‘The travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508’ [‎44] (79/492)

xllv introduction.
It is easy to imagine, from the bare enumeration
of these petty ehiefdoms, that the country at this
period was in a most distracted state; but the genius
and military prowess of 'Amir soon effected a great
change. One after another, most of the inland chiefs
submitted to his sway, and in a.d . 1501 he made an
attempt to capture Saniia, but was ignominiously
repulsed. Determined, however, not to abandon the
project which he had conceived of removing the only
impediment to his complete ascendancy over Yemen,
he two years after collected a vast army, which
according to the Rudh er-Rudh consisted of 180,000
men, including 3,000 cavalry, and after a severe
conflict entered the capital in triumph.
Comparing the dates given by the Arabian his
torian with the probable time of Varthema's arrival
at lladaii, there can be no doubt that the 80,000
troops which he saw reviewed there, and which he
tells us marched two days after towards Sanaa, headed
by the Sultan, was a portion of the army which shortly
after, as has just been stated, succeeded in capturing
that city. The coincidence is as perfect as it was
undefeigned, and the inference substantiates with
the highest proof the authenticity of our author's
narrative.
After a similar digression, wherein he describes in
detail the arms and military equipment of the Sultan's
army, Varthema invites us to return to his prison. 1
There he would probably have languished for an in-
1 Prisons in many parts of the East are attached to the palace
or residence of the governor.