"كُتيّب اليمن" [ظ‎‎٧] (١٩٠/١٩)

n._pHYSICAL CHARACTER.
Relief.
Yemen is the south-western angle and culmination of the
tilted land-shelf which makes Arabia. This shelf slopes up
from north-east till it attains, on the San a plateau, a general
elevation of over 7,000 feet, and, in masse ®. ^
the southern extremity of the Mam Gable Ridge, whic
defines the whole shelf on the west, summit heights ot
over 9 000 feet. From these the land falls steeply on botli
faces of the angle to the sea. Therefore, not only the Red
Sea slope, but that to the Indian Ocean is geographically
part of Yemen; but since the latter is politically distinct,
and has a special interest for us as the Aden Protectorate,
it is not included in this Handbook. _
The longitudinal zones of Hejaz and Asir are con
tinued in Yemen. These are (1) Tihamah, or low littoral
belt; (2) Maritime Range ; (3) Intramontane uplands;
(4) Main Ridge ; (5) Plateau, sloping away north-eastward
towards the great central desert. The last has a less even
decline than in Asir and Hejaz, being at first a table-land
which breaks down rather abruptly amid low ridges and
foothills, enclosing habitable basins without outlets (such
as those of Mareb and Jauf), before it merges into the
Ruba' el-Khali.
(1) The Tihamah resembles that of Asir in character,
having a comparatively regular, low, and coralline coast-line,
behind which rises a long, dusty, and even slope, attaining
about 600 feet at the base of the Maritime Range. But it
is less uniformly barren. The incidence of the monsoon,
and the large "catchment area provided by the complex
highland system behind it, cause this Tihamah to hold more