanaa without troubling himself about more external affairs than the +management of his own household, and the receiving of gifts from the +Arabs who performed pilgrimages to his presence. Apparently wanting in +education, except such religious knowledge as is considered necessary +for the welfare of an Oriental of high degree, he possessed no ability +to govern, nor does he appear to have been even renowned as a soldier or +organiser of troops. + +Such became at length the state of the country, that trade almost +ceased on account of the attacks upon the caravans; and the Sanaa +merchants—quiet respectable Arabs—saw nothing but ruin before them, and +considering solely the benefits that would accrue to themselves by such +a step, and ignoring what the result would be upon the agricultural +population, invited the Turks to take the place. This was accomplished +in 1872 by a force from Hodaidah. The Imam was deposed; but on account +of his spiritual influence over the Arab horde, was permitted to reside +in Sanaa, receiving a pension on the condition that he would exert his +powers in furthering the interests of the Osmanli Government. This until +his death he fulfilled; on which event the _baraka_, or holy birthright, +passed to his relative Ahmed ed-Din, who, like his predecessor, was by +no means dissatisfied to receive the adoration of the Arabs and the +regularly paid allowance of the Turks. + +Such, briefly, was the history of the Turkish occupation of the Yemen +and the state of affairs until last year. The tribes, in the time of the +Imam, left undisturbed both in their labours in the fields and in their +welfare, boasting an independence of centuries, found themselves, on +the Turkish occupation, little better than slaves—oppressed, taxed, and +retaxed by a people whose extortions ruined them, whose personality they +hated, and with whom, although co-religionists, there was no unison in +religious views. + +But the smouldering discontent was destined to burst into flame, even +though the flame might blaze forth but to flicker and die. + +On an appeal from the governor of Lohaya, a body of four hundred Turkish +troops were despatched last summer to assist in collecting by force +the taxes due from the Beni Meruan, a branch of the Asir people, and +their southernmost tribe, who inhabit the country lying to the east of +Lohaya, a port on the Red Sea coast north of Hodaidah. In command of this +force was the very Mahammed Rushti Pasha whose house had been destroyed +at Dhamar. The expedition was destined to complete failure, and being +surprised by a large body of Arabs, was nearly annihilated before the +security of a fort was reached, amongst those who fell being the pasha +himself. + +In countries like the Yemen news travels with extraordinary rapidity, +and the Arabs, hearing an exaggerated report of what had taken place, +believed that at last their deliverance had come, for it was rumoured +that the great district of the Asir, between the Yemen and the Hejaz, had +risen, intent upon exterminating the Turks. Where the news travelled the +people rose in arms. Tribal banners long hid away were unfurled, and the +cry of “God give victory to the Imam” echoed and re-echoed throughout the +mountains and valleys of the Yemen. + +Meanwhile the hero of the rebellion, Ahmed ed-Din, was living quietly at +Sanaa on the subsidy of the Turkish Government, unconscious of what was +taking place, although, doubtless, there was ever present in his mind the +possibility of some day regaining for himself and his descendants the +throne. He clearly saw that affairs were not ripe for a great rebellion, +and almost against his will he was obliged to fly from the capital, and +become the head of the rebel movement. Premature as things were, he must +in the enthusiasm of his partisans have almost believed in their future +success. + +It was a new _Jehad_, or holy war! The Turks were to be exterminated or +driven away; the beloved Ahmed ed-Din—beloved on account of his birth +and descent rather than from any knowledge of his personality—was to +be reinstated on the throne. One by one the tribes rose, except only +the Bedouin inhabitants of the Teháma and the southern deserts, who, +possessing nothing but a few flocks and herds, and always wandering, +were indifferent to Turkish or Arab rule, and awaited the result before +promising allegiance to either side. The same plan was followed by +many of the merchants and citizens, whose position and intimacy with +the Turkish officials placed them outside the bounds of oppression and +taxation, and who in many cases were only too ready to take advantage +of their fellow-countrymen’s unenviable position, by buying from the +Turks the right of collecting the taxes of certain districts; for the +privilege of levying dues is a commercial article, sold from time to +time by auction, a system that relieves the Government of much anxiety +and trouble, but encourages to an almost incredible extent cruelty and +oppression. + +In what state were the Turks to repress a general rising of this sort? +The force in the country was estimated at some sixteen thousand men, +although in reality probably far short of that number; for during the +two previous years cholera had wrought great havoc amongst the troops. +These troops consisted of Turkish regulars, Bashi-bazouks, and a large +number of Arab auxiliaries, drawn principally from the Mshareg and +Hadramaut, the country to the east of the Yemen, who did not care whom +they fought against, or for what reason they were fighting, so long as +they were paid, and whose one stimulant to feats of bravery was promised +reward. The Turkish troops already in Yemen were in a miserable state. +Ill fed, ill clothed, thinned by disease, badly housed, and seldom, if +ever, paid, it is no wonder that their spirit was broken in a land where +during summer they were liable to a temperature that seldom falls below +a hundred in such shade as their badly built barracks afforded, and in +winter to frosts, and at times snow—to all the vagaries, in fact, of a +tropical climate on the tops of mountains of from seven thousand to +nine thousand feet in altitude. A more pitiful picture than the Turkish +soldiers presented when the writer was in Yemen he never saw, and yet +they fight like devils rather than men. + +[Illustration: _Turkish troops on the march._] + +A few days after the flight of the Imam, Sanaa, the capital, was besieged +by an enormous force of Arabs, as was Amran, another walled city; while +those which were not so protected fell, many without even a struggle, +into the hands of the Arabs. Menakha, on the road from Hodaidah to Sanaa, +offered a little resistance, but in vain. Those of the garrison who were +not killed or wounded in the first onslaught of the Arabs were spared +on surrender, and taken away prisoners, amongst their number being the +Kaimakam or military governor. The same happened at Dhamar and Yerim, on +the road from Sanaa to Aden; while in quick succession Ibb, Jiblah, and +Taiz, all three large towns situated farther south, proclaimed for Ahmed +ed-Din. All Turkish prisoners were spared. Many voluntarily went over to +the side of the Arabs; some retired into private life on surrendering +their arms. Those of importance were sent to the Imam, where report +said they were housed and fed at his expense, doubtless in the hope of +persuading them to throw in their lot with his own, and so obtain use of +their superior knowledge of warfare. In very exceptional cases do we hear +of the cruel treatment of Turks by the Arabs in their days of victory; +and even when the tide of affairs was changed, the writer met amongst +the Arabs, in districts where no Turkish troops could enter, deserters +from the Osmanli forces being fed and clothed by the kindly Arabs; and in +many cases money was supplied them by their _quondam_ enemies to assist +them in reaching Aden, or in escaping by other means from the hard life +of soldiering. + +By this time telegrams were pouring into Constantinople from Hodaidah +beseeching assistance; and the Porte, having at length realised how +serious a turn affairs had taken, exerted all its activity in forwarding +troops to the scene of war. By the time the new forces had embarked for +Hodaidah, the whole country, with the exception of Sanaa and Amran and +a small city in the Asir, by name Dhofir, had fallen into the hands +of the rebels, the plains and seaboard towns holding aloof from any +participation in the affair, though probably it was only the presence of +better organised Turkish forces which kept in check the feeling which +no doubt existed almost as strongly there as anywhere. The Beni Meruan, +many of whose villages lie on the sea-coast, were pitilessly shelled by a +couple of Turkish gunboats. + +Ahmed ed-Din remained at Sadah,[30] whither he had fled from Sanaa; +nor at any part of the revolt did he take active part in the fighting, +a fact that in no small degree accounts for the subsequent failure of +the rebellion. In all probability he never left Sadah, though in his +religious character his movements were always spoken about with much +mystery. + +Sanaa at the end of October was still in a state of siege, the garrison +and townspeople suffering greatly from hunger and disease, though in +Amran the state of the inhabitants was still more pitiable. + +Badly fed as they were at all times, worse now than ever, one cannot but +admire the immense pluck of the handful of Turkish troops who kept at bay +for several months an immense horde of Arabs. Not only was their courage +exhibited in the dogged resistance within the town, but in their constant +and often successful sorties against the enemy. + +A short description of the city of Sanaa is necessary in order to explain +the positions of besiegers and besieged during the whole of last autumn. + +The city, which contains some fifty thousand inhabitants, lies in a +wide level valley. It takes the form of a triangle, the eastern point +consisting of a large fortress, dominating the town, and built upon the +lowest spur of Jibel Negoum, a mountain which rises immediately outside +the city walls. The town is divided into three distinct quarters, each +walled, and the whole surrounded by one continuous wall. They are +respectively the city proper, in which are the Government buildings, +the huge bazaars, and the residence of the Arabs and Turks; the Jews’ +quarter; and Bir el-Azab, where are gardens and villas belonging to the +richer Turks and Arabs. The city was once of great wealth and prosperity, +and to-day remains one of the most nourishing cities of Arabia. The +shops are well supplied with European goods, and a large manufacture of +silk, jewellery, and arms is carried on there. The quarter in which the +Government buildings are situated presents almost a European appearance, +with its large Turkish shops, its _cafés_, and its open places, on one of +which, in front of the Governor-General’s official residence, a military +band discourses anything but sweet music of an afternoon. + +But the city, as the writer saw it after its recapture by the Turks, +presented a very different spectacle from what it must have done when, +surrounded on all sides by a horde of Arabs, a continual shower of +bullets was being poured into its streets from the Arab position on Jibel +Negoum, which completely dominated the place. Fortunately for those +besieged, the rebels possessed no artillery, otherwise their efforts +would no doubt have proved successful in gaining an entrance into the +town. However, the fire poured into the city was sufficiently harassing +to render it expedient to drive the Arabs from their position above the +town, and several unsuccessful sorties were made. At length, mustering +all the troops at his command, the pasha made a final sortie about the +middle of November. Maintaining a steady fire from the fort upon the +Arab position, the troops issued from the southern gate, and wheeling +to the left after a gallant attack—for the Arabs were in overwhelming +numbers—drove the rebels back. They retreated on Dar es-salaam, a small +village a few miles outside the walls of Sanaa, consisting of perhaps a +dozen or so stone houses surrounded by a wall. Bringing up some small +field-guns, the artillery opened fire upon the rebels, completely +destroying the place and rendering a precipitate retreat of the Arabs +necessary, which they are said to have accomplished in the wildest +disorder, leaving, as I was informed, several thousand dead upon the +field. But the victory was not altogether a blessing, for there being +no one to bury the Arab dead, the inhabitants of the city suffered from +violent disease, while the stench of the decaying bodies is said to have +been terrible. Retiring once more within the precincts of the city, the +Arabs again took up their old position; but their defeat seems to have +to a great degree crushed their spirits, and the remainder of the siege, +severe though the sufferings of the townspeople were, is said to have +been less acute than previously. At any rate, the alarm of a successful +attack on the part of the rebels seems to have abated. + +But relief was at hand. The Turkish reinforcements had landed in Hodaidah +under the command of Ahmed Feizi Pasha, formerly Governor of Mecca, and +commander of the Seventh Army Corps. + +Learning on his arrival at Hodaidah how serious was the state of +affairs, he at once took active measures, and without even waiting for +commissariat arrangements to be carried out, marched his troops _viâ_ +Bajil to Hojaila, a village at the foot of the mountains on which the +town of Menakha is situated, and over which the road to Sanaa passes. +Here three days later they were overtaken by the commissariat camels +bringing flour and provisions for the soldiers. Having rested his men, he +commenced the ascent of the steep road, and here met with the first show +of resistance. But the Turkish soldiers were fresh and fought well, and +the superiority of arms did its work. With but a short delay to force the +road, Menakha was reached. + +There is perhaps in the world no city situated in the way that +Menakha is. At an altitude of seven thousand six hundred feet above +the sea-level, it is perched on a narrow ridge joining two distinct +mountain-ranges. On either side of the city are precipices, each of +considerably over two thousand feet in depth. So narrow is the town +that there are places in it where one can stand and gaze down both +these precipices at the same time. To reach it from the west there is +only one path in the steep mountain-side; while from the east it can +only be approached by a narrow track cut in the face of a precipice and +winding up it for an ascent of two thousand five hundred feet. In the +hands of well-regulated forces it would be impregnable; but the Arab +defenders, learning how easily the new Governor-General and his troops +had forced the road at Hojaila, made no plucky resistance: and armed as +they were almost entirely with matchlock and fuse guns—and many only with +spears—they could have made no permanent stand against the field-guns of +the Turks, who are said in one day to have brought their light artillery +from Hojaila to Menakha, an ascent of nearly six thousand feet, by a +break-neck path. But few shots had been fired when the Arabs fled, and +the Turks once more took possession of the place. Leaving a sufficient +garrison to protect the town, and to keep open a line of communication +with the coast, Ahmed Feizi marched on towards Sanaa. About thirty miles +from Menakha, on the road to the capital, is a spot called Hajarat +el-Mehedi, where the track is so narrow and so bad that even without +resistance it would offer no slight obstacle to the passage of troops. +Here the rebel army under Seyed esh-Sheraï, a cousin to Ahmed ed-Din, +took up a position, and a twelve days’ delay and fighting took place +before the Turks could force their way through. But on the twelfth day +it was accomplished, and the rebels dispersed. Halting but now and again +to shell some village, the troops by hurried marches reached Sanaa, and +on their being sighted by the Arab besiegers on Jibel Negoum, the Imam’s +force retired into the mountains to the east, where no Turkish troops +could follow them. + +[Illustration: MENAKHA.] + +The capital relieved, Ahmed Feizi was not idle. He arrived in time to +save the garrison of Amran, where, as at Sanaa, the Arabs retired on +the approach of the Turkish forces. Returning to Sanaa, he set to work +to reorganise affairs, despatching Ismail Pasha with a considerable +number of troops to recapture Dhamar and Yerim. Proclaiming military law, +which in this case meant almost no law, throughout the country, the new +Governor-General offered a reward for the head of every rebel brought +to him, and turned loose upon the Arabs his Turkish troops to loot and +plunder their villages. Marching to the south, Ismail Pasha halted at +Maaber to shell the villages of Jibel Anis, retook Dhamar without any +opposition being offered, and, leaving a garrison there, proceeded to +Yerim, and thence by Seddah and Sobeh to Kátaba, where the writer found +him encamped with four hundred troops toward the middle of last January. +Ibb, Jiblah, and Taiz returned under Turkish rule without a struggle. + +There is no nation in the world that can put down a rebellion as the +Turks can, but they have a great objection to any one seeing the process; +and the presence of the writer, turning up suddenly in Sanaa while Ahmed +Feizi Pasha was engaged upon this task, caused such a shock, that he +and his servants were securely confined in prison as spies in spite of +passports, until, from the unsanitary conditions of the place and the +bad water supplied, he was seized with a violent attack of fever; and +no doubt thinking that it would be better to get rid of him alive than +have an objectionable corpse on their hands, and probably a good many +questions to answer, a guard of soldiers was prepared, and the writer +was hurried away to Hodaidah with orders to quit. Yet, in spite of the +fact that his relations with Ahmed Feizi Pasha were a little strained, he +cannot but testify to his admirable activity and soldier-like bearing—an +admiration dimmed only by the cruelty, perhaps almost necessary, of some +of his commands. Thus it will be seen, from the day that Ahmed Feizi +Pasha took over the governor-generalship of the Yemen, the tide of events +had completely changed. A series of Arab victories had ended in a series +of Arab defeats. Had Sanaa been taken, the result would doubtless have +been different; but in their endeavours to take it they failed. Renowned +in history, sacred to them as the former seat of government of their +Imams, their want of success in capturing it, together with the action of +Ahmed ed-Din, who held aloof from any active part in the warfare, broke +their spirits. Had they succeeded in entering Sanaa, had they brought +their Imam there in state, there is some possibility that the Turks might +have lost the Yemen for ever. They themselves, and Ahmed Feizi Pasha the +first of them, told the writer this. + +Thus by the end of January the Turks had reconquered all the cities of +Yemen with the exception of one, Dhofir, at that time still besieged +by the Arabs. Yet in spite of the fact that Turkish rule was again +reinstated in the country, in spite of the fact that what with the +reinforcements there were altogether some forty thousand troops in +the Yemen, the rebellion was by no means stamped out. This is easily +understood when the nature of the country is described. Central Yemen +consists of a great plateau, upon which are situated the three principal +cities, Sanaa, Dhamar, and Yerim. This plateau is surrounded by a +system of mountains broken and torn into valleys and cañons, peaks and +pinnacles, amongst which it would be impossible for any Turkish force +to operate. Many of these mountains reach an altitude of over twelve +thousand and thirteen thousand feet, the summits often connected with +the valleys beneath by precipices of thousands of feet in depth. The +only roads—mere tracks they are—are cut in the face of these walls +of rock, and often are not a yard in breadth. Amongst these enormous +mountain-ranges—and to the north of Sanaa one can travel for days and +weeks amongst them—the spirit of rebellion burns as fiercely to-day +as ever. Certainly the towns are now in the possession of the Turks, +yet the main roads that connect the towns are unsafe for Turks to pass +over, except in considerable numbers together. It was to a large extent +from these mountain districts that the revenues of the Government were +previously drawn; for the Arabs of the Yemen, unlike those of the Hejaz +and most other Arabian States, are tillers of the soil, living in +well-built and permanent villages, one and all roughly fortified, from +which they would be able to withstand any band of armed tax-collectors, +such as were wont formerly to be sent to levy the dues, as often on +behalf of those who had purchased the rights of collecting from the +district as on the part of the Government direct. In many of these +villages the writer sat, sharing with the Arabs their humble repast, +sipping their coffee and smoking their hubble-bubbles, and listening to +their strange songs and prayers for the return of the Imam, Ahmed ed-Din, +to power. + +The rebellion has been outwardly crushed, but the prestige of Turkey in +the Yemen has received a severe blow. The exorbitant squeezing will have +to be abandoned, with the results that the revenue will probably fall +to a tenth of its former sum. Many tribes formerly taxed will maintain +an armed independence. The garrisons in the towns must be doubled, and +the Yemen as a means of filling the Turkish coffers will be finished. +Over the rebellion the Porte has expended a vast sum of money, while any +attempt to recoup itself from the scene of action will but bring on a +second and probably more disastrous rising. + +Little more remains to be told except to consider briefly in what +manner a permanent Arab success would have influenced ourselves. It was +generally believed amongst the Turks in all quarters that it was British +intrigue that stirred up the rebellion in the Yemen, although even the +Turks themselves were at a loss to understand what advantages we should +reap through such an action. They called attention to the independent +States that lie between Aden and the Turkish frontier at Kátaba, the +states of Lahej, Dhala, and the lands of the Houshabi, Aloui, and other +tribes. Yet Ahmed Feizi Pasha himself informed the writer that, equally +with the English, the Turkish Government subsidise their Sultans, Amirs, +and Sheikhs; but the object of our subsidising them is misunderstood by +the officials of Sanaa and Constantinople. To them it is impossible to +consider in the same light as we do the vast importance of trade; and +it is merely that the roads which pass through these various States may +be kept open and safe for caravans trading with Aden, that we pay large +monthly sums to the native rulers. At the same time, it is doubtless an +advantage to possess a more or less independent strip of country between +our frontier at Aden and that of the Turkish Yemen. + +What has been to England the result of the Turkish occupation of the +Yemen? It has been a result enormously beneficial. Formerly, in the time +of Arab rule, no caravans were able to pass and repass in safety from the +interior to Aden. The inability of the Imam to hold the tribes in check +rendered the looting of every caravan probable. But since the arrival +of the Turks things have altered. By keeping the roads open the Turks +have rendered a vast service to England, by, as far as their power went, +ensuring safe-conduct to the passage of caravans, while unconsciously +their greed in levying enormous export and import dues at Hodaidah and +their ports has driven the greater part of the Yemen trade to Aden—a free +port. Thus it will be seen how vastly beneficial to England has been the +conquest of the Yemen by the Turks; and had the Osmanli Government lost +possession of the country, the result could have brought about but one +effect—a return to the state of affairs previous to Turkish annexation, +and a consequent enormous diminution of the Aden trade both in coffee and +exports, and in the European goods and tobaccos from the Persian Gulf, +for which the returning caravans create a great demand. Yet the Turks +assured the writer that the British Government was supplying arms and +assistance to the rebels. In reality the rifles were being smuggled in by +private traders from the French port at Obock. + +As to what will be the future policy of Turkey in the Yemen it is +difficult to surmise. No doubt Abdul Hamid will be guided much by the +report of his aide-de-camp Yakoub Bey, who was despatched to Sanaa for +the purpose of bringing a full report to the Sultan. Rather than risk a +second rebellion, there is little doubt that a conciliatory policy will +be attempted; but the Yemen is too far removed from Constantinople to +be governed from there, and as soon as affairs have quieted down, the +officials will take advantage of their positions to commence once more +the oppression of the people and the filling of their pockets. Could +they be persuaded that extortion is not the road by which to arrive at +a satisfactory system of government, they would find the country daily +growing richer, and their relations with the Arabs more peaceable and +less strained than at present. But the leopard cannot change his spots; +and it is only probable that as long as Osmanli supremacy exists in the +Yemen, officialdom will continue to enrich itself and impoverish the +country. + + + + +PART II. + +A JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEMEN + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ADEN. + + +There is not a breath of wind to stir the placid surface of the +sea—not a breath to cause a draught upon the ship and cool us for a +second. It is one of those terrible still tropical days, motionless, +silent, oppressive. Nothing to hear but the hissing of the sea as the +vessel’s bows plough up the turquoise water, and the thud, thud of her +never-ceasing screw. Even the Lascars in their white clothes and bare +feet, children of the sun as they are, seem downcast. + +We are passing Perim. It lies on the port side, a dirty blot upon a scene +of opalesque transparence, of shimmering water and palpitating sky. + +A youth travelling round the world stretches himself, jots a few lines in +his diary, and commences to tell the old story of the taking of Perim. +But he is soon cried down, and silence reigns again. + +On both sides we can see the land,—burning rock seen through a burning +atmosphere. A number of flying-fish buzz over the surface of the water, +and with a series of little splashes disappear once again. + + * * * * * + +A few hours later and Aden is in sight, with its broken and torn +peaks and jagged outline. A little movement is noticeable amongst the +passengers, but it is half-hearted at the best. + +Then we enter the grand bay, surrounded by desolate rock and still more +desolate desert, and drop anchor a mile or so off Steamer Point, as the +shipping quarter of Aden is called. + +The steamer is quickly surrounded. A few steam-launches, heavily +awninged, screech their whistles; while a crowd of small boats +manned by coal-black Somali boys, each striving to be the first upon +the scene, crowd upon us. They are boatmen, divers, and sellers of +curiosities—smart, bright little fellows, more than half nude, and as +black as coal, many with their hair left long like the cords of a Russian +poodle. Such a screaming and a yelling! Such a diving after small coins! +Such a display of leopard-skins, antelope-horns, especially those of the +lovely oryx, and ostrich-feathers, products of the opposite coast! A few +dull austere Indians and Cingalese display embroideries and table-cloths, +but the heat seems to depress them, just as it does the buyers. + +[Illustration: TOMB AND MOSQUE OF SHEIKH OTHMAN, NEAR ADEN.] + +It is a wonderful sight to watch the divers, balanced on the gunwales of +the boats, their hands above their heads, watching eagerly for the tiny +splash of a small coin, then breaking the water into a series of dancing +circles as their dusky bodies disappear into the transparent blue. One +can see them too under water, turning like fishes in search of the slowly +sinking money. When the excitement had worn off, and those passengers who +cared to brave the sun’s terrific rays by taking a short run ashore had +left, I hailed a boy, who, with the aid of Abdurrahman, my ever-faithful +Arab servant from Morocco, stowed my luggage into the boat. Then I said +good-bye to the P. and O. steamer, and was rowed ashore. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF ADEN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS + +To Illustrate Mr. W. B. Harris’ “A Journey through the Yemen” + +W. & A. K. Johnston. Edinburgh & London.] + +At some steps leading to a galvanised-iron-roofed landing-place I stepped +ashore. What a scene of desolation and dreariness Aden presents to the +new-comer! and how soon one gets to like the place in spite of it all! A +background of dreary blackish rock, a sandy road, half-a-dozen rickety +_gharies_ under the shelter of a hideous iron-roofing, with sleepy +little ponies and still more sleepy Somali drivers; a whitewashed domed +saint’s tomb, with an apology for a garden on each side, in which a few +weary-looking plants were trying to appear green under a thick coating of +dust and a sweltering sun; a long crescent of badly built houses, with +the exception of the handsome Aden Bank buildings, faced by an expanse of +sand and black palings,—and that is Steamer Point, as one first sees it. +But as the sun sinks low a figure or two appear, and toward sunset the +place wears a gay and flourishing appearance. + +Getting my baggage into a hand-cart, I set off for the hotel, where at +least was shade and tolerable coolness, say some 90° Fahrenheit. But +in spite of its dreary aspect, in spite of the dull monotony of its +colouring, one gets quite fond of Aden. The cheery hospitality of the +garrison, the gorgeous early mornings and evenings, the delicious warm +January nights, the club, the verandahs of which are laved by the sea, +the white hulls of the men-of-war in the bay, and the pleasant evenings +spent under their awnings, dispel all the unfavourable impressions which +are at first so numerous and apparent. In a few days one has forgotten +that the whole place, from the top of Sham-sham down to the sandy +isthmus, is all a volcanic hideosity; one has forgotten that the whole +is so impregnated with salt as to almost forbid any verdure to grow, and +that, should it by chance take root, the sun is there to kill it. One +sees after a time only the picturesqueness of the place,—the strange torn +mountain-peaks; the gay thronging crowd of many nationalities all bent on +their several businesses, except the Jews, who seem bent upon everybody +else’s; and the Somalis, who are as indifferent to the general world as +they are to the heat, excepting when a passing steamer lands for an hour +or two a flock of extraordinarily habited travellers—and then the cabs +fly backwards and forwards, the ponies kicking up the dust, their feet +rattling along the hard roads and making almost as much noise as the +cracking of the jehus’ whips; then the Jews, the money-changers, pass +and repass, spilling their coins one by one from hand to hand, until the +very jingling drives one frantic; and the black urchins, who have learnt +English enough to lie with facility, and to beg, worry, and bother until +they are paid to go away, appear. Then the curio-seller, be he Greek +or Jew or swarthy Indian, creeps out from amongst his moth-eaten lion +and leopard skins and his boxes of stale “Turkish delight,” and with +outstretched hands bids the traveller enter. Then, too, there is the +jingling of long tumblers on the wide verandah of the hotel, and a crowd +of boats in readiness at the landing-place. Just like a flock of locusts +they come and stay their hour or two, and just like a flock of locusts +they go, some outward bound, some returning home; and Steamer Point is +itself again. + +Often as Aden has been described, it is necessary here to make some +mention of its various sights and the varied scenes it presents; for, as +part and parcel of the Yemen, it cannot be passed over in a book that +attempts to deal with that country. If, however, the reader has been +there, or has read more pretentious accounts of it, let him skip it over. + +Hated, spoken of as typical of the infernal regions, ugly as it is, Aden +perhaps can claim an antiquity and an importance throughout all history +unparalleled, for its size and its situation, in the annals of the +world. When countries, now the centres of vast civilisations, consisted +of primeval forests, inhabited by almost primeval man, and filled with +wild beasts, Aden was an emporium of trade. With every possible natural +disadvantage, except its harbour and its situation, it was inhabited +by merchants, who collected and reshipped by vessel and by caravan the +wealth of many lands. Africa, India, the Persian Gulf, poured on to the +arid volcanic rock their gold and their purples, their spices and their +precious stones. + +“Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, +and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. The merchants of +Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs +with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran, +and Canneh, and _Eden_, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, +were thy merchants.”[31] There is no doubt in the minds of competent +authorities that the place here referred to as Eden is none other than +Aden, while many other of the names mentioned have been identified with +ruins and towns of modern Arabia; but of this more anon. + +Ibn Khaldun, in his geographical notes on the Yemen, writing in the +eighth century A.H., mentions the extreme antiquity of Aden, speaking of +it as a place of importance in the time of the Tubbas, who were the kings +descended from Himyar, son of Abd esh-Shems, great-grandson of Kahtan, +said to be the Joktan of the Jewish Scriptures, the founder of the +oldest authentic tribes in the Yemen; for although they migrated to that +country, there are no remains to be traced of the inhabitants who were +there before them. + +Returning to more historical times, we find that during the reigns of one +of the Cæsars, probably Claudius, Aden was destroyed by the Romans,[32] +probably in order to divert the trade of India to the ports which Ælius +Gallus had founded on the shores of the Red Sea, to which Aden proved, +no doubt, a formidable rival. Later we find it conquered by the army of +Constantine, and re-named Emporium Romanum. + +Returning once more to oriental sources, we find the place split up by +the wars and factions which were so constant throughout the Yemen, and +Aden several times was besieged and conquered. Most important, perhaps, +of these early monarchs was the line of Hamdani princes, who, descended +from the Beni Zuray, held it from about 440 A.H. with many ups and downs +of fortune, until in A.H. 569 it was conquered by the troops of Turan +Shah of the Ayyubite dynasty of Egypt. + +In 1487, some three hundred years after the accession of the Ayyubite +Sultans over Aden, a period of continued strife, we find the place +visited by a Portuguese by name John Pedro de Covilham. This expedition +was organised to explore that quarter of the globe after an ambassador +had been sent to Florence by the Christian King of Abyssinia whom we +have learned to know by the name of Prester John. Covilham eventually +ended his days at Shoa, at the Court of Iskander, or Alexander, the then +reigning prince. + +From the next European, however, who visited Aden we have a more +succinct account, though unfortunately his work upon the subject of his +travels[33] is so taken up with personal narrative, and his names are so +unreliable, that it is with some difficulty that historical events are +recognised. I refer to Ludovico de Barthema, known also as Vertomanus, +who travelled in Arabia about the year 1504. + +Albuquerque’s attack upon Aden forms one of the most interesting items +in its history, and short notice must be taken of it here. The sovereign +of Abyssinia at this epoch was a Christian, Queen Helena by name, who, +wishing to obtain assistance by which to keep off the Arab invasions into +her own country, sent an Armenian envoy to the Court of Lisbon. After +wandering about in a somewhat vague way for several years—he went _viâ_ +India, where he was detained twenty-three months—he at length, in 1513, +arrived at Lisbon. He found on his arrival that an expedition was already +organised to carry out the proposals he was bringing from his queen, +and in command of which Alphonso de Albuquerque left India in February +of the same year with two thousand five hundred men, two-thirds of them +Portuguese, the rest Indians. On Easter eve they arrived at Aden, and +at once attacked the place. After a siege of four days further efforts +were found to be useless; and bombarding the town, and destroying the +native shipping, the Portuguese flotilla sailed for the Red Sea. A second +attempt on the part of Albuquerque to take Aden the following spring +again failed, owing to the fact that it had meanwhile been refortified. + +A few years later, in 1516 A.D., Aden was again besieged, this time by +an expedition sent from Egypt under Raïs Suleiman; but the city was +again found to be impregnable, and the attacking force suffered very +considerable loss. However, so weakened had the fortifications been by +these repeated attacks, that when Soarez arrived shortly afterwards, the +governor surrendered the place into his hands; but on the Portuguese +attempting to follow and capture Suleiman’s fleet, the governor made +haste to repair the fortifications, and on Soarez’s return he found +himself baffled, and Aden more firmly in the hands of the Amir Morjaun +than ever. + +Meanwhile Suleiman had organised an enormous fleet, with part of which he +visited Aden. The city was taken by treachery; for the governor, having +been enticed on board the ships, was hung, and soldiers landed on beds +under the pretence that they were sick men. In 1551 the inhabitants, +oppressed by the cruel representatives left by Suleiman, rebelled, and +ceded Aden to the Portuguese. + +It is not for nearly fifty years later than this date that we find the +English in these seas. On the 8th April 1609 a ship belonging to the East +India Company, by name the Ascension, visited Aden. Received with every +possible courtesy, the captain was, when once safely in the hands of the +governor, entrapped and imprisoned, and only allowed to leave Aden after +paying heavy fines in goods and money. A year later the Darling and the +Peppercorn arrived, under the command of Admiral Sir Henry Middleton. +On the Darling proceeding to Mokha, the crew of the Peppercorn were +treacherously seized and detained in prison. + +The Dutch were the next to appear upon the scene, Van den Broeck +arriving with a fleet in 1614, in order to found trading relations +between the natives and the Dutch East India Company. Their overtures +were exceedingly well received by the officials, but the jealousy of the +more influential native merchants prevented their being able to come to +any satisfactory arrangement. From this period until the beginning of +the present century Aden shared the ups and downs of fate that are so +frequent in all oriental places; but as any account of these would prove +tedious, they can very well be omitted. In 1802 we find Aden visited +by Sir Home Popham, who, having failed in concluding a treaty with the +Imam of Sanaa, was able to enter upon and carry through a commercial +and amicable treaty with the then Sultan of Aden. As late as 1833 we +find another example of the treachery of the natives of Aden. Turkchee +Bilmas, as Mahammed Agha was nicknamed, after his series of extraordinary +victories, having demanded and received the surrender of the governor of +Aden, sent thither a mission of forty persons. They were well received, +but during the night more than half their number were foully murdered, +the rest escaping in miserable plight. + +In 1835 steamers of the Indian Government having harboured in Aden, made +use of it as a coaling-station; but it was, on account of the difficulty +of obtaining labour, changed for Makulla, a port to the east on the +Hadramaut coast. After, in 1837, being sacked by the Foudtheli tribe, the +attention of the Indian Government was called to Aden by the fact that a +ship flying British colours, the Deria Dowlat, being wrecked near that +port, the vessel was looted, and the passengers, some of whom were native +ladies of rank, insultingly treated. Captain Haines, in command of the +war-sloop Coote, arrived in December, and laid a claim before the Sultan +for twelve thousand dollars compensation. A plot being in the air to +obtain possession of the person and papers of Captain Haines, he sailed +for India, returning in October 1838 to enforce the carrying out of the +cession of Aden in return for an annual payment to the Sultan of nearly +nine thousand dollars a-year. Having been insultingly treated, Captain +Haines commenced to blockade the port, until, in January 1839, H.M.S. +Volage and H.M.S. Cruizer arrived upon the scene. A message to surrender +being left unanswered, the town was bombarded and taken, the Sultan and +his family escaping to Lahej, a city some thirty miles in the interior. +The capture of Aden is curious as being the first addition to the Empire +made during the reign of Queen Victoria. + +It is wonderful to notice how soon it became apparent to the natives that +they had nothing to fear from the British occupation; but, in spite of +this feeling of satisfaction in the eyes of the lower-class natives and +the merchants, the chiefs of the Abdali tribe, in spite of solemn bonds +to the contrary, attempted to retake the place. In this they failed, and, +exasperated at their want of success, commenced a series of depredations +upon the caravans and local property of Arabs residing in Aden. After a +severe struggle in 1841, in which two Arab forts on the mainland were +destroyed by the British troops, affairs remained in a more peaceful +condition until, in 1846, Seyed Ismail, a fanatical Shereef, preached a +holy war and the retaking of Aden from the infidels. Augmented by many +local tribes, three separate attempts were made upon Aden, each of which +was successfully repulsed. Like all such failures in the East, the Seyed +was stamped as an impostor, and, his army having dissolved, he was killed +by a Bedouin in 1848. In 1850 the crew of a man-of-war’s boat landing +on the north side of the bay was attacked, and some of the number were +wounded, one man being killed. A still more melancholy affair happened +in February 1851, when a shooting-party was attacked at the village of +Wáhat, of whom Captain Milne was killed and several others badly wounded. +A series of like depredations and outrages continued to take place, until +in 1858 an attack was made upon the Arabs and the battle of Sheikh Othman +fought, which ended in the blowing up of the fort and the village, and +the opening of negotiations for a friendly understanding between the +British Government and the Abdali Sultan. + +From this time on affairs became more quiet; but on the Turks conquering +the interior of the Yemen in 1872—they had held a firm footing on the +Red Sea coast before this period—it was found necessary to demand the +withdrawal of the Osmanli forces from the tribe lands surrounding +Aden. At this epoch, too, Little Aden, a sister peninsula which forms +the western shore of the Aden bay, was purchased, and in 1883 British +territory was extended across the isthmus, by which arrangement the +entire shores of the harbour fell under the jurisdiction of the British +Government. Included in this deed of purchase is the village of Sheikh +Othman, now a flourishing little township, with a police station and a +clock tower dominating its principal square. Bungalows have been built +there and gardens laid out, and Sheikh Othman to-day presents quite a +prosperous appearance, though the less said about its inhabitants, for +the most part Arab dancing-girls, the better. + +Thus, then, the extent of territory in the possession of the British +Government in the vicinity of Aden may be described as follows: Aden on +the east, Little Aden on the west, and an intermediate strip along the +north shore of the bay; the total area forming some seventy square miles. +Of these, Aden alone is fortified. + +The peninsula is situated one hundred and twenty miles from the Straits +of Bab el-Mandeb, in latitude 12° 47′ N., and longitude 45° E. It is +five miles in length and three in breadth, and consists of hills of +bare grey-black rock, the highest of which, Jibel Sham-sham, reaches +an altitude of nearly eighteen hundred feet above the sea-level. The +volcanic origin of the place is clearly demonstrated by the fact that +there exists a large crater, which, owing to the broken spurs of rock +by which it is surrounded, renders a greater portion of the peninsula +uninhabitable. However, in such parts as are suitable for building the +most has been made, and an extraordinary number of people find room +to exist upon the barren rock, which of itself produces none of the +necessities of life. Including the population of Sheikh Othman, the +census return in 1891 was over thirty-eight thousand, whereas at the time +of the British conquest in 1839 the population numbered only some six +thousand. + +The greater portion of the population consists of Arabs and Somalis. The +Arabs are for the most part labourers, ship-coalers, and some shopkeepers +and traders. The Somalis prefer the lighter trade of cab-driving, the +rowing of small boats, and such work. They seem perfectly incapable of +stationary labour, and unable to conquer their nomad traits. Almost +every nationality is found in Aden: besides the Europeans there are +Hindus, Parsees, Turks, Egyptian Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Seedy boys, +Abyssinians, Jews, and many natives of India of different types and +classes. Principal amongst the British Indian subjects are the Parsees, +who act as agents and shopkeepers, in which professions they equal the +meanness—or shall I call it business talent—of the Jews. One sees them +everywhere with their long white flimsy garments and curious head-gear +resembling a coal-scuttle. They have brought to Aden a spark of the +ever-living fire of Bombay, and have established themselves there with +their temples and womenfolk, and are annexing a very considerable +proportion of the trade. + +The peninsula of Aden boasts two towns and an important village. The +former are Aden proper, situated on the level bottom of the crater, +and Tawahi, at Steamer Point, which contains some seven hundred houses, +inhabited for the most part by those who gain a livelihood dependent +upon the shipping. The large town of Aden proper contains some eighteen +thousand inhabitants. The principal village is Maala, where the native +craft, strange dhows and _bugalas_, anchor; and here nearly all the +native trade is shipped or landed, as the case may be. + +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. + +The coffee trade which now finds its outlet at Aden was formerly +almost entirely in the hands of the Mokha and Hodaidah merchants; but +the former town is now deserted, and the heavy dues of the Turkish +authorities at the latter have diverted a large part of the coffee to +Aden, a free port, although a considerable amount is still shipped from +Hodaidah to Aden by sea. The coffee which reaches Aden direct is brought +down by caravan from the highlands of the interior and sold to the Aden +merchants. A very considerable quantity is also brought across from the +African coast, shipped almost entirely from Zeilah, one of the Somali +ports, to which spot it is brought on camels from the highlands of Harrar +and the Galla country, all of which is practically suitable to the growth +of the coffee tree, which necessitates a high altitude above the level of +the sea. The ostrich-feathers are the produce of Somali and the Donakil +country. Mother-of-pearl shells are brought from the Persian Gulf and the +Red Sea fisheries, and ivory from Somali-land and Abyssinia. The food for +the garrison is imported from the African coast and from Arabia. Sheep +and goats are weekly shipped in large quantities from Berbera, Bulhar, +and Zeilah; while oxen, vegetables, fodder, and fuel are brought in by +camel-caravan from Lahej and the surrounding country. + +What, however, astonishes one about Aden is the fact that it has no local +industries. All skilled labour has to be imported from China or India; +while even such simple trades as mat-making, boat-building, and suchlike +are almost neglected. + +The climate of Aden is by no means so bad as it is generally described +to be, and I believe that statistical returns give a very fair average +of health there. The temperature for the whole year averages about 85° +Fahr. in the shade, the extremes being 72° and 102°. During my visit +the thermometer only once rose above 90°, and then only for a short +period, and once fell as low as 74°. The sky during the winter months is +unclouded, and the climate may be said to be delightful, though great +care must be taken not to get chilled at sundown. Early in June the +south-west monsoon breaks. Damp and unpleasant as this ocean wind may +seem, it is the sole cause that renders Aden inhabitable for Europeans +during the summer. The changes of the monsoon, May and September, are +the worst periods in the year, the thermometer often varying only +between 100° in the day and 90° at night! The rainfall of Aden is very +changeable, in some years rising to eight inches, in others being only +one-fourth of an inch; but it is sufficient to keep alive a few plants, +that do their little best to break the monotony of the dull rocks. After +a shower the valleys sometimes wear quite a green appearance, but as +a rule this does not last long, for the sun and dust soon dry them up +again. However, it is said that there are no less than one hundred and +thirty species, of over forty different orders, the most common being +_Euphorbiaceæ_, the _Acacia eburnea_, _Caparidiciæ_, and the lovely +_Adenum obesum_. A few wild dogs, jackals, and foxes can be found in +the rocky valleys; and birds are common—kites, hawks, flycatchers, and +wagtails being permanent residents, while many species pay the place an +occasional visit.[34] + +Having thus briefly run through the statistics of Aden to such an extent +as I deem necessary for a work of this kind, I will continue with the +personal narrative of my journey, and, having exhausted my books of +reference, describe Aden as it appeared to me. + +I have said elsewhere that the terrible feeling of oppression soon wears +off, and that, after only a few days’ residence in the place, one has +forgotten how truly desolate and dreary are the great brown peaks that +rear their heads so far above one on all sides. I never was in a place +that so shocks one at first, and yet which one so quickly comes to +like. It took only a day or two to shake off the feeling of the hideous +barrenness of the place; and having made a few friends, I soon began to +perceive how charming life can be made with all the disadvantages of such +surroundings and climate as Aden possesses. + +The club, the very verandahs of which are laved by the sea-waves, is +one of the best of its kind in the East; and many a pleasant evening +I spent there, listening now and again to a military band which once +a-week discourses sweet music in its precincts. Pleasantest amongst many +pleasant recollections of Aden is the kindness I was shown by all with +whom I came in contact—kindness that extended not only to entertaining, +but in rendering me great service in arranging my journey into the +interior of the Yemen. I cannot here attempt to thank all those who took +pity on a stranger, but I must not pass on without saying how grateful I +am to General Jopp, H.M. Political Resident, and to Colonel Stace, C.B., +Assistant-Resident, for their many kindnesses. + +As soon as I had settled in at my hotel and rested a day to study my +whereabouts, I set to work to see the sights of the place. Fortunately +they are not very many, though some of them, such as the street scenes +in the bazaars, one can never tire of looking at. Our hotel, too, was a +“sight.” It was full of curiosities, from the exceedingly stout and none +too clean Greek who kept the place, to the dirtiest of dirty kitchens +I ever saw. The centre courtyard, surrounded by a rickety balcony, had +once been used as a _café-chantant_, and the stage and framework still +remained, festooned with cobwebs. Below, the Greek kept a curiosity-shop, +which seemed principally to contain moth-eaten skins of what once may +have been wild beasts, and rusty Somali spears. His “Turkish delight” +was good. I found he sold it to my servant at exactly half the price he +charged me, so I made Abdurrahman buy it in future, and between us and +Saïd, my Yemen man, we did a large business with him. However, on the +whole, the place was inhabitable, and in a climate like Aden one lives +mostly out of doors on the verandahs. + +My first stroll to see the sights was confined to the little town of +Tawahi, in which the hotel was situated, and which is generally known +under the more general designation of Steamer Point. There is little to +see in this quarter, though a crowd of natives lying out on their long +wood-and-string beds in front of the tiny _cafés_, smoking the murmuring +hubble-bubble, is always a picturesque sight. But it is only in the back +streets that one finds this, the front of the town being faced with +what is called Prince of Wales Crescent—in other words, a semicircle of +ill-built stucco houses, with the exception of the handsome offices of +Messrs Luke, Thomas, & Co., to whose representative, Mr Vidal, I am under +many obligations for kindness. Facing these hideosities of houses is an +open sandy space, in which a few young palm-trees, caged and coddled, +were trying to grow. A row of black palings divides this sandy space from +the beach. A hideous cab-stand of galvanised iron roofing does not add to +the picturesqueness of the scene; nor, for the matter of that, does the +thin filmy coal-dust that so often floats upon the breeze, to dirty one’s +white clothes and render life gritty and unbearable. Yet in spite of this +depressing view—in spite of the bare rocks that rise above the town—all +my recollections of Tawahi are pleasant. + +Having explored this little township, which can be done comfortably in +half an hour, I entered upon a longer undertaking,—I chartered a rickety +conveyance and drove to Aden proper. The town lies in the centre of the +crater of an extinct volcano, and one cannot help thinking how unpleasant +it would be for the inhabitants did the eruption that must once have +taken place recommence. + +[Illustration: _Main Pass, Aden._] + +Driving from Steamer Point to Aden, a distance of some four or five +miles, is by no means an exciting process, although one’s nerves are kept +in constant tension by the extraordinary evolutions of the cab, and the +thought that at any moment it may fall to pieces—ditto the pony, which a +Somali jehu on the box causes by aid of his whip to keep up to a gallop. +Through the pass of Hedfaf, along the flat that leads to the village +of Maala—its harbour crowded with native craft, while Arab sailors sit +mending the sails on the beach—away up the winding road to the Main Pass, +a zigzag cutting between high walls of rock, then down again, until, +issuing from the tunnel-like pass, one sees the town of Aden before one’s +eyes—a great white block, broken up by the streets that run at right +angles to one another, and disfigured by hideous barracks and Government +offices. The plain in which the town lies, being in reality the floor of +the crater, is almost a circle, from which torn and ragged spurs of rock +rise on all sides, except where through a gap one can catch a glimpse of +the sea and Seerah island, until they join in the peaks of Sham-sham and +its neighbours. There is but little to attract the eye about the desolate +prospect, except the relief afforded by the clean white town. Away on one +of the hill-tops stands a tower. Like the Towers of Silence at Bombay, +it serves as the scene of the strange funeral rites of the Parsees; and +here the birds of prey congregate to devour the corpse, too impure to +defile fire or earth or water. + +But the sight of all Aden is the tanks. I remember long before I +visited Aden listening one evening during a long sea-voyage to an old +ship’s-carpenter discoursing on the Bible. “The Garden of Eden!” he said; +“why, of course it’s true! It’s Aden to-day, and there’s the tanks to +prove it. I seed ’em with my own eyes.” However, in spite of the dear +old man’s religious beliefs being strengthened by having seen the famous +Aden tanks, I fear they can claim no such antiquity as that with which +he connected them. In all probability these great reservoirs were built +at the time of the second Persian invasion, in the seventh century A.D. +In this case the tanks at Aden are much later in date than many of those +existing in Southern Arabia, of which the most important was, without +doubt, the great dam of Mareb, or Sheba as we know it. Although I was not +fortunate enough in my travels in the Yemen to be able to reach the ruins +of this extraordinary work, I think that a few words upon the subject may +not be out of place here. + +The dam of Mareb was built probably some 1700 years B.C. by Lokman +the Adite, though some authorities attribute its construction to Abd +esh-shems, father of Himyar, founder of the Himyaric dynasty, and +great-grandson of Kahtan—Joktan of the Hebrew Scriptures. Monsieur +d’Arnaud, who visited Saba in 1843, describes the ruins of the dam. +He says that it consisted of an enormous wall, two miles long and one +hundred and seventy-five paces wide, connecting two hills. Dikes allowed +the water to escape for the irrigation of the plain below. These openings +are at different levels, so as to render practicable a supply of water +at whatever height the contents of the reservoir might stand. The +destruction of this great work took place probably about a hundred years +after the birth of Christ; but although the catastrophe is referred to +in the Koran, no certain date can be affixed to its occurrence. The fact +that it stood the enormous pressure of water which must have constantly +been present for some seventeen hundred years, testifies to the immensity +and solidity of its construction. + +The tanks at Aden cannot, of course, compare with the dam of Mareb, yet +they are in their way colossal undertakings, and the labour and time +expended in their construction must have been enormous. They number about +fifty altogether, and if in working order, would be capable of holding +upwards of thirty million gallons. We know that at the time of the +invasion of Raïs Suleiman in 1538, the inhabitants of Aden were entirely +dependent upon these great cisterns for their water-supply. On Captain +Haines visiting Aden in 1835, he found several of the tanks in use, but +many were filled up with the _debris_ that the torrents had washed from +the mountains above. + +In 1856 the restoration of the tanks was commenced, and now thirteen are +in working order, capable of holding nearly eight million gallons of +water. Their site is well chosen. They lie above the town, immediately +under the high rocks that form the foot of Jibel Sham-sham, and in such +a position that all the drainage of the rain-water is accumulated into +channels, and poured into the succession of cisterns that lie one above +another. + +The tanks are formed in various ways: some are cut into the solid bed +of the rock, which is covered with a hard polished cement; others are +dams built across the ravine; while a third variety of shape is formed +by angles in the precipices being made use of, two of the walls of +the cistern perhaps being the natural stone, and the others formed of +masonry. The upper tanks are the first filled, the lower for the most +part being supplied from the overflow of those above. In spite of the +enormous space to contain the water and the slight rainfall of Aden, +a series of heavy showers will not only fill the tanks, but cause an +overflow stream of such bulk that very considerable damage has at times +been caused by it, as it poured along its channel through the town to the +sea. + +It was upon these tanks and a few poor wells that Aden at one time +depended entirely for water, until in fact, in the fifteenth century, +when Abdul Wahab constructed the aqueduct that brought water from Bir +Ahmed into the town. + +Beyond these tanks there is but little to see of the long-past glories of +old Aden; nor have the Arabs displayed in their modern buildings, with +the exception of one decorative mosque, any attempt at architectural +beauty. Mons. de Merveille, who visited Aden in 1708, has left a +description of the ruins of wonderful marble baths that he saw at that +time; but no remains of these are known to exist to-day, nor is there +any trace of the mosque built by Yasir or the pulpit of the Day Imran. +In fact, beyond the tanks, its historical traditions, and the strange +peoples who flock its streets, Aden can claim but little to interest the +traveller. + +What a sight the bazaars of Aden present of an evening! Often and often +I would drive out just to spend the last hour or two of daylight in idly +sauntering through its streets. What strange peoples are to be seen +there! Indians gorgeous in scarlet and gold and tinsel; Somalis in their +plain white _tobes_, their hair left long and hanging like the cords of a +Russian poodle on either side of their heads, and often their raven locks +are dyed a strange brick-dust red colour by a clay they smear over them; +Arabs, too, with long black silky curls bursting from under their small +turbans, nude fellows, except for their loin-cloth of native-dyed indigo +cotton, the colour of which clings to their copper skins with strange +effect; creeping, crawling Jews; niggers from Zanzibar; Persians and +Arabs from Bagdad; Parsees and Greeks. + +Then is the time, when the heat of the day is over, to seek some _café_ +at the corner of a street, and watch the people pass. Here at a table +four Somali warriors, glorious in their very blackness, are playing +dominoes with the manners of _bourgeois_ on the boulevards; there a group +of Arabs are chatting over a hubble-bubble pipe, the mouthpiece of which +they pass one to another, over cups of the husks of the coffee-berry, +their favourite beverage. + +Great strings of camels pass and repass in the street. Rickety +cabs rattle along, the drivers calling to the crowd to make way; +and throughout the whole permeates Tommy Atkins, sublime in his +self-consciousness, and a very good fellow withal. Ay, the bazaars of an +evening are a sight to be seen,—a collection of strange peoples, only +to be equalled perhaps on the bridge between Stamboul and Galata at +Constantinople. + +There remains but one more sight to see in Aden, the tunnel that connects +the town with the isthmus, and which passes under the Munsoorie hills. +This excavation is three hundred and fifty yards in length, and is lit +throughout with artificial lights. It is sufficiently high and wide to +allow of carriage and caravan traffic. A second tunnel connects two +separate portions of the isthmus lines. + +Immense improvements have lately been carried out in the fortifications +of Aden, and during the time of the writer’s visit several new forts +were being erected. There is no doubt that the strategic position of +the peninsula justifies a large expenditure upon its defences. The +immense value it would prove in time of war as a coaling-station cannot +be overrated. At the present period its garrison consists of the Aden +troop of cavalry, three batteries of the Royal Artillery, one regiment +of British infantry, one regiment of native infantry, and one company +of sappers; while in the bay lies a gunboat and a transport steamer +of the Indian marine. The troops are spread over the peninsula, the +cavalry having lines on the isthmus itself. Altogether, when the new +fortifications are completed, Aden may be said to be, both as regards +its defensive powers and in its commercial character, one of the most +successful spots in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ADEN TO LAHEJ. + + +With the kind aid of friends at Aden, my preparations were easily made +for my journey into the Yemen—far more easily, in fact, than I had been +led to suppose would have been the case. Everywhere in the bazaar were +rumours of the rebellion still raging in the interior—vague rumours, +the truth of which it was almost impossible to gather; while, more +dispiriting still, there was the fact that for several months no caravans +had arrived from any distance in the interior, while those which came +from Lahej and the surrounding country brought tidings, by no means +reassuring, of the impassable state of the roads in the interior, and the +constant depredations of the turbulent tribes, who were taking advantage +of the serious political troubles to enrich themselves by robbery and +plunder. Added to this, I was warned by several European merchants and +traders that even in times of peace it was an almost impossible task +to enter the Yemen from Aden. One and all advised my proceeding to +Hodaidah, and from there attempting the road to Sanaa. In spite of this, +I decided otherwise. My reasons were these. Hodaidah being the nearest +port to the capital, and the principal sea-port of the Yemen, it would +be only natural to find there great activity on the part of the Turkish +officials,—an activity that would not only prevent my being allowed to +pass along the well-watched road, but would also probably put the Turks +upon the look-out in other quarters. It may seem strange to the reader +that any great difficulties should be put in my way; but so serious had +been the rebellion, and to such an extent had false reports been spread +from Constantinople concerning it, that the officials were determined if +possible not to allow the truth of what really had been and was taking +place to leak out. There were at this time, with the exception of a +few traders at Hodaidah, absolutely no Europeans in the Yemen; for one +scarcely counts the Greek shopkeepers to be found in all the large towns +as any but natives, to so great an extent do they assimilate themselves +to the customs and manners of the country. I knew, then, that did I +attempt to reach Sanaa from Hodaidah, and should I fail, as most probably +would be the case, my chance of proceeding into the country from any +other quarter would be practically at an end. It was for this reason that +I decided to make Aden my starting-point; and should I be unfortunate +in my journey thence, to fall back as a last hope upon Hodaidah. This, +happily, I was not obliged to do; for my plans, as will be seen, were +successful. + +But there were several other matters to be thought over besides this. +Granting that I could reach the capital of the Yemen from Aden, how could +I best do so with tolerable safety? Here my experiences in Morocco stood +me in good stead. My first idea had been to purchase my camels, but on +second thoughts I decided not to do so. Not only would my camels tempt +the tribes through whose lands I would have to pass to robbery, but even +the native Arabs I might hire as guides to go with me might not prove +indisposed to relieve me of two or three valuable beasts of burden. It +would be safer far, I argued, to hire my beasts, as in that case it +would be to the advantage of my men to see that not only I myself but +also my baggage-animals would arrive at their destination in safety. +How, then, to find the right men and animals without spreading the fact +all over the bazaars that a mad Englishman wanted to go to Sanaa, in +spite of dangers and the rebellion? I had recourse to Messrs Cowasjee, +Dinshaw, & Co., a great house of Parsee merchants, and through them was +put into communication with an Arab trader. This gentleman I called upon, +and found exceedingly pleasant; and more than that, I found that he +understood perfectly my North-African Arabic, and that his educated Yemen +dialect was comprehensible to myself. I unfolded to him, over coffee, my +plans, with which he seemed not a little amused. He told me in return to +leave everything to him, and to appear again at his house the following +afternoon. This I did, and after coffee and preliminary remarks he +introduced to me a strange character, an Arab of the mountains of Yemen, +a man of something under forty years of age, framed like an Apollo, lithe +and beautiful. I must give a few words of description of this strange +creature. Tall, lithe, and exquisitely built, his skin of dull copper +hue showed off the perfect moulding of his limbs. Over his shoulders on +either side hung loose black wavy curls, standing out like the wigs of +the old Egyptians. Except for a loin-cloth of native indigo workmanship, +and a small blue turban, almost lost in the spreading masses of raven +hair that burst from beneath its folds, he was naked. Here and there his +flesh had taken the dye from his blue raiment, giving it a strange blue +tint. Tucked into his girdle was a dagger—_jambiya_—of exquisite Yemen +silver-work; while round his left arm hung a long circular silver box +containing some charm. In features he was extraordinarily handsome. The +brow was high, the eyebrows arched, the eyes almond-shaped and brilliant, +his nose aquiline and thin. Added to this a fine firm mouth, the upper +lip closely shaven, while on the point of his chin he wore a small +pointed beard about an inch in length. A strange contrast he was to my +Arab host, an elderly highly respectable-looking merchant, with eyelids +darkened with antimony—_kohl_ the Arabs call it—and his grey beard dyed a +shade between saffron and salmon-pink. An enormous turban was balanced on +his closely shaven head, and he was habited in robes of yellow and green. + +Coffee being brought for our half-nude guest, we began to talk matters +over, with the result that for an absurdly small sum my new-found friend +undertook to deliver me safely in Sanaa. At all my questions about the +road he laughed. Somehow he had such an air of sincerity about him that +I trusted him from the very first, nor was I wrong. “You have nothing +to do or say,” he said, smiling; “only bring your baggage here the day +you want to start, and I will see to the rest.” In half an hour it was +all arranged. Three camels were to take me and my servants, and, after +a certain distance, when, in fact, we entered the highlands, they would +be changed for mules. As to guides and men, I had nothing to do with +them. There would be always enough animals to carry my scanty baggage, +my servants Abdurrahman and Saïd, and myself. “When will you be ready?” +asked the Arab, rising to leave. “To-morrow,” I replied, expecting to be +met with excuses for so hurried a departure. But no; and half an hour +later I was rattling back to Steamer Point in the wheeziest old ghary +that ever existed, with a fat pony galloping ahead and an excited Somali +jehu on the box. + +It did not take long to make my preparations, and these over, I turned +into bed in a fever of delight at the idea of getting away. At dawn I was +up. I knew it was hopeless to attempt an early start, so, having seen all +my baggage put in order—it consisted of only a sack of clothing and a +mattress and blanket, a couple of saucepans, a kettle, and a few stores +mixed up with the clothes—I turned in again. + +About nine I dressed; and as there were no signs of anything or anybody, +I sat down impatiently to wait until something should happen. At length +Abdurrahman, my faithful Moor, who had come with me from Morocco +especially to make this journey, appeared. His only fault is that, +when he is particularly wanted, he is sure to have found some place as +difficult to discover as the North Pole in which to oversleep himself. +He was followed an hour or so later by Saïd, clad in new raiment, gay as +the sunshine, and not the least ashamed of himself for being so terribly +unpunctual. However, one could not be angry with this butterfly, who, +from his mass of wavy black hair to the soles of his leather sandals, was +a picture of dandyism. Often and often in the marches before me Saïd’s +bright cheery manner and ingenuous narration of his conquests amongst the +female sex kept us, tired and weary as we were, in shouts of laughter. He +was as good as mortal man could be when once we had torn him away from +the fascinations of Aden, his earthly paradise. + +At length, collecting the men and the baggage into a couple of gharies, +we set out for Aden proper, the old fat Greek who kept the hotel waving +his hand to me, and wishing me all good-fortune as we drove away. + +At the other end, of course, all the worry commenced again. However, +there was nothing to do but to bear it patiently. First, no signs of men +or camels. At length, after much searching, we captured the beautiful +Arab of the previous afternoon; and, never letting him out of our sight, +we at length ran our camels to earth in a back-yard. Leaving Abdurrahman +to watch the luggage and the camels, Saïd and I sauntered out to do our +last shopping. The heat was terrific, but even my impatience did not +ruffle Saïd’s equanimity. He seemed to have a smile and a few words to +say to every one he met, and, added to this, he insisted on bargaining +for a considerable period of time over every item of our purchasing; and +if at length he could not beat the shopman sufficiently low down, he +would saunter off to another shop, and commence the whole business over +again. It was exasperating! + +At last everything was completed, said Saïd, and we turned back once more +in the direction of our camel-yard. Abdurrahman, wearied with waiting, +had gone off to a _café_ to have a cup of coffee with the camel-men! +I sent Saïd to find them. In about an hour Abdurrahman and the men +returned, not having seen Saïd, who presently came smiling in, gay as a +singing-bird, with the excuse that he had forgotten to say good-bye to +one of his lady-loves, whose beauty he began to sing in flowery praises +until I peremptorily silenced him. + +Then they loaded the camels. I sat by and watched, wondering what we +could have forgotten. Saïd presently was struck with a bright idea, and +before I could seize him had fled to buy a jar of ghee, or rancid butter, +for our cooking on the road. Pursuit was hopeless, but at last I could +wait no longer. Fortune favoured me, and I found him. He had, so far, +forgotten all about the ghee, and was testing the smoking capabilities of +a quantity of hubble-bubble pipes, one of which I purchased, and which I +found to be a veritable passport on my journey. Then off he went to buy +the ghee, the pipe under his arm; but I accompanied him, and brought him +safely back again. + +With a sigh of delight I watched the camels laden with my baggage saunter +off with slouching gait out of the yard and along the yellow dusty road, +followed by the men. Half an hour later we drove out through the Main +Pass gate of Aden, down the steep winding hill, and along the isthmus, to +join our baggage-animals at the village of Sheikh Othman, on the mainland. + +It was almost sunset, and grand and beautiful the jagged outline of Aden +looked as we left it behind. The bay, placid as glass, reflected the +great rock, and the ships that lay so peacefully upon its motionless +waters. The sky, a mass of primrose yellow, still trembled with the heat +of the afternoon sun. Far away beyond the crowded masts of the native +craft, Little Aden, rival of its sister rock, rose a pale mauve against +the sky. Then the sun set, and our cab came to a standstill with a jerk +that threatened to break it to atoms; while our Somali driver, good +Moslem that he was, alighted to pray. The air was fresh and cool, and +we descended for a few seconds to stretch our limbs. One could not help +thinking of the strange mixture of the past and the present. This grand +lithe figure rising and falling in prayer, now upright with outstretched +hands, now prostrate with his forehead on the ground, seemed like some +memory of the long dead glories of Islam, whereas he was in reality only +a cab-driver. + +On again, on over the level plain where many an army has met and fought +over the possession of the barren rock we were leaving behind us, until +in the fading of the after-glow we drew up in the quiet square of Sheikh +Othman. + +I was intensely happy. A feeling of exhilaration at the journey before +me ran through my being—and we were really started! I could not let the +Somali driver go back, so I paid him for his stabling for the night, +and dragged him off to the little _café_ where my camels and men were +resting; and here we, Arabs and Moor, Somali and Englishman, calling +“Bismillah”[35] together, sat down to our humble repast of fowl and +coffee. + +But I could not sit still. I longed for the rising of the moon to start +again, and under the guidance of my great Arab friend, set out to wander +through the half-deserted streets. From time to time one could catch a +glimpse into the _cafés_ of which Sheikh Othman principally consists, +filled with dusky Arabs and laughing women, many dancing in the circles +of their admirers, for the little town is given over to pleasure. And +as an echo to the music, one heard the soft gurgle of the hubble-bubble +pipes, the grey fumes of which filled the air of the houses with hazy +indistinctness. On we walked between the high walls of gardens, out on to +the desert, to where, in its little grove of palm-trees, stands the tomb +of the patron saint, Sheikh Othman, with its domes and its mosque and +strange tower of sun-dried bricks. This tomb it is that gives the name to +the little town. + +The moon was rising, so we hurried back to the _café_, and after a final +smoke and a cup of the steaming coffee, we loaded our camels, and bidding +farewell to our Somali guest, prepared to start. Then I found that my +Yemen Apollo was not coming with us. I was sorry at this, but it could +not be helped: as long as the men who were to accompany me were _his_ +men, I had nought to fear. So I bade him adieu, and mounting my camel, +was lifted into the air, and set out. Abdurrahman and Saïd followed my +example, and, accompanied by three strange dusky men, we wended our way +through the quiet squares and streets out into the desert beyond. + +Twice had the village and fort of Sheikh Othman been destroyed by British +troops before, in order to extend our frontier in that direction. The +place, and a little of the surrounding country, including Bir Ahmed, +were purchased by the British Government from Sultan Ali of Lahej. So +diplomatically are affairs to-day managed in Aden, that not only does +Sheikh Othman enjoy immunity from plunder and robbery, but the whole +caravan-roads passing over the wide strip of country in the Abdali, +Aloui, and Dhala country are in a condition of complete tranquillity, and +almost absolutely safe for native caravans. + +Out into the desert, with slow patient gait, passed our camels. What a +wonderful night it was! I had seen the desert before in other lands, but +never to compare to this. In Egypt the nights are cold; here a soft balmy +breeze bore on its wings the scent of the mimosa bushes, which dotted the +sandy surface. A heavy dew was falling, and seemed to awake every drop +of fragrance of the little yellow fluffy buds. Above us a sapphire sky, +brilliant with stars and moonlight. Around us miles upon miles of sandy +plain, shimmering silver. Beyond the humming of the insects there was +not a sound except the thud-thud of our camels’ soft feet upon the softer +sand. So still, so tranquil it all seemed, that one scarcely dared to +breathe. One felt that one was passing through some strange dreamland, +whose earth was silver sprinkled with sapphires, whose heavens were +sapphires dotted with diamonds. + +Those who have not known the nights of the desert can never realise them. +It passes the pen of man to describe. It is like the periods in fever +when the fever leaves one, for it is these nights that nature has given +us in compensation for the burning, scorching days. It was but the first +of my night-marches—there were many more to come; yet I never tired +of them. The rhythmic gait of the camel, the gliding along under the +myriads of stars, never wearied me. One could not weary of anything so +surpassingly beautiful. + +At a spot, irrecognisable in the desert, our men shouted to the camels to +lie down, and we dismounted. Saïd spread my carpet, while the Bedouins +collected the dry mimosa twigs, and by the light of the little fire they +lit I could see my camels regaling themselves with evident relish on +the dry bushes, the thorns of which were an inch or two in length. Then +commenced the drinking of coffee, and the gurgle of the hubble-bubble, +until, calling to the grunting animals again, we loaded our camels and +set out. + +[Illustration: PALACE OF THE SULTAN OF LAHEJ.] + +As early dawn began to tint the eastern sky we entered the oasis in +which Howta, the capital of the Sultan of Lahej, is situated. The aspect +of the country completely changed. In place of the pale yellow sand, +dotted with stunted bushes, there were wide fields of durra, or millet, +growing in all the luxury of a damp tropical soil. The fields are divided +from one another by hedges of rank vegetation, and little channels, here +above the level of the surrounding land, here running in and out amongst +the durra stalks, supplied unlimited water to the crops. From amidst the +tangled mass of dazzling green rise palm-trees, many of them hung with +trailing creepers. + +Here and there grazed the pretty humped cattle of Southern Arabia, tended +by nude boys and girls, who shyly watched the Christian passing by on the +back of his camel. And then the town—the great mud-built city of Howta, +full of wild-looking Arabs, and dogs, and fever, the palace of the Sultan +dominating the whole, and having the appearance that at any moment it +might slide down, and crush the houses and huts and hovels around it. + +Under the guidance of my Bedouins we put up at a small native _café_, +preferring to be at our ease rather than to have to enjoy the hospitality +of the Sultan, to whom, thanks to Colonel Stace, the Political Resident +at Aden, I bore letters of recommendation. We easily made an arrangement +to reserve the entire accommodation of the _café_ to our personal use, +and spreading the carpet and mattress, I settled in for an hour’s rest. +The place in which we had taken up our quarters consisted of a yard +enclosed in a high hedge of impenetrable thorns, forming a zareba. At one +end was a large mud-brick room, thatched with rough matting, as was also +a verandah in front of it. Besides this, the guest-chamber, there were +one or two poor huts of mats in which quite a number of families seemed +to exist. What with goats, and dogs, and fowls, and children, and fleas, +the place was lively. A funny group we must have made, my men and I; but +I had discarded my hat for a _tarboosh_, or fez cap, as less likely to +attract attention in travelling. It is curious the part the hat plays +between Moslems and Christians. Apparently to them it is the outward and +visible sign of the infidel, for as soon as one has changed it for their +own more simple head-gear their fanaticism diminishes to an incredible +extent. Of all European clothing, the hat forms the greatest barrier to +confidential intercourse between Arab and Christian, and one of the names +in common use in North Africa for Europeans is “the fathers of hats.” + +We had not been very long ensconced in our new quarters when a gaudy +creature came to call. Apparently, from the number of weapons he bore, he +was a sort of armorial clothes-peg. In fact, his whole costume consisted +more of swords and daggers than it did of clothing, while a long spear +added to the general effect. His wavy hair hung on either side of his +face in flowing curls, and his arms were encircled above the elbow with +silver chains, bearing charms and boxes containing mystic writings. He +shook hands as though he had known me all his life, and sat down with a +crash of his weapons that reminded one of the fall of a coal-scuttle. +Coffee was soon prepared, and the hubble-bubble, murmuring away in a +corner in the possession of Saïd, who had already changed his clothes +and brushed out his curly locks, was handed from mouth to mouth. After a +while my guest announced that he had been sent by his lord and master, +the Sultan, to wish me welcome, and invited me to proceed at once to the +palace. + +Before, however, I tell of my interview with Sultan Ali Mhasen, some +little account of Lahej and its rulers is necessary. + +The tribe of Abdali, the inhabitants of Lahej, share with the Subaiha, +Foudtheli, and Houshabi, the possession of the south-west coast of +Arabia, from the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, the gate of tears, to nearly +one hundred miles east of Aden, and reaching inland an average distance +of, roughly, some fifty miles. Of these, the Subaiha are the most +warlike, being of a more distinctly wandering nature than the others; +while, on the contrary, the Abdali tribe to whom Aden once belonged, +whose capital is to-day Howta, are the richest and most peaceful, their +habitations being fixed abodes, except in the case of such as are +shepherds, and are thus necessitated to change their pasturage. As I +have already said, the town of Howta lies in a great oasis, supplied +with water from rivers flowing from the highlands farther inland. This +oasis is richly cultivated, the principal products being durra—_jowaree_ +the natives call it—cotton, and sesamum, and more especially vegetables +and fodder for the Aden market. Besides palms, there are several other +varieties, one a luxuriant shade-giving tree, called by the natives +_b’dam_, of which a fine specimen can be seen close to the precincts of +the Sultan’s palace. The soil produces no less than three crops in the +year, the climate being almost equable. + +The town of Howta is situated some twenty-seven miles north-west of Aden, +and extends over a large area. There is no possibility of obtaining +any certain estimate of the number of its population, which probably +reaches as many as ten or fifteen thousand, what with Arabs, Jews, a few +natives of India, and a considerable number of Somalis. The extreme heat +and dampness of the climate render the place too feverish to allow of +Europeans residing there with any safety, and even a sojourn of a few +days is generally sufficient to bring on an attack of malaria. The water, +too, is very bad, and officers going to shoot there from Aden are warned +to carefully avoid it. + +Although the present state of the territory of the Sultan of Lahej is one +of tolerable peace and security, throughout all the history of Southern +Arabia one finds it appearing and reappearing as the scene of battles and +plots and assassinations. After the terrible massacre of its inhabitants +by Ali ibn Mehdi in the twelfth century, it was several times taken and +retaken, and the atrocious acts of cruelty of one, at least, of its +conquerors, are recorded by historians. Omitting the many consequent +attacks and wars which took place within its territory, we find it for +five months of the year 1753 held by the rebel Abd er-Rabi, during which +period Aden existed in a state of blockade. However, it was before this +period that the present reigning family had obtained possession of the +throne, their founder and first Sultan, ruling over Aden as well as the +surrounding country, being Foudthel ibn Ali ibn Foudthel ibn Sáleh ibn +Salem el-Abdali, who in A.D. 1728 threw off his allegiance to the Imam of +Sanaa, and declared himself an independent ruler. Again, in 1771 Lahej +was besieged, this time by the Azaiba tribe, who succeeded, however, in +holding it only for the period of two days. Notwithstanding, in a history +otherwise consisting almost entirely of massacres, wars, and murders, +we have here and there a glimpse of a happier state of affairs, such as +the sumptuous entertaining by the then Sultan of Aden and Lahej of the +British troops after the evacuation of Perim in 1799. Mr Salt, in his +work entitled ‘A Voyage to Abyssinia,’ and published in London in 1814, +gives a most charming account of the then Sultan Ahmed, and Abou Bekr, +his representative in Aden. Wellsted also refers to this Sultan as a +remarkable instance of an Arab chief whose great desire seemed to be to +further trade and receive foreign Mahammedan merchants as residents into +his country. His friendship toward the British is attested in many works +and accounts of his estimable policy and sagacity. He died in 1827. + +I have already described elsewhere the shipwreck of the Deria Dowlat in +1836, which ended in the taking of Aden in 1839 by the British troops. +In 1849 a treaty was engaged upon between the Sultan of Lahej and the +British Government (as to trade, &c.), and with several ratifications +and alterations the treaty still exists. The Sultan receives a monthly +stipend from the British, or rather the Indian, Government, for +protecting the trade-routes which pass through his country, and also +certain other payments in return for the ceding of Sheikh Othman and +other spots nearer Aden. In all, the Sultan draws a very considerable sum +from the Aden treasury _per mensem_. + +Having said all that is necessary, perhaps, in a work which has as little +pretensions to being a history as this has, on the general history of +Lahej, I will resume the narrative of my story at the spot where, under +the guidance of the gorgeous and muchly-armed soldier, I was escorted to +the palace. + +This building is a huge block of houses, built entirely of sun-dried +mud-bricks, but plastered and decorated to such an extent as to give +it the appearance of being of much greater solidity than a large hole +here and there in the wall points out to be really the case. The +principal building is covered with domes and cupolas, with the effect of +a conglomeration of a cheap Italian villa and a stucco Constantinople +mosque. However, from a distance the place has a very imposing look, and +so large is it that on clear days it is visible from Aden. It is not +until one approaches it closely that one discovers the incompetency with +which it is built; for pretentious as it is, there are places where quite +large portions of the mud-brick walls have come away, and at one spot one +obtained an excellent view of the interior of a room on the first floor +through one of these enormous gaps. + +Passing through a large courtyard, we entered by a small door, and after +ascending a rough staircase, and wandering along intricate passages, +found ourselves in the presence of Ali Mhasen el-Abdali, Sultan of Lahej. +The room in which the Sultan was seated was a large square chamber. +A heavy beam of carved teak-wood ran down the centre of the ceiling, +supported on pillars of the same material. The floor was richly carpeted +in oriental rugs, and silk divans were arranged along the walls. Light +was admitted by large windows, over the lower portion of which was +trellis-work. At one corner of the room sat a group of men, some five +or six in all; while on a table close by were three handsome silver +hubble-bubble pipes from Hyderabad, tended and kept alight by a half-nude +Arab in a blue loin-cloth. + +As I entered and kicked off my slippers—for having so far resorted +to oriental ways as to adopt the _tarboosh_, or fez, I held also to +their custom of not walking on their carpets in boots—one of the group +rose to meet me. He was a stout elderly man, with a kindly pleasing +expression, dark in colour; and although not strictly handsome, he +possessed a manner, common to most Orientals of position, that could not +fail to charm. Grasping me by the hand, he led me to the divan, where I +seated myself beside him, and, salutations over, proffered me the amber +mouthpiece of his pipe and a bunch of _kat_, a shrub to which the Yemenis +are much addicted. This plant is known to us as the _Catha edulis_. It +resembles rather a young arbutus in the form and shape of its leaves. +The leaves are eaten green, growing on the stalk, and are said to cause +a delightful state of wakefulness. The taste is bitter and by no means +pleasant, though one easily accustoms one’s self to eating it. An amusing +remark was made by my Moorish servant in the presence of the Sultan which +tickled the old gentleman exceedingly. He held out to Abdurrahman a bunch +of _kat_, which he politely refused. When asked by the Sultan why, he +naively replied, “That is what the goats eat in my country,” thinking +it to be the common arbutus of Morocco. In Yemen it is considered a +necessary luxury; and as it only grows in certain parts of the country, +where it is carefully cultivated, and has to be transported often a long +distance, it fetches a high price. That we ate with the Sultan of Lahej +had been brought some forty miles or more that very morning, for it must +be eaten fresh. + +[Illustration: MY RECEPTION BY THE SULTAN OF LAHEJ.] + +Sitting next to the Sultan was a Shereef, a descendant of the Prophet in +other words, a tall handsome young man, clean shaven, and richly dressed. +A gold dagger of great antiquity that he wore in his belt, and which he +kindly showed to me, was as perfect a thing of its kind as it has ever +been my lot to set eyes upon. The Sultan himself was robed in a long +loose outer garment of dull olive-green, displaying a _kuftan_ beneath of +yellow-and-white striped silk, fastened at the waist by a coloured sash. +On his head he wore a large yellow silk turban, surrounded by a twisted +cord of black camel’s hair and gold thread. + +The hubble-bubble was a sore trial. I was gradually, under the guidance +of Saïd, learning to inhale it; but to have constantly to fill my lungs +with the strong smoke was by no means a pleasant task to a novice like +myself. The inhaling, even through water, of the tobacco used in these +pipes is by no means a thing one can easily accustom one’s self to, and +for a long time a whiff too many will bring on giddiness. However, so +attentive was the Sultan in handing me the amber mouthpiece that I stuck +bravely to the task, although by the time I left I felt a sensation of +incipient _mal de mer_ in a rocking-chair or the car of a balloon. As +much of the smoke seems to go to the brain as does into the lungs. What +with the pipe and the _kat_, and the declining of Arabic irregular verbs +in a dialect I scarcely knew, I was not sorry when, after an hour or so +of conversation and agony, I was allowed to leave. Nevertheless, I had +enjoyed my visit to the Sultan Ali, whom I found to be a pleasant-spoken +kindly old gentleman, extremely fond of showing off various treasures he +possesses, amongst which is a unique sword of Bagdad work, said to be +eight hundred years old. Through the blade is bored a hole, which the +Sultan explained to me was the mark that it had taken over a hundred +lives. From the condition of the steel it might have been made yesterday, +and would be quite capable of taking a hundred more. During my visit I +had been watched with great interest by two of the Sultan’s children, a +little boy and girl, who, contrary to Arab customs, were present all the +time. They were pretty dark-skinned little things—the boy nude except +for his loin-cloth of striped silk, the girl dressed in a mauve garment +embroidered in gold. + +Leaving to go, the soldiers who had brought me into the Sultan’s +presence again escorted me to my _café_, on the way to which we visited +the palace stables. There were a great many horses in the ill-paved +yards which serve as the royal stabling. Mats and thatch, and in places +rough brick roofs, keep off the heat of the sun from the horses, some of +which were very fine. One white mare from Nejed was especially lovely, +though from the nature and heat of the country she looked terribly out of +condition. The pedigrees of the Nejed horses are most carefully kept by +their breeders, and all over Arabia they are estimated as the very finest +to be procured. + +The Sultan of Lahej has his own coinage, a small copper piece of minute +value, bearing the inscription “Ali Mhasen el Abdali,” and on the reverse +“Struck in Howta,” which, by the way, is anything but true, as they are +made in Bombay, by contract. + +Returning through the courtyards of the great mud palace, I left the +royal precincts, and, seeking once more the quiet shade of the _café_, +spent the heat of the day in sleep, waiting for the cool of the afternoon +before sauntering forth to see the sights of the town of Howta. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LAHEJ TO KHOREIBA. + + +When I awoke the heat of the day was over, so, under the guidance of Saïd +and one of my camel-men, I sauntered out to see the town of Howta. The +place presents, on the whole, an appearance rather of dirt and squalor +than of what one expects the capital of an Arab Sultan to be like. The +streets are narrow, and built without any idea of regularity, turning +and twisting as they do in every direction; nor are the houses even +built in any attempt at being in line. Here one juts out into the narrow +byway, there another stands back off the street behind a thick hedge of +bristling thorns. Nearly all the houses are surrounded by these zarebas +or yards, into which the cattle are driven of a night. Strange mangy dogs +bark at one as one passes along, and their bark is echoed from within +by the yelps of puppies. There is, in fact, but little to see in Howta. +Perhaps the sights best worth noticing are in the market, where under +the shade of an enormous _b’dam_ tree sit women selling bread, while +the surrounding strip of sand is crowded by Arabs with long spears and +their camels. Here also are exposed for sale vegetables, camel and horse +fodder, and many other market products, which are sent on to Aden. Not +far from this market are the bazaars, narrow covered-in streets with +rough little mud-brick shops on either side, filled with cotton goods, +for the most part of European manufacture; a few gaudy muslins from +India, however, giving a brilliant hue to some of these dusky little +box-like shops. A whole bazaar is put aside for the workers in metals. +It forms a thatched square, divided up by low walls, some three feet in +height, like sheep-pens, in which the various metal-workers sit, each +with his forge. The scene is a most picturesque one. The sunlight falling +in through holes in the ill-thatched roofing strikes upon the burnished +metal until the daggers and spear-heads sparkle and glisten like +diamonds. The air is hazy with the fumes of the forges, and rings with +the never-ceasing fall of the hammer upon the metals. And what workers! +Great lithe men, grand in the exposure of their bare limbs; their +raven locks loosely falling upon their shoulders, and waving backwards +and forwards with the motion of the workmen’s bodies. The workmanship +of Howta is rough. In spear-heads they excel; but they fail in the +silver-work of their dagger-sheaths to attain the results reached by the +silversmiths of the larger towns inland. + +Returning to the _café_ where I had put up, I found the camels ready to +start, so mounting once more, we set out. Leaving the town behind us, +the way took us for the first few miles through rich cultivated land, +watered by a careful system of irrigation, and gorgeous in its verdure. +Emerging from the fields, we struck into wilder country, torn up into +great ravines by the Wadi Lahej—a river that, in the dry season, is but a +tiny stream, but after rains a series of vast torrents, its many channels +becoming filled with the huge mass of water, often carrying away much of +the cultivated land, and doing no little damage. Sometimes the trunks +of big trees from the far interior are carried over the desert—where at +ordinary times the sand absorbs the water to such an extent that it never +reaches the sea—and cast into the bay at Aden. From this it can be judged +how severe are the rainfalls when such comparatively rare occurrences do +take place. + +The river which I mention here under the name of the Wadi Lahej is also +known by the name of the Mobarat. It has two channels to the sea, but, as +already stated, is at most seasons exhausted by the desert sands of the +low-lying coast country. The principal channel is the Wadi el-Kebir, or +great river, which flows out near Hashma, a small village in the Bay of +Aden, the other being the Wadi es-Seghir, or small river, which empties +itself into the Ghubbat Seilan, a bay to the north-east of Aden, and +formed by the peninsula itself and by Ras Seilan, a point some thirty +miles along the coast. + +Wild and depressing the scene was. Ahead of us, almost as far as the eye +could reach, stretched the desert, unbroken by even a single bush, and +gradually sloping up to broken rocky peaks, which glowed a dull leaden +crimson under the rays of the setting sun. We were leaving the oasis +behind now, and no longer the peasants returning from the fields stood +to gaze on us as we passed by; no longer their wild songs rang in our +ears—songs sung by the sons of the desert and echoed by its daughters, +as, hoe in hand, or leading the flocks and herds, they wandered back to +the town. Now it was only occasionally that a warrior with spear passed +us, on foot or on camel-back. Then night fell,—night such as we had +experienced on the previous march, and which I have so dismally failed to +describe,—night which fails all description. But we went on, the camels +patiently plodding their way. It was eleven o’clock before we halted and +spread our carpet under a clump of thorny trees, close to the river-bed, +which we had been following since our departure from Howta. Here we +rested for a few hours, our fire twinkling and flickering and bursting +into little flames as we threw the thorny twigs upon it, for the night +was chilly and a heavy dew falling. + +There is no water, the Arabs say, more poisonous than this stream of +Lahej, and we had been carefully warned against drinking it; but in +spite of this my servants regaled themselves plenteously from its +feverish stream. There is no fallacy greater than to suppose the average +Arab can go long without water. In cases of hereditary necessity perhaps +they do, but in all my experience of foreign lands I have seen no +thirstier race than the Arabs. They are for ever drinking. All my journey +through the Yemen, my men were constantly alighting from their animals to +drink. In the mountains, where the water as a rule was good, this led to +no bad results; but their constant habit of drinking from slimy pools and +nasty streams brought on attacks of fever in the cases of both Saïd and +Abdurrahman. No more unpleasant position can be imagined than that of a +traveller with two fever-stricken servants, both shouting that they were +going to die, and refusing to take quinine because it tasted so nasty. +The drinking of this water of Lahej brought on fever in both these men. I +provided them with unlimited coffee, which, with boiling the water, does +away with a great part of the risk; but, rather than have the trouble of +making it, they preferred to drink the poisonous liquid. However, they +suffered for their perversity. + +It was dawn when we started again, pale-grey dawn, which struck cold and +chilly. An hour or two of desert, unbroken in its monotony; but away +ahead of us we could see the outpost fort of the Sultan of the Houshabi +tribe, whose territory we were soon to enter, and a few miles nearer, +half hidden in thick thorn-trees, the frontier castle of the Sultan of +Lahej. + +We had hoped to make a good march, but fate was against us, for after a +few hours on the road a gentle wind rose up. At first it was cool and +refreshing, but as the heat of the day increased it became laden with +fine grains of sand, and by no means so pleasant. At length it became +unbearable, the stinging sensation as the sand struck one’s hands and +face being most painful. Calling a halt, we crawled under some thick +bushes, the men hurriedly arranging a strip of canvas so as to obtain +the most protection from its scanty folds. We were only just in time, +for a few seconds after, having crawled under its shade, the wind +increased in strength and became a veritable gale. The sand, which up +till now had been but thin, commenced whirling up in clouds until the +air became darkened with it. Huddling together, we tied our turbans over +our mouths and waited for a cessation. It required three of us to hold +on to the slender covering of canvas—a mere strip that I used to put +between the carpet and the ground—to prevent its being carried away. The +desert wind was intense in its heat, and the burning, gritty grains of +sand found their way under one’s clothing and into one’s ears and eyes +until life became unendurable. I had seen a sandstorm or two before in +my life, but none like this. The poor grumbling camels lay down and +wagged their necks slowly from side to side, while the Arabs cursed. A +sandstorm is lovely in a picture, and is exciting to read about, but +personally to experience it is quite another thing, and for the three or +four hours that we lay panting for breath under those thorny mimosa-trees +we suffered exceedingly. So strong was the sand-laden wind that it was +impossible for the men to go even as far as the river to get water, and +our throats were parched with thirst. In spite of the suffering, however, +one could not help noticing the extraordinary atmospheric effect. The sky +took a brick-dust red hue, and seemed literally to glow, the fierce sun +burning scarlet and fiery through it all, though at times even the sun +was scarcely visible. Happily it was the only sandstorm we experienced on +the whole journey, and I hope I may never see a second such as it was. + +Almost as suddenly as the gale had come on it died down again, and +during the afternoon we were able once more to push on upon our journey. +Reaching El-Amat, a fort of the Sultan of the Houshabi tribe, I delivered +the letter of recommendation I bore from the Political Resident at +Aden, and, refusing the Sheikh’s kind invitation to alight, pushed on. +This fort, like that of the Sultan of Lahej which we had passed shortly +before, is a large, square, mud building, two storeys in height. Useful +as it may be in times of war as a defence against Arabs armed only with +matchlock-guns and spears, it would not stand a couple of shot from any +field-gun, unless the structure is so soft that the ball would go right +through it, as is not improbable. Near this spot we came across a herd of +gazelle, but they were gone and out of sight long before we came within +range. + +The tribe in whose country we now were is the Houshabi. They have always +been on the best of terms with the British, and on the murder of Captain +Milne in 1851, elsewhere referred to, they refused to harbour the +assassin, a fanatical Shereef. By their position they have an advantage +over the Abdali tribe, of which Lahej is the capital, as the river of +the latter is supplied with water from the ravines and mountains of the +interior of the Houshabi territory, and they have on several occasions +in times of war been known to divert its course. However, happily, the +relations of the two tribes are for the most part friendly, so that it is +not often that they have recourse to such extreme measures. + +On again over the desert, which, as we approached the rocky hills, showed +more signs of vegetation and life. Here and there were Arabs tending +flocks and herds and cattle, though what there was for them to graze upon +beyond the thorny bushes it was difficult to say. At length we left the +sandy plain and entered a deep narrow gorge at the foot of Jibel Menif, +a high barren mountain. Here the scene entirely changed. Instead of over +the open expanse of desert, our way now led us between walls of rock, +the path often a mere track in the river-bed, in which at places water +was running, and at others had sunk for a time below the surface. + +Afternoon was well on, and the change from the sunlight outside to +the cool depths of the gorge was a pleasant one, but the scene looked +sepulchral and gloomy. The rocks with which the river-bed was strewn and +the cliffs on either hand were of a curious black colour; nor did the +scanty vegetation, consisting principally of what the Arabs call _athl_, +a thorny mimosa, do much by their verdure to enliven the scene, for in +spite of their proximity to a stream which made some pretence at running +water, they looked parched and withered and dry. + +The gloomy effect increased as the evening came on. Although the sky +above us was still streaked with the radiance of the setting sun, we in +the gorge caught only its barest reflection, and a deep purple gloom +seemed to settle over everything. At one spot by a deep pool in the rock +a caravan was settling in for the night. The wild cries and singing of +the Arabs, and the groaning of the camels as they were being unladen, +added much to the weird effect of their already lit camp-fires, by the +light of which we could catch glimpses of the wild fellows as they +hurried to and fro, spears in hand, preparing for the night. However, we +did not stop, but with an exchange of “Salaam âlikoum,”[36] passed on +into the night. The darkness was complete, but the uneven state of the +ground and the constant ups-and-downs in the path clearly demonstrated +that we had left the river-bed, and were crossing country at right angles +apparently to the streams and nullahs, judging by the constant ascents +and descents. + +A few hours later we caught glimpses of fires in the jungle, and one of +the Bedouins creeping on ahead and exchanging a few remarks with the +camel-men who were spending the night there, he called to me to proceed, +and glad I was to cry to my camel to lie down, and a few minutes later +to stretch myself on my carpet before a fire, in the camp of an Arab +caravan, at a spot called Zaida. The villages in this part of the Yemen +are few and far between, and what there are belong almost entirely to +wandering tribes of Bedouins, who are here to-day and who knows where +to-morrow; so that the caravans passing up and down the rough track that +leads into the interior have to camp where best they can, regardless of +the whereabouts of humankind, being dependent upon their own resources +for food and fodder. + +We spent the whole of the next day at this spot, for the reason, our men +said, of resting the camels; but I rather think they had fallen in with +fellow-tribesmen and friends amongst the caravan-men with whom we were +sharing camp. However, I was not sorry; for, anxious as I was to push +on into the interior, the rest was by no means unpleasant, and I found +plenty to amuse and interest in the people by whom I was surrounded. +Fortunately, too, there were Bedouin shepherds in the neighbourhood, +and fresh food was procurable, while a few thorn-trees gave a little +shade from the sun’s fierce rays. Amongst the caravan-men was a Turkish +soldier, fleeing from the starvation and cruelty and misery then existing +amongst the Osmanli troops engaged in crushing the rebellion in the +Yemen. His neck and wrists and ankles were deeply wounded by the fetters +he had been made to wear, for once before he had deserted but been +recaptured. A very considerable number of these deserters from time to +time reach Aden, whence, after they have made a little money—for they are +always ready to work—they embark once more for their native lands, often +some hill-tribe of Asia Minor. In no way was the hospitable character +of the Arabs better shown than by their kindness to these Turkish +runaways. As long as they were soldiers in the service of the Osmanli +Government they were looked upon as lawful game by the Arabs, and any +who bore a weapon was liable to be shot at any time; but as soon as they +threw down their arms and sought the protection of the Arabs and their +aid in assisting them to escape, they became their brother-men, their +co-religionists, and the poor half-starved fellows were fed by their +_quondam_ enemies, and often given money to help them on their road to +places where their recapture would be improbable. I saw many instances +of this during the time I was in the country, and quite a number of the +Turkish deserters spoke to me with tears of gratitude of the kindness +they had received from the Arabs. Happily there were less melancholy +sights to see and less doleful stories to listen to during the day we +lay under the shade of the thorn-trees. A number of young Arabs, youths +learning the art of becoming caravan-men, had brought with them their +pets, for the most part apes and monkeys, with which the valleys of the +Yemen abound, and great fun it was watching them playing and jumping on +the backs of the camels. They were very tame, and confined by no chains, +being quite loose to go and wander where they pleased, but never leaving +their friends the camels, which munched their fodder regardless of the +antics being carried on upon their backs. It was difficult to say which +were the most active, the monkeys or their masters. + +But still more amusing were the strolling musicians, dancers, and players +on pipes and drums, who, finding a little piece of level sand, exhibited +their strange dances before me. There were three of these mummers amongst +the Arabs. Standing in line, they struck up their music, one beating a +rough drum, one playing on a double pipe, the other singing. As they +sang they stepped slowly backwards and forwards, at periods turning and +twisting round. Strange nude creatures they were, with long silky hair +and silver daggers, and the eye never tired of watching their graceful +movements. + +Saïd and Abdurrahman took advantage of our delay to cook bread. However, +owing to the fact that we had no baking-powder nor anything to take its +place, and that it had to be cooked in Arab fashion by rolling the dough +round a heated stone, it was not altogether a great success. Hunger, +nevertheless, rendered it palatable. As for butter, we had not yet +broached the pot of ghee that Saïd had purchased before we left Aden. +It was rancid then, and the few days of hot sun on the back of a camel +had not added to its charm, though it had added very considerably to +its flavour. When we opened the clay with which the jar was sealed the +whole valley became full of its odours. One could have run a drag with +only a crust and three drops of it. Once having opened the jar, the +Arabs went for it wholesale. It served them for two purposes—for fodder, +and as pomade for their raven locks. The manner in which they applied +it did not make its consumption more appetising, for they dipped their +long fingers into the jar and then ran them through their hair until the +effect was gorgeously shiny—at a distance. At close quarters the odour +rather negatived the picturesqueness. Of course I could have brought +stores from Aden; but to have attempted to enter Yemen with anything like +a caravan would have been impossible, as the suspicions of the Turks on +the frontier would have been excited. I had decided to take as little as +possible, so as to be able to pass as a poor Greek trader; nor had I laid +my plans unsuccessfully, for the scarcity of stores was well compensated +by the facilities I gained on account of having so small a quantity of +baggage. + +Later in the afternoon we made a start. The road was dreary and desolate, +continually ascending and descending, and strewn with black stones and +rocks that rendered our progress very slow. Almost the only level piece +we crossed was a great circle of rocky ground enclosed on all sides by +hills, the whole bearing the appearance of having been the crater of a +volcano; and as all the surrounding mountains show signs of volcanic +action, this hypothesis is not at all improbable. Late at night we +reached the village of El-Melh, where were a few miserable Bedouin huts; +but on the inhabitants assuring us that they possessed neither water nor +provisions to spare, and evidently looking upon us with some suspicion, +we proceeded on our way. The track was rough, and one had to clutch on to +the ropes that held our scanty baggage to the camel’s backs to prevent +being hurled bodily off down the steep sides of some nullah. At long +length, camp-fires ahead told of some caravan bivouacking there, a sure +sign of water, and our camels hurried forward, and without even a call to +make them lie down, wearily deposited us amongst a group of Arabs seated +round a few blazing fires. Their spears, stuck in the ground before them, +flashed and flashed again in the dancing firelight; but the appearance of +fierceness was belied by their kindly welcome, and an invitation to dip +my fingers with them in the steaming pots of food. Watering the camels +and giving them fodder, we returned once more to the fires, and spent the +night in songs and story-telling. + +Before daylight we were on our road again, following for a little way +the course of the river Sailet el-Melh. The country here had become +more mountainous, one flat-topped peak being particularly noticeable. +The natives call it Dhu-biyat, but I can find no mention of this name +elsewhere. On the summit is a tomb, that of a certain Seyed Hasan, about +whom there seemed to be traditions of his having possessed remarkable +powers, but as to whose history apparent ignorance prevailed, nor can I +find any records of any powerful Imam having been buried on this spot. It +is probable that he was merely some local Seyed or Shereef, and that his +repute has not reached the centres of Arabian civilisation. The summit of +this mountain is said to be quite flat and rich in pasture, and Bedouins +of the Houshabi tribe have built a village there, and graze their flocks +and herds. Near this spot the valley opens out, and one enters the Beled +Alajioud, a level plain of green fields, with a river flowing through its +centre. Here one leaves the wandering Bedouin tribes and enters a land +of fixed abodes, for houses well built of rough stone stand about the +valley; and at one spot is a village perched on a slight eminence, and +crowned with a square tower. This turned out to be the border village +of the Aloui tribe, to the representative of whom—a village Sheikh—I +presented my credentials. There was the usual group of men and women and +children and dogs, the usual exchange of compliments and banter; and +although at first they had appeared a little high-handed, we parted the +best of friends. + +The country hereabouts shows signs of cultivation, large fields being +green with the durra. As the sun was very hot, we halted in the middle +of the wide bed of the Khoreiba river, and settled ourselves down under +a clump of oleander-bushes. The scenery was prettier here than any we +had seen, as there were more trees to vary the dull monotony of the +reddish-black rock and the yellow land. We had been seated about an hour +when there came skimming along the river-bed, mounted on a beautiful +camel, a veritable Apollo of an Arab, a specimen of the finest type of +the Yemen race, whom perhaps it is scarcely justifiable to call Arabs at +all, so much has their blood become mixed since the days of Kahtan, the +founder of the Yemenite tribes, and Adnan, that of the Arab. However, the +term Arab can be generally used, as there are scarcely any discernible +differences, except in traditions, between the Arab and the Yemen blood. +Noticing us, the man alighted from his camel and crawled into the shade +in which we were sitting. After coffee, wishing to give the new-comer +an example of the powers of the Christian tribes—as he called them—I +unpacked an electric machine I had with me in my sack of bedding, and +administered a gentle shock to the beautiful Arab. He never lost his +presence of mind,—he merely smiled, rose and girded up his loins, mounted +his camel, and sped as fast as the slight little desert dromedary could +carry him down the river-bed. + +The camels of the southern district of the Yemen are famous for their +breed and fleetness. They are slightly built, with fine legs, the very +opposite to the heavy slow-paced camels of North Africa. Many are +especially kept and trained for riding purposes, and their fleetness +is extraordinary. However, this breed seems not to exist any farther +in the interior than about eighty miles, as where the country becomes +mountainous we find a heavy, shaggy, black camel, the very opposite to +his brother of the Teháma, as the plains which divide the highlands of +the Yemen from the sea are called. + +While we were still laughing over the flight of the Arab on coming in +contact with civilisation in the guise of a small electric machine, +two Englishmen appeared in view, riding horses, and guarded by a +considerable number of Indian troopers and a few of the Aden corps, and +followed by a large train of baggage-animals. I had been told before +leaving Aden that I might meet a surveying-party under Captains Domville +and Wahab, who had been told off by the Indian Government to organise a +survey of the tribe-lands lying between the Turkish frontier and Aden. +Although they had been successful up to this point, they began here to +meet with difficulties on the part of the natives, which at length, after +I had passed on into Turkish Yemen, became so demonstrative that guns +were once or twice resorted to by the natives, and the scheme had to be +abandoned before it was completely carried out. I spent the afternoon +with them, and very pleasant it was. I was able also to obtain from them +the correction of my aneroid barometer, for so far I had not resorted to +boiling-point tubes, keeping what few instruments I had with me as much +as possible in the dark, so as to excite as little suspicion as possible. + +After dinner in the luxurious camp of Captains Wahab and Domville, I +sauntered back to find my men already preparing to load the camels, and +soon after midnight we made a start. It was a bright, clear, moonlight +night, but chill and cold, a sure sign that we were ascending to the +highlands, which an altitude of nearly two thousand feet on my barometer +showed to be the case. The Arabs shivered and chattered as we pushed +along through the valley. Presently the road ascended on the left side +of the stream, and we crossed a plateau at an elevation of a few hundred +feet above the river. The cold as dawn appeared became almost intense, +and I was glad to alight from my camel and run races with my men, getting +often a long way ahead of the caravan. Then we would sit down and light a +little fire of mimosa-twigs, over which we would huddle together to keep +warm until the camels caught us up again. + +[Illustration: _A Valley in Yemen_.] + +Dawn changed to sunset, and the world became alive again. The scenery +had altered. We had once more entered the valley of the Khoreiba river, +and still the great, bare, rocky mountains rose on either side; but +the valley itself was green and fresh, and the banks of the stream, +which appeared in places tumbling and dancing over the rocks, again to +disappear below the surface, were covered with thick jungle of dense +tropical vegetation, the trees hung with garlands of creepers. Birds +chirruped and hopped from bough to bough; great painted butterflies +sailed by, rivalling the sunrise sky in gorgeousness; and monkeys and +apes chattered and grunted on the steep mountain-sides. After the journey +of desert and rock, the change was a delightful one. Spying a few female +camels grazing in the jungle, we surmised that there must be a Bedouin +encampment near, so, alighting from my lofty perch, I set out with a +couple of the men to find them—no difficult task, as we came across them +within the first half-hour. They had pitched their little mat huts in a +natural clearing in the thick vegetation, where they sat idly about, the +women carrying firewood and milking the cows, the men, each armed with +his dagger and spear, smoking long wooden-stemmed pipes with clay bowls. + +They received us kindly, and we had soon joined their little circle, +and were chatting away as if we had known each other for years. Great +laughter was caused by a very elderly female, with buttered hair—rancid +butter, if you please—and greasy saffron-dyed cheeks, kissing me. The +joke I could not for a time understand; but it finally turned out that +the fact that I was clean shaven and in breeches led her to suppose that +I was of the female gender, as in the Yemen the men wear loin-cloths and +allow their beards to grow on the points of the chin, while the women +decorate their lower limbs in tight-fitting trousers. The old hag, on +being pointed out her mistake, laughed as much as any; and while I was +engaged in scraping the saffron and butter off my blushing cheeks, went +off to fetch us a big bowl of fresh goat’s milk. + +Shouts from our camel-men in the river warned us that we must not remain +any longer, so pushing our way through the thick brushwood, we resought +the river-bed and mounted once again. + +[Illustration: _Castle of Amir of Dhala._] + +At nine o’clock, the sun being very hot, we unloaded under the shade of +some big umbrageous trees, and settled in for the heat of the day. At our +feet ran the river, dancing and rippling over its pebbly bed, for all the +world like some Highland trout-stream, except for the fact that above +and around it twined masses of flowering creepers and strange aloes, +while a palm-tree here and there raised its feathery head above the dense +undergrowth. Away on the opposite side of the river, about half a mile +distant, and perched on the summit of a high rock, loomed the frontier +fort of the Amir of Dhala, a square tower surrounded by some lower +buildings. The place looked a regular acropolis, and seemed impregnable. +On a gorgeous Sheikh arriving, I presented the last of the letters +which I had brought from Aden, for the Dhala territory was the farthest +in touch with the British authorities, and beyond lay Turkish Yemen. +Evidently he considered the epistle satisfactory, although he was unable +to read it, and he spent the day with us there. A right good fellow he +was; but his reports of the turbulent state of the tribes beyond, and of +the murder and plunder with which the mountaineers were daily amusing +themselves, were anything but reassuring. He informed me that the name of +our halting-place was Mjisbeyeh, of which I found the altitude to be two +thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level. + +Off again in the afternoon, passing the picturesque village of Thoba, +above which to the left we caught another glimpse of Jibel Dhu-biyat, +with its white-domed tomb. The fact that we had now entered the land +of fixed abodes became every hour more apparent. At places were signs +of skilful irrigation, while ever and anon villages of stone houses +piled on to the summits of rocks peeped from amongst the green fields +and the mimosa-trees. One of these, by name Aredoah, was particularly +picturesque, although the surrounding country was more barren than it +had been. The scenery, too, became very fine. The black volcanic rocky +hills had given place to mountains of limestone, which towered above the +surrounding country. Principal amongst these were Jibál Ahurram and +Ashari. + +At one spot a charming scene met our eyes. Under the shade of a great +creeper-clad rock sat an old schoolmaster, book and rod in hand, while +at his feet squatted a number of small boys, into whose heads he was +apparently beating verses from the Koran. A regular stampede occurred at +our approach, and the young _tholba_[37] rushed alongside our animals +clamouring for alms. I got one or two to show me the books from which +they were studying, and found them to be excellently printed copies of +the Koran from Beyrout. + +As evening came on we kept passing the flocks and herds, lowing as they +came in from pasture, driven by, or more often following, some child, +who, with wide-open eyes, would stand still and cease the music of its +cane pipe to watch our little cavalcade go by. Not a breath of wind was +stirring, and the smoke from the evening fires of the little stone houses +curled up and up, all mauve and purple, into the cloudless sky. In groups +the men sat about, under the shade of the trees, idly listening to the +hum of the insects and the song of many a tiny stream. The whole scene +was one of perfect peace. + +The track then entered a narrow gorge between high precipices of rock, +from which echoed and re-echoed the cries of the apes and monkeys. We +were entering the country known as Beled Ashari, under the rule of the +Amir of Dhala,—quiet, peaceable folk, shepherds and tenders of flocks. + +As we proceeded, the gorge narrowed until the scenery in the dusky +evening light became almost oppressive. Just before darkness set in we +arrived at our halting-place, at Khoreiba, below the village of the Amir +of Bishi, where, under the shelter of a great _b’dam_ tree, we settled +in for the night. The village is built of stone, and situated on the +left bank of the river, the collection of stone houses being overlooked +by a strange pile of natural rock crowned with a still stranger tower, +a position that completely commands the valley. The altitude of this +spot I made to be four thousand feet above the sea-level. The spot was a +charming one, with the green valley below us, and above the perpendicular +precipices, too steep almost for any scrub to hang to. Here and there +along the river-bed were shade-giving trees, which stood out black +against the fields of young corn, as yet only a few inches in height. + +[Illustration: KHOREIBA.] + +The success of my journey depended on the next day or two. We were fast +nearing the Turkish frontier. Should I be allowed to pass? To have to +turn back would mean the most bitter disappointment. Each day’s march was +interesting me more and more in the country I was passing through, and +very keen I was to carry my journey to a successful issue, and to reach +Sanaa, the capital; especially keen, perhaps, as, with but one exception, +every one at Aden had prophesied failure, and told me I was insane to +venture into the Yemen at the time of the rebellion, when even in days of +peace it was rash and unsafe. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ACROSS THE TURKISH FRONTIER. + + +We had left the Amir of Bishi’s village some way behind when the sun rose +the following morning. The track continues along the river-bed until +the valley terminates in a steep ascent. However, the old-world Arabs +have built a paved way up the slope, which renders its surmounting much +easier than it otherwise would be,—not that it is by any means a simple +process as it is. Scrambling up on foot, we reached the summit some time +before the camels, and were able to rest for a time and watch the poor +grunting brutes toiling in and out the intricate turns in the path; for +it is a mere track winding through great piles of overturned rock, and +along the edges of steep inclines. I found the ascent from the valley of +Khoreiba to the summit to be over six hundred and fifty feet, giving us +an altitude of nearly five thousand feet above the sea-level. The view +looking back was a very lovely one. Below us lay the valley of Khoreiba, +shut in with its precipitous walls of rock, under which, amongst green +fields and shady trees, flowed the river, a streak of silver thread. Away +beyond at the farther end of the valley one caught glimpses of the peaks +of other mountains, rearing their fantastic heads into the clear morning +sky. + +When the camels caught us up we filled up our water-bottles at a spring +of clear water and set off again. These water-bottles—_zemzemiya_ they +call them in the Yemen, and in Morocco _guerba_ (plural _guerab_)—are a +regular institution of Arab travel, nor would it be possible to proceed +without them. They are made of leather, those in Arabia being cut into +shape, while those of Morocco are the whole skins. + +Now and then we would catch a glimpse of a herd of apes scampering away +up the steep rocks with resounding grunts; but more often we could only +hear their cries, for their colour does much to conceal them from view +amongst the limestone rocks. + +So cool and pleasant was the air at the elevation we had reached, that +instead of remounting our camels, who, poor beasts, were tired with +the rocky ascent, we strode out on foot. Leaving the village of Dar +en-Nekil on our right, we passed through a gorge of low walls of rock, +and then descended to the level of the plateau, which here extends for a +considerable distance, broken now and again by rocky peaks and hills. +This plateau, one with that on which Dhala is situated, may be said to +circle round Jibel Jahaf, a limestone mountain situated just above the +large village of Jelileh, where, although not within their frontier as +delimitated, there is a small Turkish fort. The plain is well cultivated, +and ploughing was in active progress at the time of my visit, besides +being dotted with trees; but from the fact that the young corn had not +yet commenced to push, the country looked somewhat barren and dreary. + +Across the plateau all passage seems to be blocked by an immense range of +mountains, one continued precipice without any apparent break. The range +bears two names,—the eastern part Jibel Mrais, and the western Jibel +Haddha. A few miles over the plain brought us to a steep ascent leading +to the village of Jelileh. Although the absolute frontier of the Turks +is at Kátaba, a town a few hours’ distance to the north-west, they have +erected here a fort, and over a round tower perched on a hillock floated +the red flag with its star and crescent. + +[Illustration: _A Girl of the Yemen._] + +One of my camel-men was a native of this village, and it was to please +the good fellow that I decided to spend a night there, as otherwise +I should have been tempted to push on and try to cross the frontier +that day. Wishing to avoid as much attention as possible on the part +of the inhabitants, I did not spend any time in the village street, +but alighted from my camel at the door of the yard of my man’s house, +and at once entered his abode. As a typical Yemen house of the poorer +class, some description may not be out of place. Like all the dwellings +in the highlands of the Yemen, it was built of solid squared stone, and +consisted of two large towers, some thirty feet square at the base and +twenty at the summit. The lower floor contained an arched stable, the +roofing supported on pillars of stone. To the next storey an outside +stairway led one. This floor contained a passage and two decent-sized +rooms, the walls plastered on the inside and the ceiling made of wood. +The floors, like the walls, were coated in cement. The staircase +continuing led one on to the flat terraced roof, round which ran a stone +wall some three feet high. The whole showed a great amount of labour and +no little skill in its construction. The second tower was larger, but +being put aside for the women, I did not of course see the interior of +it. It contained, however, four storeys. Into one of these rooms in the +men’s tower I was shown by my host, who, no sooner was this accomplished, +was flying all over the place stirring up his womenfolk with entreaties +and curses to prepare a meal befitting such a guest. Meanwhile from my +window I could obtain a very good view of the surrounding country, ay, +and more, of my host’s wives and daughters. How ugly they were! What +little attraction nature might have given them was completely concealed +under their artificial adornments. Their hair, plastered with butter over +their foreheads in straight fringes, literally dripped with grease, while +their copper skins were thick with paint the colour of red-lead, arranged +in a triangle on either cheek, as well defined as is that of the clown in +our Christmas pantomimes. Their loose upper garment was more attractive, +being of dark-blue linen embroidered round the neck, sleeves, and edge +in coloured silks; but to do away with any grace which this simple and +classical garment might give them, they encased their legs in ill-fitting +indigo trousers, with embroidery round the ankles. However, my host was +evidently very proud of his ladies; for no sooner did he catch a glimpse +of them peeping over the parapet of their apartments, or straining their +heads out of the little windows, than he would shout vociferously to them +to retreat, which they would do, again to reappear and continue their +criticisms of the newly arrived stranger. Meanwhile the male relations +of my camel-man had appeared, to join me in the feast which was being +prepared,—men and youths and boys, nearly a score in all, who quite +filled up the two rooms and passage of our apartments, while nearly every +one brought his long straight pipe or his hubble-bubble, and there was +a murmur and gurgling of water as we inhaled the cool smoke. Besides +the guests who arrived to call we had other visitors, those tamest of +wild beasts—the fleas. It is strange that while many an author has told +of the friendly fellowship of the dog and the horse toward mankind, the +intense love of companionship of the flea toward the human being has +been neglected. There is no need to tame him artificially: the moment he +is old enough to swallow food he becomes the friend of man—nay, more, +he will never willingly part company with him, especially in Arabia. +His only equal is the mosquito, and for affection he almost beats the +flea. As I write these lines one has been settling on my hand, and on my +refusing to notice him he called attention to his presence by a gentle +nip—result, a large white lump; and when I tried playfully to catch him, +he flew away: they always do. + +On my next day’s march depended the success of my journey. Once across +the Turkish frontier, I felt that unless any unforeseen event occurred I +should reach my goal. But I knew how strict the orders were to allow no +stranger to enter Turkish Yemen, lest news of the rebellion, which had +for some months been disturbing the country, should leak out. However, I +felt that I was attacking the least probable frontier of the country, +and one where they would scarcely be expecting a stranger to attempt to +enter. + +A ride of only a few hours brought us the following day from Jelileh to +the _jimerouk_ or custom-house of Kátaba, situated on the south side of +the Wadi Esh-Shari, and about three miles distant from the town, which +lies to the north, off the caravan-road. The ride was a short but a hot +one, and except that all the plain was under plough, the country seemed +dry and desolate. Away to the right could be seen the large village +of Thoba, a collection of towers on a rocky hill, from which stand +up prominently the white domes of a mosque and tomb, forming quite a +landmark on a scene otherwise a monotone in yellow. + +The buildings of the frontier custom-house consist of a low block, +forming a fort and a large enclosure for the camels and mules of the +caravan-owners, the whole covering a large extent of ground. The lower +rooms of the main building are used as stores for the goods in transit, +while the portion of the upper storey not inhabited by the officials is +divided up into small rooms for the use of people passing and repassing, +being let out on hire at so much per night. The whole place wore a +depressing and a depressed look. For three months no caravans had passed +over the roads, and trade was dull. The goods on their way up from Aden +to Sanaa lay strewn about the place, as there were no means for their +further transit. Three months before, the last caravan to go through had +been looted, and a ransom of three hundred and sixty dollars had to be +paid before the merchants had been released by the mountaineers. + +It seemed strange to think that on that yellow building depended the +success of my journey, and it was with anxious thoughts that I passed +through its open gateway, by the side of which, in the depth of a +cave-like chamber, an old Arab was brewing coffee. Dismounting in the +yard, I sought a shady corner to sit down in while my men went and routed +out the authorities. A few minutes later they appeared, and such a group +they formed! First came an exceedingly dirty Turk in a filthy shirt and +a well-worn pair of military trousers; following him appeared a gorgeous +creature arrayed in purple and fine raiment, no less a person than the +Sheikh Besaisi, well known for his influence amongst the Arab tribes, +and by happy fortune a kinsman of the most disreputable and savage of +my camel-men. His clothes, too, need description. On his bullet-shaped +head he wore an immense yellow-and-crimson turban, wound round with a +camel-hair and gold cord; flowing robes of dark-blue silk were fastened +at the waist with a yellow sash, in which was stuck one of the most +beautiful daggers I have ever seen. This _jambiya_ was of exquisite +silver-work inlaid with gold Byzantine coins of the reign of Constantine. +A few rough turquoises in the sheath gave a tint of colour to one of the +most beautiful weapons I ever saw. I longed to make a bid for it; but I +knew that should I ever mention so large a sum as its value, my chance of +getting on would be so much the more diminished, for it was certain that +I should be gently squeezed before being allowed to proceed, and that +did I let out that I had any considerable sum of money with me, it would +make the squeezing a more serious process, and perhaps prevent my getting +on at all, and certainly announce to the world in general that I was +worth robbing. Following the Besaisi crept a wizened man of perhaps some +thirty-five years of age, dressed in the costume of the people of Mecca. +These three were the officials of the _jimerouk_, though they resembled +rather three characters of opera-bouffe. + +Salutations over, I was asked to ascend, and a few minutes later found +myself seated with my hosts in a small, stuffy, and very dirty room. They +were too polite to ask straight out who I was, so I began to open the +attack myself. I had been to Turkey; the man who had not seen Stamboul +had never lived! Glorious Stamboul! All the world over it was a pleasure +to meet the Turk; he was always a gentleman, always kind and polite; and +how inexpressibly glad I was to meet the Turk before me he might imagine, +after I had been travelling all the way from Aden with only camel-men and +a couple of uneducated servants; and would he accept a box of cigarettes +and an amber cigarette-holder, which I had brought from my little +shop in Port Said with me,—where, by the by, my wife and children were +starving—(signs of tears)—owing to this accursed rebellion; three months +the coffee I had bought in Sanaa had been lying there, and for the dear +wife and little ones’ sakes—(tears)—I was imperilling my life in these +strange lands to get my coffee down: meanwhile my brother, a Greek like +myself, was looking after the shop; and how delightful the Turks always +were, &c., &c. So much for number one, my friend in the dirty shirt; now +for number two. + +Was this, then, the Sheikh Besaisi? No; it could not be that my infidel +eyes were blessed with the sight of his honourable corpulency. His fame +was all over the world. Port Said rang with his name. His honour, his +boundless wealth—(exorbitant old tax-gatherer!)—his immense charities, +were famous throughout all countries: indeed this was a blessed day for +me. (Box of cigarettes and amber mouthpiece)—number two dead. + +Whence came he, number three? No; it could not be that his family was +from Fez. Mulai Idris, their patron saint, might he protect me! Had I +known that I was destined to meet a Fez Moor here, I should have hurried +up from Aden. Fez, every street of it, I knew, from the tomb of Sidi Ali +bou Rhaleb to the Dar al Makhzen: and here was Abdurrahman, a Tangier +Moor. How good the Deity had been in joining us together in the bonds +of friendship!—cigarettes and amber mouthpiece; general embracings and +_tableau_! _Exeunt_ officials. Screams of laughter from Saïd, which I had +to choke by sitting on him on the top of my mattress, lest he should be +heard—and then coffee. + +No Englishman crossed the frontier into Turkish Yemen in January of 1892. +No; the only stranger was a penurious Greek shopkeeper of Port Said, who +rode his baggage-camel. He was attempting to reach Sanaa to obtain some +loads of coffee he had bought; and so great was his love for his wife and +children that he was running the risk of being murdered and plundered in +order to obtain money to buy them food, and to save them from an untimely +death from starvation. I think they believed my story: if they didn’t at +first, a few dollars wisely expended proved to them that it was true, and +after two days of artificial tears and real dollars permission was given +me to proceed. But the squeezing was not quite at an end, and my rifle +was taken from me, on account of no arms being allowed to enter the Yemen +during the rebellion. For this I demanded and obtained a receipt, and +eventually, after eight months’ delay, the rifle.[38] However, I would +willingly have sacrificed anything I had at the time, so long as I was +allowed to proceed. It was an anxious two days, for until within an hour +or two before my leaving the _jimerouk_ I had not received any answer to +my petition to be allowed to proceed. + +At length they told me I might go on. Meanwhile Saïd had been at work. +Our camels were tired, and he had arranged that only one should proceed, +a couple of mules being supplied in the place of the other two. This +my men agreed to, as they preferred to hire mules on, rather than have +their camels attempt the next few days’ journey, one of the greatest +difficulty, and which necessitated as silent and as quick marches as +possible, as the country was in a most disturbed condition. Happily the +contract which I had made at Aden stipulated that in country in which +camels travelled with difficulty mules were to be supplied, and I had no +trouble in having this carried out, although, unfortunately, only two +mules were forthcoming. The simplicity with which my animals were changed +for me seemed extraordinary; but the fact is that these caravan-roads +are worked by “companies,” relays of animals being kept at various spots +along the road for transporting goods from district to district or town +to town. + +No doubt the manner in which the country is split up into tribal +districts makes this necessary, while again the natural features of the +Yemen are such as to render it almost impossible to take the same animals +for any great distance. For instance, the fleet camels of the Abdali of +Foudtheli districts would be useless in the precipices and ascents of +the country between Kátaba and Yerim; while the mountain-mules suffer +exceedingly in desert-travelling, their feet sinking deep into the soft +hot sand. + +As soon as permission was granted me to proceed I was off. I did not wish +to give the people in charge of the frontier any chance of changing their +minds, so at mid-day, when they had all retired for their siesta, we +sallied forth from the gate and entered Turkish Yemen. + +[Illustration: _Village of Aredoah._] + +I had told more untruths in the last forty-eight hours than I liked to +think about; but, curious to say, my delight at having crept through was +far more keen than any remorse I felt for my wickedness. The road does +not enter the town of Kátaba, for which I was by no means sorry; for +under the walls of the little place we could see a large Turkish camp +pitched, that of the division of the army under Ismail Pasha, which had +come on here after the retaking of Dhamar and Yerim, two of the larger +cities of the central Yemen. Giving them a wide range, we soon were out +of sight of the camp, and after crossing the Wadi Esh-Shari, we entered +wild broken country, the foot-hills of the great range of mountains that +appeared to block our way ahead. A sad incident happened before leaving +the _jimerouk_. A poor Turk, whom I had noticed slouching about the +place in rags, came to me just as I was leaving. Kissing my hand, he +besought my protection in Turkish, which an Arab in the Osmanli service +translated to me. His story was a pitiable one. He had been enrolled +in the conscription from some village near Smyrna, and sent with his +brother to fight in the Yemen. At length, after much fighting and many +privations, he reached Kátaba, where the roll of the surviving troops +was called. His name was not on the list, and it was found to have been +a mistake that he ever left his native country. Ismail Pasha, then at +Kátaba, commanded him to be stripped of his uniform and turned loose, on +the ground that he was not a soldier of the Sultan’s at all. This was +done, and the poor fellow wandered away, a stranger in a strange land, +until the Sheikh Besaisi took pity on him, and fed him and clothed him +(!) at the custom-house. He spoke no Arabic, and the Arab interpreting +for him was the only one who spoke a word of his native tongue. He +prayed me to take him on with me. This unfortunately was impossible. The +presence of a Turk with me would render me very liable to danger from the +Arabs; but I advised him to try and reach Aden, where, being as strong +and good-looking a young fellow as ever lived, I felt sure he would get +work, and in time find his way back. Beyond giving him the wherewithal to +find his way to Aden, I was unable in any way to assist him. + +Rough as the country we were passing through was, it presented here and +there little patches and valleys rich in cultivation. In many places the +scenery resembled a lovely garden. The lawns were barley, scarcely three +inches high, while trees stood here and there about the fields. Little +streams and pools of water added an effect of coolness, while the rocky +hills were clothed in plants and flowers, noticeable amongst them being a +scarlet-flowering aloe and a variety of the euphorbia. Great ant-heaps, +some six and eight feet in height, stood like sugar-loaves amongst the +rich vegetation. After a glorious sunset, night came quickly upon us, and +the scenery was lost in the darkness. + +On we plodded in the dark, our little mules carefully picking their way +over the rough boulders and stones with which our path, now a river-bed, +was strewn. The people of the surrounding tribes had taken advantage of +the rebellion to throw off any form of government, and it was therefore +necessary to proceed at night. Once or twice we could catch glimpses of +their village-fires glowing far up on the steep mountain-sides, and now +and again even catch the yelping of their dogs, whose quick ears had +heard the footfall of our animals on the hard stones; but the villagers +took no notice more than to shout to one another, their voices sounding +far away and sepulchral in the thick darkness. The river-bed over which +we were travelling commenced shortly to ascend, and the path was by no +means an easy one to get along in safety. + +“We must wait here for the men,” said an old Arab, an acquisition from +the Besaisi. What men he meant I did not know, but as he seemed to be the +recognised head of our caravan I refrained from asking. We dismounted +and lit a fire in a hole in the rock, round which we clustered to warm +ourselves at its welcome heat: not that it was allowed to blaze, for the +Arab, fearful lest its glare should attract notice, kept damping the wood +sufficiently to keep the blaze low without putting it out altogether. + +For a time we waited, but there being no traces of “the men,” we left the +burning embers as a sign that we had passed on, and continued our journey. + +It was a picturesque scene this little halt of ours, with the dark +figures of the half-nude Arabs, each one armed with a spear, bending +over the glowing fire, and one that will not easily be forgotten. It was +difficult to say which sparkled the most, their polished spear-heads or +their glossy locks. Every now and again a bright flame would leap into +the air in spite of our precautions, showing us that the cliff above was +hung in clusters of feathery creepers, while strange aloes and cacti +appeared in the crevices. + +Rougher and steeper grew the road as we proceeded. At length in the +middle of a rocky ascent a shout from behind, answered by one of the +men, announced the arrival of the long-expected party, who had seen our +signal and were following us; and a few minutes later, in the starlight, +for the moon had not yet risen, we could discern dark shadows hurrying +along after us on the track. A wild crew they were too, six or seven of +them armed with matchlock-guns and spears. Of all the antiquated weapons +I have come across upon my travels, these guns of the Yemen are the most +curious. The stocks are straight, and end in a lump like a croquet-ball, +which forms the shoulder-piece; the barrels are long, and nearly always +rusty. A hole in the barrel communicates with a pan on the outside, into +which a little loose powder is dropped. The trigger possesses no spring +except a weak rebounding arrangement. The nipple is formed like a fork, +into which slides the fuse, made of aloe-fibre and slow burning. When the +trigger is pulled the “match” descends into the loose powder, and the gun +may go off or no. The chances are about equal, I should think. + +For an hour more we crept along the dark road. Thorny mimosas tore our +clothes and baggage and the poor mules’ legs, and at places threatened +to bar our passage altogether. Then we left the path, and descending by +a steep rocky slope, we entered a deep nullah, half a mile or so along +which a halt was called, and my guides informed me that this was to be +our night’s resting-place. Fastening the strip of canvas sheeting, or +rather such as remained of it after the sandstorm, over the boughs of a +thorn-tree, as protection from the heavy dew, we lit a fire and set to +work to cook our supper of tough old goat and rancid butter. + +This bivouac in the ravine below the large village of Azab was the last +night spent out in the open; for although we continued for the next +few days to take advantage of the darkness to push through the most +difficult country, we were able to rest in the _cafés_ of villages, and +after Yerim, in the regular caravanserais, some of which had pretensions +even to being clean and comfortable. + +Next morning I was able to see more of my surroundings. We had spent the +night in the rocky course of a stream, in some of the pools of which +was water. Opposite us the hills rose almost precipitously, strewn with +boulders, and here and there tangled in clumps of mimosa-trees and other +thorny brushwood. Away up the nullah stood Azab, a village perched on the +very summit of a high hill, a confusion of walls and towers. + +We spent the day quietly under the little shade the scanty trees gave. +A couple of the men went to the village to buy provisions, and returned +with a bowl of rancid butter, bread of a thin consistency that would have +served any purpose other than edible, from boot-soles to wrapping up +parcels in, and a goat whose age was unfathomable. However, one cannot be +too particular when travelling in such countries as the Yemen. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF AZAB.] + +At sunset our mules were packed, and we set off once more, creeping +out of the nullah so as not to be seen from the village above, the +inhabitants of which would be only too likely to take advantage of our +position to go shares in my belongings—probably forgetting to give me my +portion, unless they did so with one of their curved daggers. The last +glow of daylight still hovered in the sky; the last rays of the setting +sun still tinged with pink and purple and gold the huge jagged peaks +of the mountains before us. Very grand it is, this range of limestone, +torn into all manner of fantastic shapes, the peaks here resembling some +bewitched feudal castle, there the tapering spire of a cathedral. + +The track was as rough as usual, and constant short ascents and descents +rendered our progress very slow. When darkness was complete, except for +the glimmer of the stars, our men called a halt, and ranging themselves +in line upon the soft white sand of a stream-bed, cried “Allah Akbar,” +and rose and fell with monotonous motion in prayer. Wild shadows they +appeared in their nudeness and shaggy locks,—wild shadows that some +fevered brain might imagine; but the odour of the rancid butter and oil +on their hair proved their reality. No decent ghost would smell as they +did. + +Enjoining silence on every one, the men lit the fuses of their guns, and +a couple going ahead to keep a sharp look-out, we pushed on. Like the +glow of cigarette-ends, I could follow the spark of their guns as they +crept along. + +The valley becomes more distinct as one proceeds, the mountains closing +in on either side, leaving but little level ground beyond the absolute +course of the stream, and that was uneven enough. Hanging over the +river-banks were trees and thick undergrowth, but the darkness prevented +one seeing anything but their outline. At length our path seemed +abruptly to end. Here a halt was called and we dismounted. From this +point commenced an ascent I shall never forget. A winding path, a mere +track in the face of the precipices, climbs the mountain-side until an +elevation of over eight thousand feet above the sea-level is reached. +The night was as yet moonless, and one could scarcely see a step in +front of one, and it was bitterly cold. Lightening the animals as much +as possible by dividing the baggage amongst the men, every one taking +his share, except Abdurrahman, who carried my shot-gun, we commenced the +ascent. Any moment man or beast might have made a false step and alighted +somewhere in the valley beneath. Not only was the ascent trying, but it +must be also remembered that we were now in rebel country, and that our +discovery would mean certain death, to myself if not to all of us. The +very tribe whose lands we were entering, the Kabyla el-Owd,[39] had only +a few months before thrown off the Turkish yoke, and celebrated their +day of independence by cutting up their Sheikh into small pieces and +distributing him over the country, as a warning to others. Our party, +including our new retinue supplied by El-Besaisi, numbered in all some +ten persons; but with the exception of my shot-gun and revolver we had +no weapons worth considering as such, unless it came to hand-to-hand +fighting, when ten-foot-spears may be useful. However, our numbers made +any attack from a small party improbable. Up and up we toiled, often on +all-fours. We had not ascended many hundreds of feet before we found +that our remaining camel was perfectly incapable of surmounting the +difficulties of the road, while his constant mumblings and gruntings +threatened every moment to bring the natives upon us, and already we +could hear their dogs barking in the villages below. Once or twice, too, +men called to one another, and lights could be seen moving about. Then we +would lie still and hold our animals so as to ensure silence. At length +it was decided to send the camel back, and two of the men undertook the +job, trusting to be out of danger’s way before daylight. This made extra +weights for the men and mules, but they cheerily lifted their burdens and +our scramble recommenced. + +I began to think the ascent would never end. Steeper and steeper it +became, until, two hours after commencing, and having climbed over two +thousand feet in that time, we reached the summit, where on a ledge of +rock some humane person has built a well to rejoice the heart of man +and beast with its cool waters. Here we rested for ten minutes, but +more time we could not spare, tired as we were, for a long march had +yet to be covered before dawn. Passing through a gorge at the height +of eight thousand one hundred feet above the sea-level, we began once +more to descend; and scrambling down through thick undergrowth and over +loose rolling stones, we reached the level of a valley, along which our +road now lay, and through which flows the Wadi el-Banna, a large stream +which reaches the sea, when flooded, at Ras Seilan, some thirty miles +north-east of Aden. How the apes chattered and roared as we disturbed +their night’s rest; and every now and then we could hear the stones +rattling under their feet as they scampered away. Collecting our little +band together, and examining our weapons, we continued our march in +silence through the strongholds of the Kabyla el-Owd. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SOBEH TO YERIM. + + +With this descent to the level of the valley commenced the most dangerous +and difficult part of the whole journey. The surrounding country was +thickly inhabited, and dotted with villages, capture by any one of which +meant the destruction of our caravan, if not of ourselves. A long march +yet lay before us until a place of tolerable safety could be reached, +and there remained only a few hours more of night. It would mean a fast +and difficult walk at any time, but now especially so in the midst of so +many dangers. The road had not been traversed even by Arab traders or +members of strange tribes for more than three months. For this period the +district had remained closed, and I could not help feeling, as once more +our head-man enjoined the strictest silence, that I was rather foolhardy +in attempting to be the first to open it again. + +Leaving the track, we struck into the thick brushwood in order to avoid +as much as possible approaching the villages. One, however, we were +obliged, by nature of the country, to pass much nearer than was pleasant. +This was Sobeh, the principal stronghold of the Owd tribe. How silently +we crept on! But sure-footed as were our little mules, they could not +help now and again making a false step, and rattling the stones with +which our path was strewn. When this happened we would all stand still +for a second, holding our breath to listen. Once a dog barked, others +took it up, and presently it seemed as though a hundred yelping curs, +intent on our discovery, were doing their utmost to give warning of +our proximity. Happily they did not leave the village, but, after the +custom of Arab dogs, barked from the shelter of their masters’ homes. +Nevertheless, the noise was loud enough to wake a man, who shouted to +another, and a conversation took place. Seizing me by the wrist, my men +dragged me into a thick cluster of bamboos, whence we could see a light, +evidently a lantern, flickering in the village only a few hundred yards +away. It was an anxious moment; but at length the dogs ceased their +barking, and the light disappeared. Waiting to make sure that all was +quiet, we stole on again, thankful at our narrow escape. + +Then the moon rose, but the cold was too intense, and I was too tired +to admire the lovely mist-swathed valley and the broken mountain-peaks. +Once or twice more we awoke the dogs, and once again, too, a man shouted +to know who was passing; but we did not hide this time, as dawn was +approaching, and my men whispered to me that even as it was it would be +a mere chance if the sun did not rise to find us still in the enemy’s +country. + +At length it came, cold steely-grey dawn; then the sky flushed crimson +and pink, and we put on our final spurt, driving the mules before us with +sharp cuts from bits of rope, and hurrying as fast as our feet would +carry us. The sun was nearly up when one of the men pointed out to me, +a long way ahead, a solitary tower standing on the edge of a precipice +overlooking the river. “Once there,” he whispered, “we are safe; they +are friends of ours.” At length we almost ran. The sun would be up in a +quarter of an hour, and the cold grey mist which at present helped to +conceal us would rise. + +A little before the great gold orb appeared over the mountains to the +east, we forded the icy-cold river and scrambled up to our looked-for +goal, Beit en-Nedish. + +This village, standing on the very edge of high precipices, presents +a most picturesque appearance. In the centre rises a high tower, the +largest of these solidly built Arab _burj_ we had as yet come across, it +being six storeys in height, as far as one could judge from the windows. +The summit seemed to be unfinished, and only half roofed in. Around it +stood a few low stone houses with flat roofs, while a little farther +from the precipice was a mosque, and a larger part of the village. A +graveyard surrounded the whole on the mountain-side. Near the tower were +a few shady trees, adding not a little to the picturesqueness of this +strange spot. + +[Illustration: _Beit en-Nedish._] + +A yelping and barking of dogs welcomed us, but we paid no heed to them, +but straightway lit a fire by which to thaw our chilled limbs; and +setting some coffee in a rough earthen pot to brew, I rolled myself +up in my carpet, and was soon fast asleep. When I awoke a warm sun +was streaming down upon us. A crowd of laughing, chattering Arabs had +gathered round us, and were seated in a semicircle anxiously waiting +for me to awake. When I did so I was stiff and sore, and without more +ado, pulling out some clean clothes from my sack of baggage, ran down to +the river and bathed in the cool fresh stream, after which I joined the +circle, whose centre of interest was myself—a thing the like of which +they had never seen before. Meanwhile breakfast was ready, and inviting +a few of the throng to join us, we said “Bismillah”—“In the name of +God”—and dipped our fingers into the rough earthen pan. + +What a glorious morning it was, and how fresh and lovely everything +looked! The dew still sparkled on the green trees and grass, the mist +still hovered in the valley beneath, and the hot sun was tempered with a +gentle breeze. It was like a spring day in England. How cheery we were, +too, after our night’s dangers and fatigues, all laughing and joking in +the exhilaration of high spirits! But our hopes for a day’s rest were +soon dashed to the ground, for my men received timely warning that it +would be safer for us to proceed, and a few hours later saw us on the +way again. + +We had entered Arabia Felix! On all sides of us were tiny streams, +splashing and tumbling through fern-covered banks over pebbles and +stones. One does not realise what music there is in the sound of running +water until one has travelled, as the writer has once or twice in his +life, over deserts where the muddy pools are two and three days apart. +But the deserts and rocky valleys were all forgotten now—they seemed +merely the imaginings of the past. Everywhere were green fields in which +the young barley showed promise of rich crops, everywhere great shady +trees and jungle covered the slopes. The sun was hot, but at that great +altitude the freshness of the air compensated for it. My men went merrily +on, singing and laughing, and now and again running races and brandishing +their spears—and yet we had rested only two or three hours after our +march of nearly twelve hours, during which we had covered some thirty +miles of road, and what a road! + +[Illustration: MAN AND WOMAN OF THE HIGHLANDS OF THE YEMEN.] + +Here we came in contact for the first time with the mountaineers, a +much finer people than those of the plains. They are, as a rule, taller +and better built, their limbs being freer in action and their legs more +gracefully formed, no doubt owing much to the fact that they are great +walkers. Like the people of the plains, the men wear their hair long, +shaving their upper lip but allowing a small beard to grow on the +points of their chins. As well as the dark-blue loin-cloth, stuck full +of daggers, they wear a thick sheepskin coat, the wool on the inside, +the rough skin being coarsely embroidered in black thread. This forms a +very necessary precaution against the cold, to which these high altitudes +expose them. The women, like their sisters of the plains, wear dark-blue +skirts, embroidered round the neck and sleeves and on the breasts in +coloured silks, and now and again in gold or silver thread. Their heads +they cover with dark-blue hoods, often richly but coarsely embroidered. +While the men are often almost divinely handsome, the women are just +the contrary, being generally thickly built. No doubt the hideous tight +blue trousers and the oil and paint on their faces tends not a little to +disfigure them. In the cold early mornings the oil on their hair hangs +in little solid drops on the points of their fringes; but as the heat +of the day increases it trickles down their faces, washing away the +red-lead-coloured powder, with which they so thickly smear their faces, +in long streaks. + +From Beit en-Nedish we proceeded on a three hours’ ride, and crossing the +river at a ford that might have been in the upper waters of the Tay, we +ascended the opposite bank to Beit Saïd, a large and prosperous-looking +village, situated on the west bank of the river amidst groves of shady +trees. + +Before reaching this spot two large villages have to be passed, one on +each side of the river. They are respectively on the left bank Nadir, +above which the Turks had built a fort, and on the right bank Ghadan—both +large and flourishing villages, well and handsomely built of stone. The +fort was now in possession of the Arabs, as, in spite of its commanding +position, the Turks had found it untenable, and deserted it on the +breaking out of the rebellion. With the exception of Ismail Pasha’s camp +and the custom-house at Kátaba, this was the first sign we had as yet +seen of the occupation of the Yemen by the Turks. + +The land, carefully terraced to allow of more cultivation, presented +from a distance an appearance of a great flight of steps, so evenly was +this immense work carried out. Although at this spot the terracing was +comparatively simple compared with many other places, owing to the slope +being gentler, it showed signs of an enormously laborious task. But, +compared to places that we afterwards saw in the Yemen it was _nil_. At +one spot I counted one hundred and thirty-seven of these terraces on the +side of a mountain, one above another, and each and every one, as far +as one could judge, higher than it was wide; that is to say, the stone +wall supporting the small strip of cultivated land was perhaps nine feet +in height, while the supported strip was only six! This is particularly +noticeable in the coffee-growing districts. However, as it was in this +valley of the Wadi el-Banna that we first came across this process of +cultivating the soil, although it was well known to me in the Atlas +Mountains, Madeira, and many parts of Europe, it struck one as showing +not only a propensity for hard work not usually found amongst Arab +peoples, but also no little amount of skill and engineering. + +In other parts of the Mahammedan world the Arabs are exceedingly fond of +making and planting gardens, and even trying experiments in cultivation; +but whether failure or success awaits their efforts, they allow the whole +concern to fall into disrepair, and the fields and gardens to become +thick with weeds. It is not usually so much a want of experimenting as a +want of continuing that is the ruin of so many Arab peoples. I have known +Moors plant gardens which gave promise not only of beautiful surroundings +but of considerable profit; I have known them plant them with all manner +of fruit-trees, and build aqueducts to bring the water from some distant +spring, a work of by no means little expenditure, and a few months later +I have seen the place deserted, goats feeding on the young orange and +almond trees, and the place run to wreck and ruin. But not so in these +valleys of the Yemen. Here the supporting wall of every terrace was in +excellent repair, here every little artificial channel and aqueduct +brimmed over with water, and the whole surroundings wore not only the +appearance of great laborious skill, but of the idea being present that +the people were aware of the necessity of maintaining the results of +their labours in a state of repair. + +It was a trait of character I had never before met with in the Arab +people, and I was immensely struck with it. In the Atlas Mountains, five +hundred miles in the interior of Morocco, I have seen on a small scale +the same industrious attention; but in that case the people are Berbers, +untainted with Arab blood. In the country of the Gallas surrounding the +city of Harrar one finds much the same; but again, however nearly the +Somalis may be related to the people of the Yemen, the Gallas are no +doubt a perfectly distinct race. It may be argued that the necessities +of life and the nature of the country would render existence impossible +were the people not obliged to terrace and cultivate their lands in this +manner; but I have passed in many parts of the world where the same +argument would apply, and found an entirely different state of things +existing. I rather believe this attention to cultivation, and especially +the growing of coffee, &c., to be due to the existence of true Yemeni +blood in the veins of the people, apart from their mixed Arab pedigrees. +There is little doubt that this system of fixed abodes and attention to +agriculture could not have been introduced in the Arab invasions of the +Yemen, but was existent there long before the time of the introduction +of Islam. All the historical records point to this effect, and it was +probably owing as much to this as to the natural wealth and beauty of the +country that the province obtained the name of Arabia Felix. + +[Illustration: MOSQUE AT BEIT SAÏD.] + +We found the village of Beit Saïd to be by far the most flourishing we +had as yet entered. A large open space divided a pretty little white +mosque, half covered by trees, from the rest of the village. The houses +were well built of stone, one especially fine, being of two storeys in +height, with arched doorways and heavy wooden doors. This we found to be +the caravanserai and house of a cousin of the Sheikh Besaisi of Kátaba, +to whom my men were well known, and who quickly made us welcome in an +upper chamber of the house, to which an outside stone stairway led. The +room was small but cool, and we quickly unpacked our baggage and stored +it away, settling in for a much-needed rest. + +A crowd watched our operations,—a gathering of men, women, children, +and dogs, who, open-mouthed and open-eyed, watched the strange little +caravan arrive, whispering their criticisms to one another. However, they +were quite polite, the presence of El-Besaisi no doubt keeping them at a +distance; for, like his cousin at Kátaba, he was no small personage here. + +We found the people of Beit Saïd extremely pleasant; in fact, the callers +almost crowded us out of our room, they were so many, a constant crowd +watching with the greatest interest the strange visitor. The rest was +a welcome one, and we hoped not only to spend the day here, but to +obtain, for the first time for many days, a night’s repose; but fate was +against us. Having turned in about eight P.M. in a portion of the big +store, where, except for the rats, I felt I should be quieter than in +the guest-room, I was soon asleep, weary with all the anxiety and travel +which we had accomplished. + +I had been asleep only an hour or two when I felt myself quietly shaken. +I asked who was there. A voice whispered in my ear, “Hush! do not speak.” +I struck a light, and as a wild long-haired creature leant over me to +blow it out, I had just time to see that the man was a stranger. “Get +up,” said the voice again; “you are in danger. Not a word, mind. Give me +your bedding and carpet.” In the dark I hurried into my clothes, while +the unknown seized my carpet and such baggage as I possessed, and left. I +waited for a few moments, when he returned. “Your mules are already being +laden,” he continued; then seizing me by the hand, added, “Follow me.” I +followed him out into the quiet moonlit streets, and keeping under the +shadows of the houses, left the village. Here I was surprised to find my +mules already laden. No one was stirring, and in the bright moonlight we +passed silently away from the place without disturbing a soul. Our road +was a difficult and a steep one: at many places the track, under two +feet wide, was cut into the side of a precipice, far down which we could +see the white mists hovering over the damp valley. + +The reason of our flight I was at a loss to understand, yet never for a +moment did I doubt that there was a reason. I somehow, without knowing +why, trusted the man who had warned me. He was a stranger, and as far as +I could remember, as I watched him leading our little caravan over the +awful road, I had never seen him before. Once in my life already I had +been saved by a stranger, who had risked his own to save mine—an Arab +too, but in a land far away from the Yemen. I need not tell the story +here: sufficient that I arrived at his house weary, by night, my bare +feet bleeding with the stones and thorns, pursued by men who had vowed to +take my life; and that he, good noble fellow, found me and took me in, +bathed my blood-stained ankles, and tore up his own clothes to bind them +in, and, after keeping me in hiding for two days, escorted me in safety +out of the country. He died a few months later, foully murdered in a +blood-feud. Perhaps it was the recollection of this that imbued me with +so much confidence and trust in my new-found friend. That I was not wrong +the sequel will show. + +Sometimes a stone loosened by our animals’ hoofs would fall, and, +bounding from rock to rock, disappear into the darkness. At each of these +occurrences our guide would utter a guttural sound of disapproval. Once +or twice I ventured to ask him the reason of our sudden flight, but +was always met with a sharp “Silence!” in reply. On and on, until some +three hours after leaving Beit Saïd our path commenced to descend, and, +slipping and sliding down slopes of sand and stones, we entered the large +village of Seddah, now wrapt in sleep; then on through the village of +Mundah, and out into the open country again. The dogs barked a little, +and one or two men, armed with spears, accosted us, but, after a few +words whispered with our men, we passed on again. It is at Seddah that +the valley turns to the west, and here the Wadi Thuba flows into the Wadi +Banna. This latter river has a direction almost north and south, and +although the Banna is the main stream, the other continues the general +direction of the valley. + +An hour later, leaving the valley and mounting a steep ascent, we crossed +an elevated plateau, finally arriving at the village of Sôk el-Thuluth. +I had been given no idea of whither we were going or where our new guide +considered it safe for us to rest; and when, on nearing the village, +he told me that I might stay there as long as I liked, it was a most +pleasant surprise. The streets of the little place were deserted except +by the dogs; but after knocking long and loudly at a door, we succeeded +in awakening a woman, who turned out to be the proprietress of the small +_café_ and caravanserai of the place. She was a good kindly soul, +and did not grumble at being turned up at one A.M. on a cold morning. +Admitting us into a cave-like room with a stone arched ceiling, reeking +with the pungent odours of strong tobacco and coffee—not to mention the +odours of its Arab occupants, who lay sleeping about the door rolled up +in their dirty sheepskin coats—she lit a fire, put water on to boil, and +then commenced by violently kicking the Arabs in order to awake them, +calling to them to turn out and make room for a more honoured guest. +I persuaded her to leave them in peace,—more out of regard, it must +be said, for my own slumbers than for theirs; and calling to Saïd and +Abdurrahman to make up my bed on the roof, was soon asleep. + +When I awoke it was dawn. What a sight met my eyes! Never had I +before, and I think never since, seen such a view as lay before me. +Sôk el-Thuluth, or “Tuesday market,” as its name implies, is situated +above the junctions of the Wadi Banna and Wadi Thuba, on a spur of the +mountains of the main valley. Below me lay the great valley up the +straight course of which we had been travelling for the last two nights. +Over its green fields floated a transparent hazy mist, through which +I would watch the river sparkling and flashing like a silver serpent, +as it passed on its way to the desert and the sea. Along its banks the +dark-foliaged trees stood out clear and defined. On either side of this +silver streak lay terraced fields, rising step by step from the water’s +edge to where the mountain-slopes became too steep for cultivation. +Here they were covered with thick jungle undergrowth, while above rose +precipice upon precipice, crowned, thousands of feet in the pink morning +sky, by broken crags and pinnacles of rock, touched with snow. At my +very feet, for I was on the house-top, the villagers, rejoicing in the +glorious morning, were passing out to their labours, and the flocks and +herds bleated as they sought their pasturage. Women carrying beakers +wended their way to the spring; while the men, spears in hand, their +long glossy locks tumbling in unrestrained glory over the shoulders, +added a fierce element to a scene of the most perfect peace and beauty. +It was worth all the desert travel and all the dangers of our night +marches to see what I saw then. This was Arabia Felix! As I gazed the +mists rose, every detail in the valley became distinct: little villages +far below, crowning the rocky mounds on which the Arabs of the Yemen +so love to build, stood out from the green fields all grey and severe, +each a fortress in itself, with its battlements and towers. Around the +pink-and-gold crags hovered little fleecy clouds, attracted by the small +patches of snow—now hiding, now disclosing the grandeur of the mountain +pinnacles. + +All our dangers were over; from here our road was safe. We were soon to +enter the great plateau of the central Yemen, now safely once more in +the hands of the Turks, though woe betide the Osmanli soldier who found +himself alone and without protection. As I looked upon that glorious +valley, more glorious than ever now that the sun had risen, I could not +realise how exciting a time we had experienced in passing through it, so +lovely, so quiet, so peaceful it seemed. + +Calling to Saïd, I told him to send me the man who had led us to Sôk +el-Thuluth the night before. + +He had gone! + +Never a word of thanks, never a reward! He had left me sleeping, and gone +back to his own affairs and to his own life. Like the character in some +play that appears but once, so had this Arab come and gone. My men had +tried to stop him, had tried to keep him until I awoke, promising him +a reward, but he had laughed and shaken his raven curls, and, spear in +hand, girded up his loins and vanished. Strange good fellow! he saved my +life, and never even gave me the opportunity of thanking him! + +We had left one of our men the night before behind us at Beit Saïd. He +had gone off in the evening to supper in the house of a friend, where he +had slept, unaware of our flight. In the early morning he had found us +gone, and followed us, not by the roundabout mountain-track we had come +by, but by the main road. + +He solved the mystery of our flight, for but a few miles from Beit Saïd +he found the road held by some forty men, armed to the teeth, whose +object was my plunder. How little the poor fellows would have got! A few +dollars and a little shabby clothing, an old carpet and a mattress, and +that was about all. But they had imagined that I was a trader taking up +great sums of money, and had resolved my death—for life is cheap out +there—and the plundering of my goods. I asked our man what they had said +to him. He replied that they had asked after me, and that finding I +had been warned and escaped them, they went off laughing and swearing, +apparently rather amused at the whole episode. + +Our rest had done us all good, and we set out with light hearts, knowing +that no probable dangers lay ahead. + +The path leads one along the east side of the valley, at a great height +above the river, often, like that we had traversed the night before, only +a footway cut in the edge of the precipices. Here for the first time +we came across the coffee-plant, growing amidst tumbling waterfalls on +terraces built up against the steep mountain-side. Everywhere was water, +here in artificial channels, there in tiny streamlets. Wild flowers +abounded, and in places the walls of rock were green and white with +jasmine. A thousand feet below us were the villages, on to the roofs of +the houses of which we looked from above. It seemed but a step from us to +them. At one spot my men pointed out where a short time before a camel +and its load had fallen from an overhanging rock. It never touched the +precipice, they said, until it fell upon a ledge they pointed out to me +hundreds of feet below, and thence it bounded into the valley. + +Rich in the extreme is this part of the country, owing to its everlasting +supply of water, and many are the tales the Arabs of the plains tell of +it. Beled el-Hawad they call it, of which Howra is the chief village,—a +place like a feudal castle built on a pile of rocks. + +After a time the road turns to the right, and, following the course of +a small stream, ascends a valley. To the left of this valley, on the +very summit of a high mountain, is the village of Ofar, to reach which +necessitates a climb of a thousand feet or more from the road. At several +places one passes drinking-fountains, erected, like the great tanks we +were afterwards to meet with in the plateau, for the refreshment of man +and beast. They are simple affairs, but excellently built. In form they +are usually square, and domed, some six feet each way perhaps. A trough +on the outside supplies the water for the animals, while a hole in the +wall, large enough for one to insert one’s head through, is for human +beings. Within the water rises to the level of this hole, being carried +off by an overflow pipe into the trough below, so that the clear liquid +just reaches the level of one’s lips, while the roof above keeps it fresh +and cool. These fountains, common all over the Yemen, have been usually +erected by private philanthropists for the benefit of their fellow-men. +Unlike the custom in England, no flowery inscription tells the world the +name or the generosity of the builder—they are the memorials of anonymous +benefactors. Here, too, we came into contact for the first time with the +mountain camel—a very different beast from that of the Teháma and desert, +being a rough-haired, heavily-boned creature, usually black in colour +and the picture of ugliness. Those of Lahej and the surrounding country, +renowned throughout Arabia, are light in colour and remarkably finely +built, and often exceedingly pretty. To those who think that the camel is +essentially a creature of the desert, and incapable of traversing with +ease stony or rocky country, the fact that we were passing caravans of +camels nearly eight thousand feet above the sea-level, and on the worst +possible roads, must seem strange. It is well known, of course, that the +camel of Central Asia traverses mountainous country, but I doubt if many +are aware that it forms also the beast of burden in the extreme highlands +of the Yemen, travelling over roads which one would have thought +impassable almost for a mule. Yet so it is. + +At length the end of the little valley was reached at an altitude of +only a little under nine thousand feet above the sea-level. A slippery +rocky path winds up the last few hundred yards of the ascent, which +is extremely difficult to surmount, both for man and beast, for the +constant traffic of centuries has polished the surface until it shines +like glass. + +Here the beauty ends, for one has reached the plateau of central Yemen—a +vast plain lying at an average altitude of about eight thousand feet +above the sea, broken only by hideous ledges of black volcanic rock, +which crop up here and there from its level surface. It was too early yet +in the year for the young grain to show; and the scene that met our eyes, +as we rested ourselves and our mules after the steep climb, was a dreary +one—miles of yellow level plain, and black jagged rocks. A short but +steep descent brings one to the level of the plateau, over which, with +but little exception, the road passes from this spot as far as Sanaa, the +capital. + +[Illustration: _Inscribed stone at Munkat, near Yerim._] + +The natives have made use of the ledges of rock, which appear in every +direction, as sites for their villages, many of which are perched on the +extreme summits, while others lie on the slopes. At one of these—by name +Munkat—we stopped for a little while, to see the place and some curious +Himyaric remains still existing therein. + +This is, I think, the first mention I have made of the strange people, +descendants of Himyar, who formerly inhabited the Yemen; but rather than +enter into any account of them and of other historical matters at this +point, I have reserved these questions for separate chapters, as I have +also done in the case of the geography, trade, and general description +of the Yemen. It has been my wish, as far as possible, to separate the +account of my journey from other and more important matter, so that each +may be taken separately. In all matters historical and geographical, I +have consulted, as far as has been in my power, the best authorities +upon the subject; but in the account of my own travels I have thought it +expedient, instead of breaking the narrative with incursions into more +serious subjects, to omit, except in cases in which it may illustrate and +explain more fully than would otherwise be the case, nearly all reference +to historical or political affairs. + +Munkat is a walled village containing a considerable number of houses, +one of which, a kind of fort, is curiously perched on an enormous +boulder, and a pretty white mosque, surrounded by tanks of good water. +Built into the wall of the mosque are stones inscribed in Himyaric +characters, and some also in Kufic. Copies of the former were, I believe, +taken some years ago by Dr Glaser. In another part of the village is +a white marble column, some eight or ten feet in height, of Himyaric +origin, which is said by the villagers to have appeared suddenly at +this spot. The ignorance of the natives in this part of the country +is astonishing; for out of many stones they showed me, some were in +Arabic and some in the Himyaric character, but the inhabitants were +uncertain as to which was which. They seemed, however, to reverence +these remains to some extent, as they had carefully built them into the +walls. At one spot, over a doorway and in a prominent position, they +had carefully placed a marble stone containing the first chapter of the +Koran—“Bismillah Alrahman Alrahim,” &c.—upside down. When I told them of +their mistake, it was quite sad to hear their excuses. “We are only poor +people,” they said, “and we are terribly taxed. We have to till the soil +to feed ourselves and the Osmanli Pashas, and there is no time to learn +to read or write.” In many parts of the country to such an extent do they +have “to feed the Osmanli Pashas,” that they scarcely get ought to eat +themselves. It is the old tale of cruelty and oppression, of extortion +and corruption. + +The regard shown by the poor villagers of Munkat for these inscribed +stones is not by any means uncommon, a great reverence for writing being +innate in all Arab peoples. I once had an Arab servant, himself perfectly +illiterate, who treasured a torn manuscript copy of the ‘Arabian Nights.’ +Its contents he did not know, nor had he ever taken the trouble to find +out: that it was a _book_ was sufficient for him, and he carried it about +as a sort of talisman. In spite of its good luck, it did not keep him out +of prison, when one day he helped himself to things that weren’t his. + +One of the most beautiful sights to be seen upon the plateau of the Yemen +are the lizards—little creatures of gorgeous metallic blue, now pale +turquoise, now transparent sapphire, as the sunlight dances on their +backs. In no other part of the world have I come across such gorgeously +coloured reptiles, although I have seen the same lizard, but less +brilliant in hue, in the mountains of the Zarahoun, to the north of the +road between Fez and Mequinez, in Morocco. + +An hour or two more of winding path and we were in sight of Yerim, one of +the principal towns of the Yemen, which but a short time before had been +taken by the Arabs in the rebellion, and retaken by the very Ismail Pasha +whose camp we had seen at Kátaba. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +YERIM TO DHAMAR. + + +The immediate approach to Yerim is over a level plain a mile or two in +width, across which, immediately in front of one, lies the town—a poor +enough looking place, lying half on the level ground and half on the +steep slope of a mountain, Jibel Samára. This flat ground is dotted +in places with tanks, and here the townspeople congregate to do their +washing, and many a pretty group we passed of men, women, and children +engaged in that wholesome pursuit. Eastern washing processes are too +well known to need any description here: suffice it to say that it is +generally performed by men, whose one desire seems to be, by stamping on +the clothes and beating them with large stones, to see how many fragments +they can tear them into. They are generally successful in sending the +things back in shreds. It must be an invigorating profession; for the +fact that one places the clothes upon a rock, and then proceeds to dance +first on one leg and then on the other with all the energy and strength +one possesses, at the same time issuing a series of low cries, must tend +to strengthen not only the limbs but the lungs also! + +We did not stay, however, to watch the washers, but hurried on into +the town; for although I had some days before successfully crossed the +frontier of Turkish Yemen at the _jimerouk_ near Kátaba, this was the +first time I was to find myself in a Turkish garrisoned town. + +[Illustration: UPPER FLOOR OF A KHAN AT YERIM.] + +As soon as we had approached the place Turkish soldiers became apparent, +and a miserable crew they were. A few were sauntering about near the +gate, laughing and talking to others who leaned over the parapet of the +old tower that forms one corner of the fortified entrance to the place. +Passing through the gateway without any particular notice being taken +of us, we proceeded by narrow streets to an open square, which serves +as a market, and entered the huge doorway of a large caravanserai or +khan. This place, typical of the country, calls for some description. +The building was evidently an old one, the material used being stone on +the lower storeys, and above sun-dried bricks. An archway led one into +a large covered space, some ten or fifteen yards in width, and perhaps +thirty in length. There was no light admitted except from the great +doorway and a curious barred window above it. This portion of the khan +was of great height, the roof of the building forming the only obstacle +between it and the sky. This roof was supported by large arches on +buttresses running out from the wall on either side. A series of brick +fire-places for charcoal ran along one side of the building, divided from +one another by low brick seats, where the Arabs could sit and brew their +own _keshour_, or drink of coffee-husks. Farther in the space served as +a stable, and there were quite a number of camels, mules, and donkeys +within its precincts. The opposite side to that on which the stoves were +was taken up by a staircase leading to a long gallery. Here the better +class of people, such as merchants and native sheikhs, congregated. The +buttresses supporting the roof divided the gallery into compartments, +and it seemed to be the custom for a party to engage one for themselves, +where they would spread their carpets and smoke their hubble-bubbles, +calling to the khan servants below for their coffee and food, and +charcoal for their pipes. One end of this gallery, on the left of the +staircase, formed a little room, which I was able to procure for my use. +The fact that it was built immediately above the kitchen, and that the +thickest of wood fumes crept up between the ill-laid boards, did not add +to my comfort. The ceiling and walls of the whole building were black +with the smoke of ages, but the scene was a most picturesque one, and I +sat at the doorway of my little chamber and sketched the place. + +However, I was not to be left very long in peace, for an impudent young +Turk came and began to search my luggage, and to speak in such an +impertinent manner that he had to be ejected. I knew that, whatever +orders he might have had, he would have received none that would allow +of his conducting himself in this way—for the Turk, be he what he may, +seldom if ever fails to be polite. There is an innate manner in him that +is always charming, in spite of the many other drawbacks to his character. + +I called on the Kaimakam a little later and told him what had happened, +saying that I was quite prepared to have my luggage searched, but asking +that I might be treated with a certain amount of decent respect. The Turk +of whom I complained was sent for, and such wrath did the Kaimakam show +with him that the young man, a junior clerk in one of the Government +offices, had to ask me to beg the Governor to forgive him, which I +readily did. I found my host as pleasant and gentlemanly as any Turk I +met in the country, and he insisted on my spending an hour with him and +his brother officers. I showed him my passport, for here there was no +longer any need to pretend that I was a Greek trader, and he seemed much +impressed with the number of seals and stamps with which it was covered. +Of what value the wording and decoration of this British passport was at +Sanaa will be told anon. But more astonished still was his Excellency +at the fact that I had pushed through the Owd tribe and arrived from +Kátaba—for, as he said, the road had been impassable for many months, +and he laughed heartily at an Englishman having been the first to open it +again. Yerim, he said, was the dullest of dull places, and he longed for +the society and gaieties of his native town—some out-of-the-way spot in +Asia Minor, the name of which I had never even heard. + +Returning from his residence to the khan, he followed me half an hour +later and returned my call, accompanied by a couple of his officers. +However, the fact that one could scarcely see across the room for smoke +did not tend to detain him long, and I was soon left to my own devices. + +As soon as it was cool enough, under the guidance of Saïd, who knew +the place well, I sauntered out and strolled through the bazaars; but +although I wore on my head a Turkish fez, all sorts of rumours had been +spread about concerning me, and I was the whole time the centre of a +large crowd, who, though they pressed me rather hard, were polite but +dirty, so that I found it advisable after a short time to beat a retreat. + +Yerim apparently has no great pretensions to antiquity, although +there formerly stood on the same spot, or somewhere in the immediate +neighbourhood, a city of the name of Dhu-Ruayn. The ancient capital of +this district is Zafar, the ruins of which, lying some miles to the +south-east, are still visible on the summit of a circular hill. + +There is but little to see in Yerim. The town is essentially a poor +one, and although built partly on the slope of a mountain where stone is +procurable, the houses are almost entirely composed of sun-dried bricks. +Dirt and squalor abound on every side, and the streets of narrow bazaars +show no signs of any great commerce or trade. What little importance the +place can lay claim to is owing to the fact that it lies on the main +road from Sanaa to Aden, and is a garrisoned city. Like Dhamar, it fell +into the hands of the Arabs during the rebellion at the end of 1891, but +was retaken by Ismail Pasha, whom we had seen a month or two after its +recapture, encamped at Kátaba. The Arabs, however, seem to have gone to +no excesses; and beyond taking prisoner the Kaimakam, who was still at +this time in the hands of the Imam at Sadah, and his officers, behaved +with great leniency toward the Turks, many of whom threw in their lot +with the Arab cause. + +During the evening I received many callers, who came probably from +curiosity rather than from any other reason. Amongst them were several of +the “Ashraf,” of the family of Ahmed ed-Din, the leader of the rebellion, +who had seen all through that their cousins’ cause was a hopeless one, +and had remained neutral during the war. I found them exceedingly +pleasant, and they conversed for a long time about their country. One was +especially a fine man, young and exceedingly handsome. As is the custom +amongst the nobility, these guests all had closely-shaven heads. One +or two of them were richly dressed in silk robes, and wore daggers of +exquisite silver and gold work. It was late before I got rid of the last +of them, and was able to seek a few hours’ rest before starting again. + +At dawn we were off, our caravan augmented by a couple of Arab soldiers +in the service of the Turks, who, by the by, would have proved of little +advantage in an attack, as they were armed solely with spears; but in all +probability they were sent to watch my movements. The Turks employ a very +considerable number of these soldiers in their service, many being of the +class of “Akhdam,” probably descendants of the Abyssinians who invaded +the Yemen in A.D. 525; while others come from Yaffa and Hadramaut, and +are ready to fight against any one so long as pay and booty are to be +obtained. + +We left Yerim by a gate to the north of the city, near which is a +picturesque stone mosque, with a white dome, which I had failed to notice +the previous day. + +Emerging through the gateway, the track proceeds for a time along a +straight level road, lying below the slopes of Jibel Samára, on which a +few Arabs, mounted on ponies, were galloping to and fro, with the evident +purpose of thrilling me with their equestrian powers. They were good +riders certainly, and very picturesque they looked with their long black +hair waving behind them, and the rising sun sparkling on their polished +spear-heads. + +The level surface of the plateau over which we were passing made one +forget the great altitude we had reached; and such is the appearance of +the surrounding country, that one could scarcely realise that one was not +on some low level plain, but at an elevation of over eight thousand feet +above the sea-level. + +At one spot, however, this is forcibly brought to one’s mind, for the +road passes close to the edge of a deep narrow gorge through which flows +the river Kha. This valley presents a most extraordinary appearance +as seen from above, for it is nothing more or less than a huge slice +cut out of the plateau. We passed it at its apex, and could see down +nearly its whole course. The distance from side to side at the upper +part is extraordinarily small, the sides of the valley being formed of +perpendicular precipices. Far, far down below us, some thousands of feet +at the nearest part, were the coffee-groves and villages, dotted here and +there along the broken rocks that fringed the edge of the river, which +we could follow with our eyes, a thread of silver, till it was lost in +the hazy mists that lay across the valley many miles away. Beyond this +again rose the torn fantastic peaks to which we were now becoming so +accustomed. It was a wonderful sight, and we reined in our mules and +stood, Arabs and European alike, gazing at it with wondering eyes. The +Wadi Kha, unlike so many of these Yemen rivers, eventually reaches the +sea. It flows into the Wadi Zebeed, and continuing its course through +the city of that name, and across the Teháma, reaches the Red Sea at Ras +Zebeed, opposite the island of Jibel Zukur. Just as suddenly as we had +come in sight of this strange gorge, just so suddenly did we lose it +again, and only a few minutes after having left its brink the surrounding +scenery assumed its former appearance, that of a dusty rocky plain. + +Close to this spot is a mark in a rock which is supposed to be the +footprint of Ali, the son-in-law and one of the successors in the +Caliphate of the Prophet Mahammed, or of his horse, there seems to be no +certainty which. The imprint itself is vague enough to be anything, but +too large to be either of those mentioned. + +Below the village of Digishúb we stopped to refresh ourselves and take +breakfast. A few rough stone huts have been erected by the roadside, +near which some kind philanthropist has built a series of small tanks, +supplied with delicious cold water by a spring. In one of these tanks +live an enormous quantity of fish. The water is very shallow, and the +pond small, and were it not that the passers-by feed them on crumbs, +there would be but little chance of their being able to exist in such a +small space. Unlike fish in the springs of Morocco, they are not held in +any way sacred, and the Jews often catch and cook them, though the Arabs +say that they themselves never touch them. + +The funniest old specimen of age, rags, and dirt made our coffee for +us—as dishevelled an old witch as ever man set eyes upon. She is +reported, in spite of her filthy condition, to be of great wealth—for +the country, of course—and is apparently a well-known character upon the +road. Quite a number of caravan-men, who happened to be resting there, +kept up a continual volley of chaff, which reached its climax when, on +hearing of her reported riches, I offered to become a Moslem, and lead +her a blushing bride to the altar. She took it all in very good part, and +laughed as much as her begrimed parchment-like skin would allow, but I +feared now and again it would crack. + +On the road between Digishúb and the city of Dhamar are three sets of old +Himyaric tanks, cut in the solid rock, as are, with the exception of a +few where the nature of the country allows of some small gully being made +use of, all the tanks of this period. Although resembling somewhat the +tanks of Aden, there are here none of the natural advantages to be found +at that place; for there the crater pours its water by aqueducts and +natural channels into the tanks, which are built tier above tier in the +wall of rock and between precipices. These between Digishúb and Dhamar, +however, lie in the level plain, and are excavated. They are dependent +entirely upon the rainfall for supply, and, as far as has been found +possible, the water has been drained toward them; but this, owing to the +dead level of the country, is to a very slight extent practicable. These +tanks are circular in form, and of considerable size and depth. At one +spot a flight of steps descends to the water’s edge, while a smaller +tank above the steps can be filled from buckets, &c., for the animals to +drink from. The entire tanks are lined with intensely hard cement, which +takes a peculiar polish, and on one were visible rough designs of men on +horseback, and gazelle, scratched into the plaster evidently at the time +it was originally applied. The extraordinarily perfect condition in which +these tanks are to-day, steps and all, speaks to the excellence of the +workmanship of those who excavated and built them; and the caravans are +still mainly dependent upon these extremely antique reservoirs for water +for the men and their beasts of burden. + +Again, the plateau is broken by valleys to the west, but in no way to +compare with that through which the Wadi Kha flows. There a slight +descent takes one from the boulder-strewn undulating hills to the flat +ground again, broken here and there by rocky barren crags which stand out +against the dull yellow earth. On one of these is situated Dhamar el-Gar, +a village of some size; and on approaching this spot we caught sight +of, far ahead of us, all shimmering in the fierce sunlight, the city of +Dhamar itself. For the last hour and a half of the road we proceeded +over perfectly level ground, strewn with sandy dust, and, though showing +signs of cultivation, boasting scarcely a blade of anything green. As we +neared the city we obtained a better view of the place, so twisted and +turned had it at first been by the steaming vapour rising from the heated +ground. + +Dhamar lies in the flat plain, the nearest hill of any size being Hait +Hirran, a mountain rising some hundreds of feet above the surrounding +country a couple of miles or so to the north of the city. Many high +mountains, however, are visible, especially the range of Jibel Issi to +the east, though it is a long way distant. This and its neighbouring +mountains must be of great height, for Dhamar itself is situated almost +exactly eight thousand feet above the sea-level. It is not a walled city, +but is more or less defended by a series of small, and, for the most +part, mud-built forts. Three minarets dominate the town, one of them +sadly out of the perpendicular, as it was struck by a cannon-shot during +one of the many wars it has been its lot to witness. + +A narrow street, twisting and turning amongst open drains, ruined tombs, +and apparently objectless walls, leads one into the city. Here there are +signs of more wealth, many of the houses being well built of stone, while +a wide open square gives quite a handsome appearance to the place. + +It is on to this square that the Government offices look, and before +we had half crossed it our mules were stopped by a number of Turkish +soldiers, under whose guidance we proceeded to visit the Kaimakam of the +town. + +[Illustration: _Mosque and minaret at Dhamar._] + +Alighting at a large gate leading into a yard and garden, we entered a +house, built in European style and with glass windows, and, ascending +a staircase, found ourselves in a large room. Divans surrounded the +walls, and a few shabby chairs and a table or two stood about the place. +Seated at one end of the room, drinking coffee and smoking, were four +or five Turkish officers in clean bright uniforms. As I entered one of +these rose, and, walking to meet me, shook hands with me, and led me +to the divan, at the same time calling to a servant for cigarettes and +coffee. My guard, who had come with me from Yerim, presented a letter +that had been intrusted to him by the Kaimakam of that place, which was +immediately opened and read. The officer then told me I was welcome, +and we conversed for about half an hour on general subjects. He could +not understand how I had ever attempted or succeeded in getting through +the country between Kátaba and Yerim, and laughed considerably when I +told him of my adventures. He was, in fact, as were those with him, most +polite and kind, and the one or two calls I paid to him, and he to me, +during my stay, will always be remembered by myself as most pleasant. + +Before leaving the Kaimakam I obtained his permission to take up my +residence in the house of Saïd during my stay in that town; for the +latter had insisted on my not going to a khan, but spending the few +days we had determined to stay here in his father’s house. This favour +was readily granted me, and mounting my mules once more, Saïd, full of +impatience, leading the way, we crossed the big square, and winding +in and out amongst the narrow streets, finally drew up at a large +three-storeyed detached mud-brick house, which Saïd, almost dancing with +delight, pointed out to me as “_el-beit betaana_”—“our house.” + +[Illustration: MY QUARTERS AT DHAMAR.] + +Saïd received quite an ovation on his arrival, being kissed and hugged +in turns by all manner of strange people: an old grey-bearded father +followed his grey-haired mother; brothers, sisters, cousins, children, +aunts, swarmed out of that house like ants, until one believed that +every available inch of the place must be taken up by living people, +and I began to feel quite nervous as to where room would be found to +put myself away. At length the greetings were got through, and the male +portion of the relations turned their attention to my mules, which were +quickly unpacked and the baggage carried indoors. Then Saïd approached +me, and having run his hand through his wavy black curls, as was a habit +of his, bade me enter. As I stepped into the doorway with him he greeted +me in true Yemen fashion, and with all the demonstration an Arab loves so +much—and I believe in his case it was genuine. + +Climbing to the top storey of the house, we entered a large airy room, +the proportions and decoration of which fairly astonished me, for +from the outside, although the house was large, it had a poor enough +appearance, being built entirely of sun-dried mud-bricks. + +The guest-room, for such the chamber evidently was, measured some +thirty-five feet in length by fifteen wide. One end showed a bare floor +of cement, but the other was richly carpeted with rugs and striped +cloths, while divans, thick woollen mattresses, ran round the walls. The +room was evidently not in use, which was reassuring, as I feared vermin. +A number of handsome bronze brasiers, and strange bowls and coffee-pots, +were piled up in one corner, while another was occupied by a pile of +cushions, principally covered in European cottons, and happily tolerably +clean. Sunk into the walls were alcoves, in which scent-bottles and +sprinklers, cups and saucers, and many other things in which the heart +of the Oriental delights, were standing. But of all the pretty things +with which the room was filled, the windows were certainly the most +lovely. Except for two or three that closed with wooden shutters from the +inside, they did not open, the place of glass being taken by alabaster. +The effect of the light falling through the semi-opaque stone was soft +and luxurious, a rosy yellow in colour. The slabs used for these windows +vary in thickness, so that the light is regulated, and though in this +particular instance they were of uniform depth, in other places I saw +them richly carved in relief, so that the background was a monotone of +yellow; but where the carving, principally geometric designs, was, a +much deeper tone of colour was reflected, owing to the thickness of the +material being greater. Such, then, were the quarters we took up in the +house of Saïd el-Dhamari. + +[Illustration: KARIAT EN-NEGIL.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DHAMAR TO SANAA. + + +Although the city of Dhamar boasts of a considerable antiquity, it +displays none of the more remarkable points of the interest of age, and +except that a large portion of the place is in bad repair, it might have +been built but a few years ago. There are no walls to the city, and +necessarily no gates. The absence of this has led the inhabitants to +extend the town in many directions, with the result that it occupies a +much larger space than would be necessary for the population it contains. +This, however, has not prevented the streets from occupying the narrow +limits the Oriental loves to give to the passer-by, and in the bazaars +especially only two or three people could possibly walk abreast. + +Ibn Khaldun, in his geography of the Yemen, makes no mention of Dhamar, +but this can scarcely be looked upon as meaning that the town did not +exist in his day—in fact, it is more probable that his failing to notice +the place was due to an omission, as the neighbouring fortress of Hirran +is also left without mention, though from the remains existing there it +is very probable that it was a site and fortress of no little importance +in far earlier times than that of the native geographer; and El-Janadi, +in his account of “The Karmathians,” speaks of the capture of Hirran +by Ibn Fadl about the year 293 A.H., and as the fall of the fortress +was only one item of the leaders successful march to Sanaa, it is very +probable that the event was considered one of no little importance. +Several of the other early Arab historians make direct mention of Dhamar +itself. + +[Illustration: ROUTE MAP—DHAMAR TO SANAA + +BY W. B. HARRIS + +W. & A. K. Johnston. Edinburgh & London.] + +A few hours after my arrival in the city I sauntered out with Saïd to the +bazaars, to purchase a few little luxuries in the way of food and fruit, +for so far we had lived during our journey upon the bare necessities of +life. Although at times a considerable crowd thronged us, we found the +people extremely polite, and what little inconvenience we were put to was +owing entirely to the curiosity of the inhabitants. The bazaars boast +but little beyond their natural picturesqueness, which in many places is +most noticeable. The shops are the usual little one-storeyed box-like +dens of the Eastern world, and the trades are divided up into separate +streets and quarters. Here, as elsewhere, the Jews have an entirely +separate town, situated to the east of the city, from which it is divided +by a large open space. Near this great square is the principal mosque +of the town, a walled enclosure, with three large gates facing the city, +and a handsome, though damaged, minaret. In one respect, however, it +is in better order than that of another of the mosques, for it still +maintains its upright position, whereas the other is sadly out of the +perpendicular, owing to its having been struck by a cannon-ball. A third +mosque of considerable size is within the bazaars, but none of them +possess much claim to architectural beauty, being built in the simple and +undecorative Arab style, native cement and mud-bricks being the principal +materials used in their construction. Prettier, certainly, are one or two +of the Shereefian tombs, with their white domes and arcades of arches. +One of these, lying on the extreme south of the city, near where we had +entered the town, is realty charming, with a small garden in front of it +and a huge shady tree for the pilgrims to the sanctuary to rest under. +Near here, but standing separate from the town, we saw the ruins of the +Turkish barracks, which had been destroyed by the Arabs on their capture +of Dhamar from the Turks a few months before. + +At sunset we returned to Saïd’s house to spend the evening in a family +party, the members of which varied between the ages of seventy or eighty +and grimy babies of a few months old. However, it was an insight into +Arab life, and was rendered by no means unamusing by Saïd’s wonderful +lies about Aden, his earthly paradise. He fairly took the breath away +from his relations with the startling untruths he told, but I scarcely +believe that they gave him credence; and probably had he kept to +the strict truth, and only told about the forts and troops and good +government there, they would equally have taken it for exaggeration. +Perhaps after all he pursued the best course, and possibly by knocking +off some ninety-nine per cent for the native love of story-telling, they +arrived at about the right result. + +We were up with the sunrise, and enjoyed the luxuries of a Turkish bath. +Fortunately the windows to admit the light were very small, otherwise +we should, I think, have seen much that was not tempting; but one +forgot any possible disadvantages in the luxury of soap and hot water. +From the “hummum” we proceeded to a _café_ in the principal square, +and perching ourselves cross-legged under an awning in front of the +coffee-shop, joined in the swim of conversation over “hubble-bubble” +pipes. A handful of troops were drilling before us in the square, poor +dishevelled creatures, many without even a boot on their feet. There +were perhaps a hundred and fifty in all, and I was told that of the four +hundred who had been sent to garrison the place after Ahmed Feizi Pasha’s +successful relief of Sanaa two or three months before, these were all +that remained, sickness having carried off the rest—starvation probably. +The officers seemed as disheartened as the men, and appeared to lack all +interest in the drill. Many of the soldiers were smoking cigarettes, +but no one seemed to take any notice of it; and after an hour or so the +soldiers wandered off in different directions, without apparently being +dismissed. It was sad to see their poor wan faces, thinned and paled with +sickness and hunger. + +Although crowds now and again collected round me, it was surprising how +polite every class of native was to me, and I do not once remember, +during all the time I was in the Yemen, except on one or two occasions +from the guards of my prison at Sanaa, a word of abuse. The Yemenis are +the aristocracy of Islam. Wild in appearance, their manners are perfect, +and though their nature now and again leads them to violence, they are as +a rule gentle and hospitable, and as my travels proceeded, the more I saw +of them, especially the inhabitants of the mountains and the plateau, the +more I liked them. Nor did I find any difference with the townspeople, +and many a kind word of welcome was said to me now and again. + +Much as I wanted to push on to Sanaa, I had promised Saïd to stay three +days at his house at Dhamar, and to tell the truth, I was by no means +sorry of a pretext to rest in such comfortable quarters. Many a visit I +received there. I think that there could not have been a single Turkish +official in the town who did not at some time or another come and see +me, and although they seemed always to be suspicious as to the objects +of my travels, they were charmingly polite. Nor were the Turks my only +visitors, for many an Arab merchant in long robes of silk came and spent +an hour or so over coffee and tobacco, and on one occasion I was honoured +by the visit of a local Shereef, first cousin to Ahmed ed-Din, leader of +the late rebellion, but who, wisely, had not taken part on either side, +preferring before entering into the affair to see who was going to win. +Saïd’s people thought a great deal of the visit of this Shereef, and +personally I found him charming. He was a man of perhaps some thirty +years of age, extremely handsome and beautifully dressed. He seemed well +educated, and had travelled a little, and the hour he spent with me I +shall always remember with pleasure. + +But of all the insights that I obtained into Arab life during my time +in the Yemen, the most interesting was the dinner-party given by Saïd +in my honour. About seven o’clock our guests commenced to arrive—and +what guests! The first to come were half-a-dozen Arab tribesmen, with +long wavy black hair and a scarcity of clothing—in fact, their entire +costume consisted of a turban and a dark loin-cloth, from the latter +of which appeared the handles of their silver daggers. Strange lithe +beautiful creatures they were, with limbs that would have been worth a +mint of money to an artist to paint from. A couple of merchants followed +a few minutes later, their servants carrying their silver hookahs. +Natives of the same country, it is extraordinary what a difference is +apparent between the townspeople and the tribesmen; and our merchant +friends were fat and heavy, boasting little of the grace of their wilder +countrymen, and in place of the scanty clothing, wrapped in long silk +garments of gaudy hues, and wearing white turbans on their heads. More +of the tribesmen followed, each as he entered placing his long spear +against the walls in the corners of the room, till the place wore quite +the appearance of an armoury. Then came the musicians, natives of the +Hadramaut, wilder and longer-haired than the Yemenis present, and +bearing, in place of spears, strange richly painted instruments. More and +more guests, until our room, big as it was, was filled. + +What a night it was! One of those nights in a lifetime which can never +be forgotten. The cool dim light of the swinging alabaster lamps, the +flashing spears heaped together in the corners, the wonderful dark crowd +of swarthy men, the steam of the brewing coffee issuing from strange +jars, the rich dark carpets and gaudy cushions, the murmur and the +blue curling smoke of the pipes—ay, a dinner-party in Dhamar is worth +seeing! And then the soft music and singing of the musicians, whose tall +beautiful figures moved slowly here and there as they played strange +melodies! It seemed like some dream:—no wild African feast, merely the +echo of the long-past glories of Arabia! + +Then they brought us great dishes heaped with food, for the most part our +old friend the antiquated goat, and we dipped our fingers into copper +bowls of rose-water and ate together. Then coffee and pipes, and the +bitter herb _kat_, and music and dancing. And the cool night air blew in +through the windows and sent the filmy smoke circling here and there, and +now and again ruffled the raven locks of one or other of our guests, who +lay recumbent and silent, expressionless and beautiful, listening to the +tales of love that our musicians, with strange monotonous dancing, sang +to the strains of their painted guitars. We were back again in the days +of Haroun el-Rashid, and all the hurry and scurry of modern life seemed +lost and gone. + +At length I brought out my electric machine, and, the guests joining +hands, felt, for the first time in their lives, a shock. They smiled, +and asked for more. Then one was brave enough to hold the handles by +himself. I turned it on full, and fairly whizzed the wheels round. With +a scream the man jumped into the air, and then apologised. Silently, one +by one, our guests arose, and shaking me by the hand with the compliments +the Arab knows so well how to bestow, bade me good-night. Then, taking +their spears in their hands, they walked slowly to the door, until +fairly outside, when they flew down the stairs at a pace that was +positively dangerous, and from the window I could see them tearing down +the street at a break-neck run. Such was the effect of a small electric +machine at a Dhamar dinner-party. The following morning we paid a visit +to the tombs of the family of a Turkish general, Ahmed Rushti Pasha, who +had himself fallen near Lohaya in the beginning of the rebellion. The +enclosed garden, with its mosque and tombs, tells of a sad story, for +the family of Ahmed Rushti were assassinated by their house being blown +up with gunpowder some few years since. However, as the story is to be +found in the chapter on the Yemen rebellion, I shall not refer to it +more particularly here. The tombs are situated without the city, on the +west side. An acre or two of land are enclosed with high walls, in which +stands a summer-house, where the bereaved Pasha was wont to come and sit; +but this, like the tombs themselves, was sacked by the Arabs during the +rebellion, and little but the outside walls and the graves remain to-day. +Passing back through the town we visited the Jews’ quarter, which, unlike +the Moslem city, is walled, the gates being locked every night from the +outside. Miserable squalor and dirt existed on all sides, although the +Jews themselves seemed well to do, and their houses airy and large. They +are built almost entirely of mud-bricks, plastered inside and out. This +material forms a hard surface, and seems to be very durable. + +[Illustration: _Hirran._] + +Our last day was spent in visiting the old fortress of Hirran, lying a +mile or two to the north of Dhamar; and well worth the trouble and heat I +found the expedition, for Hirran boasts many antiquities. Passing through +the north quarter of Dhamar, one emerges into the dusty plateau, across +which the road continues for a couple of miles or so. Hirran is clearly +visible from Dhamar itself, the dark rocky hill standing out black +against the light soil. One reaches the place near the south-west point +of the jagged rock, where are some old tanks sunk in the solid stone, and +of very considerable size. Keeping still to the west side of the hill, +we shortly reached the scene of an old cemetery, the flat rock being +honeycombed with graves. These were often sunk to the depth of twenty +feet and more, and generally measured some seven feet in length, and two +to three in breadth, but one or two were circular. They did not point in +any direction, but lay scattered about the little elevated rocky flat in +which they were sunk, some east and west, some north and south. Besides +the empty ones, there were a great many visible which had apparently +escaped the hands of man, nor could I find out why or when those that had +been dug out had been spoiled. An old goatherd, the sole inhabitant of +Hirran, told me that he had always remembered them thus, and during his +lifetime had never seen any one digging in the graves, though lately +some of the larger cave-tombs further up the rock had been searched for +treasure, but only a few coins and beads, he said, had been found with +the bones. + +[Illustration: _Cave-Tombs, Hirran._] + +The hill of Hirran is double-peaked, each point rising to some hundreds +of feet above the level of the surrounding plain. These peaks lie almost +due north and south, the rock taking a curving form between them, so that +the whole forms a sort of crescent, which was formerly defended by a huge +wall, still remaining, joining the lower slopes of the two extremities on +the eastern side. + +Like the graveyard, the cave-tombs are situated on the west side of the +hill, at a spot where the steep precipice, which rises to the summit, is +joined by the lower boulder-strewn slopes. Although we entered all of the +caves that are to-day open, there were signs of numerous others which the +collection of falling material from the precipice had so blocked that +considerable digging would be necessary to procure an entrance. + +The first cave-tomb which I visited consisted of a circular chamber with +a domed roof; the room measured some twelve feet in diameter, and the +highest point of the roof was five feet eight inches from the floor. +To the left of the entrance was an alcove three feet deep, three high, +and four in length. The door was three feet wide and over five feet in +height, but the walls were lower in the chamber. + +[Illustration: _Ground plan of Tomb III._] + +A little higher up the side of the precipice we were able to gain +entrance to a second cave, which I call Cave II. This excavation formed +two oval chambers, partly divided from one another by a buttress running +out from the solid rock. On both sides of this partition, and on the main +walls facing it, were ledges cut in the rock three feet above the ground; +in the dust of one of which I found a few bones and an engraved bead. + +[Illustration: _Interior of Tomb III., Hait Hirran._] + +Cave No. III. was perhaps the most important I visited, and showed signs +of more careful excavation than any of the others. A doorway led one +into a circular chamber, off which to right and left two small rooms +opened out. This circular entrance-hall led, opposite the door, into a +still larger chamber, into which in turn opened two alcoves and a room, +all of them four-sided. On the left and immediately in front the doors +were raised above the ground and nearly square, the floor of the alcoves +being level with the lower part of the openings. On the right, however, +was a chamber level with the floor, entered through an archway. The two +alcoves showed evident signs of having at one time been closed up, for in +the lintels of rock were visible holes which may either have held a door +or been used for joists to strengthen any masonry which may have been +arranged to fill up the opening. + +[Illustration: _Entrance to Tomb IV., Hait Hirran._] + +Cave IV., again, to the south of the others, presented quite a new +feature, the face of the precipice being cut to form a large square +chamber, in the back wall of which a doorway opened into the tomb. Below +this window, a foot or two above the ground, ran a series of five holes +drilled a short way into the rock, and which seems at some time to have +held the supports of a platform or seat. Apparently the whole outer +chamber was lined with plaster, and may have been once separated from the +face of the precipice by masonry. The window or aperture opening into the +tomb was situated three feet from the ground, and was two and a half feet +in height and two feet three inches in breadth. The interior consisted of +an alcove six feet in length, two feet wide, and three in height. Here, +as in Cave No. III., I found bones amongst the accumulation of dust, but +nothing else. + +The fifth cave consisted of one large room, some sixteen feet by eight, +at each end of which were ledges in the rock eight feet long by eighteen +inches wide. The door leading into this cave-tomb was three feet six +inches wide, and the roof inside five feet in height. The rock here was +strewn with small chips of rock, and I found no signs of bones. + +All these caves showed signs of having been opened, and my old guide the +goatherd said that such was the case. Asking him how Moslems reconciled +themselves to breaking open tombs, he replied that they were the tombs of +“unbelievers,” and that had they been Mahammedan graves no one would have +dared to have touched them. This he exemplified to me by pointing out +some tombs on the summit of the rock, in which Moslems are supposed to be +buried, and it was quite apparent they had been left untouched. + +Following the hill to its southernmost extremity, I climbed by a +difficult ascent to a tank cut in the rock where water was formerly +collected. To reach this spot, so difficult and slippery was the path, I +had to go barefooted, a by no means pleasant task, as the stones were so +hot as to blister my feet. Descending again, we proceeded to the site of +the former “fortress,” formed by the two eastern points of the hill being +joined by a great wall. This, however, showed signs of early Arab work, +being built of the peculiar cement which is typical of Arab construction. +This wall is of enormous height and width, being some hundred and fifty +yards long and twenty feet high, and one could drive a carriage and pair +anywhere on its summit. The only one dating from Arab times that I have +seen to equal it in size is the great wall attributed to Mulai Ismail at +Mequinez in Morocco. Within the wall is a deep well, the upper portion +of which is built, the lower part sunk into the solid rock. Above the +northern end of the great wall are a series of three tanks, reached by a +roughly cut stairway. Still ascending, one arrives at the summit, where +are the five Moslem tombs I alluded to, enclosed in low stone walls, and +the remains of much old building, of which it is difficult to gather any +distinct idea, to such a state of ruin has it fallen. At all events, +the enormous amount of broken pottery, some of gorgeous colour and fine +design, speaks to the size of the place. + +From the summit one gains a fine view of the surrounding country,—a great +flat plain broken by ridges of dark volcanic rock, like that on which we +were standing, until in the far east a tall range of mountains appeared +on the horizon. Below us to the south lay Dhamar, almost as yellow as +the plain itself, for there is but little green in its neighbourhood, +although it is said that in the rainy season the whole country entirely +changes its aspect. To the east of Hirran, and immediately below it, +lie the remains of an old city, the loose stone walls of the houses +still standing to the height of a few feet above the ground. Altogether +the place must have been one of great importance in early times, and +I regretted much that I was unable in my hasty visit to find any +inscriptions. However, I was able to take the notes given above before a +mounted Turkish soldier appeared on the scene, sent by the Kaimakam to +watch my movements, and who begged me politely to return. Fearing that +any suspicion on the part of the Governor toward myself might prevent my +continuing my journey to Sanaa, I stated my readiness to comply with his +request, and bidding adieu to the old goatherd, once more mounted my mule +and returned to the town. + +I was able to learn but little about Hirran in Dhamar, or in fact +anywhere, except that it was once the centre of a great trade, a sort of +caravanserai for the goods of Sanaa and the north, the kingdom of Saba +or Sheba, and Aden. This is the only early tradition the natives seem to +have concerning its former wealth and its being a centre of trade in very +early times, and this tradition has led me to a conjecture—it is nothing +more—that Hirran may be the site of the Haran of the Old Testament. +The places mentioned in the same verse are, I believe, all in Southern +Arabia, and have all been recognised, Haran alone remaining undiscovered. +It is more than possible, judging from the similarity of names and the +report of its former importance in trade, that they may be one and the +same place.[40] + +During the afternoon I paid a farewell visit to the Kaimakam, which was +returned an hour later, when he promised me a couple of soldiers to see +me safely to Sanaa. + +The following morning we left Dhamar. There was, of course, a great +leave-taking of Saïd, and just as they had done on our arrival, a long +string of relations, illustrating all the seven ages of man, with many +of the intermediary gaps filled in, streamed out of the house to bid him +farewell. Good simple people they were, though the younger members of the +family, when away from their parents’ eyes, were importunate in their +demands for _bakshish_. The road led us to the west of Hirran, close to +the large tanks I mentioned as having seen on my ride to that place, and +then on over the dreary plain. Leaving the large-walled village of Jaffa +to our left for a time, we saw but little signs of life. + +The early morning effect upon the flat plateau was one of great beauty, +in spite of its dry arid appearance. A dull warm haze hung over the +more distant desert, for such it really was at this period of the +year, through which the far-away mountains shimmered in the heat, +turquoise-blue in colour. As we proceeded the cultivated land became very +sparse, the soil for the most part consisting of sand and stones, until, +passing through a narrow gorge of rock, we entered a great circular plain +enclosed by low rocky hills on all sides, no doubt the crater of some +long-extinct volcano. From this point one catches a glimpse of Jibel +Doran, a range of mountains of great elevation, which terminate in a +strange sugar-loaf peak, unequalled in curious form by any I have seen +elsewhere in the world, with the exception perhaps of “The Needle of +Heaven” in the I-chang gorge of the Yangtze-Kiang, some eleven hundred +miles up that river. + +[Illustration: JIBEL DORAN—EARLY MORNING.] + +At a small _café_—half a cave, and half built of rough stones—we spent an +hour or two during the hottest part of the day. Quite a number of men and +camels had arrived before us, and in spite of the fact that scarcely a +blade of anything green was to be seen, the surroundings were by no means +unpicturesque. Joining in with the caravan-men, a cool corner was found +for me in the cave, and our mid-day rest passed quickly and pleasantly +enough. Far above us, perched on the summit of a hill, was the large +village of Athaik, its tall towers dominating the surrounding plain and +giving the place the appearance of some old feudal castle. A descent led +us to a slightly lower portion of the plain. The soil here was richer, +but I noticed that there was no cultivation, a fact that was explained +to me to be owing to the rebellion, which had deterred any investment in +crops that were bound to fall a prey either to the Turks or independent +robbers. To our left we could see the walled town of Resaaba, but wishing +to push on to Sanaa, and as it did not lie in our road, I did not visit +it. There is but little of interest, I was told, to be seen within its +walls. It is, in fact, rather a very large village than a town, and +bears all the characteristics of the villages of the Yemen plateau. +Again, another reason deterred me from penetrating there; that I felt it +advisable to give as wide a berth as possible to any places where I might +be likely to run up against Turks and Turkish authorities. To have so +nearly reached Sanaa, and then be turned back, would indeed have been a +disappointment. + +Several times along the road we passed the deep rock-cut tanks that even +to-day form the water-supply of the passing caravans. One that we stopped +to drink at as evening was approaching bore rough designs of men on +horseback, and inscriptions in the Himyaric language cut in the plaster +that lined the rock walls. Like so many of these tanks, a flight of steps +led to the water’s edge, at the summit of which was a smaller pool, to be +filled by hand for the beasts of burden to drink from, and, like the main +reservoir, circular in form. The mountains we had seen all the afternoon +far ahead of us were now growing nearer, and as evening drew on we found +ourselves in a large open valley, semicircular in form, and closed at the +far end by steep broken crags. The soil here was well cultivated, though, +as we were still nearly nine thousand feet above the sea-level, the +young crops had not yet begun to show, and the place looked dreary and +burnt up. That the soil must repay cultivation is evident from the great +number of wells distributed over the country. At many of these, men, +women, and camels were engaged in drawing water. A couple of tree-trunks +form uprights to a beam laid across their tops, over which the rope +that supports the skins in which the water is raised passes. At the +other end of the rope, men, women, or some beast of burden is harnessed. +Owing to the great depth of these wells, and the size of the skins used +as buckets, the weight to be raised is very great, and the labour of +raising it proportionately so. But the natives have discovered a means by +which the work is lessened, while at the same time their irrigation is +rendered more practicable—namely, by building the wells upon the summits +of mounds. A long sloping path leads from the high mouth of the well to +the level of the surrounding fields, so that the drawer, harnessed to +the end of the rope, is assisted by the centre of gravity, instead of +being dependent upon his, her, or its personal strength. This raising of +the wells above the fields also renders easy the carrying of the water +in little dikes to whatever spot it is needed. The skin, on reaching the +well’s mouth, empties itself into a trough from which the water pours +into the irrigating channels. The fact that these channels consist of +only small ditches adds much to the toil and labour, as the thirsty soil +sucks up a large quantity of the fluid before it reaches its destination. +However, labour is cheap, and a man, so long as he possesses a donkey, a +camel, or a wife to work his well, can sit and smoke and look on himself. + +At length we drew up at the village khan of Maaber, our resting-place, +and climbing a rough outside staircase, found ourselves in a clean +whitewashed room, cool and airy, where our carpets were quickly spread +and coffee on the boil. The people were very inquisitive, and at last I +was obliged to give peremptory orders that no one was to be allowed to +enter my room. But this did not seem to be of much avail, and eventually +I posted a guard outside the door, armed with a long stick. The village +is a poor enough place, built of mud-bricks, with a little stone masonry +showing here and there. The people seemed poor and dirty, and there +was little or nothing of interest to be seen. Very different are these +villages of the plateau to the well-built and fortified towers of the +country we had passed through to the south of Yerim, nor were the people +of this part half so clean or genial or handsome as the wild mountaineers. + +Early the next morning we were on our way again, the road continuing over +the dusty plain. A mile or two from Maaber we witnessed some skirmishing +between the Turkish troops and the hillmen of Jibel Anis, one of the +last tribes to hold out, and one that probably will never surrender to +the Turkish Government. The country inhabited by this tribe consists of +wild inaccessible country, into which the Osmanli troops are powerless +to penetrate. The battle we witnessed was not apparently a very bloody +affair, for it consisted principally in a small field-battery of the +Turks firing into a few hill villages, from which a desultory and +ill-aimed fire was kept up by the Arabs. This was the first active sign +we had as yet seen of the rebellion; for although Turkish garrisons were +to be found in Dhamar and Yerim, their reconquest of these cities from +the Arabs had been accomplished almost without bloodshed. For a time we +stayed and watched the little battle, listening to the sharp cracking +of the rifles and the louder tones of the field-guns, until, as it was +apparent that the Turks had no idea of trying to climb to the villages +or the Arabs of descending to the level, we continued our journey. The +plain ends in an abrupt line of high rocky mountains, over which we +could see our path twisting and turning in serpentine coils. Entering +a narrow gorge, we passed close under the grandly situated village of +Kariat en-Negil, its every rock crowned by stone towers—a striking and +wild-looking place. Here it is that the old pilgrim-road from Aden and +the Hadramaut probably joins the track I had travelled on. We had left +the old road at Lahej, whence it continues _viâ_ Ibb, our route lying +more to the east. I have mentioned elsewhere this great pilgrim-track, +founded by Huseyn ibn Salaamah in the fifth century A.H., and there is no +further need of description here. Suffice it to say that at every night’s +_nzala_, or resting-place, was built a mosque, while tanks refreshed the +weary with water by the way. + +[Illustration: KHADAR.] + +A tremendous climb takes one to the summit of the pass, where there is +an old round tower, now used as a watch-house by the Turks. The path is +extremely steep, and, though roughly paved, so slippery that all riding +up was impossible, while the rarefied air made the climb by no means an +easy or a pleasant one. The summit I found by observation to lie nine +thousand one hundred feet above the sea-level, about eleven hundred feet +above the city of Dhamar. + +A steep descent and an hour’s ride along a broken valley brought us to +the large village of Khadar, where we rested for an hour over pipes +and coffee. The place is a picturesque one, though greatly lacking in +vegetation. The upper portion of the village is situated on the summit of +a precipitous hill, and is walled, while every available peak holds the +usual tower-house. The few buildings that stand near the road are for the +most part caravanserais and _cafés_. The inhabitants are almost entirely +Jews, who, like certain tribes of their co-religionists that I have seen +in the Atlas Mountains, are cultivators of the soil and agriculturists. A +small mosque, the only whitewashed building in the place, shows, however, +that there must be some Moslem inhabitants in Khadar. + +A wild group were seated at the door of one of the _cafés_, Arabs and +camels from Mareb, whence they were bringing salt. Our mutual curiosity +in each other led to conversation, and I found them good fellows on the +whole, though rougher in manners than the Yemenis I had as yet come in +contact with. + +Two hours after leaving Khadar we reached our night’s resting-place, +Waalan, the best-built village we had as yet come across. The size and +solidity of the houses was astonishing; and when, on being led up a +staircase and along a wide passage into a beautifully clean room in +a handsome khan, the change from the quarters we had as yet found on +our journey in the other villages, almost took one’s breath away. Our +chamber, which commanded a fine view of several surrounding villages +through large windows opening down to the ground, was well whitewashed, +the doors and window-shutters being handsomely carved of polished dark +wood, and with a ceiling of the same material overhead. The change from +what we had been accustomed to was a most pleasant one, and we soon made +ourselves comfortable. A dear old lady, and a very tolerably clean one, +waited upon us, and insisted on cooking our dinner, a task usually shared +by Abdurrahman and Saïd—and very well she did it too. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM WAALAN.] + +This appearance of cleanliness and civilisation was a sure sign that +we were nearing the capital, and I turned in to rest that night with a +feeling of satisfaction, for only a few hours’ ride lay between us and +Sanaa. + +Four hours of heat along the valley of the Beni Matar, and we reached the +large village of Estaz, where we rested for an hour or two in a large but +dirty _café_. There is certainly but little to see in the place, though +Turkish soldiers were more common here than elsewhere, and the curiosity +of their officers would not allow of my being left undisturbed even for +the brief space of the hour or so we stayed there. They must needs come +and call and ask all sorts of absurd questions. Estaz, however, boasts +one superiority over much of the Yemen plateau, a river of running water +that flows by many channels through gardens, the greenness of which was +most pleasant after days of travelling over yellow plains. + +Before mid-day we were off again, and turning a corner could see far away +across the level ground, shimmering white and yellow in the steaming +heat, the city of Sanaa. + +With a thrill of satisfaction I urged my mule on to its quickest +paces, and a couple of hours later found us entering the city by an +old broken-down gateway, near which a company or two of troops were +drilling. Signs of the fighting were common enough. Some of the little +towers erected as forts by the Turks outside the walls were in ruins, +and half an hour earlier we had passed all that remained of the village +of Dar es-Salaam, the “house of peace”—ill-fitting name!—where the Arabs +had made their last strong stand against their Turkish enemy, and which +they only left when driven forth by the Turkish artillery playing upon +the houses of the village. Little remains to-day but broken walls and +tumble-down towers. In many places one could see exactly where the shot +had hit, and one tower was drilled through, the torn-up flooring and +rafters showing what havoc the ball had accomplished. + +At length we were in Sanaa. The road had been a difficult and a +dangerous one, but this was all forgotten now. In spite of warnings and +repeated efforts to dissuade us from so rash an undertaking, we had been +successful, and it was with the keenest satisfaction, though not without +some doubts as to how I should be received, that I watched my little +caravan enter the city. + +Passing through a narrow street with high houses on either hand, we drew +up at the door of a great caravanserai, a four-storeyed building of which +the rooms all looked out on to balconies overhanging a large _patio_. The +place was in wretched condition, and the ground-floor, which served as a +stable for camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, looked as though it had +never been cleaned out. Here I paid off my men, with the exception, of +course, of Abdurrahman and Saïd. I had made a bargain with a caravan-man +in Aden to send me through to Sanaa, and this bargain he had carried out +in every particular, in spite of all manner of dangers and difficulties; +and it was with much satisfaction that I paid the worthy fellows the +remaining half of the sum agreed upon at Aden, and sent them on their +way with more _bakshish_ than had probably ever been in their possession +before. Our parting was almost a sad one: from the day they had joined me +we had shared the same food and the same room at the khans, and though it +was under three weeks that they had been with me, I felt as though I had +known them ages, and shall always remember with pleasure the trustworthy +way in which they saw me through the country, and how, weary as they must +at times have been with the long marches, they maintained their tempers +throughout, and were always ready to do me some little service, however +far removed it might chance to be from the routine of their work. + +A saunter through the bazaars brought us to the quarter in which +the Government buildings are situated, and in a few minutes more I +found myself in the residence of his Excellency Ahmed Feizi Pasha, +Governor-General of the Yemen and Commander of the Seventh Army Corps. I +was almost immediately ushered into the generals presence. He was seated +on a divan at the end of a handsome room, surrounded by quite a number +of his staff. His Excellency received me pleasantly, and after exchange +of salaams, a chair being fetched for me, he began to ask me what had +brought me there. I thereupon presented him with my passport, vizéd by +the Turkish Consul-General in London, and made out for the “Ottoman +Empire,” which had been issued to me by H.M. Foreign Office the day +before I left London to visit the Yemen. Being unable to read English, +Ahmed Feizi Pasha sent for an Armenian who spoke and read French, and the +wording of my passport was explained to him. Suddenly his Excellency’s +manner quite changed, and he became very red and irascible, asking all +sorts of absurd questions, which he did not give me time to answer. +First, I was not an Englishman at all; then I was an officer sent from +Aden to map out the country, and assist the Arabs in the rebellion; +until at last I almost became bewildered as to what I was, or rather +what the Pasha imagined me to be. Abdurrahman, good Moslem that he is, +was an Englishman in disguise. No Arab, the Pasha said, ever spoke Arabic +with such a foreign accent; and as to Morocco there was no such country, +and no such person as Mulai el-Hassan, its Sultan, for he knew well +enough that all North Africa was under the French. At length he insisted +on his saying the Mahammedan belief, to assure himself that he was in +truth a co-religionist. Abdurrahman’s indignation was intense, especially +as Saïd happened to be present; for with a true oriental love of +exaggeration the Moor had been telling the Yemeni wonderful tales of the +greatness and power of his country and its Sultan, and it pained him to +find that the Turkish Pasha had never heard of either, and Saïd’s smile +and look were anything but reassuring to his pride in his fatherland. + +[Illustration: THE AUTHOR BEING EXAMINED AND HIS PASSPORT READ IN THE +PRESENCE OF AHMED FEIZI PASHA, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE YEMEN.] + +At length, in a burst of anger, Ahmed Feizi called to a couple of +officers, and his remarks being translated to me by the Armenian, I +learned that I was to be kept in security for the present. A hand was +laid on my shoulder, and I was gently led away, leaving the handsome old +Pasha as scarlet as a tomato. In the large anteroom I was handed over +to a guard of four soldiers, who conducted me through the streets to a +guard-room, situated above the prison yard, where I was soon ensconced, +the door banged and locked, and a sentry posted on the outside. My +baggage, which I had left at the khan, was sent to me a little later. +Meanwhile, Abdurrahman and Saïd were strictly cross-examined by the +Governor-General, and as the account the first had to give of himself did +not seem satisfactory, he quickly followed me to jail. That Saïd was a +Yemeni there could be no doubt, but he suffered a like fate—I suppose for +keeping such bad company. + +I spent five days in prison at Sanaa. The room was clean, and I was +decently treated, being only once roughly handled. Wishing to speak to an +officer in the courtyard, I proceeded to leave my room, the door of which +was kept open by day, when I was rudely pushed back by the sentry. + +The first night I was allowed to sleep alone and in peace; but on the +succeeding three, two non-commissioned officers shared the chamber, dirty +things in uniforms, which wore the look of never having been taken off. +However, they were good-hearted fellows, and both spoke Arabic well. + +[Illustration: _The Author in prison at Sanaa._] + +My meals I was sent out to get for the first day; but after that, all +leaving the place was forbidden to me, except to take exercise in charge +of a guard of soldiers. On the whole I had little to complain of, except +that the water and sanitary arrangements were both very bad—so bad, in +fact, that on the last night I was taken with violent fever, as also +were Saïd and Abdurrahman, who by no means shared such good quarters +as I did, being housed in a large dirty room, where chained prisoners +were their companions. This, however, was changed on my representing +that both were suffering from fever to the Governor-General on my second +interview. On this occasion I found his Excellency more reasonable, and +once or twice he even laughed, being apparently much amused when I told +him how I had got over the frontier in the disguise of a Greek. But +the Pasha’s merriment did not bring about any change in my condition, +and I was taken back from his presence to the same prison as before. +I told him at this interview that one of my reasons for visiting the +country was to correspond for the ‘Times,’ and he thereupon entered into +a long political statement as to the rebellion and its reasons. His +Excellency asked me what we should do in India in a like circumstance, +and I replied that I thought the matter could be best solved by a total +disarmament of the Arabs. While agreeing with me, he acknowledged such a +task an impossibility with the troops under his command, and said he was +earnestly hoping for further reinforcements from Constantinople. From his +manner, and what I could gather about Ahmed Feizi Pasha, he seems to be +a man of great personal courage and perseverance, besides possessing an +extraordinary amount of diplomacy and skill in dealing with the Arabs, +learned, no doubt, during the time that he was Governor of Mecca; and +in spite of the fact that he saw right to put me in prison, I cannot +but admire the thorough character which the general seems to possess. +His surroundings showed that here, at least, some regard was shown for +the common soldiers, and all wore boots, not to say fezzes. Here, too, +their uniforms were not in rags, nor did they seem to be on the eve of +starvation. There seemed, too, in Sanaa, more organisation than I had +seen elsewhere. I asked the Pasha why I was kept in prison, and he +replied that my presence was not entirely satisfactory, and that he had +ordered me to be lodged in the guard-room lest the Arab population might +do me harm. + +I can quite imagine that to the jealous Turk the unexpected arrival of +an Englishman was by no means a pleasant surprise. Up to this time all +truth concerning the rebellion had been withheld, and the sole matter +that the press had been able to obtain was from official sources at +Constantinople. Therefore any chance of the truth leaking out, and the +general public being made aware how very nearly the Osmanli Government +had lost the southernmost of its Arabian possessions, would prove far +from acceptable to the authorities. On this account Ahmed Feizi’s bearing +toward myself is explicable, nor do I complain very much of it. Not so, +however, with the action of H.M. late Secretary of Foreign Affairs, who +laid all the blame of my imprisonment upon myself, and entirely ignored +the fact that my passport,—demanding that I should be allowed to pass +without let or hindrance, and that I should be afforded every assistance +and protection of which I might stand in need in the Ottoman Empire, +and which had been vizéd by the Turkish Consul-General in London,—bore +his own signature, which, if it were not lithographed, might have been +worth the sum paid for the document that bore it, as an autograph, but +was certainly entirely useless for the purpose for which it was supposed +to be affixed. Although I made my journey through the Yemen with the +knowledge and consent of the late Sir William White, then H.M. Ambassador +at Constantinople, I was informed, in one of those elegant despatches +of the Foreign Office, that I had entered the Yemen on entirely my own +responsibility, and must bear the results of my actions myself! and +that if the Turkish Government saw right to put me in prison and give +me such bad water to drink that fever was the result, they really could +not hold any one responsible for it beyond my own person. My question +as to whether the wording of my passport was of any value, or merely a +form that meant nothing, they entirely ignored, and to this day I have +been unable to obtain a reply. Suffice it to say that with all its seals +and titles and stamps, a British passport does not seem to be of much +value in the Ottoman Empire; nor when it is absolutely disregarded is any +one blamed by the Foreign Office except the unoffending bearer, who may +have been so dazzled by its splendour as to believe that it might be of +service to him. However, what with making treaties and doing their duty +in society, it can be easily understood that the time of the officials +is too much occupied to attend to such an unimportant question as the +imprisonment of an Englishman, even though by such an occurrence every +word and sentence of a paper to which H.M. Secretary of State appends his +signature is disregarded and abused. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SANAA, THE CAPITAL OF THE YEMEN. + + +The city of Sanaa is situated in a wide valley, at an elevation of seven +thousand two hundred and fifty feet above the sea-level. Although the +town lies almost altogether on the flat bottom of the valley, a mountain, +Jibel Negoum, rises abruptly on the east—so abruptly, in fact, that the +old fortress and castle which form the citadel of Sanaa are perched on +one of its spurs, from which the main peak rises in rocky bareness to a +very considerable height. + +The town is in form a triangle, the apex being formed by the _kasr_ +above-mentioned, and the base by the wall of the garden suburb Bir +el-Azab. There are three distinct quarters within the outer walls: the +first or east quarter that of the Turks and Arabs, where are situated +the bazaars, the Government buildings, and the principal native houses; +the second the Jews’ quarter, separated from the last by a wide strip of +barren ground, part of which shows signs of once having been a cemetery; +and thirdly, this suburb of Bir el-Azab, where many a villa stands +within luxurious gardens of fruit and other trees, enclosed with high +walls. In spite of the fact that Sanaa is situated only between the +15th and 16th degree of north latitude, and so well within the tropics, +there are very few signs to be seen of anything approaching tropical +vegetation, and one is surprised at first, until the great altitude +of the place is taken into consideration, to find that nearly all our +English fruits flourish there. Although, of course, by day the sun is +intensely hot, it is quite a common occurrence to experience frosts on +winter nights. Yet in spite of lying at so great an elevation above the +sea, Sanaa is subject at times to serious droughts; and although in the +rainy season a torrent of water pours down the river-bed which runs +through the centre of the town, in the dry periods of the year water is +procurable only from wells sunk to a great depth in the solid rock. The +water drawn from these wells is said to be very fresh and good. As is the +custom in so many parts of the East, it is a marketable produce, and is +carried about in skins by water-bearers, and sold at so much per skin, +or even per cup. Yet in spite of water being a thing of money value, it +is extraordinary how clean the general population of Sanaa seem to be, +with the exception of the lower-class Turks, who, to judge from their +appearance, one could believe never to have even heard of its existence. +However, happily they are in the minority. + +The whole town of Sanaa is surrounded by a wall built for the most part +of mud-bricks dried in the sun, though in many cases the towers, which at +regular intervals protect the walls, and on most of which the Turks have +mounted small guns, are of stone. The city is entered by four principal +gates, one lying to each point of the compass. Although extremely badly +built, and capable apparently of withstanding no armed force, the walls +of Sanaa formed a sufficient protection to the city against the wild Arab +hordes by whom the place was infested in the autumn and winter of 1891. +Had the Arabs been possessed of any artillery, instead of being armed +with only a few matchlock-guns and rifles and their spears, no doubt +the city would have fallen. Yet it has been found by proof, especially +in the several bombardments of Mokha, that walls and fortifications of +sun-dried bricks are by no means as easy to form a breach in as it might +be supposed. However, in these days of shells they would offer but poor +resistance, although when fired at with shot the missile merely buries +itself in the clay, without doing any appreciable damage. To further +fortify the place, the Turks have at regular intervals built, some +few hundred yards outside the walls, towers, somewhat resembling our +martello towers of the south coast. Here, as they have done upon the +main wall, they have erected small guns which proved of great use in the +Arab attacks upon Sanaa. These towers, by being built within easy range +of one another, and being exposed to no more serious fire than that +of matchlock-guns, are said to have played terrible havoc amongst the +natives, as a handful of Turks in each, with one piece of artillery and a +dozen or so rifles, were able to pour a telling fire into the flanks of +the Arabs as they approached the city walls. + +But the strongest point in the fortifications of Sanaa is the old fort on +the spur of Jibel Negoum, the walls of which are solidly built of stone. +Where necessary, the Turks have repaired and strengthened it. It was +opposite to the gate of this fort, which serves as the Turkish arsenal, +that I was lodged during my stay in Sanaa; and I was not a little amused +to notice that the guns by which the walls are protected point ominously +into the city. It is no doubt by the constant view of these cannon, +whose gaping mouths point direct at the Arab quarter, that revolt and +revolution against the Osmanli forces was held in check within the city, +when all the rest of the Arab population, with but few exceptions, had +risen up in arms. + +A fort, but not nearly so large or strong, protects the city to the west, +lying close to the gate by which the highroad to Hodaidah and the coast +leaves the town. Both this edifice and that at the east end of Sanaa +contain the remains of old palaces, but to-day they have fallen into +disrepair. No longer the fountains splash their crystal waters into the +clear air; no longer the pavements re-echo with the bells and anklets of +dancers: now nothing is heard but the rough voice and rougher tread of +the Turkish troops upon the marble floors. There is, in fact, but little +to tell of the former grandeur of Sanaa. No doubt, within many of the +houses there must be beautiful courts and gardens; but of these I saw +little or nothing, for although I visited the Turkish Governor-General, +Ahmed Feizi Pasha, in one of the old palaces of the Imams, the place has +been so changed and decorated and spoiled that it resembles to-day a +huge barrack rather than a palace. The walls have been whitewashed, the +great staircases are dirty, and the steps worn away by the nails of the +soldiers’ boots; and even in the great rooms in which Ahmed Feizi Pasha +resides, or does his business, the simple old Arab taste has been changed +for decoration of _Louis Quatorze_, by no means bad of its kind, some of +the wall-painting being far above the average, but still sadly out of +place. + +Of the remains of the old palace and temple of Ghumdan, reached by some +sixteen hundred steps, nothing but a heap of ruins remains to-day. Yet +what a strange great place it must have been, with its four walls painted +different colours, and its centre tower seven storeys in height, each +diminishing in size, until the highest of all was floored with a single +piece of marble. At each corner of this little summer-house was a marble +lion, the open mouth of which exposed to the wind seemed to emit roaring. +Strange fancies they had, these old-world Yemen people; and it must +be regretted that the old palace and the adjacent temple dedicated to +Zuhrah, supposed to be the Venus of Arabia, should have incurred the +fanatical wrath of Othman, the third Caliph, and by his orders have been +destroyed; for had it been left to die a natural death, there is little +doubt that, in the situation and climate it enjoyed, there would have +been at least some of it left to-day to tell of its former splendour. + +Although one cannot see the interior of the Arab houses of Sanaa, a fair +estimate of their size can be gained from the outside; and even to us +English, who are used to great houses, many of those of Sanaa appear +immense. It is impossible to describe the style of architecture in which +they are built, for it is a style that exists nowhere else. It is purely +and essentially Yemenite, though in some cases gateways and windows are +found of Byzantine and Gothic form. There is one house at Dhamar, built +of red brick and faced with white stone, with a stone porch, that, were +it set down in an English country district, would pass for Elizabethan. +The house, too, forms an E, and although I could find out nothing about +its history, it seems impossible that the strange building could be an +accident; and I am inclined to believe that it must have been erected by +one of the many renegades who, in the middle ages, sought their fortunes +in the wealthy cities of Arabia. + +At Sanaa I saw no houses of this kind, the style of architecture, with +the exception of the decoration of doors and windows, being more or less +uniform. Many of the larger houses are built of stone and brick and +cement, the lower two storeys perhaps being of well-squared stone of +various colours, arranged so as to form designs, the upper portion being +of brick covered with a hard cement that takes a fine polished surface, +not unlike the material used in Cairo, and corresponding to the _tabbia_ +of Fez. Many of the upper storeys are built overhanging the streets, but +this is not carried out to nearly such a large extent as in many of the +oriental cities; while the _musher-ibeyeh_ work of Cairo is rare here, +its place being taken by long narrow windows filled in with stained +glass in designs. From the outside the pattern is often inappreciable, +as the chips of glass are simply stuck into the plaster framework. From +within, however, only such of the glass is exposed as fits in between +the solid pattern, and the designs are often exceedingly fine. The same +can be seen in the tomb and mosque of Kaït Bey, one of the tombs of the +Caliphs at Cairo, and again some specimens of the work exist in the +museum of Arab antiquities in the same city. What carved wood there is +used for window-screens does not in the least resemble that of Egypt, but +is arranged in geometric designs, much more in the style of Chinese and +Japanese workmanship, with which some of the designs are identical. + +A word must be said here on the extraordinary quantity of Chinese and +Japanese pottery to be found in the Yemen. There is scarcely a _café_ by +the roadside where one will not find that the cups have come from the far +East, and yet I found that but very little enters the country to-day. +I believe the origin of the presence of this extraordinary amount of +oriental pottery is to be traced to the last few centuries, when Aden +was the great mart of exchange between the East and Europe. With great +wealth in the cities of the Yemen, a very appreciable quantity of the +goods brought to Aden would be taken into the interior, and the care with +which pottery and antiquities are treasured by the natives of the country +would explain their existing until to-day. There is little doubt that +should the Yemen ever be opened up, and Europeans be able to travel with +safety and comfort, that it will become a field for the curio-hunter such +as has not been known since the days when the Egyptian antiquities began +to be unearthed. Coins, gems, inscriptions, sculptures, old Persian and +Arab antiquities, embroideries, arms, brass and copper work, manuscripts, +carpets, oriental pottery and glass—the Yemen is full of them, and as yet +her treasures are almost untouched. + +Although many of the streets of the town consist of narrow byways, +turning and twisting in every direction between the high walls of the +houses, there are parts that are by no means badly laid out, and one +or two of the main streets are quite wide thoroughfares, in which the +few carriages which Sanaa boasts are able to pass each other. The +most important of these streets leads from the square into which the +Government buildings look to the bazaars. It is only a few hundred yards +in length, it is true, but still it is sufficiently wide, and the shops +on either side sufficiently good, to compare favourably with many in +European towns. The “square” itself is a large oblong open space, faced +on the east by the old castle and the large much-bedomed Turkish mosque, +and on the west by what were once the palaces of the Arab rulers, and +to-day form barracks and Government offices. At one end of the square +an enterprising Turk has built a large _café_, where the officers and +the few Greek shopkeepers love to congregate, and from the large doors +and windows of which float clouds of pale-blue tobacco-smoke, issuing in +curling clouds from the _shishas_ of the smokers. It is from this point +that the main street leads off to the bazaars, and in the few hundred +yards of thoroughfare are to be seen the best shops, kept either by Turks +or by Greeks, in which every imaginable article can be procured, from +tins of sardines and inferior Turkish cigarettes to photograph-frames +and musty chocolate creams. One or two have large glass windows in which +the goods are exposed to view, but they have a dingy dusty appearance, +and seem to tell that trade is not bright. There, too, is a small +restaurant, where all the favourite Turkish dishes can be obtained, some +of which are by no means to be despised; while bottles of Greek and +native wines standing on shelves tell that the Turks of Sanaa do not keep +too strictly to the tenets of Islam with regard to drinking. + +[Illustration: _Turkish officers in a café at Sanaa._] + +Issuing from this street, one emerges into the bazaars, and here one sees +Sanaa proper, not as it has been altered and changed to suit Turkish +tastes. + +Of the many scenes that the city presents to the traveller, the bazaars +are perhaps the most interesting; for here one loses all idea of more +modern times, and is thrown back, as it were, into the past. The bazaars +have never changed. From time immemorial there have existed the strange +box-like little shops, filled with much the same objects, and tended by +people who, from the distance that they are separated from the outer +world, have changed but little. Just as they dress to-day, so have they +dressed since the word of Islam was first heard in the land. The only +change, perhaps, noticeable to the casual observer, is the scattering +of Turks and Turkish soldiers, whom now and again one passes in the +narrow streets. The shops are all of one storey, the floor being raised +about two feet above the ground, but not projecting on to the street +in the little platforms one is so used to in Egypt and elsewhere. Here +the seller sits cross-legged amongst his goods in the shadow of his +mud-brick shop, gazing in front of him into the sunlit yellow street and +beyond into the shop opposite. A little awning or covering of wood often +projects above the opening, sufficient to give a patch of shade large +enough to shield the purchaser from the sun’s hot rays. + +As is the custom throughout the East, each trade has a number of shops, +or often a whole street, put aside to its special business. The workers +of arms, the jewellers, the second-hand shops, the sellers of silks +and cottons, the crockery and china vendors, each has his own special +quarter; while the vegetable and fruit bazaar is an open space, where, +under rough little awnings, supported on poles and canes, the market +produce is exposed for sale. + +Particularly interesting amongst the shops are those of the jewellers and +makers of arms. The walls of the former are hung with silver necklaces +and bangles and anklets, many of which are of very beautiful design. +Some of the necklets particularly are extremely lovely, resembling in +workmanship the finest and best Greek and Etruscan work, with none of +the roughness apparent in the jewellery of so many oriental countries. +The favourite design seems to be single chains supporting pendants of +various shapes and forms, from discs of fine filigree-work to solid +pear-shaped globules of metal. The bracelets are generally bands of +worked silver, though some, like the necklaces, are decorated with small +chains and hanging pendants. But the greatest skill of the jewellers of +Sanaa, who are rightly renowned for their workmanship, is exhibited in +the dagger-sheaths, many of which are of rich silver-gilt, and even, at +times, of gold. Perhaps the most lovely, however, are of plain polished +silver inlaid with gold coins, principally of the Christian Byzantine +emperors; others again, of delicate filigree, which the natives line +with coloured leathers or silks. But more than even the sheaths of these +_jambiyas_, as they call their daggers, the natives value the blades. +Antique ones are generally considered the best, and the people declare +that the old art of hardening the steel has been lost. Be this as it may, +there is no doubt that the modern blades are of no mean workmanship, and +great prices, for the Yemen, are paid for good specimens. The two parts +of the dagger are nearly always sold separately, and a Yemeni, having +found a blade to suit him, has a sheath made according to his taste and +wealth. The early European visitors to Sanaa speak of the jewelled arms +worn by the Imams and their companions; but I saw only one specimen of +these in the bazaars, a silver-gilt sheath studded with rough pearls +and turquoises, for which the shopkeeper was asking some forty pounds +sterling, without the blade. Another art long lost, but of which examples +are still to be procured, is the application of silver to copper and +brass. This kind of work usually takes the form of boxes of one of +the latter metals, covered with inscriptions in Kufic or other Arabic +characters in silver. The later forms of this work are very inferior to +the earlier, and the silver is apt to peel off. + +One of the great institutions of Sanaa are the khans, or caravanserais, +of which there are a considerable number, the greater part being situated +near the gates of the city. These buildings vary in size, but some are +very large, though nearly all in bad repair. They usually consist of +large houses three and four storeys in height, open to the sky in the +centre. The lower floor forms stabling for the animals, while a number +of rooms of various sizes open out on to the balconies which surround +the court on the upper storeys. The hire of these rooms is very small, +something like twopence a night, and as many as like to crowd into it do +so. There is nearly always a _café_ attached, where cooking can be done, +either by the visitors themselves, or, if more extravagantly inclined, by +the servants of the khan. Assembled round the gates of these khans are +to be seen the tribes-people from every part of the interior—bringers of +salt from Mareb, the modern Saba or Sheba; of coffee from the northern +districts; of indigo and grain and spices from wherever the soil is +suitable to their growth. Caravans from the Hadramaut and Yaffa discharge +their goods here too, to reload their camels with the produce of the +largest city of Southern Arabia. + +The population of Sanaa, although there is no official census to base +one’s calculation upon, probably numbers some forty to fifty thousand +people, of whom twenty thousand are said to be Jews. These, as has +already been stated, have a quarter entirely to themselves; and although +many hire shops in the bazaars, and are daily engaged in the town in +attending to them, or in carrying on their respective trades, at night +retire to the _ghetto_, with the exception of a few who are servants, and +who sleep in their masters’ houses. There seems to be no more oppression +of the Jews in the Yemen than there is of the Arabs. They are free to +carry on whatever trade they will; to attend their synagogues and +schools, and, in fact, seem very little interfered with by the Turks. +They, of course, pay their regular share in the taxation, as is only +right they should; and if it be exceptionally heavy in their case, it is +so also in the case of the Arab inhabitants—though naturally the Jews, as +to nature born, cry out a great deal more than the natives. + +The _ghetto_ is quite separate from the Arab city. The houses are built +almost entirely of mud-bricks, but look clean and comfortable, though +the habit of throwing all their refuse into the streets is by no means +a pleasant one for the passer-by. However, in this they are little +worse, if at all, than the Arabs, whose drain-pipes project well over +the middle of the narrow streets, through which generally flows an open +drain. The passer-by has to be careful to keep near the house-wall, or +he will run the risk of coming terribly to grief. There are said to be +more than twenty synagogues in the Jews’ quarter, and over seven hundred +boys attending the schools. The whole male population is supposed to be +able to read; but the females attend entirely to their house-work, or the +sewing of garments, and all education is neglected in their case.[41] + +The Jews of the Yemen are believed to have come from India, and, as +far as is known, there are none remaining of the old Jewish stock of +pre-Islamic times. Although much despised by the proud Arabs, they +are seldom treated with violence or even roughness, and what little +persecution there can be said to exist consists almost entirely of the +jeers of small boys, and even this is rare. + +One cannot help noticing and admiring the extremely pleasant manners +shown by the people of the Yemen toward Europeans. With the exception of +the lower classes there is no crowding; and even when curiosity leads +the people to congregate round a stranger, there are no rude remarks, +much less any of the ribald cursing which distinguishes the attitude of +the Moors of Morocco toward Europeans. This trait in the character of +the people of the Yemen adds very largely to the pleasure of travelling, +and many a kind word was said to me on my journey by “warriors” of the +fiercest aspect, and many a pleasant smile and “God-speed” followed me +as I rode away from the villages and towns. In fact, with a very few +exceptions, I never heard a word of unpleasantness spoken either to or of +myself. There is apparently less religious fanaticism towards Christians +than exists between the two sects of Islam represented in the country—the +Zaidis[42] by the Arabs, and the Sunnis by the Turks. + +Through the centre of Sanaa flows at times the river Kharid. However, +the river-bed is dry except in the rainy season, when a huge torrent +pours down its course, often doing considerable damage to the adjacent +houses. A bridge spans the river at one spot, and from here a good view +is obtained both up and down the stream, the high yellow banks of which +are crowned with tall houses, built in the peculiar style of architecture +common to the place. + +Beyond the Jews’ quarter, and to the extreme west of the town, is the +suburb of Bir el-Azab, of which mention has already been made. Here the +roads are wider, and pass between the high walls of the gardens, over +the top of which can be seen the leaves and blossoms of the fruit-trees. +Two villages also form country residences for the inhabitants of the +city—Jeraaf, about two miles to the north, and Raudha, the same distance +farther on. Shortly before my arrival at Sanaa the rebels had succeeded +in blowing up with gunpowder the Turkish barracks at the latter place, +together with some five-and-twenty soldiers. + +[Illustration: _Turkish mosque at Sanaa, as seen from the prison window._] + +With the exception of the Turkish mosque, all the others seem to be in +bad repair, owing, it is said, to the Osmanli Government having seized +most of the mosque property, the sole means of adding to and keeping in +order the building themselves. The great mosque is a huge square building +surrounded by a high wall, and boasting two tall minarets of curious +construction. It was here that Ibn Fadl, the leader of the Karmathians, +in the year 911 A.D., carried out one of those acts of licentious +cruelty with which the history of the East teems. Having in that year +successfully installed himself at Sanaa, from which on two previous +occasions he had been ousted, he caused the great courtyard of the +mosque to be filled some three or four feet deep with water, into which +were driven naked all the young girls of the city. From his seat on the +minaret he gazed upon them, and such as pleased him he dishonoured. The +height of the water, however, discoloured the walls, and for centuries +told the tale of the brief power wielded by this licentious usurper. + +[Illustration: _Turkish soldier._] + +But of all the sights offered by the city of Sanaa, the population +presents the most interesting. Everywhere some strange figure meets the +eye: here it is some wild tribesman with bronzed skin and raven-black +locks, girded with his loin-cloth of dark blue cotton; there some +merchant from the Hejaz, slow and stately, with strange glassy eyes that +speak of _hashish_, robed in striped silks, and whose turban, so white +it is, literally seems to sparkle in the sunlight. Again it is some +ill-fed, ill-clothed Turkish soldier, with only one boot perhaps, and +that scarcely more than a shadow of its former self, with face unshaven +and sunk with illness; and as one is still watching him, there rattles +past a shabby victoria, in which is seated some fat Pasha or Bey, with +hideous black-cloth clothes richly sewn in gold lace; and one knows that +as often as not his clothes, his carriage, and his horses are bought with +the money that ought to feed the soldiers, for but a small proportion of +the pay of the troops ever reaches them. Then, again, a woman passes, +wrapt head to foot in coloured garments, the veil of coloured stuff +just transparent enough to allow her to grope her way, for so do the +women of Sanaa hide their charms; and here, there, and everywhere are +the “gamins,” the same all over the world, though their blood and their +language be different,—little monkeys all, and in Sanaa rebels to the +very heart. + +Of all the cities of the Yemen, there is none that can boast the +antiquity of Sanaa. Tradition says that it was founded by Ad, the +ancestor of the tribe of Adites, who were destroyed by a miraculous hot +blast of wind for refusing to listen to the voice of the Prophet Hud. +A second tribe, that of Thamud, met with a like fate for disregarding +the Prophet Salih; only in their case it was a terrible voice that +called to them from the skies that caused their deaths.[43] There is +only one drawback to this tale—namely, that long after the destruction +of the Adites we find them attacked and conquered by a descendant of +Yarub, brother of Hadramaut, and son of Kahtan. He was apparently more +successful than the miraculous hot wind, for they were evidently entirely +wiped out on this occasion, and we find no more mention of them in +history. But there is another interest belonging to the Adites—namely, +that they were of the autochthonous stock of the Yemen, and therefore +probably one of the original Semitic people who afterwards spread over +Arabia and founded the Arab races, and who have, with the propagation +of Islam, wandered far into Asia and Africa. The original name of Sanaa +was Azal, Uzul, or Uwal, the latter of which means “primacy” in the Arab +tongue. The authorities appear to differ as to which was really the first +name, and it seems not improbable that Azal or Uzul was the original +title, which, being incomprehensible to the later races, they changed +to the Arabic Uwal—a word that described not only the antiquity of the +place, but also bears a strong resemblance to its original name. This is, +however, merely a conjecture. + +Although Saba seems in the days of the Sabæans to have been a more +important place than Sanaa, there is little reason to doubt that the +latter was in existence; and amongst other authorities Ibn Khaldun states +that Sanaa was the seat of the Tubbas or Himyaric kings for centuries +before the time of Islam. This alone, apart from the traditions of far +greater antiquity, of which we have no reason to doubt the truth, shows +that probably two thousand years ago the city of Sanaa was a flourishing +community, the seat of the government of powerful kings, who were living +in a state of civilisation and culture. But the question of the antiquity +of Sanaa is not one that can be entered into at any length here, and +interesting as is the subject, space does not allow of carrying it +further. + +There are one or two episodes in the history of Sanaa that cannot be +passed over without some slight mention. The first is the erecting there +of a Christian church by Abrahá el-Ashram, Viceroy of the Yemen, under +the Abyssinian King Aryat, for the building of which the Emperor of Rome +is said to have supplied marble and workmen. Abrahá, who was a fanatical +Christian, hoped by the erection of this wonderful structure, of which +unfortunately we have but few details—and such as do exist are absurd—to +change the goal of pilgrimage from the Kaabah at Mecca, which, it must be +remembered, was an object of veneration long before the time of Mahammed, +to Sanaa. Failing to entice the Arabs, he attempted by force to bring +them to his church, which eventually led to his famous attack upon Mecca +in 570 A.D., and in the total destruction of his army by pebbles dropped +from the claws and beaks of birds.[44] + +At the time of the introduction of Islam into the Yemen, we find the +government in the hands of Budhan, or Budzan, the Persian Viceroy, who, +however, embraced the new religion, and was confirmed by Mahammed as +Governor of the Yemen—a post he held until he died. Within a year or +two of the death of Mahammed himself, Islam was firmly grafted in the +country, owing, it must be added, to the indomitable courage and energy +of Mohajir, who, on his triumphal march to the Hadramaut, secured the +leaders of the party dissentient to the rule of the then Caliph Abou +Bekr, and, sending them prisoners to Mecca, planted the Caliph’s rule +firmly in Sanaa. + +Although the Christians of Nejrán continued such for a period, the +enthusiasm of the people for Islam swept them along in its tide, and +idolatry and Christianity soon became extinct in the Yemen—the third +Caliph, Othman, destroying almost the last vestige of the former by +razing the temple of Zuhrah at Ghumdan, the remains of which and of the +Christian church of Abrahá are visible to-day in a heap of ruins at and +near Sanaa respectively. + +From this period the history of Sanaa has been a troubled one. Constant +warfare with foreign princes, and assassinations and rivalry fraught +with bloodshed between the local rulers, help to make up as dark a page +of history as can be imagined. Yet in spite of this, the city has been +always an important and flourishing one, renowned for its manufactures, +its trade, and its wealth. With every disadvantage accruing from a +constant change of government, it managed to survive; and not only to +survive but to increase, until toward the middle of the seventeenth +century it reached unparalleled prosperity under the then powerful Imams. +But as they sank in power, so did Sanaa lose its prosperity. Its fate +seemed drawn along with that of its Imams; and as ruler after ruler lost +more and more of his territory, so the glories of the capital diminished. +Yet there was now and again a flicker in its death-throes; but never +did it last above a few years, when once more the steady decline would +commence. + +How it ended is well known; for, broken in spirit and harassed by the +surrounding tribes, Sanaa offered no resistance when the Turks, in 1872, +entered the place; and the city, which had nobly held her own in so +many encounters, almost welcomed the stranger into her midst. Had the +inhabitants been aware at that time how their action would lead to their +oppression, there is but little doubt that they would have hesitated in +their invitation to the Turkish forces, already firmly established on the +coast, to come and take over the reins of government. + +[Illustration: MENAKHA, FROM THE NORTH.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SANAA TO MENAKHA. + + +As long as I live I shall never forget my departure from Sanaa. In the +cold grey dawn, the temperature little if anything above freezing, worn +out with a night of raging fever that still throbbed in my veins, I was +lifted on to my mule at the door of the _conàk_, and, with a couple of +soldiers to accompany me, sent upon my way. Weird and wretched everything +looked. The houses, that only the day before had struck me as beautiful +in their strange oriental architecture, now looked like pallid ruins, +depressing in the extreme; while the few hurrying persons we passed +seemed but shadows in the grey light of dawn. + +On through the bazaars with their closed shops; on by narrow streets +and byways, over which the tall houses seemed verily to hang suspended; +across the bridge that spans what is at times a roaring torrent but was +now but a dry bed; across a wide open space and through the dirty Jews’ +quarter, and the garden suburb of Bir el-Azab; then out under the great +town gateway with its strange towers, on which a shivering sentry or two +kept guard, into the open country. A long level road leads one from the +city across the surrounding plain, a road as good as one could expect to +find in England. Then a range of bare hills seems to block the way, and +one begins to climb up and up by the winding twisting track, until the +summit is reached. Looking back, a fine view of Sanaa was obtained, lying +on the spur of Jibel Negoum, backed by still higher mountains. To right +and left extended the valley, until some way off to the north one could +see the town of Raudha, where not a month before the rebels had blown +up the Turkish barracks and some twenty-five soldiers with gunpowder. +From this spot one could obtain a better idea than we had as yet been +able to do of the size of Sanaa, as it lay mapped out below us, a great +flat-roofed city, dull yellow and white, upon still yellower and whiter +plains, the only break in which were the gardens at Bir el-Azab. + +At the summit of the ascent a plateau is reached scattered with villages, +now all more or less knocked down by the Turkish artillery, after the +road from Hodaidah had been forced, and the Arab Shereef, Sid esh-Sheraï, +dislodged from Hajarat el-Mehedi, a spot a few miles farther on. Over the +plateau the road proceeded tolerably straight, though the going was by no +means good, in spite of the fact that the track was a wide one. But its +repair had evidently been neglected for a time, and it was strewn with +stones. + +After the sun had risen it became very warm, but it was a change for the +better from the miserable cold of the early morning, and, weak as I was +from fever, I was glad to get off my mule for a time and stretch my limbs +by walking. + +At the _café_ of Metneh we stopped for our mid-day meal. A large, low, +stone building forms the caravanserai, both for man and beast. The place +is roughly built, one storey in height, the roof being supported on +arches and stone columns, round the bases of which are little raised +platforms, on one of which we spread our carpet and rested for a time. +The _café_ was nearly full of Turkish troops, poor, ill-fed, and +ill-clothed fellows, but the very acme of good-humour. It was amusing to +hear them discussing my presence with some Arab merchants who happened +to be there at the same time. The conclusion they arrived at was that +the presence of a Christian in the country foretold the downfall of the +Yemen, and the sooner they, the Moslems, cleared out of it the better. +It was flattering certainty to hear one’s self considered of such vital +importance to a country the size of the Yemen; nor did the fact that +I was a prisoner in the hands of a Turkish guard seem to lessen their +opinion of me. On discovering at length that I spoke Arabic, we joined +parties and lunched together, and very polite they all were. The group +was a strange one, representing in the Arabs the rebel party, in the +Turks the conquerors and oppressors, and last, but not least, in my +humble self the future of the Yemen (for so they deemed my presence to +foretell). Yet we were a merry band, and shared the same hubble-bubble of +peace, and parted with protestations of profound respect and friendship +for one another. + +One of the pleasantest recollections of the Yemen that I bore away with +me is, and always will be, the hours spent in these wayside _cafés_. Then +more than at any other time one saw the people as they really are. Then +all restraint was thrown aside; there was exhibited none of the suspicion +we habitually show to fellow-travellers; and often we unburdened our aims +and ideas to one another, the Arabs and I. As I write of it I long once +more to go back, to sit cross-legged on the floor and sip the beverage +of coffee-husks from the tiny Japanese and Chinese cups the Yemenis love +so much, and listen to the patient murmur of the hubble-bubble amongst a +group of half-naked Arabs. + +Leaving Metneh in the afternoon, we pushed on through Bauan, with +its strange market, toward our night’s resting-place. The road still +continues to ascend, and is in most parts very rough and bad, rendering +travelling by no means pleasant. However, any unpleasantness from this +was amply repaid by the magnificent view that from time to time met our +gaze. The track was leading us along the summit of a mountain-top, +which to the north looked straight down into a great valley thousands +of feet below. What a wonderful valley it was, full of coffee-groves, +and luxuriating in all the glories of gorgeous vegetation, amongst +which banana-leaves could be plainly distinguished, waving their great +green heads! Amongst all this verdure, clinging as it seemed to the +mountain-sides, were villages, each crowned by its _burj_ or fort, the +whole perched on some overhanging rock. On to their very roofs we seemed +to look. Often on the road I would rest for a few minutes to gaze in +wonderment on this entrancing scene, until, as evening came on, filmy +mists rose from the valley, and concealed from view all but the opposite +mountain-peaks, torn and rugged, which rose above the sea of iridescent +cloud like great cathedral steeples. What a land it is, the Yemen! What +a world of romance and history lies hid in those great mountain valleys! +What tales the little, sparkling, dancing rivulets could tell, for often, +I wot, their limpid waters have run red with blood! Night fell, and the +scene became one of still grey silence, weird and strange. + +After reaching an altitude of ten thousand feet above the sea-level the +road began to descend, and we passed once or twice through villages, +crowned by their strange towers, until at length Sôk el-Khamis, our +night’s resting-place, was reached. There are several of these villages +in its vicinity, and one we passed was occupied by Turkish troops, whose +riotous laughter and singing jarred on the peaceful sounds of night, the +humming of the insects and the soft hoot-hoot of the rock owls. + +We stopped at one of these strange tower-like buildings, and my guard +informed me that this was our halting-place. After repeated knockings +at a heavy wooden door we were admitted into a yard, and from thence +entered the house—the way led by a dirty mountaineer in little else but +a sheepskin coat, who, with a small oil-lamp, lighted us up a flight of +stone stairs into the guest-chamber. A poor enough place it was, and none +too clean, its ceiling blackened by the fumes of charcoal-fires, its +floor of rough stones and mortar, the ups and downs of which a carpet +ill disguised. This was, however, the sole accommodation, and our host +plaintively asked us to make ourselves as comfortable as we could, while +he went off to search for provisions, adding that the Turkish garrison at +the neighbouring village had exhausted the supply. + +So we spread our carpet, and Abdurrahman and Saïd, and the Turkish and +Arab soldiers who formed my guard, sat down together over a charcoal +brasier, in which bubbled one of the common narrow-necked earthenware +pots in which they brew their drink of coffee-husks, and smoked our +hookah in peace, sharing alike in its cracked amber mouthpiece. We were +all tired, and talked but little; but Saïd now and again would burst into +song, and very well he sang, too, the plaintive melodies of the country. + +Presently our host returned with a scarecrow of a fowl and some +leathery bread, which was all the good fellow was able to raise, and +it was not long before a rather too savoury dish of rancid butter and +chicken-bones—for there was little else—had usurped the place of our +coffee-pot on the brasier. What jokes we made about that poor chicken! +After all, we agreed, it could not be anything but thin after having +lived through the late rebellion. However, we ate it all right. + +The view as we left Sôk el-Khamis the next morning was almost as lovely +as that of the day before. As the night-mists rose at sunrise, range +after range of mountains loomed up before us, peak above peak, until in +the far west one great mass overtopped all the rest. + +The road descends steeply, winding the while, in parts showing signs of +the repairs of the Turkish engineers, in others merely a foothold on the +mountain-side. Numbers of blue rock-pigeons fluttered hither and thither +in the morning sunlight; but lovely as they were, I was enticed to shoot +a few, for, after all, one fowl is not sufficient food for eight persons, +and there seemed every likelihood of our faring as ill at our next +halting-place as we had done the night before. + +At one spot we passed one of the most lovely scenes I had as yet seen in +the Yemen. Half-way down a steep slope, wooded with forest-trees, was a +tomb and fountain, the clear cold water tumbling into a deep tank. Away +behind a peak of the mountain rose bare and rocky into the blue sky, its +lower slopes covered with trees, its summit crowned with the ruins of +a village which the Turkish artillerymen had destroyed, leaving little +but the walls to tell of its existence. The domed mosque, a tiny place, +glistening white against the foliage, and the sound of the running water, +added a charm to a scene of perfect peace and loveliness. + +At length the descent was accomplished, and we entered a desolate valley, +keeping to the rock-strewn river-bed, now almost dry, as being better +than the road, which here is almost indistinguishable, winding and +turning amongst great boulders, which appear to have fallen from the +steeps above. An hour or so later we passed under the strange fortress +of Mefhak, grandly situated on a pinnacle of rock some five hundred feet +above the valley; and, leaving a large encampment of Turkish troops on +our left, once more began to ascend. For a while our way led through the +loveliest of little valleys, which seemed like the greater one we had +been passing through in miniature. On either side walls of rock some +fifty to a hundred feet in height rose precipitously, but, sheltered +from the sun, a number of varieties of wild-flowers had taken root, and +the place was a fairyland of colour. Great clusters of jasmine hung +over the precipices, while on every side bloomed acacias and aloes. A +gorgeous flowering-tree, bearing pale-pink blossoms, edged the narrow +water-course, just as if it had been planted there by the hand of man. + +An hour more and we drew up at the caravanserai of Ijz for our mid-day +rest. Very hot it was; but the proprietor of the _café_, a wounded +Turkish soldier, full of grievances and very dirty, amused us much, +mumbling and grumbling as he leaned over the fire to cook my coffee and +the men’s drink of coffee-husks. Although coffee in very large quantities +is exported from the Yemen, it is drunk only by the Turks and the richer +classes, the poorer contenting themselves with, and preferring, they say, +the boiled husks. + +We spent only an hour or two at Ijz, as I was anxious to push on to +Menakha before dark; and accordingly in the heat of the early afternoon +we said good-bye to our old host and the handful of Turkish troops who +had joined us in our meal, and mounted our mules once more. + +[Illustration: _Gorge near Menakha._] + +As our road proceeded it increased in magnificence, entering the heart +of the mountains, on the summit of one of which the town of Menakha is +perched. This river lies at an elevation of somewhat over five thousand +feet above the sea. Quite suddenly the valley comes to an end, and we +commenced one of those steep ascents to which we were almost becoming +accustomed now. The path is little but a boulder-strewn track in the +mountain-side, and one could not help wondering how our little mules +would ever accomplish the climb. Dismounting at the foot, Abdurrahman, +Saïd, and I raced ahead, scrambling and tumbling over the rocks, and +nearly frightening the wits out of a descending caravan, who probably +had never seen the like of us before; for although Saïd was in the Yemen +costume, Abdurrahman wore the there unknown dress of the mountaineers of +Morocco, while I was in riding-breeches, and flannel shirt, and a red fez +cap. Great proud-looking fellows the caravan-men were, and they watched +us with a startled stare, evidently putting us down as lunatics. However, +our laughter at their surprise so amused them that they became quite +friendly, and would not let me go on till I had shaken each singly by the +hand, which I was only too pleased to do. Up and up we toiled, leaving +the mules to follow with the muleteers. Every here and there are springs +which the natives have aided by building tanks, and now and again we +would stop to drink and bathe our faces and hands. + +Almost suddenly we reached the summit, after a climb of over two thousand +five hundred feet up the execrable zigzag path, and the little town of +Menakha lay before me. + +I determined to wait here for my soldier-guards, whom we had left a long +way behind us; so we threw ourselves down, panting and hot, upon a ledge +of rock, and gazed at the scene before us. Wonderful, stupendous it +was! Around us on all sides the bare fantastic peaks and perpendicular +precipices, on the edge of one of which we were perched, and up the +face of which we could see the path we had climbed winding in and out. +Below us, far, far below, like little ants, we could see our mules and +men toiling up. A thread of river, the Wadi Zaum, was distinguishable +down the valley, the few green thorny trees which grew along its banks +being, with the exception of some stunted brushwood and a few aloes and +creepers, the sole vegetation in view. A very entrance to the “Inferno,” +gloomy and dark. The rays of the setting sun lit up in contrast to all +this the roseate peaks of the mountains, many of which, thousands of +feet above us, were crowned with strange villages and towers. At length +our mules caught us up, and mounting again for the few yards that yet +remained between us and Menakha, we made our entry into the town, drawing +up at the principal Government building, where the Kaimakam resided. + +My guard of Turkish soldiers had been intrusted with letters to the +governors respectively of Menakha and Hodaidah, and no sooner was our +missive presented than I was shown into the presence of the Kaimakam. I +found him pleasant, as nearly all Turks can be when they like, and an +hour or so passed very cheerily. Meanwhile he had given orders for a room +to be prepared for me within the precincts of the Government offices, and +on leaving him I was shown to a large, comfortable, airy chamber on the +ground-floor, with a window looking over a sort of drill-yard, beyond +which was a fine view of the mountains, the opposite spur of which, at +an altitude of some hundreds of feet above the town, was crowned with a +Turkish fort, near which some artillerymen were drilling. + +It should have been mentioned already that the road we had been following +from Sanaa was almost identically the line taken by the Sanaa and +Hodaidah telegraph-wire, which, like all provincial Turkish telegraphs, +is, I believe, worked by the Government, from a representative of whom +one is obliged to obtain permission before making use of it. This +permission had been refused me at Sanaa. At Menakha there is quite a +pretentious office. + +After leaving the Kaimakam I went for a stroll in the town, followed of +course by a guard, who, however, did not in the least interfere with +my actions, and in whose presence I was venturesome enough to sketch, +without calling forth any sterner reproof than that if they were caught +allowing me to draw they might get into trouble, so that I had better +creep behind a rock and make any sketches I wanted from a spot where I +would not be seen. + +Of all the places it has ever been my lot to see, Menakha is the most +wonderfully situated. The town is perched on a narrow strip of mountain +that joins two distinct ranges, and it forms the watershed of two great +valleys—that up which we had proceeded on our arrival, and the second to +the west. So narrow is the ridge on which the town stands, that the walls +of the houses on both sides seem almost to hang over the precipices; and +there are spots—for instance, near the military hospital—where one can +sit and look down absolutely into the two great valleys at the same time. +Curious and wonderful as this is, the grand effect of the scene is doubly +increased by the extraordinary peaks which rise above the place—enormous +pinnacles, for no other word can express their fantastic shapes and +forms. Great, bare, rocky crags they are, perpendicular, and ending, +like sugar-loafs, in points, on which, in several places, the natives +have built their strange towers. How they ever ascend or descend seems +incredible, or from whence they obtain their water-supply. + +The town of Menakha is quite a small one. It contains, perhaps, some +five thousand inhabitants, without counting the very considerable number +of Turkish troops stationed there at the time of my visit. The houses +are well built of stone, some of them four storeys, and many three, in +height. The Government offices and the military hospital and barracks +give the place quite a European appearance, for they are all built in +modern Turkish style, with glass windows and flat roofs. + +The bazaar is tolerably well supplied with the necessaries of life, +though at the time of my visit meat and vegetables were scarce, on +account of the influx of troops. There are, too, several large shops, +one or two kept by Greeks. I was surprised, in passing through the town, +to be accosted in excellent English by one of these shopkeepers, who, he +told me, had been a servant to an Englishman in Suakin for some years. +I went with him to his store, where everything was purchasable, from +sardines to port wine, and spent half an hour or so talking with him. He +was evidently an intellectual man, and seemed well up in the affairs of +the Yemen. He had been present at the taking of Menakha by the Arabs, and +its recapture by the Turks; but his property had been respected in both +cases, and he had suffered little if any loss. + +The great altitude at which Menakha is situated—some seven thousand six +hundred feet above the sea-level—renders it liable to sudden changes of +temperature; and two hours after we had arrived in blazing sunshine, +clouds gathered over the town, obscuring the view, and the temperature +fell to below 50°. We managed to procure a charcoal brasier, over which +my men and I huddled, our circle being joined by a couple of charming +Turkish officers, both of whom spoke Arabic well. + +About eight o’clock I was taken suddenly ill with fever, which did not +leave me until ten the next morning, by which time I was so weak that +I could only stand with assistance, and accordingly travelling was out +of the question. The Kaimakam made no difficulties about my remaining +another day, and did all in his power to make me comfortable. During the +afternoon I had sufficiently recovered my strength to crawl out and seek +the shade of a hollow in the rocks, where my men lit a little fire and +brewed coffee. The spot we had chosen looked directly into the great +valley that runs west from Menakha, far down which we could see. Away +below us, tier above tier, were the terraced coffee and banana groves; +while the rocky precipices, here bare and frowning, were in other parts +hung with creepers, while in every crevice some strange flowering aloes +had found room to grow. + +Amongst this mass of verdure, for, far away below us, lay villages, +their flat roofs upturned, as it were, to us, who were so high above +them, looking like the squares on some fairy chess-board. Away down the +valley a silvery thread of light told the presence of a river, fed by a +hundred little streams, which, issuing from the rocky slopes, leaped and +danced to join the larger stream below. Beyond, again, all was haze and +mountain-peaks, faint as a cloud and inexpressibly lovely. + +Wild-flowers and ferns, especially maidenhair, grew in abundance round +our little nook in the rocks, in which we were shaded from the sun’s +rays by an overhanging crag. The whole scene was so framed by shrubs and +creepers and flowers, a mass of blossom and green, that one lost the +effect of distance; and, in the clear air, it seemed but a step from +our resting-place to the bottom of the valley, and a step more to the +far-away peaks. + +But it is not on account of its gorgeous scenery that Menakha has become +an important place. Rather it is owing to its great strategical position; +for it dominates the two parts of the highroad from Hodaidah to Sanaa, +from each of which it is roughly equidistant. It is, no doubt, on this +account, and to the practical advantages it offers, owing to its fine +position for keeping up a line of communication between the capital and +the coast, that a considerable number of troops are stationed and some +forts erected there. + +It played by no means an unimportant part during the rebellion; and +although this has been referred to elsewhere in a chapter dealing with +that subject, it may be as well to mention the facts here. Menakha was +one of the first Turkish strongholds to fall into the hands of the Arabs. +The governor was taken prisoner; numbers of the troops were killed in the +rebel rush; and what remained of its military population were sent to the +leader of the rebellion at Sadah. It was not, in fact, until after the +battle fought near Hojaila, on the road from Hodaidah, at a spot where +the Teháma ends and the mountains commence, that Menakha was retaken. To +Ahmed Feizi Pasha belongs the credit of the wonderful march from Hodaidah +to Sanaa, in which the Turks dragged their guns by execrable roads over +passes ten thousand feet in altitude; and it was upon this triumphal +entry of the new Governor-General of the Yemen that the town once more +came into the possession of the Turks, being deserted by the Arabs +before the arrival of the Osmanli troops. Had the native horde only been +better officered and possessed better arms; had they destroyed the road +more successfully than they did, and stood firmly to their impregnable +position at Menakha,—there is little doubt that the capital could not +have held out, and that the Yemen to-day would have been in the hands of +the Imam Ahmed ed-Din. At sunset, as had happened the evening before, the +place became wrapt in cloud, and the temperature fell to such an extent +that even in our room, with a fire, we suffered considerably. However, +one can bear the cold, provided one is free from fever; and, tired and +weary after a sleepless night, I lay like a log, and, in spite of the +cries of sentries and the occasional blowing of a bugle, did not awake +until grey dawn was creeping up, and my men were loading the mules. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MENAKHA TO HODAIDAH. + + +The road from Menakha to the coast leads one for the first few miles +along the mountains on the southern side of the valley, gradually +ascending the while, until, an hour or so after leaving the town, an +altitude of eight thousand feet above the sea-level is reached. At this +spot a spur in the mountain is crossed, near to which is the remarkable +village of Kariat el-Hajra, a rock crowned with tall stone houses, +many of which are built in the strange fashion of towers. A precipice +surrounds the village on every side, the lower slopes of which are +cultivated in terraces. The place has the appearance of being a large +and important one, and from its position must be exceedingly strong. The +country immediately surrounding this spot is very beautiful, there being +an abundance of water and no lack of trees, while the terraces and fields +were, at the time of my visit, green with young grass and crops, and +gorgeous with wild-flowers. Leaving Hajra on the right, the road begins +to descend, and soon another village, more extraordinary than that we +had already passed, came into sight. This is Attara. From an expanse of +terraced slope rises a single pinnacle of rock some hundreds of feet in +height, split perpendicularly into two divisions. On the very summit, +on which there is only just room for it to stand, is a large building, +apparently a house and tower. Although unable to see the track by which +this, to the eye, apparently unscalable position is reached, my men +informed me that there is a stairway cut in the solid rock, by means +of which the inhabitants ascend and descend. Close nestling under the +pinnacle is the rest of the village, built tier above tier on the steep +mountain-side. The path by which we were descending zigzags down until +one arrives in a sort of amphitheatre, of which the village forms an +apex. The ground here is richly cultivated with coffee-trees and bananas, +growing upon terraces. In one place the jungle seems to have gained +possession of what was originally cultivated land, and appears in a mass +of euphorbiæ and other strange trees and plants. Here, too, jasmine +grows in wonderful abundance, the whole air being filled with its sweet +fragrance. + +Zigzagging down the mountain-side, we arrived before mid-day at the +_café_ of Wisil, wonderfully perched on the very edge of the precipice. +The place is poor enough, but a few shady huts of grass and mats have +been erected round a little terraced garden, over the wall of which one +gazes far down into the valley beneath. Here under a shady tree we spread +our carpet and refreshed ourselves, revelling in the magnificence of our +surroundings. This resting-place was situated at an elevation of a little +over four thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level, so that since +the morning we had descended some three thousand feet. + +[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF EL-HAJRA.] + +From this spot is obtained perhaps the most extraordinary view of the +terraced mountains we had as yet obtained. These surrounding ranges are +celebrated for their coffee, principally Jibel Masar and Safan, both of +which lie to the north of the road. Away above the terraces the mountains +rise in perpendicular precipices, and nearly every peak is crowned with +one of the curious towers already described. + +The view from Wisil was the last we were to see of its kind, for we +were fast leaving the mountains behind and descending to the plains, or +Teháma, and even from here the change to the country was appreciable, for +far away to the west the great mountains became lower, and the horizon +was bounded with rough barren hills, very like those we had seen around +Jibel Menif, when we left the desert beyond Lahej. A weird old lady +served us with coffee and food at our resting-place—a parchment-skinned +grinning old hag, half clothed in torn dark-blue rags, with a lot of what +looked like dirty bandages wound round her head; but she was a cheery old +gossip, and Saïd took advantage of her to exhibit his wit and sarcasm, +much to her amusement as well as our own. + +[Illustration: _View near Wisil._] + +Poor Saïd! The wear and tear of the last month had worn him a bit. +Fever had paled his skin, and left him thinner than he was when he had +started from Aden; but no weariness, no fever, had caused him to pay +less attention to his personal charms than before, and his curly locks +were as soft and silky and glossy as ever, although his loin-cloth and +sash told tales of travel. Still, in all our hardships he had been ever +bright and gay, and as we neared civilisation once more, and there seemed +some chance of his seeing his paradise—Aden—again, his eyes regained +their former twinkle, and his laugh grew more cheery than ever. With +Abdurrahman it was different, and the strain and exertion he had been +through had told on his more delicate constitution. Brought up in the +bracing mountains of Morocco, where frosts are common, and even in the +daytime the heat is never oppressive, he had felt severely the sudden +changes of the tropics. All his gaiety had left him, and he scarcely +spoke. It was with difficulty that we could rouse his spirits, try +hard as we did, Saïd and I. Almost every evening, in spite of arsenic +and quinine, fever would seize him, and he would lie awake of a night, +tossing and moaning in a way that was pitiful to see and hear. + +Leaving Wisil, the road descends, by a zigzag track, the steep +mountain-side. Here were apparent one at least of the advantages of +the Turkish occupation of the Yemen, for the road was wide and in good +repair, supported by a stone embankment, and planted on either side with +mimosa-trees, which no doubt help in some degree to prevent the floods +which the heavy rainfalls occasion from washing the stones away, and +which will eventually prove no small advantage to the traveller by their +shade. At length the bed of the water-course was reached, down which the +road proceeds, roughly and unpleasantly, over great boulders and stones +that tired our poor little mules, and necessitated our proceeding on +foot. Thick vegetation, principally trees of the mimosa type, fringe the +edge of the river-bed, which, except for an occasional pool or spring, +contained no water. + +On and on, until the gorge narrows and enters a defile, merely the +water-course and walls of rock on either hand, some eighty feet perhaps +in height. Here was a sight that caused us an hour or so of amusement +and laughter, for the precipices were the haunt of hundreds of apes and +monkeys, which scampered away at our approach, and sat chattering and +grinning at us from their perches. So tame many of them were, that we +were able to approach within fifteen or twenty yards of them before they +would seek refuge in the nooks and crannies of the rocks. My men were +eager to shoot one or two, but I would not allow it, as it was a real +pleasure to watch the funny creatures in their antics, and to listen +to their squeaking and chattering. In some cases the larger apes were +carrying their young in their arms, and handling them as carefully as a +woman does her child. Even Abdurrahman awoke from his melancholy, and +laughed heartily at the strange creatures, which bounded from rock to +rock, or showed their rows of chattering white teeth from some hole in +the cliff. + +Continuing along the bottom of the valley for some little way farther, we +turned eventually from the water-course, and climbed a bare rocky hill to +the north of the river, and, crossing a small plateau, descended to the +village of Hojaila, which we reached an hour or two before sunset. + +At this point we had said farewell to the mountains, for although the +foot-hills extend farther into the Teháma, beyond Bajil in fact, we +were to see no more of the greater ranges. But not only is Hojaila the +finishing spot of the mountains, but the people entirely change, becoming +from that point Arabs of the plains, dwelling in mud and thatch houses, +and different in appearance and habits. + +We had passed during the day’s march through a part of the country +the inhabitants of which need investigation, and about which I, +unfortunately, can say but little here. These are people of a religious +sect who called themselves Makarama, but of the origin of which, except +that their belief is said to be of Indian extraction, I have found it +impossible to discover anything. These Yemenis are in language and +appearance like their Moslem neighbours, although several names in the +vicinity tell of India. Principal amongst them is the “Dar el Hinoud,” or +Indians’ monastery or house, farther on in the Teháma. Of their belief +but little was to be ascertained. It is summed up, however, in two lines +of poetry, of which I was able to obtain the translation:— + + “God is indiscoverable, by day or by night. + Do not worry about anything, there is neither heaven nor hell.” + +Professing these strange tenets, there is this sect on the highroad from +Hodaidah to Sanaa. As to their observances, the only man of their belief +I met with would say but little, while the Moslems, although uninfluenced +by the fanaticism one would expect to find, are careless. They have, I +was told, the old Judaic observance of the scapegoat, and a particular +night in the year in which they shut themselves into their houses, and +are said to practise incest. This, however, may be possibly the Moslem +idea of what really takes place. Were this to be absolutely depended +upon, the fact might point to a Karmathian origin, for Ibn Fadl allowed +the drinking of wine and this practice; but then it is scarcely likely +that a Karmathian superstition should survive in a belief which is in +direct contravention to Islam. It is known that in certain Phœnician +rites incest was allowed, and the practice of a certain nightly annual +feast in which the houses are illuminated might point to the worship +of Adonis, certain remains of which, I am informed, are found amongst +the mountaineers of the Himalayas. My information on this sect of the +Makarama continues that they are at times visited by natives of India, +who prize the charms that they are in the habit of writing; and most +probably their origin may be found in that country, for Hodaidah has +always been largely frequented by Indian traders. + +[Illustration: TURKISH CAMP OF HOJAILA.] + +Hojaila is but a small place, more a collection of huts than a town, +as it is elsewhere described, though at the time I passed through it +was augmented by a large Turkish camp, pitched near the _jimerouk_, or +custom-house. There seems, with the exception of this building, a large, +low, square place, to be no other of importance, though the Sheikh +resides in a house two storeys in height, painted red and white in bands, +which stands a curious landmark on the edge of a steep incline leading +down to the river-bed. A few trees are scattered about the place, and +under these were lolling Turkish soldiers, while the tents, and sentries +passing and repassing, gave quite a martial appearance to the otherwise +dreary scene; for, with the exception of these trees and the oleanders in +the river-bed, the country was dull and sun-dried. + +Only a short rest was allowed me here, although we had been travelling, +almost without interruption, since the early morning. However, as I was +entirely in the hands of the Turkish guards who had been sent to see +me to Hodaidah, any attempt at expostulation was out of the question. +Another advantage, too, was to be gained by pushing on—namely, the +moonlight night. + +We had left behind us now the high elevations and watered valleys, and +nothing but plain and desert lay between us and Hodaidah, some eighty +miles distant, over which, although the month was February, travelling by +day is torment. So an hour or two was all the time we spent in the _café_ +at Hojaila, and as soon as the sunset glow was dying away we loaded our +little mules again and set off. + +From sunset until near dawn we plodded on over the plain, the broken +rocky hills showing up on either side in the clear moonlight, which was +sufficiently bright to allow us to see that a considerable portion of the +country we were passing through was under cultivation. + +How balmy and warm the night was! and had it not been that one was tired +and weary with the long ride from Menakha, it would have proved most +enjoyable. As it was, one could not help admiring the loveliness of the +still moonlight, and the silence, broken only by the thud of our mules’ +feet upon the sand and the humming of the insects in the air. Every now +and then we would pass a caravan of camels, slow-gaited and patient, +which seemed to grow out of the moonlight like spectres, only to vanish +again into the darkness. + +As dawn grew near we reached Bohay, situated to the north of Jibel Damir. +It is a poor little place; but the rest in a mat _café_ was inexpressibly +refreshing, for out of the last twenty-four hours we had been nearly +twenty on the road. + +Stretching ourselves upon the string couches, which do not seem to be +in use anywhere out of the Teháma and the southern plains, we were soon +wrapped in sleep. But at sunrise my guards woke me, and we made a start +again. But our march was happily to prove only a short one, and three +hours later we drew in sight of Bajil, where at length I was promised a +well-earned rest. + +Bajil is quite a little town, its population numbering probably some +3000 souls. Except for a large Turkish fort, built for the most part of +squared stones, and a few houses of the same material, it consists of +mud-and-thatch and mat houses, enclosed by high hedges of dry mimosa and +acacia thorns in the form of zarebas. The place is prettily situated, +lying at the foot of Jibel Obaki, the surrounding plain being cultivated +with millet of two varieties, the _dokhn_ and the _durra_; while a good +water-supply allows of the growth of a considerable number of trees, +principally acacias, which render the place a veritable oasis. + +The _café_ here, except for those of the towns and that at Waalan, was +the best we had come across; for although it only consisted of a series +of mat-huts built round a large yard, everything was so clean and so tidy +that it was a real pleasure to rest in the shade, all the more so as by +this time the rays of the sun had become fierce in their heat. + +We engaged one of these mat-houses for our private use, and unloading +our mules, settled in for the day. What rendered our stay at Bajil more +refreshing than it otherwise would have proved was the presence of an +excellent _masseur_, under whose skilful hands one’s limbs lost all their +weariness. + +As soon as the cool of the afternoon allowed, I sauntered out for a +stroll through the little town. There was but little to see, it is true; +but a Yemen village always presents sights which, if not exactly pretty, +are generally of interest. A wedding-party was in full swing, guns were +being fired off, tomtoms rendered the air hideous with their sound, and +shrill pipes added to the confusion. The crowd of women who filled the +open spaces between the zarebas, that answered for streets, were attired +in holiday garments, and a gay throng they were; for, in spite of their +dull-blue clothing, they had succeeded in tying themselves up with +handkerchiefs and scarves of all colours, until they resembled rainbows. +Here, as elsewhere, it seems to be the lot of womankind to do the hard +work, and I stood for a time to watch them filling their pitchers from +the wells. The manner in which the water is drawn is the following. A +framework of wood is built over the mouth of the well, a solid beam +passing from side to side; over this cross-beam runs the rope, to the +end of which is fastened a bucket. Owing to the great depth to which the +wells have to be sunk, these ropes are necessarily of enormous length, +and the only means by which the weight can be supported is by a couple +of the women harnessing themselves to the end and running at a gentle +trot until the bucket has reached the surface, where it is emptied by a +third. One well, the length of the track passed over to draw the bucket +to the surface I measured, was only a few feet under two hundred in +depth. The labour is a severe one, but the women seem to take it as a +matter of course. In southern Morocco, where much the same system is in +use, camels or donkeys are harnessed in their place. + +The only building of any size or importance in Bajil is the Turkish +fort. It is a great square place, with circular towers jutting out here +and there, and is built almost entirely of cut stone and bricks. Though +useless against artillery, it would prove impregnable to Arab hordes, +armed only with spears and matchlock-guns. A few ill-dressed Turks were +lying about under the shade of some acacia-trees, and half-a-dozen +field-guns, none too well kept, stood near the door; but the place +offered no other signs of things military, and wore the weary appearance +of orientalism. + +This was all that there was to be seen in Bajil, so I retraced my steps +to the _café_, where I found our mules being loaded preparatory to +a start. A number of Turkish officers from Sanaa had arrived during +my absence, and we instantly struck up an acquaintance, as we were +proceeding over the same road to Hodaidah. They had been invalided from +the steamy Teháma, and had been in hospital at Sanaa. Their recovery told +a tale of the magnificent climate of that place, for they assured me that +they had left Hodaidah a couple of months before almost dead of fever. + +At four o’clock we made a start, our two little caravans uniting. The +road continues over the desert, which is here dotted with mimosa-bushes +and tufts of long grass. It was the delight of the Turkish officers to +throw matches into the latter, and as night came on we left a track +behind us of fiery stars and heaps of black ashes. There was no danger +of the fire taking too large dimensions, as the tufts of grass were +sufficiently far removed from one another to prevent the flames spreading. + +It was the last of our desert marches. A glorious night, the sky a blaze +of myriads of stars, the desert like a silver sea. Quietly and quickly +our little mules glided on. Every now and again a caravan of slouching +camels would pass by us with a dozen or so wild Bedouins in charge, on +the heads of whose spears the moonlight played and flashed, but they +soon vanished into the night. One could scarcely believe that this cool +plain, fragrant with the sweet scent of mimosa, its fragrance increased +by the heavy dew, was in the daytime a howling desert, where the sun +scorched everything to death save the thorny bushes and the coarse grass +tufts, and the camels and their Bedouin drivers; but even they scarcely +ever travel by day. Wonderful as were the sights and the grandeur of the +mountains of the Yemen, I think these night-rides over the desert have +fixed themselves more upon my memory. Tired as we often were, one could +not but wonder at the glories of the starlit heavens, and revel in the +fragrance of falling dew and mimosa. + +[Illustration: GATE OF A WALLED VILLAGE IN THE YEMEN.] + +Before midnight we reached a _café_, merely a few little huts in the +desert, but welcome nevertheless, and with shouts and cries we woke the +owner, who lit a lamp and showed us into his best accommodation, a roof +of grass supported on long canes. However, one could need no more; for it +kept off the chill of the dew, and allowed the breeze, which every now +and again stirred, to cool the hot night air. + +I shall never forget that last night in the desert,—Turks, Arabs, Moors, +and Englishman squatting on carpets, sharing a common pipe in a dimly lit +_café_ in the desert. Coffee and supper were cooking, and one could hear +the bubbling of the coffee-husks in the earthen pot that was preparing +for our men. And then they brought our supper, a couple of desert fowls +that tasted as though they had tramped a century over the sand, so tough +they were. A rest of an hour or two was all we were allowed, and long +before daylight we were off again. The desert here takes the form of +sand-dunes, in parts covered with scanty scrub, in parts bare yellow +sand, broken only by the hideous lines of crooked telegraph-posts. There +were no signs of a road, not even a track in the sand, for the slightest +breeze destroys the marks left by those who have gone before. But our +men knew the way well, and just a little after seven o’clock, when we +were beginning to suffer severely from the intense rays of the sun, a cry +proceeded from our foremost man, who stood spear in hand, a silhouette +against the burning sky. + +Hodaidah! There it was at last, dancing in the shimmering heated air +of the desert,—turned, and twisted, and indistinct, but Hodaidah +nevertheless! As we neared the town the scene became quite picturesque. +Here an old Turkish fort, half in ruins, stood out yellow from the white +sand; there the remains of some aqueduct in which no water flowed. Then +we entered palm-groves, whose greenness after the desert was refreshing, +under the shade of which nestled the clean grass-and-mat huts and zarebas +of the Arab and Indian inhabitants. + +Still on; past many a pretty country-house of the Arab merchants, +surrounded by gardens, until at length we emerged into the great +market-place that lies without the walls of the town proper, above which +rise the houses snowy white, tier upon tier in strange disorder. + +Passing under a great gateway, the upper part of which served as +barracks, we proceeded by narrow streets to our destination, a large +_café_ kept by a Greek. Here I engaged a room, and sending my Arabs and +Turkish guards to forage for themselves until I had rested, we carried +our scanty baggage to an upper chamber, the windows of which looked +out on one side to the sea, and on the other to the principal street I +settled myself in. + +But the fatigue of my march from Sanaa had been too much for me, and +in an hour my fever had returned, and I was lying, almost unconscious, +tossing from side to side. Saïd and Abdurrahman likewise were attacked, +and suffered as much perhaps as I did. But our journey was over, we had +finished with the mountains and plains of the Yemen, and our goal was +reached. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HODAIDAH. + + +The earliest mention that one finds of Hodaidah in Mahammedan history is +its capture by El-Ghuri, Sultan of Egypt, in A.D. 1515. In the native +historian’s account of the invasion of this wild horde of Circassians, +Kurds, and other strange peoples, the town is mentioned by the name of +Jadidah,[45] the new (town), although this by no means can be taken as a +proof that the city had only been founded shortly before that period—for +Jadidah, as the name of a city, is common all over the East, and every +place was probably at one time “new,” though the title may long ago have +become inappropriate. This tends to prove that it was probably not until +the Red Sea trade had reached a flourishing condition, although at that +time entirely in the hands of the natives, that Hodaidah sprang into +existence. + +Being situated on the sea-coast, and only a little to the south of +the country of the Asir tribes, it has not escaped from attack from +both quarters. Principal amongst these, perhaps, was its capture by +the Asir chief, Abd el-Hakal, in 1804. In the interests of the Wahabi +belief, which he, like so many of his tribe, had embraced, he made an +organised attack upon the northern Teháma. His people, buoyed up with the +fanaticism of their new tenets, devastated whole districts, and held the +entire Yemen in terror. Four years later, however, Hodaidah was once more +restored to the then reigning Imam of Sanaa, Seyed Ahmed ibn Ali Mansur. + +From this time, for a space of some four-and-twenty years, we find +Hodaidah thriving under the impetus given to trade by the European +merchant-ships, which were at this period crowding to the Red Sea; and +its lot seems to have been a peaceful one, until the arrival there in +1832 of the dreaded Turkchee Bilmas, by which nickname Mahammed Agha was +generally known. Marching overland from the Hedjaz, he encamped close to +the city, while his vessels, which had proceeded by sea from Jeddah and +Yembo, blockaded the port. On being refused provisions by the governor, +he commenced to open fire upon the town walls, whereupon the place +capitulated. However, the energetic Mahammed Agha did not remain there, +but, leaving four hundred men under the command of Agha Murshid, he +marched on Zebeed.[46] + +The Egyptian Government abandoned the Yemen in 1840, eight years after +the taking of Hodaidah by Turkchee Bilmas, and it was arranged that +this portion of the country at least should fall into the possession +of the Grand Shereef of Mecca. But another claimant stepped forward in +the person of Huseyn ibn Ali, Shereef of Abou Areesh, who with the Asir +tribe, whose assistance he had been able to obtain, took the field with +twenty thousand men;[47] and the very day that Hodaidah was abandoned by +Ibrahim Pasha, the Shereefs troops, under the leadership of his brother, +Abou Taleb, took possession of the place. Notwithstanding the recognition +of the Shereef Huseyn’s power did not last long; for the Asiri, ever +ready for plunder, occupied the town, and only released the merchants, +whom they had imprisoned, on their paying large ransoms. + +In 1849 a great change was destined to take place in the government of +the Yemen, and the Turks, proceeding from Jeddah, occupied Hodaidah, the +Shereef of that town obtaining a subsidy from the Ottoman Government in +return for his handing over the place. This pension, however, he never +received; and accordingly, in 1851 he started to report his case to the +Sultan at Constantinople. But sudden death cut short his career on the +road, and there is little doubt but that he was murdered.[48] The leader +of this Turkish expedition, Tufieh Pasha, became governor of Hodaidah and +the surrounding country. + +It was shortly after this that a treaty was drawn up between the Imam of +Sanaa and the Sublime Porte, in which the principal clauses were that the +Imam was still to continue to reign, but that he should be considered as +a vassal of Abdul-Mejid, the then reigning Sultan of Turkey; that the +revenues were to be equally divided between the Sultan and the Imam; and +that Sanaa should be garrisoned by Turkish forces. Although the sequel +of this story belongs rather to the history of Sanaa than to that of +Hodaidah, it may be given briefly at this point, as it follows as a +sequence upon this treaty of Hodaidah. Returning with the Imam, Tufieh +Pasha arrived at Sanaa, and the change in government was made known to +the inhabitants. What, however, seems particularly to have fired them +to opposition was the substitution of the name of Abdul-Mejid for that +of their Imam Mahammed Yahia in the prayers. Being of the Zaidi sect, +one of the many divisions of the Sheiyas,[49] this naturally affected +them more than any temporal changes could have done, and before midnight +they had cut to pieces a large proportion of the Turkish troops, who, +although they had taken possession of one of the city forts, were unable +to make any resistance. At length, wounded, and with only a handful of +men, Tufieh Pasha bought a permit to return to Hodaidah, for which he +paid twenty thousand dollars, and retired to that spot, where he died of +his wounds and exhaustion. Mahammed Yahia, the unfortunate Imam who had +entered into this treaty with the Turks, was secretly assassinated,—Ali +Mansur, already twice deposed, being installed in his place. + +But a still more horrible tale is yet to be told regarding Hodaidah. In +1855 some sixty thousand men of the Asir tribe marched against the place +with the idea of sacking it. They deferred the attack, however, owing to +the presence of British ships of war; but the inhabitants, owing to all +communication with the interior being cut off, had reached a condition +of great misery, when cholera broke out amongst the Asiri, no less than +fifteen thousand dying before they reached their homes. + +But to return to Hodaidah as I saw it in February and March of last +year—1892. + +Hodaidah lies on the north-east side of a large bay, and somewhat +sheltered by a promontory on the north-west. The town is a large one, and +contains probably between thirty and thirty-five thousand inhabitants, +though at the time the author was there the number was swelled by a large +addition of Turkish troops. The place is a nourishing one: the bazaars, +of which more anon, are well supplied; the houses solidly built, and +high. Its one great drawback is its feverish climate, the few Europeans +and the natives alike suffering at certain periods of the year. After a +rainfall, for instance, or in the winter when the westerly winds are +blowing, fever attacks the place like an epidemic. + +With this short description I may revert to my personal experiences of +Hodaidah. + +As soon as my attack of fever had worn off sufficiently to allow of +my going out, accompanied by my guards, I proceeded to the Governors +residence. He received me most politely, a chair was at once got for +me, cigarettes and coffee brought in, while his Excellency perused the +letters which my soldiers had brought from the Governor-General at Sanaa. +This over, he bade me welcome, and we had a pleasant chat, conversing in +Arabic, of which his Excellency knew less than myself, so that at last we +found that things went more easily when a Greek entered who spoke French. + +[Illustration: _A Street in Hodaidah._] + +The Governor’s first question to me was worth recording. He was a little +nervous at first, and for a minute there was an awkward silence, which +his Excellency broke by asking, “Did you fight in the Crimea?” I replied +that I was not born until some ten years after that war was over. +However, I found the question had a purpose, for on the Governor’s breast +hung the English Crimean medal, which he handed me to examine with great +pride. After this episode conversation was carried on more easily, and +finally I obtained his Excellency’s permission to continue residing in +the upper chamber of the _café_ until I should depart. Very different +were the Government offices here from the gorgeous apartments of the +Governor-General at Sanaa. Here there was only a small bare room with a +few chairs, none of which were in very good repair. An outside staircase +of rickety steps leads to the first storey of the building, where the +principal offices appear to be situated, the lower portion serving as +a store. A constant flow of gaudy officers and ill-clothed soldiers +passed and repassed. I had several interviews with the Governor during my +stay of a week in Hodaidah, and on every occasion found him polite and +amiable, although he refused to allow me to continue my journey by land, +as I had hoped to have done, _viâ_ Beit el-Fakih, Zebeed, and Hais. + +On my return to my quarters I found a couple of Turkish soldiers calmly +seated in my room, one of them on my bed, and smoking my cigarettes. +Although I was prepared to be watched, I was not at all inclined to put +up with this intrusion, and with the aid of Abdurrahman, Saïd, and a +boot, soon put them to flight. I at once returned to the Governor to +explain the matter to him, and on my way to his apartment was accosted +in the most polite manner by an officer, who begged me not to report the +matter, saying that if I liked to pay him a couple of dollars he would +see that the guard was removed. But what with annoyance and fever, I was +not in a mood to pay anybody anything, so went straight to his Excellency +and told my story. The old man and his officers burst into fits of +laughter, explaining to me that the guard had only been put there for +me to pay something for their removal, and that the whole thing was a +“plant.” I begged him to send for the officer who wanted _bakshish_, and +speak to him, so that I should not be put to the same annoyance again, +and this he willingly did. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that I +was left in tolerable peace, I soon found that my every movement was +watched, but never interfered with. This last was no doubt owing partly +to the good offices of one who showed me great kindness and hospitality +in Hodaidah, Dr Ahmed, a native of India, who ably represents H.B.M. +Government as Vice-Consul there. I cannot speak highly enough of my +appreciation of his and his English wife’s many acts of kindness toward +me; and although, owing to ill health, my recollections of Hodaidah are +none too cheery, I shall always remember how anxious Dr and Mrs Ahmed +were to render pleasant my stay. A doctor of Glasgow University, Dr Ahmed +made his name in Assam in the Indian medical service, and was only a +short time ago appointed Vice-Consul at Hodaidah; and it is to be hoped +that the skilful way in which he carries out his by no means easy duties +there, and keeps firmly rooted in that town a feeling of respect between +the British and Turkish Governments, will shortly obtain for him a post +in some more healthy and important place. + +The _café_ in which I had taken up my quarters faced the sea on one +side, and the only wide street in the town on the other, that which lies +along the seaboard, from which it is only divided by the Government +offices and huts of _areesh_ or reeds. From my window on the second +storey I was able to watch the people passing and repassing, and many +an hour was spent thus in idleness. But if this street offered scenes +of character, how much more so did the bazaars! and there, when I was +well enough, I used to sit talking to the Arab shopkeepers and sipping +coffee. Good intelligent fellows many of them were, and always ready +to waste half an hour in listening to tales of Egypt and Morocco, and +even of my journey in the Yemen. What sights the bazaars offer! All the +nationalities of the world seem to crowd there—strange weird people in +every stage of clothing, from almost nakedness to rich robes of striped +silks. Unlike the bazaars at Aden, those of Hodaidah are roofed in from +the sun, the fierce rays of which yet find cracks and crannies in the +wood and mats to creep through. But their brilliant light falling upon +some stall of fruit perhaps only tends to throw into deeper shadow the +rest of the crowded street. In the cool of the afternoon I would saunter +round and take up my station on the little shop-platform of a seller of +books, and spend an hour or two with him. A wizened little old man he +was, a native of Zebeed; but he was good company, and would put aside all +ideas of business when he saw me coming, and would point out the strange +figures amongst the passers-by, and tell me whence they came and who they +were. Jews, Indians of all kinds, Persians, Arabs, Egyptians, Bedouins, +Abyssinians, Turks, Greeks, negroes, and a few Europeans, would jostle +each other in the narrow ways. + +From the bazaars to the town walls is but a step. Passing out of the +fortified gates, of which there are several, one issued on to the large +open space, the _sôk_ or market, which we had crossed when we entered +the town. Here garden produce was offered for sale, generally exposed on +the ground, though a number of little mat-and-reed huts contained small +shops. The larger of these flimsy structures serve as _cafés_, and one +or two as Parsee theatres. The largest of the _cafés_ was a constant +resort of mine, and of an evening I would sit, accompanied by Saïd, +who, in spite of his fever, had polished up his dress—what there was of +it—and his raven locks. So beautiful had he become that little groups +of the female sex would come and joke with him; and though he treated +them with a certain amount of haughty indifference, he was by no means +unappreciative of their attentions, and had a knack of being out after +dark. There one would see the Turkish officers in gold-lace, with their +glass hookahs in front of them, lounging away the afternoon hours. There, +too, were the merchants, gorgeous in silk raiment and turbans, talking +business over coffee and tobacco. + +The remaining streets and places of Hodaidah offer but little +attractiveness. The streets are narrow and the houses high, and except +now and again for a richly carved doorway, there is but little of +interest to be seen. + +The greatest disadvantage to Hodaidah, after its feverish climate, is +the exceedingly poor water-supply; for although there are some brackish +wells in the neighbourhood, all pure water has to be brought from a +distance of some miles. It is carried in skins and barrels on the backs +of camels and donkeys. + +Near these wells, under the guidance of Dr Ahmed, I spent a pleasant +afternoon in a beautiful garden belonging to a certain wealthy Arab, +whose fortune was made, it is said, by purchasing the right of collecting +taxes from the Ottoman Government. This, in the hands of an unscrupulous +and hard man, means a very considerable income, and the garden in +question was a proof that the old Arab evidently throve. The road from +the town passes along sandy lanes and amongst palm-groves until the open +desert is reached. Continuing over this for a mile or so, one reaches the +wells, while green trees peeping over the high garden walls break the +monotony of sand and scrub. + +Immediately on our arrival the gate was thrown open, and we entered a +veritable paradise—a walled garden many acres in extent, and filled with +gorgeous trees and shrubs, which the owner is said to have collected from +all quarters of the tropics. Irrigation was carried on by water-wheels +and wells, and streamlets flowed in every direction. Under the shade of +the large trees summer-houses had been erected of trellis-work, over +which jasmine and roses and many a creeper, the name of which I did +not know, climbed in luxuriance. In these divans were arranged, and +one could enjoy the sight of the flowers in cool shade. Wonderful they +were, those shrubs and trees and plants, hung with great masses of bloom +of every colour, while here and there tall lilies raised their stately +heads. The trees were full of birds, and the garden was sweet with the +scent of the flowers and the hum of the insects’ wings. + +Long into the moonlit night we sat there, until the chill dew told us it +was time to seek more secure shelter. Yet in all their loveliness there +lurks poison in this paradise, and nearly all our party suffered from +fever in consequence of our visit. + +But few Europeans live in Hodaidah, with the exception of the Greeks. The +wife of the British Vice-Consul was the one English lady in the place, +the only other British subject, excepting natives of India, &c., being a +Maltese gentleman, agent for a British firm. A few Americans, however, +are to be found, the trade in skins to America being an important +one. Of the other nationalities there are perhaps in all half-a-dozen +representatives. + +During my stay the port was visited by a small Turkish gunboat, the +captain of which, whose name I never discovered, paid me a call. He had +been educated at the Naval College at Constantinople, and spoke English +remarkably well. He was tired of his berth, he said, his weariness being +materially added to by the irregularity of his pay. In this respect, he +added, he was better off than most of the Turkish soldiers in the Yemen, +for they received none at all. Although at Hodaidah the condition of the +troops seemed fairly good as regards food and clothing, we had found at +more than one place in the interior the soldiers bootless and payless, +and receiving as rations only two loaves of bread a-day, one of which +they usually ate, the other being exchanged for tobacco. A piastre or two +to a soldier won as genuine thanks as ever one heard. It meant little +luxuries which his heart longed for, cigarettes and coffee, and which for +weeks very likely he had been unable to attain to. + +At length, after seven days of fever, a steamer arrived in the port, +and I saw means of getting to Aden. Saying good-bye to Dr Ahmed on the +rickety little pier, down one of the supports of which I was obliged to +clamber in order to reach the rowing-boat, as the steps had been washed +away, or never built, I forget which, I shook off the dust of Hodaidah +from my feet, and in an hour or so was aboard an English steamer, having +a yarn with an English captain and mate. + +In a few days we were back once more in Aden, arriving on the very day on +which quarantine from the Red Sea ports was removed, so that I was only +detained half an hour on the hulk Hyderabad, in place of the seven days I +had feared I would have to undergo. + +The welcome I received from all friends here was very kind, and many a +laugh we enjoyed together over my adventures in the Yemen. + + * * * * * + +Just as my journey was then concluded, so is my account of it finished +now. A year has passed since I left the country, and yet its every detail +is as clear to me as if it had all happened yesterday. As I lay down my +pen I conjure up in my mind the desert-rides under a myriad of brilliant +stars; I feel upon my cheek the soft balmy southern breeze; I see again +our little party hiding in the gullies, and creeping on by night over the +terrible rough roads of the mountains. Once more, warned by an unknown +friend, I escape by night from Beit Saïd; once more, but this time with a +smile, I spend five days a prisoner in the _conàk_ of Sanaa. Once more I +pass through the great valleys and descend to the desert, and I shudder +over the remembrance of nights and days of fever—a fever that clung to +me for months. Yet my recollections of the country are ones that I shall +always treasure; and in spite of dangers and sickness, in spite of long +marches and days in prison, the Yemen will always be for me, at least, +Arabia Felix. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] In 1871 the rainfall at Aden was only one-fourth of an inch. + +[2] Hist. gen. des Voyages, vol. xxxi. p. 438. + +[3] Playfair’s Yemen, p. 22. + +[4] Ibid., pp. 135-139. + +[5] Sailing Directions for the Red Sea. + +[6] Kay’s translation of Omarah’s Yemen, 1892. + +[7] Ibn Khaldun, Kay’s translation, 1892. + +[8] Playfair’s Yemen, p. 4. + +[9] Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 68. + +[10] Playfair’s Yemen, pp. 43, 44. + +[11] Kay’s Omarah. London, 1892. + +[12] Professor Sayce’s “Ancient Arabia” and “Results of Oriental +Archæology,” in the Contemporary Review. + +[13] Human Origins. S. Laing, 1892. P. 94. + +[14] These measurements were made by Mons. D’Arnaud in 1843. + +[15] Vincent’s Periplus, vol. i. p. 53. + +[16] Koran, chap. lxxxv. + +[17] Akhdam, plural of Khedim, a word usually employed for a slave to-day. + +[18] Ibn Khaldun, Kay’s translation, 1892. + +[19] A list of the Imams of Sanaa will be found at the end of the book. + +[20] Niebuhr’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 85. + +[21] Playfair’s Yemen, pp. 113, 114. + +[22] Playfair’s Yemen, pp. 118, 119. + +[23] Playfair’s Yemen, p. 131. + +[24] Playfair’s Yemen, p. 147. + +[25] Playfair’s Yemen, pp. 153, 154. + +[26] Mahomet and Islam. Sir William Muir. 1887. + +[27] Al-Baha-’l Janadi, ‘Karmathians in Yaman.’ Kay’s translation, 1892. + +[28] Les Confréries Musulmanes du Hedjaz. A le Chatelier. Paris 1887. + +[29] The Sunnis hold that the Caliphate need not necessarily descend in +the family of the Prophet. + +[30] Sadah is situated about eight days’ journey north of Sanaa, on the +borders of the desert. + +[31] Ezek. xxvii. 21-23. + +[32] “Arriani periplus maris Erythræi.” + +[33] Itinerario de Ludovico de Barthema, 1535. Translated by Richard +Eden, 1576. + +[34] Three Hours in Aden. Bombay, 1891. + +[35] “In the name of God”—the Arab grace before eating. + +[36] The salutation of Moslems all the world over. + +[37] _Tholba_, the plural of _thaleb_, a name generally applied to those +who have studied the Koran—members of the priesthood. + +[38] This rifle was returned to me on the eve of my departure from +Tangier for the Atlas Mountains in October 1892. + +[39] _Kabyla_ = a tribe. + +[40] “Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and +Chilmad, were thy merchants.”—Ezekiel xxvii. 23. + +[41] General Haig, in the Royal Geographical Proceedings, August 1887. + +[42] The Zaidis are a division of the Sheiya sect. + +[43] The Koran, _sura_ vii. + +[44] The Koran, _sura_ xv. + +[45] Kay’s Omarah, p. 237. + +[46] Records of the Bombay Government. + +[47] Playfair’s Yemen, p. 146. + +[48] Ibid. + +[49] See chapter on “The Influences of Islam in the Yemen.” + + + + +APPENDIX + + +GENEALOGICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL TREE OF THE IMAMS OF SANAA, SHOWING THEIR +DESCENT FROM MAHAMMED. + + MAHAMMED, died A.D. 632(= A.H. 11). + | + FATIMA AND ALI. + | + HASAN. + | + HASAN. + | + IBRAHIM. + | + ISMAIL. + | + IBRAHIM. + | + ALI KASIM ER-RASSI. + | + HOSEYN. + | + EL HADI YAHIA. + | + EN NASIR AHMED. + | + YAHIA. + | + YUSUF ED DAY. + | + --- + SEVERAL GENERATIONS. + --- + | + ALI EL AMLAHI. + | + MAHAMMED. + | + +------------------+----------+-----------------+ + | | | + | (1) | + | _MANSUR EL KASIM_, 1620; died 1620. HOSEYN. + | | | + | +----+------+ +----------+-----------+ + | | | | | | + (4) (2) (3) (10) (5) (8) + _AHMED_, _EL MUAYYAD _ISMAIL_, _ABBAS_, _MAHAMMED_, _KASIM_, + 1677. MAHAMMED_, 1676. 1774. 1678. 1719. + | 1645. | | + | +-------------+---------+ | + | | | | + (6) (11) | (9) + _MAHAMMED_, _ALI_, KASIM. _HOSEYN_, + 1707. 1809. | 1740. + | | + (12) | + _AHMED_, MAHAMMED. + 1817. | + | | + +-------------+--------+------+ | + | | | | + | (16) (13) (15) + YAHIA. _MAHAMMED_, _ABDULLAH_, _ABDULLAH_, + | 1844. 1834. 1840. + | | + | | + (18) (14)} | + _MAHAMMED_, (17)} =ALI= (three times Imam). + 1849. (19)} 186-. + | + (20) + _GHALIB_ + (Living in 1859). + +_Note._—The parentage of the seventh Imam Mahammed ibn Hasan is not known +for certain. He died in 1708. + +The names in italics are those of the Imams of Sanaa. The numbers within +parentheses refer to the order in which they reigned. The numbers after +the names are the probable dates of their deaths. + + +A LIST OF THE IMAMS OF SANAA, GIVING THEIR FULL TITLES. + +_Note._—This list is compiled from Niebuhr’s table, as given in Sir R. L. +Playfair’s ‘History of Yemen,’ with one or two corrections from native +authorities. + + 1. Mansur El-Kasim El-Kebir. + 2. El-Muayyad Mahammed. + 3. Ismail El-Metawakil Al’ Allah. + 4. Ahmed El-Mejd Billah. + 5. Mahammed El-Mehdi Hadi. + 6. Mahammed El-Mehdi. + 7. Mahammed En-Nasir. + 8. Kasim El-Metawakil. + 9. Hoseyn El-Mansur. + 10. Abbas El-Mehdi. + 11. Ali El-Mansur. + 12. Ahmed El-Metawakil. + 13. Abdullah El-Mehdi. + 14. Ali El-Mansur. + 15. Abdullah En-Nasir. + 16. Mahammed El-Hadi. + 17. Ali El-Mansur. + 18. Mahammed El-Metawakil. + 19. Ali El-Mansur. + 20. Ghalib El-Hadi. + + +PEDIGREE OF THE REIGNING ABDALI SULTAN OF LAHEJ. + + SALEM. + | + SÁLEH. + | + FOUDTHEL. + | + ALI. + | + [1728] 1. FOUDTHEL, + First Independent Sultan. + | + [1742] 2. ABD-EL-KARIM. + | + +------------------------+-----------------------+ + | | | + [1753] 3. ABD EL HADY. [1777] 4. FOUDTHEL. [1792] 5. AHMED. + | + [1827] 6. MHASSEN. + | + +-----------+ + | | + [1847] 7. AHMED. [1849] 8. ALI. + +_Note._—The dates are those of their succession according to Playfair’s +‘Yemen.’ + + + + +INDEX TO PROPER NAMES. + + + Abbaside dynasty, 50, 51. + + Abd el-Hakal, 359. + + Abd er-Rabi, 60, 167. + + Abd esh-Shems, 31, 38, 126, 145. + + Abdali tribe, 7, 16, 132, 165, 181, 211. + Sultan, 21, 133, 167. + + Abdul Hamid, 86, 92-94, 116. + Mejid, 361. + Wahab, 54, 63, 147. + + Abdullah the Sulayhite, 18. + + Abou Arish, 20, 21, 22, 66. + Bekr, 49, 85, 86, 321. + ’l Jaysh, 52. + Mahammed, 51. + + Abrahá, 43, 44. + + Abraham, 30, 31. + + Abyssinia, 75, 138. + + Abyssinians, 41-45, 53, 71, 80, 135, 253. + + Acacia eburnea, 139. + + Ad, 318. + + Adites, 318, 319. + + Aden, 4, 6-8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 41, 44, 53, 55, 56, + 60, 66, 104, 105, 115, 116, 121-129, 130-133, 139, 148-150, + 151, 158, 163, 165-167, 175, 185, 208, 209, 211, 214, 222, 306, + 345. + Gulf of, 4. + Little, 133, 136, 159. + + Adenum obesum, 140. + + Adirbijan, 40. + + Adnan, 30, 31, 189. + + Adonis, 348. + + Ælius Gallus, 30, 40, 127. + + Africa, 14, 28, 33, 81, 84, 90, 91, 126, 137, 138, 164, 192, 293, 319. + + Agha, Mahammed, or Turkchee Bilmas, 65, 131, 359, 360. + + Agha Murshid, 359. + + Ahmed ed-Din, 99, 101, 104, 105, 110, 252, 266, 339. + Doctor, 365, 369, 370. + Feizi Pasha, 107, 109, 111, 112, 115, 202, 297, 303, 339. + ibn Ali Mansur, 63, 64, 359. + ibn Musa, 16. + Pasha, 66. + Sultan, 168. + + Ahurram, Jibel, 197. + + Akhaf, desert of, 22. + + Akhdam, the, 45, 253. + + Akrabi tribe, 21. + + Akran, el-, 40. + + Akriba, 49. + + Alajioud, 189. + + Albuquerque, Alphonso de, 129. + + Alexander the Great, 9. + or Iskander, 128. + + Algeria, 4. + + Ali abou Mehdi, 167. + bou Rhaleb, 209. + el-Mansur, 17, 63, 67, 362. + ibn Abou Taleb, 48, 50, 52, 57, 84, 85, 98, 255. + ibn Fadl, 87, 88, 264. + ibn Mansur, 54. + Sultan of Lahej, 161, 165, 169. + + Aloui tribe, 115, 189. + + Amat, El-, 180. + + American traders, 11. + + Amin, 51. + + Amin el-Bahr, 59. + es-Sôk, 59. + + Amir Morjaun, 129. + + Amir of Bishi, 198, 200. + of Dhala, 25, 195, 198. + + Amran, 104-106, 110. + + Anis, Jibel, and tribe of, 49, 111, 286. + + Arab tribes, 24, 32, 189. + Zaidis, 86. + + Arabia Deserta, 5. + Felix, 5, 7, 48, 225, 232, 238, 272. + Petræa, 5. + South, 28. + + Aredoah, 197. + + Arib, 31. + + Arnaud, Mons d’, 37, 146. + + Aryans, 36. + + Aryat, 42, 43, 320. + + Asaad abou Karib, or Dhu Nowas, 41, 42. + ibn Yafur, 52, 53. + + “Ascension,” the ship, 57, 130. + + Ashari, Beled, 197. + Jibel, 197. + + Ashram, 43, 44, 320. + + Ashur, 33. + + Asia, 319. + Central, 242. + Minor, 183, 250. + + Asir, tribe of, 4, 5, 10, 22, 25, 63, 64, 66, 93, 100, 105, 358, 359, + 360, 362. + + Assam, 365. + + Assassins, the, 88. + + Asshur, 126. + + Astarte, 33. + + Aswad, El-, 49. + + Athaik, 283. + + Athl trees, 182. + + Atlas Mts., 231. + + Attara, 342. + + Aylan, Kays, 31. + + Ayyubite Caliphs, 54, 127. + + Azab, 215, 218. + + + Baal, 40. + + Bab el-Mandeb, 14, 16, 21, 24, 62, 134, 165. + + Bagdad, 48, 172. + + Bajil, 67, 347, 351-353. + + Balkis, Queen, 23, 40. + + Banna, el-, Wadi, 222, 231, 236. + + Barthema, L. de, or Vertomanus, 128. + + Bashi-bazouks, 102. + + Bashir ibn Ardeb, 50. + + Bas-Katéb, 58. + + Bauan, 326. + + Bedouins, 7, 13, 20, 22, 94, 101, 162, 163, 183, 187, 189, 192, 194, + 355. + + Beit el-Fakih, 15, 16, 68, 365. + en-Nedish, 225, 229. + Saïd, 229, 233, 234, 236, 239, 372. + + Beled Alajioud, 198. + Ashari, 197. + el-Hawad, 239. + el-Jehaf, 20, 23. + el-Kabail, 20, 21. + + Belkama, or Yalkama, 40. + + Beni Hallel, 21. + Matar, 289. + Meruan, 100, 105. + Yafur, 51. + Zuray, 127. + + Berbera, 138. + + Besaisi, Sheikh, 206, 208, 209, 215, 220, 223. + + Beyrout, 197. + + B’dam trees, 166, 198. + + Bir Ahmed, 147, 161. + el-Azab, 106, 299, 323, 324. + + Bishi, Amir of, 198, 200. + + Blanket, Admiral, 14. + + Bohay, 350. + + Bombay, 60, 88, 135, 174. + + British traders, 37, 130. + + Broeck, Van den, 11, 130. + + Bruce, Captain, 12, 65. + + Budhan or Budzan, 47, 320. + + Bukht Nasser, or Nebuchadnezzar, 30. + + Bulhar, 138. + + + Cadi, 58, 77. + + Cæsars, the, 127. + + Cairo, 65, 305. + + Caliph of the East (Harun el-Rashid), 51. + + Caliphs, the, 53, 58, 83, 85, 86, 93, 305. + + Campbell, Mr, 62. + + Canneh, 126. + + Caparidiciæ, 139. + + Catha edulis (“Kat”), 170. + + Chaldæa, 34, 38, 40. + + Chevalier, Mons. A. le, 90. + + Chilmad, 126. + + China, 40, 138. + + Chinese, the, 135, 305. + + Christianity, 70-74, 79, 83, 90. + + Christians, 41, 42, 46-48, 50. + + Circassians, 358. + + Claudius, 127. + + Cleopatris, 39. + + Constantine, 127, 207. + + Constantinople, 67, 96, 97, 105, 115, 116, 149, 151, 169, 297, 298, + 370. + + Constantius, 41. + + “Coote,” H.M.S., 131. + + Covilham, Pedro de, 55, 127, 128. + + Crimea, 363. + + “Cruizer,” H.M.S., 132. + + + Damascus, 33. + + Damir, Jibel, 350. + + Danish expedition, 61. + + Dar el-Hinoud, 347. + en-Nekil, 201. + es-Salaam, 107-288. + + “Darling,” H.M.S., 130. + + David, 79. + + Day Imran, 148. + + Denmark, 61. + + “Deria dowlat,” 131, 168. + + Dhala, 115, 176, 202. + + Dhamar, 17, 18, 21, 25, 87, 96, 97, 100, 104, 111, 113, 212, 251, + 256-259, 263-265, 267, 269, 271, 272, 279, 280, 281, 286, 287, + 304. + el-Gar, 257. + + Dhofir, 105, 112. + + Dhu-biyat, 188, 196. + + Dhu Jiblah (or Jiblah), 18, 21, 104, 111. + + Dhu-Nowas. _See_ Asaad abou Karib. + + Dhu Ruayn, 251. + + Digishúb, 255, 256. + + Dodekites, 85, 87. + + “Dokhn,” 351. + + Dommicetti, Lieutenant, 65. + + Domville, Captain, 191. + + Doran, Jibel, 282. + + Dowla, 58. + + Druses, 85. + + “Durra,” 351. + + Dutch traders, 11, 130. + + + East India Coy., 14, 57, 130. + + Eden, 126. + + Egypt, 14, 17, 34, 35, 39, 55, 66, 72, 90, 129, 135, 367. + + Egyptians, 129, 367. + + El-Asfal, Medinet, 24. + + El-Faki, Saïd, 67. + + El-Ghuri, 358. + + El-Hadi Mahammed, 67. + + El-Hadi Yahia, 53, 57. + + El-Hajra, 341. + + El-Hasan, Mulai, 293. + + El-Hinoud, Dar, 347. + + El-Islam, Sheikh, 77. + + El-Kasim, 59. + + El-Kebir, Wadi, 176. + + El-Khamis, Sôk, 327, 329. + + El-Mamun, 51. + + El-Mehdi Abbas, 62. + + El-Mehdi Najoul, 324. + + El-Mehdi Senussi, 90. + + El-Muayyad Mahammed, 58. + + El-Mustansir, 58. + + El-Mutawakil, 52. + + El-Muzaffer, 54. + + Emporium Romanum, 127. + + En-Nekil, 287. + + Es-Salaam, Dar, 107, 288. + + Es-Seghir, Wadi, 176. + + Esh-Shari, 206, 212. + + Ethiopia, 39. + + Euphorbiaceæ, 139. + + + Fatimide dynasty, 85. + + Fez, 209, 245, 305. + + Fezzan, 91. + + Florence, 55, 128. + + Foudthel ibn Ali, 167. + + Foudtheli tribe, 7, 16, 21, 131, 165, 211. + + France, 6, 14, 62. + + Frederick V. of Denmark, 61. + + French, the, 62. + traders, 11. + + + Galata, 149. + + Galla-land, 8, 232. + + Ghadan, 230. + + Gharrah, 24. + + “Ghee,” 186. + + Ghubbat Seilan, 176. + + Ghumdan, 303. + + Glaser, Dr Edward, 29, 32, 244. + + Goa, 56. + + Greece, 35. + + Greeks, 125. + + Gregentius, St, 43. + + + Habesh. _See_ Abyssinia. + + Haddha, Jibel, 202. + + Hadramaut, 4, 18, 23, 28, 102, 131, 253, 269, 287, 312, 319, 321. + + Haig, General, 313. + + Haines, Captain, 131, 132, 146. + + Hais, 21, 365. + + Hait Hirran, 258, 264, 272, 274, 280, 281. + + Hajarat el-Mehdi, 110, 324. + + Hajeriya, 60. + + Hakim, 85. + + Hamdani princes, 127. + + Hanífa, 48. + + Haran, 126, 281. + + Harrar, 8, 138. + + Harun el-Rashid, 51. + + Hasan Pasha, 57. + + Hashishiyin (or Assassins), 88. + + Hashid wa Bakil, 20. + + Hashma, 176. + + Hazarmaveth, 30. + + Hedfaf Pass, 143. + + Hejaz, the, 4, 22, 25, 40, 43, 64, 65, 93, 94, 100, 113, 317, 359. + + Hejira, the, 27, 48. + + Helena, Queen of Abyssinia, 127. + + Himalayas, 348. + + Himyar, 31, 44, 45, 126, 145, 244. + + Himyaric kings, 38, 40, 42, 51, 145, 319. + + Hindus, 135. + + Hodaidah, 10, 13, 15, 65-67, 69, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 107, 113, + 151, 153, 302, 334, 335, 339, 348, 349, 350, 354, 356, 358, + 359, 360, 363, 367, 368, 370, 371. + + Hojaila, 109, 339, 350. + + Hormuzd, 41, 44. + + “House of the scholar,” or Beit el-Fakih, 15, 16, 68, 365. + + Houshabi tribe, 115, 165, 180, 181. + + Howr, 24. + + Howra, 241. + + Howta, 16, 163, 165, 166, 172, 174, 175, 177. + + Hud, 318. + + Hungary, 11. + + Huseyn, 53. + ibn Ali, 360. + ibn Salaamah, 18, 22, 287. + Shereef, 67, 68. + + Hyderabad, 169, 371. + + + Ibb, 18, 21, 104, 111, 287. + + Ibn Abou Taleb. _See_ Ali. + Ali Foudthel, 167. + Ardeb, Bashir, 50. + Hasan, Mansur, 87. + Hasan, Tubba, 41. + Huseyn, 360. + Khaldun, 17, 18, 19, 126, 263, 319. + Khalifa, Nizar, 88. + Mehdi Ali, 167. + Salaamah, 18, 22, 287. + Yafur. _See_ Asaad. + + Ibrahim, 53. + + Ibrahim Pasha, 17, 65, 360. + Tabátabá, 53. + + Idris, Mulai, 209. + + Imamites, 77. + + Imams, the, 17, 52, 53, 57-59, 60-62, 65, 85, 98, 104, 115, 131, 167, + 252, 322. + + Imran, Day, 148. + + India, 9, 53, 56, 62, 84, 125, 129, 131, 135, 138, 148, 347, 349, 356. + + Indian merchants, 61. + Ocean, 4. + + Ishmael, 31. + + Ishmaelites, 30, 32. + + Iskander. _See_ Alexander. + + Islam, 28, 36, 39, 48, 49, 53, 58, 70-73, 82-87, 90, 91, 94, 308, + 321, 360, 362. + Sheikh el-, 77. + + Ismail, 53, 59. + Pasha, 111, 214, 230, 246. + Seyed, 132, 133. + + Ismailites, 85, 87. + + Issi, Jibel, 258. + + + Jadidah, 358. + + Janad, 87. + + Janadi, el-, 85, 264. + + Jaskum, 44. + + Jeddah, 13, 65, 359, 360. + + Jehaf, Jibel, 202. + + Jelileh, 202, 206. + + Jeraaf, 315. + + Jerusalem, 55. + + Jews, 23, 34, 50, 73, 74, 106, 124, 125, 148, 177, 255, 264, 272, + 312, 313, 323. + + Jibál, the, 7. + + Jibel Ahurram, 197. + Anis, 49, 111, 286. + Ashari, 197. + Doran, 282. + Issi, 258. + Jahaf, 202. + Menif, 181, 343. + Mrais, 202. + Negoum, 106, 107, 110, 224, 298, 299, 301. + Obaki, 351. + Safan, 343. + Samára, 247, 253. + Zukur, 255. + + Jiblah, 18, 21, 104, 111. + + John, Prester, 55, 128. + + Joktan, or Kahtan, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 127, 140, 189, 319. + + Jopp, General, 140. + + Joseph, or Yusef, 42. + + Judaism, 40, 42, 73, 83. + + + Kaabah, the, 43, 320. + + Kabail, Beled el-, 21. + + Kabyla el-Owd, 220, 224, 250. + + Kahtan, or Joktan, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 127, 146, 189, 319. + + Kaimakams, 104, 247, 251, 259, 334, 335, 337. + + Kaït Bey, 305. + + Kamaran, 13. + + Kariat en-Negil, 18, 287. + + Karmathians, 87, 264, 348. + + Kasim el-Kebir, 57. + er-Rassi, 53. + + “Kat” (Catha edulis), 170. + + Kátaba, 21, 22, 25, 60, 111, 115, 202, 206, 212, 214, 230, 233, 246, + 247, 250, 260. + + Kaukeban, 20, 21. + + Kay, Mr, 19, 30, 88. + + Kebir, Wadi el-, 126. + + Kedar, 126. + + Kesra, 44. + + Kha, Wadi, 254, 257. + + Khadar, 287. + + Khaldun, ibn, 17, 18, 19, 120, 263, 319. + + Khalid, 49. + + Khalifa, Nizar ibn, 88. + + Khamis, Sôk el-, 327, 329. + + Kharejites, 84, 88. + + Kharid, Wadi, 314. + + Khasraji, el-, 15. + + Khaulán, 20, 22, 23. + + Khoreiba, 192, 198, 200. + + Konfoda, 64, 65. + + Kopts, 72, 80. + + Koran, the, 30, 36, 42, 58, 73, 76-78, 146, 197, 245. + + Koreish, 45, 46. + + Kos, Bishop, 46, 75. + + Kudaah, 31. + + Kufa, 50. + + Kurds, 358. + + + Lahej, 16, 20, 21, 24, 60, 65, 115, 132, 151, 161, 167-169, 171, 172, + 177, 179, 180, 181, 242, 243, 287. + Wadi, 176. + + Laing, Prof., 36. + + Lakhnia, or Lakhtiaa, 41. + + Lebanon, Mt., 85, 88. + + “Liars,” the, 49. + + Lisbon, 128. + + Lohaya, 10, 13, 64, 100. + + Lokman, 38, 145. + + Ludovico de Barthema, 128. + + Lumley, Captain, 12. + + + Maaber, 111, 285. + + Maadi Karib, 44, 45. + + Maala, 136, 143. + + Madeira, 231. + + Mahammed, 36, 44-49, 52, 53, 57, 77, 82, 83, 94, 255, 320, 321. + Agha, 65, 131, 359, 360. + Ali Pasha, 17, 64, 65. + el-Meccawi, 66. + ibn Ziad, 51. + Rushti Pasha, 96. + Yahya, 67, 361, 362. + + Mahdi el-Fakih Saïd, 17. + + Mahmoud, 43. + + Main Pass, 143, 158. + + Makarama, 347. + + Makulla, 131. + + Malik, 31. + + Mamlooks, 55, 65. + + Mamun, el-, 51. + + Mansur, el-, 54. + + Mansur el-Kasim, 57. + ibn Hasan, 87. + + Mareb, Saba, or Sheba, 23, 36, 37, 38, 40, 126, 143, 280, 288, 312, + 319. + + Masar, Jibel, 343. + + Mashonaland, 28. + + Mavia, 25. + + Mecca, 4, 13, 18, 22, 43, 45, 46, 63, 64, 66, 93, 205, 296, 320, 360. + + Medina, 4, 63, 64, 93. + + Medinet el-Asfal, 24. + + Mefhak, 330. + + Mehdi el-Mantether, 67. + + Mehdi, Senussi el-, 90. + + Melh, el-, 187. + Sailet, 188. + + Menakha, 78, 104, 109, 331, 333, 336, 337, 339, 340, 341, 350. + + Menes, 35. + + Menif, Jibel, 181, 343. + + Mequinez, 246, 297. + + Meruan, Beni, 100, 105. + + Merveille, Mons. de, 148. + + Metneh, 325. + + Middleton, Admiral, 130. + + Milne, Captain, 133, 181. + + Minæans, or Maïn, 32-36, 38, 39. + + Mjisbeyeh, 196. + + Mohajir, 321. + + Mokha, 10-13, 55, 56, 59, 61, 63-66, 68, 130, 138, 301. + + Morocco, 4, 81, 91, 123, 153, 156, 171, 201, 246, 255, 293, 314, 345, + 353, 367. + + Mosailma, 48, 49. + + Moulas, the, 77. + + Mrais, Jibel, 202. + + Mshareg, 102. + + Muavia, 50. + + Muayyad, Mahammed el-, 59. + + Muir, Sir William, 77. + + Mundah, 236. + + Munkat, 243-245. + + Munsoorie Hills, 149. + + Mustain, el-, 52. + + Mustansir, el-, 88. + + Mutawakil, el-, 52. + + Mutazelites, the, 89. + + Muza, 6, 11. + + Muzaffer, el-, 54. + + + Nadir, 230. + + Nebuchadnezzar, 30. + + Negoum, Jibel, 106, 107, 110, 224, 298, 299, 301. + + Nehm, 20. + + Negil, Kariat en-, 18, 287. + + Nejed, 22, 173. + + Nejrán, 20, 22. + + Niebuhr, Karsten, 19, 22, 24, 58, 61. + + Nisáb, 24. + + Nizar ibn Mustansir, 88. + + Noah, 30. + + + Obadites, the, 84. + + Obaki, Jibel, 351. + + Ofar, 241. + + Okelis, 11. + + Oman, 23. + + Omar, 85. + + Omarah, 15, 18, 358. + + Omeyyad dynasty, 50. + + Osmanli Government, 17, 20, 24, 64, 94, 95, 99, 101, 105, 115, 116, + 315. + + Othman, the Caliph, 50, 85. + + Othman, Sheikh, 133-135, 158, 160, 161, 168. + + Ottoman Empire, 297, 369. + + Oulaki tribe, 24. + + Oun, Mahammed ibn, 66. + + Owd, Kabyla el-, 222, 224, 250. + + + Palestine, 73. + + Parsees, 135, 145, 149, 368. + + Paruiz, Kesra, 45. + + “Peppercorn,” the ship, 130. + + Peri Pasha, 56. + + Perim, 6, 13, 14, 24, 62, 121, 137, 168. + + “Periplus,” Vincent’s, 39. + + Persia, 84, 86. + + Persian Gulf, 116, 126, 137. + + Persians, the, 44, 135, 149. + + Phœnician characters, 34, 35, 39. + + Playfair, Sir R. L., 6, 20, 24, 40, 51, 59, 61, 66. + + Popham, Sir Horne, 62, 131. + + Port Said, 209, 210. + + Porte, the Sublime, 25, 65, 67, 69, 72, 92, 114, 360, 361. + + Portuguese, the, 11, 55, 129, 130. + traders, 11. + + Prester John, 55, 128. + + Prophet, the. _See_ Mahammed. + + Punt, 39. + + + Quarnu, 33. + + + Raamah, 126. + + Rabiah, 31. + + Raïs Suleiman, 129, 145. + + Ras Seilan, 177, 220. + Zebeed, 255. + + Rashid, Harun el-, 51. + + Rassites, 54, 57. + + Raudha, 315. + + Red Sea, 4, 6, 10-14, 21, 57, 59, 62, 100, 127, 133, 137, 358. + + Resaaba, 283. + + Rima, Wadi, 15. + + Rodaa, 21. + + Romans, 39, 44, 127. + + Rome, 35. + + Russia, 86. + + + Saba, Sheba, or Mareb, 23, 36, 37, 38, 40, 126, 143, 145, 280, 288, + 312, 319. + + Sabæans, 32, 34, 36, 39, 319. + + Sadah, 18, 20, 22, 52-54, 105, 106, 252, 339. + + Safan, Jibel, 343. + + Sahán, 20, 22. + + Saïd, Beit, 229, 233, 234, 236, 239, 372. + el-Faki, 66. + + Sailet el-Melh, 188. + + Salah ed-Din or Saladdin, 54. + + Salih, 318. + + Salt, Mr, 168. + + Samára, Jibel, 247, 253. + + Samarcand, 40. + + Sanaa, 8, 17, 18, 20-26, 37, 43, 44, 49, 51, 53, 54, 57, 61-64, 68, + 69, 87, 98, 99, 101, 104-107, 110, 115, 151, 199, 210, 243, + 250, 252, 264, 267, 289, 290, 294, 295, 299, 322-324, 335, 340, + 353, 354, 361, 365, 372. + + Sargon I., 35. + + Sayce, Prof., 35. + + Seddah, 111, 236. + + Seghir, Wadi el-, 176. + + Seilan, Ghubbat, 176. + Ras, 177, 222. + + Selim I., 55. + + Semitic races, 36. + + Senussi, Sheikh, 90, 91. + + Seyed Hasan, 188. + Ismail, 132, 133. + Kasim, 17, 66. + Mahammed el-Hadi, 17. + esh-Sheraï, 110, 324. + + Sham-sham, Jibel, 143, 147. + + Shari, Beled esh-, 206, 212. + Wadi, 206, 212. + + Sheba. _See_ Saba. + + Sheikh el-Beled, 59. + Besaisi, 206, 208, 209, 215, 220, 223. + el-Islam, 77. + Othman, 133-135, 160, 168. + + Sheiyas, 78, 84-87, 89, 90, 93, 98, 361. + + Shem, 30. + + Shereef, Huseyn, 66-69. + + Shoa, 128. + + Sidi Sheikh, 5, 24. + + Sinai, 33. + + Smyrna, 213. + + Soarez, 129. + + Sobeh, 111, 224. + + Sôk el-Khamis, 327, 329. + el-Thuluth, 236, 237. + + Solomon, 23, 24, 36-38, 79. + + Somali-land, 91, 138. + + Somalis, 135, 148, 159, 232. + + Soudan, 81. + + Stace, Col., 140, 163. + + Stamboul, 94, 149, 208. + + Suakin, 337. + + Sublime Porte, 25, 65, 67, 69, 72, 92, 114, 360, 361. + + Suez, 39, 56. + Canal, 33. + + Suleiman the Magnificent, 56. + Raïs, 120, 130, 146. + + Sufis, 89. + + Sunnis, 77, 78, 84-86, 89, 90, 95, 314. + + Syria, 40, 50. + + + Tabátabá, Ibrahim, 53. + + Taif, 18. + + Taiz, 16, 17, 18, 21, 25, 54, 60, 66, 104, 111. + + Tartars, 40. + + Tawahi, 136, 141. + + Teháma, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13-18, 20, 21, 24, 51, 53, 67, 101, 190, 242, + 339, 343, 347, 351, 354. + + Teima, 33. + + Thamud, 318. + + Theophilus Indus, 41. + + Thoba, 196, 206. + + Thuba, Wadi, 236. + + Thuluth, Sôk el-, 236, 237. + + Tigris, 66. + + “Topaz,” H.M.S., 12. + + “Towers of Silence,” 145. + + Tripoli, 90, 91. + + Tsar, 33. + + Tubba el-Akran, 40. + ibn Hasan, 41. + + Tubbas, the, 126. + + Tufieh Pasha, 360. + + Tunis, 91. + + Turan Shah, 54, 127. + + Turkchee Bilmas, 66, 131, 359, 360. + + Turkey, Sultans of, 65, 87, 92. + + Turkish dominions in the Yemen, 24-26, 37, 56, 64, 203, 286. + troops, 13, 102, 105, 106, 109, 111, 133, 198, 212, 239, 286, 302, + 309, 324, 327, 330, 331, 336, 340, 349, 361. + + Turks, the, 6, 17, 52, 55, 57, 65, 68, 76, 84, 86, 94, 96, 98, 104, + 133, 135, 151, 286, 322, 324, 353, 356. + + + Uzul. _See_ Sanaa. + + + Venice, 11. + + Vertomanus. _See_ Barthema. + + Vincent’s “Periplus,” 39. + + + Waalan, 288, 351. + + Wadi el-Kebir, 176. + + Wahab, 191. + + Wahabis, 63, 64, 65, 89. + + Wáhat, 133. + + Wahraz, 44. + + White, Sir William, 298. + + Wisil, 342, 344, 345. + + + Yaffa, 20, 23, 24, 253, 281, 312. + + Yahya, 52, 67, 69. + + Yakoub Bey, 116. + + Yalkama. _See_ Belkama. + + Yarub, 318. + + Yasir, 148. + + Yemenite tribes, 23, 30, 189. + + Yerim, 17, 21, 25, 41, 104, 111, 113, 212, 218, 246, 247, 250, 251, + 253, 260, 286. + + Yusef, 42. + + + Zafar, 41, 43, 251. + + Zaida, 183. + + Zaidis, the, 52, 53, 85, 314, 361. + + Zanzibar, 88. + + Zarahoun, 246. + + Zaum, Wadi, 334. + + Zayd, 31. + + Zebeed, 15, 53, 54, 56, 65, 67, 359, 365, 367. + Ras, 255. + Wadi, 255. + + Ziad, ibn, 15, 52. + + Zurayites, 53. + + PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of THE YEMEN illustrating THE ROUTE OF W. B. +HARRIS. + +Stanford’s Geogˡ. Estabᵗ., London] + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76757 *** |