"كُتيّب اليمن" [و‎‎٢‎٠] (١٩٠/٤٤)

be very strong except against artillery, were it not itself
commanded by the mountains round. The present popu
lation probably does not reach 4,000 (Zwemer's estimate is
5,000) ; but formerly Ta f iz was a large city, owing import
ance to its situation in the centre of a comparatively fertile
district at the junction of several trade routes. Now it is
largely ruin. Near the Bab Sheikh Musa is the suq, or
market, which is fairly well supplied with fresh vegetables,
rice, butter, dates, bananas, lemons, and other fruits. The
water is good and plentiful, and is brought by pipes from
Jebel Sabor. Of the five main mosques, the principal one,
Esh-Sherifiyah, is now closed ; the Muzafferiyah has three
big cupolas and several small ones and three rows of columns
in a good state of preservation and is the " cathedral " of
Ta'iz ; the Mukhdebiyah, a large square construction of
mixed Byzantine and Arab architecture, is used as a military
hospital. Outside the city is the fine and well preserved
mosque of Sheikh Afdal. The climate is reputed unhealthy.
Telegraph to San'a, Mokhah, and Qa'tabah.
The Main Ridge in South Yemen is less down-like and
more mountainous in character than in North Yemen.
While its crest is bleak and bare, and in places, e.g. about
Dhamar, almost of harrah character, the heavy precipitation
upon its lofty masses has caused deeper and wider valleys
to be eroded on its flanks; its eastward slopes, especially,
compare favourably with those of the North Yemen Ridge.
Its succession of oases contains, therefore, a chain of con
siderable towns from Raudhah in the north to Qa f tabah
on the Aden frontier.
(8) Raudhah is a small town with large gardens
eight miles north of San'a, with which it is connected by a
track possible for wheels. It is a grape-growing centre.
There was no garrison in 1913.
(9) San'a, the old capital of the Imams, the Ottoman
capital, and the residence of the Yali of Yemen, lies about 100
miles crow-fly east-north-east of Hodeidah. It is situated