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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Charles K. Moser 

 A TYPICAL SOCOTRAN FRANKINCENSE TREE 



"Why, Sahib," he exclaimed inno- 

 cently, "these are the ones." 



"Yes, yes, idiot. But where are the 

 little ones ?" 



"frankincense trees have no young" 



Such an expression of mingled aston- 

 ishment and rascality came into his face : 

 "Sahib, there are no little ones. Frank- 

 incense trees have no young 1 !" . . . 



When it was made plain to him that 

 this answer had not appeased the Sahib's 

 wrath, he sullenly explained that smaller 

 trees were no nearer than two days' jour- 

 ney beyond the next pass. Diligent 

 search of the adjacent slopes convinced 

 us that he was at last speaking the truth. 



There really were no 

 small trees to be found 

 in the whole gorge. 

 The scamp had de- 

 ceived us from the 

 very start. 



We were now about 

 3,000 feet up, 15 miles 

 from the ship, and it 

 was past noon. There 

 was no time to go any 

 further. I called the 

 nine camel men to- 

 gether and promised a 

 fat "baksheesh" to the 

 man who brought me 

 in a tree small enough 

 to transport to the 

 ship. Six of them did 

 not display the slight- 

 est interest in the 

 proposition, but the 

 other three scampered 

 away up the cliffs like 

 goats. The rest of the 

 party returned to the 

 camp. 



In about two hours 

 one of the men re- 

 turned with a tree 3 

 inches in diameter and 

 8 feet tall, Avhich he 

 had dug out of the 

 hard red soil with his 

 fingers. Half an hour 

 later another came in 

 with a smaller and 

 better specimen. The 

 third man we never 

 saw again, as we lost no time in hurrying 

 back to the ship. The two trees had to 

 be carried all the way on the backs of 

 their finders, as it became evident that 

 if they were made part of the camels' 

 burdens the thorns would destroy them. 

 We reached Hadibo less than an hour 

 late, but completely exhausted, and it was 

 not surprising that howls arose from our 

 followers for more pay and "baksheesh." 



socotra's early civilization 



Aside from its strangely varied and 

 odd vegetation and its bizarre scenic 

 beauties, there is not much, perhaps, in 

 this fertile, almost forgotten, island of 

 Socotra to attract the tourist unless he 



