Photograph from Charles K. Moser 



WELL PROVIDED EOR THE DREAM JOURNEY TO PARADISE VIA THE KHAT ROUTE 



No Yemen Arab — man, woman, or child — passes a day, if he can help it, without the 

 aid of at least a few leaves of the precious khat, which takes him to the regions overlooking 

 paradise. 



that of exalting the spirits and support- 

 ing the bodily strength, under extraordi- 

 nary conditions, of one who eats its 

 leaves. The researches of Albert Beitter, 

 of the University of Strassburg, seem 

 to show that its active principle is an 

 alkaloid in the form of crystals, very bit- 

 ter and odorless. From this alkaloid and 

 its crystallized salts he is said to have ob- 

 tained small quantities of katinacetate, 

 katinsulphate, katinhydrochlorate, katin- 

 hydrobromide, and katinsalicylate. He 

 found khat leaves to contain also some 

 essential oils, tannic acid, and mannite. 



Along the steep, terraced slopes of the 

 mountains between Taiz and Yerim you 

 will find the small plantations of the khat 

 farmer. Not till you have climbed nearly 

 4,000 feet will you see the first one, and 

 when you reach 6,000 feet you will have 

 passed the last. The hardy plant must 

 have a cool, even temperature, far re- 

 moved from the salt air of the sea and 

 without sand in the soil. Few plants are 

 more fastidious in their selection of a 



home than this thick-set, dark-green 

 shrub whose every bough and stem is 

 spiked with leaves from top to bottom. 

 It will grow only where it likes, and with 

 every change in soil or climate it makes 

 some change in its appearance. Sabar 

 and Hirwa are two little villages in the 

 Taiz district, separated only by a small 

 hill ; yet next to Bokhari the khat of Sa- 

 bar is the finest in the Yemen, while that 

 of Hirwa is coarse, thin in quality, and 

 more astringent in taste. Set out Sabari 

 plants in Hirwa and they quickly become 

 coarse; remove Hirwa plants to Sabar 

 and they grow sweet and delicate. 



ITS CULTIVATION IS SIMPLE 



Bokhari is the sweetest of all khat and 

 by far the most expensive. The supply 

 is so limited that it is never seen except 

 among the richest merchants of Zebide, 

 Ibb, Taiz, and Sanaa. The commonest 

 kind is Moqtari, which grows in the dis- 

 trict of Makatra, about four days' camel 

 ride from Aden, and most of the 2,500 



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