Page 148 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

DISTRICTS AND TOWNS 169

• the walls, to east and south, is cultivated or covered with
" 111)1 Near the Bab Sheikh Musa is the suq, or market, which

rUlflS‘rlv well supplied with fresh vegetables, rice, butter, dates,
I* nas, lemons, and other fruits. The water is good and plentiful,
,lld'is brought into the town by pipes from Jebel Sabor. Of the
i
I've main mosques, the Sherifiyah (now closed for worship) is
*■ 'Itaneular and has three large ornamental cupolas and an ancient
library of jumbled books and Arab commentaries (few complete) ;
(he Muzafferxyah, with three big cupolas and several small ones
and three rows of columns supporting an ornamental vaulting,
is in a good state of preservation and is the ‘ cathedral ’ of Ta'izz ;
the Mukhdebiyah, a large square construction of mixed Arab
v architecture, is used as a military hospital. Outside the walls is
) the fine and well-preserved mosque of Sheikh Afdal. The climate
is said to be unhealthy. Ta‘izz is directly connected by telegraph ; -
with San‘a and Mocha.
I 4. Yerim is built partly on level ground and partly on the slope
• of Jebel Samarah, at an elevation of over 7,000 ft. above sea-level,
and is enclosed by strong walls with four gates, two towards the
south, one east, and one west. It has a population of from 3,000
to 4,000. Harris says: ‘ Yerim is a poor enough looking place with
a fortified entrance ; it has an open space which serves as a market.
There is but little to see in the town, which 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 sign of any great commerce or trade.
What little importance the place can lay any claim to is owing to
the fact that it lies on the main road from San‘a to Aden and is
l
a garrisoned city.’ Manzoni describes the houses as ‘ built either
° 8tone or of furnace-baked bricks ’. There is a separate Jewish
quarter. The garrison is a small one in normal times. Telegraph
to S»n‘S and Tl‘izz.

•’O i ^amar,a large, scattered town, is situated in a flat plain some
“ea j‘ n°rthby east of Yerim, at an altitude of a,bout 8,000 ft. above
,nojeeve j -ft is not walled, as are most of the highland towns, but is
"uid-h11 3 ^e^en^e(^ by a series of small and, for the most part,
of tk forts. There is a look of prosperity about the place, many i

l‘l'ntre f UuGS ke*nS commodious and well built of stone, while in the
The G 01 town there is a wide and rather handsome open square.
cipaf °Verninent offices are here, and, near the square, is the prin-
large °,S(lllc in a walled enclosure which may be entered by three
& es- The population of Dhamar is about 5,000, including