CHAPTER III.
THE YEMEN SINCE THE HEJIRA.
Mahammed was destined to overthrow the whole social and religious status of Arabia. But the Yemen was by no means anxious at the first to accept the new doctrine, and for a time remained steadfast to the Persian cause and religion, under the viceroyalty of Budhan, who, though eventually he accepted the faith of Islam, hesitated until pressure was brought to bear upon him, and until he had obtained, to him, satisfactory evidence of the Prophet’s miracles.
The dissensions at this period existing amongst the Christians of the Yemen added not a little to the success of the spread of the new religion. Yet in these first days of conversion every leniency was shown to the Christians, and a treaty was made between the princes of Nejrán, which, it may be remembered, was the stronghold of Christianity in the Yemen, and Mahammed himself, very advantageous to the former, one of the clauses stipulating that tolerance was to be allowed, and no Christians forcibly converted to Islam.
But the Prophet had fixed his heart on the conversion of Arabia Felix, and for this purpose, in the tenth year of the Hejira, Ali ibn Abou Taleb, his son-in-law and nephew, was despatched thither. Failing by moderate means to bring over the people, the sword was resorted to; but in spite of this fact, authorities state that Islam was grafted in the country with the loss of only some twenty lives.
But its course was to be by no means a smooth one, for amongst several other pretenders two arose at the same period, 632 A.D., who laid claim to the prophetic office. Both had been converts to Islam, and one at least had actually seen Mahammed, and it was no doubt the report of his enormous success that stirred these men to rival his claims.
The first, Mosailma by name, was a chief of the tribe of Hanífa. Being of a diplomatic turn of mind, he thought to make an alliance with Mahammed, and a correspondence took place between the two, worthy of repetition here. The letters ran as follows:—
“From Mosailma, the Prophet of God, to Mahammed, the Prophet of God! Let the earth be half mine and half thine.”
Mahammed’s answer was short but to the point:—
“From Mahammed, the Prophet of God, to Mosailma, the Liar. The earth belongs to God. He giveth it as an inheritance to such of his servants as pleaseth him, and the happy issue shall attend such as fear him.”
But Mosailma was not to be discouraged by this reply, and continued his career until, shortly after the death of Mahammed, his successor the Caliph Abou Bekr sent an expedition under a certain general Khalid to attack him. In a battle near Akriba Mosailma was slain, and his followers disbanded; who, seeing their leader die, once more reverted to Islam.
The second impostor was El-Aswad, chief of the tribe of Anis. He had previously been an idolater, but had become a convert to the Mahammedan faith. Meeting at first with every success, he installed himself at Sanaa, and nearly the whole of the Yemen acknowledged his authority. But at the instigation of Mahammed, who was at this time still alive, he was treacherously slain by his wife and accomplices.
These two impostors, although their career did not to any extent permanently affect the history of the Yemen, are celebrated throughout Arab traditions, in which they are known as “The Liars.”
But the troubles in the Yemen were by no means at an end. Every preceding dynasty had left dissension and rival blood in the country, and for a long period, during the reign of the early Caliphs, the country was constantly disturbed with war and bloodshed. Pretender to the throne followed pretender, and it was not for a period of some years that any tranquillity was restored to the Yemen.
In A.D. 655 Ali succeeded to the Caliphate on the death of Othman, and having to quell many disturbances and dissensions at home, he did not for some time turn his attention to the Yemen, where, after a lapse in the war between Muavia, governor of Syria, and the Caliph, a large band of the troops of the former, under the leadership of Bashir ibn Ardeb, carried out the most horrible atrocities on the partisans of the cause of Ali. But revenge was near, and a short time later—39 A.H.—troops to the number of four thousand were despatched by Ali from Kufa, who equalled perhaps the cruelties of Muavia’s adherents; but they succeeded in stamping out the cause of Othman, the lately assassinated Caliph, and Ali’s son was proclaimed governor of the Yemen. Islam had by this period made such a firm footing in the country, that, in spite of the dissensions between Christians, idolaters, and Jews, we find the troubles confined almost entirely to the many sects of Islam itself. Some of the most important of these will be found mentioned elsewhere, so that no reference is necessary to them here, except as showing how firm a hold the acceptance of the new religion had gained amongst the inhabitants of the Yemen.
The country after the death of Ali became subject to the Omeyyad dynasty of Caliphs, until in A.D. 749 the Abbasides exterminated them, with unparalleled bloodshed and cruelty, the conquest of the Yemen being carried out by Mahammed Abousi Mahammed. The typical cruelty of this man is well exemplified by a paragraph in Sir R. L. Playfair’s ‘History of the Yemen.’ Finding the inhabitants suffering from what is now known as “Yemen boils,” an exceedingly common complaint in that country, he ordered all those who showed any signs of the sickness to be buried alive as unclean. Happily his own death prevented this cruel order from being carried out. Sharing the ups and downs of the Abbaside dynasty, to whom the Yemen acknowledged a varying system of vassalage, in 811 A.D. the inhabitants declared for El-Mamun, son of Harun el-Rashid, the great Caliph of the East, who was sharing with his brother Amin the government. Under this Caliph the governor of the Yemen was Mahammed, son of Ziad. He conquered the Teháma, or western plains, and became sovereign of the whole country.
There remained at this period a tribe of the name of Beni Yafur, descendants of the old Himyaric kings, who lived at Sanaa. Acknowledging the Abbaside Caliphs, they were by force obliged to fall under the jurisdiction of Ibn Ziad; but Asaad ibn Yafur, the last of the family, took advantage of the Karmathian rising throughout the Yemen to usurp the power, which he held until his death. He was the last prince of the Himyaric people; and although his family held the throne for a few years they never arrived at any great power, their position being materially weakened by insurrections and family strifes.
Ibn Ziad having died, and been succeeded by several members of his family, Abou’l-Jaysh his grandson came to the throne. On the death of the Caliph El-Mutawakil and the abdication of El-Mustain, he disclaimed all allegiance to the Caliphate, and took to himself regal honours, though there seems to be some apparent discord as to dates, for the assassination and abdication of the Caliphs occurred before Abou’l-Jaysh came to the throne. Probably he was the first to assume regal power, although his immediate predecessors had ceased paying tribute to the Caliphs.[18]
Apparently Abou’l-Jaysh was a man of great power, and by the time of his death he was master of the whole of the Yemen, while his revenues reached an enormous sum. It was during his reign that the Zaidite dynasty sprung up. The foundation of what afterwards was the principal line of the Imams, or Sultans of the Yemen, is not without interest. Although to-day ousted from power by the Turks, the leader of the late rebellion was no less a personage than a descendant of the great family who in A.H. 288 (A.D. 901) founded at Sadah the Zaidite dynasty. As of the direct family of the prophet Mahammed, it may be interesting to trace the line from the founder of Islam to Yahya, who returned to the Yemen from India in 288 A.H. to announce the supremacy of the Zaidis. This is best done by a short genealogical tree.
MAHAMMED. | Fatima and Ali. | Hasan. | Hasan. | Ibrahim. | Ismail. | Ibrahim. Tabátabá. | Kasim er-Rassi. | Huseyn. | El-Hadi Yahya. (D. 298 A.H.)
Although Yahya succeeded in wresting Sanaa from Asaad ibn Yafur, he was unable to hold it, and eventually returned to Sadah, where descendants of his family are to-day living.
From this period we find a constant rise and fall of dynasties. While Imams alternately held and lost authority, there were springing up, generally to disappear, princes in many parts of the country, so that at times the Yemen was divided into a number of principalities. Celebrated amongst these were the Sulayhites and the Zurayites, of whom the latter for centuries held possession of the southern province of Aden. But, meanwhile, in the north the Imams were succeeding one another with the usual rapidity of oriental sovereigns, and with very varied authority. In the fifth century A.H. we find the Abyssinian line again in possession of Zebeed, at this time the principal city of the Teháma.
Meanwhile the Zaidi family of Rassites continued to govern at Sadah without serious interruption.
In 1173 A.D. the then reigning Sultan of Sanaa surrendered his power to Turan Shah, brother of Salah ed-din (Saladdin), the Ayyubite Caliph of Egypt; and Ali, son of the Sultan El-Mansur Hatim, was nominated governor of that city.
It would be out of place here to trace the long lines of governors and rulers who dominated the Yemen during the next two centuries. A few names, however, are remembered to-day, and mentioned by authorities as being men of great power or culture. The first is El-Muzaffer, who united for the time at least all the Yemen under his sway, and who died at the end of the thirteenth century; and again, Abdul-Wahab, who reigned early in the sixteenth century, and founded many colleges at Sanaa, Taiz, and Zebeed, and built a number of cisterns and aqueducts at places where water was scarce.
During the next period of the history of the Yemen, we come in contact for the first time with European traders and the Turks, who were destined in no small degree to influence the future of the country.
About the year 1445 A.D. the Christian king of Abyssinia sent a mission to Florence, and a famous missive to the priests of Jerusalem. This king is well known to history from these two acts alone, and to-day is celebrated as Prester John. Whether his embassy stirred the religious zeal or the cupidity of Europe it is difficult to say, but it resulted, whatever its cause may have been, in a Portuguese expedition to the far East, which eventually ended in the leader, De Covilham, marrying and settling in Shoa.
I think there is but little need here to repeat the adventures of many European expeditions that were sent at various periods to visit this portion of the globe. Such as refer more immediately to Aden will be found mentioned in the chapter on that possession, while I have elsewhere referred to the “factories” at Mokha.
Early in the sixteenth century the Mamlook power in Egypt was overthrown by the Sultan Selim I., upon which event the larger portion of the Arabian states went over to the new cause. This Selim was desirous of himself leading an expedition for the conquest of Arabia, but was obliged to abandon the idea on account of ill health; nor did he ever recover sufficiently to carry out his purpose. His son, Suleiman the Magnificent, was equally intent upon the conquest of India, and for this purpose fitted out a fleet in A.D. 1520. On the 27th June 1538 the fleet left Suez, and Aden was reached a few months later, and the town was taken. Proceeding to India, Suleiman Pasha was forced to retire on being attacked by the Viceroy of Goa, and returned to Aden, where he left sufficient troops to garrison the town, and proceeded to Mokha, whence messengers were sent to Zebeed with the demand that the governor of that city should at once proceed to the coast. The Arab’s refusal to comply with this order cost him his life, for a few months later Zebeed was taken, and a number of its inhabitants put to the sword. This completed the conquests of Suleiman the Magnificent, and all the coast of Arabia acknowledged the Turkish rule, Sanaa itself becoming the seat of the Pasha of the Yemen. But although firmly rooted in the country, the Turkish forces were unable to extract tribute from the numerous tribes, many of which remained practically independent. A revolt occurred at Aden in 1551, which was, however, put down by Peri Pasha, who wrested the town from the Portuguese, to whom it had been handed over by its Arab inhabitants.
Eight years later a still greater rebellion broke out throughout the whole of the Yemen. However, the Turks, under Hasan Pasha, were able to quell it, and continue their rule in the country.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the English appear for the first time in this part of the world, the first ship to trade in the Red Sea being the East India Company’s vessel Ascension, Captain Sharpey, who, however, failed in his desire to establish commercial relations between the two countries. This voyage was followed by several others, but of these mention will be found in the chapter relating to Aden.
In 1630 the Turks withdrew from the Yemen, and the government fell into the hands of a descendant of Ali ibn Abou Taleb, who married Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Mahammed. This man was by name Kasim, whose full titles were Mansur el-Kasim el-Kebir. His ancestor, El-Hadi Yahia, had founded the Rassite dynasty in 284 A.H. The family of Kasim, which now commenced to hold the government of the Yemen, continued until the conquest of Sanaa by the Turks in 1872 to fill the posts of Imams.[19] A few words are necessary in explanation of this title, by which the rulers of the Yemen have been so long known. The word Imam literally means the leader of prayer in the mosque. Thus it will be seen that the office was not merely a temporal one, but was also imbued with religious rights, enjoyed on account of their descent from the Prophet. Not daring to assume the title of “Caliph,” they preferred the minor one “Imam,” though practically by carrying out the old-established customs, such as changing their names on succeeding to power, they took upon themselves the position enjoyed by the direct successors of Mahammed himself. The office was a hereditary one, and generally succeeded to by primogeniture, provided the eldest son was of an age and character suitable to his being able to carry out the necessary duties.
Niebuhr gives an interesting account of the principal officers in the service of the Imams, a portion of which may be mentioned here.[20] The various provinces were, he says, under the governorship of a “Dowla,” or military governor, who was responsible for his district, collected the taxes, commanded the troops, and regulated all local affairs. It was customary for a man only to hold the office for a few years, in order to prevent his acquiring great wealth or influence. Their position was always an uncertain one, as they necessarily made many enemies, who were ready to do them some ill turn at headquarters. The Bas-Katéb was secretary, appointed by the Imam, under each, whose principal work was to spy upon and report to their lord and ruler the actions of the “Dowla.” As ordained by the tenets of Islam, all cases relating to laws laid down in the Koran were tried by the Cadi, or chief judge. The ports were under the rule of three officers,—an Amir el-Bahr, or captain of the port; an Amir es-Sôk, whose duty lay in regulating the markets; and a Sheikh el-Beled, who collected the taxes. El-Kasim was succeeded by his son El-Muayyad Mahammed, who in turn was succeeded by his brother Ismail, who lived a life of supreme simplicity, and died after a long reign, mourned by the whole country.
So Imam succeeded Imam with all the changing fortunes of oriental rulers, and without apparently performing any deeds which redound to their own praise or raised the splendour of their country. In all probability their lives were simply spent in Eastern uxoriousness, and in keeping in order the turbulent tribes by which they were surrounded.
In 1709 the French appeared for the first time in the Red Sea, and carried out a treaty with the governor of Mokha, on behalf of the then Imam El-Mehdi. The principal clauses referred to religious toleration, the duties on merchandise, and that redress should be given for any insults offered to French subjects.[21] In spite of this treaty in 1738 Mokha was bombarded by the French, on account of debts owing to the traders by the governor of that city. The town was taken, but handed back to the Imam on the payment of the debt. This ended in the drawing up of a second treaty, somewhat reducing the duty chargeable on the imports and exports.
For the next twenty years affairs in the Yemen remained in a state of tolerable peace. From time to time tribes raised the standard of independence; but there seems to have been no organised attack upon the Imams, although the family was continually engaged in intrigue as to the succession. However, in 1758 a serious rebellion broke out, under a certain Abd er-Rabi ibn Ahmed, who had been governor of a small province in the service of the Imam. Abd er-Rabi had made enemies in the household of the Imam, and at their instigation was recalled. He refused, however, to obey, whereupon the Imam sent a force of some three thousand men to bring him. Nevertheless, he was able to hold out within the walls of Kátaba for no less a period than nearly a year, and eventually made his escape by night to his followers in the tribe of Hajeriya. Finding it impossible to capture Abd er-Rabi, the Imam made overtures to the Sultan of Aden to assist him. Abd er-Rabi hearing of this, entered Lahej and blockaded Aden. He was destined, however, to fall a victim to an act of treachery. The Imam was at this period attacking the city of Taiz, which he was unable to capture, and, hoping to kill two birds with one stone, invited Abd er-Rabi to join him. This the latter did, and the city was taken. The Imam, delighted with his success, under the most solemn protestations of friendship invited him to Sanaa, where on his arrival he was, after every ignominy had been showered upon him, decapitated.[22]
[Illustration: HOWTA, THE CAPITAL OF LAHEJ.]
In 1762 King Frederick V. of Denmark organised an expedition for the exploration of Arabia under the leadership of Karsten Niebuhr. With him were associated three other Danes, who all died either during the expedition or immediately upon its termination. In spite of the fact that more than a century has elapsed since this expedition took place, we have never since been given a clearer or more interesting and valuable account of the Yemen. The social state of the country is particularly well described, and no one can overestimate the value of Niebuhr’s work. He twice interviewed the Imam during his stay at Sanaa, and the second time greatly interested his royal host by exhibiting and explaining his scientific instruments. Niebuhr’s account of the Imam and his surroundings is most interesting, but unfortunately space does not allow of my giving any extracts here.
In 1770 an attack was made upon the British factory at Mokha. However, two British men-of-war were sent to the spot, and an indemnity was paid, which it was found out eventually had been extracted from Indian merchants, who were, of course, British subjects! The Yemen at this time had attracted a few European adventurers, who had become Moslems and entered the service of the Imam. Amongst these was a certain Scotchman of the name of Campbell, who was commanding the artillery of El-Mehdi Abbas, the then Imam. A rebellion had burst out in the country, and the rebels had seized upon a stronghold in the vicinity of Sanaa, in which was water, and where they had collected a quantity of provisions. Such, however, was the fear of the natives for the ingenuity of these European renegades, that they surrendered on hearing that Campbell and his companions were engaged upon the manufacture of shells—a task they had neither the means nor the knowledge of carrying to a successful end. The episode is merely interesting as showing the acknowledgment of the Arabs of the superiority of the European over themselves in such things—an allowance readily made to-day by nearly all classes of the Arab world.
In 1799 a British force was sent to cruise in the Red Sea, on account of the French having taken possession of Egypt; and Perim, an island situated in the straits of Bab el-Mandeb, was occupied, though, on account of the scarcity of water, it was only held for a period of four months.
The trade of the Red Sea with India had up to this period been a very considerable one, but owing to the misgovernment of the Imams, and their inability to offer security to traders, it had greatly diminished in the last few years. On this account Sir Home Popham was sent on a special mission to the Yemen in 1801, and was nominated Ambassador to the Southern Arabian states. He arrived at Mokha on his return from Calcutta in 1802, and set out for Sanaa. However, he reached only as far as Taiz, and there, as had been the case along the entire route, he was treated with every ignominy. The Imam protested that the treatment of the Ambassador had been carried on without his knowledge and contrary to his orders, and he promised to punish the offenders. In all probability Ali Mansur, who then held the throne at Sanaa, was entirely unable to cope with the turbulent tribes, and it is known for certain that from his extravagances he was always in arrears with the subsidised chiefs of the neighbouring districts.
I have briefly mentioned elsewhere the Wahabi sect, which, under the leadership of Abd el-Wahab en-Nejdi, sprang up in the eighteenth century. It had not, however, seriously made itself felt in the Yemen until this period, its progress being no doubt largely influenced by the Wahabi conquest of Mecca and Medina. During the years 1804 and 1805 the Yemen suffered from continual raids of the Wahabi leaders, for the most part chiefs of the Beni Asir, the tribes lying between the Hejaz and the Yemen proper. But treachery was on foot, and certain Shereefs nominally owing allegiance to the Wahabi doctrine were really working in the interests of the Imam of Sanaa, and in this manner the marauders were held more or less in check. Meanwhile the Imam Ali Mansur had been deposed by his son Ahmed, who had seized the reins of government. But the city of Mokha refused to acknowledge Ahmed while the old Imam was still alive, and on that account Ahmed put an expedition into the field against the Dowla of that town. Happily for the country Ali Mansur died, and the people of Mokha were then able to acknowledge his son as Imam, and so a disastrous war was staved off.
So great had become the power of the Wahabis that in 1813 Mahammed Ali Pasha invaded the Hejaz in the name of Turkey, and restored Mecca and Medina to the Osmanli Sultan. Thence an envoy was sent to the Imam at Sanaa, requesting his co-operation in the stamping out of the Wahabis. This was readily granted, for the Imam evidently saw that Mahammed Ali’s eyes were turned in the direction of the Yemen; and although he protested that he himself was devoid of means to carry on warfare, he gave the envoy letters to the Dowla of Mokha to supply him with vessels and material, knowing full well that he possessed neither.[23]
In 1814 Mahammed Ali’s troops took the town of Konfoda, north of Lohaya; but the Asir tribes surprised it a few months later, drove the Turks out, and seized an enormous quantity of booty and supplies. So worn out were the Turkish troops with their long campaign that Mahammed Ali was obliged to abandon his scheme for the taking of the Yemen, and retired to Cairo, leaving Ibrahim Pasha to continue the campaign, which ended in the downfall of the Wahabis. The viceroyalty of Ibrahim was marked with every kind of cruelty and despicable corruption, and his departure from Jeddah in 1819 was the signal for great rejoicings. Mahammed Ali then carried out a treaty with the Imam, who, on the condition of paying one hundred thousand dollars a-year, was to be restored several provinces which he had lately lost, including Konfoda and Lohaya, which the Turks themselves had taken.
On account of a brutal attack that was made upon Lieutenant Dommicetti, at the time confined to his bed with fever, and upon the employees of the British factory, a force was sent to that place in 1819 to demand reparation, and a treaty from the Imam, in which certain privileges were granted to British subjects. Difficulties arose, and in December 1820 Mokha was bombarded by Captain Bruce, and full reparation made by the governor.
The Porte meanwhile had become uneasy at the great success attending the campaigns of Mahammed Ali Pasha; and on a Mamlook, Mahammed Agha, generally known as Turkchee Bilmas, rebelling against Mahammed Ali, the Sultan of Turkey, hoping to profit through his agency, installed him governor of the Hejaz. Marching south, Turkchee Bilmas took Hodaidah in 1832. Zebeed was the next city to fall, whence he marched upon Mokha, which also surrendered; but the tide changed, and a year later Mokha alone remained in Turkchee Bilmas’ hands, where he was attacked by a large force by sea, under Ahmed Pasha, and by some 20,000 of the Asir tribes by land. In the attack upon the city Turkchee Bilmas escaped to the East India Company’s vessel Tigris, and was conveyed in her to Bombay.
In 1837 the Imam’s uncle, Seyed Kasim, treacherously sold Taiz to the Egyptians; but their power there was of short duration, for in 1840 the Egyptians evacuated the Yemen, which thereupon became distracted with strife. Although Ibrahim Pasha had previously agreed to hand over the Teháma to Mahammed ibn Oun, Shereef of Mecca, he was not successful, for a Shereef of the Abou Arish disputed its possession. The Shereef of Mecca therefore despatched troops to the coast, who occupied Hodaidah the very day the Pasha left it, but only to hold it for a very short time, for a month later the Asir tribe entered the town. Shereef Huseyn, brother of Mahammed el-Meccawi, assumed the governorship of Mokha, and commenced to ill-treat the British subjects there, at the same time demanding, in an insulting letter, the surrender of Aden.[24]
The Imam was not at first able to attend to these matters, as a religious rebellion had broken out under the leadership of a fanatic, El-Faki Saïd, who called himself “Medhi el-Mantether.” But as soon as this impostor had been attacked and killed, the Imam turned his attention to the Teháma. Failing in obtaining the aid of the British, it appears that both he and her Majesty’s Government referred the matter to Constantinople, with the result that a commissioner was sent by the Porte to confer with the Shereef. However, he appears, says Playfair in his notes upon the subject, to have been bribed by Shereef Huseyn, and returned to Constantinople with but little accomplished. The result, however, of his mission became apparent a year later, when the Sultan appointed him Pasha of the Teháma, on the understanding that he paid a tribute of 70,000 dollars per annum to the Porte.
[Illustration: _A Native of the Teháma._]
The Imam, El-Hadi Mahammed, died in 1844, and was succeeded by Ali Mansur, who had been formerly deposed, and whose great idea seemed to be to retrieve the losses his predecessors had suffered. Fighting at once commenced, but the Imam’s troops met with but little success, and smallpox carried off a very considerable number. A rebellion broke out a few months later, the Imam was deposed, and his cousin, Mahammed Yahya, placed on the throne in his stead. Desirous of carrying out the scheme of his predecessor for the recovery of the Teháma, he took the field and finally routed the Shereef Huseyn at Bajil, near Hodaidah, the Shereef himself being taken prisoner. Hodaidah, Zebeed, and Beit el-Fakih were handed over to the Imam, and shortly afterwards he captured Mokha, where he learned that another division of the Shereef Huseyn’s army had retaken Zebeed. The Imam fled to Sanaa, and a few weeks later Mokha fell once more into the hands of Huseyn. The Turks, seeing the opportunity a suitable one to push their interests in Southern Arabia, sent an expedition to Hodaidah, on the arrival of which the Shereef Huseyn handed over the place to the new-comers. The Imam was compelled to visit the Pasha at Hodaidah, and a treaty was signed, the principal clauses of which were as follows:—
1. The country governed by the Imam was to continue under his jurisdiction, but he was himself to be considered as a vassal to the Porte.
2. The revenues of the country were to be equally divided between the Porte and the Imam.
3. Sanaa was to be garrisoned with a thousand regular Turkish troops.
4. The Imam was to receive 37,000 dollars per month from the revenue previous to its division.[25]
Both the Turks and the Imam suffered, however, from the results of this treaty—the former by being almost annihilated on their arrival at Sanaa, the latter by being deposed and murdered. The power of the Imams was gone; the Turks, although driven out of the highlands of the Yemen, retained their footing on the coast, and carried on desultory warfare in many directions. The country, after years of war and bloodshed, remained in a state of anarchy, and the descendants of the great Imams seemed to lose all spirit and authority. They sank into private life at Sanaa, giving themselves up to luxury and vice; and the greatness of the Yemen was finished.