File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎527v] (1059/1240)

ft . • ions like the Sherif of Mareb (some eighty
Aden 1 act m t” ' , habitua i] y takes our side from fear of the
miles *? th f. n ^ ce Between these two shenfs, and hostile
nearer 1 > irkl “" "I , ' ,. u J er does not appear in this movement,
to both, hes Hanh, whose , ^ much of EuropeanS) and the
Neither Behan n bMan capita ] al ,d site of the great dam of
latter, the ancie ' ; s on e of the landmarks of ancient
Qneen ^ by Arnaud) H alevy, and
Arabian hist , • Xarkisli escort in 1889). Wavell was
Glaser (the last underjurti ^ ^ ^ Sherif
headed o.t i" interesting reference to this Dam in his
aMnrrahman makes an uneiesoog
letter to Colonel -lacob: “We are making some excavations m
[he Dam and are rebuilding some other portions.
The Behan Sherif’s letter, dated April 8, contains nothing
Infhience he insists, at Mareb on'March 27, and there and then
1,1 n,, a. nolicv He says he had offered previously to hght
witlf 1„,1 for us‘at Aden itself. The Mareb Shenf, dating on
\larch 24 also mentions the Nakih as his counsellor. He is less
cordial in tone than the Behan Sherif, and takes occasion to say
Tat the ruling Imam Yahya is his relation and friend He
evidently thinks we are in treaty with the latter ; but though
chiding us for our secretiveness, he promises to do our bidding,
if we will tell him what we desire.
U—Chiefs of Central Highland Tribes.
Some seven chiefs have written five of them signing one
letter. The most important, the Makib lahya esh-bhait, who
has been in correspondence with Idrisi, and professes to speak
for all the Bekil, wrote separately from Mareb to Colonel Jacob,
under date March 29, saying he had sent his son to Laiz to get
money and, evidently, also to confer with the Hajariyah rebels
under Raid Ahmed (son of Ahmed Naaman ?). He offers to
d-o, if desired by us, to Hadhramaut. Lhe other chiefs merely
introduce themselves through the HashidiaMs sent to Aden,
and mention other great chiefs of Hashid, Bekil, Hamdan, Bilad
Sharifiyin, Ahnum, and Bilad Dhuleima as being in agreement
with themselves, and especially Nasir Mabkhut el-Alnnar or t e
Himran Hashid, Hizam es-Saar of the Amran Bekil, and Ah
Miqdad of the Aids. All these are well known to us. I he last,
now about fifty, fought with the Imam in 1911, and took
prisoner the Kaimmmakain of Doran. Since last summei,
however, he has been at odds with his suzerain. He is \er)
powerful in the southern Highlands.
HI .—Notables of Central and Southern Yemen.
Of these the most important are Sherif Abdullah ed- Dumein.
one of the best of the ruling Imam’s lieutenants, who came
the Emir of Mecca’s messages to Yemen, and was in Ac en