Page 106 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

143 YEMEN

Social : Population

The population of Yemen is variously estimated at from one to
two millions, of whom by far the greater number are settled or
nomad Arabs. Probably one million is about the truth. The
resident alien population here is perhaps greater than in any
other district of Arabia : there are said to be 90,000 Jews living
in the interior, ,but this figure is probably excessive ; some 1,000
British Indians and some hundreds of Greeks, living now almost
entirely in the coastal towns, principally Hodeidah; and some few
Europeans of other nationality, who are either shipping merchants,
or consular agents, or both. A small number of Europeans, prin­

cipally Greek and Italian, were until recently to be found in the
towns of the interior, but owing to the unsettled state of the country
they have nearly all left. It may be said that practically all the alien
population except the Jews is now centred at Hodeidah.
The inhabitants, for the most part, are settled, and occupied in
agricultural operations or trade ; the pastoral or nomadic people
are fe>v, comparatively speaking, for the conditions which favour
the pastoral or Bedouin type, found in the neighbouring districts of
Hejaz or Nejd, hardly exist. The bulk live, not in towns, but in
the close-set villages of the Yemen highlands ; there the extensive
and intensive cultivation indicates a populous country-side, and
in many localities the villages lie within hail of each other in a !
continuous series.

As in the adjoining province of the Hadhramaut, the people are
divided into four main classes (see p. 221 f.) viz. (1) the Seyyids
i
or Ashraf, the descendants of the Prophet, forming a religious
aristocracy ; (2) the Tribesmen or Qaba’il, belonging to the Qahtan
or original South Arabian stock, who form the bulk of the popula­ i
tion and are the only class habitually carrying arms ; (3) the ;
trading classes ; and (4) the servile class, mostly of mixed African !
descent and including a number of Jews.
i
The most prominent tribal groups of Yemen are distributed as
follows :

The Arm occupy a considerable district west of the Dhamar-
San!a road, and have about 3,000 fighting men.
The Zaranik (Dharaniq), who dwell in the Tihamah and the
maritime hills with their administrative centre at Beit el-Faqlh, are
a powerful and warlike tribe, now lawless and out of hand. They
muster 10,000 fighting men, and one of their paramount chiefs__
Mohammed Yahya Fashik—has his head-quarters at Huseiniyah
9 miles north of Zebid. The Zaranik tribesman has J *
a crisp, short