A Journey through the Yemen and some General Remarks Upon that Country by Walter Harris

ACROSS THE TURKISH FRONTIER.

We had left the Amir of Bishi's village some way behind when the sun rose the following morning. The track continues along the river-bed until the valley terminates in a steep ascent. However, the old-world Arabs have built a paved way up the slope, which renders its surmounting much easier than it otherwise would be,-not that it is by any means a simple process as it is. Scrambling up on foot, we reached the summit some time before the camels, and were able to rest for a time and watch the poor grunting brutes toiling in and out the intricate turns in the path; for it is a mere track winding through great piles of overturned rock, and along the edges of steep inclines. I found the ascent from the valley of Khoreiba to the summit to be over six hundred and fifty feet, giving us an altitude of nearly five thousand feet above the sea-level. The view looking back was a very lovely one. Below us lay the valley of Khoreiba, shut in with its precipitous walls of rock, under which, amongst green fields and shady trees, flowed the river, a streak of silver thread. Away beyond at the farther end of the valley one caught glimpses of the peaks of other mountains, rearing their fantastic heads into the clear morning sky.

When the camels caught us up we filled up our water-bottles at a spring of clear water and set off again. These water-bottles-_zemzemiya_ they call them in the Yemen, and in Morocco _guerba_ (plural _guerab_)-are a regular institution of Arab travel, nor would it be possible to proceed without them. They are made of leather, those in Arabia being cut into shape, while those of Morocco are the whole skins.

Now and then we would catch a glimpse of a herd of apes scampering away up the steep rocks with resounding grunts; but more often we could only hear their cries, for their colour does much to conceal them from view amongst the limestone rocks.

So cool and pleasant was the air at the elevation we had reached, that instead of remounting our camels, who, poor beasts, were tired with the rocky ascent, we strode out on foot. Leaving the village of Dar en-Nekil on our right, we passed through a gorge of low walls of rock, and then descended to the level of the plateau, which here extends for a considerable distance, broken now and again by rocky peaks and hills. This plateau, one with that on which Dhala is situated, may be said to circle round Jibel Jahaf, a limestone mountain situated just above the large village of Jelileh, where, although not within their frontier as delimitated, there is a small Turkish fort. The plain is well cultivated, and ploughing was in active progress at the time of my visit, besides being dotted with trees; but from the fact that the young corn had not yet commenced to push, the country looked somewhat barren and dreary.

Across the plateau all passage seems to be blocked by an immense range of mountains, one continued precipice without any apparent break. The range bears two names,-the eastern part Jibel Mrais, and the western Jibel Haddha. A few miles over the plain brought us to a steep ascent leading to the village of Jelileh. Although the absolute frontier of the Turks is at Kátaba, a town a few hours' distance to the north-west, they have erected here a fort, and over a round tower perched on a hillock floated the red flag with its star and crescent.