134 



CIVIL HISTORY AND 



Ottoman pashas. Raised thus to the dignity of a 

 sovereign, he assumed the modest title of sejid or 

 lord ; but, after his death, the gratitude of the na- 

 tion bestowed on him the epithet of The Great. 



His son Ismael adopted the title of Imam : h 

 was so economical that he made and sold bonnets 

 for his livelihood to save the public revenue, and 

 restricted his household to one wife and a female 

 slave. He died after a reign of thirty years, and 

 was held in the highest esteem, both for his talents 

 and his piety. His descendants, to the number of 

 eleven in succession, had filled the throne at the 

 time when the traveller Niebuhr visited that coun- 

 try. The interval had been signalized by the con- 

 tests of various pretenders to the crown, chiefly of 

 the reigning family. The Imam Mahadi, who 

 ascended the throne in 1746, had some formidable 

 adversaries to oppose, particularly the heroic Ab- 

 durrab, governor of the small province of Hosjerie, 

 who proclaimed himself an independent sheik. Af- 

 ter taking possession of Kataba, Taas, and other dis- 

 tricts, on which he levied heavy contributions, the 

 imam was obliged to conclude a peace with him. 



Though the throne of Yemen is hereditary, and 

 devolves, if generally approved by the subjects, on 

 the eldest legitimate son, yet the rightful succes- 

 sion is often violated. The jurisdiction of the 

 imam in ecclesiastical matters, though absolute 

 among his own subjects, extends not over the do- 

 minions of other sovereigns of the same sect, who em- 

 ploy a mufti or cadi as their spiritual ruler. In the 

 exercise of his prerogative he is controlled by the su- 

 preme tribunal of Sanaa, of which he is only presi- 

 dent, and which consists of a certain number of cadis, 





