ABSTRACT
BACK in Aden from the Amiri mountains, we were still uncertain if we should ever enter the Yemen. A letter had been sent during October to the Imam by Colonel Maurice C. Lake, the acting head of the Government since Sir Bernard Reilly had gone on leave to England. No answer being vouchsafed, the Aden Government telegraphed a request for a reply. This, when it arrived more than a week after our return, seemed completely to shatter our hopes. It was a polite but apparently final refusal, in wl?ich the King did not deny having originally granted permission to visit " known " places, but said that he could not allow us to explore lonely or "forsaken" places, and had never yet permitted any European to roam over the high mountains of his country. We had made the mistake of asking too explicitly for Jeave to visit high altitudes! Nevertheless, some other reason, some political workings on the Imam's general dislike of European penetration, were probably hidden behind this excuse.
