No Englishman crossed the frontier into Turkish Yemen in January of 1892. No; the only stranger was a penurious Greek shopkeeper of Port Said, who rode his baggage-camel. He was attempting to reach Sanaa to obtain some loads of coffee he had bought; and so great was his love for his wife and children that he was running the risk of being murdered and plundered in order to obtain money to buy them food, and to save them from an untimely death from starvation. I think they believed my story: if they didn’t at first, a few dollars wisely expended proved to them that it was true, and after two days of artificial tears and real dollars permission was given me to proceed. But the squeezing was not quite at an end, and my rifle was taken from me, on account of no arms being allowed to enter the Yemen during the rebellion. For this I demanded and obtained a receipt, and eventually, after eight months’ delay, the rifle.[38] However, I would willingly have sacrificed anything I had at the time, so long as I was allowed to proceed. It was an anxious two days, for until within an hour or two before my leaving the _jimerouk_ I had not received any answer to my petition to be allowed to proceed. At length they told me I might go on. Meanwhile Saïd had been at work. Our camels were tired, and he had arranged that only one should proceed, a couple of mules being supplied in the place of the other two. This my men agreed to, as they preferred to hire mules on, rather than have their camels attempt the next few days’ journey, one of the greatest difficulty, and which necessitated as silent and as quick marches as possible, as the country was in a most disturbed condition. Happily the contract which I had made at Aden stipulated that in country in which camels travelled with difficulty mules were to be supplied, and I had no trouble in having this carried out, although, unfortunately, only two mules were forthcoming. The simplicity with which my animals were changed for me seemed extraordinary; but the fact is that these caravan-roads are worked by “companies,” relays of animals being kept at various spots along the road for transporting goods from district to district or town to town. No doubt the manner in which the country is split up into tribal districts makes this necessary, while again the natural features of the Yemen are such as to render it almost impossible to take the same animals for any great distance. For instance, the fleet camels of the Abdali of Foudtheli districts would be useless in the precipices and ascents of the country between Kátaba and Yerim; while the mountain-mules suffer exceedingly in desert-travelling, their feet sinking deep into the soft hot sand. As soon as permission was granted me to proceed I was off. I did not wish to give the people in charge of the frontier any chance of changing their minds, so at mid-day, when they had all retired for their siesta, we sallied forth from the gate and entered Turkish Yemen.