"DhafAri is a town of the Yemen ; one says, 'He who enters Dhafi'iri learns the Hiniyeritic' . . . Ks-Saghiini says, 'In the Yemen are four places, every one of which is called Dhafari ; two cities and two fortresses. The two cities are Dhafiri-1-Hakl, near San'a, two days' journey from it on the south; and the Tuhbaas used to abide there, and it is said that it is Sau'a [itself]. In relation to it is called the onyx of Dhafari. (Ibn-Es-Sikkit says that the onyx of Dhafari is so called in relation to Dhafari-Asad, a city in the Yemen.) Another is in the Yemen, near Mir- biit, in the extremity of the Yemen, and is known by the name of Dhafi'iri-s-!S;ihib [that is, of the sea-coa-t], and in relation to it is called the Kust-Dhafari [cither costus or aloes-wood], that is, the wood with which one fumiijates, because it is brought thither from India, and from it to [the rest of] the Yemen." . . . And it Yakut meant, for he said, 'Dhafari ... is a city in the extremity of the Yem- en, near to Esh-Shihr.' As to the two fortresses, one of them is a fortress on the south ofSan'a, two days' journey from it, in the country of [the tril)e of] Benu-Miirad, and it is called Dhafari-1-Wadiyeyn [that is, of the Two Val- leys]. It is also called Dhafaii-Zeyd : and another is on the north thereof, also two days' j<Hirney from it, in the country of Henidan, and is called Dhafiiri-dh-Dhdbir" ('i'a/- el-'AruK, MS. s. v.).
SEPHAK
536
SEPHARAD
Yakut, in his homonymous dictionary {El-^fushtaral•, S. v.), says :
"Dhafari is a celebrated city in the extremity of the country of tlie Yemen, between 'Oman and Miibal, on the shore of the t^ea of India: I have been informed of this by one who has seen it prosperous, abounding in good things. It is near Bsh-Shihr. Dhafari-Zeyd is a fortress in the Yemen in Ilie territory of Hal))) ; and Dhafaii is a city near to Saii'a, and in relalicm to it is called the Dhafari onyx ; in it was the abode of the kings of Himyer, and of it was said, 'He who enters Dhafari learns the Himyeriiic, and it is said that Saii'ii itself is Dhafari."
Lastly, in the geographical dictionary called the J/a- rdsid, which is ascribed to YakCit, we read, s. v. :
" Dhafiiri : two cities in the Yemen, one of them near to San "ii, in relation to whicli is called the Dhafari onyx: in it was the dwelling of the kings of Himyer; and it is said that Dhafaii is the city of San'a itself. And Dhafari of this day is a city on the shore of the sea of India ; between it and Mirbat are live parasangs of the territories of Esh- Shihr, [and it is] near to Suhar, and Mirbat is the other anchorage besides Dhafari. Frankincense is only found on the mountain of Dhaf:n-i of Esh-Shihr."
These extracts show that the city of Dhafari near San'a was very little known to the writers, and that little only by tradition. It was even supposed to be the same as, or another name for, San'a, and its site had evidently fallen into oblivion at their day. But the seaport of this name was a celebrated city, still flourishing, and identified on the authority of an eye-witness. M. Fres- nel has endeavored to prove that this city, and not the western one, was the Himyeritic cai)ital; and certainly bis opinion appears to be borne out by most of the facts that have been brought to light. Niebuhr, however, mentions the ruins of Dhafiiri near Yerim, which woidd be those of the western city {Descr. p. 20G). While Dhafari is often mentioned as the capital in the history i)f the Himyeritic kingdom (Caussin, Essai, i, passim), it was also in the later times of the kingdom the seat of a Christian Church (Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles. iii, 4). Abulfeda has fallen into an absurd error in his Geotj- raphy. noticed by M. Fresnel {IVe Lettre, j). 317). He endeavors to prove that the t^vo Zafiiris were only one, by supposing that the inland town, which he places only twenty-four leagues from San'a, was originally on the sea-coast.
But, leaving this curious point, it remains to give what is known respecting Dhafari the seaport, or, as it will be more convenient to call it, after the usual pro- nunciation, Zafar. All the evidence is clearly in favor of this site being that of the Sephar of the l?ible, and the identification has accordingly been generally ac- cepted by critics. More accurately, it appears to pre- serve the name mentioned in Gen. x, 30, and to be in the district anciently so named. It is situate on the coast, in the province of Hadramiiwt, and near to the district which adjoins that province on the east, called Esh-Sliihr (or as M. Fresnel says it is pronounced in the modern Himyeritic, Shh'er). Wellsted says of it, "Do- far is situated beneath a lofty mountain" (ii, 453). In the Mardsid it is said, as we have seen, that frankin- cense (in the author's time) was found only in the "mountain of Dhafiiri;" and Niebuhr {Descr. p. 248) says that it exports the best frankincense. M. Fresnel gives almost all tliat is known of the present state of this old site in his lA'ttrcs sur rilist. des Ariibes avant r Islamisme (V'= Lettre, Juurn. Asiul. iii'" serie, torn. v). Zafiir, he tells us, pronounced by the modern inhabitants " Isfiir," is now the name of a series of villages situate some of them on the shore, and some close to the shore, of the Indian t)cean; between Mirbat and Kiis-Sajir, extending a distance of two days' journey, or seventeen or eigliteen hours, from east to west. Proceeding in this direction, those near the shore are named 'I'akah. Ed-Dahiiriz, El-Belid, El-Hafeh, Salahah, aiul Awkad! The first four are on the sea-shore, and the last two at a small distance from it. P'l-Belid, otherwise called Hark;im, is, in M. Fresnel's opinion, the ancient Zafar. It is in ruins, but ruins that attest its former iirosjierity. The inhabitants were celebrated for their hospitality.