the
Wadi Shahran rising among the high summits of the maritime chain, and
the principal affluents of the Wadi Besha; the latter is a broad
well-watered valley, with numerous scattered hamlets, four days'
journey (perhaps 80 m.) from the crest of the range. Still farther
north is the Wadi Taraba and its branches running down from the
highland district of Zahran. The lower valleys produce dates in
abundance, and at higher elevations wheat, barley, millets and
excellent fruit are grown, while juniper forests are said to cover the
mountain slopes. In Yemen this tree was probably more common formerly;
the place-name Arar, signifying juniper, is still often found where
the tree no longer exists.

Coast of Yemen.

Hadramut.

The western coast of Yemen, like that of Hejaz, is studded with shoals
and islands, of which Perim in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, Kamaran,
the Turkish quarantine post, 40 m. north of Hodeda, and the Farsan
group, off the Abu Arish coast, are the principal. Hodeda is the only
port of any importance since the days of steamships began; the other
ports, Mokha, Lohaia and Kanfuda merely share in the coasting trade.
The south coast is free from the shoals that imperil the navigation of
the Red Sea, and in Aden it possesses the only safe natural harbour on
the route between Suez and India. Several isolated volcanic hills crop
out on the shore line between Aden and the straits; the most
remarkable are J. Kharaz, 2500 ft., and J. Shamshan, 1700 ft., at the
base of which Aden itself is built. In both of these the crater form
is very clearly marked. A low maritime plain, similar to the Tehama of
the western coast, extends for some 200 m. east of the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb, backed by mountains rising to 7000 ft. or more; farther
east the elevation of the highland decreases steadily, and in the
Hadramut, north of Mukalla, does not much exceed 4000 ft. The mountain
chain, too, is less distinctly marked, and becomes little more than
the seaward escarpment of the plateau which intervenes between the
coast and the Hadramut valley. This valley runs nearly east and west
for a distance of 500 m. from the eastern slopes of the Yemen
highlands to its mouth on the Mahra coast near Sihut. The greater part
of it is desert, but a short stretch lying between the 48th and 50th
meridians is well watered and exceptionally fertile. This begins a
li