'Handbook of Yemen' [‎11v] (27/190)

chiefs. Below them, inland and south of Loheiah, lies
a group of small tribes, the Jami , Beni Qeis, Beni
Mohammed, and Zahliyah. Uncertainty about their
allegiance has led to the most numerous of these tribes,
the Beni Qeis, being courted by the Turks ; more especially
since the caravan trade up Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Mur is, more or less, in
its hands.
In the Hodeidah hinterland and the administrative
district of Zeidiyah, we find the more considerable Suleil,
who, with two lesser (and perhaps not distinct) tribes, the
Manari and Hashabiri, form a strong pro-Turk wedge
extending back to the foothills. The powerful and com
paratively wealthy Quhrah, their southern neighbours,
who lie along the first part of the main Hodeidah-tSan' a
road, share their pro-Turk sympathies, but are not their
friends ; though, in common also with the next group in
order to the south, the 'Absiyah, they hang together
in religious matters, all looking to an influential Shafe'i
Seyyid of Mansuriyah as their spiritijal leader.
Approaching the district of Beit el-Faqih, we meet the
largest and most notorious, though not the most united,
of the Tihamah tribes, the Zaraniq, divided into two
great sections, northern and southern (Sham and Yemen).
They hold a broad belt right across the Tihamah, encircling
Beit el-Faqih and Zebid and cutting all communications
between Hodeidah and Mokhah. They extend also into
the foothills of the Maritime Eange. South of them lie
none but unimportant tribelets, such as the Kokhah near
Mokhah, until the limit of the Aden hinterland is reached
in the Subeihi country.
The Tihamah tribes are, in general, Sunnis of the Shafe'i
school, exceptions being confined to a few small sub-sections
and families.
2. Highlands.
(a) In Northern Yemen, i.e. above a line drawn from
Hodeidah to 'Amran, we find, on the Asir border : first,
in the Maritime Range and filling the large district of