ON EXPLORATION OF SOKOTRA. 4614 
rities in Aden in lending the expedition for this journey baggage- and 
riding-camels from the garrison establishment, and also the attendance 
upon them as a guard of a native officer (jemadar) and one sowar. The 
helpful aid of the First Political Assistant, Captain Jacob, in all these 
arrangements must also be very cordially acknowledged. A. most profit- 
able stay could undoubtedly have been made at Lahej, which is a very 
little-explored region, had the expedition been eventually prevented from 
visiting Sokotra. It had only, however, begun what was proving to be a 
__ very interesting collection when intimation was received from General 
Creagh that authority had been obtained from the Government of India. 
for the expedition to proceed to its destination. A speedy return having 
therefore been made to Aden, where eight Somali servants were engaged 
to accompany it in various capacities, the expedition embarked on 
December 1, 1898, with its stores and baggage, on board the Royal 
Indian Marine steamer Elphinstone, which the Indian Government had 
very generously placed at its disposal to carry it to and from the island. 
Authority had also been obtained from General Creagh to break the 
voyage for several days at Abd-el-Kuri, an island lying between Sokotra 
and Cape Guardafui on the Eastern Horn of Africa. This islet had never 
before been scientifically examined ; and during the short stay made 
there several species of animals and plants new to science were dis- 
covered, among them a very notable species of Euphorbia (Zuphorbia 
abdelkuri), belonging to a family of plants of which many singular forms 
occur in Sokotra. The geological structure of the island was found to 
present many points of similarity to that of Sokotra. It has suffered 
great denudation, however, for the limestone, which is of both Cretaceous 
_and Tertiary age, has disappeared everywhere except on one or two sum- 
mits. Volcanic rocks abound, and from the high peak—1,750 feet in 
_height—overlooking the anchorage they resembled a number of papille 
rising from a desert of sand. The island has but few inhabitants, who 
are very poor and miserably housed. Some of them are fishers and divers 
for pearl-shell. Numerous chelonian carapaces strewn about near their 
huts indicated that the hawk’s-bill turtle was a common frequenter of 
their coasts. The most notable feature of the vegetation was the absence 
_ of those characteristic plants of Sokotra, the dragon’s blood (Dracena), 
myrrh (Balsamodendron), and frankincense (Boswellia) trees, though Abd- 
_el-Kuri lies nearer to the African coast than the main island. 
‘The geological collections made on Abd-el-Kuri,’ as Dr. Gregory in 
a preliminary note reports, ‘show that the island consists of a block of 
Archean rocks similar to those of Sokotra, and it contains dykes of the 
coarse pegmatite common in Somaliland. Above the gneiss series is a 
limestone of Cretaceous date which occurs on the highest point of the 
island, so that the whole of it was submerged at a time when Sokotra was 
probably a land area. The most recent limestone in the island is a 
low-lying Pleistocene reef containing Gonzastrea retiformis.’ 
The poverty of the fauna and flora of the island is, therefore, in agree- 
ment with its geological history. 
Two new species of birds, only slightly differentiated from species 
occurring both in Sokotra and Somaliland, indicate the comparatively 
recent separation of Abd-el-Kuri from the mainland. ; 
On December 6 the Liphinstone left Abd-el-Kuri, and on the 7th 
anchored off Hadibu, the capital of Sokotra. On the 8th Dr. Forbes, 
accompanied by the commander of the Ziphinstone, landed and was 
