1835.] Report on the Island of Socotra. 157 



performed at a very early age. On the eastern part of the islands, amidst 

 the mountains. I was shown a rude stone chair, in which it was customaiy 

 for the Bedouins to seat their youths (who were sometimes brought from a 

 long distance) while the operation was performed. They have preserved 

 the remembrance of a singular trial by ordeal, which was formerly practised 

 on an individual supposed to have been guilty of any heinous crime ; he was 

 placed bound hands and feet on the summit of some eminence, and there 

 compelled to remain for three days. If rain fell during that period on or 

 near him, he was considered guilty, and punished by being stoned to death ; 

 but if the weather on the contrary continued serene, he was acquitted. 



At first sight it may appear singular, that while, as will be shown by the 

 subsequent section, the population of the eastern portion of the island 

 should be found so mixed and varied, that of the western should have con- 

 tinned pure, and should still present the same general characteristics, but 

 the causes en examination are almost self-evident. The Bedouins make no 

 scruple to give their daughters to the native Arabs, and even to visitors 

 who may pass but a short time on the island. The wives of the latter live 

 with their husbands; while of the offspring by those of the former, the boys 

 naturally follow the avocation of the father, and rarely if ever turn to 

 the pastoral pursuits of their maternal progenitors : while the females are 

 married not to the Bedouins (for though the Arabs have no objections to 

 take a Bedouin wife, they would yet hold themselves disgraced were they 

 to marry their daughters to one of that race), but to one of their own class. 

 This accounts for the great disproportion which may be observed on the 

 mountains between the males and the females. Independently of this, as 

 one cause, want of water, which is felt on the western part of the island 

 during the greater part of the year, and its general sterility, offer so little 

 inducement to the native Arabs to reside there, that with the exception of 

 some hamlets on the sea coast, in which they take up their quarters for the 

 purpose of fishing, I did not in the course of my journeying in that part 

 meet half a dozen families. But of those which are comprehended under 

 the name of Bedouin, there are a few distinct tribes, of which it is necessary 

 separate mention should be made. 



Those most worthy of attention or remark are of a small tribe, of about 

 150 men, called Bahi Rahom, in the vicinity of Ras Mami. Their fore- 

 fathers are said to have been Jews, and the features of their descendants 

 still retain a strong resemblance to those of that race. The Sari, the 

 Sayffi, the Dermi, and the Zirghi descended from the Portuguese, under the 

 general appell-ition of Cambar or Gambar, occupy the granite mountains ; 

 they are rich in flocks of sheep and oxen, and though the resemblance to 

 the European cast of countenance may still be traced, and even in some 

 instances they have preserved their original names, yet there are none of 

 those symptoms of physical degradation which are observed in the race of 

 the Portuguese at present in India. On the contrary, some of the finest 

 figures and the most intelligent of the natives I saw on the island wefe of 

 this class. Though readily recognized by the other tribes, their descent 



