Evening star., 1947-07-27

itself was, until a couple of years
accessible 70 the outer world as Tt
feasibility and to the policy of its
rulers, who wanted nothing to do
with foreigners and their ways. Yet
today Yemen comes to us, eagerly
seeking our counsel and technical
know how in developing its natu-
raj resources and generally putting
itself on a progressive basis.
A Fertile Land
Yemen lies in the southwestern
corner of Arabia. 1t is a relatively
small country, but its fertility and
prosperous settled population stand
out in marked contrast to the rest
of the vast Arabian peninsula, most
of which is barren desert. The
reason for these exceptional ad-
vantages is that most of Yemen is
mountain and plateau country high
enough to catch the monsoon rains,
which pass over the lower lands
without tspilling q drop, thereby
condemning them to desert. Ye-
mems good fortune has been pro-
verbal since the dawn of history
Appropriately, the Romans called it
Arabia Felix" or Happy Arabia.
In ancient times, Yemen's natural
prosperity was increased by the fact
that it was a vital link in world
trade. From time immemorial there
has been a trade route between the
Mediterranean lands and the Far
East, along which came the precious
spices from what is now the Neither
lands Indies, together with the silks
Of China, the fabrics of India, and
much more besides. Also, Yemen
II is el f produced two aromatics
frankinsence and myrrh, much used
in ancient religious observances.
Withstood the Turks
Offhand, one would think that
this trade route would follow either
the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf
But both those narrow sea-lanes
were so infested by pirates that the
Far Eastern traders found it safer to
land their precious cargoes at ports
on the Indian Ocean and then
transport them by camel inland
over western Arabia to the Mediter-
ranean. This inland route inevitably
lay through Yemen, because Of its
water and dependable food supply
That, in turn, spelled prosperity for
the Yemeni middlemen. So rich
kingdom grew up, known as Saba or
Sheba. 1t was a Queen of Sheba
who paid her famous visit to King
solomon. ...
The commercial prosperity OF
Yemen ended, somewhat before the
Christian era, when a new trade
route was opened up between India
via Persia with the Graeco-Roman
world. Hard times spelled neglect
of the mighty irrigation dams which
had impounded Yemen's abundant
water supply. This spelled further
decline in prosperity, together with
unfavorable isolation. Yemen vegi-
tated, almost forgotten. The Turks
tried to conquer the country, but
never really succeeded and merely
caused fresh. misfortunes. The peo-
pie, processing a heretical form of
Mohammedanism known as Shah,
chung to their dynastic rulers who
had the religious title of Imam and
thus combined spiritual with po-
utical authority. When the Turks
we've driven from all Arabia after
World War I, the rulers of Yemen
redoubIed their ban on foreigners
and hermeticaliy closed their noun
tain gates.
Favored Americans
Curiously enough, the only for
eigners who seem to have made a
dent on Yemens stubborn isolation
ism have been Americans. aAs early
as 1902, an American missionary got
into the country and made a good
impression, but later was killed by
the Turks. Two decades later, our
Consul at Alden, the British outpost
lust south of Yemen at the entrance
to the Red Sea, ventured into
Yemen and reached its capital, the
city of Sanaa. Afterward trans
ferred to China, he there met the
phlanthropic American millionaire,
Charles r. Crane. What Consul
Mosier told Crane about Yemen SO
excited the latter's interest that he
organized an expedition to Sanaa
in 1925. taking with him an engineer
named Twitchell. This man won
the Imam's confidence and laid out
for him detailed project for the
economic regeneration of Yemen,
especially by irrigation projects that
would revive the glories of antiquity.
Although the Imam couldn't then
see his way to putting the plan in
practice, he was much impressed
and felt that Americans were the
ones To turn to when the right time
arrived.
Following up the Crane mission,
another enterprising American Con-
sui at Alden got to Sanaa next year,
bringing with him an oil man who
got permission to look over the
prospects, since oil deposits are sus-
pected by geologists along the Red
Sea as we'll as on the Persian Gulf.
A Diplomatic Opening
After that, nothing much hap
pened until toward the close Of the
late war, when third American
Consul at Alden visited Sanaa and
was cordially received by the Imam,
who told him he would like close
relations with the United States, the
country which was doing such Won
derful things developing his neigh