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SECTION IX.

excursions through the country about beit el fakih.

Chap. I.

Journey to Ghaleska.

In order that we might avail ourselves of the liberty which we enjoyed at Beit el Fakih, I, for my part, purposed to visit some places which are now ruinous, but were once famous, and are mentioned by Abulfeda. I hoped that I might discover some inscriptions, tending to explain what changes the manners and language of this province had undergone: I accomplished, at least in part, what I desired.

As I was convinced that I might travel in safety through all Tehama, I resolved to go by Ghaleska, and to perform this expedition in as simple a guise as possible, and without any appearance

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of splendour or opulence that might prove a temptation to robbers. I hired an ass; and its owner agreed to follow me as my servant, on foot. A turban, a great coat wanting the sleeves, a shirt, linen drawers, and a pair of slippers, were all the dress that I wore. It being the fashion of the country to wear arms in travelling, I carried a sabre, and two pistols hung by my girdle. A piece of an old carpet was my saddle, and served me likewise for a seat, a table and various other purposes. To cover me at night, I had the linen cloak which the Arabs wrap about their shoulders, to shelter them from the sun and rain. A bucket of water, an article of indispensible necessity to a traveller in these arid regions, hung by my saddle: I had for some time endeavoured to suit myself to the Arabian manner of living, and now could spare many conveniences to which I had been accustomed in Europe, and could content myself with bad bread, the only article to be obtained in most of the inns.

On the 7th of March, I set out from Beit el Fakih; and, before I had travelled a mile, saw several villages; but, upon all the rest of the way to Ghaleska, which is four miles and a half; I saw not a single dwelling, nor any mark of human industry, but a few wells. For the two last miles, the way lies through so sandy a

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a tract, that my guide often lost himself; such are the continual changes which the wind produces on the scenery, by demolishing the hillocks, carrying the sand about, and forming others. We were even obliged to turn several times out of what we knew to be the true direction, in order to avoid being buried in some of those hillocks which were then forming. Ghaleska is at the same distance from Zebid as from Beit el Fakih.

Ghaleska was once a famous city; and the sea-port town of Zebid was then in an equally flourishing condition. That harbour is now filled up, so that no ship, of however small burden, can enter it: Not only has the sea receded, while the banks of coral have been augmented, but a quantity of sand has been here accumulated by the winds, which actually rises into a hill of considerable height. The ruins of a mosque are still to be seen here, which was dedicated to a saint, who, by his prayers, obtained from Heaven an excellent spring of water, for which, the inhabitants believe, that they ought still to be grateful to him. About a score of cottages now hold all the inhabitants of this once flourishing city; and dates, with the milk and flesh of a few sheep, are all the provisions they have.

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The sea affords them no fish, nor any thing else, but salt; of which every person may have as much as he pleases, upon paying a small fee to the Dola of Beit el Fakih’s secretary.

In a burying place near this poor village, I found two stones bearing Kufic inscriptions; one of them was large, and stood on end; the other lay flat upon a tomb, and was but small. The inhabitants could not comprehend for what reason I was so eager to copy the inscriptions from the larger stone; but when I returned next day to do the same for that upon the smaller stone, I found it to have been carried away in the night, I applied to the Hakim or judge of the village, and offered him a trifle if he could procure me another sight of it. He led me through many turnings and windings to a poor hut, in which was the tomb of another saint; and we there found the stone that I was in search of; by his account of the matter, it had not been hidden by the inhabitants, but the saint had brought it hither himself. Notwithstanding the saint’s care of it, the Hakim offered me this stone with me to Beit el Fakih, if I would be at the expence of having it conveyed.

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Chap. II.

Return to Beit el Fakih by the way of Hodeida.

I set out next day from Ghaleska, with my ass and his owner. The road lies, for the greater part of it, along the shore, through a sandy and barren country. The only vegetables by which it is enlivened, are a few date trees. A number of coffee-houses, however, and one village occur here to the traveller. At some distance from the village, are a few houses scattered among groves of date-trees, but which are inhabited only in the season when the dates are gathered. I arrived the same evening at Hodeida, which is about five German miles distant from Ghaleska.

The harbour of Hodeida is somewhat better than that of Loheia. Yet large vessals cannot enter it. The Dola of Hodeida is accountable only to the Imam. But his jurisdiction is confined to this city. His revenues consist in part of the duties upon coffee exported. The mansion of the Dola, the custom-house, and the houses of the principal merchants are stone buildings. The rest of the town consists of huts built in the ordinary stile. Near the sea, stands a small citadel,

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which could not prove a very strong defence, This city has also its patron saint, Shech Sddik, who is honoured with due veneration.

At Hodeida, I found my friends Von Haven and Cramer, who had come hither to deliver two letters of recommendation, from our friends in Jidda to the Dola, and an eminent merchant in this place. They had been received, lodged, and treated in the kindest manner. But I, not being disposed to lose my time in visits, returned on the next day, which was the 9th of March, to Beit el Fakih.

In this season of the year, night is always preferred for travelling through Tehama. I should not have had it in my power, therefore, to distinguish such objects as deserved notice, if I had not chosen to depart from the prevalent custom, and to expose myself to the torrid heat of the day.

On the road, are a number of coffee-huts, but very few villages. A mile and a half from Hodeida, there is a well of excellent water, which is carried to that city for the use of the inhabitants; the water which they have nearer, being very bad. As I approached Beit el Fakih, I passed through some paultry villages; and arrived at my place of destination, on the same day upon which I had set out. The distance between Beit el Fakih and Hodeida, is, by my estimation, seven German miles; and this journey I performed,

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in one day, under the most scorching heat and upon a hired ass.

Chap. III.

Journey to Zebid.

Having found the Arabs very civil, and having met with no disagreeable accident in my first excursion, I was impatient to set out again. I accordingly departed for Zebid on the 11th of March, to see the remains of that famous city, which was once the capital of Tehama; and to investigate some ancient inscriptions which were said to be concealed at Tahæte, a small town in that neighbourhood. An Arab who was learned, but poor, accompanied me in this expedition, and was glad of the opportunity of visiting an old friend at Zebid, without expence. I was no less pleased to have him for the companion of my journey, as his conversation was very entertaining.

After passing by several coffee-houses, and through some small hamlets, we came to a large village called El Mahad, standing in a beautiful valley which receives the waters that fall from Mount Rema. In the rainy season, these waters form a river which spreads into several branches,

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and fertilizes the adjacent lands. A large quantity of indigo grows in this valley. In this neighbourhood, too, there stood anciently a considerable city, called also El Mahad; but of it no vestige now remains.

Near Zebid are some heaps of stones, which are said to be a part of the ruins of another large and ancient city that was called El Haud. I arrived early in the morning at Zebid; having travelled in a short time five German miles, which is the computed distance between this town and Beit el Fakih.

Zebid is situate near the largest and most fertile valley in all Tehama. It was dry when I visited it; but, in the rainy season, a large river runs through it, and being, like the Nile, conducted by canals through the neighbouring fields, communicates to them an high degree of fertility.

Zebid was once the place of a sovereign’s residence, and the most commercial city in all Tehama. But, Since the harbour of Ghaleska was choaked up, its trade has been transferred to Beit el Fakih and Mokha; and this city now retains nothing but the shadow of its former splendour. Viewed from a distance, it appears to some advantage, by means of the mosques and Kubbets, of which it is full. Several of those mosques were erected by different Pachas who resided

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here, during the short period while this part of Arabia was in the possession of the Ottoman Porte. But Zebid pays dear for its exterior magnificence; its inhabitants are impoverished by the numerous clergy belonging to those pious foundations, by whom the wealth of this place is almost wholly engrossed. I was told, as a matter of certainty, that if the whole revenue of the territory be considered as divided into five parts, the clergy receive three of these, the Imam one for the taxes, and the inhabitants have only one-fifth remaining for their maintenance.

The Turks have left here one useful monument of their power; an aqueduct, which conveyed water from the hills into the city. But this work has been so neglected, that only its ruins now remain, and the inhabitants are obliged to content themselves with water from their draw-wells; which is fortunately not bad, and in such plenty as to water many fine gardens that are to be seen in the neighbourhood of the city.

Abulfeda ascribes eight gates to Zebid; but of these, only five are now standing, and the river is gradually breaking down a part of them, The walls of the Old City are demolished, and the very ruins are sold by poor people who gather out the stones, and sell them for building new

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houses. The present buildings occupy about one half of the ancient extent of the city.

Zebid is still distinguished for an academy, in which the youth of Tehama, and of a part of Yemen, study such sciences as are cultivated among the Mussulmans. This is, besides, the seat of a Dola, a Mufti, and a Cadi, of the sect of Schafey; and of two other Cadis of the sect of Zeidi, to which the Imam and the greater part of his subjects profess to belong.

In the inn, I met with the vainest and most foolishly loquacious man I had yet seen among the Arabs. He was a Sherriffe, or nobleman of the first rank, but, being poor and beggarly, travelled about the country, living at the expence of the more opulent professors of his religion. Having been in Egypt, Syria, and even Abyssinia, he boasted, that he could speak several foreign languages, although all that he knew of these, was, a few proverbs. I wished to obtain some information from him concerning the countries through which he had travelled; but he could tell nothing but the names of a vast number of Schiechs, Pachas, and Dolas, by all of whom he pretended to have been received with the honours due to a descendent of Mahomet. He disgusted and sickened me with everlasting babbling about his genealogy and high birth. He looked with disdain upon the Turkish Scherriffes

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and the Arabian Seids, because they connected themselves in marriage with strange women. No person, in his family, he said, had ever married a vulgar wench. He gave the name of Sherriffa, to a poor woman who made coffee for us, this being the title by which ladies of the highest quality are here distinguished; and harangued long upon her pure and illustrious genealogy. His son, a boy of ten years, who acted as his servant, never received another name from him than Sherriffe Achmet. The father had hired only one Serir for his son and himself together; whereas every other traveller who is not absolutely mendicant, hires here a separate couch, just as separate rooms are occupied by different travellers in the inns of Europe. With all those airs of greatness, he often abused his son, and called him Kælb ibn Kælb, dog son of a dog.

When I had finished my researches at Zebid we set out on the lath of March, and, after a ride of two German miles, reached Tahæte, which was once a town of some magnitude, but has now dwindled to a small village. The road leads still through Wadi Zebid, the vale or the bed of the river; in which the fields had a beautiful and rich appearance, wherever they had not been encroached upon and ravaged by the torrents. Much indigo is raised here; I

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counted more than six hundred large vessels, in which this colouring matter is prepared for sale.

In this village are also several mosques and houses of prayer, reared over the tombs of saints or opulent persons. Ibn Hassan is the chief of the saints. His tomb is always illuminated by night with lamps; and one of his descendants keeps a Mansale, or house of hospitable entertainment, in the village. I lodged in a common inn but the master of the Mansale came to invite me to his house, and, when he found me unwilling to remove, sent me a good supper. I had been told, that the masters of Mansales accept no money; But he of Tahæte did not refuse a small gratuity.

Finding nothing remarkable in this village, we set out upon the 13th of March, for Beit el Fakih. I saw no houses by the way except the populous village of Marra, situate in the beautiful vale el Mahad. In this village are many Kubbets, and a large Mansale, in which thirty or forty people are daily entertained (CC).

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Chap. IV.

Journey to Kahhme.

Being now still more satisfied by experience of the ease and security with which a person might travel through Yemen; I immediately prepared for another excursion. The approach of Ramadan, which was this year to begin on the 16th of March, gave me some concern.

I was afraid, that the Mussulmans, who lived so near the Holy City, might be still more rigid observers of this fast, than their brethren who were placed at a greater distance. The Egyptian Arabs, who had been in company with us in the preceding Ramadan, kept the fast as religiously, while we were travelling, as they could have done at home. Through the whole day they would eat or drink nothing; and they were displeased to see us take the smallest refreshment. I should not have liked to suffer the same inconveniences here. But I was not a little surprized to find, that the Arabs of Yemen were less scrupulous, and, upon a journey, continued to take the usual refreshments, without mortifying themselves with abstinence; but intending, as they said, to keep Lent for as many days next month. But it is probable, that they

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would not always recollect the number of days very accurately (DD). [Note: There is no note DD in the text.]

After being thus satisfied, that, although it was Ramadan, I might still eat as usual, I set out upon the 19th, accompanied only by the owner of the ass upon which I rode, for Kahhme, where I expected to find some remains of antiquity in the ruins of the city Lelue. I passed by some villages; and, nearer the mountains, villages are indeed more numerous. The most considerable of those which I passed was el Achsa, famous for the tomb of a saint, named Schiech el Achsa, son to the holy Achmet ibn Musa, whom I have before mentioned as the patron of Belt el Fakih. I also crossed a vale, through which runs a river which joins the river of Rema. In the rainy season, the latter holds its course to the sea, and enters it near Schurem.

I went, immediately after my arrival at Kahhme, to search for the antiquities of Lelue. But I found only a large burying place, filled with pentagonal stones, each eight inches in diameter, and four or five feet long. When I saw those stones, so uniformly of this regular figure, I was at first inclined to think, that they might have received it from the hand of art. But I soon perceived a hill in the neighbourhood wholly composed of pentagonal stones, where those people had found the seemingly artificial ornaments

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of their burying place. The rocks of that hill are a pile of vertical columns, of the figure and thickness above mentioned, rising one over another, as well as spreading for some extent, in a parallel body, and seemingly joined by a sort of slight cement. I saw some other piles of rocks of the same sort, in other places through Arabia. After my return to Europe, I found, in a manuscript written by Mr Koenig, that this learned Dane had discovered in Iceland, mountains consisting of similar pentagonal columns, arranged in a vertical position, each column three ells in height, and half an ell thick. These stones are called by naturalists, Basaltes (EE).

After examining the few curiosities which Kahhme afforded, I returned to Beit el Fakih, purposing soon to set out on some new excursions.

Chap. V.

Journey to Coffee-Mountains.

During my absence, Mr Forskall had not been idle upon the hills where the coffee is produced, whither he had gone to prosecute his botanical researches, His description of that part of

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country had already induced Messrs Cramer and Baurenfeind to follow him: I also resolved to join my comrades, that I might breathe cooler air, and drink better water. The space I had to travel was only half a day’s journey; and, in the course of this, I met with nothing remarkable.

I soon came within sight of the small town of Hadie, situate upon one of the foremost eminences. The roads are very bad: A causeway was indeed formed by the Turks; but it has been suffered to fall away, without receiving any repairs. My friends, whom I had expected to find in this town, were in the gardens upon the hill. I came up with them, after travelling two hours longer, near Bulgosa, one of those villages whose inhabitants subsist upon the profits which their crops of coffee afford. Neither asses nor mules can be used here: the hills are to be climbed by narrow and steep paths: Yet, in comparison with the parched plains of Tehama, the scenery seemed to me charming; as it was covered with gardens and plantations of coffee-trees.

In the neighbourhood of Kahhme, I had seen only one small basaltic hill; but here, whole mountains were composed chiefly of those columns. Such detached rocks formed grand objects in the landscape, especially where cascades

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of water were seen to rush from their summits. The cascades, in such instances, had the appearance of being supported by rows of artificial pillars. These basaltes are of great utility to the inhabitants: the columns, which are easily separated, serve as steps where the ascent is most difficult; and as materials for walls to support the plantations of coffee-trees, upon the steep declivities of the mountains.

The tree which affords the coffee is well known in Europe; so that I need not here describe it particularly. The coffee-trees were all in slower at Bulgosa, and exhaled an exquisitely agreeable perfume. They are planted upon terraces, in the form of an amphitheatre. Most of them are only watered by the rains that fall; but some, indeed, from large reservoirs upon the heights; in which spring water is collected, in order to be sprinkled upon the terraces; where the trees grow so thick together, that the rays of the sun can hardly enter among their branches. We were told, that those trees, thus artificially watered, yielded ripe fruit twice in the year: but the fruit becomes not fully ripe the second time: And the coffee of the second crop is always inferior in quality to that of the first.

Stones being more common in this part of the country, than at Tehama, the houses, as well of the villages, as those which are scattered solitarily

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over the hills, are built of this material. Although not to be compared with the houses in Europe, for commodiousness or elegance, yet they have a good appearance; especially such of them as stand upon the heights, with beautiful gardens, and trees, arranged in the form of an amphitheatre, around them.

Even at Bulgosa, we were greatly above the level of the plain from which we had ascended: Yet, scarcely had we climbed half the the ascent to Kusma, where the Dola of this district dwells, upon the loftiest peak of this range of mountains. Enchanting landscapes there meet the eye upon all sides.

We passed the night at Bulgosa. Several of the men of the village came to see us; and, after they retired, we had a visit from our hostess, with some young women accompanying her, who were all very desirous to see the Europeans. They seemed less shy than the women in the cities: their faces were unveiled; and they talked freely with us: As the air is fresher and cooler upon these hills, the women have here a finer and fairer complexion than in the plain. Mr Baurenfeind drew a portrait of a young girl who was going to draw water, and was dressed in a shirt of linen, chequered blue and white. The top and the middle of the shirt, as well as the

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lower part of her drawers, were embroidered with needle-work of different colours.

On the 10th of March, we returned downwards as far as Hadie; a place well known to the Europeans; who come hither from Beit el Fakih, to pass some time occasionally in this little town, where the air is cool, and the water fresh and pure. It is, however, but ill-built, and has nothing else of consequence, except its trade in coffee, which the inhabitants of the hills bring down upon certain days in the week. After the duties are paid to the Dola, the coffee is packed up and conveyed upon camels, either to Beit el Fakih or directly to Hodeida.

We enjoyed a singular and beautiful prospect from the house of the Sub-Dola at Hadie, and returned in the evening to Beit el Fakih, by the same way by which we had gone, in our journey up the mountains.