Page 118 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

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154 YEMEN

No male over three years old would be seen abroad without his
jambiyah. The Arabs are very expert in its use ; they hold it
point downward and curve inward, and in attacking always aim
for the suprasternal notch, a blow which, if rightly placed, splits
open the whole chest-wall, and is instantly fatal. Another weapon
is the sabikah, nearly as long as a sword-bayonet and worn
crossways in the belt ; this latter needs a powerful man to wield
it effectively. Cooking utensils are often of copper or brass, and
are skilfully made ; copper- and brass-working was formerly much
practised, at San‘a in particular, but the art has declined in recent
years.

Agriculture and Industries
The inhabitants of Yemen being settled and in great part occu­

pied in cultivation, the conditions which favour the pastoral or
Bedouin type hardly exist except in the littoral plain. Yemen has
always been noted for its agriculture and general fertility; but this
refers chiefly to the highlands and the central plateau—not to the
maritime ranges, nor to the Tihamah, which is mostly desert
except where great wadis cut their way through to the sea.
The principal crops of the region as a whole are coffee, maize, red
and white millet, bearded wheat and barley, sesame, indigo, and
cotton. The distribution of crops, according to zone, is much as
follows :
The Tihamah is, in the main, sterile and saline, but gardens may
be maintained near some of the larger seaports by constant irriga­

tion, while farther inland towards the foot-hills there are broad
arable tracts formed of detritus brought down from the heights.
The crops of this belt are red and white millet, maize, sesame,
and, around Beit el-Faqih and Zebid, a small amount of cotton and
indigo. These crops, as a whole, depend on the spring rains and
will ripen three months after sowing. On the inner edge of the
Tihamah, where they get the margin of the summer storms; as many
as three crops of millet can be obtained from one sowing.
Among the hills of the maritime range little cultivation is possible
(except in valleys of considerable size where flood water comes
down and can be utilized) ; the country is well bushed, but there
is little soil to cultivate, the surface-drainage water is not enough
for irrigation purposes, and the population is scanty. The crops,
such as they are, are grown in the spring, as the rain falls in the
foot-hills in April. Millet is the staple crop, with maize and sesame
next in importance ; and grass grows plentifully after rain.
The highland zone (though the soil is not naturally so fertile as