Page 154 - Arabian Studies (V)

144 Arabian Studies V
docs not seem to have been very enthusiastic about what was a
great opportunity for a traveller of those days. It was, of course,
very un-English for a gentleman, particularly one of Their
Lordships’ officers, to show any emotion. All that can be said
about his narrative is that a report of an intelligence mission such as
his was normally confined in those days to little more than a dry-as-
dust tabulation of names, features, distances, populations and
garrisons, and Leveson Gower’s was no exception. He was, of
course, by no means a European or even a British pioneer of the
route and was not even the first British military person to make the
journey. The route was thus not unknown at the time and during
the next eleven years sufficient intelligence work was to be under­
taken in the Yemen to enable the British to start the War in 1914
with a good appreciation of the state of affairs in the territory.
Consequently, while Leveson Gower’s journey must now be
published, it does not warrant a commentary. By 1914, Naval Intel­
ligence confidential papers demonstrated that his work had long
been superseded by, among others, that controversial character
George Wyman Bury who himself was dressed as a naval officer for
a time.

The Journey
When Leveson Gower landed at Hodeida in July 1903 it was then,
as now, the principal port of the Yemen and the headquarters of
one of the territory’s four sanjaks. He found it a large town with
high buildings with a population of about 50,000. The main
buildings were the north fort and the Grand Mosque. Although the
harbour contained no good anchorage, wharf or pier and none of
the usual conveniences of a trading port, its traffic was consider­
able and Hodeida was the chief centre of the coffee trade of
southern Arabia. Water came from wells at some distance from the
town, the best being at Behih east of Bajil. The local water was
poor. There were direct telegraph lines to San‘a’, Mocha, Loheia,
Perim and Aden. Leveson Gower found the port a bad place for
Landing troops in winter and even in summer any stores landed
would run the risk of being dropped in the sea. He recommended
the use of Bauma, an inlet about eight miles to the north which was
well sheltered and was blessed with a small water supply and ran up
to within two miles of Hodeida.
At that time the garrison consisted of about 300 men and pack
saddles were ‘good but not very plentiful’. Great Britain, the
United States, France, Italy, Greece and Persia had consuls in the
town and Turkish steamships called there intermittently. Coal was
generally available.