 Chapters 31 and 32 of Southern Arabia. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Southern Arabia by James and Mabel Bent. Chapter 31. Tamarida o Hadibo Certainly, Tamarida is a pretty place. With its river, its lagoon, and its palms. Its whitewashed houses and whitewashed mosques. And with its fine view of the Hagia Range, immediately behind it. The mosques are new and offer but little in the way of architectural beauty. For the fanatical Wahabi from Najd swept over the island in 1801. And in the religious zeal destroyed the places of worship. And the extensive cemeteries still bear testimony to the ravages of these iconoclasts. With their ruined tombs and overturned headstones. We encamped on the further side of a good sized stream or little river. Having it between us in the town of Tamarida o Hadibo. And this was really a protection to us at night. For the inhabitants of that neighborhood are terribly afraid of certain genie or guinea. Which abide in the stream and will not go near it at night. Indeed, we remarked that it was considered by Hashi and Mamood. That two Somali servants, a wise precaution to draw all the water. And bring up the washing which was drying in good time of an afternoon. They had heard such fearful stories that they were very much afraid of being bewitched while in the island. Though I doubt whether I and my camera were not nearly as alarming. They had heard how a Sokotran man had turned a woman of mascot into a seal. And forced her to swim over to Sokotra in that shape. We were told that this story is perfectly true. This evil reputation of the islanders is very persistent. Marco Polo says the Sokotrans are enchanters as great as any in the world. Doveks communicated by their prelates, therefore. And raised winds to bring back such ships as have wronged them. Till they obtain satisfaction. It is only just to say we had no need to fear such honest and friendly people. Sultan Salem of Sokotra, the nephew of old Sultan Ali of Kishin, the monarch of the Mali tribe, whom we had visited two years before on the south coast of Arabia, governed the island as his uncle's deputy. He had a castle at Tamarida of very poor and dilapidated appearance, which he rarely inhabited, preferring to live in the hills near Garia or at his miserable house at Haula, some eight miles along the coast from Tamarida. Haula is as ungainly a spot as it is possible to conceive, without water, without wood, and invaded by sand. Quite the ugliest place we saw on the island. Its only recommendation being that during the northeast monsoons, the few daos which visit the island anchor there, since it affords some sort of shelter from the winds in that direction, and Sultan Salem has a keen eye to business. His majesty came to visit us shortly after our arrival at Tamarida from his country residence and favored us with an audience in the courtyard of his palace, with all the great men of the island seated around him. He was a man of fifty, with a handsome but somewhat sinister face. He was girth as to his head with the many-colored keffiye and as to his waist with the girdle supporting a finely-inlaid muscat, dagger, and sword. His body was enveloped in a clean white robe and his feet were bare. His conversation, both then and when he returned our visit at our camp on which occasion he received a few presents, was solely about the price of camels and how many we should need. We did not ask us one other question. He talked little Arabic, being of the Mari tribe. We gave him an enfield carbine of 1863. On the plain behind Tamarida, there is a conical hill about 200 feet high called Hasan, which has been fortified as an acropolis and was provided with cemented tanks. These ruins have also been called Portuguese, but they looked to us more Arabic in character. When one has seen the very elaborate forts erected by the Portuguese on the coasts of the Persian Gulf in East Africa, one feels pretty confident in asserting that they took no steps to settle themselves permanently in Sokotra. In fact, their occupation of it only extended over a period of four years and the probability is that finding it harbourless and worth little for their purposes of a depot on the road to India, they never thought it worth their while to build any permanent edificis. In the neighborhood, there is a hill where the English are said to have encamped and where there are traces of a more ancient civilization, probably Portuguese, there are walls of small stones cased with cement and inside them a tank with conduits. Opposite to this hill and across the stream is a ruined village, only one house of which is still inhabited. It has circular walls and a circular padak adjoining it for cattle. It is perhaps annoying to have to add another to the list of the many tongues spoken in the world, but I think there is no room for doubt that Sokotteri must be added to that already distracting catalog. Though Sokotra has been under Mari rule probably since before our era, for Aryan tells us that in his day, the island of Dios Corida, as it was then called, was under the rule of the king of the Arabian Frankincense country and the best days of that country were long before Aryan's time. Nevertheless, the inhabitants have kept their language quite distinct both from Mari and from Arabic. Of course, it is naturally strongly impregnated with words from both these tongues, but the fundamental words of the language are distinct and in a trilingual parallel list of close on 300 words which my husband took down in the presence of Mari, Sokotteri and Arabic-speaking people on the island, we found distinctly more in the language than from a Mari source. In subtlety of sound, Sokotteri is painfully rich and we had the greatest difficulty in transcribing the words. They corkscrew their tongues, they gargle in their throats and bring sounds from most alarming depths, but luckily they do not click. They have no word for a dog, for there is not a dog on the island, neither for a horse nor a lion for the same reason. They seemed surprised at the idea that there might be such words in their language, but for all the animals, trees and articles commonly found there, they have words as distinct from the Arabic and Mari as cheese is from fromage. At Tamarida, we annexed a respectable man called Amar as interpreter. He was familiar with all the languages spoken in the island and daily when the camp was all pitched and arranged, my husband used to produce a long list of Arabic words and Amar used to sit on his heels and tell the Mari and Sokotteri equivalents. The words, however, being for the most part shouted out in chorals by numerals by standards. I have since added the English and the vocabulary will be found in an appendix. It was most difficult to get an answer as to anything abstract. For instance, clothes would be asked and Amar, after inquiring if white clothes were meant or blue or black or red and being answered any clothes would give a list of garments of various shapes. Age was a question that caused a great awkwardness, I am sorry to say. Well answered Amar, it might be anything, 7, 15, 70, anything. After the greatest invention and planning on our part, we unhappily thought to put the question in this form. How do you say what is your age? My age said Amar, mine, well, with evident annoyance and great hesitation. I'm 35, not old, not old at all. He is really quite 50. On such occasions, there had to be a tremendous conversation with the bystanders. I will not say more of the language than that instead of our little word, I, the Sokoteri is Hemu Komon and Damari Evo Mushom. I wish we could speak confidently about the origin of the so-called Bedwin, the pastoral inhabitants of the island who live in the valleys and heights of Mount Hagier and wander over the surface of the island with their flocks and herds. It has been often asserted that this Bedwin are troglodytes or cave dwellers pure and simple, but I do not think this is substantially correct. None of them, as far as we could ascertain, dwell always or by preference in caves, but all of them own stone-built tenements, however humble, in some warm and secluded valley. And they only abandon these to dwell in caves when driven to the higher regions in search of pasture age for their flocks during the dry season, which lasts from November till the southwest monsoon bursts in the beginning of June. Whilst we were on the island, the season was exceptionally dry and most of the villages in the valleys were entirely abandoned for the mountain caves. The Bedw is decidedly a handsome individual, leaf of limb like his goats and with a cafe or laid colored skin, he has a sharp profile, excellent teeth, he often wears a stubbly black beard and has beautifully penciled eyebrows and, though differing entirely in language, in physique and type, he closely resembles the Bedwin found in the Mari and Garam Mountains. Furthermore, the mode of life is the same, dwelling in caves when necessary, but having permanent abodes on the lower lands and they have several other striking points in common. Greetings take place between the Arabian Bedwin and the Sokotran Bedwin in similar fashion by touching each cheek then rubbing the nose. We found the Bedwin of Mount Hagier fond of dancing and playing their Teherane and also peculiarly lax in the religious observances and, though ostensibly conforming to Muhamedan practice, they observe next to none of their precepts and it is precisely the same with the Bedwin whom we met in the Garam Mountains. There is certainly nothing African about the Sokotran Bedwin. Therefore, I am inclined to consider them as a branch of that aboriginal race which inhabited Arabia with a language of its own and when Arabia is philologically understood and its various races investigated, I expect we shall hear of several new languages spoken by different branches of this aboriginal race and then perhaps a parallel will be found to the proudly isolated tongue of this remote island. The Bedw houses are round and surrounded by a round wall in which the flocks are penned at night, flat roofed and covered with soil and inside they are as destitute of interest as it is possible to conceive. A few mats on which the family sleep, a few jars in which they store their butter and a skin churn in which they make the same. The plan of those houses that are oblong is that of two circles united by a bit of wall at one side, the door being at the other. In one house into which my husband penetrated he found a bundle hanging from the ceiling which he discovered to be a baby by the exposure of one of its little feet. Everything is poor and pastoral. The Bedouin have hardly any clothes to cover themselves with. Nothing to keep them warm when the weather is damp, save a home-spun sheet and they have no ideas beyond those connected with their flocks. The closest intimacy exists between a Bedou and his goats and his cows. The animals understand and obey certain calls with absolute accuracy and you generally see a Sokotran shepherdess walking before her flock and not after it. The owners stroke and caress their little cows until they are as tame as dogs. The cows in Sokotra are far more numerous than one would expect and there is excellent pasture age for them. They are a very pretty little breed, smaller than our Alderney, without the hump and with the long doolap. They are fat and plump and excellent milkers. The Bedou does very little in the way of cultivation but when grass is scarce and consequently milk, he turns his attention to the sowing of Jawari in little round fields dotted about the valleys with a wall round to keep the goats off. In each of these he digs a well and waters his crop before sunrise and after sunset. The field is divided into little compartments by stones, the better to retain the soil and water and sometimes you will see a Bedou Papa with his wife and son sitting and tilling these biju fields with pointed bits of wood for other tools are unknown to them. We hired our camels for our journey eastwards from the Arab merchants who live at Tamarida or Hadibo. They are the sole camel proprietors in the island, as the Bedouin own nothing but their flocks and excellent animals these camels are too, the strongest and tallest we had seen. Of our camel men, some were Bedouin and some were Negroes and we found them on the whole, honest and obliging, though with the usual keen eye for a possible backshish which is not uncommon elsewhere. The eastern end of Sokotra is similar in character to the western, being a low continuation of the spursofag here intersected with valleys and with a plateau stretching right away to Rasmomi about 1500 feet above the sea level. This plateau is a perfect paradise for shepherds with much rich grass all over it but it is badly watered and water has to be fetched from the deep pools which are found in all its valleys at the driest season of the year and in the rainy season these become impassable torrents, sweeping trees and rocks before them and the hillsides up to the edge of the bare dolomitic pinakils of the Hagia Range are thickly clothed with vegetation. Three considerable streams run from southward of Mount Hagia, fertilizing three splendid valleys until the waters as the seas approached lose themselves in the sand. To the north, there are many more streams and in as much as the seas considerably nearer they all reach it or rather the silted-up lagoons already alluded to. By the side of these streams innumerable palm groves grow. In fact, dates form the staple food of the islanders and out of the date tree they get branches for their hedges, stems for their roofs the leaf provides them with their sleeping mats and when beaten on stones with fiber with which they are exceedingly clever in making ropes. Our camel men were always at it and produced with assistance of fingers and toes the most excellent rope at the shortest possible notice. They also make strong girdles with this fiber which the slaves who are employed in fertilizing the palm trees bind around their bodies and the trees so as to facilitate their ascent and provide them with a firm seat when the point of operation is reached. They weave two baskets or rather steep sacs in which to hang their luggage on either side of the camel. A Sokotron camel man is a most dexterous packer. He must first obliterate his camel's hump by placing against it three or four thick felt mats or numods and on this raised surface he builds all his luggage carefully secured in his baskets with the result that we never during any of our expeditions with camels had so little damage done to our property even though the roads were so mountainous and the box bushes were constantly rubbing against the loads. The camels are very fine specimens of their race standing considerably higher than the Arabian animal and when mounted on the top of our luggage above the hump thus unnaturally raised we felt at first disagreeably elevated. Whilst on the subject of camels and camel trappings I may add that each owner own mark painted and branded on his own property. Some of these marks consist purely of himiarity letters whilst others are variants which would naturally arise from copying a very old world alphabetic original. I take these marks to be preserved by the steady conservatism of the Oriental. We copied many of them and the result looks like a partial reproduction and they may be seen in an appendix. Scattered over Sokotra there are numerous villages each being a little cluster of from five to ten round or oblong houses and round cattle pens. I was informed by a competent authority on the island that there are 400 of these pastoral villages between Ras Kalencia and Ras Momi a distance of some 70 odd miles as the crow flies and from the frequency with which we came across them during our marches up only a limited number of Sokotra's many valleys I should think the number is not overestimated. If this is so the population of the island must be considerably over the estimate given and must approach 12 or 13,000 souls but owing to the migratory nature of the inhabitants and their life half spent in houses and half in caves any exact sensors would be exceedingly hard to obtain. The east of the island is however decidedly more populous than the west as the water supply is better. We were constantly passing the little round house villages with their palm groves and their flocks. Chapter 32 we depart for the land's end Ras Momi After leaving Tamarida we spent a night at a place the name of which has been vayusly spelled. We decided to spell it Dihelemnitin. It has otherwise been called the Shelenata etc. It is a lovely spot at the confluence of two streams in a wood of palms and we had a nice little flat field to camp in. I mean a wall-supported place once used as such. We saw very little cultivation except gardens at the villages and the palm trees were for the most part quite neglected. Near Tamarida we saw just a few fun palms and one I remember looked very odd as it still retained every leaf it had ever had and looked like a yellow tower at the top all the rest were bristling wither down to the ground. In South Arabia people are punished if they still each others palm leaves as the leaves are valuable for many things as well as the leaves themselves but here there are no restrictions of that kind. There was a good deal of climbing up and down to Sayehen our next camp he was told there were ruins or supposed inscriptions but so nothing worth mentioning except the inscribed crosses already alluded to. At first after living Sayehen we kept along the lower ground for some time passing by Gariyakhor a very long inlet or lagoon which stretches inland for at least two miles. We dismounted at this has where we were told by Amar the English ones had houses it was a mass of ruins we went over a pass about 2,500 feet high and up and down two sets of hills to a level plain about 1,500 feet high extending all the way to Rasmomi As we ascended we passed a peak 2,000 feet high called Goddahan which has a great hole in the middle of it through which a large patch of sky is visible we encamped near it close to the hamlet of Kitab in a wood of palms and various other trees full of those pretty green and gray birds half parrot and half dove whose beauty, however did not save them from our pot From this place and even before we reached it we had very little personal use of our camels The clamoring up as well as down was so severe There is behind the peak of Goddahan a curious flat ridge raised not very many feet above the plateau which is called Matagioti and is perfectly honeycombed with fissures and crevices offering delightful homes for people of droglodytic tendencies large fig trees grow in these crevices and dragon's blood trees and large herds of cows and goats reveling the rich carpet of grass which covers the flat surface of the plateau Unfortunately this rich pasture ground is only indifferently supplied with water We obtained ours from two very nasty holes where rain water had lain and in which many cattle had washed and when this dry up the bedwin have to go down to the lower valleys in search of it Before we left it had assumed the appearance of porter There was a great deal of lavender growing about and numerous pretty flowers and we found many shells in that place It was so very cold that we had a fine bonfire to dine by and the dew that night was drenching pouring off our tents As rasmomi is approached the country wears a very desolate aspect There are no trees here but low bushes and stunted adeniums covered with lichen and looking just like rocks with little bushes on them Very little water but plenty of grass We encamped near the hamlet of Sihon where though there was no appearance of a mosque but a doctor The former was so free from fanaticism as to send us a present of a lamb The inhabitants were very friendly to us and let us go into their houses and watch their occupations The women were busy grinding limestone to make pots and we obtained a very dirty little bag full of a kind of organic substance like small white stones which is ground to powder mixed with water into a whitish paste which after a little time turns red I think they paint the pots with it They were pleasant-looking folk with quite a European cast of countenance mostly ugly and some with scanty beards and reminding us strongly of the old frieze of the Parthenon sculptures in the Acropolis Museum at Athens Really, they were just like them except for their color which is chocolate brown We could not help thinking of the Moscoporos when one came up to look at us with the lamb round his neck We settled there for several days not being able to go nearer Rasmomi for reasons connected with water I cannot think it could have been really pleasant to the people of Sihon that we should have drunk up nearly all their water We only left a little the color of coffee behind us We suffered badly while there from two things Firstly, from the dreadful kind of grass upon which we were encamped and secondly, from a regular gale of wind The grass, apenisetum I believe is one we knew and hated in Machonaland The seed is like a little grain of very sharp oats, well barbed which carries behind it a thread like a fish hook about 2 inches long As for the wind when we came home one afternoon we found Mateos in a most dreadful state fearing the tents would be down He was trying to get the outer flies off alone and was delighted when my husband and I the only two other experienced tent dwellers came to his assistance For days we might as well have lived in a drum for the noise of this tempest There was a little round and closure to keep goats in We knew that Hashi and Mamood had taken this as their home and we were satisfied that no matter which way the wind blew they were sheltered But one evening before dinner we heard that Mamood was ill with fever We both went to see that he was comfortable and my husband took him some quinine We found Hashi had put him to bed on the windy side of the enclosure with a hard stiff camel mat under him one over his body and a third on his head We soon moved him and wrapped him in blankets and my husband having got some sacks and other things as a pillow Hashi put them on the top of Mamood's head We built up a waterproof tent over him but soon had to unpack him as the village doctor appeared on the scene demanding a fee of two anas from my husband He began by making several slashes on the top of his head and copying him with a horn which he sucked gave him some medicine and having spent a little time blowing in different directions settled down, crouching over the patient waving his hand as if making passes to mesmerize him and muttering a few words alternately spitting slightly and often in his face Our joint efforts were successful in the recovery of Mamood who was well next day It is curious that in this somewhat wild and at present an interesting locality we found more traces of ruins and bygone habitations than are found in any other part of the island About five miles from Rasmomi and hidden by an amphitheater of low hills and a watershed between the two seas we came across the foundations of a large square building constructed out of very large stones and with great regularity It was 105 feet square The outer wall was 6 feet thick and it was divided inside into several compartments by transverse walls To the southeast corner was attached an adjunct, 14 by 22 feet There was very little soil in this building and nothing whatever saved the foundations to guide us in our speculations as to what this could be Other ruins of our rudder and more irregular character lay scattered in the vicinity and at some remote period when Sokotra was in its brighter days this must have been an important center of civilization None of the natives would help us to dig in this place They are very much afraid of the devil and think the ground under the ruins is hollow and that there is a house in it At one time, hopes were held out that the sacrifice of a goat might avert danger but after all, we and Matthias had to do the best we could in the way of digging We always carried tools with us My part consisted in tracing out the walls with the trowel and moving stones My husband and I found it most difficult next day to take the measurements in the high wind From Sihon, my husband climbed up a steep and rugged mountain to a ruined village on a strong place called Zerug A Mars family mansion was near a cave containing three women, some children and large flocks of goats kept in the cave by a wall It is heated at night and very stuffy Before leaving this corner of the island we journeyed to the edge of the plateau and looked down the steep cliffs at the eastern cape where Rasmomi pierces with a series of diminishing heights the Indian Ocean The waves were dashing over the remains of the wreck still visible of a German vessel which went down here with all hands some few years ago and the Bedouin produced for our edification several fragments of German print which they had treasured up and which they deemed of fabulous value Rasmomi somewhat reminded us of Cape Finister in Brittany and as a dangerous point for navigation it also resembles it closely Near the summit of One Hill we passed an ancient and long-dissused reservoir dug in the side of it and constructed with stones During our stay here we visited the sites of many ancient villages and found the cave charnel houses already alluded to We launched in a sort of cave behind some huts on the opposite side of the valley if such it may be called from the bone caves and were put to the route by a serpent which evidently liked the water in a little rocky pit in the mouth of the cave It was horrible stuff and brought water for our tea with us Our supposed foe was slain The serpent was very pretty fully a-yard long black and salmon-colored and with a very tapering head and tail it was said to be poisonous but we thought it could not be The hills all about Rasmomi are divided into irregular plots by long piles of stones stretching in every direction Certainly not the work of the Sokotrans of today but the work of some people who valued every inch of ground and utilized it for some purpose or other The miles of walls we passed here and rode over with our camels give to the country somewhat the aspect of the Yorkshire woods It has been suggested that they were erected as divisions for aloe grounds but I think if this was the case traces of aloes would surely be found here still aloes are still abundant about Feregg Het and the valleys of Hagier but near Rasmomi, there are none and it is hard to think what else could grow there now but these mountain slopes may not always have been so denuded End of chapters 31 and 32 Recording by Shena Serre, Fresno, California Chapter 33 of Southern Arabia This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Southern Arabia by James and Mabel Bent Chapter 33 Mount Hagier and Feregg Het After leaving our camp at Sihon we took a path in a southwesterny direction and after a few days of somewhat monotonous traveling we came again into the deeper valleys and finer scenery of the central districts of the island Through them, we made our way in the direction of Mount Hagier Sokotra without Mount Hagier would be like a body without a soul The great mass of mountains which occupies the center of the island rises in many jagged and stupendous peaks to the height of nearly 5,000 feet At all seasons of the year it catches the fugitive sea mists which so rarely visit the Arabian coasts and down its sides flow sparkling streams and bubbling cascades The Gebel Bitmolek a name which, by the way sounds as if it had an Assyrian origin is the highest peak It is very sheer and unapproachable at its summit and though only 4,900 feet high will give trouble to the adventurous crag climber who is bent on conquering it Then there are the Driat Peaks the Adona Peaks and many other piercing the sky like needles around which wild goats and seabit cats roam but no other big game In the lower ground are found quantities of wild donkeys which the Bedouin complained were in the habit of trampling a pan and killing their goats Whether these donkeys are naturally wild or descendants of escaped tamed ones I am unable to say Some are dark and some are white and their skins seem to be more glossy than those of the domestic mok The Bedouin like to catch them if they can with the hope of taming them for domestic use The glory of Mount Hagier is undoubtedly its dragon's blood tree Draconia Xinabari Found scattered at an elevation of about 1,000 feet and upwards over the greater part of Sokotra Certainly it is the quaintest tree imaginable from 20 feet to 30 feet high exactly like a green umbrella which is just in the process of being blown inside out, I thought One of our party thought them like huge green toadstools another like trees made for a child's Noah's Ark The gum was called Kinnabari but the Arab name is Katir The Sokoteri name is Eda It is a great pity that the Sokotrans of today do not make more use of the rich ruby red gum which issues from its bark when punctured and which produces a valuable resin now used as varnish but the tree is now found in more enterprising countries in Sumatra, in South America and elsewhere So the export of dragon's blood from its own ancient home is now practically nil If the dragon's blood tree with its close set radiating branches and stiff, alo-like leaves is quaint and some might be inclined to say ugly it has, nevertheless its economic use but not so it's still quaint their comrade on the slopes of Mount Hagier the gauti, swollen stemmed, adenium This, I think is the ugliest tree in creation with one of the most beautiful of flowers It looks like one of the first efforts of dame nature in tree making happily abandoned by her for more graceful shapes and forms The swollen and twisted contortions of its trunk recall with a shudder those miserable sufferers from elephantiasis Its leaves are stiff and formal and they usually drop off as if ashamed of themselves before the lovely flower like a rich colored large oleander blossom comes out The adenium bears some slight resemblance on a small scale One sightly baobab tree of Africa though it tapers much more rapidly and looks as if it belonged to a different epoch of creation to our own trees at home Then there is the cucumber tree another hideous stemmed tree swollen and whitish and the hill slopes covered with this look as if they had been decorated with so many huge composite candles which had guttered horribly At atop of the candle are a few short branches on which grow a few stiff crinkly leaves and small yellow flowers which produce the edible fruit This tree in Sokoteri, Camhan the dendrosicos sokotrana of the botanist is like the language of the Bedouin found only on Sokotra and sell them more than 10 or 12 feet in height It is a favorite perch for three or four of the white vultures which swarm in the island and the picture formed by these ungainly birds on the top of this ungainly tree is an odd one To the south of Mount Hagier one comes across valleys entirely full of frankincense trees with rich red leaves like autumn tints and clusters of blood red flowers No one touches the trees here and this natural product of the island is now absolutely ignored Then there are the mirrors also ignored and other gum producing plants and the neural tamarins affording lovely shade and the fruit of which the netives oddly enough do know the value of and make a cooling drink therewith Then there are the three euphorbias which look as if they were trying to mimic the dragon's blood the branches of which the netives throw into the lagoons so that the fish may be killed and the poisonous milky juice of which they rub on the bottoms of their canoos to prevent leakage Such are among the oddest tulukapan of Sokotra's vegetable productions Wild oranges too are found on Mount Hagier of a very rich yellow when ripe but bitter as gall to eat and the wild pomegranate with its lovely red flowers and small yellow fruit the flanily coating of which only is eaten instead of the seeds as is the case with the cultivated one The vegetable world is indeed richly represented in this remote island and one could not help thinking what possibilities it would offer for the cultivation of lucrative plants such as tobacco which is now grown by the netives in small quantities as is also cotton and perhaps coffee and tea would thrive on the higher elevations The Bedouin would bring us alos both in leaf and in solution in hopes that we might take a fancy to this venerable Sokotran production now a very little of it is collected and everybody takes what he likes from the nearest source whereas I believe in former times when alos were an object of commerce here the plantations were strictly divided off by walls and the owners jealously looked after their property The way the alo juice is collected is this as the abyssinians do when they are going to wash clothes the alo-gadrers dig a hole in the ground and line it with the skin then they pile old leaves points outward all around till the pressure makes the juice exude This at first is called Taif Diho or Riho both of the latter words used for water though the former is the most usual it is left till it is firmer and drier and this takes about a month then it is called Taif Ghashisha when it has dried for about 6 weeks it is nearly hard and called Taif Kasahal it is exported in skins the collection of dragons blood is carried on like that of domestic in kios the drops are knocked off into bags the drops which come off unbroken are the most valued and called Eda Amselo then the nice clean broken bits are picked out and called Eda Dakha the refuse with bits of dirt bark and leaves stuck in it Eda this is made up into cakes and it is sold very cheap my husband as usual made the botanical collection and I believe it contained a few novelties but for further particulars on the flora of Sokotra and the trees thereof I must refer you to Professor Bailey Balfour's very huge and equally interesting book we were so fortunate as to have it with us and it added much to our pleasure our way was over broken ground with little of interest saved the lovely views over mountain and gorge and the many dragon frankincense and mere trees passed an open space in which is the village of Jahayda where the inhabitants had cultivated some little fields to Roshi where there was no village but a good deal of water we encamped in a cattle pen the camel men making themselves a capital house with floors walls and sides of the thick mats of the camels these mats are really like hard mattresses nearly one inch thick and very stiff about one yard long by two feet wide we always tried to encamp in a field if we could as then we were sure of some earth for the tent pegs at three days during which I do not think our guides knew their way very well we went over a steep pass up and down into the deep valley of Eshab we had wondered about a good deal backwards and forwards over stony walls and the men all disagreed as to the direction and we had scrambled up a valley off our road to see some supposed inscriptions a much more dangerous place than the Kadhop road the Eshab valley with its rich red stone dotted with green and its weird trees forms an admirable foreground to the blue pinakals of Hagier tropical and alpine at the same time the climbing was most tremendous up first and then down very steeply all over large sharp stones till we reached the water the camel men leaning backwards holding their camels by their tails with all their might by way of putting on the drag when we reached the valley we gladly mounted our camels and squeezed through woods and often were nearly torn off we encamped in a sweet place with a stream and shade and a most fragrant carpet some of which we had in our soup and some of which was carried on for future use we found the management of our milk tins rather difficult we often had to resort to them for surrounded though we were by herds of cattle the supply of fresh milk was very irregular sometimes we could have more than we wanted and at others none at all it is pretty dear too in Sokotra as so much is used up for the ghee on January 17 we forced our way on through more woods the peak of tough seeming to fill up the end of the valley to the wadi di shell and crossed over to the wadi di kadik where we settled near a wide river in a beautiful grassy spot with many trees and wine rejoicing that on the following day we should reach Fereghe or Fereghe where we intended to rest some time we had heard from Amar a delightful description of it and as we have so often been disappointed under such circumstances we said we would take all possible enjoyment out of the pleasures of hope beforehand but really this time we had everything we expected including a wide rocky river enabling us to bathe develop photographs and set up a laundry Fereghe was in fact a most charming spot Here our tents were pitched beneath widespreading tamarins and we could walk in shade for a considerable distance under these gigantic old trees Fereghe was the site of an ancient ruin town which interested us exceedingly Walls 8 to 10 feet thick had been constructed out of very large and new boulders externally filled with rubble to check the torrent which in the rainy season rushes down here carrying all before it to the sea These walls with much skill in keeping a straight line are clearly the work of an age long gone by when weight moving was better understood than it is at present and doubtless the ruins of Fereghe may be traced back to the days when Sokotra was resorted to for its gums The fine old tamarin trees had done much to destroy the colossal wall 100 feet of which now remains still about 5 feet high but there are many other traces of ruins and a small fort of later date It is likely enough that Fereghe was a great center of the trade of the island for frankincense, smear and dragon's blood grow copiously around and the position under the slopes of Hagier and almost the island was suitable for such a town We opened the tomb not very far from Fereghe with a great block of stone over it 6 feet long by 3 feet thick but the ill conditioned relatives of the deceased had placed nothing therein save the corpse and we were annoyed not to find any trace of inscriptions near this ruin town which might have thrown some light All I feel sure of is that the Portuguese did not build this town as it is commonly asserted In fact, we did not see any building on the island which can definitely be ascribed to that nation Below Fereghe, the valley gets broader and runs straight down to the sea at the south of the island where the streams from Mount Hagier all lose themselves in a vast plain of sand called Noget which we could see from the mountains up which we climbed This is the widest point of the island of Sokotra and it is really only 36 miles between the ocean at Tamarida and the ocean at Noget but the intervention of Mount Hagier and its ramifications make it appear a very long way indeed To the east and to the west of its great mountain very soon loses its fantastic scenery and its ample supply of water The most remarkable peak we could see from Fereghe was Adona The topmost point of this mountain is Split We saw this clearly afterwards when we continued our journey up the valley but from Fereghe we could pass through it To look at the mountains you would think they were made of black stone with a few patches of red lichen but really these patches of red are the natural rock showing amongst the fine black lichen which covers the mountains The channels of the water in the river bed are shown by this blackness and the water looks like an inky stream At Fereghe we were near a river the water of which was very low The main bed of the water channel was all black and above this was a coat of white over the blackened stones and as the remaining pools were all white I suppose that some white tributary continues flowing later than the black stream The few Bedouin who live round Fereghe were attacked with our camp As you will understand when you know that our tent was pitched exactly on their high road a little narrow path They behaved most kindly in going aside The women used to bring us alo plants just torn up and seemed much disappointed at finding that we did not find any use for them We heard from them that there is only one leper in the island and he lives alone in the hills Our sheltering tamarin trees wide-spreading and gnarled abounded in doves Some were small ones like ours and some of the parrot kind whose cowing was far from sedative We enjoyed wandering in the shade of the fig trees wild and unprofitable the date and other trees Around us stood the relics of a bygone race of men who had ill-naturedly left us no inscriptions on stone and no clue to tell us who they were Mountains hemmed us in on every side and any little wind was very refreshing for we were only about 400 feet above the sea level and quite sheltered from our now only too well known monsoon On a kind of promontory by a deep pool in the river is a building of stones and mortar later in style than the wall and equally inexplicable probably a fort It is impossible to describe the fantastic beauty of the delightful Faraget We were quite sorry to leave it on January 24 We rode a little way along the river passing a single fan palm tree very tall and bare and then had another great climb up and down We passed a good many old tombs which had been opened They were made of large slabs We found one in the evening not far from our camp so we opened it the following morning before starting After a great deal of trouble with the peak axis at the bar nothing was found but bones We measured the top stone 6 feet 5 inches by 2 feet 10 inches and 1 foot 5 inches thick We next scrambled up a wooded mountain steep enough but nothing to the downward scramble There was no particular road One had to stick one's heels into trailing masses and blocks of red stone and let them slide a short away as they would The booted portion of our party began to feel great anxiety as to foot gear We wondered if our boots could possibly last to Tamarida where we had left a good deal of baggage that is clothes that we had needed on the steamer We used to apply the gums of various trees to the soles to retard consumption The camels sat down and slid or looked as if they were doing so The camel men holding the tails nearly lay on their backs but we reached the river safely and camped there and rode most of next day up a valley crossing the water often We had to wind in and out of clumps of trees sometimes lying on our camels to get under branches and finally after going through thick woods stopped at the foot of some mighty mountains Though many of our camps on Mount Hagier and the expeditions therefrom were very delightful I think this one called Yehazahas was decidedly the prettiest It was slow down on the southern slope We reached in a grove of palm trees at the meeting of two rushing streams Tangled vegetation hung around us on every side and whichever way we looked we had glimpses of granite peaks and rugged hillsides clad with dragons blood The village was quite hidden by trees and creepers but its inhabitants were away on the higher pasture age and our men occupied 90 tenements We stayed there a couple of days and the first evening as we were sitting in our tent after tea, a tremendous noise and shouting proceeded from the direction of our kitchen This proved to be occasioned by the discovery of samblong suspected sugar thieves They were the three youngest of our camel drivers They were all tied to a palm tree and Amar began scurging them with a rope I begged them off My husband thought I had been foolish particularly as the scurging had not been ordered by him The boys certainly did not seem to mind it a bit However, the elder men consulted and Amar brought a rupee next morning as a fine which my husband thought it right to accept The red mountains here assume a grayish white appearance The land shells seemed to grow larger on the tops of the mountains We found some about three inches in length On living Yehazahaz there was no riding for us but the climb a foot straight up a steep pass and down across the river and over a second pass The way was mostly rough but there were a few little grassy beats We descended only about 100 feet and pitched our tents on a flatish spongy piece of grass near a pretty streamlet overhang with begonias and many other flowers at a spot called Adahan where a sort of pass winds its way between the granite peaks We were encamped for several days at an elevation of close on 3,000 feet above the sea level Here when the mist came down upon us we were enveloped in clouds, rain and wretchedness but the air to us was cool and invigorating Though why fear our scantily clad attendance found it anything but agreeable There were drawbacks too to the enjoyment of our mountain camps and the shape of several kinds of pernicious grasses which grew thickly round our tent and the seeds of which penetrated relentlessly into everything Grass thorns invaded our day and night raiment getting into places hither to deemed impregnable and the prickly sensation cost by them was irritating to both body and mind From Adahan one could easily ascend to the highest ground though perhaps one ought na to say easily for climbing is no joke up here through dense vegetation and rocky gullies Looking down into the gorges we enjoyed some splendid effects and were constantly reminded of the grand coral of Madera There were many trees and flowering shrubs, rocky needles and pinakals all around us and the view of the ocean to the north and by climbing up we could catch sight of the ocean to southward too My husband tried to ascend the highest peak in the island Dryate it is called by the Bedouin but when he had gone as far as possible the peak sword above him about 400 feet sheer and impracticable quite bare of vegetation we find plenty of amusement in Sokotra The bottoms and sides of the valleys filled with bulbous plants and rank vegetation enormous dragon's blood trees the long valleys of Faraget and Yehazahaz winding their way to the coast the rugged mass of beat molek and the view over both seas make, my husband said as interesting a natural view as it is possible to conceive the clouds had fortunately roll themselves up for the occasion we had however during our stay so much wet that we had a special fire to dine by and by it a very rudely constructed clothes horse to dry our dripping garments our kitchen fire was the constant resort of the Bedouin of the neighborhood coming to see us and bring provisions to sell we had plenty of milk and one day bought a tiny calf for 3 rupees the camelmen who skinned it tried to keep the head as their perquisite but Mateo secured it and put it in our soup to our surprise the two Somali servants Hashi and Mamood would in consequence eat none of the soup nor any meat they usually ate anything that was going a lame Bedou brought us some green oranges and potatoes which were really the roots of a convolvulus they were not bad when baked in the ashes but hard when boiled he also brought us a sweet herb which they used to stuff pillows with the greetings of the Bedou always amuse us they first put cheek to cheek and then rub noses most matter-of-fact way so we may infer that this mode of salutation is in vogue in the Mara country it was pleasant to be among such friendly people who had no horror of us and did not even seem much surprised at seeing us there and to be able to go off quite alone for a scramble so safely end of chapter 33 recording by Shena Sear Fresno, California chapter 34 of Southern Arabia this is a Librebox recording all Librebox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librebox.org Southern Arabia by James and Mabel Bent chapter 34 back to the ocean after several days at Adahan we climbed down northward our journey was only three miles along a very narrow valley but we made much more of it climbing after plants and shells we stopped at the first little flat place that would hold our tents a sort of small shelf more than knee deep in that awful grass really enjoy that camp for two days pain was our portion all the time the scenery was magnificent and all the more striking that the mountains having cast off their lichen covering gleamed out in their glowing red all around us there was such steepness that it was a work of great difficulty to set up my camera anywhere we had a very steep descent after that over sharp stones to the plain my husband and I as usual went on foot starting before the others and though we were sorry when we finally quitted the mountains we were glad enough to find ourselves on our camels again to be carried to Sook where we decided to stay as we heard that the sultan's boat was there and the sultan himself was very far off we wished to engage the ship for our return to Aden before leaving the screw steamer Kanara my husband had begged the captain to take a letter to Bombay requesting that the British India's team navigation company would send a steamer for us and let us know about it by Sam Dao a Dao had arrived from Bombay but we knew of the plague so we became afraid that if the plague prevented the steamer from coming and we waited for it we might have to stick on Sokotra during the whole of the southwest monsoon my husband therefore began parleying about sailing boats and had sent Amar from Adahan and the sultan had sent his captain up to meet us Dr. Schweinfurt sees in the present name of Sokotra a Hindu origin and the survival of the Hindu name Diyu Sukutura which the Greeks after their easygoing fashion changed into Dios Corides this is very ingenious and most likely correct when the Portuguese reached the island in 1538 they found the Arab shake dwelling at the capital called Sokot now in ruins and still called Suk a survival doubtless of the original name the old capital of Sokot is a delicious spot and the ruins are buried in groves of palm trees by the side of a large and deep lagoon of fresh water this lagoon is only separated from the sea by a narrow belt of sand and shingle and it seems to me highly probable that this was the ancient harbor where the boats in search of the precious products of the island found shelter the southern coast of Arabia affords many instances of desilted harbors and the northern coast of Sokotra is similar many of the lagoons are of course as they call them being deep and running over a mile inland the view at Sok over the wide lagoon franged with palm groves onto the jagged heights of Mount Hagier rising immediately behind is, I think to be placed amongst the most enchanting pictures I have ever seen it probably bring to light some interesting relics of the earlier inhabitants of this island but it would have to be deep as later edifices have been erected here and labor and tools would have to be brought from elsewhere the present capital is called Tamarida by Arabs and foreigners and Hadibo by the natives and its construction the name is apparently a Latinized form of the Arabic Tamar or date fruit which tree is largely cultivated there much is said by old writers about the Greek colonists who came to Sokotra in ancient times but I cannot help thinking that the Hellenic world never carried its enterprise much in this direction The Greeks did they have left no trace whatsoever of their existence there I should think few places in the world have pursued the even tenor of their way over so many centuries as Sokotra has Yakut writing 700 years ago speaks of the Arabs as ruling here the author of the Periplus 100 years ago tells us the same thing and now we have a representative of the same country and the same race governing the island still Sokotra has followed the fortunes of Arabia throughout the same political and religious influences which have been at work in Arabia have been felt here Sokotra, like Arabia has gone through a lot of pagan, Christian and Muhamedan beliefs The first time the island came in contact with modern ideas and modern civilization was when the Portuguese occupied it in 1538 and this was as we have seen Ephemeral Then the island fell under the rod of Wahabi persecution at the beginning of the century nearly the whole of Arabia in those days In 1835 it was for a short time brought under direct British influence and Indian troops and camped on the plane of Tamarida It was then uncertain whether Aden or Sokotra would be chosen as a calling station for India and Lieutenant Welsted was sent in the Palinurus to take a survey of it but doubtless the harbourless condition of the island and the superior position of Aden in that respect cost the decision in favor of Aden The advantages Aden afforded for fortification and for commanding the mouth of the Red Sea influenced the decision and Sokotra with its fair mountains and rich fertility allowed to relapse into it's pristine state of quiescence and the British soldier was condemned to sojourn on the barren burning rocks of Aden instead of in this island paradise Finally in 1876 to prevent the island being acquired by any other nation the British government entered into a treaty with the Sultan The letter gets $360 a year and binds himself and his heirs and successors amongst other things to protect any vessel foreign or British with the crew, passengers and cargo that may be wrecked on the island of Sokotra and it's dependencies and it is understood that the island is never to be ceded to a foreign power or British consent A more peaceful law abiding people it would be hard to find elsewhere such a sharp contrast to the tribes on the south Arabian coast they seem never to quarrel amongst themselves as far as we could see and the few soldiers Sultan Salem posesses have a remarkably easy time of it our luggage was invariably about at night without anyone to protect it and none of it was stolen and after our journeys in southern Arabia the atmosphere of security was exceedingly agreeable the only themes were the white and yellow vultures who sat on guard around our kitchen and were always ready to carry off our meat and made many valiant attempts to do so many scares in the island and so are jealousies and probably the bedwing of Sokotra will remain in their bucolic innocence to the end of time if no root of bitterness in the shape of modern civilization is planted amongst them it is undoubtedly a providential thing for the Sokotran that his island is harbourless that his mountains are not oriferous and that the modern world is not so keen about dragon's blood which is still called the blood of two brothers frankincense and mir as the ancients were a thing we regretted very much in leaving Sokotra was the delightful piece of traveling without an armed escort which we had not enjoyed for years we knew we should soon be traveling again with soldiers in arabia there is a wretched hamlet of Somali at Sook which had been visited by us from Hadibo we had only one night at Sook and in the morning my husband and Matheos went off on foot to Haula or Haulaf to see the boat this is where the sultan lives i believe the boat was actually not think it would have been so far or they would have taken camels it was a 3 mile tramp in the sand my husband and Matheos came back from Haula very hot and tired not having seen the sultan he was sleeping or praying all the time the mode in which muslims say not at home in short he was keeping out of the way they described the boat everything that was delightful though people not so well accustomed as we were to voyaging in these ships might not agree with them but it was impossible to come to terms they had had a very stormy interview with the sultan's captain who said that 1,000 rupees was the lowest price my husband said he had paid no more for the steamer and we had all had beds provided and food 800 was his highest price the sultan has a miserable house in a very uncomfortable spot surrounded by a few huts belonging to fishermen who go out on little rafts made of bundles of palm leaf ribs to drop the traps for fish we then moved to Hadibo again going along the shore and encamping quite in a different place to that in which we were at first we were in a nice date grove by the lagoon and close to the beach we now commenced a time of dreadful uncertainty as to how or when we could leave the island hearing nothing from the sultan Matheos was sent on a camel to offer 800 rupees and returned most indignant 2,000 being the lowest price asked that is 124 pounds later the captain came agreed to the 800 and said my husband must pay 400 at sunset to get wood and water as the men never came for the money til we were in bed they were sent off till next morning when they came very early and asked for paper to write the contract my husband produced some with pen and ink they said they could only write with a pencil but when that was cut the captain said 500 must be paid he did not want it himself nor yet the sultan but the sailors did my husband then said he would complain to the Wali of Aden and they all suddenly departed and the captain we heard and hope where there was another boat in order to prevent its owner spoiling the sultan's bargain 2 days after we had a message to say we were to pay the whole 800 rupees at once that the sultan was coming to fetch it himself and that we should positively start that day no sultan came but next day a very affectionate letter from him said with the ship at sunset we had to forgive his non-appearance that time as there was such a storm that we could not in any case have passed the surf next day he came by land to the castle where we had seen him and sent to ask my husband to bring the money so he went attended by mermidans bearing money bags pen and paper sultan would not sign the contract the money was brought back at midday there was an apology sent with two lambs and a little calf and at sunset the sultan really arrived at our camp signed the contract and carried off the money so we left next day we had plenty to do so were quite occupied all this time I used to develop photographs for I had my dark tent set up I had awful trials to bear the water was so warm that the gelatin frilled in spite of alum and what was worse when I put the negatives in the hyposulfate of soda they run off their supports like so much hot starch some I saved but I never dared do more than carefully dip them and even then it seemed to froth up at once I had a good many negatives marked by this and had to smooth off the bubbles with my hands regardless of their color and I had to work at night for coolness we had very little milk while there na until the last two days a man was drinking and this is the surprising way in which he did it he dipped his hand in and sucked his fingers not clean ones at first and so continued till he had finished it all up our visitors used sometimes suddenly to hurry off to pray choosing a bit of damp sand and when they returned some of the sand was sticking to their foreheads and the sand stayed on the better as it was considered a sign of a religious man we had an anxious battle with white ants also a basket was nearly devoured by them but our best steamer raiment was preserved by the inner lining of American cloth though they were sitting on it in sheets we had remarked in South Africa the basket was brushed over the sea steeped in the lagoon and inundated with boiling water this was the only thing attacked of all that we had left behind when we were in Hadibo the first time a brown ship 70 feet in length by 15 wide did really look a very near nutshell to go 500 miles over the great ocean in but it was far far better than some we had been in from the deck Sokotra looked almost too beautiful to live the weather was very rough the sailors not nearly ready and it was midday before we started by this time all the servants were prostrate and my husband had to get the sailors to help him in setting up our beds and arranging the baggage between decks as turn which was 3.5 feet high and as the beds had to be tied to each other 2 feet apart as well as to the sides of the ship we had to bend low and step high when moving about the two sumali servants managed wonderfully to take it in turns to be well after a bit but Matheos was one of the worst so food was a difficulty and his wrath was great when Mamood having made us tea like ink he found the tea canister empty we had rough weather enough but the wind was favorable we were always afraid of falling off our seats at mills for we were perched anywhere on anything we could get round our kitchen box as a table bruises alone were not the cause of our terror but the fact is that the sailors were always shaking their raiment and making those searching and successful investigations accompanied by that unmistakable movement of the elbows and backs of the thumbnails which literally give one the creeps the captain had a compass but no other instrument of any kind and none of the sailors seemed to know the way to the islands which we knew to be such as the African coast and Cape Guardafluwe where we knew it could not be on the third evening we saw the Asiatic coast and at sunset we saw the jagged Jebel Shemshan very far away and of course hoped to see it nearer next day but when we woke in the morning my husband went out to the ship and still more unusual silence and found everyone asleep and the ship lying to out of sight of any land the captain said they imagined we had passed again in the dark and thinking they should soon be among rocks or coral reefs had stopped a dreadful uproar then arose and everyone on the ship shouted different directions for steering my husband desired them to steer north that we might find land as none of them had any idea of our longitude at last we saw a steamer presumably from Aden and getting north of her and steering west we at length had Africa on our port side again and reached Aden by the following sunrise though it took us still 2 o'clock to get into port end of chapter 34 recording by Shana Sear, Fresno, California experiences with a Yafai Sultan in the same year, 1897 soon after our return thither from Sokotra we left Aden to explore the Yafai and Fadzi countries our preparations for this expedition were made under quite different and much happier experiences from those which attended our last journey from Aden to the interior of Arabia, i.e. the Hatremont the help that could be given us by General Cunningham, Colonel Hayes Sadler Captain Wadeson and indeed, everyone from whom we asked assistance was most kind we took with us only our servant Mathias the Greek, Musaban an elderly man from the Aden troop as gemadar or manager of the soldiers and go between generally and three or four soldiers no interpreter was necessary at this time we left Sheikh Othman on February 28, 1897 for our nine hours ride to Beir Mighar sorry to have made so long a journey the first day at first we went past pretty gardens and villas but soon left these traces of civilization behind us and the way went through desert sometimes salty, sometimes sandy sometimes bare and sometimes with low bushes moving among sand hills with cliffs delivered and ribbed and rippled like water in some parts every trace of path is smothered by sand and quicksand also must be warily avoided we passed the ruins of an old town near Sheikh Othman and five miles on Imad, a wretched looking collection of brushwood huts around a dar or tower still in English land this place is about Christmas time the scene of a fair to which all the neighboring tribes gather so a good study can be made of the native tongues a few patches of ground had the sand scraped off into banks and were awaiting rain to sew some crops for fodder but looked as if they had been waiting a long time this caravan road across the Abyan is very old it's monotonies inexpressible at the sixth hour the road to Ha Wash goes off to the left as we approach the well of Miqar the signs of population increased and a few scrubby acacias grow near there are two wells a mile apart the father where we encamped was once protected by a fort now in ruins a few years ago a hundred yafai surprised the Fadhli and sacked the fort many parties of travelers were gathering round this well for the night one husband and wife took alternate charge of a baby slung in a straw cradle and a goat another pair with their household goods baby and many fowls on a camel while they were each laden with more fowls we passed a cold night and were very tired our things having been packed on board the Bagala in which we came from Sokotra were not in marching order we only made a short journey six miles next day passed al Kahapt which was the same sort of place as Ahmad we had to take a most circuitous route to reach it and it was hard to realize that all the banks we wound amongst were fields waiting for rain Haqari asked our next halt was even a yet more wretched hamlet about six reed huts and about as many goats and jackal like dogs our tents were most unsteadily pitched on sand there was a good well and there has been a village here from the first as the Arabs say there are many traces of antiquity and numerous pieces of glass good pottery and bangles lie about there are three ruined tombs and some smaller ones of mud bricks and they make mud bricks there still the villages of the Abiyan are most poverty stricken places the first day we had our camels loaded with yawari and at beer mink har we took up fuel from Haqari ask to Khanfar is about six miles and we spent two hours over it trees became more numerous good large ones chiefly Eric and Akasha and a few small fan palms there were quantities of birds nests in every way a contrast to ours for instead of norm woolly ones safe from wind and rain in the innermost recesses of our soft lead easily climbed trees these were loose open work airy little baskets dancing on the outer tips of the thorny branches the scenery in the desert path was much improved by mirages of beautiful blue lakes and streams nearly under our feet once on the journey we thought the piping times of peace the army of three became a vanguard one who was riding having very suddenly turned himself into infantry the guns were taken out of their calico bags and copped but the supposed enemy turned out to be only six or eight men carrying great rolls of skins and huge dry gourds for sale so the rifles were packed up again some had martini henries and one or two of the camelmen had matchlocks since leaving the british empire we had been in fadli country till we reached the wadi bana or benna the boundary between the beled fadli and the beled yafai then winding indeed was our way for we were in thick wood swords and daggers had to be used to cut a path and we were brought to a standstill more than once with our heads bent under trees trying to lift them it would be easy for the inhabitants to stop an enemy's attack here the smell of the arak is not at all pleasant two fadli were once directed into the bana bed by the yafai of al-husin and when they were in the wood they set fire to it and burnt them the inhabitants do not venture off the path there are quicksands in some parts of the wadi we encamped not far from the town of kanfar amongst some large arak bushes on the sand and surrounded by mounds scattered over with bits of glass there has been a succession of towns here and the present one is situated on large mounds near some somewhat ruinous forts it would take an immense quantity of digging to come on hemorrhidic remains many gold coins are found and set on the gembias our old musaban had two on his dagger about 400 years old we were told that biobakar ben sa'id sultan of the lower yafai was to come in two days to keep the feast of a saint wali Abdullah bin Amr who was buried here in the meantime we surveyed our surroundings while awaiting his coming the ground under the arak bushes is perforated through and through by rats with bushy tips to their tails as far as the utmost branch extends sometimes we felt our feet sinking and discovered we were walking over the site of a vanished bush there is an old ruined castle with pretty herring bone patterns and open work windows the principal well a little distance from the town is very close by the present fortress where the sultan lives there is a gunpowder factory of a primitive kind many of salt pier to be found close by we went all about the village quite comfortably with a couple of yafai guards and the people were civil we saw curious ovens like pots with lids and oxen returning with the dustpans they used for scraping the sand off the cultivable soil and many preparations for the feast in the way of food and very smart new indigo dyed clothes photography, sketching and unpacking the gifts for the sultan occupied our time the mosquitoes were awful the sultan came to visit us very suddenly on the afternoon of his arrival a rather handsome, sly looking man he wore a purple velvet jacket embroidered with gold in a many colored turban and waist cloth forming a petticoat to his knees and leaving his fat legs bare his complexion is of a greenish brown his first question was as to my husband's age that of the Wally of Odin and of various other officials he brought some honey and made himself most agreeable till we spoke of going to Al Karan he then immediately began to speak of danger he read the letter of introduction with more discretion than I have observed in any of the Arab sultans I have seen instead of reading to a crowd of slays he banished all but one very confidential, though dirty man who was lame and carried a long lance adorned with silver bands and read this letter and one previously sent when he left my husband told him the sooner he sent a message as to the possibilities of going to Al Karan the better it would be for him and we also told Masaban to tell the Bedouin there would be money for them and also to mention to the sultan that we had a gun that he might hope for it appeared after much fruitless negotiation that the sultan was determined to cheat the Bedouin he robbed very soon after breakfast i.e. before 7 and demanded 500 rupees for himself which he immediately lowered of his own accord to 400 rupees and gave us to understand danger would be averted if we paid this sum 100 rupees for coffee and a bundle of turbans and other garments no one but Masaban was to know of the money and the fat parcel he himself stuffed into the clothes of his dirty confident explaining to us and them that he should only show an aluminum box as his soul gift and walked off holding it ostentatiously between his finger and thumb later we walked round the castle and were let into the courtyard the sultan called us from a window in his tower and beckoned us up we had to go through gateways on all sides of the tower so that they can quite command the entrance we went up a high winding stair to a room about 10 feet square where we sat on the floor and had coffee with clothes and no sugar and a coarse kind of sweet meat his first question was where is the gun i said where is the gun so he laughed merrily and said you shall not go to al-qaran till i have the gun so i told him he should not have the gun till we had been he then told my husband he must pay 1000 rupees and the gun first and he would manage the better one but my husband said that he would pay afterwards and not more than 400 rupees so this conversation went on musaban was surprised that we had been admitted we spent our days taking long walks in the cultivated fields stepping on banks between the canals or arbres there were many trees and acres of dukan grown from making oil gil-kil and other crops and the shade, the birds, the greenery and water made it a pleasant relief from the sandy mounds the work people are slaves of the subordinate race of hagari they are really very few Arabs watchmen or scarecrows with long canes stand on high platforms scattered about the old well has very much worn stones round its mouth and had once an extensive building over it corn is ground in a mill made from the hollowed trunk of a tree with a camel going round and round it was amusing to see the little children with their arms held aloft bound up in leaves to their elbows to keep their hands nice as they had been died with ena for the festival jabel gabail is the acropolis of the ancient kanbar about 200 feet high and a quarter of a mile long with a double fort on the top containing an area of about 100 square yards the outer wall is built of fine large stones and the interior has a beautiful foundation evidently hemorrhetic and commands an extensive view the tomb of the saint whose feast it was is surrounded with tombs all in disrepair but covered with very pretty carved wood the procession passed our camp both going and coming and was an interesting sight quite early I was begged to come out and see crowds of women and girls in their new clothes some indigo died and some of red ingrain they were the same shape as in the hadramount but do not cover their faces they have a good deal of jewelry and paint their faces yellow I did not see any of the fantastic patterns I saw in the hadramount on the faces first came four men with lances dancing to and fro then the sultan came on a camel of 30 soldiers a large white and red flag followed on his return the sultan stopped and delivered a short address the bystanders ascending by shouting NAHAM NAHAM the sultan came constantly always raising his demands one afternoon he came and said where is the gun under that bed you cannot have it now I should like to see the cartridges at the sultan they are packed up my husband then did what might seem rude here but is all the fashion there he walked out of the tent and went off a little distance with matias and musaban to have a consultation and the sultan got up and stood craning his neck and trying to listen but I chattered and babbled to him to prevent his doing so and finding he could hear nothing it is such a very nice place you would like to see it and ask me just to let him see the gun in some more clothes and when my husband returned begged for more money but he put on an air of great indignation and in patience and said when we say a thing once it is enough and when the sultan began again he said BAS enough so loud that his majesty hastily departed finally when he could not get what he wanted and we saw it was not safe to trust ourselves in the hands of so shifty a man he became so insistent that my husband told him he had seen enough of him he might leave our camp we would not travel with him off went the sultan in such a hurry that he left his stick behind and sent us a message that we were not to pass another night in his country we sent back a message that we would not stir till morning when the sultan was gone we had tea and I was talking to a dirty little boy of five called and a bigger one called Allah to whom I was giving lumps of sugar dirtied by the journey we were laughing well at the sultan calling him all sorts of names expressing our scorn of his meanness when to our amusement we found these were his sons he came himself about dawn next day to say we were to go back over the Wadi Banna and not the shortest way to the part of the Fadli country which is beyond the Yafai unless we gave him more money we would not speak to him ourselves so he had to talk with the servants who were continuing packing all the while and we let him see the greatest amusement on our part we were anxious to go on but the difficulties delighted Mathias as he was so frightened that he wished to go back at any price when we did go about six o'clock we only went a very little way in the prescribed direction then turned round and took the path we desired our army now being a rearguard rushing up hillocks to watch for pursuers we reached Al Qahar a village with many ruin castles and camped in frightful dust the wazir, Abdullah bin Abdu Rahaman had been sent by the Wadli Sultan to welcome us he proved a very agreeable traveling companion he is young and refined looking we saw a great deal of cattle about there is a sheer rock overhanging the village 1,000 feet above the plain my husband ascended Jabel Sahar to see the ruins a fine paved road protected by forts climbs up past a curious square stone said to be full of money and go zigzag through a narrow gully like the walls at Zimbabwe my husband having heard of the stone from the wazir very much astonished the guides by pointing it out to them and saying there is money in that stone at the top there is a very strong fortress with many walls and three cisterns just like the smaller of the tanks at Aden with steps down into them all covered with cement this has been a very strong fortification protecting and overlooking the whole of the abyan from Jabel Gadam beyond Shukra to Jabel Shamshan at Aden the abyan is the low plain by the sea the following day we started for Durgheg the country is all irrigated by water brought from Masana by a channel called Nazay at the corner of the Wadi Hassan the Arbs branch off in every direction the sources belong to the Yafay and the Fadi pay them annually twenty-five Maria Teresa dollars a basket of dates and a turban for the Sultan but the management is in the hands of the Saeeds in-in-num forever they being supposed to be neutral for fear a war might produce a drought still in time of war the water often is cut off banks of the Abras were full of castor oil bushes cotton, myrtle and tamarisk all smothered with a pretty creeper covered with yellow flowers and little scarlet gourds Durgheg lies just on the left bank of the Wadi Hassan in an almost desert place there are many dars or towers where the wealthy Arabs of whom there is a considerable population live the surafile tribe of Haqari live and read huts sold them threshing gilgil and vetch there are a market and a few shops I had no trouble about taking photographs once however one of our attendants asked a man to move out of my way and gave him a little push out he pulled his jahimbia and there was a scrimmage very dangerous to my camera and its appurtenances as they were going to be used as weapons of defense by our attendants I rushed into the midst and they stopped fighting may not to be afraid and peace was restored I think it requires some courage to plunge out of the tent into the burning sand with the camera but it never seems so hot once one is out we were given over by our soldiers to the charge of two inhabitants of Durgheg and were quite elated at hearing on other authority than our own they can speak Arabic we had on our return to the camp the delightful pleasure of a letter from Sultan Bilbakar making another driver the gun and saying he would come and take us to Al Husan the messenger was fetched and scornfully told by my husband that it was too late we would not think of traveling with so bad a man I said you have a great thief for your sultan and a great liar and told him all about the money and clothes he had secretly taken so no doubt he had to discord some after all must sob and laugh very much and said my imitation of the sultan's manner was so good he must get two shakes to hear that Bibi mimic the yafi sultan the yafi messenger was much interested I told the whole story and how we had gone round three trees and departed our own way adding the sultan could see us from his own castle and he said as he did we told him all his conduct was written down and sent yesterday to the Wali of Aden so now he might be sorry and frightened we said we had been treated well by all the other yafi we had met but the sultan wanted to cheat both them and us indeed it grieved us to hear the kind yafi spoken of with horror and detestation by the Fadli but no doubt they have a different point of view to ours we went to another village called Abra Sheba more under the mountains we were shown about very civilly and taken to the door of a large dar and asked if we wished to go in we did not know if we were wanted so made an indefinite answer there was a difference of opinion and at last they said the Bibi should go in so I crossed the court and entered the house and had hardly done so when my hand was seized and I was dragged by a man through black darkness upward and round and round I stepped high and as quickly as I could rushed after him at the third round I saw a little light shining on the roughest possible shallow earthen steps and was pulled into a little room where I was greeted with cries of amazement by some women and then continued my way unaided to the top of the tower the parapets were ornamented with gazelle horns at the time I wanted to go down but I was on my way taken to a large room where manners demanded I should settle down for coffee everyone was very kind and for greater friendliness a naked baby four months old was placed in my hands when I wished to return it it was made to sit on my knee it soon kindly cried and was to my joy removed it had never in its life been completely washed though several large spots and trimmings had been painted on its head my husband joined me at last and had coffee too the first thing next morning before our departure to Al Ma'a another letter came from the Yafai Sultan about Al Hasin but the messenger was told that once was enough to see that great thief Harami and he could take the letter back it was 14 miles to Al Ma'a and took us six hours we passed up the Wadi Hasin and saw Al Husin in the distance we did not go quite to the corner where the Wadi Hasin turns east it is considered too near the Yafai frontier to be safe and the Fadli always used a narrow pass called Tariq Al Kaha going round amount to Harish it gets narrower and steeper as it goes zigzagging up slabs of shale with only room for one camel out of time there are any amount of ambush places especially on the north side the pass goes uphill west to east and the steepest end is at the east a spur runs out west on the north side about 50 feet high convenient to shoot over the approaches are quite open it leads through Wadi Gaddam to Wadi Hasin and at the entrance to Wadi Hasin Fadli Badoin are forever stationed to watch for Yafai attacks on a tiny jutting hill three men of ours shakes who had come to meet us galloped forward to explain to them who we were and ascertain that all was safe they fired a gun over our heads there were a few baboons about we saw several little heaps of stones and were told they marked spots where Fadli had been shot by Yafai a very large heap is formed by those who passed the valley safely for good luck we also passed the tomb of Asaid with four large smooth stones at the top anointed with oil for the ed before we reached Al Ma'a the riverbed narrowed in from the other side and along the raised bank at short intervals were watchtowers of the Yafai at Al Ma'a they are quite close about half a mile off at most the country was still very arid and barren but the mountains very fine Al Ma'a is a wretched hamlet which has seen very much better days there are high ruined castles destroyed by the present sultan as Al Ma'a and its headmen were once in revolt now there are only three or four Arab houses and a collection of reed huts the valley is about two miles wide and there are four or five Yafai towers near our escort were very much afraid they said that the Yafai might shoot us though a cannon would be necessary and lay the blame on the Fadi so they would by no means let us camp anywhere but in a most disgustingly dusty place next to the village and they kept sharp watch all night talking much the towers protect the approach to the Wadi Theba which here goes up or comes down from Al Qara the country round is in a perpetual state of ferment like Germany in the middle ages everyone on the lookout for attacks from enemies end of chapter 35