The two Yemens are still that part of the Middle East which most vividly retains the manners and customs of ancient Arabia. The majestic mountain ridges, the barrenness of the desert, the torrid shores of the Red Sea, the proud Yemeni tribesmen with their traditional janbīya, the picturesque palaces and houses pitched on towering peaks, the lone columns of the temples of Saba' (Sheba) in forgotten sands, all this cannot fail to convey the image of timelessness, and, indeed, of Arabia's yesterworld. It does seem to many that the highlands (the central mountain ridge stretching from about 50 miles north of Aden far into Saudi Arabia) are the most stubbornly traditional part of Yemen.