'Handbook of Yemen' [‎12v] (29/190)

in the Hajjah district, viz. the Zufeir, Beni Marhab,
and Hajjah; and, on the west, in and near the Kaukeban
district, the Beni Husein, 'Udhaqah, Beni Aw warn,
and Serbih, all adherents of the Imam.
(6) The high road from Hodeidah to San ? a passes through
some of the richest and also most difficult country in
Yemen. The tribes settled in the Maritime Range and
Intramontane Uplands along this main artery (after the
Quhrah country has been left near ? Obal), are: first, in and
about Jebel Milhan, the Hufash, Mahweit, and Sari,
all Zeidi and pro-Imam; secondly, on the opposite side
of the road, in and about Jebel Bura/a, the Bura/a of
Sunni profession, and the Ahl Reimah, in the massif
of that name, which trends away southward, and is the
richest agricultural district of Yemen. Two small remnants
of earlier Isma'iliyah domination in this region, the
Makarimah and Ya'aber, and, after them, the Beni
Isma'il, who are Sunni, bring us to Menakhah.
Round the latter town lies a group of small tribes profes
sing Dawudiyah tenets. On account of their isolation
among Zeidists or Sunnites they tend to stand with the
Turks, unless so strongly ensconced in the hills as to dare
to turn their hand against every man. Extending as far
as Mefhak, they have served, at moments of Zeidist rebellion,
to save the Turks from losing Menakhah and the most
difficult stretch of the San'a road. Of these tribes, the
Metwah and Beni Safan lie north and west of Menakhah;
the Beni Khotab, south; and the Beni 'Ahlas, Muqatil,
and Beni Murrah, eastward.
(c) In Southern 1 emen we meet, on either flank of San'a
itself, to the north-east, the Hasheish, and to the north
west, the Hamdan el-Yemen, the last the other part
of the great tribe whose northern section has been mentioned
a Dove. Ihese two restless tribes, both secretly disaffected,
are a source of uneasiness to the Turkish headquarters.
About Kibs and on the eastern plateau lies a considerable