GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 137 



Aden, Abu-Arish, Taas, and some other provinces, 

 it was reduced nearly one-half. 



The military force of Sanaa, though not pre- 

 cisely known, consisted, according to Niebuhr, of 

 about 4000 infantry and 1000 cavalry. The chief 

 command of the army was intrusted to four sheiks; 

 and under them were many nakibs, or officers of 

 an inferior class, some of whom had been raised 

 from the condition of slaves. Nakib is the highest 

 title that the sovereign can confer, that of sheik be- 

 ing hereditary, and peculiar to petty princes or in- 

 dependent Arabs. In times of peace the military 

 are employed as state pageants, or engaged in civil 

 occupations. The cavalry attend the imam or the 

 dowlah to the mosque, wherever their headquarters 

 may happen to be; and, after conducting their 

 master home, they exercise themselves in arms and 

 horsemanship, which they perform with great dex- 

 terity. The cavalry have no uniform, every one 

 dressing according to his own fancy. Their arms 

 are a long lance, a sabre, a curved dirk stuck in their 

 girdle, and sometimes a pair of pistols in the hols- 

 ters of their saddles. A pair of boots are drawn on 

 their naked legs, and the ends of their turbans flow 

 down between their shoulders. 



The infantry, while in garrison, have little else to 

 do than act as sentinels or foot-guards to the dowlah. 

 In accompanying him to the mosque they use wild 

 and grotesque gestures, flourishing their scimitars or 

 their muskets in the air, and singing and leaping 

 like men insane or intoxicated ; a practice which is 

 supposed to have some reference to an ancient usage 

 of exciting courage when marching to battle. Their 

 pay Niebuhr states at two crowns and a half per 



