J 835.] Report on the Island of Socotra. ]63 



to seek for shelter in that country (Arahia) of liberty, who beino- of most 

 part of the Jacobite community, that sect generally prevailed among the 

 Arabs ;" and, although it does not appear that the southern parts of the 

 peninsula were subjected to the ecclesiastical rule of either the Nestorian 

 or Jacobite bishops, yet from the causes I have before mentioned, it is not 

 likely they would have overlooked a spot like Socotra, where there is every 

 reason to believe they could have indulged unmolested in the open profes- 

 sion of their faith. With respect to the disappearance of these primitive 

 Christians, as well as those which were left on the island by the Portuguese, 

 the causes appear almost self-evident. It would produce an anomaly in hu- 

 man nature, almost as striking as that which is aiforded by the history of 

 the Jews, if surrounded as they were by natives universally professing the 

 Mussalman religion, receiving no fresh influx from those of their own per- 

 suasion, and left an isolated and neglected race, if they alone had refrain- 

 ed from embracingthe new doctrines; and although occasional skirmishing, 

 consequent to a difference of opinion, may have occurred between the dif- 

 ferent sects, yet that this was accomplished by a gradual and silent change, 

 and not by any violent or exterminating measures, appears equally evident 

 by the simple fact of their descendants existing as a distinct race to the 

 present day. Evidence to the fact of numerous colonies of different countries 

 or persuasions formerly existing on the island may be found in the present 

 arrangement and distribution of its inhabitants into distinct tribes, many 

 of which are still recognized as of foreign origin. 



Time has not produced a greater change in the government or condition 

 of this island than it has in its ecclesiastical masters. In place of an arch- 

 bishop and two bishops, we have now but a single priest, who combines in 

 his own person the various offices of Mullah, Muezzen, and school-master. 

 A single Cadi solemnizes the whole of the marriages which take place 

 throughout the island, and I have on more than one occasion met Bedouins 

 seeking him for a license, when he has been absent among the hills culti- 

 vating his date gi'oves. 



Two small and insignificant mosques at Tamarida, the one called Mir 

 Advance, and the other Abder Rahan, and one yet smaller at Calesseah, 

 are now the only places of worship for the reception of the faithful. 



It would form a curious subject of enquiry to ascertain what form of 

 religion the establishment of the Christian faith displaced. A ruinous build- 

 ing was shown me on the spot, marked out in the map, which was said to 

 have been an ancient place of worship ; but it was in too dilapidated a 

 state to enable me to ascertain the truth of the tradition, nor have I been 

 able to discover others that would serve to throw any light on the subject. 



The population of this island, as stated by some travellers at a thousand 

 souls, is evidently much under-rated, but from their wandering mode of life, 

 and other causes, it became difficult from any section of the island to form a 

 correct inference of the population of the whole. The method I adopted 

 was, at the conclusion of each day, to note the number of individuals I had 

 seen, and these I find amount to upwards of two thousand, though I am 

 y 2 



