GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 147 



he describes as a handsome town surrounded with 

 gardens. The palace was an elegant building ; and at 

 court a considerable degree of dignity and splendour 

 was maintained. The imam, whom Lord Valentia 

 represents as a person about 78 years old, and fast ap- 

 proaching to dotage, was still endeavouring to amuse 

 himself in his harem of 400 Abyssinian slaves ; ap- 

 parently insensible of the danger that threatened him 

 from the encroachments of the Wahabees. His fami- 

 ly, consisting of 19 brothers and 24 sons and grand- 

 sons, was torn by domestic quarrels. 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, 

 were subdivided into thirty governments or pro- 

 vinces, of which the Tehama contained six, and 

 the inland country twenty-four. These petty dis- 

 tricts were 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 northern part of the kingdom, is arid and 

 barren. The city was built about the middle of 

 the fifteenth century ; and, like several others in 

 these parts, owed its foundation to a Mohammedan 

 saint, whose hut stood near the shore, where a town 

 gradually accumulated 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 har- 

 bour is so indiiferent 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. 



