GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 135 



possessing the sole power of life and death. These 

 assessors, generally persons of incorruptible integrity, 

 are nominated by the sovereign, and removable at 

 his pleasure, a circumstance which, if he is dis- 

 posed to abuse his authority, puts it in his power 

 to extort their suffrages by threatening them with 

 disgrace ; but this extreme measure is seldom re- 

 sorted to. The public offices at court are nu- 

 merous, but titles of honour are few. The first 

 minister is simply styled fakih, an appellation so 

 vague as to include all holding place or employ- 

 ment, who are in any degree above the vulgar. 

 Every petty district has its governor, who if not of 

 princely or noble birth is called walih and dowlah, 

 or sometimes emir, when he happens to be of low 

 extraction. A dowlah in Yemen resembles a pasha 

 in Turkey, only acting in a more restricted sphere. 

 He commands the forces in his province, regulates 

 the police, and collects the taxes. They are all 

 obliged to render frequent account of their admi- 

 nistration ; and to prevent their accumulating too 

 much wealth where the governments are lucrative, 

 they are recalled every two or three years. When 

 guilty of high misdemeanors, or convicted of malver- 

 sation, they are punished by imprisonment or con- 

 fiscation, but seldom capitally. Every city in which 

 a dowlah resides has likewise a cadi, who is sole 

 judge in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. In large 

 villages the chief is a sheik; and in every little 

 town a sub-dowlah resides, with a small garrison of 

 soldiers to preserve order. The emir bahr is the 

 inspector of seaports; and in the inland districts 

 the sheik el belled is the officer who levies taxes, 

 and determines what each individual must pay. 



