156 Report on the Island of Socotr a. [March, 



those parts which by their smoothness are best adapted for the purpose 

 are covered with inscriptions and figures. I subjoin a sketch of a few of 

 the most legible, which for the sake of greater accuracy I copied a second 

 time. The resemblance in the character to some I copied near Wedgi 

 in Ai'abia, which are supposed to be Ethiopic, is so striking, that I am 

 tempted to believe they owe their origin to the same people. Should this 

 on further examination prove the case, some interesting inquiries would 

 suggest themselves. Independent of these inscriptions, there are immense 

 number of rude representations of the feet of men, camels, sheep, oxen, 

 asses, and cows ; some of the human feet were as small as those of an in- 

 fant, while others are treble their natural size ; they are all placed in pairs, 

 but with no general direction. The feet of the animals are cut so as to 

 represent a soft rock, yielding to the weight of their impression. These 

 occur sometimes in line, in others they are thickly crowded together, and 

 amidst the latter is usually found the characters. The cross occurs very 

 frequently, as well as a figure with a snake's head. I passed several hours 

 in examining and sketching the most legible of the characters ; but vast 

 numbers are obliterated. I was at first tempted to ascribe these inscrip- 

 tions to the work of the shepherds in their leisure hours ; but they are so 

 numerous, and must withal from the nature of the rock have been execut- 

 ed with so much labor, that 1 cannot on reflection refer them to that ori- 

 gin. The unity of design, exhibited in the constant recurrence of the 

 same apparently unintelligible symbol, would rather induce us to suppose 

 that a place of worship or pilgrimage must have formerly existed in its 

 vicinity. At present there are half a dozen small ruinuus buildings to the 

 southward, and the remains of a wall running along to the northward, 

 near it; but nothing more to verify such a supposition. 



In a hill near Tamarida, I discovered several caves, which contain hu- 

 man skeletons. A wall eight feet in length had been built up parallel to, 

 and at a distance of about seven feet from, the side, so as to allow a suffici- 

 ent space for the bodies to be laid at full length; they appear to have been 

 deposited in layers, though at different periods. Between and above each 

 skeleton, there was a space of about two feet, which was filled up with 

 earth until the whole mass reached the upper part of the cave. Among the 

 mountains in the interior, I was assured, that these occur frequently, and 

 there is reason to believe, the Bedouins deposited their dead in them, until 

 a late period ; but as they entei-tained great dread of my writing them down, 

 as they termed it, they were never shown to me. I entered and discovered 

 these by stealth. Upon conversing with the Bedouins, afterwards, on this 

 subject, they admitted the fact of their serving as cemetries to their ances- 

 tors, but denied they had been used since the propagation of the Musalman 

 religion. At present they observe the same mode of interment as the 

 Arabs of Tamarida. 



Of many other peculiar customs, a few only are now retained, of which 

 the most singular is that they do not circumcise their male children un- 

 til they are past the age of puberty, while with other Muhammedans, it is 



