XV1U BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



could not be carried out to the satisfactory conclusion they might otherwise 

 have reached. 



Thus it happens that at present in this island, over which Great Britain 

 has now openly declared a protectorate, and within but three weeks' journey 

 from England, there dwells a people whose origin is still involved in myth, 

 and of whose speech the true relations are undetermined, who, according 

 to received records, having attained to some degree of civilisation and em- 

 braced Christianity, have gone back from their advanced position to the lower 

 state in which we now find them, and thus present to us a feature of 

 exceptional interest in the history of mankind. We must probably wait for 

 materials for a full knowledge of the origin of the Socotrans. until explora- 

 tion has revealed to us something definite of the people who inhabit the 

 inner and hill-regions of southern Arabia opposite, and then too it will 

 probably be found that the natural-history features of Socotra possess many 

 more points in common with the Arabian mainland than is at present evident. 

 But there is now on Socotra alone a wealth of material for exploration and 

 investigation which would amply reward the work of another expedition; and 

 the island can be visited in any year and at no great expense. When the 

 exploration of south Arabia will be made must depend upon a variety of 

 circumstances. It is difficult to get into the country, but such difficulty as 

 there is should not be insurmountable to a gifted Arabic scholar, and to no one 

 else is an exploration of the region possible. The region contains the key to 

 so many of the problems that puzzle us in connection with the history of the 

 progress of mankind, that one may hope that ere very long it will be added to 

 the realms which are known to us. 



I must not end this Preface without expressing the great obligation I am 

 under to Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr Thiselton-Dyer for the privilege of 

 working up the Socotran collections at Kew. Without this the flora could not 

 have been written, and I have made full use of it. I have besides to thank 

 Professor Oliver and his colleagues in the herbarium for the steady help and 

 uniform kindness with which all my applications for assistance have been met. 

 Dealing with a flora presenting so many peculiarities, the advantage of 

 consulting with them and benefiting by their experience has been fully 

 appreciated. To the late Mr Bentham, as well as to Sir Joseph Hooker, I am 

 indebted for opinions upon the new genera. Finally, to Mrs Thiselton-Dyer, 

 Miss Smith, and the Messrs Fitch my thanks are due for the trouble they 

 have taken with the drawings of what were often fragmentary specimens. 



The map accompanying this flora is little more than an outline sketch 

 showing the line of our traverses. Haines and Wellsted's chart of the island 

 is very inaccurate, and of no value to any one moving about the island, so that 

 one of the first desiderata in connection with Socotra is an accurate survev. 



