150 Report on the Island of Socotra. [March, 



mongrel race, the descendants of Arabs, African slaves, Portuguese, 

 and several other nations. Of the former I shall now give as full a 

 description as the limits to which I have considered it necessary to confine 

 this paper will admit. It is however necessary for me to premise, that 

 though from personal observations I have been enabled to elicit every 

 necessary degree of information connected with the present physical habits 

 and domestic manners of this isolated race, yet there were some interest- 

 ing points connected with their former condition, religion, and usages on 

 which I was anxious to obtain some knowledge. This however from the 

 jealous and suspicious character of those with whom I was obliged to con- 

 verse, I found to be almost impracticable ; they either declined answering 

 the questions altogether, or they only furnished replies which were calcu- 

 lated to mislead. Some of this reserve melted away before we left, but my 

 inquiries did not tend to elucidate facts of any importance. In the sub- 

 sequent sketch I shall however have occasion again to touch on this subject. 

 On the Bedouins. The Arabs who visit Socotra, in consequence of their 

 pastoral habits and wandering mode of life, have bestowed on this class 

 the appellation of Bedouin, to which race, though they widely differ in some 

 points, there is yet in others a striking resemblance. The principles of 

 their political constitution are like theirs exceedingly simple : all are 

 divided into families or tribes, each occupying a determined domain on the 

 island, and each having a representative head, who formerly exercised 

 what might be termed a patriarchal authority over them. In general, the 

 office is hereditary, though it is sometimes filled by persons who have been 

 selected for the superiority of their abilities. It was to this individual 

 that the Sultan formerly, when he resided on the island, looked for the 

 collection of his tribute, and to the Sultan he was also in some measure 

 answerable for the good order of the six tribes ; but at present his authority 

 appears to be merely that of an influential individual, before whom complaints 

 are taken for arbitration, but who possesses no power to punish a delinquent : 

 an individual may also carry his complaint before the Sultan, or his deputy, 

 or he may, which is the usual practice, retaliate on the injureror any member 

 of his family; but these affairs are not carried to the sanguinary lengths 

 they are in Arabia, where the murder of one individual is revenged upon 

 the person of his assassins or their relations. I made numerous inquiries, 

 but I could not ascertain that any of their quarrels terminated in blood- 

 shed : certainly this may be owing in some measure to their having neither 

 fire-arms nor weapons of any other description than sticks and stones ; but 

 these peaceable habits are forcibly illustrated by the fact of so many tribes 

 occupying territories so intermingled with each other, where the variable 

 nature of the pasturage, and the scarcity of water, compel them from different 

 quarters to meet on the same spot, without reference to the actual owners ; 

 and yet that skirmishing among them should be of such rare occurrence. 

 Physical Character, Persons, Diet, &jc. fyc. 

 The men are usually tall : their limbs appear strong and muscular, and 

 remarkably well formed; the facial angle is as straight as that of Europeans; 



