authorities. The Idrisi has an agent there, and it should not be
difficult to pick up an Asiri dhow returning down the coast to Gizan,
which is the port for Sabbia. He would have to stay there until he got
the Idrisi's permit and an escort, without which he would be held up to
a certainty. In any case, no such enterprise need be contemplated until
Asiri affairs have settled down a good deal.

In Yamen proper it should be feasible to travel again within certain
limits as soon as the Imam can come to an understanding with the tribal
chiefs. There is not much left for the explorer or naturalist to do,
unless he goes very far inland toward the great central desert, which
project is not likely to be encouraged by the local authorities. There
is, however, a possible field for the mineralogist and prospector east
and south-east of Sanaa, which area also contains Sabaean ruins and
inscriptions of interest to the archaeologist.

The northern boundary of Yamen may be said nowadays to trend north-east
from Loheia inland through highland country to the desert borders of
Nejran (once a Christian diocese). Its eastern border is very vague,
but may be said to coincide approximately with the 45th parallel of
longitude. Southward the limit has been clearly defined by the
Anglo-Turkish Boundary Commission of 1902-5 inland from the Bana valley,
about a hundred map-miles north of Aden, to the straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb.

Within these limits the two great divisions of Islam are represented in
force--the orthodox _Sunnis_ on the littoral plain and far inland along
the upland deserts, while the highlanders among the lofty fertile ranges
separating these two areas and forming the backbone of the country
follow the _Shiah_ schism, being Zeidis, which of all the schismatic
sects approaches most nearly to orthodox Islam and regards Mecca as its
pilgrim-centre. The feeling between these two religious divisions may be
compared with that existing between Anglicans and Catholics. They will
occasionally use each other's places of worship--more especially the
upper or governing classes--and seldom come to open loggerheads; when
they do, it is usually about politics, and not religion. At the same
time, if you, as a Christian traveller among both parties, want a
scathing opinion of a Zeidi, you will get it from an orthodox lowlander,
and the men of the mountains reciprocate with point and weight, for the
balance of religious culture and position is with