Page 84 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

TRADE 137

Trade

uii trade by sea. Qunfudah, Birk, Shuqaiq, Jeizan, and Midi
"\\\e five ports through which goods enter Asir. Qunfudah is
•ll V l|v useci for supplying Turkish needs there and at Ibha.

' The Asiri’s necessities are few, and the import list is therefore
hoi-t Besides arms and ammunition, cotton piece-goods, steel,
petroleum, rice, and cooking utensils are the chief items.
import trade by land. From the south, practically the only
minodity which enters Asir is coffee. This is chiefly produced
CO
round Jebel Razah (or Razeh) and taken in by the pilgrim road to
t lie Qahtan country, where it is bought up by the Qahtan merchants \
at Khamis ‘Abidah. The imports from the Hejaz are still more
limited and seem to be confined chiefly to copper coffee-pots. j i
\
Export trade. The export trade is only carried on at present on a
;
small scale, but is capableof considerable development. TheTihamah
exports to Jiddah wheat, dukhn, dhura, simsim, and dried fish, chiefly
in the pilgrim season. The remainder of the exports go either to
:
Aden or Musawwa*. These consist of semn, skins, and wool both i
from the Tihamah and inland ; cotton from the Hali district,
(lom-nuts from the Munjahah, gum from the Shahran and Qahtan,
dates from Bishah, and honey from the Rijal el-M‘a. Cattle are also
exported to Musawwa‘, when the absence of cattle plague permits.

Merchants from the Hadhramaut control most of the general
trade, both import and export, with the outside world. The Rijal
cl-M‘a also take their share, though they reserve themselves chiefly s.
for the arms traffic, and there are a few Indian traders.
Internal trade. In all the main necessities of life, each tribal I
district is self-supporting. The chief distributing centres of. what
to the Asiri are luxuries are Sabia (Mikhlaf el-Yemen), Sheibein, f
iDicl Rijal (Rijal el-M‘a), Ibha (Beni Mugheid), Khamis Musheit
(■Shahran), Khamis ‘Abidah (‘Abidah Qahtan), Kiyad (Hali District),
?
i
r7 u el~‘Arif (Beni Shihir), Khamis el-Makwar (Ghamid), Dus
(^ahran), and Qunfudah (Beni Zeid). i
of the output of dates from BIshah is brought to Khamis :
-lusheit for distribution by merchants who go to BIshah early in the i »
reason, well supplied with general goods, such as rifles, ammunition,
i ee, piece-goods, &c. Merchants from Sabia procure all their
weV-<om the Qahtan- i i
‘Abidlh ^ Proc*uces raisins and sends them chiefly to Khamis

intp •’er fc^e el-M‘a the most enterprising traders of the
_J10r ai‘e the Qahtan, and especially the Rufeidat el-Yemen
seotlo“ ol that tribe.