Page 150 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

170 YEMEN

the Jews, who have a town entirely to themselves, separated from
the native town by a large open space. The bazaars are notably
picturesque, but boast little in the way of supplies ; there are two
public baths, and the streets are comparatively clean. Manzoni.
speaks of Dhamar as ‘ having the most important theological college
in Yemen, containing a fine Arab library ’ : it seems, in any case,
to have been the seat of an ancient university.
6. Ibb is a walled town, of typical stone-built houses, on a ridge
forming a pass, about 35 miles south by west of Yerim. The popu- .
lation is about 4,000, and there is a small garrison. It is on the
San‘a-Ta‘izz telegraph line, and has also a direct line of communi­
cation with Qa'tabah.
7. Qa‘tabah, the chief Turkish frontier post, lies 81 miles NNW.
of Aden, and consists of a few stone ddrs and many mud houses
closely built together. A high mud wall at one time surrounded the
town, but this has been broken down and disconnected on the north
and east, and is now standing only on the south side. The principal
buildings are a large white mosque and a fiat-roofed, three-storeyed,
stone-built house situated on the east side of the town, and used as
a court-house by the Turks. The population consists of Arabs,
Jews, and Turkish half-castes, numbering in all about 1,500. The
fort, which lies half a mile to the NW., is a large rectangular building
of two stories, the lower of good stonework with loopholes, the upper
of mud ; to this adjoins a barrack. The normal garrison is about
250 men.

8. Khamir (Khamr), situated about 90 miles east by north of
Loheia, is a large Hashid town at a high elevation at the head of
Wadi Dhibin, and, for Yemen, is subject to an unusually cold, bleak
climate. Little is known about the town, as it seems doubtful
whether it has ever been visited by any European traveller, and it
certainly has been described by none. It is the present capital of
the Imam, and, since the establishment of the entente with the Turks,
has been garrisoned by several battalions of troops. It has a busy
weekly market.
9. Sheharah, the hill-fort of the Imam (also garrisoned by Turks),
lies about 20 (?) miles south of Khamir, in the wild Hashid country,
whose fighting tribes admit neither his nor any other authority
except under constant pressure.

10. Raudhah is a considerable town noted for its extensive gardens;
it lies about 5 miles north of San‘a, with which it is connected by a
carriage-road. It is a grape-growing centre. There was no garrison
m 1913.
11. ‘Amran lies about 30 (?) miles south of Khamir, and is the