THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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Photograph by Charles K. Moser 

 FRANKINCENSE BLOSSOMS AND FRUIT 



royal uncle, he presented us with the 

 island and all it contained. The nephew 

 was a big, upstanding, coffee-and-cream 

 colored Arab, with a great scimitar of a 

 nose and fine bushy whiskers, which he 

 continually stroked with loving pride. 

 He carried a superb jeweled sword that 

 must have been a gift to the kings of the 

 frankincense country from some Maha- 

 rajah long ago. 



Hadibo, or Tamarida, as the Arabs call 

 it, from Tamar, the date-fruit tree, is a 

 collection of flat-roofed white houses 

 scattered among the palms. The Sultan's 

 "palace" is a large mud structure with 

 flat towers, and the two prayer houses 

 are suggestive of the graceful Arab 

 mosques only by contrast. The poorer 

 population, chiefly of African descent and 

 much older in the history of the island 

 than its Arab aristocracy, lives in huts of 

 thorn and plaited grass, invariably over- 

 run with luxuriant gourd vines. Sur- 

 rounded by tiny garden plots, in which 

 tombac, or native tobacco, lentils, melons, 

 and yams grow abundantly, they are 

 more picturesque outside than inside. 



There is not much to be seen in Hadibo. 

 The principal amusement afforded the 

 visitor is that of being seen; one is for- 

 tunate if any part of his person or be- 

 longings escapes much handling, as well 

 as the sharpest kind of scrutiny. Yet 

 they are a kindly folk, hospitable and 

 quite harmless. Quarrels among them- 

 selves are said to be almost unknown. 



THE LEGEND OF THE SIRENS OF SOCOTRA 



They took us into their huts and showed 

 us their few poor possessions — a primi- 

 tive loom, a quern for milling grain, 

 many unglazed earthen pots oddly striped 

 with dragon's blood, some goatskin bot- 

 tles to hold ghi — with none of that air of 

 mingled resentment and loftiness affected 

 by the Arab at such times. The women 

 for the most part kept shyly veiled, or 

 crowded behind the doors, while the men 

 brought out their small stores of skins, 

 dried tombac, lumps of frankincense, and 

 aloes for our inspection. It is said that 

 in ancient times the Socotran women ex- 

 ercised the arts of magic, and among the 

 Arabs the legend still survives that they 



