1883. J on the Island of Socotra and its Recent Hevelations. 301 



The extent of the population it is impossible to estimate, as so 

 many people live in caves, and one only occasionally comes across the 

 wandering inhabitants of the hill region. The number has been set 

 down as low as 4000 and as high as 10,000. 



In speaking of the people, the dwellers on the shore must be dis- 

 tinguished from those on the hills. The former, who are a mixed 

 population of Arabs, Indians, and Africans of various tribes, live in 

 small towns. Of these the chief one is Tamarida, on the extensive 

 Hadibu plain at the base of the Haggier range of hills. It is the 

 capital of the island, and consists of a number of stone and lime 

 houses, of the ordinary construction seen in Arabia, all plastered 

 outside of a dazzling white, and surrounding a large one, which is 

 the Sultan's palace. Around the town is a dense date-grove. There 

 is a mosque and well-filled graveyard in the centre of the town. The 

 number of inhabitants is set down at about 400. Kadhab is another 

 village, lying on a sandy spit east from Tamarida. The houses here 

 are of the same character as at Tamarida, and there is a mosque. 

 Gollonsir, at the west end, is a penal settlement, and has but few 

 houses. Formerly, the capital of the island was Suk, at the east edge 

 of the Hadibu plain, but it was destroyed. There are numerous small 

 villages all along the coast line, but the three mentioned are the chief 

 towns. 



The occupation of the residents in these villages is mainly fishing. 

 They cultivate small tracts of ground near their houses, but are, as a 

 rule, idle. The population too is somewhat changing, many going 

 off in trading buggalows to Zanzibar or the Arabian coast. 



The inhabitants of the hills, " Bedouins," as they are called, are 

 very different people. They are regarded as the aborigines of the 

 island, and alone possess any great interest ethnologically. They 

 are mostly troglodytes, but here and there live in small huts, with 

 stone and lime walls and roofed with date-palm leaves. They are a 

 most peaceable race of people, and are divided into numerous families 

 belonging to a few principal tribes. A study of these tribes would 

 well repay the time and trouble spent upon it. Captain Hunter says : 

 " The ' Karshin,' who inhabit the western end of the island, claim to 

 be descendants from the Portuguese. The ' Momi,' who reside in the 

 eastern end of the island, are said to trace descent from the aborigines 

 and the Abyssinians ; whilst the ' Camahane,' who live in Haggier 

 and the hills above the Hadibu plain, claim to arise from the inter- 

 marriage of the aborigines with the Mahri Arabs from the ojiposite 

 coast. Whatever be their origin, certain is it that the hill people 

 have a very distinct appearance. Many of them are tall and finely 

 made, the men with broad shoulders, lean flanks, and stout legs, 

 reminding one very forcibly of the European build. Thin-lipped 

 and straight-featured, they have straight black hair. The women 

 are many of them very good-looking, somewhat resembling gipsies, 

 but they have rather large hands and feet." 



The men wear a loin-cloth, one end of which is commonly thrown 



