"كُتيّب اليمن" [و‎‎١‎٥] (١٩٠/٣٤)

IV.—DISTRICTS AND TOWNS.
North Yemen.
Above a line drawn from Hodeidah to 'Amran, little is
known precisely of the interior. Only the town of Loheiah
and some other points on the coast have been visited
by European travellers. The highland part of North
Yemen (as here defined), forming five-sixths of the whole, is
distinguished socially and politically as having been the
original home of Zeidism and the stronghold of the Zeidi
Imams against the Turks. First we have, as lowland, a
rather sterile wedge of Tihamah broadening back from
the sea for about twenty-five miles. From the Asir boun
dary to Wadi Mur this is the home of the Wa'zat and smaller
Sunni tribes, and is cultivated only in patches. But as we
ascend the great Wadi Mur into the foothills, we soon reach
the fertile country of Hajur el-Yemen, the value of which
the Turks have recognized by maintaining in its midst the
fortified post of Qufl. It lies for the most part in the intra-
montane region, between the Maritime Range, here mainly
pastoral, and the Main Ridge, and on the right bank slopes
of the Mur basin. The best country is in Mikhlaf esh-Sham.
which is noted for coffee, hat, and fruits, and covered with
terraced cultivation. Jebel Murran, lying north of this,
is also rich coffee country; and fertility is maintained east
ward to Jebel Razah and through Hajur esh-Sham to the
Khaulan country, where, however, as the elevation increases
and the down-like Main Ridge is reached, wheat begins to
take the place of coffee and kat.
Near the mouth of Wadi Mur lies the one important coast
town of North Yemen, Loheiah, and, on the watershed above
its northerly headwaters, the main inland centre, Sa'dah.
Between the two passes a brisk caravan trade which follows
the Mur valley for a while on its way up to Khamir isee
Route No. 14), and goes thence to Sa'dah by Route No. 8.