Page 142 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

166 YEMEN

whole having a perimeter of from 7 to 8 miles. The old wall is a
formidable work, but much out of repair, surmounted by a parapet
with loopholes for musketry ; the extension built by the Turks
could almost be kicked down in places. There are eight gates in all.
The Bab eshJ6ha‘ub in the north wall is the main way of ingress
for the market traffic ; the Bab el-Yemen, opposite, is the one
through which flows the caravan traffic towards Dhamar, Yerim,
Ibb, and Ta'izz ; the Bab es-Sabah, strategically the most impor­
tant, consists of three separate gates so arranged as to close effec­
tively the narrow neck that joins the Bir el-‘Azab quarter to the
main town ; and the Bab el-Qa‘ah or Bab el-Yahud, leading from
the Jews’ quarter, and guarded by police and soldiers, is the exit
for Hodeidah and the coast. There are several outlying fortified
posts on the spurs of the surrounding hills which help to guard the
city from surprise.
At the eastern angle of the town is the QaTah (citadel), a con- ?!
siderable pile covering several acres, on a slight but not very com- \\
manding elevation ; its guns are merely a saluting battery. In the {•
Arab quarter, in addition to the Government offices, are situated j
the post and telegraph office; the barracks, handsome stone *
buildings, he south of the town, outside the walls ; and near the . j
northernmost gate, the Bab es-Sabah, is situated the well-equipped fi
military hospital. The MIdan esh-Sherara is the city square, jl
having the residence of the Vali in a vast walled garden on one !
side of it and the Government school for resident scholars on
another. There are many mosques, both Arab and Turkish,
the principal Arab one, once a church, having considerable archi­
tectural merit; its court is surrounded by a high wall with colon­
nades in the inner side, and in the middle is a small cubical building
known as the lesser Ka‘bah and somewhat resembling the Ka‘bah
at Mecca. The Turkish mosque is known as the Bakili. The
bazaars of the native quarter call, architecturally, for no special
notice: they are plentifully stocked with local food produce,
especially almost every variety of fruit and vegetables, but other-
wise almost entirely with goods of European origin, with the excep­

tion of a few objects of native brass and copper work. The Jewish
quarter has its own bazaar, and there are some fairly good shops.
The streets in the native quarter are mostly narrow and sombre,
owing to the height of the houses ; in the Jewish quarter the
houses are of mud, not more than two storeys in height (see n. 1501
and closely packed together. ^ h
The water of San‘a is good and plentiful; a perennial stream runs
through the plain, and there are, in addition, many good wells both i
i