Page 156 - Arabian Studies (V)

146 Arabian Studies V

Bo wan, a large village with a bazaar and the market town of the
neighbourhood. From here he set out for San‘a\ ascending to the
top of the Plateau before making his way down the escarpment on to
the plain in which San‘a’ lies. His total journey he estimated to be
172 miles.
At San‘a’ he found the guns, mounted on the perimeter walls,
turned towards the town. The headquarters of the Turkish Vllth
Army Corps was here and there were two hospitals, a military
school and a college. The population at that time was between
40,000 and 60,000 some three quarters of whom were Arabs, the
remainder consisting of about 6,000 Jews, a few Christians and the
Turkish officials and troops which included a squadron of cavalry,
five battalions of infantry and three batteries of artillery.
A few days’ rest in the mountain temperature of July was suffi­
cient to refresh him for his journey south to Aden. He lost sight of
San‘a’ behind a small hill after a journey of seven miles. Passing
through Artaz, a village by a small river, he came to Walan, at that
time clean and well-built. He found no rivers here as most of the
water supply came from wells.
For the next seven miles the road was not so good. Passing
through Khadar a Jewish village, Leveson Gower had a varied
journey to Maaber (Ma‘bar) at that time housing a small garrison.
For the First eight miles over the plain south of Maaber it was easy
going and he passed by a small village of Jaffa rriving at Dhamar
without incident. For the last fifteen miles before Yerim he crossed
mountains green with vegetation and then passed through the
coffee country of the region. He noticed the abundance of water
tanks by the roadside, most of which were fed by springs.
Yerim was, as now, dirty and fever-ridden and he passed quickly
on to Ibb, which supported a garrison of one company. By the
time he reached Taizz he seems to have lost interest in his journey
or certainly in recounting it, for here his notes tail off and he
rapidly passes on to Kataba and Aden without even giving any
times of the various stages. In any case his mission was over
because from Kataba to Aden the territory was well enough known.
Leaving Aden on 9 July 1903 Leveson Gower arrived back in
England eighteen days later to receive Their Lordships’ formal
approbation for the rather dreary report on his journey. Later in
the year, he was appointed to H.M.S. Monmouth; during the First
World War he won the D.S.O. and he married in 1916 Lady Rose
Bowes Lyon, the elder sister of Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, now
the Queen Mother. He was appointed A.D.C. to King George V in
1929 and retired as Vice-Admiral in 1935. His career in the Royal