still remained, preserving the dress and manners of Arabia, and noted for their strength and bravery, in the time at which Hamedoun wrote, which was about the five hundred and fifty-third year of the Hegira.[1] It was this tobbaa, who, after a seven years absence, returned to Hamyar, laden with the spoils of China.[2]
Dzu Abshan, the son of Akran, was contemporary with the second Darius, and with Alexander the Great, He destroyed the remains of the two tribes of the Tasmites and Gjadasites which still remained in Yaman.[3] Between the death of Dzu Abshan, and the accession of Kolaicarb, a period of a hundred and sixty years transpired, during which a series of tobbaas must have reigned. Kolaicarb reigned thirty years, and was succeeded by Assaad Abu Carb.[4] During the period since the reign of Dzu Abshan, the kingdom of Hamyar appears to have been divided, and was governed, like Persia after Alexander's death, by numerous petty princes.[5] These were one by one defeated and killed by Assaad, and the dominions of Hamyar restored to their former extent. One of the first acts of this king was the invasion of Hedjaz. The territory about Yatreb,
