'Handbook of Yemen' [‎26r] (56/190)

VII.—POLITICAL.
Government.
The Government of Yemen is multiplex and variable. In
the Tihamah it is in the hands of the Turks, except in the
territories of certain rebellious tribes, of which the Zaraniq,
occupying a belt from the coast to the hills south of Hodei-
dah, are 0 the most important. In the Maritime Range
authority is about equally divided between the Turks and
the Imam, the former prevailing where, as in Hajur, they
have fairly open country to deal with and posts like Qufl
can command a wide radius; or again where anti-Zeidist
tribes are established, as about Menakhah. Of the Highlands
(third to fifth zones), the southern part, from about
'Amran, is under a condominium, the Turks having the
supreme military and administrative control, but the Imam
retaining legal powers, religious and civil [see Icitev), which
amount^to a social jurisdiction; he has also the private
allegiance of the principal tribes, e.g. the southern Hamdan
and^Khaulan, and the Anis. In the northern part, from
'Amran up to the Asir border, the Imam's is the only
power ; but it is impaired by the exacting independence
of certain great tribes, especially the Hashid wa Bekil, by the
permanent detachment of the heretical Yam, and by the
influence of Idrisi of Asir on border clans. On the eastern
plateau no law runs but that of the local chiefs of the Jauf
(Dhu Husein), and other oases, the Yam controlling Nejran.
The Turks, who first established themselves in Yemen
early in the sixteenth century, lost their hold on the high
lands a hundred years later; and these, falling into the
hands of the Zeidi Imams of Sa'dah, who had previously
been supreme in the north only, remained independent
till well on into the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Nor did the Tihamah remain in Turkish power much longer,
and throughout the eighteenth century was ruled in the