GOVFRNMF.NT OF ARABIA. 129 



gardens. Tlie palace was an elegant huildine: ; and 

 at court a considerable degree of dignity and splen- 

 dour was maintained. The imam, whom Lord Va- 

 lentia represents as a person about 78 years old, and 

 fast approaching to dotage, was still endeavouring 

 to amuse himself in his harem of iOO Abyssinian 

 slaves ; apparently insensible of the danger that 

 threatened him from the encroachments of the Wa- 

 habees. His family, consisting of 19 brothers and 

 24 sons and grandsons, was torn by domestic quar- 

 rels. The whole disposable force of the kingdom 

 did not then exceed 600 horse and 3000 foot, though 

 it is reckoned in ordinary times at 1000 cavalry and 

 4000 infantry. 



The dominions of this prince in Niebuhr's time 

 w^ere subdivided into thirty governments or prov- 

 inces, of which the Tehama contained six, and the 

 inland country twenty-four. These petty districts 

 Avere not all equally populous or important, and to 

 describe them in detail would be as irksome as it is 

 superfluous. The territory of Loheia,the most north- 

 ern part of the kingdom, is arid and barren. The 

 city was built about the middle of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury ; and, like several others in these parts, owed 

 its foundation to a Mohammedan saint, whose hut 

 stood near the shore, where a town gradually accu- 

 mulated round his tomb. The houses, -with the 

 exception of a few stone edifices, are mere mud 

 hovels thatched with grass, having a straw mat for 

 a door, and scarcely any windows. The harbour is 

 so indifferent that even the smallest vessels are 

 obliged to anchor at a considerable distance. Its 

 staple trade is coffee, of which annual purchases are 

 made by merchants from Cairo and other places. 



The journey to Beit el Fakih is represented as 

 lying generally through a parched and barren tract 

 of country. The only accommodation are wretched 

 coffee-houses intended to serve the purposes of our 

 inns. These mokeias, as they are called, are paltry 



