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each other like dogs. Let us return to the market, to which are brought many kinds of small spices, and a great quantity of stuffs, of wool, and of silk, and very excellent fruits, such as peaches, pomegranates, and quinces, figs, nuts, and good grapes. You must know that on each of these mountains there is a very strong fortress. Having beheld these things I departed thence and went to another city, which is distant from this two days' journey and is called Dante,2 and is an extremely strong city, situated on the top of a very great mountain, and is inhabited by Arabs, who are poor, because the country is very barren.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING ALMACARANA, A CITY OF ARABIA FELIX, AND OF ITS ABUNDANCE.

In order to follow out the desires after novel things already conceived in our minds we departed from that place, taking our way towards another city, distant two days' journey, which is called Almacarana,3 and is situated on the top of a

1 That is, the northerners were Sunnis, and the southerners Shiüs, or more probably Zaidis, the followers of Zaid, son of Ali, surnamed Zain el-'Abidîn, which sect was very numerous in Yemen, and comprised the person and family of the Imâm. They held with the Shîäs that Ali was unjustly superseded in the Khalîfate by Abubekr, 'Omar, and 'Othmân, and are represented as having no respect for the Twelve Imâms, and for omitting all mention of the saints in their devotions. These were the more salient points of antagonism between them and the Sunnis, which frequently led to bloody feuds. There were other differences of a more abstruse character respecting the Divine decrees, free will, and human responsibility. (See SALE's Preliminary Discourse to the Koran, p. 233, NIEBUHR, Voy. en Arabie, vol. iii. pp. 17, 18, and D'HERBELOT, sub voce Zeidiah, vol. iii. p. 734.)

More correctly Damt. Niebuhr's orthography is worse than Varthema's he writes it "Dimne," and describes it as a “bourg à foire au sud de mont Maharras," which mountain he says is very high and steep. It appears to have been an important stronghold, and will be found mentioned in the succeeding note.

3 3 El-Makrânah. It is surprising that Niebuhr has not enumerated

mountain, the ascent to which is seven miles, and to which only two persons can go abreast on account of the narrowness of the path. The city is level on the top of the mountain, and is very beautiful and good. Food enough for the whole city is collected here, and for this reason it appears to me to be the strongest city in the world. There is no want of water there nor of any other necessary of life, and, above all, there is a cistern there which would supply water

this place in his list of the towns and villages of Yemen. Arabs who have come to Aden from that and the adjoining districts have frequently dilated on the by-gone impregnability of its castle, and the extent of its great reservoir. The following extract, also, from the Ruah er-Ruăh, recording the capture of the place from Sultân 'Amir ibn Abd el-Wahhâb by the Egyptian army, strikingly corroborates several details contained in this chapter:-" Then the Ameer Bar-Sabbai [the Egyptian commander] deputed the Ameer Akbai over the affairs of Ta'ez, and went himself with his army towards El-Makrânah. On hearing this, Sultân Âmir hastened to the place, and took from thence his women [or wives], and as much treasure as he could conveniently remove, and departed towards El-Halkah, where he remained. Immediately after, the Egyptian army entered El-Makrânah and plundered it, taking therefrom the immense stores of wealth and provisions which it contained, and forcing some of the people to surrender the valuables which 'Âmir had deposited with them." Subsequently, a Fakîh named 'Amr el-Jabraty, who had acted as jester to the Sultan, disclosed to the Egyptian commander some treasures which were hidden in the castle, consisting of a vast amount of specie, jewels, and other valuables belonging to the royal family, all of which the captor seized and distributed among his soldiers.

Notwithstanding this spoliation, however, El-Makrânah was not plundered of all its wealth. Twelve years later, after the Imâm had succeeded in expelling the Egyptians from Sanäa, his son Mutahhir attacked them at El-Makrânah and Damt, and carried away considerable booty. The following narration of that event is from the author above quoted : —“Then Mutahhir proceeded to take Malikîah and all the intervening strongholds as far as Damt, which castle he captured, and proclaimed an amnesty to the inhabitants. Next he entered El-Makrânah, granting an amnesty to the Circassian [Mamlûk] garrison, and receiving the submission of the tribes. He then took all the arms and guns which he found there; also many copper utensils of Ghassâni manufacture inlaid with silver, and costly China ware, which had belonged to the Beni Dhâhir" [the Sultan's family].

for 100,000 persons. The Sultan keeps all his treasure in this city, because he derives his origin and descent from it. For this reason the Sultan always keeps one of his wives here. You must know that articles of every possible kind are brought here, and it has the best air of any place in the world. The inhabitants are more white than any other colour. In this city the Sultan keeps more gold than a hundred camels could carry, and I say this because I have seen it.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING REAME, A CITY OF ARABIA
FELIX, OF ITS AIR, AND OF THE CUSTOMS OF
ITS INHABITANTS.

When I had rambled about the above-mentioned city, on parting thence I went to another place, distant from this one day's journey, which is called Reame,1 and is for the most part inhabited by black people, who are very great merchants. This country is extremely fertile, excepting in firewood, and the city contains about two thousand families. On one side of this city there is a mountain, upon which stands a very strong castle. And here there is a kind of sheep, some of which I have seen, whose tails alone weigh forty-four pounds. They have no horns, and cannot walk on account of their size. Here also is found a kind of white

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1 This is undoubtedly Yerîm, which Niebuhr describes as une petite ville mal bâtie, munie d'une forteresse sur un rocher escarpé; et située dans une plaine assez vaste, et à 4 lieues d'Allemagne de Damâr ;" nevertheless it was the residence of a Dowla, or governor, of the Imâm. He adds, that as the name of this town resembles that of the famous garden of Irem mentioned in the 89th chapter of the Korân, it is inferred by some that the terrestrial paradise stood in this region; but having himself travelled through the district, he considers that it is less fertile than many others in Yemen. It was at Yerîm that one of his companions, the lamented Forskäl, died on the 11th of July 1763, just a century ago. Niebuhr gives a view of the town in vol. i. of his Voyage en Arabie.

"This is generally a correct description, though I cannot vouch for the weight ascribed to the sheep's tails.

grape, which has no seeds within, than which I never tasted better. Here also I found all kinds of fruit as I said above. The climate here is most perfect and singular. In this place I conversed with many persons who were more than one hundred and twenty-five years old, and were still very healthy. The people here go more naked than otherwise, but the men of good condition wear a shirt. The lower orders wear half a sheet crosswise, after the fashion of prelates. Through the whole of this Arabia Felix the men. wear horns made of their own hair, and the women wear loose trowsers, after the fashion of seamen.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING SANA, A CITY OF ARABIA FELIX, AND OF THE STRENGTH AND CRUELTY OF THE KING'S SON.

Then I departed and took to a city named Sana, which is distant from the said city Reame three days' journey. It is

These grapes are brought to Aden during the season in small baskets covered with wild sage. They resemble the sultanas which are imported from Smyrna.

2 The original is: Li altri di bassa conditione portano mezo un linzolo ad armacolla a la apostolicha, the sense of which is very obscure. Perhaps it means that the cloth in question, which is oblong in shape, is worn like a pallium or a stole, sometimes thrown loosely round the neck, and sometimes over one shoulder, which is precisely the case. In addition to this, however, they generally wear a similar cloth round the loins. The uses of these simple garments are thus correctly described by Niebuhr:-"En déployant sa large ceinture il a un matelas, avec le linge d'épaule il couvre le corps et la tête, et c'est entre ces draps qu'il dort nud et content." Voyage en Arabie, vol. iii. p. 56.

3 Sanäa, the capital of Yemen and the residence of the Imâm, is situated at the foot of a high range of mountains called Jebal Nikam. With this exception, Varthema's notes, which are unusually brief on the subject, are generally correct. Edrîsi describes it as "abounding in good things, and full of buildings. It is the oldest, the largest, and most populous city of Yemen. It is in the centre of the first climate, has an even atmosphere, a fertile soil, and the heat and cold there are always

situated on the top of a very large mountain, and is extremely strong. The Sultan encamped before with 80,000 men for eight months in order to capture it, but could only gain it by capitulation.1 The walls of this city are of earth, of the height of ten braza, and twenty braza temperate." Ibn Batûta merely says "it is a large and well-built city." The Rev. Mr. Stern, who visited Sanäa in 1856, estimates the population at about 40,000 inhabitants, of whom 20,000 are Muhammedans, and 18,000 Jews. Niebuhr gives a plan and a detailed description of the city in his Voyage en Arabie, vol. i. pp. 326-329.

• He should have said that the Sultan had utterly failed in capturing the place. The circumstances of the attempt referred to, which occurred two years before Varthema's visit, are thus narrated by the author of the Kurrat el-Ayun :-" During this year [A.H. 907 =A.D. 1501] Sultan 'Amir besieged Sanäa, and when the inhabitants were reduced to great straits, they wrote to Bahâl, offering him certain presents, together with the fortress of Dhamarmar, if he would come to their assistance. (Before their arrival, the Zaidîeh [Zaidis] abandoned the side of the Sultan.) They accordingly came in vast numbers, and a severe battle was fought between them and the Amîr 'Ali el-Bäadâni, [one of the Sultan's generals,] in which neither party gained the advantage. Eventually, however, the Ameer's soldiers were overpowered; whereupon the Sultan collected all his forces, which were dispersed around Sanäa, and formed them into one camp, in consequence of which movement the enemy were able to stop the road, and to cut off all his supplies. The Sultan then decided to return homewards, and to fall on the Zaidis who had gathered in strength to circumvent him; but God came to his relief. [Here, a different hand, probably a Zaidi, has added these words to the MS., ' had he remained he would have been caught.'] The Sultan, having collected his troops and equipage, retired from before Sanä on the 7th of Muharram, A.н. 908, followed by the Zaidis who harassed his rear; but his soldiers charged them like 'Antar and attacked them like 'Omar, and put them to an ignominious flight. Finally, he reached Dhamarmar in safety, ['and a fugitive,' adds the interpolator], losing nothing of any consequence, so that his safety was in effect a great victory to him and to those who were with him over the enemy, who were in such large numbers, and had succeeded in stopping all his supplies. This first siege lasted five months."

'Amir's second attack on Sanäa was more successful. On that occasion, according to the author of the Ruah er-Ruah, his army consisted of 180,000 men, of which 3,000 were cavalry. When Varthema met him at Radâä, on his march towards Sanäa, he witnessed a review of 80,000 (See p. 61 ante and note 2.)

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