$08 HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 



vaded by the commander in person ; and so rapid and 

 unexpected were his movements, that although it re- 

 quired more than a month to arrive at the point of 

 attack, thirty-five villages were sacked and laid in 

 ashes by his soldiers, before the Pasha of Damascus, 

 who had only two days' notice of his approach, could 

 make any demonstrations of defence. Towards the 

 south the Wahabees were not idle in extending the 

 influence of their arms over some of the still uncon- 

 quered provinces. Abu Nokta, near the close of 1804, 

 descended with a numerous body of Arabs from the 

 mountains, and spread dismay over the country. 

 The towns of Loheia and Hodeida were plunder- 

 ed ; after which he retired to the hills, where he 

 kept the whole frontier of Yemen in check till his 

 death in 1809. Sanaa, however, does not seem to 

 have been made the object of attack. Saoud had 

 repeatedly offered the plunder of that rich city to 

 Hamoud and Abu Nokta, by way of attaching them 

 to his interest ; but he never actually ordered either 

 of them to undertake the conquest of it, probably 

 from a wish to reserve that enterprise for himself. 

 The extensive districts of Hadramaut and Oman 

 offered a tempting booty, and were harassed by fre- 

 quent plundering incursions. The sovereigns of 

 these principalities had tendered their homage to the 

 Wahabee chief, and agreed to pay an annual tri- 

 bute ; but in a single year they threw off their sub- 

 mission to him, and his arms were then too much 

 occupied in another quarter to effect their reduction. 

 The isles of Bahrein and the Joassamee pirates had 

 embraced the new doctrines, and carried them into 

 profitable operation by harassing the commerce on 

 the Gulf; but the power of Saoud on that coast 



