'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎41] (50/748)

POLITICS
41
positioi Railway and. the road from Jiddah. to Mecca. Their control was
inteia practically nil over the rest of the province, including the tracks
leading inland from Yambo', Wejh, &C., and the tracks connecting
Mecca and Medina. Only by grace of the Grand Shenf (on
whom pressure could be exerted through his subsidy), or of heavy
blackmail, could the Turks prevail with the Bedouin tribes. Over
the populace of Mecca, Medina, Jiddah, and Yambo they had
Mutloi a certain moral, as well as military, hold, through their power to
two 1 promote or discourage the influx of pilgrims. But, for the rest,
time 4 their occupation rested on their force, on the disorganization and
receii poverty of the nomadic population, and on their influence with the
rtsoil Grand Sherif of Mecca. They never colonized the province, and
le ktl remained aliens in it up to the time of their recent expulsion,
i centa 2. Yemen.— This province the Turks occupy normally with a much
ntinud larger garrison (30,000 or more). This force they have distributed
itervaki in the ports of North Asir and Yemen : in the towns of the central
s teetl and southern parts of the latter region, in the Imam s strongholds
these4 in the northern part, and in Ibha in inland Asir ; and also in posts
12 centi along the roads connecting the Yemen towns. They do not attempt
epeninsi to occupy permanently the Yemen plateau beyond about a day^s
journey east of San'a, or the inland region lying north of the Imam s
onbehal residences, with the exception of one small district in Their
'ossCeuti occupation of this much, however, is effective only at the cost ot
j-gJl constant fighting with the highland farmers and with the nomads
L uvas g| of the Tihamah, taxes being rarely collected, outside garrison towns,
ir/uitk except at bayonet-point.
A mk Ottoman rule is profoundly detested in Yemen, partly on account
I'ftlp ftdi interference with ancient independence, partly because it is
/ .jn I credited with having caused the great decline of local economic
prosperity which has taken place during the past half-century. At
' iw the same time more than one unprejudiced observer has testified
8 A aS t-. that, in a singularly arduous country inhabited by an intractable
• jw , Pai population, the Turks have conducted their administration without
undue severity, and about as efficiently as could be expected of
I aliens. They are usually seen at their best far from their centre,
hi an( l in a wild country which keeps them on the alert, and compels
^ them to mingle tact with force. An attempt to replace them in
Yemen might prove an arduous task, in view of the difficulty (which
ween 61 j ;iag already baffled the Turks themselves) in uniting the Zeidist
I population of the central highlands with the Sunnite (Shafei) popu-
only a ' lations of the extreme north and the extreme south. But religious
and political conditions in the province are bound to be affected
^ , k by recent events in Hejaz.
of the®; J