138 Mr. W. L. Sclater on [Ibis, 



ask for Sok-al-Khamis to be followed by a visit to Sanaa. 

 I knew by then that the chances were against me or any 

 other European being allowed to roam about the country, 

 so meant to get as far in as I could. 



I left Hodeida again for the interior on June 19. My 

 journey up to Metiakha need not be described again, except 

 to note that, at Hajeilah, the erstwhile barren fallow was 

 under heavy crops of millet and maize, while vegetation 

 geuerally throughout the district was lush and dense, owing 

 to the spring spates down the Hejjan and torrential thuuder- 

 storms *. 



Beyond Menakha the terrain drops steeply down some 

 3000 feet to an extensive and intricate system of foot-hills 

 and small kopjes, beyond which, eastwards, some 30 miles 

 as the crow flies, rises the long wall-like ridge formed by 

 the ranges of the central Yamen plateau. 



On tlie western scarp of this system at an elevation of 

 7300 feet, is the village and post of Sok-al-Khamis. Here I 

 collected several Lammergeyers, but did little with birds 

 geuerally. The country is very barren and storm-swept ; 

 crops are scanty and natural cover scarce. The district is 

 much over-shot by Turkish officers and men. 



I reached Sanaa on Aug. 20, and though my visit had 

 received the written sanction of the Vali, I was made the 

 victim of a good deal of petty persecution by the city 

 police. This is not unusual in the case of Europeans, 

 especially British, who have stayed at Sanaa for any length 

 of time without employment that Ottoman officialdom could 

 understand. 



I came to close quarters with tiie Vali, and was eventually 

 allowed to stop until I bad worked out the district, an 

 escort and freedom of movement being granted. 



The official attitude, though anuojing, was not unnatural. 

 The interior of Yamen (south of Asir) is practically in the 



* Hajeilali and Wasil get their rains iu April and May; Menakha 

 from April to July intermittently but plentiful. Sok-al-Khamis and 

 Sanaa districts get their rainy season in July and August. The Tihama 

 has only a few occasional showers in spring. 



