ON THE ISLAND OF SOCOTRA. 483 



mucli as possible. Moreover, too, the want of intercourse with the island, 

 and consequent ignorance regarding its inhabitants, have given currency 

 to various rumours not favourable to their character, which, though quite 

 unwarranted, yet have had their influence in preserving Socotra as a 

 vir'gin and unexplored island in the pathway of civilisation. 



Its position on the direct route to India is one of far too much im- 

 portance to have allowed its remaining so neglected had any natural 

 advantages obtained, permitting of its being utilised, or had there been no 

 obstacles. Strategically valuable as is Aden, our station in this region, 

 its barren waterless soil would place it at a great disadvantage, com- 

 pared with an island possessing a rich soil and plentiful water-supply, 

 such as Socotra, did it possess the other elements necessary for becoming a 

 military station. But it has been tried and found wanting. Its history 

 shows how at various periods its importance has been recognised, and 

 certainly its present backward condition can hardly be ascribed to want 

 of attempts to settle or to colonise it. 



Its history is one of considerable interest. I do not purpose here 

 to give in detail an account of the early history of the island. Suffice 

 it that I briefly notice some of its leading vicissitudes up to the time 

 when our expedition was first projected at this Association. The island 

 seems to have been known to Europeans at an early period under the 

 name of Dioscoris or Dioscorida, — a name traced by some to a Sanskrit 

 root signifying ' abode of bliss ' ; by others to two Arabic words meaning 

 * island of dragon's-blood ' (Jcdtir being the Arabic name for this 

 gum). The author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea refers to it as a 

 desolate island inhabited by a mixed population of Arabs, Indians, and 

 Greeks, all speaking Greek, who had come thither in search of grain, and 

 carried on a trade with the "West Coast of India and with Mokha. The 

 island is frequently mentioned by the early Arab geographers, who account 

 for the Greek population by the story, which Colonel Yule considers a 

 myth, that Alexander the Great, acting on the advice of Aristotle, settled 

 an loniair colony there, in order to cultivate the aloe. They further state 

 that the Greeks and other inhabitants were converted to Christianity, and 

 that clergy from Persia regularly visited the island. The population at 

 this time, a few centuries after the Christian era, is put down by 

 some at as much as 10,000, the majority of whom are desci'ibed as 

 Nestorian Christians and pirates. 



In the time of Marco Polo, towards the end of the thirteenth century, 

 the island was a metropolitan see of the Nestorian Church. Many ships 

 visited the island, all vessels for Aden touching there, and the trade was 

 mainly in ambergris, cotton stuS's, and salt fish. The people had the 

 reputation of being enchanters, and of being able at will to raise the wind, 

 to bring back ships, and to produce storms and disasters. 



Although so mixed a population lived on the island, yet from the 

 earliest times it appears to have been under the rule of the Mahra tribe, 

 dwelling on the opposite side of Arabia, whose sultan or sheikh lived at 

 Keshin. 



In 1503 Fernandez Pereira discovered it for the Portuguese, at which 

 time an Arab sheikh lived in a fort at Zoko (modern Suk), the then 

 capital of the island ; but it was not until 1507 that Tristan da Cunha 

 and Albuqerque captured the island for the Portuguese. After four years' 

 occupancy the Portuguese retired from the island, leaving abundant traces 

 of their presence. The remains of a fort on Hadibu plain, and at various 



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