The jebel or mountain-land is, however, the typical Yemen, the _Arabia
Felix_ of the ancients. Deep valleys winding through the barren
foothills lead gradually up to the higher mountains, and as the track
ascends the scenery and vegetation change their character; the trees
which line the banks of the wadi are overgrown with creepers, and the
running stream is dammed at frequent intervals, and led off in
artificial channels to irrigate the fields on either side; the steeper
parts of the road are paved with large stones, substantially built
villages, with their masonry towers or _dars_, crowning every height,
replace the collection of mud walls and brushwood huts of the low
country; while tier above tier, terraced fields cover the hill slopes
and attest the industry of the inhabitants and the fertility of their
mountains. On the main route from Hodeda to Sana the first coffee
plantations are reached at Usil, at an altitude of 4300 ft., and
throughout the western slopes of the range up to an altitude of 7000
ft. it is the most important crop. Jebel Haraz, of which Manakha, a
small town of 3000 inhabitants is the chief place, is described by
Glaser as one vast coffee garden. Here the traveller ascending from
the coast sees the first example of the jebel or highland towns, with
their high three-storeyed houses, built of quarried stone, their
narrow facades pierced with small windows with whitewashed borders and
ornamented with varied arabesque patterns; each dar has the appearance
of a small castle complete in itself, and the general effect is rather
that of a cluster of separate forts than of a town occupied by a
united community.

The scenery in this mountain region is of the most varied description;
bare precipitous hill-sides seamed with dry, rocky watercourses give
place with almost startling rapidity to fertile slopes, terraced
literally for thousands of feet. General Haig in describing them says:
"One can hardly realize the enormous labour, toil and perseverance
that these represent; the terrace walls are usually 5 to 8 ft. in
height, but towards the top of the mountains they are sometimes as
much as 15 or 18 ft.; they are built entirely of rough stone without
mortar, and I reckon that on an average each wall retains not more
than twice its own height in breadth, and I do not think I saw a
single break in them unrepaired."

The highest summits as