'Handbook of Yemen' [‎28v] (61/190)

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— 41 —
Though bound by his position to administer the Sheri'a
and maintain a religious character, Yahya is more lax
m observance than his father, and lives less in religious
seclusion. He appears to take no very active part in^ov-
ernment, beyond receiving reports from his nominees and
adherents and is said to be an intelligent man of shifty
haT Tinf 11 ^ n ? 1 C ^ iaracter ' W ^ 0 ' ow i n g to his parsimony,
has not much hold oyer the tribesmen of the north-east.
He greatly weakened his position by releasing, in accord-
ance with the terms of the peace of 1911, 400 hostages kept
and not " T l ^ . He is 8tr0n ^ 0 PP 08ed
c d not very likely either to head another revolt or to
enter into relations with Great Britain; but he could on
occasmn, marshal and arm a large force, and he has ^uns
and munitions. In November 1915 he wrote a compli
mentary letter to Enver, praying for the success of the
Ottoman armies. Since then he has kept fairly quiet
witThWlf W'nV the Sherif int0 an active alliance
W i/ T S , into one with Id risi, though he
has kept more or less faithfully, his truce with the Tatter
since the late autumn of 1915. His chief activity has been
to send emissaries and troops into the north-east Men
hinterland (spring 1916) to win over the tribes of the Beda
. ulaqi districts to his suzerainty and to tamper with
those of Hadhramaut. But the attempt does iXppear
ceeded 6 with mUC ^ 8UCCeSS ' and it has not been pro
ceeded with lately. The serious economic position of
. ''.,1' "««p"~
Who is in with th? wli / Mohan ™ed Yahya,
independently of his father 11 ,esmen and apt to act