YEMEN, a province in the southern art of Arabia, washed on the west by the Red Sea and on the south by the Indian Ocean. It comp 'ses nearly 70,000 square miles, and consists of .wo natural divisions, the upper or mountain district, and the lower country called Tehama. The lower country has many desert and sandy tracts, but there are several towns and htunlets on its coast, and along the shore are numerous small islands, interspersed with coral reefs ; that of Tarsen is celebrated for its grotto of pearls. In this district the Beni-Halal Bedouins are the principal tribe. They are very poor, and are pre datory. In. the north of Tehama is Lohaya, an Arab settlement. The harbour is good, and the trade in coffee considerable. The island of Kam ran, lying about 18 miles south of Lohaya, has a better harbour than the latter place. Farther south is the town of Hodaida, with an excellent port, fortified by a small citadel. The principal coffee mart in Arabia is Bait-el-Fakih, situated at a inoderate distance from Mocha, and near the mountain regions where the berry grows. The capital of Tehama, Zebid, near one of the most beautiful and well-irrigated valleys in the country, possesses many mosques and other public build ings, with a handsome aqueduct, and an academy where the youth of Yemen and Tehama receive a liberal education, and is besides one of the chief meeting-places where the merchants of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia assemble. Farther south is the town of Mocha, second in importance only to Zebid. Azia is celebrated for the bravery ot its people, and the valley of Nejran renowned for the beauty of its site. A principal town is Hamdan, about 30 days' journey from Mecca. Of these subdivisions of Yemen, that of Sana is the most southerly, stretching even to the Arabian Sea, where it touches Aden.
The level tract of country called Balad Aden coinmences at Bab-ul-Mandab, and runs easterly along the coast a distance of 132 miles. At about 90 miles from the western extremity is the town of Aden, in ancient times a city, the depot of the trade carried on between India and Egypt. This
city was destroyed by the Romans in the first century of the Christian era, prompted by the desire of keeping the Indian trade exclusively in Roman hands. In the llth century we find it again enjoying all the advantages which its position affords ; but on the discovery of the Cape of Gocid Hope route, all traces of commercial prosperity departed, and the Turks became masters of Aden. In 1839 Aden became a British possession ; and the population, which in 1839 amounted only to 1000, had in 1842 risen to nearly 20,000, indicative of the readiness with which many of the oriental races can settle down to peaceful avocations so soon as they can find for their protection a stable government. The little island of Sira, lying on the east side of the town, forms a bay opposite Aden, and from this point the peninsula extends three miles Westward, form ing a commodious and safe harbour. The great monarch, Suliman the Itfagnificent, constructed an aqueduct at Aden, which commenced at a distance of eight miles from the town. Two caravan routes lead from Aden into the interior, but diverge considerably to arrive at Lahej, the capital of the Abdali Arabs. In the S.W. the straits of Bab-ul-Mandab separate Arabia from Africa. These straits are between 20 and 30 miles in breadth, and are celebrateicravongst ancient writers for the dangers encountered by navigators who ventured within these gates of tears.
Perim Island. lies about three miles distant from the Asiatic coast, thus dividing the waters of the strait into two channels, that on the Asiatic side being narrower but deeper, and also free from the impediments offered by small islands, which are rather numerous on the African side.
Yemen means safety, felicity ; the term Al Yemen, the district of safety, is therefore correctly translated in the words Arabia Felix.— ll'elistetPs Travels ; Playfair's Aden ; iViebuhr's Travels, p. 105.