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I
GIFT OF
HORACE W. CARPENTIER
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SOUTHERN ARABIA
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SOUTHEEN ARABIA
THEODOEE BENT, F.E.G.S., F.S.A.
MBS THEODOBE BENT
WITH A FORTBllT, HAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
SMITH, ELDEB, 4 CO., 15 WATBELOO PLACE
1900
D„.„ab,GoOgIc
<\
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PEEFACE
If my fellow-traveller had lived, he intended to have put
together in book form Bach information as we had gathered
about Sonthem Arabia. Now, as he died four days after
our return from our last journey there, I have had to
undertake the task myself. It has been very sad to me,
but I have been helped by knowing that, however imperfect
this book may be, what is written here will surely be a
help to those who, by following in our footsteps, will be
able to get beyond them, and to whom I so heartily wish
success and a Happy Home-coming, the best wish a traveller
may have. It is for their information that I have included
BO many things about the price of camels, the payment of
soldiers and so forth, and yet even casual readers may care
to know these details of explorers' daily lives.
Much that is set down here has been pubUshed before,
but a good deal is new.
My husband had written several articles in the Nitie-
teenth Century, and by the kindness of the editor I have
been able to make use of these ; also I have incorporated
the lectures he had given before the Boyal Geographical
Society and the British Association. The rest is from his
note-books and from the ' Chronicles ' that I always wrote
during our journeys.
418252
D„.„ab,GoOgIc
vi PEEPAOE
I thonght at first of trying to keep oar several writingB
apart ; but, to avoid confusion of inverted commas, I decided,
acting on advice, just to put the whole thing into as
consecutive a form as possible, only saying that the least
part of the TrritiDg is mine.
The bibliography is far from complete, as I can name
only a few of the many books that my husband consulted
on all the districts round those which we were going to
penetrate.
As to the spelling of the Arabic, it mast be remembered
that it is a very widely spread language, and there are
naturally many different forms of the same word — e.g. ibn,
ben, bin — and such very various ways of pronouncing the
name of the Moslem prophet, that I have heard it pro-
nounced Memet, Mamad and Mad.
I must give hearty thanks in both our names to all
who helped us on in these journeys, and especially to
Mr. Heaplam, who has given me much assistance by going
through the proofs of this book, Mr. W. C. Ibvikb has
kindly provided the column of literary Arabic for the
vocabulary.
MABEL VIBQINZA ANNA BENT.
13 Obbit Odmberund Placb, W :
Oetob*r 19, 1899.
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BiBUOOBAFHT
CONTENTS
SOUTHERN ARABIA
I. Manamah and Uoharbb
II. Trb Mounds of Ali .
III. OoB Visit to Bdfa'a
MASKAT
IV. Sons Historical Facts about Oman
V. Maskai and tbk OuTSKiBTa
THE HADHRAMOUT
VI. Uaiulla
VII. OuB Depabture into tbb Intkbiob .
VIII. Thb Akaba
IX. Thbouob Wadi Easr ....
X. Our Sojourn at Eoton
XI. Tbb Wadi Seb and Eabb Saleb
XII. Tbe Citi ov Sbibabu ....
XIII. Farewell to tbb Sultan of Sbibahh
XIV. Harassed bv our Guides
XV. Bbtbibutiom job our Pokb .
XVI. CoASTiNO Eastward bt Land .
XVII. CoASiiHo Westward by Sea
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DHOFAR AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
XVIII. Mb&bat and Al Hafa 227
XIX. The Qasjl Tkibb 244
XX. The Gau Modhtains 256
XXI, Tbe Idehtification of AsYSSAFOua 268
XXII. Sailino fkom EossEifi to Aden 277
AN AFRICAN INTERLUDE : THE EASTERN
SOUDAN
XXIII. COABTINO ALONG THK BeD Ssa I
XXrV. HiLAifl AND Sawakin Kawm I
XXV. Inund from Meb3a Halaib 1
XXVI. MOBAHUBD OoL I
XXVII. 'DancinoonTomTiddlbe'sGrodkii, PicKiNO upGold' 1
XXVIII. Behind the Jebel Erba I
THE MAHRI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
XXIX. Kauuhzia 848
XXX. Ebiobe and Eaohoup 858
XXXI. Takabida OB Hadibo 801
XXXII. Wb Defakt fob the Land's End, i.e. Has Momi . 871
XXXIII. Mount Haqhieb akd Febeohbt 876
XXXIV. Back to the Ocean 890
BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEi
XXXV. Experiences with the Yafei Sultan . , . . 899
XXXVI. Among thb Fadhli 412
XXXVII. From thb Plain of Mis'hal to thb Sba . . 421
ApPENDtCBS 481
Ihdbx 451
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BIBLIOGEAPHY
Abu'lfida lamoel ibn All Imad ed diD, Prince or King of Hamar.— fJco-
graphic d'Ahotdfida, tradnite de I'Arafae et aocompago^e de notes at
d'^clairoisaeinenta par M. Reinaud, par M. 3. Onyord. Paria, 1848-88.
BarOB, Jo&o de. — Dotfeitot que ot PortugutttM fiteram. 177B-80.
Bimung, Robert .^ — A Joumalof Two Yeart' Travel in Per»ia, Ceylon, rfc.
1857.
Cftrtaa de Alfonzo de Albnqaerqne. — Commentariee of Albuqiterque,
Haklii;t Societj, traiiBlBtod by W. de Q. Birch. 187S.
Cuter, Dr. — Paper in the Journal of the AeuUie Society. Bombay
branob.
ClUibaA, Joseph. — Let Inecriptiont det Mimt d'or. 1862.
Correa, Gaspar. — Three Voyage* of Vateo da Oama. Haklnyt Society,
1809.
FemoD Lopee de la Caetaabeda. — Hittoria do deeeuirimento e conqvitta
da India pe loe Portuguetet. Liaboa, 1868.
Glaaer, Ednard. — Skieze der Qeechichte der Qeographie Sud-Arahient.
Berlin, 1890.
Qoeje, J. de. — BihUolheca geoffraphieorum ArabicortMit. 1870-66.
Mimovrea d'hittovre et de giographie orienlalee. Sod edition, 1886.
Help* to th« Btudg of the Bible.
Hommel, FrUa.—8Hd-Arabieche Chreetomathie und Minaio-Sabdiichen
Qra/mmatik. Mflnohen, 1893.
India ZHreetory, Part L 1874.
Miles, Colonel.— iiajwrt of the Adrniniatration of the Pertian Gulf
Jie*id«nei/. 1884-88. Joum«y through Oman and Dhakrireh. Bine
Book, coxz.
Mohamad ibn Mnhamad, Geographic d'Edriti- Traduite de I'Arabe,
Farie, 1886-40.
•a
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X BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mohammad ibn Abdallah, colled Ibn Batata.
Mohammad ibn Muhammad. — OeograpMa Nubimitit, 1619, 4°.
MUIler, D. H. — Epigraphitche D^thmdler au* Arabien (DenkaehriAea
der E.£. Ak. dei WiMensohaften Wien). Phil. HUt. Gl. 87, 1894.
Btmyariiche Studien (Z. D. M., S 80). 1870.
Palgrave, W. G. — Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central
Eattem Arafyia. 186S.
FoUak, Dr. S. E.— Dtu Land uni geme Bewokner. 1866.
Sprenger Aloya. — Biirger vnd Sohliiuor Siid-ATobivnt. Die Alte
Oeographie Arabiena.
Viaoent, W. — The Commerce and Navigation of the AncienU in the
Indian Ocean. 1880.
Wellsted, Lieat.~~Vieit to Dhofan- in the • Philomel' 1888. Bou^h
notes of a vitit to Nakhl and Jebel Akhdar.
All Ibn al Husain, El Maandi, Abn al Hasan, Diodoroa, Marco Polo,
Sir John Mauadeville, Pliny, the Periplui, Strabo, Ebn Said, Piolemy,
and others 1 but, as many of these names have been copied by me from
rough notes of my husband's, I cannot be certain about the editions, I
hope the imperfections of this bibliography will be exoneed.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
A MosqOK AT Manauah, Bahrzin lo fac,
Thbodobb Bbnt hkcbivino ViaiTORa at thb Mounds,
Babkbik „
Thb Inteeiob of Sbeikh Saba's Housb at Bufa'a,
Bahbxin
Thb Castlk of thb Boi.tan of Shibahh at Al Eoton
Thb Castlb of thb Sultan of Makalla at Shibahn „
A Sabsam Altak
A Oaka Fobob „
Thb Abtss of Abissapoub, Dhofar
Elba Mouktaims fkoh Shbllal „
Flute-Platbrb in thb Wadi Koukout, Soudan . .
The Plain of Ebiosh, Sokotra „
Theodore Bent harino ths Vocabulaet at Fbreohet
Veqstation in Sokotka „
Thb Bbsakwatbb at Fbreohet „
Dkaoon's-Blood Tbbeb at Yehazabaz .... „
The Saohibb Mountains fboh Sue .... „
Castle at Eanfab „
DiBGBBa
Ou> Na'ab „
Fadhu at Shabiah, Wadi Re ban, wixh Curious
Sandai. „
VlLLAOB OF Mie'BAL „
PuiN OF Mia'HAL AND Ai>DEU Tribb .... „
Fbaovbht of Ai.abastebou> Lihbstone ... „
Sabxan Antiquities „
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MAPS
Ababu, bbowiho tbb Bouteb of Mb.' J. Theodobg
Bent to face p. lii
HAi>RiiniT „ TO
Dhofab akd thb GABA-BAHaE „ 226
Mount Ebba and Subbotimiino Countby ... „ 286
SoKOTRA ,,842
Thb Fadbu Countbt, South Arabia .... „ 400
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— ^
D„.„ab,GoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
SOUTHERN ARABIA
CHAPTER I
MANAUAE AND MOHAREK
The first Arabian joaraey that we aadartook was in 1889,
when we visited the Islands of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf;
we were attracted by stories of mysterious mounds, and we
proposed to see what we could find inside them, hoping, aa
turned out to be the faot, that we should discover traces of
Phoenician remains.
The search for traces of an old world takes an excavator
now and again into strange comers of the new. Out of the
ground he may extract treasures, ot he may not — that is not
our point here — oat of the inhabitants and their strange ways
he is sure, whether he likes it or not, to extract a great deal,
and it is with this branch of an excavator's life we are now
going to deal.
We thought we were on the track of Phcenician .remains
and our interest in onr work was like the fingers of an
aneroid, subject to sudden changes, but at the same time
we had perpetually around us a quaint, unknown world of
the present, more pleasing to most people than anything
pertaining to the past.
The group ot islands known as Bahrein (dual form of
Bahr, i.e. two seas) lies in a bay of the same name in the
Persian Gulf, about twenty miles off the coast of EI Hasa in
Arabia.
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r • •' • • SOUTHERN ARABIA
Bahrein is really the naiue of the largest of the islands,
which is twenty-seven miles long hy ten wide. The second
in point of size is Moharek, which lies north of Bahrein, and
separated from it by a strait of horse-shoe form, five miles
n. length, and in a few places as much as a mile wide, but
for the greater part half a mile.
The rest of the group are mere rocks : Sitrah, four miles
long, with a village on it of the same name ; Nebi Saleh,
Sayeh, Khaseifa, and, to the east of Moharek, Arad, with a
palm-grove and a large double Portuguese fort, an island or
a peninsula according to the state of the tide.
It was DO use embarking on a steamer which would take
us direct from England to our destination, owing to the
complete uncertainty of tho time when we should arrive,
BO we planned out our way md Karachi and Maskat ; then we
had to go right up to Bushire, and again change steamers
there, for the boats going up the Gulf would not touch at
Bahrein. At Bushire we engaged five Persians to act as
servants, interpreter, and overseers over the workmen whom
we should employ in excavating.
We had as our personal servant and interpreter com-
bined a very dirty Hadji Abdullah, half Persian, half Arab.
He was the best to be obtained, and his English was decidedly
faulty. He always said nmles for meals, /oaZ« for fowls, and
any one who heard him say ' Wbat time you eat your
mules to-day, Sahib ? ' 'I have boiled two foals for dinner,'
or ' Mem Sahib, now I go in bazaar to buy our perwiaions
of grub,' or 'What place I give you your grub, Mem Sahib?'
would have been surprised.
He had been a great deal on our men-of-war ; he also
took a present of horses from the Sultan of Maskat to the
Queen, so that he could boast ' I been to Home,' and alluded
to his stay in England as ' when I was in Home.'
Abdullah always says chuck and never throw ; and people
^dbyGoogle
ubjGoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
MANAMAH AND MOHAEEK 3
unnsed to him would not take in that ' Those peacock
no good, carboys nmch better,' referred to pickaices and
crowbars.
He ased to come to the diggings and say : ' A couble of
Sheikhs come here in camp. Sahib. I am standing them
some coffee ; shall I stand them some mixed biscuits, too ? '
I must aay I pity foreigners who have to trust to
interpreters whose only European language is such Enghsh
as this.
With the whole of our party we embarked on the steamer
which took us to Bahrein, or rather as close as it could
approach ; for, owing to the shallowness of the sea, while
still far from shore we were placed in a baggala in which we
sailed for about twenty minutes. Then when a smaller boat
had conveyed us as near to the dry land as possible, we
wete in mid-ocean transferred, bag and baggage, to asses,
those lovely white asses of Bahrein with tails and manes
dyed yellow with "henna, and grotesque patterns illuminating
their flanks ; we had no reins or stirrups, and as the asses,
though more intelligent than our own, will not unfrequently
show obstinacy in the water, the rider, firmly grasping his
pommel, reaches with thankfulness the slimy, oozy beach of
Bahrein.
Manamah is the name of the town at which you land ;
it is the commercial capital of the islands — just a streak of
white houses and bamboo huts, extending about a mile and
a half along the shore. A few mosques with low minarets
may be seen, having stone steps up one side, by which the
priest ascends for the call to prayer. These mosques and
the towers of the richer pearl merchants show some decided
architectural features, having arches of the Saracenic order,
with fretwork of plaster and quaint stucco patterns.
On landing we were at once surrounded by a jabbering
crowd of negro slaves, and stately Arabs with long, flowing
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4 SOUTHERN ARABIA
robes and twisted camel-hair cords (akkal) around their
heads.
Our home while in the town was one of the best of
the battlemented towers, and consisted of a room sixteen
feet square, on a stone platform. It had twenty-six
windows with no glass in them, but pretty lattice of
plaster. Our wooden lock was highly decorated, and we
had a wooden key to close our door, which pleased us much.
Even though we were close upon the tropics we found our
abode chilly enough after sunset ; and our nights were
rendered hideous — firstly, by the barking of dogs ; secondly,
by cocks which crowed at an inordinately early hour ; and,
thirdly, by pious Mussulmans hard at work praying before
the sun rose.
From our elevated position we could look down into a
sea of bamboo huts, the habitations of the pearl-fishers : neat
enough abodes, with courtyards paved with helix shells. In
these courtyards stood quaint, large water-jars, which women
filled from goat-skius carried on their shoulders from the
wells, wobbling when full like live headless animals ; and
cradles, like hencoops, for their babies. They were a merry
idle lot of folk just then, for it was not their season of work :
perpetually playing games (of which tip-jack and top-
spinning appeared the favourite for both young and old)
seemed to he their chief occupation. Staid Arabs, with
tnrbans and long, flowing robes, spinning tops, formed a
sight of which we never tired. The spinning-tops are made
out of whelk-shells, which I really believe must have been
the original pattern from which our domestic toy was made.
The door-posts of their huts are often made of whales' jaws ;
a great trafBc is done in sharks ; the cases for their swords
and dagg^s are all of shagreen. The gulf well deserves
the name given to it by Ptolemy of the Ichthyophagorum
sinus.
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MANAMAH AND MOHAEEK 5
"Walking through the bazaars one is much struck by the
quaint, huge iron locks, some of them with keys nearly two
feet long, and ingeniously opened by pressure of a spring.
In the commoner houses the locks and keys are all of wood.
In the bazaars, too, you may find that queer El Hasa money
called Tawilah, or ' long bits,' short bars of copper doubled
back and compressed together, with a few characters indi-
cating the prince who struck them.
The coffee-pots of Bahrein are quite a specialty, also
coming from El Hasa, which appears to be the centre of art
in this part of Arabia. With their long beak-hke spouts and
concentric circles with patterns on them, these coffee-pots
are a distinct feature. In the bazaars of Manamah and
Moharek coffee-vendors sit at every comer with some huge
pots of a similar shape simmering on the embers ; in the
lid are introduced stones to make a noise and attract the
attention of the passers-by. Coffee-shops take the place of
spirit and wine shops, which in the strict Wahabi country
would not be, for a moment, tolerated. In private houses it
is thought well to have four or five coffee-pots standing
round the fire, to give an appearance of riches.
Besides the coffee-pots, other objects of El Hasa work-
manship may be seen in Bahrein. Every household of
respectability has its wooden bowl with which to offer
visitors a drink of water or sonr milk ; these are beautifully
inlaid with silver in very elaborate patterns. The guns used
by Bahreini sportsmen are similarly inlaid, and the camel
saddles of the sheikhs are most beautifully decorated on the
pommels in the same style.
The anvils, at which the blacksmiths in the bazaars
were squatting, were like large nails with heads about six
inches square, driven into the ground and about a foot
high.
The old weapons of the Bedouin Arabs are still in use in
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6 SOQTIIEEX ARABIA
Bahrein : the long lance which is put up before the tent
of the chief when he goes about, the shield of camel-skin
decorated with gold paint and brass knobs, the coat of mail,
and other objects of warfare used in an age long gone by.
Every other Btall has dates to sell in thick masses, the
chief food of the islanders. Then you may see locusts
pressed and pickled in barrels ; the poorer inhabitants are
very fond of this diet, and have converted the curse of the
cultivator into a favourite delicacy. As for weights, the
stall-holders would appear to have none but stones, whelk
shells, and potsherds, vrhich must be hard to regulate.
An ancient Arab author states that in Oman ' men
obtain fire from a spark, by rolling the tinder in dry Arab grass
and swinging it round till it bursts into flame.' We often
. saw this process and bought one of the little cages, hanging
to a long chain, which they use in Bahrein.
Of course pearl-fishing is the great occupation of the
islands, and Manamah is inhabited chiefly by pearl merchants
and divers, Bahrein has in fact been celebrated for its
pearl-fishing ever since the days of the Periplus of Nearchua,
in the time of Alexander the Great.
Albuquerque, in his commentaries,' thus sjieaks of
Bahrein pearl-fishing in 1510 : — ' Bahrein is noted for its
large breeding of horses, its barley crops, and the variety of
its fruits ; and all around it are the fishing grounds of seed
pearls, and of pearls which are sent to these realms of
Portugal, for they are better and more lasting than any that
are found in any other of these parts.' This is also the
verdict of the modem pearl merchants, who value Bahrein
pearls, as more lasting and harder than those even of
Ceylon. Evidently Albuquerque got an order from his
sovereign for pearls, for he writes,* in 1515, that he is getting
the pearls which the king had ordered for ' the pontiiical of
' P. iijj. = r. 3-J8.
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MANAMAH AND MOHAEEK 7
our lady.' To this day in their dealings the pearl merchants
of Bahrein still make use of the old Portuguese weights and
names.
The pearl oyster is found in all the waters from Baa
Mussendom to the head of the Oulf, but on the Persian side
there are no known banks of value. They vary in distance
from one to ninety miles from the low-lying shore of ' Araby
the Blest,' but the deep sea banks are not so much fished
till the ' Shemal ' or nor'westers of June have spent their
force. The three seasons for fishing are known as ' the
spring fishing ' in the shallow water, ' the summer fishing '
in the deep waters, and ' the winter fishing ' conducted
principally by wading in the shoals. The pearls of these
seas are still celebrated for their firmness, and do not peel.
They are commonly reported to lose one per cent, annually
for fifty years in colour and water, but after that they
remain the same. They have seven skins, whereas the
Cingalese pearls have only six. The merchants generally
buy them wholesale by the old Portuguese weight of the
chao. They divide them into different sizes with sieves and
sell them in India, so that, as is usually the case with
specialties, it is impossible to buy a good pearl on Bahrein.
Diving here is exceedingly primitive ; all the necessary
paraphernalia consists of a loop of rope and a stone to go
down with, a curious horn thing to hold the nose, and oil for
the orifice of the ears. Once a merchant brought with him a
diving apparatus, but the divers were highly indignant, and
leaguing against him refused to show the best banks. In
this way the fisheries suffer, for the best pearls are in the
deeper waters, which can only be visited late in the season.
The divers are mostly negro slaves from Africa ; they do
not live long, poor creatures, developing awful sores and
weak eyes, and they live and die entirely without medical
aid.
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8 60UTHEEN ARABIA
At present the pearl-fisheries employ about four hundred
boats of from eight to twenty men each. Each boat pays a
tax to the sheikh. The fishing season lasts from April to
October.
Very curious boats ply in the waters between Manamah
and Moharek ; the huge ungainly baggalas ccm only sail in
the deeper channels. The Bahrein boats have very long-
pointed prows, elegantly carved and decorated with shells ;
when the wind is contrary they are propelled by poles or
paddles, consisting of boards of any shape tied to the end of
the poles with twine, and the oarsman always seats himself
on the gunwale.
Perhaps the way these boats are tied and sewn together
may have given rise to the legend alluded to by Sir John
Maundeville when he saw them at the Isle of Hormuz.
' Near that isle there are ships without nails of iron or bonds,
on acconnt of the rocks of adamants (loadstones), for they
are all abundant there in that sea that it is marvellous to
speak of, and if a ship passed there that had iron bonds or
iron nails it would perish, for the adamant, by its nature,
draws iron to it, and so it would draw the ship that it should .
never depart from it.'
Many of the boats have curiouB-shaped stone anchors,
and water casks of uniform and doubtless old-world shape.
The sheikh has some fine war vessels, called hatils, which
did good execution about fifty years ago, when the Sultan of
Oman and the rulers of El Hasa tried to seize Bahrein, and
a naval battle took place in the shallow sea off the coast
in which the Bahreini were victorious. Now that the
Gulf is practically English and piracy at an end, these
vessels are more ornamental than useful. His large baggala,
which mounted ten tiny guns and was named the Dunijah,
is now employed in trade.
Then there are the bamboo skiffs with decks almost
^dbyGoogle
MAMAMAH AMD MOHABEE 9
flush with the side, requiring great skill in working. Boats
are really of but little use immediately around the islands.
Yon see roeo walking in the sea quite a mile out, collecting
shellfish and seaweeds, which form a staple diet for both
man and beast on Bahrein.
The shallowness of the sea between Bahrein and the
mainland has contributed considerably to the geographical
and mercantile importance of the Bahrein. No big vessels
can approach the opposite coast of Arabia ; hence, in olden
days, when the caravan trade passed this way, all goods
must have been transhipped to smaller boats at Bahrein.
Sir M. Durant, in a consular report, states it as his
opinion that, ' mider a settled government, Bahrein could be
the trading place of the Persian Gulf for Persia and Arabia,
and an excellent harbour near the warehouses could be
formed.'
If the Euphrates Valley Railway had ever been opened,
if the terminus of this railway had been at Eoweit, as it
was proposed by the party of survey under the command
of Admiral Charlewood and General Chesney, the Bahrein
group would at once have sprung into importance as
offering a safe emporium in the immediate vicinity of this
terminas. Bahrein is the Cyprus of the Persian Gulf, in
fact. This day is, however, postponed indefinitely until such
times as England, Turkey, and Bussia shall see fit to settle
their differences ; and with a better understanding between
these Powers, and the development of railways in the East,
the Persian Gulf may yet once more become a high road
of commerce, and the Bahrein Islands may again come into
notice.
The Portuguese, who were the fi^st Europeans after the
time of Alexander to visit the Gulf, recognised the import-
ance of Bahrein. Up to their time the Gulf had been a
closed Mohammedan lake. The history of their rule in that
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10 SOUTHERN ARABIA
part has yet to be written, but it will disclose a tale of great
interest, and be a record of marvelloue commercial enter-
prise. It was AJbuquerque who first reopened the Gulf to
Europeans.
Early in the sixteenth century (1504), he urged the
occupation of the Gulf. In 1506 three fleets went to
the East under the command of Tristan d'Acunha, with
Albuquerque as second in command. Tristan soon took his
departure further afield, and left Albuquerque in command.
This admiral first attacked and took Hormuz, then governed
by a king of Persian origin. Here, and at Maskat, he
thoroughly estabhshed the Portuguese power, thereby com-
manding the entrance into the Gulf. From de Barros'
account it would appear that the king of Eahrein was a
tributary of the king of Hormuz, paying annually 40,000
pardaos, and from Albuquerque's letters we read that the
occupation of Bahrein formed part of his scheme. ' With
Hormuz and Bahrein in their hand the whole Gulf would
be under their control,' he wrote. In fact, Albuquerque's
scheme at that time would appear to have been exceedingly
vast and rather chimerical — namely, to divert the Nile from
its course and let it fiow into the Ked Sea, ruin Egypt, and
bring the India trade vid the Persian Gulf to Europe. Of
this scheme we have only the outline, but, beyond establish-
ing fortresses in the Gulf, it fell through, for Albuquerque
died, and with him his gigantic projects.
The exact date of the occupation of Bahrein by the
Portuguese I have as yet been unable to discover ; but in
1521 we read of an Arab insurrection in Bahrein against the
Persians and Portuguese, in which the Portuguese factor,
Buy Bale, was tortured and crucified.
Sheikh Hussein bin Said, of the Arabian tribe of Ben
Zabia, was the instigator of this revolt. In the following
year the Porlugucsc governor, Dom Luis dc Menczcs, came
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MASAMAH AND MOHAREK 11
to tenns with hini, and appointed him Portuguese repre-
sentative Id the island.
A few years later, one Bas Bardadim, guazil, or governor
ot Bahrein, made himself objectionable, and against him
Simeon d'Acuxiha was sent. He and many of his men died
of fever in the expedition, but the Portuguese power was
again restored.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century the Portuguese
came under the mle of Spain, and from that date their
power in the Persian Golf began to wane. Their soldiers
were drafted off to the wars in Flanders instead of going to
the East to protect the colonies ; and the final blow came
in 1622, when Shah Abbas of Persia, assisted by an English
fleet, took Hormuz, and then Bahrein. Twenty years later
a company of Portuguese merchants, eager for the pearls of
these islands, organised an expedition from Goa to recover
the Bahrein, but the ships were taken and plundered by the
Arabs before ever they entered the Gulf.
Thus fell the great Portuguese power in the Gulf, the
sole traces of which now are the numerous fortresses, such
as the one on Bahrein.
From 1622 to the present time the control over Bahrein
has been contested between the Persians and Arabs, and as
the Persian power has been on the wane, the Ajubian star has
been in the ascendent. In ITll the Sultan bin Seif wrested
Bahrein from Persia ; in 1784 the Uttubbi of El Hasa
conquered it. They have held it ever since, despite the
attempts of Seyid Said of Oman, of the Turks and Persians,
to take it from them. The Turks have, however, succeeded
in driving them out of their original kingdom of Ei Hasa,
on the mainland of Arabia opposite, and now the Bahrein
is all that remains to them of their former extensive
territories.
The royal family is a numcroub one, being a branch of
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12 SOUTHERN ARABIA
the El Khalifa tribe. They are the chiefs of the Uttubbi
tribe of Arabs.
Most of them, if not actually belonging to that strict
Beet of Arabians known as Wahabi, have strong puritanical
proclivities. Our teetotalers are nothing to them in bigotry.
If a vendor of intoxicating liquor started a shop on Bahrein,
they would burn his house down, so that the wicked who want
to drink any intoxicating liquor have to buy the material
secretly from ships in the harbour. Many think it wrong to
smoke, and spend their lives in prayer and fasting. Church
decoration is an abomination to the Wahabi ; therefore, in
Bahrein the mosques are little better than bams with low
minarets, for the very tall ones of other Mohammedan sects
are forbidden. The Wahabi are fanatics of the deepest dye ;
' there is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet,' they say
with the rest of the Mohammedan world, hut the followers
of Abdol Wahab ELdd, ' and in no case must Mohammed and
the Imams be worshipped lest glory be detracted from God.'
All titles to them are odious ; no grand tombs are to be
erected over their dead, no mourning is allowed ; hence the
cemetery at Manamah is but a pitiful place— a vast collec-
tion of circles set with rough stones, each with a small
uninscribed headpiece, and the surface sprinkled with helix
shells.
The Wahabi would wage, if they dared, perpetual war
not only against the infidel, but against such perverted
individuals as those who go to worship at Mecca and other
sacred shrines. The founder of this revival is reported to
have beaten his sons to death for drinking ■wine, and to have
made his daughters support themselves by spinning, but at
the same time he felt himself entitled to give to a fanatical
follower, who courted death for his sake, an order for an
emerald palace and a large number of female slaves in the
world to come.
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MANAMAH AND MOHAREK 13
In 18G7 the Shah of Persia aimed at acquiring Bahrein,
though his only claim to it was based on the fact that
Bahrein had been an appanage of the Persian crown under
the Suffavian kings. He instituted a revolt on the island,
adopted a claimant to the sheikhdom, and got him to hoist
the Persian flag. Our ships blockaded Bahrein, intercepted
letters, and obliged the rebel sheikh to quit. Then it was
that we took the islands under our protection. In 1876 the
Turks caused trouble, and the occupation of Bahrein formed
part of their great scheme of conquest in Arabia. Our ship
the Osprey appeared on the scene, drove back the Turks,
transported to India several sheikhs who were hostile to
the English rule, and placed Sheikh Isa (or Esau) on the
throne under British protection, under which he rules happily
to this day.
We went to see him at Moharek, where he holds hia
court in the winter-time. We crossed over in a small baggala,
and bad to be poled for a great distance with our keel
perpetually grating on the bottom. It was like driving in a
carriage on a jolting road; the donkeys trotted independently
across, their legs quite covered with water. We were glad
when they came alongside, and we completed our journey
on their backs.
The courtyard of the palace, which somewhat recalls the
Alhambra in its architecture, was, when we arrived, crowded
with Arab chiefs in all manner of quaint costumes. His
majesty's dress was exceedingly fine. He and his family
are entitled to wear their camel-halr bands bound round
with gold thread. These looked very regal over the red
turban, and his long black coat, with his silver-studded
sword by his side, made him look every inch a king.
He is most submissive to British interests, inasmuch as
his immediate predecessors, who did not love England, were
shipped off to India, and still languish there in exile ; as
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14 SOUTHERN ARABIA
he owes his throne entirely to British protection, he and
his family will probably continue to reign as long as the
English are virtual owners of the Gulf, if they are willing to
submit to the English protectorate.
We got a photograph of a group of them resting on
their guns, and with their kanjars or sickle-shaped daggers
at their waists. We took Prince Mohamed, the heir-
apparent, and the stout Seid bin Omar, the prime minister
of Bahrein. But Sheikh Esau refused to place his august
person within reach of our camera.
During our visit we were seated on high arm-chairs of
the kind bo much used in India, and the only kind used here.
They were white and hoary with old age and long estrange-
ment from furniture polish. For our sins we had to drink
the bitterest black coffee imaginable, which tasted like
varnish from the bitter seeds infused in it ; this was followed
by cups of sweet syrup flavoured with cinnamon, a disagree-
able custom to those accustomed to take their coffee and
sugar together.
Moharek is aristocratic, being the seat of government ;
Manamah is essentially commercial, and between them in
the sea is a huge dismantled Portuguese fort, now used as
Sheikh Esau's stables.
The town of Moharek gets its water supply from a curious
source, springing up from under the sea. At high tide there is
about a fathom of salt water over the spring, and water is
brought up either by divers who go down with skins, or by
pushing a hollow bamboo down into it. At low tide there is
very little water over it, and women with large amphorae and
goat-skins wade out afid fetch what water they require ; they
tell me that the spring comes up with such force that it
drives back the salt water and never gets impregnated. All
I can answer for is that the water is excellent to drink.
This source is called Bir Mahab, and there are several
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MANA^rAH AND MOHAREK 15
o£ a similar nature on the coast around : the Kaseifah spring
and others. There is such a spring in the harbour of Syra-
cuse, about twenty feet under the sea.
The legend is that in the time of Merwan, a chief, Ibn
Hakim, from Katif, wished to marry the lovely daughter of
a Bahrein chief. His suit was not acceptable, so he made
war on the islands and captured all the wells which supplied
the towns on the bigger island ; but the guardian deity of
the Bahreini caused this spring to break out in the sea just
before Moharek, and the invader was thus in time repulsed.
It is a curious fact that Aradosor Arvad, the Phoenician town
on the Mediterranean, was supplied by a similar submarine
source.
Sheikh Esau's representative at Manamah — his prime
minister or viceroy, we should call him, though he is usually
known there by the humble-sonnding title of the ' bazaar
master,' by name Seid bin Omar, is a very stout and nearly
black individual, with a European cast of countenance. He
looked exceedingly grand when he came to see us, in his
under-rohe of scarlet cloth, with a cloak of rustling and stiff
white wool with a little red woven in it. Over his head
floated a white cashmere shawl, with the usual camel-hair
rings to keep it on, and sandals on his bare feet. He was
deputed by his sovereign to look after us, and during the
fortnight we were on the island he never left us for a single
day. Though outwardly very strict in his asceticism, and
constantly apt to say his prayers with his nose in the dust
at inconvenient moments, we found him by no means averse
to a cigarette in the strictest privacy, and we learnt that his
private life would not bear European investigation. He is
constantly getting married. Though sixty years of age he
had a young bride of a few weeks' standing. I was assured ■
that he would soon tire of her and put her away. Even in
polygamous Arabia he is looked upon as a much-married man.
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SOUTHERN ARABIA
CHAPTER II
THE MOUNDS OF ALI
And now behold us excavators on the way to the scene of
our labours. Six camels conveyed our tents, a seventh
carried goat-skins full of water. Pour asses groaned under
our personal effects ; hens for consumption rode in a sort of
lobster-pot by the side of clattering pickaxes and chairs ; six
policemen, or peons, were in our train, each on a donkey-
One carried a paraffin lamp, another a basket of eggs on the
palm of his hand, and as there were no reins and no stirrups,
the wonder is that these articles ever survived. As for our-
selves, we, like everybody else, rode sideways, holding on like
grim death before and behind, especially when the frisky
Bahrein donkeys galloped at steeplechase pace across the
desert.
For some distance around Manamah all is arid desert, on
which grow a few scrubby plants, which women cut for
fodder with sickle-like saws, and carry home in large bundles
on their backs. Sheikh Esau's summer palace is in the
centre of this desert — a fortress hardly distinguishable from
the sand around, and consisting, like Eastern structures of
this nature, of nothing but one room over the gateway for
his majesty, and a vast courtyard 200 feet long, where his
attendants erect their bamboo huts and tents. Around the
whole runs a wall with bastions at each comer, very
formidable to look upon. Passing this, the palm-groves,
which are exceedingly fine, are soon reached, and offer
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THE MOUNDS OF ALI 17
delicious shade from the burning sun. Here amongst the
trees were women working in picturesque attire, red petti-
coats, orauge-coloored drawers down to their heels, and a
dark blue covering over all this, which would suddenly be
polled over the face at our approach, if they had not on
their masks, or battras, which admit of a good stare.
The buttra is a kind of mask, more resembling a
bridle than anything else. In shape it is like two diamond-
shaped frames made of gold and coloured braids, fastened
together by two of their lower edges. This middle strip
comes down the nose and covers the mouth, and the sides
come between the ears and eyes. It affords very little con-
cealment, but is very becoming to most of its wearers,
particularly if they happen to be negresses. On their headn
would be baskets with dates or citrons, and now and again
a particularly modest one would dart behind a palm-tree
until that dangerous animal man had gone by.
About half way to the scene of our labours we halted by
the ruins of the old Arab town, Beled-al-Kadim.
This ancient capital, dating from a period prior to the
Portuguese occupation, still presents some interesting ruins.
The old mosque (Madresseh-i-abu-Zeidan), with its two
slender and elegant minarets, so different from the horrible
Wahabi constructions of to-day, forms a conspicuous land-
mark for ships approaching the low-lying coasts of these
islands. Around the body of the mosque runs a fine inscrip-
tion in Kufic letters, and from the fact that the name of Ali
is joined with that of the Prophet in the profession of faith,
we may argue that this mosque was built during some
Persian occupation, and was a Shiite mosque. The archi-
tecture, too, is distinctly Persian, recalling to us in its
details the ruins of Rhey (the Rhages of Tobit) and of
Sultanieh, which we aaw in the north of Pernia, and has
nothing Arabian about it.
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18 SOUTHERN ARABIA
Buins of houses and buildings surround this mosque, and
here in the open space in the centre of the palm-grovea the
Bahrein! assemble every Thursday for a market ; in fact the
place is generally known now as Suk-el-Khamia, or Thurs-
day's Market.
On our journey out not a soul was near, but on onr
return we had an opportunity of attending one of these
gatherings.
Sheikh Esau has here a tiny mosque, just an open
loggia, where he goes every morning in summer-time to pray
and take his coffee. Beneath it he has a bath of fresh but
not over-clean water, where he and his family bathe. Often
during the summer heats he spends the whole day here, or
else he goes to bis glorious garden about a mile distant, near
the coast, where acacias, hibiscus, and almonds fight with
one another for the mastery, and form a delicious tangle.
Another mile on, closer to the sea, is the fine ruined
fortresa of the Portuguese, Gibliah, as the natives call it
now, just as they do one of the fortresses at Maskat. It
covers nearly two acres of ground, and is built out of the
remains of the old Persian town, for many Kufic inscriptions
are let into the wall, and the deep well in the centre is Uned
with them. It is a regular bastioned fortification of the
sixteenth century, with moat, embrasnres in the parapets,
and casemented embrasures in the re-entering angles of the
bastions, and is one of the finest specimens of Portuguese
architecture in the Gulf, an evidence of the importance
which they attached to this island.
Amongst the rubbish in the fort we picked up numerous
fragments of fine Nankin and Celadon china, attesting to the
ubiquity and commerce of the former owners, and attesting,
also, to the luxury of the men who ruled here — a luxury as
fatal almost as the Flanders wars to the well-being of the
Portuguese in the East.
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THE MOUNDS OF ALI 19
Our road led us on through milea of palm-grove3,
watered by their little artificial conduits, and producing the
staple food of the island. Seid bin Omar talked to as much
about the date. ' Mohammed said,' he began, ' honour the
date-tree, for she is your mother,' a true enough maxim in
parched Arabia, where nothing else will grow. When ripe
the dates are put into a round tank, called the madibatk,
where they are exposed to the sun and air, and throw off
excessive juice which collects below ; after three days of
this treatment they are removed and packed for exportation
in baskets of palm leaves. The Bahreini, for their own
consumption, love to add sesame seeds to their dates, or
ginger powder and walnuts pressed with them into jars.
These are called »irah, and are originally prepared by being
dried in the sun and protected at night, then diluted date-
juice is poured over them. The fruit which does not reach
maturity is called talang, and is given as food to cattle,
boiled with ground date-stones and fish bones. This makes
an excellent sort of cake for milch cows ; this, and the green
dates also, are given to the donkeys, and to this food the
Bahreini attribute their great superiority. The very poor
also make an exceedingly unpalatable dish out of green
dates mixed with fish for their own table, or, I should say,
floor.
Nature here is not strong enough for the fructification
of the palm, so at given seasons the pollen is removed by
cutting off the male spathes ; these they dry for twenty
hours, and then they take the flower twigs and deposit one
or two in each bunch of the female blossom. Just as we
were there they were very busy with the spathes, and in
Thursday's Market huge boskets of the male spathes were
exposed for sale. The palm-groves are surromided by dykea
to keep the water in.
The date-tree is everything to a Bahreini. He beats
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20 SOUTHERN ARABIA
the green spadix with wooden implementH to make fibre for
hie ropes ; in. the dry state he uses it as fuel ; he makes his
mats, the only known form of carpet and bedding here, oat
of it ; his baskets are made of the leaves. From the flesh
Bpathe, by distillation, a oertain stuff called tara water is
obtained, of strong but agreeable smell, which is much used
for the making of sherbet. Much legendary lore is con-
nected with the date. The small round hole at the back is
said to have been made by Mohammed's teeth, when one day
he fooUshly tried to bite one ; and in some places the ex-
pression ' at the same time a date and a dnty,' is explained
by the fact that in Bamazau the day's fast is osually broken
by first eating a date.
Amongst all these date-groves ate the curioue Arab
wells, with sloping runs, and worked by donkeys. The tall
poles, to which the skins are attached, are date-tree trunks.
Down goes the akin bucket as the donkey comes up a steep
slope in the ground, and then, as he goes down, tip it comes
again full of water, to be guided into the channel, which
fertilises the trees, by a slave, who supports himself going
up, and adds his weight to that of the descending donkey,
by putting his arm through a large wooden ring hung at the
donkey's shoulder. Day after day in our camp we heard
the weird creaking from these wells, very early in the
morning and in the evening when the sun had gone down,
and we felt as we heard it what an infinite blessing is a
well of water in a thirsty land.
Leaving the palm-groves and the Portuguese fortress
behind us, we reentered the desert to the south-west ; and,
jnst beyond the village of Ali, we came upon that which
is the great curiosity of Bahrein, to investigate which
was our real object in visiting the island : for there begins
that vast sen of sepulchral mounds, the great necropolis of
an unknown race which extends far and wide across tb«
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THE MOUNDS OP ALI 21
plain. The village of Ali forms as it were the cuhninating
point ; it lies just cm the borders of the date-groves, and there
the monnds reach an elevation of over forty feet, bat as they
extend further southward they diminish in size, until miles
away, in the direction of Bufa'a, we found mounds elevated
only a few feet above the level of the desert, and some mere
circular heaps of atones. There are many thousands of
these tumuli extending over an area of desert for many
miles. There are isolated groups of mounds in other parts
of the islands, and a few solitary ones are to be found on the
adjacent islets, on Moharek, Arad, and Sitrah.
Complete uncertainty existed as to the origin of these
mounds, and the people who constructed them, but, from
classical references and the result of our own work, there
caa now he no doubt that they are of Phoenician origin.
Herodotus ' gives us as a tradition current in his time
that the forefathers of the Phoenician race came from these
parts. The Phoenicians themselves believed in it : ' It is
their own account of themselves,' says Herodotus; and
Strabo * brings further testimony to bear on the subject,
stating that two of the islands now called Bahrein
were called Tyros and Arados. Pliny follows in Strabo's
steps, but calls the island Tylos instead of Tyros, which
. may be only an error in spelling, or may be owing to the
universal confasion of r with I.
Ptolemy in his map places Gerrha, the mart of ancient
Indian trade and the starting-point for caravans on the
great road across Arabia, on the coast just opposite the
islands, near where the town of El Katif now is, and accepts
Strabo's and Pliny's names for the Bahrein Islands, calling
them TharroB, Tylos or Tyros, and Arados. The fact is that
all our information on the islands prior to the Portuguese
occupation comes from the Periplus of Nearchus. Eratos-
' 11. 89. » XVI. iii. 1.
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22 SOUTHEBN ARABIA
theneB, a naval officer of Alexander's, states that the Gulf
was 10,000 stadia long from Cape Armozmn, i.e. Honnuz,
to Teredon (Koweit), and the month of the Euphrates.
Androsthenes of Thasos, who was of the company of
Nearchns, made an independent geographical sorvey of the
Gnlf on the Arabian side, and his statements are, that on
an island called Ikaros, now Felndji, just off Koweit, he
saw a temple of ApoUo. Southwards, at a distance of 2,400
stadia, or 43 nantical leagues, he came on Gerrha, and, close
to it, the islands of Tyros and Arados, ' which have temples
like those of the Phoenicians,' who were (the inhabitants
told him) colonists from these parts. From Nearchus, too,
we learn that the Phoenicians had a town called Sidon or
Sidodona in the Golf, which he visited, and on an island
called Tyrine was shown the tomb of Erythras, which he
describes as ' an elevated hillock covered with palms,' just
like oar mounds, and Erythras was the king who gave his
name to the Gulf. Jnstin accepts the migration of the
Phoenicians from the Persian Gulf as certain ; and M. fCenan
says, ' The primitive abode of the Phoenicians must be
placed on the Lower Euphrates, in the centre of the great
commercial and maritime eBtablishmenta of the Persian
Gulf.' ' As for the temples, there are no traces of them
left, and this is also the case in Syrian PhoBnicia ; doubtless
they were all built of wood, which will account for their dis-
appearance.
As we ourselves, during the course of our excava-
tions, brought to hght objects of distinctly Phoenician origin,
there would appear to be no longer any room for doubt that
the mounds which lay before us were a vast necropolis of
this mercantile race. If so, one of two suppositions must
be correct, either firstly, that the Phoenicians originally
lived here before they migrated to the Mediterranean, and
' Hist, des langua sfmitig^uts, ii. 183.
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THE MOUNDS OF ALI 23
that this WAB the land of Pont from which the Fani got
their name, a land of palms like the Syrian coast from which
the race got their distorted Greek appellation of Phcenicians ;
or secondly, that these islands were looked npon by them as
a sacred spot for the hmial of their dead, as the Hindoo
looks npoQ the Ganges, and the Persian regards the shrines
of Kerbela and Meshed. I am mnch more inclined to the
former sopposition, jadging from the mercantile importance
of the Bahrein Islajids and the excellent school they mast
have been for a race which was to penetrate to all the then
known comers of the globe — to brave the dangers of the
open Atlantic, and to reach the shores of Britain in their
trading ventures ; and if nomenclature goes for anything,
the name of Tyros and the still-exJBting name of Axad ought
to confirm ub in oor belief and make certainty more certain.
Onr camp was pitched on this desert among the tnmnli.
The ground was hard and rough, covered vrith very sharp
stones ; though dry, it sounded hollow, and it seemed as
though there were water onder it.
Our own tent occupied a conspicuous and central place ;
our servants' tent was hard by, liable to be blown down by
heavy gusts of vrind, which event happened the first night
after ourarrival, to the infinite discomfiture of the bazaar-
master, who, by the way, had left his grand clothes at home,
and appeared in the desert clad in a loose coffee-coloured
dressing-gown, with a red band round his waist. Around
the tents swarmed turbaned diggers, who looked as if they
had come out in their night-gowns, dressing-gowns, and
bath-sheets. These lodged at night in the bamboo village
of Ali hard by, a place for which we developed the profound-
est contempt, for the women thereof refused to pollute
themselves by washing the clothes of infidels, and our
garments had to be sent all the way to Manamah to be
cleanBed. A bamboo structure formed a shplter for the
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24 SOUTHERN ARABIA
kitchen, aroand which, on the saDd, lay curious coffee-pots,
bowls, and cooking utensils, which would have been eagerly
sought after for museums in Em-ope. The camel, which
fetched the daily supply of water from afar, grazed around
on the coarse desert herbage ; the large white donkey which
.went into the town for marketing by day, and entangled
himself in the tent ropes by night, was also left to
wander at his own sweet will. This desert camp was
evidently considered a very peculiar sight indeed, and no
wonder that for the first week of our residence there, we
were visited by all the inhabitants of Bahrein who could
find time to come so far.
It was very weird to sit in our tent door the first evening
and look at the great mound we were going to dig into next
rooming, and think how long it had stood there in the peace
its builders hoped for it. There seemed to be quite a mourn-
ful feeling about disturbing it ; but archsBologists am a
ruthless body, and this was to be the last night it would ever
stand in its perfect shape, After all, we were full of hope
of finding out the mystery of its origin.
The first attack next morning was most amusing to
behold. My husband headed the party, looking very tall
and slim, with his legs outlined against the sky, as he, with
all the rest, in single file and in fluttering array, wound
first round the mound to look for a good place to ascend,
and then went straight up.
Thoy, were all amazed when I appeared and gave orders
to the division under my command.
They looked very questioningly indeed, but, as the
Persians had learnt to respect me, the Bahreini became
quite amenable.
The dimensions of the mound on which we began our
labours were as follows : 35 feet in height, 76 feet in
diameter, and 152 paces in circumference. We chose this
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THE MOUNDS OF ALI 25
in preference to the higher mounds, the tops of which were
flattened somewhat and snggested the idea that they had
fallen in. Ours, on the contrary, was qnite rounded on the
sammit, and gave every hope that in digging through it we
should find whatever was inside in statu quo. At a distance
of several feet from most of the mounds are traces of an
outer encircling wall or bank of earth, similar to walls found
around certain tombs in Lydia, as also round a tumulus at
Tara in Ireland, and this encircling wall was more marked
around some of the smaller and presumably more recent
tombs at the outer edge of the necropolis ; in some cases
several mounds would appear to have been clustered
together, and to have had an encircling wall common to
them all.
We dug from the top of oar mound for 15 feet, with
great difficnlty, through a sort of conglomerate earth, nearly
as hard as cement, before we reached anything definite.
Then suddenly this close earth stopped, and we came across
a layer of large loose stones, entirely free from soil, which
layer covered the immediate top of the tombs for two feet.
Beneath these stones, and immediately on the flat slabs
forming the roof of the tomb, had been placed palm
branches, which in the lapse of ages had become white and
crumbly, and had assumed the flaky appearance of asbestos.
This proved that the palm flourished on Bahrein at the date
of these tombs, and that the inhabitants were accustomed to
make use of it for constructive purposes.
Six very large slabs of rough unhewn limestone, which
had obviously come from Jebel Dukhan, lay on the top of
the tomb, forming a roof. One of these was 6 feet in
length, and 2 feet 2 inches in depth.
The tomb itself was composed of two chambers, one
immediately over the other, and approached by a long
passage, like the dromos of rock-cut Greek tombs, which
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36 SOtJTHEBN AHABIA
waa full of earth and small BtoneB. The entrance, aa was
that of all the tomhs, was towEurdB the snnset. This passage
waa 53 feet in length, extending from the outer rim of
the circle to the mouth of the tomb. Around the outer
circle of the mound itself ran a wall of huge stonea, evi-
dently to support the weight of earth necesEary to conceal
the tomb, and large unhewn stones closed the entrance to
the two chambers of the tomb at the head of the passage.
We first entered the upper chamber, the floor of which
was covered with gritty earth. It was 30 feet long, and at
the four oomers were recesses 2 feet 10 inches in depth,
and the unif(»iu height of this chamber was 4 feet 6
inches. The whole surface of the interior to the depth of
two or three incbea above the other dibris waa covered with
yellow earth composed of the tiny hones of the jerboa, that
rat-like animal which is found in abundance on the shores
of the Persian G-ulf. There waa no sign of any recent ones
and only a few fragments of sknlla to ahow what this yellow
earth had been. We then proceeded to remove the rubbish
and sift it for what we could find.
The chief objects of interest consisted in innumerable
fragments of ivory, fragments of circular boxes, pendants
with holes for suapenaion (obviously used aa ornaments by
this primitive race), the torao of a small statue in ivory, the
hoof of a bull fixed on to an ivory pedestal, evidently he-
longing to a small atatae of a bull, the foot of another little
statue, and varioua fragments of ivory utensils. Many of
these fragments had patterns inscribed on them — rough
patterns of scales, rosettes, encircling chains, and the two
parallel lines common to so many ivory fragments found at
Kameiroa, and now in the British Museum. In fact, the
decorations on most of them bear a close and unmistakable
resemblance to ivories found in Phoenician tombs on the
shores of the Mediterranean, and to the ivories in the
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THE MOUNDS OF AU 27
British Mosenm from Kinund in Assyria, nniversally
accepted as having been executed by Pfaaenician artists :
those cunning workers in ivory and wood whom Solomon
employed in the building of his temple, and, before the
spread of Egyptian and Greek art, the travelling artists
of the world. The ivory fragments we found were given
into the hands of Mr. A. S. Morray, of the British Mnsenm,
who wrote to my hasband as follows : ' I have not the
least donbt, judging from the incised patterns, from ball's
foot, part of a figure, &c., that the ivories are of Phoenician
workman ship. '
The pottery foond in this tomb offered no very distinctive
features, being coarse and nnglazed, but the numerous frag>
ments of ostrich egg-shells, coloured and scratched with
rough patterns in bands, also pointed to a Phcenician origin,
or at least to a race ot wide mercantile connection: and in
those days the Phoenicians were the only people likely to
combine in their commerce ostrich egg-shells and ivory, "^'e
also found small shapeless pieces of oxidised metal, brass or
copper. There were no hnman bones in the upper chamber,
but those of a large animal, presumably a horse.
The chamber immediately beneath was much more
carefully constructed ; it was exactly the same length, but
was higher, being 6 feet 7 inches, and the passage was wider.
It was entirely coated with cement of two qualities, the upper
coat being the finest, in which all round the walls at intervals
of two feet were holes sloping inwards and downward. In
similar holes, in one of the other tombs we opened, we found
traces of wood, showing that poles on which to hang drapery
bad been inserted. The groond of this lower chamber was
entirely covered with a thin brown earth of a fibrous nature,
in appearance somewhat resembling snuff; it was a foot in
depth, and evidently the remains of the drapery which had
been hung around the ■walls. Prior to the use of cofiBns the
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38 SOUTHEBN ARABIA
Fhceoicians draped their dead,' and amongst this subBtance
we found traces of human bones.
Thus we were able to arrive at the system of sepalture
employed by this nnknown race. Evidently their custom
was to place in the upper chamber broken utensils and the
body of an animal belonging to the deceased, and to reserve
the lower chamber for the corpse enshrouded in drapery.
For the use of this upper chamber our parallels are curiously
enough all Phcenician. Perrot gives ua an example of two-
storied tombs in the cemetery of Amrit, in Phcenicia,
where also the bodies were embedded in plaster to prevent
decay prior to the introduction of the sarcophagus, re-
minding us of the closely cemented lower chambers in our
mounds. A mound containing a tomb with one chamber
over the other was in 1688 observed in Sardinia, and is
given by Delia Marmora as of Phoenician origin. Here,
however, the top of the tomb is conical, not flat, as in our
mounds, which would point to a later development of the
double chamber which eventually blossomed forth into
the lofty mausolea of the later Phcenician epoch, and the
grandiose tombs of Hellenic structure.
Also at Carthage, that very same year that we were in
Bahrein, i.e. 1889, excavations brought to light certain
tombfl of the early Phoenician settlers which also have the
donble chamber. In answer to Ferrot's assertion that all
early Pboonician tombs were hypogea, we may say that as
the Bahrein Islands offered no facility for this method of
sepulture, the closely-oovered-in mound would be the most
natural substitate.
Before leaving the tombs we opened a second, and a
smaller one of coarser construction, which confirmed in every
way the conclusions we had arrived at in opening the larger
tomb. Near the village of Ali, one of the largest mounds
' PexKt, History o/ Art in P}iankia.
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THE MOt'XDS OF AU 29
has been polled to pieces for the stones. By creeping into the
cavities opened we were able to ascertain that the chambers
in this moond were similar to those in the monnd we
had opened, only they were doable on both stones, and the
Qpper story was also coated with cement. Two chambers
nui parallel to each other, and were joined at the two
extremities.
Sir M. Dorand also opened one of the moands, bat
anfortonately the roof of the tomb had fallen in, which
prevented him from obtaining any satisfactory results; bet
from the general appearance, it wonid seem to have been con-
stmctedon exactly the same lines aa oar larger one. Hence
we fas4 the evidence of four tombs to go upon, and felt
that these mast be pretty fair specimens of what the many
thousands were which extended around as.
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SOUTHERN ARABIA
CHAPTER III
OCR VISIT TO HCFA'A
Ddrino the time th&t we epent at Ali we ha^ numerous visi-
tors. The first day came five camels with two riders apiece,
and a train of donkeys, bringin{< rich pearl merchants from
the capital ; these sat in a circle and complacently drank
our coffee and ate our mixed biscuits, without in any way
troubling us, having apparently come for no other object
than to get this slender refreshment.
Next day came Sheikh Mohammed, a yonng man of seven-
teen, a nephew of Sheikh Eean, who was aboat to wed his
uncle's daughter, and was talked of as the heir-apparent to the
throne ; he was all gorgeous in a white embroidered robe,
red turban, and head rings bound in royal gold. He played
with our pistols with covetous eyes, ate some English cakfl,
having first questioned the bazaar-master as to the orthodoxy
of its ingredients, and then he promised us a visit next day.
He came on the morrow, on a beautifully caparisoned
horse, with red trappings and gold tassels. He brought
with him many followers and announced his intention of
passing the day with us, rather to our distress ; but we were
appeased by the present of a fat lamb with one of those large
bushy tails which remind one forcibly of a lady's bustle, and
suggests that the ingenious miUiner who invented these
atrocities must have taken for her pattern an Eastern sheep.
This day ' Prince ' Mohammed handled the revolver more
covetously than over, and got so far as exchanging his
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OUR VISIT TO RUFA'A 81
Bc&rlet embroidered ceibo, with red silk belt and silver buckle,
for my leathern one.
Sheikh Mohammed waa very anxious to see bow I could
shoot with my reTolvsr, so a brown pot containing about
half a pint of water was put on a lump of rock as a mark.
I was terrified ; for I knew if I missed, as I sorely expected,
I should bring great discredit on myself and my nation, and
there was such a crowd I My husband said I must try, and
I am sure no one waa more astonished than I was that I
shattered the pot. If I had not it would have been said that
I only carried the revolver for show.
That afternoon a gi«at cavalcade of gazelle huntsmen
called upon us. The four chief men of these had each g,
hooded falcon on hia arm, and a tawny Persian greyhound,
with long silky tail, at his side. They wore their aickle-like
daggers in their waistbands ; their bodies were enveloped in
long cloaks, and their heada in white cloths bound round
with the camel-hair straps ; they were accompanied by
another young scion of the El Ehalita family, who bestrode
a white Arab steed with the gayest possible trappings. Thus
was this young prince attired : on his head a cashmere ker-
chief with gold akkal ; he was almost smothered in an
orange cloth gown trimmed with gold and lined with green,
the sleeves of which were very long, cut open at the ends and
trimmed ; over this robe was cast a black cloth cloak
trimmed with gold on the shoulders, and a richly inlaid
aword dangled at his side, almost as big as himself, for he
was but an undersized boy of fifteen. The spori;8men made
a very nice group for our photography, as did almost every-
thing around us on Bahrein.
Any excavator would have lost patience with the men of
Bahrein with whom we had to deal ; tickets had to be issued
to prevent more men working than were wanted, and claiming
pay at the end of the day ; ubiquity was essential, for they
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S3 SOUTHERN ARABIA
loved to get out of sight and do nothing ; with unceasing
regularity the pipe went round and they paused for a ' drink '
at the bubble-bubble, as the Arabs express it ; morning, noon-
tide, and evening prayers were, I am sure, unnecessarily
long. Accidents would happen, which alarmed us at first,
until we learnt how ready they were to cry wolf : one man
was knocked over by a stone ; we thought by his contortions
some limb must be broken, and we applied vaseline, our only
available remedy, to the bruise; his fellow-workmen then
seized bim by the shoulders, he keeping his arms crossed the
while, shook him well ' to put the bones right again,' as they
expressed it, and he continued his work as before.
The bazaar-master and the policemen would come and
frantically seize a tool, and work for a few seconds with
herculean vigour by way of example, which was never
followed. ' Yallah 1 ' ' hurry on ' {i.e. Oh God) ; ' Marhabbah ! '
' very good,' the men would cry, and they would sing and
scream with a vigour that nearly drove us wild. But for the
occasional application of a stick by the bazaar-master and
great firmness, we should have got nothing out of them but
noise.
One day we had a mutiny because my husband dis-
missed two men who came very late ; the rest refused
to work, and came dancing round us, shouting and
brandishing spades. One had actually got hold of a naked
sword, which weapon I did not at all like, and I was
thankful ' Prince ' Mohammed had not yet got the revolver.
For some time they continued this wild weird dance, con-
signing us freely to the lower regions as they danced, and
then they all went away, so that the bazaar-master had to be
sent in search of other and more amenable men. Evidently
Sheikh Esan, when he entrusted us to the charge of the
bazaar-master and sent policemen with us, was afraid of
something uutoward happening. Next day we heard that
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OUB VISIT TO RUPA'A 33
his majesty was coming in person with his tents to en-
camp in oar vicinity, and I fancy we were in more danger
from those men than we realised at the moment, fanned as
they are into hatred of the infidel by the fanatical Wahabi ;
thirty years ago, I was told, no infidel could have ventured
into the centre of Bahrein with safety.
Another important visitor came on Saturday in the
shape of Sheikh Khallet, a cousin of the ruling chief, with
a retinue of ten men, from Rafa'a, an inland village. We sat
for awhile on our heels in rows, conversing and smiling, and
finally accepted an invitation from Sheikh Khallet to visit
him at his village, and make a little tour over the island.
Accordingly, on Sunday morning we started, accompanied
by the bazaar-master, for Bufa'a, and we were not a little
relieved to get away before Sheikh Esau was upon us, and
escape the formalities which his royal presence in our midst
would have necessitated.
We had an exceedingly hot ride of it, and the wind was
60 high that our position on our donkeys was rendered even
more precarious than usual. The desert sand whirled around
us : we shut our eyes, tied down our hats, and tried to be
patient ; for miles our road led through the tumuli of those
mysterious dead, who once in their thousands must have
peopled Bahrein ; their old wells are still to be seen in the
desert, and evidences of a cultivation which has long ago
disappeared. As we approached the edge of this vast necro-
polis the mounds grew less and less, until mere heaps of
stones marked the spot where a dead man lay, and then we
saw before ue the two villages of Rufa'a. Of these, one is
known as Rufa'a Shergeh, or South-western Rafa'a ; the
other, which belongs to the young Prince Mohammed, is
called Rufa'a Jebeli. The Rufa'a are much older than
Moharek, or Manamah ; they are fortified with castellated
walls of mud brick. Many of the El Khalifa family reside
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84 SOUTHERN ARABIA
here in comfortable houses. South-western Bafa'a is quite
a big place, and as our arrival became known all the village
turned out to see as. The advent of an English lady
among them was something too excessively novel : even
close-veiled women forgot their prudery, and peered out
from their blue coverings, screaming with laughter, and
pointing as they screamed to the somewhat appalled object
of their mirth. 'Hade bibi t ' ('there goes the lady'),
shouted they again and again. No victorious potentate over
had a more triumphant entry into his capital than the
English ' bibi ' had on entering South-western Bnfa'a.
Sheikh Khallet was ready to receive us in his kahwa or
reception-room, furnished solely by strips of matting and a
camel-hair rug with coarse embroidery on it ; two pillows
were produced for us, and Arabs squatted on the matting all
round the wall, for it was Sheikh Khallet's morning recep-
tion, or majilis, just then, and we were the Uons of the
occasion. Our host, we soon learnt, rather to our dismay,
was a most rigid ascetic — a Wahabi to the backbone. He
allows of no internal decorations in his house ; no smoking
is allowed, no wine, only perpetual coffee and perpetual
prayers ; our prospects were not of the most brilliant. Some
of the Wahabi think even coffee wrong. After a while all
the company left, and Sheikh Khallet intimated to us that
the room was now our own. Two more large pillows were
brought, and rugs were laid down ; as for the rest we were
dependent on oar own very limited resoarces. We had
brought our own sheets with us.
Sheikh Saba, who had married Sheikh Khallet's sister,
was a great contrast to our host ; he had been in Bombay
and had imbibed in his travels a degree of worldliness which
ill became a Wahabi. He had filled his house, to which he
took us, withall sortsof baubles — gilt looking-glasses hanging
on the walls ; coloured glass balls in rows and rows up to the
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OUB VISIT TO EUFA'A 35
ceiling, each on a little looking-glaBa; lovely pillows and
carpets, Zanzibar date baskets, Bombay inlaid chests, El
Haea oofiEee-pote, and a Bussiao tea-urn — a truly marvellous
conglomeration of things, which produced on us a wonderful
sense of pleasure and repose after the bareness of our host's
abode. Sheikh Saba wore only his long white shirt and
turban, and so unconventional was he that he allowed his
consort to remain at one end of the room whilst my husband
was there.
The courtyards of these houses are architecturally
interesting : the Saracenic arch, the rosettes of openwork
stucco, the sc|uares of the same material vnth intricate
patterns-— great boons in a hot land to let in the air without
the sun. There is also another contrivance for obtaining air ;
in building the house a niche three feet wide is left in the
outer wall, closed in on the inner side except for about a foot.
It is funny to see the heads of muffled women peering out
of these air-shafts, into which they have climbed to get an
undisturbed view. Here some of the women wear the
Arabian buttra or mask, which, while it hides their features,
gives their eyes full play. They are very inquisitive. Some
of the women one meets on Bahrein are highly picturesque
when you see them without the dark-bine covering.
I was fetched to one harem after the other, always
followed by a dense crowd, to the apparent annoyance of my
hostesses, who, however, seemed powerless to prevent the
intrusion. I saw one woman holding on to the top of the
door and standing on the shoulders of one who was squatting
on the floor. One good lady grew enraged at the invasion,
and threw a cup of hot coffee in an intruder's face.
In the afternoon we rode over to Mountainous (and, it
might he added, ruinous) Bufa'a.
It is built on a cliff, 50 feet above the lowest level of
the desert ; from here there is a view over a wide, bleak
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36 SOUTHEBN ARABIA
expanse of sand, occasionally relieved by an oasis, the
result of a well and irrigation, and beyond this the eye rests
on Jebel Dukban, ' the mountain of mist,' which high-
sounding name has been given to a mass of rocks in the
centre of Bahrein, rising 400 feet above the plain, and
often surrounded by a sea-fog ; for Bahrein, with its
low-lpng land, is often in a mist. Some mornings on
rising early we looked out of our tent to find ourselves
enveloped in a perfect London fog — our clothes were soaking,
the sand on the floor of our tent was soft and adhesive ;
then in an hour the bright orb of heaven would disperse all
this, for we were very far south indeed, on the coast of
Arabia. Alas ! on arrival we found that our young friend
Sheikh Mohammed was out, for he had to be in attendance
on his micle. Sheikh Esau, who had just arrived at hia tent
near our encampment, and he had to provide all his uncle's
meals ; we saw a donkey with a cauldron on its back
large enough to boil a sheep in, large copper trays, and many
other articles despatched for the delectation of the sovereign
and his retinue. Sheikh Mohammed's mother, quite a
queenly-looking woman, was busying herself about the
preparation of these things, and when she had finished she
invited us to go into the harem. My husband felt the
honour and confidence reposed in him exceedingly, hut, alas !
all the women were veiled ; all he could contemplate was
their lovely hands and feet dyed yellow with henna, their
rich red shirts, their aprons adorned with coins, their gold
bracelets and turquoise rings. However I assured him that
with one solitary exception he had lost nothing by not seeing
theirfaces. In one comer of the women's room was the biggest
bed I ever saw : it had eight posts, a roof, a fence, a gate, and
steps up to it ; it is a sort of dais, in fact, where they spread
their rugs and sleep, and high enough to lay beds under
it too. Occasionally we got a good peep at the women
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OUE VISIT TO EDFA"A 37
&a they were working in the fields, or cutting with seml-
(titcalax saws the scnib that grows in the desert for their
rattle.
Hali>w&7 between the two Bufa'as we halted at a well,
the great point of concourse for the inhabitants of both
villages. It was evening, and around it were gathered
crowds of the most enchanting people in every possible
costume. Women and donkeys were groaning onder the
weight of skins filled with water ; men were engaged in filling
them, but it seems to be against the dignity of a male Arab
to carry anything. With the regularity of a steam crane the
woodwork of the well creaked and groaned with a sound like
a bagpipe, as the donkeys toiled up and down their slope,
bringing to the surface the skins of water. It was a truly
Arabian sight, with the desert all around us, and the little
garden hard by which Sheikh Saba cultivates with infinite
toil, having a weary contest with the surrounding sand
which invades his enclosure.
The sun was getting low when we returned to our bare
room at Sheikh Khallet's, and to our great contentment we
were left alone, for our day had been a busy one, and a
strain on our conversational powers. Our host handed us
over to the tender mercies of a black slave, Zamzam by
name, wonderfully skilled at cooking with a handful of
charcoal on circular stoves coloured red, and bearing a marked
resemblance to the altars of the Persian fire-worshippers.
He brought us in our dinner : first he spread a large round
mat of fine grass on the floor; in the centre of this he
deposited a washing basin filled with boiled rice and a bowl
of ghi or rancid grease to make it palatable ; before as were
placed two tough chickens, a bowl of dates, and for drink we
had a bowl of milk with delicious fresh butter floating in it.
Several sheets of bread about the size and consistency of
bath towels were also provided, but no implements of any
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38 SOUTHERN ARABIA
kiud to assist us in conveying these delicacies to our mouths.
With pieces of breiid we scooped up the rice, with our
fingers we managed the rest, and we were glad no one was
looking on to witness oar struggles save Zamzam with a
ewer of water, with which he washed as after the repast was
over, and then we pat ourselves away for the night.
Very early next morning we were on the move for our
trip across the island. The journey would be too long for
donkeys, they said, ao Sheikh Khallet mounted us on three of
his best camels, with lovely saddles of inlaid El Hasa work,
with two pommels, one in front and one behind, like little
pillars, capped and inlaid with silver. We — that is to say my
husband and I and the bazaar-master — ambled along at a
pretty smart pace across the desert in the direction of a
fishing village called Asker, on the east coast of the island,
near which were said to exist ancient remains ; these, of
course, turned out to be myths, but the village was all that
could be desired in quaintness ; the booses were all of bamboo,
and the floors strewn over with little white helix shells ; in
one of them we were regaled with coffee, and found it
delicious after our hot ride ; then we strolled along the
shore and marvelled at the bamboo skiffe, the curiously-
fashioned oars and water casks, the stone anchors, and other
primitive implements used by this seafaring race. The
bazaar-master would not let us tarry as long as we could
have wished, for he was anxious for us to arrive before the
midday heat at a rocky cave in the ' mountain of mist,' in
the centre of the island. We dismounted from our camels,
and proceeded to examine Jebel Dukhan, an escarped mass of
limestone rocks with rugged outline and deep caves. From
the gentle elevation of the misty mountain one gets a very
fair idea of the extent and character of Bahrein. The island
has been likened to a sheet of silver in a sea of pearl, but it
looked to us anything but silvery, and for all the world like
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OOR VISIT TO BUFA'A 39
one of the n&tive sheets of bread — oval and tawny. It is
said to be twenty-seven miles long and twelve wide at its
broadest point. From the clearness of the atmosphere and
the distinctness with which we saw the sea all around us,
it could not have been much more. There are many tiny
villages dotted about here and there, recognisable only by
their nest of palm trees and their strips of verdure. In the
dim distance, to our left, arose the mountains of Arabia ;
beyond, the flat coast-line of El Hasa, encircling that wild,
mysterious land of Nejd, where the Wababi dwell — a land
forbidden to the infldel globe-trotter.
Yet another sheikh of the El Khalifa family was
inti-oduced to us, by name Abdullah ; he owns the land
about here, and having been advised of our coming, bad
prepared a repast for us, much on the lines of the one we
had had the evening before.
We much enjoyed our cool rest and repast in AbduUah'a
cave, and for two hours or more our whole party lay stretched
on the ground courting slumber, whilst our camels grazed
around. Another sheikh was anxious to take us to hia
house for the night, but we could not remain, as our work
demanded our return to camp that night, 60 we compromised,
matters by taking coffee with him on a green oasis near his
house, under a blazing sun, without an atom of shade, and
without a thing against which to lean our tired backs. Then
we hurried back to Bufa'a, to take leave of our friend, Sheikh
Khallet, and started off late in the evening for our home.
Soon we came in sight of Sheikh Esau's tent ; his
majesty was evidently expecting us, for by his aide in the royal
tent were placed two high thrones, formed of camel saddles
covered with sheepskins, for us to sit upon, whilst his
Arabian majesty and his courtiers sat on the ground. As
many as could be accommodated sat round within the
walls of the tent. Those for whom there was no room insidi^
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40 SOUTHEBN ABABIA
continued the line, forming a long loop which extended
for some yards outside the tent. Here all his nephews
and cousins were assembled. That gay youth Sheikh
Mohammed, on ordinary occasions as full of fun as an English
schoolboy, sat there in great solemnity, incapable of a smile
though I maliciously tried to raise one. When he came
next morning to visit us he was equally solemn, until his
uncle had left our tent ; then his gaiety returned as if by
magic, and with it his covetousness for my pistol. Even-
tually an exchange was effected, he producing a coffee-pot
and an inlaid bowl, which had taken our fancy, as the price.
On the surrounding desert a small gazelle is abundant.
One day we came across a cavalcade of Bahreini sportsmen,
who looked exceedingly picturesque in their flowing rohes and
fioating red kaffiehs, and riding gaily caparisoned horses, with
crimson trappings and gold tassels. Each had on his arm
a hooded falcon and by his side a Persian greyhound. When
the gazelle is sighted the falcon is let loose; it skims rapidly
along the ground, attacks the head of the animal, and so
confuses it that it falls an easy prey to the hounds in pursuit.
Albuquerque in his ' Commentaries ' says : ' There are many
who hunt with falcons about the size of our goshawks, and take
by their aid certain creatures smaller than gazelles, training
very swift hounds to assist the falcon in catching the prey.'
In their ordinary life the Bahrein people still retain the
primitiveness of the Bedouin.
There are about fifty villages scattered over the islands, re-
cognisable from a distance by their patch of cultivation and
groups of date-palms. Except at Manamah and Moharek
they have little or nothing to do with the pearl fisheries, but
are an exceedingly industrious race of peasants who cultivate
the soil by means of irrigation from the numerous wells with
which the island is blessed. There are generally three to
six small wheels attached to the beam, which is across the
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ODR VISIT TO KUFA'A 41
well, over which the ropes of as many large leathern buckets
pass. "When these buckets rise full they tilt themselvea
over, the coutents is then taken by little channels to a
reservoir which feeds the dykes, transferred thence to the
palms in buckets raised by the leverage of a date-trunk
lightly swung by ropes to a frame, and balanced at one end
by a basket of earth into which it is inserted ; it is so light
to lift that women are generally employed in watering the
trees.
To manure their date-groves they use the fins of a
species of ray fish called awwal, steeped in water till they are
putrid ; awwal, by the way, was an ancient name of the
Island of Bahrein, perhaps because it was the first island
of the group in size, awwal in Arabic msa.Ti.mg first.
The area of fertility is very rich and beautiful ; it
extends all along the north coast of the island, and the
fishing village of Nayim, with its bamboo huts nestling
beneath the palm-trees, is highly picturesque ; and all this
fertility is due to the number of fr^h-water springs which
burst Dp here from underground, similar, no doubt, to those
before alluded to which spring up in the sea. The Arabs
will tell you that these springs come straight from the
Euphrates, by an underground channel through which
the great river flows beneath the Persian Golf, doubtless
being the same legend alluded to by Pliny when he
says, ' Flumen per quod Euphratem emergere putant.'
There are many of them — the Garsari well, Um-i-Shaun,
Abu 2eidan, and the Adari, which last supplies many miles
of date-groves through a canal of ancient workmanship.
The Adari well is one of the great sights of Bahrein, being
a deep basin of water 22 yards wide by 40 long, beautifully
clear, and full of prismatic colours. It is said to come up
with such force from underground that a diver is driven back,
and all around it are ruins of ancient date, proving that it
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42 SOUTHEBN ABABIA
was prized by former inhabitEmts as a bath. The water ia
slightly brackiBh, as is that of all these sources, so that those
who can afford it send for water to a well between Bufa'a
Jebeli and Bufa'a Shergeh — called Hanetni, which is
exceedingly good, and camels laden with ekins may be seen
coming into Manamab every morning with this treasure.
We obtained our water supply thence. The other well, Abu
Zeidan, is situated in the midst of the ruins known as
Beled-al-Kadim, or ' old town.'
Two days later our camp was struck, and our long
cavalcade, with Seid-bin-Omar, the bazaar-master, at its
head, returned to Manamah. He had ordered for us
quite a sumptuous repast at his mansion by the sea, and
having learnt our taste for curiosities, he brought us as
presents a buckler of camel-skin, his 8-foot-long lance,
and a lovely bowl of El Hasa work — that is to say, minute
particles of silver inlaid in wonderful patterns in wood.
This inlaying is quite a distinctive art of the district of
Arabia along the north-eastern coast knovra as El Hasa ;
curious old guns, saddles, bowls, and coffee-pots, in fact
everything with an artistic tendency, comes from that
country.
The day following was the great Thursday's Market
at Beled-al-Kadim, near the old minarets and the wells.
Mounted once more on donkeys, we joined the train of
peasants thither bound ; I being as usual the object of
much criticism, and greatly interfering with the business
of the day. One male starer paid for his inquisitiveness,
by tumbling over a stall of knick-knacks, and precipitating
himself and all the contents to the ground.
The minarets and pillars of the old mosques looked
down on a strange scene that day. In the half-ruined,
domed houses of the departed race, stall-holders had pitched
their stalls : laues and cross lanes of closely-packed vendors
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OUR VISIT TO EUFA'A 43
of qaaint crockery, newly-cut lucerne, onions, fieh, and
objects of European fabric such as only Orientals admire,
and amongst all was a compact mass of struggling
humanity ; but it was easy to see that the date-palm and
its produce formed the staple trade of the place. There
were all shapes and sizes of baskets made of palm-leaves,
dates in profusion, fuel of the dried spathea, the male
spathes for fractifying the palm, and palm-leaf matting —
the only fomitore, and sometimes the only roofing of their
comfortless huts.
The costumes were dazzling in their brilliancy and
quaintness. It was a scene never to be forgotten, and one
of which a photograph, which I took from a gentle eminence,
gives but a faint idea. It was our last scene on Bahrein —
a fitting conclusion to our sojourn thereon.
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ubjGoOgIc
MASKAT
CHAPTER rV
sous HISTORICAL PACTS ABOUT OMAN
On two separate occasions we visited Maskat. The first
time was in 1889 on our iway to Persia, and the second in
1895 when we were starting for Dhofar, on the journey
which I shall describe later.
On each occasion we had to reach it by way of India, for
like all the rest of the Persian G-ulf Maskat is really an
outlying portion of our Indian Empire. By just crossing
a range of mountains in Persia you cross the metaphorical
watershed hetween oar India and Foreign Offices. At
Shiraz yon hesitate between India and England. You ask
the question, ' Shall I send my letters vid Bombay, or vid
Bussia? ' You hasten to get rid of yonr rupees, for this is
the last place where their merit is recognised. North of
Shiraz yon are in a distinctly foreign country. Our officials
hail from the Foreign Office and belong to the legation of
Teheran. Yon are no longer nnder British protection, you
are in the dominions of the Shah.
But 80 long as you are on the shores of the Gnlf yoa
are, so to speak, in India. The officials receive their pay in
degenerate mpees instead of pounds sterling, they live in
' bungalows,' th^ talk of ' tiffin,' and eat curry at every
meal.
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46 MASKAT
We keep a British ship of war in the Gulf. We feel
that it is a matter of the first importance that those countries
should remain under our protection, and that the Turks should
not huild forts at Fao and otherwise interfere with oar trade
in the Earoun, and that no other power should have a foot-
hold thereon. The last generation talked much about a
Euphrates Valley Eailway, with its terminus at Koweit ; we
now hear a great deal about the opening up of the Karoun,
but it is the lordship of the G-ulf which is the chief matter
of importance just at present both for India and for our-
selves.
In this district Maskat is the most important point ;
the kingdom of Oman, of which it is nominally the capital,
commands the entrance to the Gulf. In the ninth century
of the Christian era ships trading from Sherif to China took
in water at Maskat from the wells which stilt supply the
town. Between Aden and the Persian Gulf it is the only
harbour where ships of any size can find anchorage, and it
may, in fact, be said to play much the same part with
respect to the Persian Gulf that Aden does to the Red Sea.
In many other ways the places are strikingly similar. They
are both constructed on arid, volcanic rocks, which produce
the smallest amount of verdure and reflect the greatest
amount of heat ; water in both of them is the scarcest of
commodities. Of all places in the world Maskat has the
reputation of being the hottest, facing, as it does, the Indian
Ocean, and protected from every cooling breeze by rugged
volcanic hills, without a blade of cultivation upon them, and
which reflect and intensify the scorching rays of the burning
sun. Aden is said to have but a piece of brown paper
between it and the infernal fires. Maskat would seem to
want even this meagre protection, and ' gives,' as a Persian
poet has expressed it, ' to the panting sinner a lively anticipa-
tion of his future destiny.'
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SOME HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 47
The approach to the cove of Maskat is highly striking.
Many-coloured volcanic rocks of fantastic form protect
the horseshoe- shaped harbour, whilst behind the white
town, as far as the eye can reach, stretch deeply serrated, arid
mountains, which culminate in the heights of Jebel Akhdar,
or the ' Grreen Mountains,' some tifty miles, as the crow flies,
inland, reaching an elevation of 9,000 feet. We were told
that snow sometimes falls in the winter-time on Jebel
Akhdar, and it rejoices in a certain amotmt of verdure, from
which it derives its name. This range forma the backbone
of Oman, and at its foot lie Nezweh and Bostok, the old
capitals of the long line of imams of Oman, before Maskat
was a place of so much importance as it is at present. The
streams which come down from these mountains nowhere
reach the sea, but are lost in the deserts, and, nevertheless,
in some places they fertilise oases in the Omani desert, where
the vegetation is most luxuriant and fever very rife. Grapes
grow on the slopes of Jebel Akhdar, and the inhabitants,
despite the strictures of Mohammed, both make and drink
wine of them, and report says (how far it is true I know
not) that the Fortnguese exported thence the vines to
which they gave the name of muscatel. The inhabitants
of this wild range are chiefly Bedou and pastoral, and it is
from this quarter that the troubles which beset the poor
saltan, Feysal, generally emanate.
The harbour of Maskat is full of life. The deep blue sea
is studded with tiny craft : canoes painted red, green, and
white, steered by paddles, swarm around the steamer;
fishermen paddling themselves about on a plank or two tied
together, or swimming astride of a single one, hawk their
wares from boat to boat. The oars of the larger boats are
generally made with a flat circular piece of wood fastened on
to a long pole, and are really more like paddles than oars.
In the northern comer lie huddled together large dhows,
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48 UASKAT
which, during the north-east monBoons, make the jotimey
to Zanzibar, returning at the change of the sesBon. Most of
these belong to Banyan merchants in Maskat, and are
manned by Indian sailors. Close to them is the small
steamer Sultanieh, which was presented by the Sultan of
Zanzibar to his cousin Sultan Tonrki of Maskat, now a per-
fectly useless craft, which cannot even venture outside the
hstrbour by reason of the holes in its side. From its mast
floats the red banner of Oman, the same flag that Arab
boats at Aden fly. It was originally the banner of Yemen,
to which place the Arabs who rule in Oman trace their
origin ; for early in our era, according to Arab tradition,
Oman was colonised and taken possession of by descendants
of the old Himyarites of Yemen.
The shore of the town is very unpleasant, reeking with
smells, and at low tide lined with all the refuse and offal of
the place. At high tide shoals of fish come in to feed on this
refuse, and in their train follow immense flocks of seagulls,
which make the edge of the water quite white as they fly
along and dive after their prey. Here and there out of the
sand peep the barrels of some rusty old cannon, ghostly
relics of the Portuguese occupation.
In the middle of the beach is the sultan's palace, but it
is immeasurably inferior to the new residency of the British
political agent, which stands at the southern extremity of the
tovm, just where it can get all the breeze that is to be had
through a gap in the rocks opening to the south ; here we
were most hospitably entertained by Colonel Hayes Sadler
on our second sojourn. Even in this favoured position the
heat in summer is almost unendurable, making Maskat one
of the least coveted posts that the Indian Government
has at its disposal. The cliffs immediately round the tovm
are of a shiny schist, almost impossible to walk upon, and
reflect the rays of the sun with great intensity.
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SOME HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 49
On either side of the town stand two old Poitagnese
forts kept np and m&nned by the snltan's soldiers ; in them
are still to be seen old msty pieces of ordnance, one of which
bears a Portuguese inscription with the date 1606, and the
name and arms of Philip III. of Spain ; also the small Por-
tuguese chapel in the fort is preserved and bears the date of
1588. These are the principal legacies left to posterity by
those intrepid pioneers of civilisation in a spot which they
occupied for nearly a century and a half. These forts
testify to having been of great size and strength in former
times, and show considerable architectural featores, and the
traces of a luxuriant and opulent population.
With regard to the ancient history of Oman, there is
little known. The empire of the Himyarites, which filled
Yemen and the Hadhramout valley vrith interesting remains,
does not appear to have extended its sway so far eastward ;
no Sabiean remains have as yet been found in Oman, nor are
there any that I have heard of further east than the frank-
incense country of Dhofar, over six hundred miles west of
Maskat. Neither Ptolemy nor the author of the ' Periplus '
gives us any definite information about the existence of a
town in the harbour of Maskat, and consequently the first
reliable information we have to go upon is from the early
Arabian geographers.
From Toriai we learn that Sobar was the most ancient
town of Oman ; but that in his day Maskat was fiourishing,
and that ' in old times the China ships used to sail from
there.'
Oman was included in Yemen by these earlier geo-
graphers, doubtless from the fact that Arabs from Yemen
were its first colonisers ; but all that is known with any
certainty is that, from the ninth century a.d. a long line of
imams ruled over Oman, with their capitals at Nezweh or
Bostok, at the foot of Jebel Akbdar, This title, by which
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so MASKAT
the Arab mlers were known, had been conferred on the
Arab ralers of Oman for centaries, and signifies a sort of
priest-king, Hke Melchisedek, to whom, curionsl; enongh, is
given the same title in the Koran. The election was always
by popolar acclamation, and inasmuch as the Omani do
not recognise the two ' imams ' who immediately sacceeded
Mohammed, bat chose their own, they form a separate sect.
In olden days the men of Oman were called ' outsiders '
by their Mohammedan hrethrea, because they recognised
their own chief solely as the head of their own religion, and
are known otherwise as the Ibadiet oi Ibadhnyah, followers
of Abdullah'bin-Ibadh, as distinct from the Shiahi (Shiites)
and Sunni, between which sects the rest of Islam is pretty
equally divided. Internecine wars were always rile amongst
them ; but, at the same time, these early Omani had little
or no intercourse with the outer world. Of the internal
quarrels of the country, the Omani historian Salid-bin-Bagik
has given a detailed account, but for the rest of the world
they are of little interest. In those days Oman seems to
have had two ports, Stir and Kalhat, on the Indian Ocean,
which were more frequented than Maskat. Marco Polo,
1280 A.D., calls the second Calaiati in his 'Journal,' and
describes it as ' a large city in a gulf called, also, Calatu,' and
the Omani paid tribute to the melek or king of Hormuz for
many generations, but with the rise of Maskat, Sur and
Kalhat declined.
Oman first came into inmiediate contact with Europeans
in the year 1506, when Albuquerque appeared in Maskat
harbour bent on his conquest of the Persian Gulf, and with
the object, not even yet accomplished, of making a route to
India by way of the Euphrates valley. Prora Albuquerque's
' Commentaries ' we get agraphicdescriptionof the condition
of the country when he reached it.
At first the Arabs were inclined to receive the Portu-
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SOME HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 51
guese without a straggle ; bat, taking courage from the
presence of a large army of Bedouin in the vicinity, they
soon showed treacherous intentions towards the invaders,
so that the Portuguese admiral determined to attack the
town and destroy it, and the commentator states that
' within were bomed many provisions, thirty-fonr ships in
all, large and small, many fishing barks, and on arsenal full
of every requisite for ship-building.'
After effecting a landing, the Portnguese ordered ' three
gunners with axes to cut the supports of the mosque, which
was a large and very beautiful edifice, the greater part being
built of timber finely carved, and the upper part of stucco,'
and it was accounted a propitious mirscle by the Fortugneso
that the men who performed this deed were not killed by
the falling timber. Maskat was then burnt and utterly
destroyed ; and ' having cut off the ears and noses of the
prisoners he liberated them.' The commentator concludes
his remarks on Maskat as follows : ' Maskat is of old a
market for carriage of horses and dates ; it is a very elegant
town, with very fine houses. It is the principal entrepdt
of the kingdom of Ormuz, into which all the ships that
navigate these parts must of necessity enter.'
The hundred and forty years during which the Portu-
guese occupied Maskat and the adjacent coast town was a
period of perpetual trouble and insorrection. The factory
and forts of Jellali and Merani were commenced in 1527,
but the forts in their present condition were not erected till
after the union of Fortngai and Spain, in 1580; the order
for their erection came from Madrid, and the inscription
bears the date 1688. Not only were the Arabs constantly
on the look-out to dislodge their unwelcome visitors, but the
Turks attacked them likewise, with a navy from the side
of the Persian Gulf, and the naval victory gained by the
Portuguese oS Maskat in 1554 is considered by Turkish
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53 MASEAT
bistoriaDS to have been a greater blow to their power than
the better known battle off Prevesa in 1538, when D'Oria
defeated Barbarossa and obliged Solyman to relinquish his
attempt on Vienna.
When, after the tmion of Fortagal with Spain, the
colonial activity of the former country decUned, the colonies
in the Persian Gulf fell one by one into the hand of the
Persians and Arabs.
Out of the kingdom of Oman they were driven in 1620,
and confined to the town of Maskat by the victorions imam,
Nasir-bin-Mnrshid, during whose reign of twenty-six years
the legend is told that no man in Oman died a natural
death. Two years later they were f^so driven from Maskat
itself, and those two forts Jellali and Merani which they had
built, the last foothold of the Portuguese on the Omaoi
territory, were taken from them.
The historian Sahl tells the amusing stoiy of the final fall
of Maskat into the hands of the Arabs. The Fortoguese
governor, Pereixa, was deeply enamoored of the daughter
of a Ba,nyan merchant of Maakat ; the man at first refused
to let him have his daughter, but at length consented, on
condition that the wedding did not take place for some
months. Pereira was now entirely in the hands of the
Banyan and did everything he told him ; so the crafty
Indian communicated with the Arabs outside Portuguese
territory, telling them to be ready when due notice was
given to attack the town. He then proceeded to persuade
Pereira to clean out the water tanks of the fort, and
to clear out the old supplies of food preparatory to re-
victualling them ; then, when the forts were without
food Euid water, and finally having damped all the powder,
he gave notice to the Arabs, who attacked and took the
town on a Sunday evening, when the Portnguese were
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SOME HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 53
Captain Hamilton gives another account in his travels,'
and tells ns that the Arabs were exasperated b; a piece of
pork, wrapped np in paper, being sent as a present to the
imam by the governor, Fereira, and he also adds that the
Portngnese were all pnt to the Bword, save eighteen, who
embraced Mohammedanism ; and that the Portuguese
cathedral was made the imam's palace, where he took up
his residence for a month or two every year.
Since those days these two forts have been r^ularly
used by rival claimants to the sovereignty of Oman as
convenient points of vantage from which to pepper one
another, to the infinite discomfitmre of the inhabitants
beneath.
The departure of the Portuguese did not greatly benefit
the Omani. Writing in 1624 to the East India Company,
Thomas Eerridge speaks of Maskat as ' a beggarly, poor
town,' and 'OrmuBZ,' he says, ' is become a heap of ruins.'
At last, in 1737, owing to the jealousies of the rival imams,
Seid and Ibn Murshad, Maskat was taken by the Persians.
They were, however, soon driven out again by Ahmed-bin-
Sayid, or Saond, a man of humble origin but a successful
general ; as a reward for his services he was elected imam
in 1741, and ws* the founder of the dynasty which still rules
there.
The snccesBors of Ahmed-bin-Sayid found the obligations
of being imam, and the oath which it entailed to fight against
the infidel, both awkward and irksome, so his grandson,
8aoud, who succeeded in 1779, never assumed the title
of imam, but was content with that of sultan, and
consequently the imamate of Oman has, with one short
exception, been in abeyance ever since.
Under the first rulers of this dynasty Oman became a
state of considerable importance. During the reigns of
' Finkcrton, voL viii.
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54 MASKAT
Bultaa Saoud and his Bon Saltan Saond Sayid, a large part
of the Arabian mainland wae under the rule of Oman, as also
Bahrein, Hormuz, Ijarij, Kishm, Bandar Abbas, many islands
and their pearl fisheries, and Linga, also a good part of the
coast of Africa ; and it was they who established the alliances
with England and the United States.
The first political relations between the East India
Company and the ruler of Oman took place in 1798, the
object being to secure the alliance of Oman against the
Dutch and French. A second treaty was made two years
later, and it was provided in it that ' an English gentleman
of respectability on the part of the Honourable East India
Company, should always reside at the port of Maskat.'
An English gentleman of respectability has consequently
resided there ever since, and from the days of Sultan Sayid
has become the chief factor in the government of the place.
Sultan Sayid-bin-Sayid stands out prominently as the
great mler of Oman, and under his rule Oman and its capital,
Maakat, reached the greatest pitch of eminence to be found
in all its annals. He ascended the throne in 1804, and
reigned for fifty-two years.
He found his country in dire distress at the time of his
accession, owing to the attacks of the fanatical Wahabi from
Central Arabia, who had carried their victorious arms right
down to Maskat, and had imposed their bigoted rules and
religious regulations on the otherwise liberal-minded Moham-
medans of Eastern Arabia. With Turkish aid on the onehand,
and British support on the other. Sultan Sayid sncceeded in
relieving his country from these terrible scourges, and drove
them back into the central province of Nejd, from which
they bad carried their bloodthirsty and fanatical wars over
nearly the whole of the peninsula, and, when all fear from
the Wahabi was over. Sultan Sayid extended his conquests
in all directions. He occupied several points on the Persian
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i
SOME HISTOEICAL PACTS ABOUT OMAN 55
GtiU and the opposite coast of Belnchistan, and materially
assisted the Indian Govemment in putting down the piracy
which had for ]ong closed the Gulf to all trade ; and finally,
in 1856, he added the important Axab settlement of
Mombasa and Zanzibar, on the African coast, to bis
dominion.
Daring this long reign Maskat prospered exceedingly.
It was the great trade centre for the Persian Golf, inasmach
as it was a safe dep6t, where merchants could deposit their
goods without feai of piracy ; vessels going to and from
India before the introduction of steam used frequently to
stop at Maskat for water. As a trade centre in those
days it was almost as important as Aden, and with the
Indian Govermnent Sultan Sayid was always on most
friendly terms.
When Sultan Sayid died, the usual dispute took
place between his successors. England promptly stepped
in to settle this dispute, and, with the foresight she so
admirably displays on such occasions, she advocated a
division of Sayid's empire. Zanzibar was given to one
claimant, Oman to the other, and for the future Oman and
Sultan Tourki remained under British protection.
Since the death of Sultan Sayid the power of Oman has
most lamentably gone down, partly owing to the very
success of his attempts to pat down piracy ; this, followed
by the introduction of steam, has diminished the importance
of Maskat as a safe port for the merchants to deposit their
wares. It is also partly due to the jealousies which prevail
between the descendants of Sayid who rule in Zanzibar and
in Maskat. Falgrave in 1863 describes Maskat as having
40,000 inhabitants; there are probably half that number
now.
The Sultan of Zanzibar has to pay an annual tribute of
40,000 crowns to his relative of Maskat in order to equalise
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66 MASEAT
tbe inheritance, and this tribnte being a constant source of
tronble, o( late years he has taken to wging the wild
Bedonin tribes in Oman to revolt againgt the present, rather
weak-minded sultan who reigna there. He snpplies them
with tbe sinews of war, namel; money and ammunition,
and the insurrection which occurred in fehmary 1895 was
chiefly due to this motive power.
One of bis sisters married a German, tbe English con-
niving at ber escape from Zanzibar in a gunboat. On her
husband's death, ber elder brother having in the mean-
time also died, she returned to Zanzibar thinking her
next brother, the present sultan, to be of a milder dis-
position, bnt be refased to take any notice of her and her
children.
The present ruler of Maskat, Sultan Feyaul, is a grandson
of Sultan Sayid and son of Sultan Tourki by an Abys-
sinian mother. Since bis accession, in 1889, be has been
vacillating in bis policy ; be bas practically bad but little
authority outside the walls of Maskat, and were it not for
the support of tbe British Government and the proximity of
a gunboat, be would long ago have ceased to rule. When
we first saw him, in 1889, be was but a beardless boy, timid
and shy, and now be bas reached man's estate he still
retains the nervous manner of his youth. He lives in
perpetual dread of bis elder brother Mahmoud, who, being
the son of a negress, was not considered a suitable person
to inherit the throne. The two brothers, though living in
adjacent houses, never meet without their own escorts to
protect them from each other.
The way in which Feysul obtained possession of the
Sultan's palace on bis father's death, to the exclusion of his
brother, is curions.
Feysul said bis grief for his father was so great that bis
feelings would not admit of his attending the funeral, so be
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SOME HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 57
stayed at home while Mahmoad went, who od his return
fooncl the door locked in hia face.
The palace is entered by a formidable-looking door,
decorated with large spiked bosses of brass. This opens
into a small court which contained at the time of oar first
visit the most imposing sight of the place, namely the Uon
in his cage to the left, into which Feysnl was in the habit
of introdnciog criminals of the deepest dye, to he devoured
by this lordly execotioner. Opposite to this cage of death is
another, a low probationary cage, which, when we were
there, contained a prisoner stretched ont at full length, for
the cage is too low to admit of a sitting posture. From
this point be could view the horrors of the lion's cage, so
that during his incarceration he might contemplate what
might happen to him if he continued, on liberation, to pnrsne
his evil ways. Ajiother door leads into a vaulted passage
fall of gaards, through which we passed and entered into
an inner court with a pool in the centre and a wide cloister
around it sapporting a gallery.
Sultan Feysol was then a very young man, not much over
twenty. He was greatly interested in seeing ds, for we were
the first English travellers who had visited him since his acces-
sion. We caught sight of him peeping at us over the balcony
as we passed through the courtyard below, and we had to
clamber up a ladder to the gallery, where we found him ready
to welcome us. He seized our hands and shook them warmly,
and thei\ led us with much effusiveness to his khawah, a
long room just overhanging the sea, which is his reception and
throne-room. Here were high, cane-bottomed chairs aroimd
the walls, and at one end a red chair, which is the throne ;
just over it were hung two grotesque pictures of our Queen
and the Prince Consort, such as one could buy for a penny
at a fair. They are looked upon as objects of great value
here, and act as befitting symbols of our protectorate.
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68 MA8EAT
The imam fed ub with eweeta and coffee, asked us innn-
merable questions, and seemed fall of boyish fun. Certainly
with his turban of blue and red checked cotton (which would
have been a housemaid's duster at home), his faded, greenish
yellow cloak, fastened round his slender frame by a red
girdle, he looked anything hut a king. As we were preparing
to depart the young monarch grew apparently very uneasy,
and impatiently shouted something to his attendants, and
when the servant came in, Feysul hurried to him, seized four
little gilt bottles of attar of roses, thrust two of them into
each of our pockets, and with some compliments as to our
Queen having eyes everywhere, and Feysul'a certainty that
she would look after him, the audience was at an end.
Sultan Feysul was a complete autocrat as far as his
jurisdiction extended. At his command a criminal could be
executed either in the lion's cage or in a little square by
the sea, and his body cut up and thrown into the waves.
The only check upon him was the British Besident. His
father, Tourki, not long before sewed np a woman in a sack
and drowned her, whereupon a polite message came from
the Besidency requesting him not to do such things again.
Hence young Feysul dared not be very cruel — to ofiEend the
English would have been to lose his position.
Bis half brother, Mahmoud, whose mother was a
Swahih, lives next door to his brother. Sultan Feysul, in the
enjoyment of a pension of 600 dollars a mouth. The uncles,
however, are not so amenable. The eldest of them, accord-
ing to Arabian custom, claimed the throne and had collected
on army amongst the Bedouin to assert his claims, and was
then in possession of all the country, with the exception of
Maskat and El Matra, for Feysul had no money, and hence
be could not get his soldiers to fight. But then it had been
intimated to Feysul that in all probability the English
would support his claims if he conducted himself prudently
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SOME HISTOEICAL FACTS ABOUT OMAN 59
and wisely. So there was every likelihood thai in due
coarse he would be thoroughly established in the dominionB
of his father.
When we visited the town for the second time an even
more serious rebellion was impending, the Bedouin of the
interior, under Sheikh Saleh, having attacked Maskat itself.
The sultan and his brother, who hastily became friends, retired
together to the castle, and the town was given up to plunder.
There were dead bodies lying on the beach, and but for the
kindness of Colonel Eayes Sadler, the British Besident,
there would have been difficulties in the fort as regards
water. They relied principally on H.M.S. Sphinx, which
lay in the harbour to protect British interests, and to main-
tain Sultan Feysul in his position.
This state of terror lasted three weeks, when the rebels,
having looted the bazaars and wrecked the town, were
eventually persuaded to retire, free and unpunished, vrith a
considerable cash payment ; probably intending to return for
more when the cooler weather should come, and the date
harvest be over. With the consent of, and at the request
of, the Indian Government, Sultan Feysul has imposed
additional heavy duty on all the produce coming in from
the rebel tribes, that he may have a fund from which to
pay indemnities to foreigners who suffered loss during the
invasion. A good many Banyan merchants, British subjects,
suffered losses, and their claim alone amounted to 120,000
rupees. As a natural result of this disaster and its igno-
minious termination. Sultan Feysnl's authority at the present
moment is absolutely nil outside the walls of Maskat and
El Matra, and he is still in a state of declared war with all
the Bedouin chiefs in the mountains behind Maskat.
A few British subjects were scared, but not killed, and
as all was over in a few weeks no one thought much more
about it except those more immediately interested, and few
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60 MASKAT
paused to think what an important part Maskat has played
in the opening up of the Persian Gulf and the suppression
of piracy, and what an important part it may yet play should
the lordship of the Persian Gulf ever become a casus belli.
Although Maskat has been under Indian influence for
most of this century, it has latterly gone down much in the
world ; the trade of the place has well-nigh departed, and
with a weak sultan at the head of affairs, confidence will be
long in returning. Unquestionably our own Political Agent
may be said to be the ruler in Maskat, and his authority is
generally backed up by the presence of a gunboat. There
is also an American Consul there, who chiefly occupies
himself in tr^e and steamer agencies, and in 1895 the
French also sent a Consul to inquire into the question of
the slave trade, which is undoubtedly the burning question
in Arabia
Whilst England has been doing all she can to put slavery
down, it is complained that much is carried on under cover
of the French flag, obtained by Arab dhows under false
pretexts from the French Consul resident in Zanzibar.
Sultan Feysnl remonstrated with France on this point, and
the appointment of a Consul is the result.
The great reason for our unpopularity in Arabia is due
without doubt to our suppression of this trade. Slavery is
inherent in the Arab ; he does as little work as he can him-
self, and if he is to have no slaves nothing will be done, and
he mast die. In other parts of South Arabia — Yemen, the
Hadhramout, the Mahra country, and Dhofar— slavery is
universal ; and there is no doubt about it the slaves are
treated very well and live happy lives ; hut here in Oman,
under the very eye of India, slavery must be checked. Our
gunboat, the Sphinx, goes the round of the coast to pre-
vent this traffic in human flesh, and frequently slaves swim
out to the British steamer and obtain their liberty. This
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SOME HISTORICAL PACTS ABOUT OMAN 61
natorally makes ns very nnpopnlEu: in Sar, where the
Jenefa tribe have their headquaxteiB, the most inveterate
slave-traders of Southern Arabia. The nataral result i3 that
whenever they get a chance the Jenefa tribe loot any
foreign vessel wrecked on their shores and murder the crew.
In the sommer of 1694, however, a boat was wrecked near
Ghnbet-el<HaBhiah, containing some Creoles from the
Seycbelle Islands, after being driven (or forty-five days out
of their course by south-east monsoons, during which time
three or four of them had died. The survivors were mnch
exhausted, but the Bedouin treated them kindly, for a
wonder, and brought them safely to Maskat. For doing this
they were handsomely rewarded by the Indian Grovcmmeut,
though they had kept possession of the boat and its contents ;
nevertheless, they had saved the lives of the crew, and this,
being a step in the right direction, was thought worthy of
reward.
The jealousies, however, of other tribes were so great
that the rescuers could not return to their own country by
the land route, but had to be sent to Sot by sea.
Feysul has had copper coins of bis own struck, of the
value of a quarter anna. On the obverse is a picture of
Maskat and its forts, around which in English runs the
legend, ' Sultan Feysul-bin-Tourki Sultan and Imam of
Maskat and Oman,' and on the reverse ia the Arab equiva-
lent. He has also introduced an ice-factory, which, however,
is now closed, and he wished to have his own stamps,
principally with a view to making money out of them ; but
our agent represented to him that it was beneath the dignity
of so great a sultan to make money in so mean a way, and
the stamps have never appeared. Sultan Feysul had done
much in the last few years, since our first visit, to modernise
his palace. British influence has abolished many horrors
and cmelties, and the lion having died has not been replaced.
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62 MASEAT
For the Indian QoTemment the qnestion of Maskat is
by no means pleasant, for, should any other Power choose to
interfere and establish an influence there, it would materially
affect the influence which we have eetahlished in the Persian
Gulf.
i
CHAPTEB V
MA9EAT AND THE ODTSEIHTS
I NEVEB saw a place so void of arcbitectaral features as the
town of Maskat itself. The mosques have neither domes nor
minarets — a sign of the rigid Wahabi inBnence which swept
over Arabia. This sect refase to have any feature about
their hnildings, or ritual which was not actually enjoined by
Mohammed in his Koran. There are a few carved lintels and
doorways, and the bazaars are quaintly pretty, but beyond
this the only architectural features are Portuguese.
All traces of the Portuguese rule are fast disappearing,
and each new revolution adds a little more to their destruc-
tion. Three walls of the huge old cathedral still stand, a
window or two with lattice-work carving after the fashion
of the country are still left, but the interior is now a stable
for the sultan's horses, and the walls are rapidly crumbling
away.
The interior of Maskat is particularly gloomy : the
bazaars are narrow and dirty, and roofed over with palm
matting ; they offer but httle of interest, and if you are fond of
the Arabian sweetmeat called halwa, it is just as well not to
watch it being made there, for niggers' feet are usually em-
ployed to stir it, and the knowledge of this is apt to spoil the
flavour. Most of the toiMi is now in ruins. Fifty years ago
the population must have been nearly three times greater
than it is now. There is also wanting in the town the
feature which makes most Moslem towns picturesque, namely
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64 MASEAT
the minaret ; the mosqaes of the Ibadhayah sect being
squalid and aninteiesting. At first it is difficult to distin-
guiBh them from the courtyard of an ordiDary house, bat
by degrees the eye gets trained to identify a mosque by
the tiny snbstitate for a minaret attached to each, a sort
of bell-shaped cone about four feet high, which is placed
above the comer of the enclosing wall. I have already
mentioned the Ibadhayah'e views with regard to the imams.
I believe they hold also certain heterodox opinions with
regard to predestination and free will, which detach them
from other Moslem communities ; at any rate they are far
more tolerant than other Arabian followers of the Prophet,
and permit strangers to enter their mosques at will.
Tobacco is freely used by them, and amongst the upper
classes scepticism is rife. The devout followers of Moham-
med look upon them much as Boman Catholics look on
Protestants, and their position is similar in many respects.
As elaewherein Arabia, coffee is largely consumed in Oman,
and no business is ever transEicted without it ; it is always
served in large, copper coffee-pots, of the quaint shape which
they use in Bahrein. Some of these coffee-pots are very
large. An important sheikh, or the mollah of a mosque,
whose guests are many, will have coffee-pots two or three
feet in height, whereas those for private use are quite
tiny, but the bird-like form of the pot is always scrupulously
preserved.
The bazaars of Oman do not offer much to the curio-
hunter. He may perchance find a few of the curved Omani
daggers vrith handsome sheaths adorned with filigree silver,
to which is usually attached, by a leather thong, a thorn
extractor, an earpick, and a spike. The belting, too, with
which these daggers are attached to the body, is very
pretty and quite a specialty of the place ; formerly many
gold daggers were manufactured at Maskat and sent to
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MASKAT AND THE ODTaKIETS 65
Zanzibar, but of late years the demand for these has
considerably diminiBhed.
The iroD locks in the bazaars are very carious and
old-fashioned, with huge iron keys which pash out the
wards, and are made like the teeth of a comb. These locks are
exceedingly cumbersome, and seem to me to be a develop-
ment of the wooden locks with wooden wards found in the
interior of Arabia. Some of them are over a foot long. I
have seen a householder after trying to hammer the key in
with a stone, at last in despair climb over his own garden
wall.
Perchance a shark-skin or wooden buckler may be picked
np from a Bedon from the moontains, and there are
chances of obtaining the products of many nationalities,
for Maskat, like Aden, is one of the most cosmopolitan cities
of the East. Here, as in El Katra, you find Banyans
from India, Beluchi from the Mekran coast, negroes from
Zanzibar, Bedouin, Persians from the Gulf, and the town
itself is even less Arab than Aden,
The ex-prime minister's house, which occupies a promi-
nent position in the principal street, is somewhat mora
Oriental in character than most, and possesses a charmingly
carved, projecting window, which gladdens the eye ; and here
and there in the intricacies of the town one comes across a
carved door or a carved window, but they are now few and
far between.
The suburbs of Maskat are especially interesting. As
soon as you issue out of either of the two gates which are
constructed in the wall, shutting the town o£F from the outer
world, you plunge at once into a new and varied hfe.
Here is the Ssh and provision market, built of bamboos,
picturesque, but reeking with horrible smells and alive with
flies ; hard by is a stagnant pool into which is cast all the
offal and filth of this disgusting market. The water in the
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66 MA8KAT
pool looks quite ptitrid, and when the wind comes from this
quarter no wonder it ia laden with fever germs and mephitic
vapoura. Consequently, Maskat is a moet unhealthy place,
especially when the atmosphere is damp and rain has fallen
to stir up the refuse.
The women with their mask-veils called buttra, not
unlike the masks worn with a domino, pleased ns im-
mensely, so that we sought to possess a specimen. They
brought US several, which, however, did not quite satisfy us,
and afterwards we learnt that an enterprising German firm
had made a lot of these buttra for sale amongst the Maskat
women ; hut the shape heing not exactly orthodox, the
women will not buy them, so the owners of these unsale-
able articles are anxious to sell them cheap to any unsus-
pecting traveller who may be passing through.
Outside the walls the sultan is in the habit of distributing
two meals a day to the indigent poor ; and inasmuch as the
Omani are by nature prone to laziness, there is but little
doubt that his highness's liberality is greatly imposed on.
In the market outside the walls we lingered until nearly
driven wild by the flies and the stench, so we were glad
enough to escape and pursue our walk to the Paradise
valley and see the favourable side of Maskat. There the
sleepy noise of the wells, the shade of the acacias and palms,
and the bright -green of the lucerne fields, refreshed ua,
and we felt it hard to realise that we were in arid Arabia.
As yoQ emerge you come across a series of villages
built of reeds and palm branches, and inhabited by mem-
bers of the numerona nationalities who come to Maskat
in search of a livelihood. Moat of these are Beluchi from
the Mekran coast, and Africans from the neighbourhood of
Zanzibar. The general appearance of these villages is highly
picturesque, but squalid. Here and there palm-trees, almond-
trees, and the ubiquitous camelthom are seen interspersed
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MASKAT AND THE OUTSKIETS 67
amongst the houses ; women in red and yellow gannents,
with turquoise rings in their ears and noaes, peep at you
furtively from behind their flimsy doors, and as you pro-
ceed up the valley you find several towers constructed to
protect the gardens from Bedouin incursions, and a few
comfortable httle villas built by Banyan merchants, where
they can retire from the heat and dnst of Maskat.
The gardens are all cultivated, with irrigation, and look
surprisingly green and delicious in contrast with the barren,
arid rocks which surround them ; the wells are dug deep in
the centre of the valley, in the bed of what elsewhere would
be a river, and are worked by a running slope and bullocks
who draw np and down skin buckets, which, like those in
Bahrein, empty themselves automatically into tanks con-
nected with the channels which convey the water to the
gardens.
After walking for a mile or two up this valley all
traces of life and cultivation cease, and amidst the volcanic
rocks and boulders hardly a trace of vegetable hfe is to
be seen. It is a veritable valley of desolation, and there
are many such in waterless Arabia.
By ascending paths to the right or to the left of the
valley, the pedestrian may reach some exquisite points of
view ; all the little cola or passes through which these paths
lead are protected at the sommit by walls and forts— not
strong enough, however, as recent events have shown, to
keep off the incursions of the Bedouin. The views over
Maskat and the sea are charming, but one view to the south
will be for ever impressed on my mind as one of the most
striking panoramas I have ever seoi. When the summit of
a little pass on the south side of the valley is reached after a
walk of about two miles, yon look down through a gate-
way over the small valley and fishing village of Sedad,
amongst the reed houses of which are many palm-trees
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68 MABEAT
and a thick palm garden belongiog to Sayid Ynssuf, which
gives the one thing wanting to views about Maakat, namely,
a mass of green to relieve the eye. A deep inlet of the sea
runs np here with its blue waters, and beyond stretch into
illimitable space the fantastic peaks of the Oman mountains,
taking every form and shape imaginable ; these are all rich
porples and blues, and the colouring of this view is
superb.
From Sedad one can take a boat and row round the
headlands back to Maskat. The promontories to the open
sea are very fine: beetling clifis of black, red, and green
volcanic rocks, and here and there stand up rocky islets, the
home of the cormorant and the bittern. In a small cove,
called Sheikh Jabar, bali-way between Sedad and Maskat,
and accessible only by boat (for none but the most active of
the natives can scale the overhanging rocks), is a tiny
strand which has been chosen as the Christian burial-place.
There are not very many giavea in this weird spot, and
most of them ate occupied by men from the gunboats which
have been stationed at Maskat. Ajuong them is the grave
of Bishop French, who came to Maskat some years ago with
the object of doing missionary work amongst the Omani,
but he fell a sacrifice to the pernicious climate before he
bad been long at his post, and before he had succeeded in
making any converts.
Abont three miles from Maskat lies the town of El
Matra, the commercial centre of the kingdom of Oman. It
would be the seat of govenmient also were it not exposed
to the Bonthem winds. The journey is nearly always made by
sea ; it takes much longer to go by land, for a ndge of hills
has to be crossed. In a canoe it is only half an hour's
paddle, and when the weather is favourable the canoe
owners drive a rattling trade. The canoes, which they call
houris, are hollowed out of a tree trunk, double-prowed,
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MASKAT AND THE OUTSKIRTS 69
and with matting at the bottom. They are not very stable
and make one think unpleasantly of sharks.
Yon pass the Fahl, or StaJUon Bock, in the harbonr, a
name constantly given by Arabs to anything large and
uncanny looking, and turning sharp round a rocky comer
you see before you El Matra.
The town is governed by a wait chosen by the imam,
and in the bazaars may be seen, in hopeless confusion.
Banyans from India, Omani, Bedonia, Persians and Jews.
These nationalities have each their separate wards for living
in, walled oflf to keep them from perpetual brawls, and they
only meet one another in the bazaars, where tbe eye of the
bazaar-master is upon them, ready to inflict condign punish-
ment on disturbers of the peace, in which cases the innocent
more frequently suffer than the guilty.
The Monday's market is filled with quaint countryfolk,
bringing in baskets of fruit and wearing the upper
garment of red cotton and tbs large white girdle and
turban.
At El Matra live most of the richest merchants, and it
is the point from which all the caravan roads into the
interior start ; it, too, has a Portuguese castle, and presents a
much more alluring frontage than Maskat. In a nice-looking
house by the shore dwelt Dr. Jayakar, an Indian doctor, who
had lived for twenty-five years at Maskat, combining the post
of British Yice-CoQsuI with that of medical adviser to the few
Europeans who dwell there. He said he preferred Maskat
to any other place in the world, and hoped to end his daya
there ; he was a great naturalist, and his house was filled
with curious animals from the interior, and marvels from
the deep. He showed us specimens of a rabbit-like animal .
which the Arabs call 'whabba,' and which he afi&rmed is
the coney of the Bible, and of the oryx, which lives up on
the Jebel Akhdar ; it has two straight horns which for one
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70 MASEAT
instant and from one point of view when it is running side-
ways look like one, and some say the fact gave rise to the
mythical nnicom.
It IB, to say the least of it, a great disadvantage to have
your medical man at EI Matra when yoa are ill at Maskat ;
if the weather is stormy hoats cannot go between the two
places. There is a troublesome road across the headland
by which the doctor can come, partly by water and partly
on foot, in case of dire necessity, but the caravan road,
entirely by land, goes a long way inland, and would take
the medical man all day to traverse. Behind EI Matra are
pleasant gardens, watered by irrigation, which produce most
of the fruit and vegetables consumed in these parts.
During our fortnight's stay at Maskat in 1895, we fre-
quently in the evening coolness rowed about the harbour
and examined its bays and promontories. The energetic
crews of numerous gunboats of various nationalities stationed
here at different times have beguiled their time by illu-
minating the bare cliffs with the names of their ships in
large letters done in white paint. French, Russian,
Italian, and German names are here to be read, but by far
the largest number are in English. The rocks at the mouth
of the harbour are literally covered with delicious oysters,
and one of our entertainments was at low tide to land on
these rocks and get our boatmen to detach as many of the
shellfish as we could conveniently consume.
Such is Maskat as it exists to-day, a spot which has had
a varied history in the past, and the future of which will ha
equally interesting to those who have any connection with
the Persian Gulf.
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S^nfiiri^t Stog} Abiif XtnOin.
ubjGoOgIc
THE HADHRAMOUT
CHAPTER VI
Aftbb oor joomeyB id South Africa and AbyBBinia, it was
suggested to my hnsb&nd that a Burrey of the Hadhramout
by an independent traveller woald be useful to the Q-ovem-
ment ; bo in the winter of 1893-94 we determined to do
oor best to penetrate into this unknown district, which
anciently was the centre of the frankincense and myrrh
trade, one of the most famed commercial centres of ' Arahy
the Blest,' before Mohammedan fanaticism blighted all
industries and closed the peninsula to the outer world.
In the proper acceptation of the term, the Hadhramout
at the present time is not a district running along the south-
east coast of Arabia between the sea and the central desert,
as is generally supposed, but it is simply a broad valley
running for 100 miles or more parallel to the coast, by which
the valleys of the high Arabian table-land discharge their
not abundant supply of water into the Be a at Saibut,
towards which place this valley gradually slopes.
There is every reason to believe that anciently, too, the
Hadhramout meant only this valley ; we learnt from Him-
yaritic inscriptions that five centuries B.C. the name was
spelt by the Himyars as it is now (namely, \ S ) B T), and
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72 THE HADHRAMOUT
meant in that tongae 'the encloBure or valley of death,' a
name which in Hebrew form corresponds exactly to that ot
Hazarmaveth of the tenth chapter of Genesis, and which the
Greeks, in their osaal shpshod manner — occasioned by their
inability, as is the case still, to pronoance a pure h — converted
into Chairamita, a form which still survives in the Italian
word catroTne, or ' pitch.'
Owing to the intense fanaticism of the inhabitants, this
main valley has been reached only by one European before
ourselves — namely, Herr Leo Hirsch, in 1893. In 1846 Von
Wrede made a bold attempt to reach it, hot only got as far
as the collateral valley of Doan. My husband and I were
the fiist to attempt (in the latter part of 1893 and the
early part of 1894) this journey without any disgnise, and
with a considerable train of followers, and I think, for this
very reason, that we went openly, we made more impression
on the natives, and were able to remain there longer and see
more, than might otherwise have been the case, and to
establish relations with the inhabitants which, I hope, will
hereafter lead to very satisfactory results.
Having arrived at Aden with letters of recommendation
to the Resident from the Indian Government and the India
Office, besides private introductions, we were amazed at all
the difficulties thrown in our way. It quite appeared as if
we had left oar native land to do some evil deed to its
detriment, and we were made to feel how thoroughly
degrading it is to take up the vocation of an archeeologist
and explorer.
Many strange and unexpected things befell us, but the
most remarkable of all was that when a certain surgeon-
captain asked for leave to accompany ns, it was refused to
him on the ground that ' Mr. Theodore Bent's expedition
was not sanctioned by Government,' in spite of the fact that
the Indian Government had actually placed at my husband's
^dbyCoogle
MAKALLA 78
disposal a stirveyor, Imam Sharif, Khan Bahadnr. We had
no assistance beyond two very inferior letters to the Bultans
of Makalla and Sheher, which made them think we were
' people of the rank of merchants,' they afterwards said.
Imam Sharif has travelled mnch with EnglishmeDj so he
speaks oar language perfectly, and having a keen sense of
humour, plenty of courage and tact, and no Mohammedan
prejudices, we got on splendidly together. He was a very
agreeable member of the party. My husband paid all his
expenses from Quetta vid Bombay, with three servants,
including their tenia and camp equipage, Euid back to
Quetta.
Our party was rather a large one, for besides ourselves
and our faithful Greek servant Matthaios, who has accom-
panied us in so many of our journeys, we had with us not
only the Indians, but a young gardener from Kew, William
Lunt by name, as botanist, and an Egyptian named
Mabmoud Bayoomi, as naturalist, sent by Dr. Anderson,
whose coUectiona are now in the British Mnsemu of Natural
History at South Kensington.
The former was provided with all the requisites for dig-
ging up forest trees, and Mahmoud had with him all that
was necessary for pickling and preserving large mammals,
for no one knew what might be found in the unknown land ;
and many were the volunteers to join the party as hunters,
who promised to keep us in game, whereas if they had come
they would only have found reptiles.
As interpreter was recommended to us by the native
pohtical agent at Aden, Sateh Mohammed Jaffer, Ehan
Bahadur — a certain Saleh Hassan . He proved bo be a fanatical
Moslem, whose only object seemed to be to terrify us and to
raise enemies against us, in order to prevent our trampling
the holy land where Mohammed was bom. Throughout our
journey he was a constant source of difficulty and danger.
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74 THE HADHRAMOUT
Our starting-point for the interior was Mahalla, which
is 230 miles from Aden, and is the only spot between Aden
and Ma&kat which has any pretensions to the name of
port. The name itself means 'harbour.' It is first men-
tioned by Ibn Modjawir ; Hamdani calls it El As»-Lasa, and
Masadi gives the name aa Lahsa. The harbour is not avail-
able during the south-west monsoon, and then all the boats
go off to Bas Bomm or the Basalt Head.
Here we were deposited in December 1893 by a chance
steamer, one which had been chartered and on which for a
consideration we were allowed to take passage. I took turns
with the captain to sleep in his cabin, but there was nothing
but the deck for the others.
Immediately behind the town rise grim, arid mountains
of a reddish hue, and the town is plastered against this rich-
tinged background. By the shore, like a lighthouse, stands
the white minaret of the mosque, the walls and pinnacles of
which are covered with dense masses of sea-birds and pigeons ;
the gate of this mosque, which is really nearly in the aea, is
blocked up by tanks, so that no one can enter with unwashed
feet. Not far from this rises the huge palace where the
sultan dwells, reminding one of a whitewashed mill ; white,
red, and brown are the dominant colonrs of the town, and
in the harbour the Arab dhows, with fantastic stems, rock
to and fro in the unsteady sea, forming altogether a pic-
turesque and unusual scene.
Beyond the Bab Assab are huts where dwell the Bedouin
who come from the mountains. They are not allowed to
sleep within the town. There is a praying-place just outside
the gate. In the middle of the town is a great cemetery
full of tamarisks, and containing the sacred tomb of the
sainted Wali Yakoub in the centre.
We were amused by a dauce at a street comer to the
beating of drums. It consisted of a hot, seething mass of
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MAEALLA 75
brown bodies writhing about and apparently enjoying them-
selves.
Stone tobacco pipes are made here of a kind of limestone,
very curly silver powder-flasks, rather like nautilus shells,
and curious guns without stocks. The Bedou women wear
tremendously heavy belts and very wide brass armlets.
Their faces are veiled with something like the yashmak of
Egypt, but it is of plain blue calico, a little embroidered.
Makalla is ruled over by a sultan of the Al KaJti family,
whose connection with India has made them very English
in their sympathies, and his majesty's general appearance,
with his velvet coat and jewelled daggers, is far more Indian
than Arabian. Beally the most influential people in the
town are the money-grubbing Farsees from Bombay, and it
is essentially one of those commercial centres where Hindu-
stani is spoken nearly as much as Arabian. The government
of the country is now almost entirely in the hands of the
Al Kaiti family, which at present is the most powerful
family in the district, and is reputed to be the richest in
Arabia.
About five generations ago the Seyyids of the Aboubekr
family, at that time the chief Arab family at the Hadbramout,
who claimed descent from the first of the Khalifs, were at
variance with the Bedou tribes, and in their extremity they
invited assistance from the chiefs of the Yafei tribe, who
inhabit the Yafei district, to the north-east of Aden. To
this request the Al Kaiti family responded by sending assist-
ance to the Seyyids of the Hadbramout, putting down the
troublesome Bedou tribes, and establishing a fair amount
of peace and prosperity in the country, though even to this
day the Bedouin of the mountains are ever ready to swoop
down and harass the more peaceful inhabitants of the towns.
At the same time the Al £aiti family established themselves
in the Hadbramout, and for the last four generations have
^dbyGoogle
16 THE HADHRAMOUT
been steadily adding tn the power thus acquired. MakaJla,
8heher, Shibahm, Haura, Hagarein, all belong to them, and
they are continually increasing, by purchase, the area of
their influence in the collateral valleys, building substantial
caetles, and establishing one of the most powerful dynasties
in this much-divided country. They get all their money
from the Straits Settlements, for it baa been the custom of
the Hadhrami to leave tbeir own sterile country to seek
their fortunes abroad. The Nizam of HyderabEid has an
Arab regiment composed entirely of Hadhrami, and the
Sultan NawaBJnng, the present head of the Al Kaiti family,
is its general : he lives in India and governs his Arabian
possessions by deputy. His son Ghalib ruled in Sheher,
his nephew Manassar, who receives a dollar a day from
England, ruled in Makalla, and his nephew Sal4h ruled in
Shibahm, and the governors of the other towns are mostly
connections of this family. The power and wealth of this
family are almost the only guarantee for peace and prosperity
in an otherwise lawless country.
The white palace of the Sultan Manassar is six stories
high, with little carved windows and a pretty sort of cornice
of open-work bricks, unbaked of course, save by the sun.
It stands on a little peninsula, and like Biviera towns, has
pretty coast views on either side. The sultan received us
with his two young sons, dressed up in as many fine clothes
as it was possible to put on, and attended by his vizier,
Abdul Kalek ; no business was done as to our departure,
but only compliments were paid on both sides. After we
had separated presents were sent by us, loaves of sugar
being an indispensabfe accompaniment.
The so-called palace in which we were lodged was next
to the mosque and close to the bazaar ; the smells
and noise were almost unendurable, so we worked bard
to get our preparations made, and to make our sojourn
^dbyCoogle
MAKALLA 77
here as short as possible. This 'palace' waa a large
building ; a very dirty staircase led to a quantity of rooms,
large and small, inhabited in rather a confusing manner, not
only by our own party, but by another, and to get at our
servants we hod to pick our way between the prostrate
forms of an Arabian gentleman and his attendants. We
were the first arrivals, so we collected from the various
rooms as many bits of torn and rotten old matting as we
could find, to keep the dust down in our own room, which
was about 40 feet long by 30 feet wide, so very much covered
with dnst that no pavement could be seen without digging.
It would have been necessary to have ' seven maids with
seven brooms to sweep for half a year ' before they could
have cleared that room. Windows were all round, unglazed
of course, and quite shutterless. We set out our fmniture and
had plenty of room to spread the baggage round us. An
enormous packing case from Kew Gardens had little besides
a great fork in it, so that case came no farther. Another
case, to which the botanist bad to resort constantly, had
always to be tied up with rope, as it had neither lock nor
hinges.
We were six days at Makolla arranging about camels and
safe conduct, and wondering when we should get away ; so
of course we had plenty of time to inspect the town, which
on account of the many Farseea had quite an Indian air
in some parts. Sometimes one comes upon a deUciously
scented part in the bazaars where myrrh and spices, attar of
roses, and rose leaves are sold in little grimy holes almost too
small to enter ; but for the part near the fish market, I can
only say that awful stenches prevail, and the part where
dates and other fruits are sold is almost impassable from
fiies.
For our joomey inland we were entrusted by the sultan
to a tribe of Bedouin and their camels. Mokaik was the
^dbyGoogle
78 THE HADHRAMOUT
name of our Mokadam or head-man, and his tribe rejoiced in
the name of Kbailiki. They were tiny Bpare men, quite
beardless, with very tehned, gentle faces ; they might easily
have been taken tor women, so gentle and pretty were they.
They were naturally dark, and made darker still by dirt and
indigo. Their long shaggy hair was twisted up into a knot
and bound by a long plaited leather string like a bootlace,
which was wound round the hair and then two or three times
round the head, hke the fillet worn by Greek women in
ancient times. They were naked save for a loin-cloth and the
girdle to which were attached their brass powder flasks,
shaped like a ram's horn, their silver cases for flint and
steel, their daggers, and their thorn extractors, consisting of a
picker and tweezers, fastened together. They are very dif-
ferent from the stately Bedouin of Syria and Egypt, and are,
both as to religion and physique, distinctly an aboriginal
race of Southern Arabia, as different from the Arab as the
Hindoo is from the Anglo-Saxon.
Our ideas as to Bedouin and Bedaioi, which latter word
we never heard while we were in Southern Arabia, were
that they were tall, bearded men, not very dark in colour,
and our imaginations connected them with hospitality and
much clothes. Kone of these characteristics are found among
the Bedouin of this district. Bedouin is not a word in use,
but Bedou for both singular and plural. They speak of
themselves as el Bedou, and when they have seen ns
wondering at some strange custom, they have said apolo-
getically, ' Ah t Bedou, Bedou ! ' I have heard them address
a mein whose name they did not know ' Ya Bedou.' I
mean to use Bedou for singular and Bedouin for plural.
Besides the Bedooin we were accompanied by five
soldiers, Muofok-el-Briti, Taisir-i-Fahari, Bariki, and an old
man. For the twenty-two camels we paid 175 dollars to
Hagarein, a journey, we were told, of twenty days.
^dbyGoogle
MAEALLA 79
It would have been uselesis to have had riding camels, as
cue could get no faster than the baggage and soldiers, and
travelling so far daily, and up such rocks, one had to go at
foot-pace. We should have had to wait longer at Makalla
while more camels were collected, and the more camels yon
have thefartherthey stray when food is scarce, and the more
chance there is of the annoyance of waiting for lost camels
to be found, and sometimes found too late to start that day.
We need not have had twenty-two camels, and once, later,
all the baggage was sent on ten, but this was to suit the
purposes of the Bedouin.
Before proceeding farther with our journey, I will here
say a few words concerning the somewhat complex body
politic of this portion of Arabia, the inhabitants of which
may be divided into four distinct classes.
Firstly, there are numerous wild tribes of Bedouin
scattered all over the country, who do all the carrying trade,
rear and own most of the camels, and possess large tracts of
country, chiefly on the highlands and smaller valleys. They
are very numerous and powerful, and the Arabs of the towns
are certainly afraid of them, for they can make travelling in
the country very difficult, and even blockade the towns.
They never live in tents, as do the Bedouin of Northern
Arabia ; the richer ones have quite large houses, whilst the
poorer ones — those in Shabwa and the Wadi Adim, for
instance — dwell in caves.
Secondly, we have the Arabs proper, a decidedly later
importation into the country than the Bedouin. They live
in and cultivate the lands around the towns; many of them
carry on trade and go to India and the Straits Settlements,
and some of them are very wealthy. They also are divided
into tribes. The chief of those dwelling in the Hadhramont
are the Yafei, Kattiri, Minhali, Amri, and Tamimi. The
Bedouin reside amongst them, and they are constantly at
byGoogk
80 THE HADHEAMOUT
war with one another, and the complex Bystera of tribal
anion is exceedingly difficult to grasp.
Thirdly, we have the Seyyids and Sherife, a sort of
aristocratic hierarchy, who trace their descent from the
daughter and son of the Prophet. Their inSuence in the
Hadhramout is enormous, and they fan the religious super-
stition of the people, for to this they owe their existence.
They boast that their pedigree is purer than that of any
other Seyyid family, even than those of Mecca and Medina.
Seyyids and Sherifs are to be found in all the large towns
and considerable villages, and even the Arab sultana show
them a marked respect and kiss their hands when they enter
a room. They have a distinct jurisdiction of their own, and
most disputed points of property, water rights, and so on,
are referred to their decision. They look with pecuhar
distrust on the introduction of external influence into their
sacred country, and are the ohstructionietB of the Hadhra-
mout, but at the same time their influence is decidedly
towards law and order in a lawless land. They never carry
arms.
Lastly, we have the slave population of the Hadhramout,
all of African origin, and the freed slaves who have married
and settled in the country. Most of the tillers of the soil,
personal servants, and the soldiers of the sultans exe of this
class.
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CHAPTER VII
OUB DEPAKTUBK INTO THE INTBRIOIl
Nevbb shall I forget the coDfusion of our start. Mokaik and
ten of his men appeared at seven in the morning of the day
before in oar rooms, with all the lowest beggars of Makalla
in their train, and were let looaa on our seventy packages
like so many demons from Jehannam, yelling and qoarrel-
ling with one another. First of all the luggage had to be
divided into loads for twenty-two camels, then they drew lots
for these loads with small sticks, then they drew lots for
US riders, and finally we had a stormy bargain as to the
price, which was finally decided upon when the vizier came
to help us, and ratified by his exchanging diggers with
Mokaik, each dagger being presented on a flat hand. In the
bazaars bargains are struck by placing the first two fingers of
one contractor on the hand of the other. All that day they
were rushing in and weighing, and exhorting us to be ready
betimes in the morning, so we were gnite ready about
sunrise.
We felt worn and weary when a start was made at two
o'clock, and our cup of bitterness was full when we were
deposited, bag and baggage, a few hundred yards from the
gate, and told that we must spend the night amidst a sea of
small fish drying on the shore, and surroonded on all sides
by dirty Bedou huts. These fish, which are rather larger
tiian sardines, are put out to dry by thousands along this
coast. Men feed on them and so do the camels ; they make
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82 THE HADHRAMOUT
lamp-oil out of them ; they say the fish strengthens the
camel's back, and they cionHider it good for camels to go
once a year to the sea. Large sacks of them are taken
into the interior as merchandise ; they are mixed with small
leaves like box, emd carried in palm-leaf sacks, about 3 feet
wide and li feet high, and the air everywhere is redolent
of their stench.
At this point we had the first of many quarrels with our
camet-men ; we insisted on being taken two miles farther
on, away from the smells ; nothing short of threats of re-
turning and getting the sultan to beat them and put them
in prison enabled as to break through the conventional
Arab custom of encamping for the first night outside the
city gates. However, we succeeded in reaching Bakhrein,
where white wells are placed for the benefit of wayfarers,
and there beneath the pleasant shade of the palm-treea we
halted for the remainder of the day and recovered from
the agonies of our start. Among the trees was a bungalow
belonging to the sultan where we had hoped to have been
able to sleep, but it was pervaded by such a strong smell of
fish that we preferred to pitch our tents.
Between this place and Makalla all is arid waste, but
near the town, by the help of irrigation, bananas and cocoa-
nut trees flourish in a shallow valley called ' the Beginning
of Light.' There are numerous fortresses about Bakhrein,
so the road is now quite safe for the inhabitants of Makalla ;
the sultan has done a good deal to repress the Bedouin who
used to raid right into the town. He crucified many of them.
We took a couple of hours over our start next day, the
Bedouin again quarrelling over the luggage, each trying to
scramble for the hghtest packages and the lightest riders.
They tried to make me ride a camel and give up my horse to
my husband. As be was so tall, he could obtain neither a
horse nor a donkey, so had perforce to ride a camel.
^dbyCoogle
OUB DEPARTURE INTO THE INTERIOR 83
He bad been able to buy a little dark donkey for Imam
Sharif and the Bultan gave me a horse, but all the rest were
on camels. I thought I should enjoy riding by the camels
and talking to everyone, but my hopes were not carried
out.
The difficulty of passing the strings of camels was
enormous. The country waa so very stony that if you left
the narrow path it took a long time to pick your way.
I used to start first with Imam Sharif, and then my
horse, at foot-pace, got so far ahead that the soldiers said,
'We cannot guard both you and the camels.' I had then to
pull in the horse with all my might. Sometimes I went on
with Imam Sharif, one soldier and a servant carrying the
plane-table. He used to go up some bill to survey, and I, of
coniBe, hod to climb too for safety. I had to rash down
when I saw oar kafila coming and mount, to keep in front.
If I got behind, the camels were so terrified that they danced
about and shed their loads, and I was cursed and sworn at
by their drivers.
We stopped three hours at Basra (10 miles), where there
are a few houses, water, and some cultivation, and where the
camels were suddenly unloaded without leave, and there
was a great row because we moved the soldiers' guns from
the tree, the shade of which we wished to have ourselves.
We again threatened to return, but at last, as Taisir
fortunately could speak Hindustani, be could make peace,
and they ended by kissing bonds and saying salaam (peace).
The sun was setting when we reached a sandy place
called Tokbum (another 5 miles on), where we camped near
some stagnant water. We bad to wait for the moon, to
find our baggs^ and get out the lantern. We bad travelled
over almost leaSess plains save that they had little patches
of mesembryanthemum^ and the inevitable balloon-shrub
{madhar). Bising and starting by moonlight on Christmas
D.g.tizecbvGoOgle
84 THE HADHRAMOUT
morDing, we stopped in Wadi Ghafit {madhar), a very
pretty side valley, with warm water and palm-trees, and what
looked like a graasy sward near the water, but which really
consigtcd of a tiny kind of palm. The camel-men wanted
to pass this place and camp far away on the stones, sending
skins for water, but somehow my husband found this out
after we had passed Wadi Ghafit, and managed to carry
off the camels, tied tail after tail to his own camel, so the
Bedouin had to follow unwillingly. We gave them some
presents, saying it was not bji everyday occurrence, but that
this was a great feast with us ; so we made friends.
The Bedouin were very unruly about the packing. We
could not get our most needful things kept handy, and they
liked to pack our bread vnth their fish, and the waterskins
anywhere among our bedding.
Mokaik did not seem to have much authority over
the various ovmers of the camels, and they were always
quarrelling among themselves, robbing each other of light
loads and leaving some heavy thing, that no one wished for,
lying on the ground ; this often occasioned re-packing. They
had for each camel a stout pair of sticks with strong ropes
attached, and having bound a bundle of packages to each
stick, two men lifted them and wound the ropes round the
sticks over a very tiny pack-saddle and a mass of untidy
rags. When we arrived they liked to simply loose the ropes
from the sticks and let the baggage clatter to the ground
and lead away the camels. As they would not be persuaded
to sort the things, and as twenty-two camels cover a good
deal of space, it was like seeking the slain on a battlefield
when we had to wander about having every bundle untied.
Three days' camel-riding up one of the short valleys
which lead towards the high table-land offered little of
interest beyond arid, igneous rocks, and bumt-up, sand-
covered valleys, with distorted strata on either side. Here
^dbyGoogle
OUE DEPASTUEE INTO THE INTEEIOE 85
and there, where w&rm volcanic streams rise out of the
groand, the wilderness is converted into a luxuriant garden,
in which palms, tohacco, and other green things grow.
One of the scrub trees which clothe the wilderness is
called by the Arabs rack, and is used by them for cleaning
their teeth. It amoBed ns to chew this as we went along :
it is slightly bitter, but cleans the teeth most effectually.
There is also a poisonous sort of cucumber, called by the
Arabs madakcUik. They clean out the inside and fill the
akin with water, which they drink asamedicine. At Sibeh,
which we reached after a very hot ride of twelve or thirteen
miles, we found water with scores of camels lying round it,
for there were two or three other kafilas, or caravans, beside
our own. It was dreadfully cold that night, and we could
not get at our ba^ of blankets.
Next we entered the narrow, tortuous valley of Howeri,
which ascends towards the highland, in which the midday heat
was intense ; and at our evening halts we suffered not a little
from camel-ticks, which abound in the sand, until we learnt
to avoid old camping-grounds and not to pitch our tents in
the immediate vicinity of the wells.
We encamped in a narrow, stony river-bed, between
walls of rock, near a little village called Tahiya. There is
a good deal of cultivation about. The closeness of the
situation made the smell of the dried iisb we carried for
the camels almost unbearable.
These sacks are stretched open in the evening and
put in the middle of & circle of camels, their masters often
joining in the feast. One of the men was attacked by fever,
so he was given quinine, and his friends were told to put
him to bed and covet him well. When we went to visit
him later we found him quite contented in one of these
fish sacks, his head in one comer and his legs all doubled
up and packed in ; only a bare brown bock was exposed, so
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86 THE HADHRAMOUT
we had a few of the camel's rags thrown on his back, and
he waa well next day.
We went on ten miles to Al Ghail, rising to an altitude
of 2,000 feet above the sea-level. This word ghail begins
with the Arabic ghin, which ia a soft sound between
r and g.
There are two villages near the head of the Wadi Howeri,
where there is actually a ghail — that rare phenomenon in
Arabia, a rill or nmning stream. Here the Bedou inhabi-
tants cultivate the date palm, and have green patches of
lucerne and grain, very refreshing to the eye.
"We had come up one of the narrowest of gorges, but with
hundreds of palm-trees around Al Ghail, the first of the two
villages, which ia in the end of the Wadt Howeri. It is an
uninteresting collection of stone huts, with many pretty little
fields, and maidenhair fern overhanging the wayside. There
are httle enclosures with walls round them, and small stones
in them, on which they dry the dates before sending them
to Aden. The rocky river-bed itself is waterless, the ghail
being used up in irrigation.
At Al Bat'ha, which ia j'ustabove the tableland, weactnally
encamped under a spreading tree, a wild, unedible fig called
luthba by the Arabs, a nickname given to all worthless, idle
individnala in these parts. Bedou women crowded around
us, closely veiled in indigo-dyed masks, with narrow slits for
their eyes, carrying their babies with them in rude cradles
resembling hencoops, with a cluster of charms hung from the
top, which has the twofold advantage of amusing the baby
and keeping ofF the evil eye. After much persuasion we
induced one of the good ladies to sit for her photograph,
or rather to sit still while something was being done which
she did not in the least understand.
There is very good water at Al Bat'ha, and ao much of
the kind of herbs that camels like that we delayed our
^dbyGoogle
ODB DEPAETUBE INTO THE INTERIOR 87
departure till eight, shiTering by a fire and longing aa
ardently for the arrival of the ean as we shonld for his
departure. The road had hecQ so steep and stony that the
camel-riders had all been on foot for two days. I am sure
that, except near a spring, no one dropped from the skies
would dream he was in Arabia the Happy. It is hard
to think that ' the Stony ' and ' the Pesert ' must be worse.
^dbyGoogle
THE HADEBAMOUT
CHAPTEK Vin ■
THE AKABA
Havikg left these villages bebiod ns, we climbed rapidly
higher and higher, until at an elevation of over 4,000
feet we found onrselves at last on a btoad, level table-
laod, atretching as far as the eye could reach in every di-
rection. TbiB is no doubt the ' Maratba Mountains ' of
Ptolemy, the Mods Excelsus of Pliny,' which shuts off the
Radhramout, where once Boorished the frankincense and
the myrrh.
Words cannot express the desolate aspect of thici vast
table-land, Akaba or the ' going-up,' aa the Arabs call it. It
is perfectly level, and strewn with black lumps of basalt,
looking as though a gigantic coal-scuttle had been upset.
Occasionally there rises up above the plain a flat-topped
mound or ridge, some 80 feet high, the last remnant of
a higher level which is now disappearing. There is no sign
of habitation. Only here and there are a few tanks, dug
to collect the rain-water, if any falls. These are protected
or indicated by a pair of walla built opposite one another,
and banked up on the onter side with earth and stones, like
shooting butts. The Akaba is exclasivcly Bedou property,
and wherever a little herbage is to be found, there the
nomads drive their flocks and young camels.
^dbyGoogle
THE AKABA 89
Of the frankincense which once flooriah^d over all this
vast area, we saw only one specimen on the highland itself,
thoagh it is still fonnd in the more sheltered gullies ; and
farther east, in the Mahri country, there is, I understand,
a considerable quantity left. We were often given lumps
of gum arabic, and mynh is still found plentifully ; it is
tapped for its odoriferous sap. It is a curious fact that the
Somali come from Africa to collect it, going from tribe to
tribe of the Bedouin, and buying the right to collect these
two species, sometimes paying as much as fifty dollars. They
go round and cat the trees, and after eight days return to
collect the exuded sap.
In ancient times none but slaves collected frankincense
and myrrh. This fact, taken probably with the meaning of
the name Hadhramout (the later form of the ancient name
Hazarmaveth), gave rise to the quaint Greek legend * that
the fumes of the frankincense-trees were deadly, and the place
where they grew was called the valley or enclosure of death.'
From persona! observation it would appear that the
ancients held communication with the Hadhramout almost
entirely by the land caravan-route, as there is absolutely no
trace of great antiquity to be found along the coaet-lino,
whereas the Wadi Hadhramout itself and its collateral
branches are very rich in remains of the ancient Himyaritic
civilisation.
Though we were always looking about for monuments
of antiquity, the most ancient and lasting memorial of far
past ages lay beneath our feet in that little narrow path
winding over Akaba and Wadi, and polished by the soft feet
of millions of camels that had slowly passed over it for
thousands and thousands of years.
We found the air of the table-land fresh and invigorating
after the excessive heat of the valleys below. For three days
we travelled northwards across the plateau. Our first stage
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90 THE HADHBAMODT
was Haibel Gabrein. This is, as it were, the colminating
point of the whole diatrict; it is 4,160 feet above the sea.
From it the table-land slopes gently down to the north-
ward towards the main valley of the Hadhramout, and
eastwards towards the Wadi Adim. After two days more
travelling we approached the heads of the many valleys
which run into the Hadhramout; the Wadis Doan, Bakhi.Al
Aisa, Al Ain, Bin Ali, and Adim all start from this elevated
plateau and run nearly parallel. The curious feature of most
of these valleys is the rapid descent into them ; they look as if
they had been taken out of the high platean like slices out
of a cake. They do not appear to have been formed by a
fall of water from this plateau ; in fact, it is impossible that
a sufficient force of water could ever have existed on this
flat surface to form this elaborate valley system. In the
valleys themselves there is very little slope, for we fonnd
that, with the exception of the Wadi Adim, all the valley
heads we visited were nearly of uniform height with the main
valley, and had a wall of rock approaching 1,000 feet in
height, eaten away as it were out of the plateau. We were,
therefore, led to suppose that these valleys had originally
been formed by the action of the sea, and that the Hadhra-
mout had once been a large bay or arm of the sea, which, as
the waters of the ocean receded, leaving successive marks of
many strands on the limestone and sandstone rocks which
enclosed them, formed an outlet for the scanty water-snpply
of the Southern Arabian highlands. These valleys have,
in the course of ages, been silted up by sand to a considerablo
height, below which water is always found, and the only
means of obtaining water in the Hadhramout for drinking
purposes, as well as for cultivation, is by sinking wells. The
water of the main valley is strongly impregnated with salt,
but is much sweeter at the sides of the valley than in the
centre. No doubt this is caused by the weight of the alkaline
^dbyGoogle
THE AKABA 91
deposits washed down from the salt hills at Shabwa, at the
head of the main valley.
The steep, reddish sandstone cliffs which form the walls
of these valleys are themselves almost always divided into
three distinct stories or stratifications, which can be
distinctly seen on the photographs. The upper one is very
abrupt, the second slightly projecting and more broken, and
the third formed by deposit from above. The descent into
the valley is extremely difficult at all points. Paths down
which camels can just make their way have been constructed
by the Bedouin, by making use of the stratified formation
and the gentler slopes ; butonly inthecaseof theWadi Adim,
of all the valleys we visited, is there anything approaching
a gradual descent.
It appears to me highly probable that the systematic
destruction of the frankincense and mjorh trees through
countless generations has done much to alter the character
of this Akaba, and has contributed to the gradual silting up
of the Hadhramout and its collateral valleys, to which fact
I shall again have occasion to refer. The aspect of this
plateau forcibly recalled to our minds that portion of
Abyssinia which we visited in 1892-93 ; there is the same
arid coEist-line between the sea and the mountains, and the
same rapid ascent to a similar absolutely level plateau, and
the same draining northwards to a large river-bed — in the
case of Abyssinia, into the valleys of the Mareb and other
tributaries of the Nile, and in the case of this Arabian
plateau into the Hadhramout. Only Abyssinia has a more
copious rainfall, which makes its plateau more productive.
It bad not been our intention to visit the Wadi AI Aisa,
but to approach the Hadhramout by another valley called
Doan, parallel and further west, but our camel-men would
not take us that way, and purposely got up a scare that the
men of Khoreba at the head of Wadi Doau were going to
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92 THE HADHEAMOUT
ftttack uB, and would refuse to let us pasa. A convenieot old
woman was found who professed to bring this news, a dodge
subsequently resorted to by another Bedou tribe which
wanted to govern our progiess.
The report brought to us, as from the old woman, waa
to this effect : A large body of sheikhs and seyyids having
started from Khoreba ' to meet and tepel us, Mokaik's father
had left home to help us. As we had now abandoned
Khoreba, Mokaik said he was anxious to hurry off to meet
his father and prevent a hostile collision. Mokaik was told
he could not go as he was responsible for our safety, but that
some others might go. ' No,' said Mokaik, ' they cajanot be
spared from the camels ; we will get two men from the
village.' My husband agreed to this, but when Mokaik
proposed that my husband should at once pay these men,
he told Mokaik that he must pay them himself, as he was
paid to protect us. This attempt at extortion having failed,
we passed a peaceful night and subsequently found Mokaik's
father, Suleiman Bakran, safe at home, which he had never
thought of leaving.
Our first peep down into the Wadi Al Aisa, towards
which our Bedouin had conducted us, was striking in the
extreme, and as we gazed down into the narrow valley, with
its line of vegetation and its numerous villages, we felt as i[
we were on the edge of another world.
The descent from the table-land to the Wadi is exactly
1,500 feet by a difficult, but very skilfully engineered toot-
path. The sun's rays, reffected from the limestone cliffs,
were scorchingly hot. The camels went a longer way round,
nearer the head of the valley, but, so difficult was our short
cut that they arrived before us, and the horse, and the donkey.
Having humbly descended into the Wadi Al Aisa,
' The torn □( Khoreba, in Ihe Wadi Doftn, may represeat the town ot Doan
i bj' HamdanI, the Safiirn ol Ptolemy, which Fiioy calls loani.
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THE AKABA 93
because we were not allowed to go by the Wofli Doan, we
fonnd ourEelves encamped hard by the village of Khaila, the
head-quarters of the Kbailiki tribe, within a stone'a throw of
Mokaik's father's house and under the shadow of the castle
of his uncle, the sheikh of the tribe. These worthies both
extorted from us substantial sums of money and sold us food
at exorbitant prices, and so we soon learnt why we were not
permitted to go to Khoreba, ajid why the old woman and
her story had been produced.
We thought Mokaik and bis men little better than naked
savages when on the plateau, but when we were introduced
to their relatives, and when we saw their castles and their
palm groves and their long line of gardens in the narrow
valley, our preconceived notions of the wild homeless Bedou
and his poverty underwent considerable change.
We climbed up the side of the valley opposite Khaila to
photograph a castle adorned with horns, bat were driven
away ; too late, for the picture had been taken.
During the two days we encamped at Khaila we were
gazed upon uninterruptedly by a relentless crowd of men,
women, and children. It amused us at first to see the
women, here for the most part unmasked, with their exceed-
ingly heavy girdles of brass, their anklets of brass half a foot
deep, their bracelets of brass, their iron nose rings, and their
massive and numerous earrings which tore down the lobe of
the ear with their weight. Every Bedou, male or female,
has a ring or charm of cornelian set in base silver, and agates
and small tusks also set in silver.
The root with which the women paint themselves yellow
is called skubab. It is dried and powdered. It only grows
when there is rain. The whole of the poultry at Khaila
was carried about in the arms of the women and children
who owned them, all the time of our sojourn, in the hopes of
selling them. They, at least, were glad of our departure.
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9i THE HADHRAMOUT
Not far from Khaila, we saw a fine village which we
were told was inhabited by Arabs of pare blood, so we sent
a polite meSBage to the aeyyid, or head-man of the place, to
ask if we might pay him our respectg. His reply was to the
effect that if we paid thirty dollars we might come and pass
four hoars in the town. Needless to say we declined the
invitation with thanks, and on the morrow when we marched
down the Wadi Al Aisa we gave the abode of this hospitable
seyyid a wide berth, particularly as the soldiers told as it
was not safe, for the Arabs meant to kill qs.
Leaving Khaita, where we remained two nights and saw
the New Year in, we passed a good many towered villages :
Larsmeh was one, Hadouf another, also Subak and others.
We passed the month of the Wadi Doan, which runs parallel
to Wadi Al Aisa, and has two branches, only the largest
having the name Doan. The mouth is about three miles
below Khaila ; five miles more brought na to Sief, where
we halted for a night. It is also inhabited by pure Arabs,
who treated us with excessive rudeness. It is a very
picturesque spot, perched on a rock, with towers and turrets
constructed of sun-dried brick ; only here, as elsewhere in
these valleys, the houses being so exactly the same colour as
the rocks behind them, they lose their effect. The rich
have evidently recognised this difficulty and whitewash
tbeit houses, but in the poorer villages there is no white-
wash, and consequently nothing to make them stand out
from their surroundings.
One can pretty well judge of the wealth of the owners of
the various towers and castles by the amount of whitewash.
Some have only the pinnacles white, and some can afford to
trim up the windows and put bands round the building.
At Sief several men came once or twice and begged my
husband to let me go out that the women might see me, but
when I went out they would not allow me to approach or
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THE AKABA 96
hold any intetcourae with the Arab women, using oppro-
brious epithetB when I tried to make friendly overtures, with
the quaint result that whenever I advanced towards a group
of gazing females they fled precipitately like a flock of sheep
before a collie dog, bo we discovered that it was the men
themselves who wished to see me. These women wear
their dresses high in front (showing their yellow-painted
legs above the knee) and long behind ; they are of deep blue
cotton, decorated with fine embroidery, and patches of yellow
and red sewn on in patterns. It is the universal female
dress in the Hadhramout, and looks as if the fashion had
not changed since the days when Hazarmaveth the Patriarch
settled in this valley and gave it his name.' The tall tapering
straw hat worn by these women when in the fields contributes
with the mask to make the Hadhrami females as externally
repulsive as the most jealous of husbands could desire.
I am pretty sure that this must be the very same dress
which made such an unfavourable impression upon Sir John
Maundeville, when he saw ' the foul women who hve near
Babylon the great.' He says: 'They are vilely arrayed.
They go barefoot and clothed in evil garments, large and
wide, but short to the knees, long sleeves down to the feet
like a monk's frock, and their sleeves are hanging about
their shoulders.'
The dress is certainly wide, for the two pieces of which
it is composed, exactly like the Greek peplos, when the arms
are extended, stretch from finger-tip to finger-tip, so when
this dress is caught into the loose girdle far below the waist,
it hangs out under the arms and gives a very round-backed
look, as is the case with the peplos.
There are a great many Arabs at Sief, a most unhealthy,
diseased-looking lot. Tbey are of the yellow kind of Arab,
with Jewish-looking faces.
J Gen, X. 28.
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96 THE HADHRAMOUT
Saleh retired into Sief od our arrival, and we saw him
DO more till we started next day. He was a very useless
interpreter. He used to like to live in the villages, saying
he could not bear to live in the camp of such unbehevers as
we were, and used to bring his friends to oar kitchen and show
them some little tine of Lazenby's potted meat, adorned with
a picture of a sheep, a cow, and a pig, as a proof that we lived
on pork, whereas we had none vpith us. He always tried to
persuade the people that he was far superior to any of us, and
when places had to be made amongst the baggage on the
camels for my husband and the servants to ride, he used
to have his camel prepared and ride on, leaving some of the
servants vnth no seat kept on the camels for them. My
husband cured him of this, for one morning, seeing Saleh's
bedding nicely arranged, he jumped on to the camel himself
and rode off, leaving Saleh an object of great derision.
Once we got down into the valley we had to ride very
close together for safety, and I found it most tiresome
making my horse, Basha, keep pace with the camels.
The people at Sief were so disagreeable that I told Saleh
to remind them that, if our Queen wanted their country, she
would have had it long before we were born, and that they
were very foolish to fear so small an unarmed party, who
had only come to pass the winter in a country warmer than
their own ; at the same time, unless we had been quite con-
fident that our safety was well secured from behind, such a
party, with a woman among them, would never have come.
We set off early next morning for Hagarein. We passed
after one hour Eaidoun, with its own private little valley to
the west, a tributary of the main one, which in this part is
called Wadi Kasr. There is the grave of a celebrated saint,
and a very pious seyyid, called Al Habid Taha Ali al Hadad,
abides near it. He never goes out of his house, but is so
much revered that many thousands of dollars are sent him
\
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THE AKABA 97
from India and other parts, and when his son visited Aden
he was received with great hononr by the merchants there.
Then we passed several other villages, including Allahaddi
and Namerr. It was at the Haret or pilgrimage to the
grave m Kaidonn that Herr von Wrede, who was dis-
goieed, was discovered to be a Christian and forced to turn
back.
The town of Hagareia or Hajarein is the principal one in
the collaterul valleys, and is built on a lofty isolated rock in
the middle of the Wadi Kasr, about twenty miles before it
joins the main valley of the Hadhramoat. With its towers
and turrets it recalled to our minds as we saw it in the
distance certain hill-set, mediceval villages of Germany and
Italy. Here a vice-sultan governs on behalf of the AI Kaiti
family, an ill-conditioned, extortionate individual, whose bad
reception of Qs contributed to hia Bubsequent removal from
office. Internally Hagarein is squalid and dirty in the
extreme; each street is but a cesspool for the honses on
either side of it, and the faonse allotted to us produced
specimens of most smells and most insects. The days of
rest we proposed for ourselves here were spent in fighting
with our old camel-men who left us here, in fighting with
the new ones who were to take as on to the main valley,
and in indignantly refusing to pay the sultan the sum of
money which our presence in his town Jed him to think it
his right to demand.
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THE HADHBAMODT
CHAPTER IX
THROUGH WADI KA3B
When we reached the foot of the hill on which Hagarein
stands we dismounted ; there was tremendous work to
get oat the sword of the oldest soldier ; he had used it so
much as a walking-stick that it was firmly fixed in the
scabbard. The scabbards are generally covered with white
calico. A. very steep, winding, slippery road led us to the
gate, where soldiers received us and condacted us to a court-
yard, letting off guna the while. There stood the Sultan
Abdul M'Barrek Hamout al Kaiti, a very fat, evil-looking
man, pitted by smallpox. After shaking bands he led qs
down the tortuons streets to his palace, and then took as ap
a narrow mud staircase, so dark that we did not know
whether to turn to the right or left; we sometimes went
one way and sometimes the other. At length we reached a
small room with some goat-hair carpets and we and the
sultan, the soldiers (bis and ours), the Bedouin and my
groom, M'barrek, all seated oaraelves ronnd the wall, and
after a long time a dirty glass of water was handed ronnd
as our only entertainment. As we had had nothing to eat
since sunrise, and it was about two o'clock, we did not feel
cheerful when the sultan abmptly rose and said he must
pray. Fraying and sleeping are always the excuses when
they want to get rid of guests or say 'not at home,' and
indeed the sleeping excuse prevails in Greece also.
Some time after, our four chairs were brought, so we sat
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THEOUGH WADI KASH 99
till near four o'clock homeless, and getting hungrier and
hungrier, when the sultan reappeared, telling my husband
all out things were locked up in a courtyard and giving him
a great wooden key. We hastened to our home, up a long
dark stair, past many floors, all used as stalls and stables, &c.,
only the two top floors being devoted to human habitation.
Each floor consiEted of one fair-sized room and one very-
tiny den, a kitchen. The whole Indian party had the
lower room, and three of our soldiers the den. I cannot
think how they could all lie down at once, and they had to
cook there besides. Above that, we had the beat room, the
botanist and natoralist the den, and Matthaios made his
abode on the roof, where he cooked. The Bedouin, having
unloaded the camels in the courtyard across the street,
refused to help us, and, as no one else could be got, my
husband and all his merry men had to carry up the baggage,
while I wrestled with the beds and other f omiture in our
eaxthy room. The instant the baggage was up the Bedouin
clamoured for payment, and it was trying work opening the
various packages where the bags of money were scattered,
and to begin quarrelling when we were so weary and
hungry. We had been told that our journey to Hagarein
would take twenty days, whereas it only took thirteen,
and that we must take two camels for water, which had
proved unnecessary ; besides the camels had been much
loaded with fish and other .goods belonging to the Bedouin.
My husband said he would pay for the twenty days and
they would thus have thirty dollars as bakshish. But, in
the end, the soldiers from Makalla said we must pay
bakshish : it would be an insult to their sultan if we did not
and they would go no further with us. The local sultan
also insisting, fourteen more dollars had to be produced.
Our own soldiers soon came shouting and saying they mnst
have half a rupee a day for food, which my husband thought
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ICO THE HADHBAMOUT
it wise to give, though the wazir at Makalla had said he
was to give nothing.
They were hardly gone when the snltan came back
personally condncting two kids and sajdng we need think of
no further expense ; we were his guests and were to ask for
what we wished. All my husband asked for was daily milk.
We got some that day, but never again. My groom, M'barrek,
then came, saying he must have food money ; that being
settled, he retmmed saying the sultan said he must have half
a rupee a day for my horse, which became very thin on the
starvation he got.
All this time we could get no water, so not till dark
could Matthaios furnish us with tea, cold meat, bread, and
honey.
We were fortunate in having plenty of bread. We had
six big sacks of large cakes of plain bread dried hard, and
of this we had learnt the value by experience. We kept it
sheltered, if there was any fear of rain, as in Abyssinia, for
instance, and before a meal soaked it in water, wrapped
it in a napkin a few minntes, and then dried it up to the
consistency of fresh bread. We were often obliged to give
it to the horses, for the difficulty as to forage makes them
unfit to travel in such barren places.
We also took charcoal and found that, with it and the
bread, we bad our meals long before the Indian party, who
had a weary search for fuel before tbey could even begin
with ' pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.' The making of
chupatties also causes delay in starting. As to the honey
it is most plentiful and tastes like orange flowers, but really
it is the date-flower which imparts this flavour. It is much
more glutinous than onrs. It is packed, for exportation and
to bring OS tribute, in large round tin boxes, stopped up
round the edges with mud. It is used in paying both taxes
and tribute.
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THROUGH WADI KASR ifil
We were quite worn out with this day. The ealtan
received a, present next morning of Bilk for a robe, a turban,
some handkercbiefa, two watches, some knives, scissors,
needle-cases, and other things, but he afterwards Bent Saleh
to say he did not like his present at all and wanted dollars.
He got ten rupees and was satisfied.
We again visited him with our servants and soldiers and
were given tea while we talked over the future, and all
seemed fair. Later the sultan came to visit us and talk
about the escort. He said we must take five soldiers,
bargained for their wages, food, and bakshish, and obtained
the money. My husband inquired about some ruins near
Meshed, three hours by camel from Hagarein, and said that
if the sultan would arrange that we should dig safely, he
should have forty dollars, and he settled to go with my
husband next day to see the place. Accordingly next day
the sultan came with eight soldiers, singing and dancing
all the way, and some men of the Nahad tribe as siyara, as
we were then in their land.
The sultan showed us two letters in which it was said
that we were to have been attacked between Sief and Kaidoun,
and we remembered having seen a man on a camel apparently
watching for us, but instead of coming forward he galloped
away ; and thus it appears we got past the place from which
they meant to set upon us, before the attacking party could
arrive.
During the days we were at Hagarein several weddings
were celebrated. To form a suitable place for conviviality
they cover over a yard with mats, just as the Abyssinians
do, and the women, to show their hilarity on the occasion,
utter the same gurgling noises as the Abyssinian women do
on a like occasion, and which in Abyssinia is called ululti.
From our roof we watched the bridegroom's nocturnal pro-
cession to his bride's house, accompanied by his friends
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1(S2" '•'"•■'"■'•' • ■ TBE HADHBAMOUT
bearing torches, and singing and speechifying to their hearts'
content.
On our return from the ruins near Meshed, Taisir (our
soldier) came to us and was very indignant about the price
the Bultan charged for his eoldiers. He was given ten
rupees to attach himself to us, as an earnest of the good
bakshish he would get at the coast, as he said all the other
soldiers would go back from Shibahm, and really in that
case I think he would have been glad of our escort.
Then Saleh, who had 100 rupees a month and ate with
everyone, came to demand half a rupee a day for food ;
this was granted, as we thought it could come off his
bakshish, and he soon appeared to make the same request
for Mahmoud, the naturalist. Matthaios was furious, as
Mahmond ate partly with him, and no one was angrier
with him than Saleh. It was settled that we should give
him tea, bread, and four annas, and they all went off bawling.
Afterwards we heard Saleh had said, ' Mr. Bent is giving so
much money to the sultan, why should we not have some? '
We really thought at first that we should be able to
encamp at Meshed and dig, for there was a seyyid who had
been in Hyderabad and was very civil to us, but this happi-
ness only lasted one hour. The sultan said it would really
not be safe unless we lived in Hagarein, so we had to give
it up as it was an impossibility to dig in the heat of the day,
with six hours' journey to fatigue us ; besides we must have
paid many soldiers and we were told no one would dig for us.
So much was said about the dangers of the onward road that
Saleh was sent with the letters for Shibahm and Sheher and
told to hold them tight, and say that if we could not deliver
these in person we should return to the wali of Aden and
say that the sultan of Hagarein would not let us go on.
This frightened him, so be made a very dear bargain for
fifteen camels, and we were to leave next day.
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THROUGH WADI EASE 103
We were glad enough to depart from Hagarem, which
is so pictoresgne that it really might be an old, mediEeval,
fortified town on the Rhine, built entirely of mud and with
no water in its river. All the honses are enormously high,
and have a kitchen and oven on each door. The bricks of
which they are built are about one foot egoare and with
Btraw in them. They have shooting holes from every room
and macbicolationB over the outer doors and along the
battlements, and what makes the houses seem to contain
even more stories than they do, is that each floor has two
ranges of windows, one on the ground so that you can
only see out if you ait on the floor, and another too high to
see out of at all ; below every lower window projects a long
wooden spout. The narrow lanes are mere drains, and the
whole place a hotbed of disease; the people looked very
unhealthy : when cholera comes they die like flies. As
a wind up to this taat evening Mahmoud came into our
room and soon began to say his prayers ; we could not
make out why, hut it turned out he had no light in his
room.
Altogether we had not a reposeful time in Hogarein. We
were told early next day that fourteen men of the Nah&d
tribe had come as our siyara, though we bad been told two
would be sufficient ; so we had to agree to take four. Then
we were asked to pay those who had come unbidden. The
sultan came himself about it, and his children came to beg
for annas. At last the sultan, who had often said he felt
as if he were our brother, obtained twelve rupees which
he asked for to pay his expenses for the kids and honey,
and said my horse had eaten the worth of twice as much
money as he had asked before.
When we finally got off we found the old rascal had only
sent half the Nahadi and had only sent two soldiers, and
so had really made forty dollars out of ub over that one
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104 THE HADHEAMOUT
item. The Nahad men bad ten dollars each. They are
not tmdet the sultan of MaJtaJIa, but independent. The
Nahad tribe occupy about ten milea of the valley through
which we passed, and the toll-money we paid to this tribe
for the privilege of passing by was the most exorbitant
demanded from us on our journey. When once you have
paid the toU-money (siyar), and have with yon the escort
{siyara) of the tribe in whose territory you are, you are
practically safe wherever you may travel in Arabia, but
this did not prevent us from being grossly insulted as we
passed by certain Nahad villages. Kaidoun, where dwells
the very holy man so celebrated all the country round for
his miracles and good works, is the chief centre of this tribe.
We had purposely avoided passing too near this town, and
afterwards learnt that it was owing to the influence of this
very holy seyyid that our reception was so bad amongst
the Nahad tribe.
All about Hagarein are many traces of the olden days
when the frankincense trade flourished, and when the town
of Doan, which name is still retained in the Wadi Doan,
was a great emporiom for this trade. Acres and acres of
ruins, dating from the centuries immediately before our era,
lie stretched along the valley here, jnst showing their heads
above the weight of superincumbent sand which has invaded
and overwhelmed the past glories of this district. The
ruins of certain lofty square buildings stand upon hillocks
at isolated intervals ; from these we got several inscrip-
tions, which prove that they were the high ' platforms '
allnded to on so many Himyaritic inscribed stones as raised
in honour of their dead. As for the town around them,
it has been entirely engulfed in sand ; the then dry bed
of a torrent runs through the centre, and from this fact
we can ascertain, from the walls of sand on either side
of the stream, that the town itself has been buried some
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THEOUGH WADI KASR 105
30 feet or 40 feet by this sand. It is now caJlecl Itatdoun.
The ground lies strewn with fragments of Himyaritic
inscriptions, pottery, and other indications of a rich harvest
for the excavator, but the hostility of the Nahad tribe
prevented us from paying these ruins more than a cursory
visit, and even to secure this we had to pay the sheikh
of the place nineteen dollars, and his greeting was ominous
as he angrily muttered, ' Salaam to all who believe
Mohammed is the true prophet.'
We were warned ' that out eyes should never be let
to see Meshed again ; ' we might camp before we got there,
or after, as we wished, so were led by a roundabout way to
Adab, and saw no more of the leprous seyyid who told such
wondrous tales about the English king who once lived in
Hagarein, and how the EngUsh, Turks, and Arabs were
all descended from King Sam. Also he told the Addite
fable of how the giants and rich men tried to make a
paradise of their own, the beautiful garden of Irem, and
defied God, and so destruction came upon the tribe of Ad,
the remnant of whom survive at Aden on Jebel Shemshan,
in the form of monkeys. This is the Mohammedan legend
of the end of the Sabsean Empire.
We were much amused with what Imam Sharif said to
this seyyid. Imam Sharif is himself a seyyid or sherif, a
descendant of Mohammed, his family having come from
Medina, so he was always much respected. He said to him :
'You think these English are very bad people, but the
Koran says that all people are like their rulers ; now we
have no spots or diseases on our bodies, but ore all clean and
sound, which shows plainly that our ruler and the rest of us
must be the same. Now you, my brother, must be under
the displeasure of God, for I see that you are covered with
leprosy.' This was not a kind or civil speech, I fear, but not
a ruder one than those addressed to us. This leprosy shows
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106 THE HADHRAMOUT
itself by an appearance as if patches of white Bkin were
neatly set into the dark skin.
At Adab they would not allow us to dip our vessels in
their well, nor take our repast under the shadow of their
mosqne : even the women of this village ventured to insult
UB, peeping into our tent at night, and tumbling over the
jugs in a manner most aggravating to the weary occupants.
The soldiers had abandoned us and gone to sleep in the
village.
A dreary waste of Band led past Kerren to Badorah.
I arrived first with Imam Sharif, a servant, and a soldier^
We dismounted, as there was some surveying to be done.
The people were quite friendly, we thought, though they
crowded round me shouting to see the ' woman.' I went to
some women grouped at a little distance, and we had no
trouble as long as we were there. We had left before the
camels came and heard that the rest of the party had been very
badly received, stones were thrown, and shouts raised of ' Pigs !
Infidels ! Dogs I Come down from your camels and we will
cut your throats.' We attributed this to Soleh Ha^an, for
he made enemies for us wherever we went. At this village
they were busy making indigo dye in large jars like those of
the forty thieves. We were soon out of the Nahad country.
Our troubles on the score of rudeness were happily ter-
minated at Haora, where a huge castle, belonging to the
Al Kaiti family, dominates a humble village, surrounded by
palm groves. Without photographs to bear out my state-
ment, I should hardly dare to describe the magnificence of
these castles in the Hadhramout. That at Haura is seven
stories high, and covers fully an acre of ground beneath the
beetling cliff, with battlements, towers, and machicolations
hearing a striking likeness to Holyrood ; but Holyrood is
built of stone, and Haura, save for the first story, is built
of sun-dried bricks, and if Haura stood where Holyrood
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THROUGH WADI KASR 107
doss, or in a rainy climate, it would long ago have crumbled
away.
Haura is supposed to he the eite of an ancient Himyaritio
town. We were told that the sultan of Hagarein is not
entirely under Makalla, but that he of Haura is.
The castle of the sultan is nice and clean inside, and
it wad pleasant, after some very reviving caps of coffee
and ginger, and some very public conversation, to find our
canvas homes all erected on a bard field — a pleasant change
from oar late dusty places. Mahmond obtained a fox,
which was his first mammal, saving a bushy-tailed rat.
We were sent a lamb and a box of honey, and soon after the
governor arrived to request a present. He asked thirty rupees
but got twenty, and the new soldiers in place of the Nahadi
men were to have five rupees on arrival at Koton. We were
now nearing the palace of Sultan Sal&h-bin-Mohammad
al Eaiti of Sbibabm, the most powerful monarch in the
Hadhramout, who has spent twelve years of his life in India,
and whose reception of us was going to be magnificent, our
escort told us.
As we were leaving Haura, just standing about waiting
to mount, I felt something hard in one finger of my
glove which I was putting on. I thought it was a dry leaf
and hooked it down vnth my nail and shook it into my
hand. Imagine my terror on lifting my glove at seeing a
scorpion wriggling there. I dropped it quickly, shouting for
Mahmond and the collecting-bottle, and then caught it in a
handkerchief. This was the way that Buthia Bentii intro-
duced himself to the scientific world, for he was of a new
species. It turned out that the ' oldest soldier ' was father
to the sultan of Hanra. He went no farther with us.
The next day, three miles after leaving Haura, we
quitted the Wadi Kasr and at last, at the village of Alimani,
entered the main valley of the Hadhramout. It is here very
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108 THE HADHRAMOUT
broad, being at leaBt eight miles from cliff to cliff, and
receives collateral valleys from all sides, forming, as it
were, a great basin. Hitherto oar way had been gener-
ally northward, from Makalia to Tokhum, north-east, and
then north-west ; now we turned westward down the
great valley, though still with a slight northward ten-
dency.
We passed G-hanima, Ajlania on a rock to the right,
and Henan and the Wadi Menwab behind it on our left.
"Wfcllated, in his list of the Hadhramout towns, mentions
Henan as Ainan, and as a very ancienttown, on the bilinear
which are inscriptions and rude sculptures.
For seven hours we travelled along the valley, which
from its width was like a plain till we were within a mile
of the castle of Al Koton, where the sultan of Shibahm
resides. Thus far all was desert and sand, but suddenly the
valley narrows, and a long vista of cultivation was spread
before ns. Here miles of the valley are covered with palm
groves. Bright green patches of lucerne called hadhXb, almost
dazzling to look upon after the arid waste, and numerous
other kinds of grain are raised by irrigation, tor the Hadhra-
mout has beneath its expanse of sand a river running, the
waters of which are obtained by digging deep wells. Skin
buckets are let down by ropes and drawn up by cattle by
means of a steep slope, and then the water is distributed for
cultivation through narrow channels ; it is at best a fierce
struggle with nature to prodnce these crops, for the rainfall can
never be depended upon. We had intended to posh on to Al
KotoD, but Saltan SalUi sent a messenger to beg ns not to
arrive till the following morning, that his preparations to
receive ns might be suitable to our dignity, as the first
English travellers to visit his domains. Bo we encamped
just on the edge of the cultivation, about a mile off, at
Ferhnd, where under the shade of palm-trees there is a
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THEOUGH WADI KASB 109
beautiful well of brackish water, with four oxen, two at
each side to draw up the water.
Outside the cultivation in its arid waste of sand the
Hadhramout produces but' little ; now and again we came
across groups of the camelthom, tall trees somewhat re^
sembling the holm oak. It is in Arabic a most complicated
tree. Its fruit, like a small crab apple, is called b'dom, very
refreshing, and making an excellent preserve ; its leaves,
which they powder and use as soap, are called ghasl,
meaning ' washing ' ; whereas the tree itself is called ailb,
and is dearly loved by the camels, who stretch their long
necks to feed off its branches.
We wondered what kind of reception we should have,
for people's ideas on this point vary greatly. In order not
to offend the saltan's prejudices too much, we determined
to dissemble, and I decided not to wear my Uttle camera,
and Imam Sharif packed the plane-table out of sight. We
settled that he should have the medicine chest in his charge
and be the doctor of the party, and addresBed him as Hakim.
Even Saleh feared so much what the future might hold in
store, that he removed his drawers and shoes, and advised
Imam Sharif to do the same, as Mohammed had never worn
such things. Imam Sharif refused to take these precautions,
saying that if Mohammed had been bom in Cashmere he
would have assuredly worn both drawers and shoes. Imam
Sharif wore a Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers and a turban
when on the march, but in camp he wore Indian clothes.
However, we were soon visited by the sultan's two wazirs
on spirited Arab steeds : magnificent individuals with plaided
turbans, long lances, and many gold mohnrs fixed on their
dagger handles, all of which argued well for our reception
on the morrow by the sultan of Shibahm.
We were a good deal stared at, but not disagreeably, for
all the soldiers were on their best behaviour. At Khaila and
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110 THE HADHRAMOUT
Sief we had to Im tied up, airless, in our tents, as if we left
them open a minute when the crowd, tired of seeing nothing,,
had dispersed, and one person saw an opening, the whole
mnltitude surged round again, pressing in, shouting and
smeUing so bad that we regretted our folly in having tried
to get a little light and air. We saw among others a boy
who had a wound in his arm, and therefore had his nostrils
plugged up ; bad smells are said not to be so injurious as good
ones. Some women came and asked to see me, so I took
my chair and sat surrounded by them. They begged to see
my hands, so I took off my gloves and let them lift my
hands about from one sticky hand to another. They looked
wonderingly at them and said ' Meskin ' so often and so pity-
ingly that I am sure they thought I had leprosy all over.
Then they wished to see my head, and having taken off my
hat, my hair had to he taken down. They examined my
shoes, turned up my gaiters, stuck their fingers down my
ooUar, and wished to undress me, so I rose and said very
civilly, ' Peace to you, oh women, I am going to sleep now,'
and retired.
Arab girls before they enter the harem and take the veil
are a cnrioos sight to behold. Their bodies and faces are
dyed a bright yellow with turmeric ; on this ground they
paint black lines with antimony, over their eyes ; the fashion-
able colour for the nose is red ; green spots adorn the check,
and the general aspect is grotesque beyond description.
We stayed in bed really late next morning, till the sun
rose, and then prepared ourselves to be fetched,
■The two young wazirs, Salim-bin-Ali and Satim-bin-
Abdullah, cousins, came again at 7.30 with two extra horses,
which were ridden by my husband and Saleh, as Imam Sharif
stuck to the donkey which we named Mahsoud (Happy).
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THE CASTLE OF THE SULTAN OF SHIBAHM AT AL KOTON
DigmzedbyGoOgle
ubjGoOgIc
CHAPTER X
OUR SOJOURN AT KOTON
Like a fairy palace of the Arabian Nights, white as a
wedding cake, and with as many battlements and pinnacles,
with its windows painted red, the colour being made from
red sandstone, and its balustrades decorated with the
inevitable chevron pattern, the castle of Al Eoton rears its
battlemented towers above the neighbouring brown honaes
and expanse of palm groves ; behind it rise the steep red
rocks of the encircling mountains, the whole forming a
scene of Oriental beauty difBcolt to describe in words. This
lovely boilding, shining in the morning light against the
dark precipitous monntains, was pointed out to us as our
future abode. My horse, Basha, seemed to have come to
life again and enjoy galloping once more, for we had left
the servants, camels, &c. to fotlow.
As we approached /eux dejoie announced our arrival, and
at his gate stood Sultan SaUh to greet ns, clad in a long
robe of canary-colonred silk, and with a white silk turban
twisted around bis swarthy brow. He was a large, stout
man, negroid in type, for his mother was a slave, and aa
generous as he was large, to Arab and European alike.
He looked about fifty-Qve or sixty, but said his age was
' forty-five or forty.' At first, on being seated in his
reception-room, we were very cautious in speaking of our
plans, as we were surrounded with all sorts and conditions
of men.
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lia THE HADHRAMOUT
He placed at our disposal a room spread with Daghestan
carpets and cushions, furnished with two tables and three
chairs, and not a mouthful of our own food would he
allow us to touch, a hospitality which had its drawbacks,
for the Arab cuisine is not one suited to Western palates.
We were very glad of this hospitality at first as it would
give Matthaios a holiday, which he could devote to the
washing of clothes, water being so plentiful. I will describe
one day's meals, which were invariably the same. At eight
o'clock came several cups, all containing coffee and milk,
honey, eggs, hard boiled and peeled, and a large thin
leathery kind of bread made plain with water, and another
large thin kind made with gki, and like pastry.
About 2.30 came two bowls like slop-bowls, one contain-
ing bits of meat, vegetables, eggs and spices in sauce, under
about an inch of melted ghi, the other a kind of soup.
They were both quite different, but at the same time very
much alike, and the grease on the top kept them furiously
hot. There were little pieces of boiled lamb, and little pieces
of roast lamb ; tiny balls of roast meat and also of boiled ; a
mound of rice and a mound of dates ; and upon requesting
some water we were given one large glassful. Identically
the same meal came at 9.30, an hour when the bona-fide
traveller pines to be in his bed. These things were laid
on a very dirty coloured cotton cloth, but no plates or
knives, &c. were provided.
At several odd times through the day a slave walked in
and filled several cups of tea, a few for each of oa. The
cups were never washed by him.
After struggling for a few days, many of the party
having had recourse to the medicine-chest, we were at
length compelled humbly to crave his majesty to allow us to
employ our own cook. This he graciously permitted, and
during the three weeks we passed under his hospitable roof.
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OUR SOJOURN AT KOTON 113
our cook was daily supplied by the ' Bultanos ' — moat excellent
houaewivea we thought them — with everything we needed.
One of the most striking features of these Aiabian
palaces is the wood-carving. The doors are exquisitely
decorated with it, the supporting beams, and the windows,
which are adorned with fretwork instead of glass. The
dwelling-rooms are above, the ground floor being exclusively
used for merchandise and as stables and cattle stalls, and
the first floor for the domestic offices. The men-servants
lie abont in the passages. We lived on the second floor,
the two next stories were occupied by the sultan and
his family, and above was the terraced roof where the
family sleep during the summer heat. Every guest-room
has its coffee comer, provided with a carved oven, where the
grain is roasted and the water boiled ; around are hung old
china dishes for spices, brass trays for the caps, and fans to
keep off the flies ; also the carved censers, in which frank-
incense is burnt and handed round to the guests, ecbch one
of whom fumigates his garments with it before passing it
on. It is also customary to fumigate with frankincense a
tumbler before putting water into it, a process we did not
altogether relish, as it imparts a sickly Savour to the fluid.
We found the system of door-fastening in vogue a great
nuisance to us. The wooden locks were of the ' tumbler '
order. The keys were about 10 inches long, and composed
of a piece of curved wood : at one end were a number of
pegs stuck in irregularly, to correspond with a number of
the tumbling bolts which they were destined to raise. No
key would go in without a tremendous lot of shaking and
noisy rattling, and you always had to have your key with
you, for if you did not lock your door on leaving your room
there was nothing to prevent its swinging open ; and if you
were inside you must rise and unbolt it to admit each
person, and to bolt it behind him for the same reason.
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114 THE HADHRAMOUT
We got very friendly with Sultan Sal&h daring onr long
stay under his roof, and he woold come and sit for hours
together in our room and talk over hie afFairs. Little by
little he was told of all our Bufferinga by the way, and was
very angry. We also consulted him as to our plans, and
told him how badly Saleh was behaving.
We used sometimes to think of dismissing Saleh, but
thought him too dangerous to part with. It was better to
keep him under supervision, and leave him as much in the
dark as possible about our projects.
The snltan took special interest in our pursuits, con-
ducting us in person to archseological sites, and manifesting
a laudable desire to have his photograph taken. He assisted
both our botanist and naturalist in porsuing their inves-
tigations into the somewhat limited flora and fauna of his
dominions, and was told by Imam Sharif that his work
with the sextant was connected with keeping our watches
to correct time.
He would freely discourse, too, on bis own domestic
afFairs, giving as anything but a pleasing picture of Arab
harem life, which he described as ' a veritable hell.' When-
ever he saw me reading, working with my needle, or
' developing photographs, he would smile sadly, and contrast
my capabilities with those of his own wives, who, as he
expressed it, ' are unable to do anything but painting
themselves and quarrelling.' Poor Sultan Salfih has had
twelve wives in his day, and he assured us that their
dissensions and backbitings had made him grow old before
his time ; his looking so old must be put down to the cares
of polygamy. At Al Koton the sultan had at that time
only two properly acknowledged wives, whom he wisely
kept apart; his chief wife, or 'sultana,' was sister to the
sultan of Makalla, and the sultan of Makalla is married to
a daughter of Sultan Sal&h by another wife ; in this way
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OUK SOJOUEN AT KOTON 115
do Arabic lelationshipB get hopetessl; confused. The in-
fluence of the wife at AI Koton was conBiderable, and he
waa obviously in awe of her, so much eo that when he wanted
to visit his other wife he had to invent a story of pressing
business at Shibahm. ' Our wives,' said he one day, ' are
like servants, and try to get all they can out of us ; they
have no interest in their husband's property, as they know
they may be sent away at any time.' And in this remark
he seems to have properly hit off the chief evil of polygamy.
He also told us that, having got all they can from one
husband, they go off to a man that is richer, though how
they make these arrangements, if they stick to their veils,
is a myBtery to me.
Then again, he would continually lament over the fana-
ticism and folly of his fellow-countrymen, more especially
the priestly element, who systematically oppose all his
attempts at introducing improvements from civilised countries
into the Hadhramout. The seyyids and the mollahs dislike
him ; the former, who trace their descent from the daughter
of Mohammed, forming a sort of hierarchical nobility in
this district ; and on several occasions he has been publicly
cursed in the mosques as an unbeliever and friend of the
infidel. But Sultan Sal&b has money which he made in
India, and owns property in Bombay ; consequently he has
the most important weapon to wield that anyone can have
in a Semitic country.
The sultan told us a famous plan they have in this
country for making a fortune. Two Hadhrami set out for
India together, a father and son, or two brothers. They
collect enough money before starting to buy a very fine suit
of clothes each, and to start trade in a small way. They
then increase the business by credit, and when they have
got enough of other people's money into their hands, one
departs with it to the inaccessible Hadhramout, while the
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116 THE HADHRAMOUT
other wftits to heax of his safe arriTsl, and then he goes
hankmpt and follows him.
Sultan Sal&h had not a high opinion of hie countrymen,
and told as several other tales that did not redound to their
credit.
' Before I went to India I was a rascal (harami) like these
men here,' he constantly asseverated, and his love for things
Indian and English is unbounded. 'If only the Indian
Govemment wonld send me a Mohammedan doctor here, I
would pay his expenses, and his influence, hoth political and
social, would be most beneficial to this country.' It is
certainly a great thing for England to have so firm a friend
in the centre of the narrow habitable district between Aden
and Maskat, which ought by rights to be ours, not that it is
a very profitable country to possess, but in the hands of
another power it might unpleasantly affect our road to India,
and in complying with this simple request of Sultan Sale's
an easy way is open to us for extending our infiuence in that
direction.
Likewise from a humane point of view, this suggestion
of Sultan SalUi's is of great value, for the inhabitants of the
Hadhramout are more hopelessly ignorant of things medical
than some of the savage tribes of Africa. Certain quacks
dwell in the towns, and profess to diagnose the ailments of
a Bedou woman by smelling one of her hairs brought by
her husband. For every pain, no matter where, they brand
the patient with a red-hot iron {kayya) ; to relieve a person
who has eaten too much fat, they will light a fire roond him
to melt it ; to heal a wound they will plug up the nostrils
of the sufferer, believing that certain scents are noxious to
the sore ; the pleasant scents being the most harmful. Iron
ponnded up by a blacksmith is also a medicine.
On an open sore they tie a sheet of iron, tin, or copper
with torn: holes in the comers for strings. We heard of the
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OUB SOJOUEN AT KOTON 117
curious case of a man who for a wager ate all the fat of a
sheep that was killed at a pilgrimage. He lay down to
Bleep under a shady tree and all the fat congealed in his
inside. The doctor ordered him to drink hot tea, while fires
were lit all arotind him, and thus he was cured and was
living in Shibahm when we were there.
We had a crowd of patients to treat whilst stationed
at Al Eoton, and I have entered quantities of quaint
experiences with these poor helpless invalids in my note-
book.
We had many an interesting stroll round the sultan's
gardens at Al Koton, and watched the cultivation of spices
and vegetables for the royal table, or rather floor; the
lucerne and clover for his cattle, the indigo and henna for
dyeing purposes, and the various kinds of grain. Bnt on the
cultivation of the date-palm the most attention is lavished ;
it was just then the season at which the female spathe has
to be fructified by the male pollen, and we were interested
in watching a man going round with an apron full of male
spathes. With these he climbed the stem of the female
palm, and with a knife cut open the bark which encircles
the female spathe, and as he shook the male pollen over it
he chanted in a low voice, ' May God make you grow and
be fruitful.' No portion of the palm is wasted in the
Hadhramont : with the leaves they thatch huts and make
fences, the date stones are ground into powder as food for
cattle, and they eat the nutty part which grows at the
bottom of the spathes, and which they called kottrzan. On
a journey a man requires nothing but a skin of dates, which
will last him for days, and, when we left. Sultan Sal4b gave
us three goat-skins filled with his best dates, and large tins
of delicious honey — for which the Hadhrfimout was celebrated
as far back a« Pliny's time ' — which be sent on camels to the
' Fliii7, >'i. 26, g 161 : ' Uellia ceiasque proventu.'
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118 THE HADHRAMOUT
coaat for us, as well aa a large inscribed stone that I now
have in my house.
Innamerable wella are dotted over this cultivated area,
the water from which is distributed over the fields before
sunrise and after sunset. The delicious creaking noise made
by heaving up the buckets greeted us every morning when
we woke, delicious because it betokened plenty of water : and
these early morning views were truly exquisite. A bright
crimson tinge would grftdually creep over the encircling
mount&ins, making the psrrts in shade of a rich purple hue,
against which the feathery palm-trees and whitewashed
caatlea stood out in strong contrast. All the animals
belonging to the sultan are stabled within the encircling
wall, and immediately beneath the palace windows ; the
horses' stable is in the open courtyard, where they are fed
with rich lucerne and dates when we should give com.
Here also reside the cows and bollocks, which are fed
every evening by women, who tie together bunches of
dried grass and make it appetising by mixing therewith
a few blades of fresh lucerne ; the sheep and the goats are
penned on another side, whilst the cocks and hens live in
and around the main drain. All is truly patriarchal in
character.
The sultan only possesses four horses, and one of these,
& large white mare, strangely enough came from the Cape
of Good Hope, vid Durban and Bombay. The sultan
of IVIakalla had three. The ' Arab courser ' lives faxther
north.
As for the soldiers, they sent, as if it were a matter of
course, for some money to buy tobacco and were given two
or three dollars each, and we gladly parted from them friends.
The sultan of Makalla had paid them for a fortnight's food,
and had written to Sultan Salah to pay what was owing.
My groom was dismissed also without bakshish : he was only
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OUR SOJOURN AT KOTON 119
a rough fellow takeo from the mud brick works at Makalla,
and my poor Basha would have fared ill if really dependent
on M'barrek for care. My entreaties alone saved him from
being publicly bastinadoed, as the sultan wished, when he
heard of all his rudeness and disobedience.
The sultan was most anxious to arrange for onr onward
journey, and wrote seven letters to different sheikhs and
sultans, and sent them to us to read, but we could not
read them ourselves, and would not let Saleh, so we were
none the wiser. The sultans of Siwoun and Terim are
brothers, of the Kattiri tribe, but have no real authority
outside their towns. We were anxious to proceed along the
Hadhramout valley and to reach the tomb of the prophet
Houd. The sultan also went to Shibahm to meet some of
the arbiters of our fate, and the sultan of Siwoun agreed to
let us pass : but others said we had five hundred camels
loaded with arms, and all sorts of other fables, and they all
quarrelled dreadfully about us, so the sultan returned to Al
Koton to await replies to his letters.
The day the sultan was absent, the women were deter-
mined to have a little enjoyment from our presence them-
selves, so a great many servants came bringing the sultan's
ten-year-old daughter Sheikha, a rather pretty little girl, with
long earrings all round her ears, which, like all the other
women's, hang forward like fringed bells. An uneven number
is always worn, and a good set consists of twenty-three.
They are rings about two inches in diameter, with long drops
attached. Her face was painted with large dots, stripes, and
patterns of various colours, and she had thick antimony
round the eyes. Her neck, arms, and shoulders were yellow,
and her hands painted plain black inside and in a pattern
like a lace mitten on the back, the nails being red with
henna.
I was also asked to pay a visit to the ladies, I went
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120 THE HADHEAMOUT
apstairs. Every floor is like a flat, with its bath-room
containing a htige vase called hazhah, and the hath ia taken
hy pouring over the person, from a smaller utensil, water
which runs away down drain-holes to the wooden spouts.
I found myself in some very narrow passages, among a
quantity of not over-clean women, who all seized me by
the shoulders, passing me on from one to the other till I
reached a very large carpeted room, with pillows round it,
some very large looking-glasses and a chandelier.
I advanced across the room amid loud exclamations from
,J,he seated ladies, and was pointed out a position in front of
the two principal ones, who were seated against the wall —
one was the chief wife of the sultan, and the other a
daughter married to a seyyid, whose hand his father-in-law
must always kiss. He is a very disagreeable-looking man,
who was much offended because Imam Sharif would neither
kiss his hand, being a seyyid himself, nor let his own
be kissed. I squatted down, and round me soon squatted
many more ladies — they were certainly not beautiful, hut
one, who was nesjest to me and seemed to he my guardian
or showman, had a very nice, kind, clever face. Her lips
were not so large as most.
We seemed all to be presided over, as we literally were,
by a kind of confidential maid, who sat on the little raised
hearth in the comer, amongst all the implements for the
making of coffee and burning of incense, chanting constantly ;
' Salek alleh Mohammed ' and something more, of which I
can only remember that it was about the faith. Sometimes
she was quiet a little, and then, above all the din, she raised her
shout, accompanying it with an occasional single loud blow
with a stone pestle and mortar. There was no difficulty
about seeing the gold anklets the ladies wore, for their
clothes, as they sat, were well above their knees. Their
feet were painted like fanciful black slippers with lace edges.
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OUR SOJOURN AT KOTON 121
Their esammation of me was very searching, even reaching
smelling point, and I feel sure I was being exorcised, for so
much was being said about Mohammed. At last tm old
lady said to me, ' There is no god but God ! ' with which
I agreed, and mormurs of satisfaction went round, while
ehe nodded her head triumphantly. Later on she pointed
to the ceiling, and asked if I considered this was the
direction in which Allah dwells, and seemed glad when I
agreed. Of course no infidel would, she thought.
Presently the woman who had prepared the frankincense
brought it down in a small chafing dish, continuing the
same chant and handing it round. I wondered if I should
be left out, or left till the last, but neither happened, and
when my turn came, like the rest, I held my head and
hands over the fmnes, and we were all fumigated inside our
garments. I may have been partaking in some unholy rite,
but my ignorance will be my excuse, I hope.
I was then told I might go, which I was glad of, as I
had been afraid to offend them by going too soon. I was
asked, as I left, if I should like to see their jewellery ; of
course I said ' Yes,' and had hardly got home and recovered
from the deafening row, when I was fetched again.
There were crowds more women of all classes, clean and
dirty, and as they came trooping in to see me, the room
seemed to resomid with the twittering sound of their kisses,
for the incoming visitor kissed the sitter's hand, while the
sitter kissed her own, and there was kissing of foreheads
besides.
Numerous little baskets were brought in with immense
quantities of gold ornaments, some very heavy, bnt with
few gems in them — absolutely none of value. They consisted
of coral, onyx, a few bad turquoises, crooked pearls, and
many false stones. Everything was of Indian work,
Sheikha came in in a silk dress with a tremendous, mnch-
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122 THE HADHRAMOUT
alloyed eiivei girdle, and loaded with chaina and braceletB of
all sorts, clanking aad clsBhing as she came.
We had very good coffee with ginger and clovea in it,
and at this time there was a very great deal of religious
conversation and argument, and ae they were exciting
themselves I thought I would go, for I did not feel very
comfortable; but the chief lady said to me, in a very
threatening and dictatorial voice :
' La illaha il Allah t Mohammed resoul Allah.' I looked
a« much like an idiot as I could, and pretended neither to
notice nor understand, bnt I wa.B patted and shaken up by
all that were near-enough neighbours to do bo, and desired
to look at that lady.
Again she said ' La illaha il Allah ' in the same tone,
and I was told I must repeat it. So she said the first part
again in a firm tone, and I cheerfully repeated after her,
' There is no god but God.'
Then she continued, ' Mohammed is his prophet.' I
remained dumb. Then the name of Issa (Jesus) went round,
and I bowed my head.
The coflfee woman then called out, ' Issa was a prophet
before Mohammed.'
They then asked me if Issa was my prophet. I could
only say that He is, for my Arabic would not allow of a
further profession of my faith.
I gladly departed and gave Sheikha afterwards two
sovereigns for her necklace.
They said they would show me their clothes, but they
never did. I have described the shape of these dresses, bat
I omitted to say that they are gaily trimmed with a kind of
ribbon about two inches wide, made of little square bits of
coloured silks and cottons sewn together. This is put round
the armholes, over the shoulder, and down to the hem of the
garment over the seam, where a curious gusset or gore runs
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OUB SOJOUEN AT KOTON 123
from the front part to the comer of the train. The dreBB is
trimmed roond the neck, which is cut sgnare and rather
low, and generally hangB off one shoulder, and, acroBS the
breaat it is much embroidered, beads and spangles being
sometimes introduced. These women seem to live in a
perpetual noise : they gurgled loudly when we arrived, and
we could always hear them playing the tambourine.
Tiny girla wear, as their only garment, a fringe of plaits
as in Nubia, and their heads are shaven in grotesque
patterns, or their hair done in email plaits. Boys have
their heads shaven also, all except locks of long hair dotted
about in odd places. I never saw such dreadful objects as
the women make of themselves by painting their faces.
When they hft their veils one would hardly think them
human. I saw eyes painted to resemble blue and red fish,
with their heads pointing to the girl's nose. The upper
part of the face was yellow, the lower green with small
black spots, a green stripe down the nose, the nostrils hke
two red cherries, the paint being shiny. Three red stripes
were on the forehead, and there was a red moustache, there
being also green stripes on the yellow cheeks.
There was a delightful, tiny room on the roof, just a
little place to take and make coffee in, and we were allowed
to clamber np to this, but not without calling a slave and
assuring ourselves that there was no danger of my husband
meeting any of the ladies, for it commanded the roof, to
which we had not access. We liked going up there very
much, for the views were splendid, and we could see down
into the moFque, which is built like cloisters, open in the
middle. I took some photographs from there, and also,
with the greatest difficulty, managed to get one of the room
itself by tying my camera, without its legs, of course, with
a rope to the outside of the fretwork frame of the little
window, which was on a level with the floor. It was hard
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124 THE HADHRAMOUT
work not to be in the way myself, as I had to put both arma
out of the next window to take out the slides, and to guess
at the focus.
The sultan, though his Hindustani was getting a trifle
rusty, said he greatly liked the company of Imam Sharif,
whose uncle had in some way befriended him in India.
Intelligent converaation he had not enjoyed for a long time.
He was certainly a httle scandalised at Imam Sharif's lax
ways in religion, for he was one day sitting without his
turban when some coffee was brought. The sultan put his
hands up to cover Imam Sharif's head, saying :
' My brother, you are drinking with a hare head, and
this is contrary to the Koran.' The same remark was often
made in camp by people who looked into his tent. They
said, ' Look ! he is a Christian, his head is bare.' At the
same time no one thought anything of the Bedouin's bare
heads.
During this period of uncertainty we made several little
explorations of the surrounding valleys.
One day we started out with the sultan, who had on
his long coat, which made him look like a huge, sulphur-
coloured canary. It was lined vrith light blue. He, my
husband, Saleh, and a groom rode the four horses ; Imam
Sharif and I had our Basha and Mahsoud, and a camel most
smartly decorated carried the Wazir Salim-bin-Abdullah
and a soldier ; other soldiers followed on foot. We went about
five miles to Al Agran to see some ruins perched on a rock
beneath the high wall of the plateau, prettily situated with
palms, gardens, and wells. The ruins, which are those of
a well-built fortress, consist of little more than the founda-
tion, but all embedded in modem houses, so that excavations
would he impossible. It must once have been a place of
considerable importance. There was a scrap of very well
cut ornament, which looked as if it might have belonged
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THE CASTLE OF THE SULTAN OF MAKALLA AT SHIBAHM
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OUR SOJOURN AT KOTON 125
to B. temple. It was from Al Agran or Algran that we
obtained a stone with a spout to it, with rather a long
SabEBan inscription on it, a dedication to the god Sayan,
known to have been worshipped in the Hadhramont, We
were given coffee in a very dirty room, which we were all
the time longing to tear down that we might dig under it.
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THE HADHRAMOUT
CHAPTER XI
THE WABI SER AND EABB SALEH
On January 17 we started from Al Koton with only seven
oi our camels and two of the snltan's packed with forage,
to be away several days. The sultan wished to lend his
horses, bat my hasband refused. However, he had to ride
one, a grey, for fear of giving ofEence, and this was given to
him as a present afterwards, and he rode it whenever the
rocks allowed till we reached the coast. "We eventually
sent this horse, Znbda (butter), and my Basba back to their
respective donors, though they really expected us to take
them to Aden. We had two men of the Nahad tribe as
our siyara.
Oar start took a very long time, for the sultan, attended
by many people, came a mile on foot. We travelled four
hours and a half, partly through laud that would have been
cultivated had there been rain, and partly through salt
desert, till we turned north-west into the Wadi Ser, where
there is a sandy desert. From the entrance to Wadi Ser we
could see Shibahm in the distance, an unpromising looking
spot among sandhills. We were all able to find shelter at
Hanya under an enormous thorny Vdom tree covered with
fruit, and we felt like birds out of a cage, for we never could
walk out at AI Koton without a crowd, and the greasiness
and spiciness of the food was beginning to pall. We had
a delightful camp, but had to be very careful not to drop
things in the sand, as they so quickly disappeared. We
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THE WADI SER AND KABR SALEH 127
had a new man called Iselem, who was to take care of the
horses, pluck chickens, and help in pitching the camp. His
wonder at the unfolding and setting up of the beds, chairs,
&e., was great. There was also an old man called Haidar
Abonl. He and one of the soldiers could talk Hindustani,
so with Imam Sharif's help we were somewhat independent
of Saleh, though we had thought it necessary to bring him,
to keep him from working us harm.
We continued our way up the Wadi Ser for about five
hours and camped at Al Had in a field near a house, close
to some high banks which radiated intense heat, and suffered
the more that we bad to wait a long time for the tea that
we always had with our luncheon, as our water had been
stolen in the night. We always tried to save some to carry
on and start with next day, fearing we might fare worse
in the next place we came to.
The well at this spot is the last water in this direction,
for we were reaching the confines of the great central desert.
Wadi Ser, being such a waste of sand, is very sparsely popu-
lated. The Bedouin here, like the Turkomans, live in
scattered abodes, little groups of two or three houses dotted
about, and solitary homesteads. It belongs to the Kattiri
tribe, who are at war with the Yafei. They once owned
Sheher and Makalla and took Al Koton, but in a war in
1874 the Yafei were supported by the English ; hence theic
friendship for England. The animosity still continnes and
there is little intercourse between Siwoun and Shibahm,
though only twelve miles apart. The Kattiri have more of
the Bedou about them and the Yafei have more of the Arab.
Our siyar was twenty-five dollars.
The people were preparing for rain, which may never
come ; they had had none for two years, but if they get it
every three years they are satisfied, as they get a sufficient
crop. As it comes in torrenti? and with a rush, each field is
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128 THE HADHBAMOUT
provided with a dyke and a dam, which they cut to let the
water off. Thia dyke is made by a hig acraper, like a dust-
pan, called mia'hap, hamesHed by chains to a camel or
bullocka. The camel goes over the existing bank and when
the dustpan reacbea the summit the men in attendance
apset the aorface aand or soil, that has been scraped off, and
carry the scraper down. When thia is done the field is
lightly ploughed ; there is nothing more to do except to ait
and wait for rain. We aaw signs of great floods in some
parts.
Whenever we found ruins atill viaible in or near the
Hadhramont we found them on elevated spots above the
aand level, from which we may argue that all centres of
civilisation in the middle of the valleys lie deeply buried in
sand, which has come down in devastating masses from the
highland and the central desert. The nature of the sand
in this district is twofold. Firstly we have the loess
or firm sand, which can be cultivated ; and secondly the
disintegrated desert sand, which forms itself into heaps
and causea aandstorms when the wind is high.
The mountains diminish in height the farther north one
goes. The character of the valleys is pretty much the same
as that of those to the south of the main valley, only they
are narrower and much lower, and thus the deep indenture
of the valley system of the Hadhramont gradually fades
away into the vast expanae of the central deaert.
The wazir had been given a bog of money to buy fowls
and lambs for us, bat Saleh came and said, 'The wazir
wants some money for a lamb,' so it was sent and returned.
It had not been asked for and caused some offence, but that
odious little wretch only wished to make mischief.
The Bedouin are rather clever at impromptu verses, and
when we were in Wadi Ser they made night hideous by
dancing in our camp. The performers ranged themselves
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THE WADI SEE AND KABB SALEH 129
in two rows, as in Sir Boger de Coverley ; time is kept by a
dram and by perpetual hand-clappiDg and Etamping of the
feetr whilst two men execute elaborate capere in the centre,
singing as they do bo stich words as these : ' The ship has
come from Europe with merchandise; they shot at the
minaret with a thousand cannon.' Bedouin women also take
part in these dances, and the Arabs think the dances very
impions ; it was very weird by the light of the moon and
the camp-fire, but wearisome when we wanted to sleep,
particularly as they kept it up till after we were all astir in
the morning, yelling, bawling, singing, and screeching, Iselem
being the ringleader. The ground was shaken as if horses
were galloping about. A Bedou was playing a flute made
of two leg-bones of a crane bound together with iron.
At a distance of half an hour from our camp there is a
stone with an inscription. This was visited on the day of
our arrival, but we went again next day that X might photo-
graph it, very difficult in the position in which it is. It is a
great rough boulder about 10 feet high, that has slipped
down from the mountain, with large rough Sabfean letters just
punched on the surface, of no depth, but having a whitish
appearance. The letters run in every direction — sometimes
side by side, sometimeti in columns.
The central and most important word which my husband
was able to make out, with the help of Professor Ilommels'
admirable dictionary of hitherto ascertained Himyaritic
words, is Masabam or Caravan road. The stone seemed to
be a kind of sign-post ; for as the old Bedou sheikh who
was with us said, there was in olden days, about 500 years
ago, a caravan road this way to Mecca, before the Bahr-
Safi made it impassable. The Bahr-Safi is a quicksand,
north of Shabwa, but none of those present had been there,
and they all laughed at Yon Wrede's story of King Safi and
his army being engulfed in it.
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130 THE HADHBAMOUT
The Eedou sheikh with his retinue came to see that we
took no treasure out of the stone. There are a good many
old stones built into the side of the stream-bed. Having
taken a copy and a photograph, which my hasband sent
later to Dr. D. H. Miiller, in Vienna, to decipher, we departed.
We were told that the Wadi Ser goes four homrs from that
stone to the great desert.
We then tmried back and followed onr kafila to
Alagoom, at the jmiction of Wadi Ser and the Wadi Latat,
about two hours' journey. Alagoum is a large cluster of high
houses, surrounded by stables and houses excavated in the
sandhills, where the inhabitants and their cattle live in hot
weather. This is quite an idea suited to the Bedouin, who
live in caves, when they can find them. The Bedouin in
Southern Arabia never have tents.
Wefound that Saleh had joined the camel-men in resisting
our own people, who wanted to encamp under trees. They
had unloaded in the open and Saleh and Iselem had then
retired into the village till the tents were pitched, so, as
we were to remain in this place two days, we had them
moved. We had by this time some of the Eattiri tribe
with us as siyara.
At Al Garun the Wadi Ser is entered by a short col-
lateral valley called the Wadi Khonab, in which valley is the
tomb of the prophet Saleh, one of the principal sacred places
of the district. Kabr Saleh is equally venerated with the
£abr Houd, also called the tomb of the prophet Eber (for,
from what we could gather from the statements of intelligent
natives, Eber and Houd are synonymous terms) which is
to be found in the Tamimi country further up the main
valley.
The prophet Houd was sent to reclaim the tribe of Ad.
The Mahra tribe are descended from a remnant of the
Addites, as also are the Hadhrami, according to the legends.
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THE WADI 8EK AND KABK SALEH 131
Once a man named Kolabeh, when seeking for camels came
upon the beautiful garden of Irem-Dhatul-Imad, which is
supposed to have been in the desert near Aden ; he found
and brought away a priceless jewel which came into
possession of thefirat Ommiad Caliph Nourrijaht. Those who
embraced Islamism os the preaching of the prophet Houd
were spared, but the rest either were suffocated by a stifling
wind or survived in the form of apes, whose descendants
still inhabit Jebel Shemsban at Aden.
A remnant are also said to hare fled to the Kuria Muria
Islands.
We again met with considerable opposition from the
Bedouin and our escort when we proposed to visit the Kahr
Saleh next day. However, this was overcome by threats of
reporting the opposition to Saltan Salih on our return to
Al KotoiL So next morning we started. The sultan of
Shibahm's people were just as anxious to go as we were,
for they were delighted to get the chance of making this
pilgrimage to so holy a place, which being in an enemies'
country they could not have done but for our escort.
A short ride of two hours brought us nearly to the head of
the Wadi Khonab, and there, situated just under the cliff,
in an open wilderness, is the celebrated tomb. It consists
simply of a long uncovered pile of stones, somewhat
resembling a potato-pie, with a headstone at either end, and
a collection of fossils from the neighbouring mountains
arranged along the top. Hard by is a small house where
the pilgrims take their coffee, and the house of the Bedou
moUah, who looks after the tomb, is about a quarter of a mile
off. Beyond this there is no habitation in sight. A more
desolate spot could hardly be found. The tomb is from 30
to 40 feet in length, and one of the legends concerning it is
that it never is the same length, sometimes being a few feet
shorter, sometimes a few feet longer. The Bedouin have
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132 THE HADHRAMOUT
endless legends coDceming this prophet. He was a hnge
giant, they said, the father of the prophet Hond, or Eber ; he
created camels oat of the rock, and hence is especially dear
to the wandering Bedoa ; and he still works miracles, for if
even unwittingly anyone removes a stone from this grave, it
exhibits symptoms of life, and gives the possessor mnch
discomfort until it is returned. Once a domed building was
erected over the tomb, but the prophet manifested his
dislike of being thus inclosed and it was removed.
Men are said to go blind if they steal anything connected
with the tomb ; once a man took a cup from the cofTee-house,
unaware of the danger he incurred, tied it to his girdle, and
carried it off. It stuck to him till he restored it. Another
man took a stone away and gave it to his children to play
with, but it hopped about till taken back again.
At the time of the ziara or pilgrimage which takes
place in November, crowds of Bedouin, we were told, come
from all the valleys and hills around to worship. All our
men treated the grave with the greatest respect, and said
their prayers around it barefoot,
I do not know what they would have done to Imam
Sharif if he had not comported himself as the others did,
so that wretched man had to walk barefoot all round on the
sharp stones, and thus we obtained the meaBnrements. He
got dreadfully pricked by thorns and coveted the fossils very
much. The stones of which the tomb is composed are
about the size of cannon-balls, and look just as if newly put
together and quite weedlees. People stroke the upright
stone at the head and then rub their hands on their breast
and kiss them, and do the same at the foot. The wazir
would have led us up close to it, but the Bedouin hated
our being there at all, and would by no means let us sleep
there, as we wished to do. We overheard our horrid little
Saleh Hassan telling the bystanders that we live on pork.
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THE WADI SEB AND KABB SALEH 133
When we first got there, we were permitted to approach
within a few yards of the tomh, so that we saw it very
distinctly ; hot when, after eating our luncheon, and taking
a siesta under a tree, we again advanced to inspect it, the
Bedoa mollah attacked us with fierce and opprobrious
language, and, fearing further to arouse the fanaticism of
these wild people, we speedily mounted our horses and rode
away.
We hoped to be able to visit Eabr Houd, the tomb of
Nebi Saleh's sod, in the main valley, hut, as it will appear,
we were to be disappointed. I am told, on reliable Arab
authority, that it is similar in every way to the Kabr Saleh
— just a long pile of stones, about 40 feet in length,
uncovered, and with its adjacent mosque. These two
primitive tombs of their legendary prophets, zealously
guarded and venerated by the Bedouin, are a peculiar and
interesting feature of the Hadhramout. It is a curious fact
that when one turns to the tenth chapter of Genesis (the
best record we have of the earliest populations of our globe)
we find the patriarchal names Salah, Eber, and Hazarmaveth
(which last, as I previously stated, corresponds to Hadhra-
mout) following one another in their order, though not in
immediate sequence. I am at a loss to account for these
names being still venerated by the Bedouin, unless one admits
a continuity of legendary history almost too wonderful to
contemplate, or else one mnst consider that they were heathen
sites of veneration, which have, under Moslem influence, been
endowed with orthodox names. Certain it is that these
tombs in the midst of the wilderness are pecuUarly the
property of the Bedouin, and, though visited, and to a certain
extent venerated, by the Arabs, the latter do not attach so
much importance to them as they do to the tombs of their
own walis or saints, which are always covered tombs, near
or in the centre of the towns. Another curious point I may
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134 THE HADHRAMOUT
mentioD in connection with these tombs is that the Arab
historian, Yaqut, in his ' Mu'gam,' ' tells us of a god in the
Hadhramout, called Al Galsad, who was a gigantic man ;
perhaps this god may have some comiection with the giant
tombsof Saleh and Eber. AIsoMakrisi, who wrote in the tenth
century, A.D., speaks of a giant's grave he saw near Shabwa.
Near Al Agoam we saw a quantity of very ancient atone
monuments, situated on slightly elevated ground, above the
sand. At first we imagined them to be tombs, but on closer
inspection we discovered that the erections, which are large
anhewn ones of the cromlech type, are decorated inside with
geometric patterns somewhat similar to those we found in the
Mashonaland ruins, and therefore my husband was more
inclined to believe they were originally nsed for religious
purposes. There are traces of letters above the pattern.
The buildings are about 20 feet square and several are
surrounded by circular walls. They are apparently of extreme
antiquity, and doubtless far anterior in date to any other
Himyaritic remains that we saw in the Hadhramout.
The wazir joined us as usual on our return from Kabr
Saleh, as we sat outside our tent in the moonlight with Imam
Sharif and the Indian interpreters, and we had a pleasant
evening. We were perfectly charmed to see great prepara-
tions for sleep going on among the Bedouin. We thought
they really must be tired after dancing the whole night and
walking the whole day. They were busy putting themselves
to bed in graves which they dug in the loose dust, not sand ;
turbans, girdles, and so forth being turned into bedclothes.
Just as they were still Iselem began capering about and
they all got up shouting and screaming, but the wazir, see-
ing my distress, with the greatest difficulty quieted them, as
he did when they broke out again at three o'clock in the
morning.
> U., lOD.
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THE WADI SEB AND KABB SALEH 135
It took as BIX hooTB the following day to ride back to
Al Koton, where, not being expected, we could not get a
nieal of even bread, honey, and dates for about an hour and a
half, and then had to wait till we were very sleepy indeed for
supper. We endured great hunger that day.
Salim-bin-Ali, the other wazir, had not come with us
because he was not well. The day of our reception, in
curvetting about, he fell from hia horse and had suffered
various pains ever since.
The sultan had had another stone brought for us from
Al Gran ; we did not care to take this away as it had very
little writing on it, only H S h 1 ^ <a! amin, to the pro-
tection). It is circular, 1 foot 4i inches in diameter, 2J
inches high, made of coarse marble. We saw a similar
circular stone at Baidoun.
The wildest reports were going about as to the water-
stone we already had. It was almost the cause of an in-
surrection against the saltan of Sbibahm. They said 'It
was very wrong to give that stone to a " gavir " ' — as they call
us (for all the k's are pronomiced g) — 'only think of our
carelessly letting bim have it. The Englishman has taken
fifteen jewels of gold and gems out of it,' and named a high
value.
' Yoa are sure of this ? ' said the sultan to the ring-
leader.
' Oh, yes I quite certain ! ' he said.
So the saltan led him to our room, where the stone was,
and said :
' Do you know the stone again ? Look closely at it. Has
anything happened to it but a washing? '
The man looked extremely small. They said my
husband's only business was to extract gold from stones.
It is extraordinary how widespread this belief is. It is
firmly rooted in Greece. Many a statue and inscription has
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136 THE HADHRAMOUT
been shivered to atoms because of it, and onr interest in
inacriptioDs was constantly attributed to a wish to find out
treasure. We once saw two men in Asia Minor iudnetrionsly
boring away into a column — to End gold they told us. They
already had made a hole about 8 inches deep and 4 or 5 inches
wide. They think that the ancients had a way of softening
marble with acid.
We had again at this time a great many patients ; for, as
we really had effected some cures the first time we were at
Al Koton, our fame had spread. We always had Matthaios
and Imam Sharif to help us to elicit the symptoms, and also
to consult with as to the cures, because some remedies which
suit Europeans were by no means suited to the circumstances
of our patients. For instance, the worst coughs I ever heard
were very prevalent, hut it would be useless to ask the sick to
take a hot footbath and stay in bed. The one blue garment,
which in different shapes was all the men and women wore,
was little protection from the chill of the evening. The
women's dresses were always hanging off their backs ; and
the men, who bad each two pieces of thick blue cotton
about 2 yards long by 1^ yard wide, with fringes half a
yard long, wore one as a permanent petticoat and the other
as a girdle by day and when cold as a shawl, often put on in
a very tmcomfortable way — thrown on in front and left
hanging open behind — forming no protection to the back
of the lungs.
The poor little baby, aged fifteen months, of the Wazir
Silim-bin-AbdulIah was brought shrieking in agony, gnaw-
ing hard at its emaciated little arms, and all covered with
sores. Our hearts were wrong at this wretched sight and
we longed to help ; we even thought of giving it part of a
drop of chlorodyne much dilated, but, fortunately for ns,
dared not do so, for my bushand said to them, ' I do not
think the child will live long.' It mercifully was released in
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THE WADI SEE AND KABB SALEH 137
a few hours. Then an old man came who ' had a flame in
his inside.' My buBband examined him and decided that he
had an abscesB, and, to please him, gave him a deEsertspoonful
of horax and honey, which he swept up with his finger, and I
suppose it did relieve him, for after some minutes he said :
' The fire is gone out,'
It grieved us sorely when poor souls came to us so hope-
fully and 80 confident of help, with a withered arm or an
empty eye-socket. Some with less seriouB complaints than
these last we recommended to go to Aden hospital, a build-
ing of which we never thought at that time we should be
inmates ourselves. We found the ladies, to whom a plentiful
supply of violent pills had been administered, were better, but
the sultan, who had an attack of indigestion, had to be taken
in band at once by us doctors. His wife required a tonic, so
we got out some citrate of iron and quinine, a bright, shiny,
greenish-yellow, flaky thing, which Imam ShEirif assured
us would be more beneficial and better liked if shown and
admired as gold ; so after some conversation about pious
frauds, I packed the medicine up neatly and wrote in orna-
mental letters ' Qolden Health Giver,' and this name being
explained and translated gave great satisfaction. We were
gtad to be able to give the kind sultan a new bottle of quinine
— more acceptable than gold.
While we were away Mahmoud had found two little
hedgehogs. One was dead and stuffed ; the other we kept
alive for some time and it always hked to creep into my
clothes and go to steep — I suppose because I never teased
it. In the little book of directions for zoological collectors
we saw that ' httle is known of the reproduction of lizards,
so special attention is to be paid,' &c. Mahmoud had
brought me two httle fragile eggs to keep, about half an inch
long, and I had put them in a match-box with tow and
packed them in my trunk, and on my return to Al Koton I
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138. THE HADHBAMOUT
found two little lizards about 1^ inch long, one alive and
the other dead. Both had to he pickled, ae we did not
undetstand how to hring eo email a lizard up hy hand.
They proved to be new to science, as was alao a large lizard
we had found near Haura, whose peculiarity is that be has no
holes along his legs to breathe by, like other hzards. His
name is Aporosceles Bentii. The first lizard's egg I had I
was determined should not slip through my fingers; bat
alack I and well-a-day I my fingers shpped through it.
In the meantime we were terrible bones of contention,
and had the Wadi Hadhramout all by the ears. We were
very anxious indeed as to whether we could proceed any farther
or should have to go back, and whether we could do either
safely. We wanted to go right along the Wadi Hadhramout
and to see Bir Borhut or Barabout, a solfatare as far as we
could moke out, but Masoudi in the tenth century speaks of
it as the greatest volcano in the world, and says that it casts
up immense masses of fire and that its thundering noise can
be beard miles away. On the heights near is much brim-
stone, which the Bedouin find useful for gunpowder. They
consider this place ia the mouth of hell and that the souls
of Kafirs go there. In Iceland there is similar accommodation
for those souls. Von Wrede thinks it was the Pons Stygis
of Ptolemy, but M. de Goeje thinks that Ptolemy alluded to
some place farther west and south of Mareb. Certainly the
position given by Ptolemy does not coincide with that of
Bir Borhut.
From ' Arabian Society in the Middle Ages,' by S. Lane-
Poole, I take the following notices of this place : —
El Kaswini says of Bir Borhut : ' It is a well near
Hadhramout and the Prophet (Grod bless and save him) said
" In it are the sotils of infidels and hypocrites." It is an
Addite well in a dry desert and a gloomy valley, and it is
related of Ali (may God be well pleased with him) that he
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THE WADI SER AND KABE SALEH 139
said, " The most hateful of districts to God (whose name be
exalted) is the valley of Barahout, in which is a well whose
waters are black and fcetid, where the aouls of infidels make
their abode." '
El Asma! has narrated of a man of Hadhramont that he
said : ' We find near Barahont an extremely disgusting and
fcetid smell, and then news is brought to us of the death of
a great man of the chiefs of the infidels.'
Ajalb el MakhloukJit also relates that a man who passed
a night in the valley of Barahout said : ' I heard all night
{exclamatives) of " O Boum^h ! 0 Boum^h ! " and I men-
tioned this to a learned man and he told me that it was the
name of the angel commissioned to keep guard over the
souls of the infidels.'
Bir Borhut is not far from Kabc Houd, which is said by
some to be even longer and wider than £abr Saleh. The
route lies through the territory of the Kattiri, and the Yafei
are quite ignorant of it ; it would be quite unsafe for them to
go to the sea along the valley, and they always use the road
over the tableland. The Kattiri tyrannise over the sultan of
Siwoun and are enemies to the sultan of Shibahm ; beyond
them are the Minhali, who are also enemies ; then the Amii
and the Tamimi, who are friendly, and then come the Mabri.
The sultan told us that not even he could prevent us going
along the kafila path, but we should not be admitted into
any villages and should probably be denied water. One
source of enmity between the Kattiri and the Yafei is, I
believe, a debt which the Kattiri owe and will not pay.
The sultan of Siwoun borrowed three lacs of rupees from
the grandfather of the present sultan of Makalla ; he would
not repay them, so after much squabbling the case was
referred to the English at Aden, who, after duly considering
the papers, gave Makalla and Sbeher (bombarding them first)
to the Yafei.
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140 THE HADHSAMOUT
In answer to the seven letters there was nothing from
the Bultan of Siwoun, and the saltan of Terim sent a verbal
answer — ' Do as yoo please,' taking no responsibility — to
which Sultan Salih replied, ' I have sent yon a letter, send
me a letter.' The sheikh of the Kattiri tribe came to Al
Koton and said he wonld take us, but on January 23 we
heard that the sultan of Siwoun had made a proclamation
in the mosque there, forbidding the people to admit the
unbelievers to the town. Though we could easily go by the
kafila road, leaving the town of Siwoun two miles on one
side, the sultan deemed it wiser for ns not to attempt it, as
brawls might arise, the two tribes being at war ; so we then
decided to mount on to the akaba, pass the inhospitable
Siwoun and Terim, and reach the friendly Tamimi tribe.
The Kattiri kabila, or tribe, really came to Siwoun to be
ready for us, but the aeyyids had collected a large sum of
money and bribed the sultan to send them away.
We were hoping to get off to Shibahm, but as the sultan
was neither well nor in a very good humour, we had to
resign ourselves to settling down in Al Koton in all patience.
He said he must accompany us, as he could not depend on
his wazira for they were too stnpid.
My husband and I were always occopied. He used to
sketch in water-colours, and I had plenty of work developing
photographs in a dehghtful little dark room, where I lived
and enjoyed as many skins of water as I could use, till I had
to stop and pack my celloloid negatives like artificial flowers,
for they cnrled up and the films contracted and split, from
the alkaline water. I had to put glycerine on them when I
reached Aden. Our botanist nearly died of dulness and im<
patience ; Mahmoud was quite contented to sit quite still,
and I do not think the Indian servants minded much. Poor
Imam Sharif used to gaze up at half a dozen stars from a
yard, but he dared not venture on the roof to see mote.
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THE WADI SEE AND KABE SALEH 141
We took a stroll with the snltan one day, no crowd being
allowed, and remarked how many things were grown for
spices, those spices which were becoming rather wearisome
to as. There was zamouta, an umbelliferoas plant, the seed
of which is used in coffee, and habat-assoba for pntting in
bread ; coriander, chili, fennel, and keif, a plant very like tall
cress, which is used in cookery and also raw, and which we
liked as a salad ; also attar, a pnrple creeping bean, very
pretty and good to eat. There was also another low-
growing bean, brinjol (egg plant), cucnmber, water-melon,
henna, and indigo. The snltan has besides a private
inclosm:e where be has some lime-trees, not onr kind of
lime-tree of course, bnt the one which bears fruit ; and I
must not forget cotton, from which the place originally took
its name, as it is abundant in a wild state.
At last another polite letter came from the Eattiri, and
a letter from the sultan of Terim. ' I have both your letters
and you, can do as you like, my answer is the same.' This
did away with all hope of progress in that direction.
Our spirits, however, were mnch cheered by heB.ring that
the sultan had received a letter from a seyyid at Meshed
(probably the nice one who had been in India and had
leprosy in his legs), telling him bow very badly the sultan
of Hagarein had behaved about us. As this was spon-
taneous, we hoped that the negotiation our snltan was going
to undertake abont onr making excavations at Meshed,
Kaidoun, or Eubar al Moluk (for some part of the ruins is
called Tombs of the Kings), would turn out successfully.
The sultan of Hagarein was summoned to Al Eoton, but
we were away before he came. I believe in the end he was
turned out of his place, former misdeeds counting against
him.
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THE HADHRAMOUT
CHAPTER XII
THE CITY OF SHIBAHM
On January 25 we atarted for Shibahm, carpets having been
Bent forward the day before. The sultan was to follow ub
in a day or two, when Bome sheikhB had been to see him.
"We atarted at 8.30 and were at Shibahm in four hours. We
had eleven camels only, three horses, and the donkey. We
travelled, as Boon as we left Al Koton, through sand nearly
all the way. We passed the tall white dome of Sheikh
Aboubekr-bin-Hassan's tomb, near which the ruling family
are buried if the seyyids permit. They are all-powerful, and
the sultan can do nothing in this respect without them —
not even be buried in his own family tomb. There is a well
beBide the tomb, or rather the kind of building from which
water is obtained in the open valleys. This consists of a
small white building 8 or 9 feet square, with a dome resting
on an open pattern composed of a herring-bone course of
bricks; a little wooden ladle, 4 or 5 inches wide, stands
in one of the little openings to dip out the water, which
would otherwise evaporate. They drink out of the ladle,
and fill the water-skins and the drinking trough for animals,
which stands always near. They would never let us drink
from the ladles.
As we nsared Shibahm we passed through a good deal of
ground that had once been irrigated, but it had had its ups
and downs, and was now abandoned. First there had been
plenty of soil and the palm-trees were planted in it. Then
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THE CITY OF SHIBAHM li3
the wind had denuded the roots, some of which had been
banked ap and walled in with stones ; others were standing
on bare roots, but at this time the sand was burying the
whole place. There were high drifts against many of the
walls and among the trees.
Shibahm is twelve miles distant from Al Koton, and is
one of the principal towns in the Hadhramout valley. It is
built on rising ground in the middle of the narrowest part
of the valley, so that no one can pass between it and the
cliffs of the valley out of gunshot of the walls. This rising
ground has doubtless been produced by many successions of
towns built of sun-dried bricks, for it is the best strategical
point in the neighbourhood.
Early Arab writers tell us that the Himyaritic population
of this district came here when they abandoned Shabwa,
early in the Christian era. We succeeded, however, in find-
ing evident traces of an occupation of earlier date than this,
both in a seal, which is described further on, and in an
inscription in which the name Shibahm occurs, and which
certainly dates from the third century B.C. Even if Shibahm
were not the site of the original capital it must always,
centuries before our era, have been a place of considerable
importance as the centre of the frankincense trade, for here
must have been made up the caravans which brought the
Bpices westward by the great frankincense road across
Arabia. The caravans take twenty-five days on the journey
to Saihut, and five to Makalla ; they go also to Nejd, but we
could not find out how long they take.
Shibahm is now the property of the sultan of Makalla,
but was administered by his cousin Sal&h, who received
40,000 mpees s year for the purpose. It is now three
hundred years since these Yafei left their old home and
came to settle in the Hadhramout. They were then a wild
predatory race, plundering caravans ; now they have become
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144 THE HADHRAMOUT
peaceable and rich. They still remain close friends with the
Yafei farther west, but are quite independent of them. It
is the maintenance of a residence for the Nizam of Hyder-
abad, and their constant communication with India, that has
doubtless made all the difference between the Yafei tribe
and others. Building seems to have been their mania.
The sultan of Shibahm has numbers of houses at Al Koton
and Shibahm, and he was intending to spend 20,000 rupees
in rebuilding hia father's house, for the castle at Al Koton
is not his own but G-ovemment property, and the strip of
land across the valley, part of it sandy, goes with it. He
was buying up land for himself in the Wadi Al Ain and
elsewhere. He told us his father left eleven million rupees
to divide among his numerous progeny.
Belationships in that family must be a trifle confused.
Manassar of Makalla haid married two sisters (both now
dead) of his cousin Sal&h. Sal&h had married two of Ma-
nassar's sisters. A daughter of Sal&h's married Manassar,
and another of them was married to one of Manassar's sons,
and Manassar's brother Hussein of Sheher married, or was
married to, a third daughter of Sal&h. Apparently the same
complications existed in the generation before this, but into
them it is impossible to go. As in India, the favourite
marriage that a man can make is to marry his 'uncle's
daughter.' Possibly the fact that property goes from
brother to brother till a whole generation is dead, instead of
from father to son, has something to do with this arrange-
ment.
The town of Shibahm offers a curious appearance as one
approaches ; above its mud brick walls, with bastions and
watch towers, appear the tall houses of the wealthy, white-
washed only at the top, which make it look like a large
round cake with sugar on it. Outside the walls several
industries are carried on, the chief of which is the manufac-
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D,„u„ab,GoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
THE CITY OF SHIBAHM 145
tare of indigo dye. The smsll leaves are dried in the stm
and powdered, and then pnt into huge jars and Jilied with
water. Next morning these are stirred with long poles,
producing a dark-bine frothy mixture ; this is left to settla,
and then the indigo is taken from the bottom and spread
oat on cloths to drain ; the aubstance thus procured is taken
home and mixed with dates and saltpetre. Four pounds
of this indigo to a gallon of water makes the requisite and
uniTeraally nsed dye for garments, the better class of which
ate calendered by beating them with wooden hammers on
stones. This noise was a great mystery to us till we traced
our way to it and found out what it was. They used also
to beat the dried leaf of a kind of acacia called kharrad, and,
when pounded, make of it a paste which has a beautiful pea*
green appearance ; it is used for giving a polish to leather.
Another indn&try carried on outside Shibahm is rope-
making out of the fibres of the fan palm (saap) which grows
wild in the narrower valleys ; the leaves are first left to soak
in water, and then beaten till the fibres separate. Yet
another is that of making lime for whitewash kilns — it is
curious to watch the Bedouin beating the lime thus pro-
duced with long sticks, singing quaint little ditties as they
thump, in pleasant harmony to the beating of their sticks.
We entered the town by some very sloping steps, which
led through the gateway, passing some wells and the indigo
dyers outside ; also some horrible pools where they had put
the little fish that the camels eat, to drain the oil from them.
We entered a sort of square, having the castle on the right-
hand side and a mined mc»qne in front of us. This huge
castle was built by the grandfather of the Sultan Manassar,
sultan of Makalla, but, ovring to some difference about
hia wives, he left the two topmost stories unfinished.
No one lives in it, so we had the whole of this immense pile
of buildings to ourselves. It belongs to Mauasaar. It is
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146 THE HADHRAMOTJT
larger than Al Koton by far, and that is also exceeded
in Btze by Hanra. It is a most imposiDg stnicture and
much more florid than the others. The gateway is a
maeterpiece of carving in intricate patterns. On entering
this yon tarn sharp to the right up a shallow staircase, pro-
tected from without, but exposed to fire from the inmates of
the castle. The pillars in the lofty rooms are beantifulty
carved. All the windows are filled with pretty fretwork ;
bolts, doors, and window frames are also carved. The huge
doors are carved on one side only, the outer one, and inside
they are rough and ill-grained and splashed with white-
wash. There are pretty dado patterns round the walls ;
and the staircase, as in the other castles, has nmnerous
doors for defence, usually put in the middle of the flights.
Shooting-holes are in every direction. We estabUsbed
ourselves in a room about 30 feet by 25 feet, and used
to go up and dine in one of the unfinished rooms at the top
where there was a little bit of roof and where the cooking
was done. We generally thought it wise to dine in oar
grill-room, in order to have our food hot. We all greatly
enjoyed the works of our own cooks, provisions being
supplied to ns.
We overlooked a huge puddle into which the surround-
ing houses drain, and it is a proof of the scarcity of water
in this part of Arabia, that they carefully carry this filthy
fluid away in skins to make bricks with, even scraping up
the remaining drops in the pool with their hands. In fact,
it scarcely ever rains in the Hadhramout.
From the roof of our lofty castle we had an excellent
view straight down the broad Hadhramout valley, dotted with
towns, villages, palm groves, and cultivation for fully thirty
miles, embracing the two towns of Siwoun and Terim, ruled
over by the two brother sultans of the Kattiri tribe, Close
to Shibahm several collateral valleys from north and south
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THE CITY OP SHIEAHM 147
faJl into the Hadhramout, and a glance at the map made by
our chartographei, Imam Sharif, Khan Bahadur, will at once
show the importance of this situation.
Shibabm is the frontier town of the Yafei tribe, the
Kattiri occnpjnng the valley about two miles to the east, and
these two tribes are constantly at war. Sultan Sal&b'a big
standard was in one of our dwelling-rooms, ready to be
unfurled at a moment's notice. He has cannons on hia
walla pointed in the direction of hia enemy— old cannons
belonging to the East India Company, the youngest of which
bore the date of 1832. From the aoldiera we obtained a apeci-
men of the great conch shells that they use as trmnpets in
battle, and which are hung to the girdle of the watchmen,
who are always on the look-out to prevent a surprise.
The Kattiri are not allowed to stay in the town at night,
for we heard that seven months before some of them
were detected in an attempt to blow up the palace with
ganpowder. There was a fight also, about a quarter of a
mile outside the town, in which five Kattiri and seven Yafei
were killed. There are three or four armed soldiers to pro-
tect Shibabm, the aultan has erected bastions and forts all
about it, and the walls are patrolled every night.
There are many ruined honses in the plain, relics of the
great war forty years ago, when the Kattiri advanced as far
as Al Koton and did great damage. The sultan of Siwoun
was invited, with seven sheikhs, to the palace of Shibabm on
friendly terms and there murdered in cold blood, while forty
of hia followers were killed outside.
The inhabitants of Shibabm were not at all friendly
disposed to us. On the day of our arrival my husband
ventured with two of the sultan's soldiers into the bazaar,
and through the narrow streets ; but only this once, for the
people crowded round him, yelled at him, and insulted him,
trying their best to trip hiin up and impede his progress ; he
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148 THE HADHEAMOUT
was nearly STiffocated by the clonds of filtby dnst that the
mob kicked np, and altogether they made bis iDYeatigations so
exceedingly disagreeable that he became seriously alarmed
for bis safety, and never tried to penetrate into the heart of
Shibahm again. On the whole I should accredit Shibahmwith
a population of certainly not less than six thousand souls :
there are thirteen mosques in it, and fully six hundred
houses, tall and gaunt, to which an average population of
ten souls is but a moderate estimate. The slave population
of Shibahm is considerable ; many slaves have boQses there,
and wives and families of their own. The sultan's soldiers
are nearly all slaves or of slave origin, and one of them,
Muoffok, whose grandfather was a Swahili slave, and who
bad been one of our escort from Makalla, took us to bia
house, where bia wife, seated unveiled in her coffee comer,
dispensed refreshments to quite a large party there assembled,
whilst Muoffok discoursed sweet music to us on a mandoline,
and a Sute made out of the two bones of an eagle placed side
by side.
Taisir and Aboud were also abiding in Shibahm. Taisir
when he met us, on the minute asked for bakhshish, saying
he had been ill when we parted and had bad none though we
had sent it to him. Oh t there was such kissing of bauds t
so we thought it politic to love our enemy and gave him
a present. The Wazir Salim-bin-Ali had travelled with us
to lake care of us in the absence of bis master.
Once the Arabs had a good laugh at the expense of
three members of our party. One morning our botanist
went forth in quest of plants and found a castor-oil tree,
the berries of which pleased him exceedingly. Unwilling
to keep so rare a treat for himself, he brought home some
branches of the tree, and placed the delicacy before two of
our servants, Matthaios and, I am glad to say, Saleb, who
also partook heartily. Terrible was the angaish of the two
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THE CITY OF SHIBAHM 149
victims, which was increased by the Arabs, veritable
descendants of Job's comforters, who told them they were
sure to die, as camels did which ate these berries. The
botanist did not saccnmh . as soon as the others, who, not
believing he had eaten any berries himself, vowed ven-
geance on his head if they should recover, and demanded
that, to prove his innocence, he shoold eat twelve berries
io their presence. To our great relief the botanist was at last
seized with sickness, and thereby proved his guilttessoess
of a practical joke ; three more miserable men I never saw
for the space of several hours. However, they were better,
thoogh prostrate, next day, and for some time to come the
popular joke was to imitate the noises and contortions of the
sufferers during their anguish.
In consequence of the enmity manifested towards us
we were even debarred from walking in that interesting
though smelly part, just outside the town under the walls
with the well, the brick-works, the indigo, the oil-making,
the many lime-kilns, the armourers, and all the industrious
people of the town.
We Tised to take the air on the roof in the evening ; there
were no mosquitos, but we were never so persecuted with
flies. Fortunately our castle was near the wall, for to dwell
in the narrow, tortuous, dirty streets must be fearful — most
likely the dust does mnch to neutralise the evils of the
defective drainage. The houses are very high and narrow
and built of mud brick (kuicha), which is constantly though
slowly powdering away. There are many houses in ruins.
We had two or three days of sbght cold. The tempera-
ture was 62° (F.) in the shade, and it was so cloudy that
we expected rain, hut none came.
Saleh managed to get ten rupees from my husband, who
refused any more, though he brought a piece of cloth which
he said he wished to buy from the sultan. The money was
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150 THE HADHEAMOUT
only waDted for gambling. He went to Imam Shaxif and
Baid, ' How is this tbat Mr. Beat, who at first was like my
brother, now is quite changed ? ' Imam Sharif said, ' If
he was kind to you when you were a stranger, and now that
he knows you is different, there must be some reason for it.'
* What have I done ? ' ' You know beet,' said Imam Sharif,
'and I advise you to beg pardon.' Saleh exclaimed, 'And
you, who are a Moslem, take part against me with these
Christians ! ' This is the keynote of his conduct to ns.
We rode two hours one day, withont Saleh, to a place
called Kamour, on the southern side of the valley, where
there is an inscribed stone at the mouth of a narrow slit
or gorge leading to the akaba. The words thereon were
painted light red, dark red, yellow, and black, and scratched.
The decipherable words ' morning light ' and ' offerings '
point to this having been a sacred stone when sun worship
was prevalent. The letters are well shaped, some letters
being strange to us. The writing is boustrepkedon, which
means that it runs backward and forward like an unbroken
Eerpent, each line being read in an opposite direction to that
preceding or following it. There is no difficulty in seeing
this at a glance, as the shapes of the letters are reveiEed ; for
instance, if this occurred in English the two loops of a B
would be on the left, if the vrriting were to be read in that
direction, 3. The Greek name comes from this style of
writing being originally likened to cattle wandering abont.
This at once relegates it, according to the best authorities, to
at least the third century before Christ, and we were forcibly
reminded of the large stone in the mins of Zimbabwe and
its similar orientation.
We heard of a cave vrith an inscription in it in the
Kattiri country, about six miles off, almost in sight. We
longed ' to dance on Tom Tiddler's ground ' and make a
dash for it, bat the forfeits we might incur deterred us.
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THE CITY OP SHIBAHM 151
being our lives. The wB.zir said he would try to arrange
for this, but that, even if the seyyids consented, we must
take forty soldiers, well armed, pay them as well as siyar
to the Kattiri, pay the expeuaes of the siyara, and take
as short a time about the business as possible.
On the 27th we heard that some of the tribe of AI Jabber,
descended from Mohammed's great friend of that name, had
passed Shibahm for Al Koton to fetch na, but there was no
news of the Minhali or of the Tamimi,
It was said that the Jabheri could not take ns over their
highland, past the Kattiri and into the Tamimi country,
without consulting the Katttri, who sometimes help them in
their wars. It must be remembered that the Kattiri Bedouin
were for us (no doubt in view of the payment of siyar),
while the seyyids and Arabs of that tribe at Siwoun, and
their friends at Terim, were against us.
I need not say we were weary of this indecision, so we
sent a letter to the sultan of Shibahm by a messenger
saying, ' We have been here three days ; what are we to do
next ? ' and planned that Imam Sharif should ride over next
day, as he could communicate ' mouth to month ' with the
sultan in Hindustani.
We had one consolation in oar imprisonment, for the
seal of Yarsahal, which has been mentioned before, was
brought to us. The stone is in brown and white stripes,
and the setting is very pretty. It had been in the bezel of
a revolving ring. We began bargaining for it at once, my
husband offering ten rupees for the stone and ten for the
golden setting, but the seyyid who brought it said it was the
property of a man in Siwoun, who wished to keep it for his
children, and he must take it back to him. My husband said
' he should like to look at it very quietly by himself and think
over the stone,' and therefore asked the seyyid to remain out-
side the door for a few minutes. I quickly utilised this quiet
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152 THE HADHBAMODT
time to make an impression with sealing-waz, in case we
never saw the seal again. In two hours the seyyid appeared
again, and said he had had a letter from Siwoun (twenty-four
miles off), saying the (imaginary) owner would not part with
it under thirty rupees, bnt he very soon took twenty and
laughed mc^t heartily when I said if I had known how near
Siwoun was I would have gone myself.
This seal is of particular interest, for on it were the
words ' Yarsahal, the Elder of Shibahm ' ; and in an
inscription published by M. Hal^vy, we have the two
Yarsahals and various members of this family described as
vassals of the King of the Gebaniti. Now Fliny says that
the capital of the country was Thnmna ; this is quite correct
and was confirmed by the seal, foe Thunma was the capital
of the Gebaniti, who were a Himyaritic tribe, west of the
Hadhramont. It is therefore an additional confirmation of
the accuracy of the ancient geographers concerning this
district.
In old days Shabwat, as it is called in inscriptions, or
Babbatha, Bhaba, and Sabota, as it is written in the ancient
authors, was the capital of the country. Hamdoni tells qb
in his ' Geography of the Arabian Peninsula ' that there
were salt works at Shabwa, and 'that the inhabitants,
owing to the wars between Himyar and Medhig, left Shabwa,
came down into the Hadhramout and called the place
Shibahm, which was originally called Bhibat.' Times are
much changed since Shabwa was a great town, for from all
accounts it is now quite deserted save for the Bedouin, and
is six days from good water ; the water there is salt and
bitter, like quinine, the sultan said. The Bedouin work
the salt and bring it on camels, as is mentioned by Makrisi.
The effect of salt is traceable in the water of all the wells in
the main valley. We would gladly have gone into Shabwa,
but it was obviously impossible.
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THE CITY OF SHIBAHM 163
THere was a great deal of gUD-Sring when the Jabberi
went by with the sheikh of the Kattiri, and onr next
interest was a letter {rom Al Koton, saying ' that the
Tamimi, who had sworn on theii heads and their eyes to do
so, bad never appeared, and that the Jabberi wanted 110
dollars, exclu^ve of camel hire, to go with us, the camels
only to go a short distance, and then we must change.
What did we wish to do ? '
Of course we could not start without providing camels
for our onward way, so this answer was sent back : ' We
have not come to fight ; we do not much care when we go,
and we await the advice of the sultan when he comes to-
morrow.'
Saleh was quite delighted, but we thought any direction
would be good for our map and we still had hopes of digging
near Meshed, though we began to have fears that a repulse
eastward would strengthen the hands of our enemies west-
ward.
On January the 29th a letter was brought to us by the
wazir and the governor of the town, attended by Sateh, more
pleased than ever. They said the letter had arrived last
night and it was to say that the sultan's pain had increased,
80 he could not come to-day, and adding what we already
knew as to the three neighbouring tnbes.
We bad a council of three, and feeling that the journey
to Bir Borhut was out of the question, we determined to
beat what we hoped would be a masterly retreat, so the
wazir and the governor were summoned and the following
answer was sent :
'We cannot understand the letters of the sultan, having
no means of communicating with him privately. Therefore
we will return to Al Koton to-morrow, and see him face to
face.'
The servants were all quite delighted at this, for Saleh
^dbyGoogle
IM THE HADHRAMOUT
told them the letter was to &ay we and the soldiers were all
going to be murdered.
We had stayed five days in Shibahm, and on the first
three had taken sundry walks in the neighbom'hood, but
during the last two we never ventured out, as the inhabitants
manifested so unfriendly & disposition towards ns. After
the Friday's prayer in the mosque, a fanatical mollab, Al
Habib Yaher-bin-Abdullab Soumait, alluded to our unwel-
come presence, and offered up the following prayer three
times : ' 0 God 1 this is contrary to our religion ; remove
them away I ' and two days afterwards his prayer was
answered. This very gentleman had not long before been
imprisoned for praying to be delivered from the liberal-
minded Sultan SaUb, but the people had clamoured so much
that he was released.
As we halted at the well outside the town, whilst the
various members of our caravan collected, we overheard a
woman chide a man for drawing too much water from the
well, to which he replied, ' We have to wash our town from
the infidel this day.' Needless to say we gladly shook the
dust of Shibahm ofiF our feet, and returned to the fleah-pots
of AJ Koton with considerable satisfaction. Of a truth,
religion and fanaticism are together so deeply engrained in
the Hadhrami, that anything like friendly intercourse with
the people is at present next to impossible.
Behgion is the moving spirit of the place ; without
reUgion the whole Hadhramout would have been abandoned
long ago as useless, but the inhabitants look upon it as the
most sacred spot on earth, Mohammed having been bom in
Arabia, and hence their objection to its being visited by
unbelievers. The ShaG sect prevails to the exclusion of all
others. The men go in crowds to India, Batavia, and
elsewhere, sometimes remaining absent twenty years from
their wives and families, and indeed we were told of one
^dbyGoogle
THE CITY OP SHIBAHM 155
case in which a hushand had been away for forty years.
They retam at laat to spend their gaine and die in their
native sanctity.
We reached Al Koton on January 30, and found onr friend
the saltan very well indeed. We had begun to sospect we
were being deceived as to his illness, for when the wazir
and Saleh, who seemed in league together, heard the seyyid
son-in-law, who came straight from Al Koton soon after the
letter, telling ns that the sultan was much better, they looked
disconcerted, whispered together, and the wazir said, ' You
should not talk of what you know nothing about.'
We were most anxious to learn all that had gone on in
our absence, and what arrangements had been mEbde. It
seemed to be considered a mistake our ever having gone to
Shibahm, but I do not think it wa,s. Had we not gone
we should never have seen that fine and interesting town,
and assuredly not have obtained King Yarsahal's seat.
The sultan told us there had been a great uproar about
us, and all the Yafei tribe were now considered Kafirs. The
Kattiri absolutely refused the Jabberi leave to conduct us,
and the Nahadi, through whose lands we had passed from
Hagarein, said that if they had known how the Kattiri would
treat us, they would have treated us just the same. It
would be madness to go to Shabwa, as we should, even if
we could get there, be only further hemmed in ; the Wadi bin
All was closed to us, the Nahadi were between us and Meshed ;
nevertheless, the sultan had actually sent a man to ask if
we could dig there a few days, he camping with us. Our
very faint hope of this was only founded on the fact that
the seyyids of Meshed are at enmity vrith those of Siwoun.
On February 1, the Tamimi sent to say they hod really
started to fetch us, but the Kattiri told them they would
declare war on them unless they retired.
The follovring evening we were thrown into some excite-
^dbyGoogle
156 THE HADHRAMOUT
ment by the arrival of the sultan in our room with seTen
letters, the general tenor of which was that eight of the
Tamimi had come, with the siyara of four Amri only, and
no siyara of Kattiri, as far ae Siwoun, and asked to be paesed
on, but that the Kattiri refused them safe conduct ; they
asked the sultan of Shibahm to go to Shibahm and arrange
for them to reach us. They proposed that we should,
without touching Shibahm, torn into the very next wadi
and go up on to the akaba ; the men who went with us were
to stay with us all the way to the coast. The sultan
promised to keep hostages till his returning soldiers told of
our safety. We had another council with Imam Sharif.
We counted up our dollars, for we had to live on our money-
bags till we reached the sea, and determined to reach Bir
Borhut if we could, saying nothing to the servants to upset
their minds till all was settled.
The sultan went sway to Shibahm the next day, and, as
nsaal, the women became very noisy, and during his absence
we were close prisoners, on account of our fear of being
mobbed. The Indian party were generally looked npon as
Jews.
In the evening the sultan came back, telling us that the
Tamimi wished to bring 400 soldiers unpaid (?) and to take
us through their country, but the Kattiri were too strong
for them. They said, ' One man came disguised to see us
(Herr von Wrede),one man came undisguised (Herr Hirsch),
and now a party has come. Next time it will be a larger
one still, and then it will be all over with the sacred valley
of the Hadhramout." Saleh, meanwhile, veas doing all he
could to annoy us. When we were talking over our diffi-
culties with Imam Sharif, he strutted in with a bill for the
camels. My husband said :
' It is alreEidy paid.'
' I shall sec about others then,' Saleh said.
^dbyGoogle
THE CITY OF SHIBAHM 157
' They are ordered already.'
' Yoar groom, Iselem, will not go with you,' said Saleh.
So I told him, ' He won't get the chance ; we wonM not
have him if we were paid, and though we have paid him
beforehand, we willingly lose omr money.'
' I mnat, then, speak to the sultan about him, tor you."
I said, ' The sultan has decided what be will do with
him, and I don't think he will like it.'
' Haidar Aboul will not go with you.'
This made us very angry, as we bad seen that Saleh bad
been tampering with him, lending him his donkey and hia
sandals when be walked, and whispering with him. He tried
to separate everyone from us. Haidar had promised to go
with us all the way, and later Imam Sharif brought bim to
me when I was at home alone, and made him repeat hia
promise, and assurance that be bad never told Saleh he
would not go.
Saleh also wanted money, but was refused ; he got 100
rupeea a month, and 200 were prepaid at Aden. He
gambled, and my husband wished to keep the contenta of
our money-bags for our own use. We calculated that at
the cheapest, for soldiers and siyara and camels, Bir
Borhut would cost 130/. Saleh had put all the servants in
a most terrible fright, and a soldier had told them that if we
went beyond Sbibahm we should all be killed, and that we
should find no water by the way. So we had to explain to
them the plan of going by Wadi bin Ali, and to comfort them
as well as we could. These people never seem to think
that we value our own lives as much as they do theirs.
Meshed was also closed against us. The saltan of
Siwoun and the seyyids bad sworn on the Koran not to let
us proceed on our joomey ; the Kattiri had also sworn and
sent mesB^es to the Tamimi of Bir Borbut, the Jabberi of
Wadi bin Ali, and the Nabadi, and they were all against us.
^dbyCoogle
158 THE HADEEAMODT
We had another day of anxiety and uncertainty as to
when v/e should really start, as the camels were not collected
till late. We watched eagerly from our tower, counting
them as they arrived by twos and threes.
We were rather in despair as as we sat dining in a yard,
for at this time we were started with our own cookery, and
dined near the kitchen, which Matthaios had been able to
make in an arched recess of the inclosure, where there were
high hills of date-stones, kept to be ground to paste for
cattle-food.
He could not be allowed to defile a Mohammedan kitchen.
After a very few minutes, however, my husband had
an idea, which was to go to Sheher somehow, and turn up
inland from thence ; there were plenty of Tamimi there to
help us, and we could thus get to the east side of the
Eattiri. Saleh was to know nothing till all was settled.
February 7 was a very weary day of waiting; tor we
had mended and cleaned everything we possessed, and we
packed and hoped the camels would come, expecting to be
off on the morrow, but it was not till evening that people,
I cannot remember of what tribe, came to bargain with us,
and the bargaining continued next morning ; so we made all
baggage ready to be tied into bundles, for we had no doubt
we should start on the 8th at latest.
First they said we must go by the Wadi al Ain, their own
home, and this we knew was that they might blackmail us ;
but they told us it was from want of water on the high
ground, over which we must travel for six days, and that
we must take two camels for water. Then they said we
should take seventeen days in all, and were to pay for twenty
at more than double the usual fare. We should have to go
back on our old road as far as Adab, then three days in the
Wadi al Ain region, the same road near Haibel G-abrein, go
on to Gaffit, and thence turn eastward to Sheher.
^dbyGoogle
THE CITY OF SHIBAHM 159
We were perfectly horrified at this plan ; the price was
great, and the sultan aeemed not to think it possible to go
against the Bedouin ; but far worse in our eyes was the
thought of our map, as we should see no new country, instead
of taking a torn or a climb that would have added miles
to it.
They left us, and we were sitting on our floor in the
deepest depths of dark despair, when news came that these
camel-men, having mcbde a fresh plan for more extortions,
i.e. that there was to be no limit to the number of camels,
save their will in loading them, the sultan, being indignant,
was thinking of sending for other men.
When we heard that we roused up and concocted a new
plan, which was to send for the sultan and ask him to get
the Jabberi, and make them take us by the Wadi bin Ali ;
so he came and agreed to this. We were not to go so long
over the highland, but to go up and down at least twice,
which would suit us and our map. The sultan told us we
should And running water, and that it was a shorter way
to Sheher.
Besides this, there lurked in the background, not to be
revealed till the last moment, a design to get the Tamimi to
come to a place in Wadi Adim and take us to Bor Borbut,
a name truly terrible to Matthaios and the Indian servants.
We were in high spirits, and agreed that no matter
what our fate might be we were having a delightful evening.
Truly I think the pleasures of hope are not sufficiently
appreciated, for even if your hopes are never realised the
hoping has been a great happiness. On the 8th those extor-
tionate men of Wadi al Ain sent to say they would take ub by
the Wadi bin A]i, turning out of Wadi Hadhramout at Al Gra n ,
crossing the Wadis bin Ali and Adim, and reaching Sa'ah,
where we could branch off for Bir Borhut. Tbis offer was
declined, for we were watching and waiting for the Jabheri ;
^dbyCoogle
160 THE HADHEAMOUT
and at night we heard that the brave Jabber! were at
Sbibabm, whereas our messenger had been sent to Wadi
bin All. They said they wondered at not hearing from us,
aa the sultan had engaged their camels and promised to
let them know when they woald be wanted. It was a great
mystery to us why the Wadi aJ Ain people had ever been
sent for.
The Jftbberi thus defied the Kattiri : ' As sure as we
come from Jabberi fathers and Jabberi mothers, we will
take these people safely to Bir Borhut ; and as sure as you
come from Kattiri fathers and Kattiri mothers, you may do
yoTir worst but still we will keep them safe ' ; to which the
Kattiri replied : ' We do not wish to make war on you, and
we do not care where yon take them so long as it is not into
our country.'
As soon as we had finished onr breakfast next day, a
message came to say our horses were ready, and we were to
go and drink coffee at a little tower the sultan has in the
plain. Most of the party walked. There were only horses
for five ; a donkey carried a water-skin, and onr donkey,
Mahsond, carried halters for every animal. There were the
two wazirs, the son-in-law, tbe sultan of Hanra, and a
good many servants with carpets for ns to sit on, and a
teapot. We sat there for about two hoars doing nothing
but look at tbe green, an occnpation for which this house
is expressly built. A gun announced the arrival of the
men of Al Jabber, and the sultan sent a man to kill a goat
and receive them.
Our great joy at their coming was nothing compared to
onr extreme satisfaction at parting with them later on.
I cannot say much for my skill as a physiognomist, for
I have it recorded that I liked the looks of our Mokadam
(that is chief of our kafila, or leader) Talib-bin-Abdollah,
son of the Jabberi sheikh, and that I did not care for the
^dbyGoogle
THE CITY OP SHIBAHM 161
looks ot oar new groom, Salem. I was quite wrong in both
cases. There were also Saleh-bin-Yamani and another
Jabberi. We were certainly, this time, to start next day,
but with another change in our route, I believe on account
oi water. Instead of going by Al Gran, we were to go by
Wadi Manwab, retracing our steps as far as Furhnd.
Very early in the morning Imam Sharif came to us and
told Qs that the Jabberi had not sufficient camels with them
and that we most take camels ot Mandoh the first day or two,
and that others would meet us in the Wadi bin All, ao there
was little hope of a move that day. The Jabberi afterwards
Baid the Mandob way was much the longest, so we changed
again.
We delayed several days longer at Al Kotou, hoping
against hope that the sultan of Terim would grant us per-
mission to pass through his territories, that we might
prosecute our journey.
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THE HADHEAMODT
CHAPTEB XIII
PABEWELL TO THE aULTAN OF 8HIBAHM
Odb departure from Al Koton on February 12 ■was almost
as Berioua an afbir as our start from Makalk. Sultan
Sal&h, with the instincts of true boBpitaUty,iiot only refused to
receive remuneration for our entertainment, but loaded ue
with presents of food for the way and fodder for our animals,
intimating that ' bakshish ' to some of his dependents would
not be altogether unacceptable. With the object of re-
ceiving rewards for their services, the grand viziers, the
mounshi (a scribe), the hall-porter, the water-carriers, the
slaves who had waited on us, were all brought in a bare-
faced manner to our room; as we descended the stairs,
expectant menials lined the passages ; we had to remember
the grooms, the soldiers, and the gardeners. Never again
will the irksome custom of tipping be half so appalling as
when we left the palace of Sultan Sal&h.
The sultan wished to fire off seven guns at oar departure,
but this we declined. He came about a mile with us, and
then went to Shibahm, to send an answer to the letter from
the Tamimi, saying, ' On their eyes they would meet us at
Sa'ah.' He also determined to stay away a few days, as he
should find his house very dull when we were gone. It had
been such a great break in the monotony of his life having
us, and he had so much enjoyed the society of Imam Sharif
that he was always promising him houses, wells, lands,
^dbyGoogle
FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN OF SHIBAHM 163
slaves, and wives if he would only return and settle down
in the Wadi Hadhramout.
An old and confidential relation of his was to accom-
piny us all the way, and the Wazir Salim-bin-Ali came as
far as our first camp, two hours off, in the Wadi Hadira.
Here we conld plainly see the formatioD of these valleys,
abrupt at the end and Uke a circus, not made by streams
descending, but like creeks and bays of a gigantic fiord.
There is not much cultivation in the little valley. This is
the road to Sheher. There are two approaches to the
akaba, one by the Wadi Hadira and one by the Wadi bin Ali,
which is the way to Sheher. We had to enter the Wadi
bin Ali sideways by climbing over the akaba from Wadi
Hadira, owing to the opposition of the Eattiri, who hold
the mouth of Wadi bin Ali. The wazir departed in the
morning with a Martini-Henry riSe which my husband sent
to the sultan. This gave rise to the report which we heard
afterwards ' that we were distributing arms, of which we had
five hundred camel-loads.'
That day we had a very tiresome adventure. Starting
off early before onr caravan with several Jabberi, we in-
tended to ascend to the plateau before the heat of midday
came on. We were accompanied hy a few soldiers, who it
turned out did not know the way, and having ridden for an
hour and a half up a narrow gorge with wild figs, wild date,
and fan palms growing Eiround us, and really magnificent
cliffs 700 to 800 feet high on either side of us, reddish
in colour and with fossils in the limestone strata, a truly
fearful and awe-inspiring place, we suddenly came to an
abrupt termination of our valley, having wormed ourselves
along, chiefly on foot, and found that unless Sindbad's roo
came to our aasistEince we could not possibly get out of it.
Consequently we were regretfully obliged to retrace our steps,
having spent three hours and much toil, but glad of having
^dbyCoogle
164 THE HADHBAMOUT
had an opportunity of following one of these valleys to its
bitter end. It appeared that our supposed goides had nev^r
been there in their lives.
We scrambled down this wadi, and into the wadi to
our right ; the way truly was difficult, the valley narrowing
and nearly blocked up by perfectly perpendicular cliffs. Our
caravan and servants were anxiously awaiting us at a
curious spot called Mikad^h, about a quarter of the way up
the cliff, where the road which we had missed goes through
a natural tunnel about twenty yards long, from lovely
pools of rain-water preserved in its recesses, with which
we eagerly refreshed ourselves. The rest of the ascent to
the plateau was marvellously steep. The camels had to be
unloaded, and two fell down. All the baggage was carried
by men, up crag after crag, and sometimes there was uo sign
of a path. I never could have imagined it possible for camels
to ascend the roof-like slope of rock up which they bad to
clamber for the last 50 yards, and indeed, one poor animal
did fall, and injured itself so that it had to be unloaded and
taken back, whereupon those Bedouin who did not own it
heartlessly regretted that it had not been killed, as they
would have liked some of its flesh for supper. Just at the
end everything had to be unloaded again, and the camels
literally dragged up to the top, while we sat dangling our
legs over the cliff. Such yelling and shrieking I never
heard among the Bedouin, our soldiers and our servants all
calUng each other rascals, and no one doing more than he
could help ; and inasmuch as we had about five Salehe, four
Umbarreks, and other duphcated names amongst our men,
the shouts of ' So-and-so, son of so-and-so,' made us fully
realise the clumsiness of Arab nomenclature.
When we clambered up on to the akaha it looked dreary
and lifeless, silent and lonely and stony, but it soon became
lively enough, for we were a large hafiia, about fifty people
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FABEWELL TO THE SULTAN OP SHIBAHM 165
and twenty-tonr camels. We had by very good fortune a
great deal of cloud that day, but also some tremendous son.
We sat eagerly connting the camels as they came into
view, and had great anxiety abont eight of them, and were
obliged to send two soldiers back to search for them. We
meant to proceed farther as water was two hours on, and
some of the first-arrived camels were reloaded ; but, after all,
we fait we must wait for those eight camels, and send back
to Mikadih for water. We could not encamp very com*
fortafoly, for the camel which had fallen and hmit his chest
had our bedding and night-clothes and Imam Sharif's tent-
poles, and besides this our kitchen-box was missing and we
had had no luncheon. So another camel was s^it down to -
fetch those necessaries.
It was dreadfully windy, much dust blowing, and so
stony that we could only have a peg in each comer of our
tents. Bain was threatening, so the baggage was all stacked
under the outer fly of our tent. The soldiers behaved most
helpfully and the brave and bold Jabberi had not yet once
mentioned bakshish in onr hearing and were most polite.
They were better-looking men than others we had seen, all
tall, sUght, wiry, and very muscular, a higher type than the
Khailiki and much more dressed. The three principal ones
wore turbans, red and yellow. They said they were so very
sorry for losing the way that ' none of them felt quite well
when they thought of our inconvenience.'
I could not sleep that night, so I got up and put on my
dressing-gown and sat near the door with my head out, and
BO was fortunately ready to slip out when I heard a trailing
picket, and found Zubda rushing up and down, looking for
water I suppose. We were bo short of it that we had
washed in a very little without soap, and one horse had
drunk that, and the other the water the chickens were
washed in. I caught him, but as I could not possibly drive
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166 THE HADHEAMOUT
in the picket, I tied him to a packing case, and then had to
collect his food, which was hlown all over the place, and take
it there for bim.
On February 14, in consequence of the want of water, great
was the hurry to start ; we were off about halt-past six,
and travelled till one o'clock without stopping or getting
water ; the horses only had half a pint each, that we had
washed in. We should not have been so extravagant as
to wash that much if we bad not wanted to let tbe borses
drink.
The plateau here offered features that were new to us;
It is as it were in two stories. From the bottom of a wadi
you reach first a slope or talus of loose stones, then a cliff,
then another slope of loose stones and a cliff, and next
cornea the main akaba, and on tbie again a great deal more
of tbe upper story is left than we had hitherto seen. The
upper part is from 80 to 100 feet above tbe lower;
sometimes it is in tbe form of an isolated flat-topped bill,
larger or smaller, and sometimes like a kind of centipede,
and in tbe gullies between tbe legs of these centipedes are to
be found whatever remain of frankincense trees, for vege-
tation is very sparse on tbe akaba. Showered about every-
where are small bits of black basalt. We had several ups
and downs, and paBsed wadis running in close to us before we
began to descend by what must have been a fearful road for
tbe camels, down tbe two precipices and tbe two flights of
rolling stones, into the Wadi bin Ali. The way was far
better than that of the day before ; the very Jabberi never
saw such a road as that, they said.
When we started descending we saw tbe village of
Bazabel below us — the Jabberi capital. It has a picturesque
modem fort, built on old Himyaritic foundations. When
we reached it the soldiers fired guns, and we were very
kindly received by the inhabitants, who led us to a bouse
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FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN OF SHIBAHM 167
they had prepared lor as. We excased ourselveB from
inhabiting it, saying it was better not to have our baggage
carried np, but we would gladly rrat in it.
The house seemed very clean — it was of mud of course ;
the walls of it and the stairs had all been scraped into
furrows and curves, and also the dados of the staircase and
room were decorated with a kind of basket pattern, and the
floors were also in a raised pattern. Carpets were spread, water
brought, and with great kindness they locked us in that we
might not be disturbed. Only our owd party were in this
room, the soldiers in another. Matthaios had joined him-
self to the vanguard to see what happened to us, so my
husband shared his horse with him ; he had been terrified
the day before at the fear that we had been carried off. The
Indian servants and the botanist joined us just as coffee with
ginger and other spices were brought. Our host had long
wrestling with the lock before he could open the door, and
after this we were desired to bolt it on the inside. We had
a pleasant camp, with palm-trees to shade each cooking fire,
no starers being allowed. A woman here joined our kafila for
protection for a few stages. Even I never saw her face : she
always wore her mask and her hat, and looked a most
ungainly object. I dare say I looked the same to her. The
sultan of Shibahm had sent a man on horseback up that
dreadful wadi to our last camp to thank ns for the gun, and
to warn na by all means to keep on the highlands for fear
of the hostile Eattiri.
At Bazahel, Abdullah Mareh-bin-Talib-bin-Said, chief
of the Jabberi, welcomed us to his own house later in the day,
a most unwonted piece of hospitality. He is much stained
with indigo, a very elastic and naked sovereign, who bends
his fingers back in a way horrible to behold when he wishes
to emphasise his remarks, as he did when he spoke of the
Kattiri and his wars with them, and his constantly losing
^dbyCoogle
16U THE HADHBAMOUT
men ia raids, as is also the case in his fights with tha
Eamonmi. As we sat aromid drinking his coffee, he boasted
of his direct descent from Jabber of Hiyal, the friend and
councillor of Mohammed, and told xa that his family pedi-
gree was safely kept at Terim, with those of all the sm-
ronnding tribes of Arabs. Somehow or other we did not
care for the Jabberi at all afterwards, and for the rest of
otir joomey to the coast our quarrels with Talib, the son of
Abdullah, and the difficulties he would throw in oar way,
were daily sources of annoyance to ub.
We left Bazahel at half-past six nest morning with the in-
tention of climbing up to the tableland again. The Wadi bin
All is not very wide and the ground is bare, though there are
man; villages scattered about. At rather a large one, where
the wadi forks, and which we reached at eight o'clock, we were
to begin onr aecent. To our dismay the camels were made
to sit down and the camel-men said we must stay there the
night, as there was no water up above. We declared we
knew there was, and that we would go on ; they must fill the
twenty water-skins which we always carried. Some men
were inclined to go on, but were overruled by the majority.
After half an hour's contention we rode away with a good
many people, leaving a few soldiers with the baggage, to
show our determination to proceed, we being told that the
others would be afraid to stay behind. We sat down once
or twice in full view of the village, to survey the camels and
wonder if they were coming, and much perplexed were we.
We bad expected to change camels the following day, and
this was the last day with those men, who by delajHng us
wished to spin out another day's journey at twenty-five
rupees. Those soldiers who were with us recommended us
to push on round a corner, where the wadi ran in, and
conceal ourselves behind rocks, which there stood up between
the path and the village, that the camel-men might not
^dbyGoogle
FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN OP SHIBAHM 169
think there was any hesitation on out part ; ao men, and
beasts, and I were carefully hidden, and one who peeped
withoQt his turban, reported that some camels were rising,
and finally, eight starting.
When we reached the tableland ve had to go a long way
roond to avoid a good many little wadis which were all quite
steep, before we reached the water. At the edge of the
tableland are some little shelters nsed by hunters to shoot
gazelle, which come down the gollies that to ns appeared
inaccessible. Near the water the soldiers made as chmb
down to the first story of a small wadi, where we sheltered
under a shelf of rock which overhangs the whole end of it.
When I was cool, I clambered up and foond a hollow or
depression above our heads, with a few tufts of grass and
some shrubs, so I took down some bits of shrubs as ' samples
on appro ' to the horses, and as they did approve, they were
sent up to graze. We lay on our saddle-cloths till three,
pretty hnngry, when the eight camels came, and a good long
time after the others arrived also the relation of the saltan
Sal&h joined us on a riding camel : an old man, Salem-bin-
Mohammad by name. He said the camels had been
changed, and the money paid in advance for this day, taken
from those men. We had a cold, windy night at this place,
Farash. No one had tents but our own party; even the
sultan and other gentry lie in the open on journeys. Oar
homes were given a supper of dates, which are considered
very strengthening, and which they much enjoyed.
The tribe of Al Jabber possess the parallel Wadis Adim
and Bin Ali, and the road between them across the akaba is
much traveled and apparently an ancient one. We went
across on the level, eight miles, and then descended by a
narrow valley leading into the Wadi Adim. The way was
made longer by its having to wind about to skirt the wadis,
which cut into it like a fringe ; sometimes we were only half
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170 THE HADHEAMOUT
a mile from our former or future track. Once we heard a
gun fired, &nd looking across, we saw a kajila of fifty camels,
a much larger one than our own, slipping behind a hill to
hide from ns, and presently some men climbed up to peep.
We — that is to say my husband, Imam Sharif, and I — with
the three chief Jabberi, the Belation, and some soldiers and
others, all gathered up together and stood at gaze, without
retoming the gun-fire, which was meant to find out if we
had any bad intentions. Our own camels were very near
the strange kajila, and that party was terribly frightened.
I think the fright was mutual. When we had gone some
distance, and were out of sight of the strauge caravan, we
were amused at seeing the soldiers and the Jabberi, all in
line, running on at a double, firing guns, and shouting,
' Hohh ! Hohh ! Hohh I ' My husband asked the Belation
what chance we had of being robbed, as this seemed a con-
venient place, but he comfortingly said, ' We need not be
much afraid, for we have the chief of the robbers with us.'
This was really true.
The place where we were to climb down into the Wadi
Adim was tremendously steep. It really seemed very hke
trying to climb down the sides of a tea-cup. I wondered
how we and the camels and horses wonld ever do it.
However we all did, and the valley became first a crack
and then a little wider, and the road then was not so
very bad in its own wild way. As soon as the valley became
a little Sat the men wanted to stop and wait for the camels,
but we said we wonld rather be in the village of Ghail Omr,
which they Baid was only just round a near comer.
So we went on, but for fully two miles, till the Wadi
Adim crossed our path. It was full of palms on the far side,
so we went over there, but were made, whether we would or
no, to return to the mouth of our little wadi again ; they said
on account of food foe the camels. There was a fearful
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FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN OP SHffiAHM 171
low when we crossed the valley, to make ns go back, there
wete daggers oat and load shotits that my husband and I
were rascals (harami) and Imam Sharif a dog, and Matthaios
and the rest of the servants were in great alarm.
We were cow in much anxiety and perplexity, for we
were told the Tamimi had not come, and they were to have
been at Ghail Omr before ns, to fetch as to Bir Borhnt.
We ourselves were not at the appointed place, for we were
kept pent into the little wadi. We were told that two men
had been mnrdered on the way to Sheher, bat we never
made oat who they were ; also that a seyyid and a lot
of the Amri tribe had come, so the Belation took my horse
and went off to investigate them.
Next morning we thought it well to be ready and to
look undismayed ; the seyyid vrith the ten Amri joined
us, and we all turned into the Wadi Adim to oar right
and south. The valley is most fruitful and well worth
seeing ; there are miles of palm woods ; it is about 100 feet
higher than Wadi bin Ali, the slope is greater and the moun-
tains lower ; it is the most frequented caravan route from
Sheher to the Hadhramout. We passed plenty of people
coming up, and one day we met a caravan of 160 camels from
Sheher with Hadhrami merchants returning from India to
enjoy the fruits of their rascality, and end their days on the
sacred soil of Arabia. There were little tents on the camels
for women, and they seemed to us to have very few armed
men.
The stream Ghail Omr is the first running one we saw
since Al Grhail. It comes from the small Wadi Loban and
is very considerable. Wadi Adim is quite the gem of the
valleys that we explored. There is a ziaret or place of
pilgrimage, which attracts many people, to the tomb of
a seyyid Omr, called after Omar, one of the four successors
to Mohammed. The Jabberi seem, in spite of posBessing this
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172 THE HADHEAMODT
rich valley, to be a poor tribe. There is a large population
scattered in Bmall homeBteads, They have slavea, who live
in little hats made of palm branches, with the interstices
plastered with mad.
Ten more Jabberi joined us, so when we reached Sa'ah
in two hoars and a half, we were more than eighty people,
with twenty-five camels, two horses, and three donkeys.
We dismounted in a dense crowd, in a field of dry earth
cut up into squares with hard ridges, so onr floors were
most nncomtortable. Naturally we dared do no damage
by having them dag smooth.
On our arrival at our camping ground and while we were
waiting for oar tents to be ready, always a weary, irksome
time to the wayworn traveller, I was sarroanded by women
all masked. They seemed highly astonished at a safety-pin
I was taking out, so I gave, or rather offered it, to an old
woman near me. She wanted to take it, bat several men
rushed between us and roared at us both, and prevented
my giving it to her. I stood there holding it out and she
stretching out her hand, and one or two men then asked me
for it for her, so I put it down on a stone and she took it
away and seemed pleased, but a man soon brought it back
to me on the end of a stick, saying ' they did not know
these things and were afraid of them.'
There was no news of the Tamimi and many told as
they would not come, but we still kept up our vain hopes,
as th^ had promised to come and wait a day or two for us,
bringing with them a siyara of the Minhali and of the
Hamoumi. However, we were never allowed to get to the
trysting- place, as we afterwards thought, because the Jabberi
wanted to keep the fleecing of us in their own hands.
Not one of our party, with the exception of Imam Sharif,
wished to go to Bir Borhnt, and they all encouraged each
other in discouraging us.
^dbyGoogle
FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN OP 8HIBAHM 173
About a mile before reaching Sa'ah we saw an old fortress
on a spur jatting oat of the precipice, with a cut road leading
to it, so of course we determiued to visit it. We accordingly
set out about two o'clock, my husband and I, Saleh on the
donkey, some soldiers, some of our svyara of Jabberi, and
my camera. But we came to a standstill when first four,
then nine, and at last fourteen men were seen on the top of
the ruins, pointing guns at us. They said they would not
let us advance without paying, and we feared to come to
terms as our Jabberi first said they were Amri, and then a
tribe of Jabberi with whom they were at war. In this
uncertainty we had to turn back and my husband complained
to the sheikh of Sa'ah, who said that this blackmailing had
been planned by one of our three best Jabberi, Seid-bin-
Iselem, who went with us, and that he would send men of his
own with us in the morning. In the morning they came, sore
enough, and first asked for a dollar ' to buy coEfee,' but my
husband said ' No ; he would give bakshish if he found
writing, but if he found no writing he would give nothing,
and in any cose, nothing till we returned.' As we heard no
more of them after they had retired to think over it, we were
sure there could be no inscription. Besides we had seen
that the comer-stones were the only cut ones ; the others
were all rough.
After dinner we and Imam Sharif had another serious
council, finding ourselves in a regular fix.
We determined to stay on one more day at Sa'ah to give
the Tamimi a chance to join us, for if we were baffled in
getting from here to Bir Borhut, we must get to Sheher
as quickly as possible and try from there to reach Bir
Borhut. We wished to dismiss our camel-men, but they
said they would not let us do so, nor allow anyone else to
take the loads. They said they would take us for one rupee
a day each camel, but we did not know bow many daya
^dbyGoogle
174 THE HADHRAMOUT
the; would take ; they had also said that they would stop
where we pleased, or go on all day if we liked, but we had
had experience which led us to doubt this. They had now
been asked to name their stages ; kafilas can go in seven
or eight days.
We determined that our next attempt to go to Bir
Borhut should he with fewer camels. It is a great mistake
for explorers in dangerous countries to have collectors with
them. They are a great drag and an extra anxiety. The
preparations they can make are necessarily all made by
guesswork, as no one can tell what is to be found in an
unknowD country. If we had known we should never have
carried the huge spade and fork, which were hated all the
way by everyone, or the quantities of cases of spirits of wine
and receptacles for large animals, and the dozens of gins,
snares, and traps of every description for things that we
never found. Of course, in the case of our expedition, there
are certain plants and reptiles which would not yet have
emerged from their primeval obscurity, and it is a great
consolation to feel that something was accomplished in that
way. For everyone who is added to such an expedition, the
leader has one more for whose life and health he feels a re-
sponsibiHty, one more whose little idiosyncrasies must be
studied by all the rest, and who may endanger the safety of
all by his indiscretions with regard to the natives, and one
more who must be made to pack and be ready in time, or
willing not to stray away in times of danger. Mere servants
do not so much matter, as they are under control, though
the fewer of them the better, as they are human beings who
must be fed and carried ; but those above them, and who,
though not entitled to a seat in the council, feel free to make
comments, are the hardest to deal with.
Before we went to bed that night, Haidar Aboul, the
second interpreter, came and swore on the Koran that the
^dbyGoogle
FAEEWELL TO THE SULTAN OP SHIBAHM 175
Belatiou had promised the camel-men two rupees each ;
still we lay down happy in the aasntanco that we should be
at Shehei in seven days, but after a night mnch disturbed by
guns for a wedding, the first news that greeted us was that
those camel-men wished to leave as. They were told that
they could not do so : they were bound to take us to Sheher.
They then said they would not go in seven days— who had
arranged such long stages ? They were told their sheikh
had. Then we agreed to go in eight days, hoping that in
the end they, finding they would lose no money, would
allow us to gain time. Some hours after the little crooked
sheikh sent to say that if those men would not take us in
seven days he would get others.
The Relation was not of much good to us. There is here
no law, order, authority, honour, honesty, or hospitality,
and as to the people, I can only describe them as hateful and
hating one another. It must be an awful life to live for ever
unable to stir without siyara even a few miles. The rude
Carinthian Boor cannot have been as bad as these Arabians.
After this they came and said we should go in thirteen
days. Later the sbeikh sent to say he would send twenty
soldiers, and make them take as in eight days. This my
husband declined, as we knew he had no power, even in his
own village.
Then the brother of the sbeikh came to ask for a present
for him, which was refused, and the sheikh said afterwards
we could not trust that brother, he was a liar.
At last another list of different stages was brought, and
they swore by God and upon the Koran that they would
take us in seven days.
All the time we were in Sa'ah we had to remain in our
tent, tightly tied in, for if we did not we were quite deprived
of air by the crowd, which became thicker and thicker,
driving the foremost nearly into the tent headlong. I
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176 THE HADHEAMOOT
sewed atringa to the extreme edges of oar doors, which
lapped half a yard, and this extension of size was very
welcome. We afterwards found these strings useful and
pleasant, bat we always called them the ' Jabberi strings '
in remembrance of these tormentors. If, thinking the
crowd had dispersed, we ventured to open the tent, a scout
pr^laimed the fact, and we were again mobbed.
Oar tent was 7 feet 6 inches square, and we found this
quite large enough when it had to be pitched on a slope, or
on a narrow, roCky ledge, when trees had to be cut down to
make room in a forest, or when it was among the boulders
of a river bed. Imam Sharif's tent was larger, and though
it looked more stately in a plain, he sometimes had not
room to pitch it, and had to sleep with his servants.
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CHAPTEE XIV
HARASSED BY OUB GDIDES
Wb never could ascertain whether the Tamimi hod come ot
not, BO on Febnuury 18, having given up all hope of joining
them and changed ten camels, we set out, but not before
nine o'clock.
After Sa'ah the Wadi Adim becomes narrow, stony, and
nninteresting, and our way lay for a good part along a atony
river bed, gradually mounting, but almost imperceptibly.
For several days we pursued the course of this valley, and
had we known what would befall us as we approached the
head of the Wadi Adim, I think nothing would have induced
us to take this route. It appears that a very wicked branch
of the Hamomni tribe hold a portion of this valley, and
determined that their enemies, the Jabberi, who stole their
cattle and plundered their caravans, should not have the
exclneive patronage of the lucrative English travellers on
their way to the coast. To our surprise at twelve o'clock
we stopped at a well, Bir al Ghuz, when our men begeui to
unload the camels. They said they were only just waiting
for the Hamoumi siyara to come up, and that tbey had
already arrived at Sa'ah.
The Hamoami are a small, poor tribe of Bedouin, who
occupy the lower end of Wadi Adim. They hire out camels
to caravans, and do a great deal of the carrying bnsiness.
Their yillages consist of miserable little hovels gathered
round forts, placed at intervals down the valleys, so that
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178 THE HADHBAMOUT
they can Bee from one to another. They have many flocks
and herds, for there is actoally pasturage for them, and
many of the shepherds hve in caves, there being plenty in
the sides of the valley, which are composed of pudding-
stone ; they wall up the front.
We considered that, as Talib-bin-AbduIlah, the chief of
the Jabheri and so notorious a robber, was our Mokadam,
we had better keep friends with him, therefore we spoke
him fair. He and his companions came and wrote their
names after a list of stages, and made a most solemn oath
they would do anything we liked ; and after we hod sat for
an hoar or more in the sun, waiting for the Hamoumi, they
said we mast pass the night at Bir al Ghuz, still swearing to
the seven days.
We therefore encamped, and very soon the Jabberi came
and asked my husbatid for a sheep, but he said he would
not give one now, but later in the journey he would do so if
he found we were getting on well ; so they went away, but
BOon came back foe twenty-seven dollars, as siyar to the
Hamoami. My husband said he had agreed for twenty-five,
bat they said they had spent two dollars on a messenger to
fetch the Hamoumi. The Jabberi were by way of having
110 dollars for their siyar, forty first and the rest at Sheher.
They would not move next morning (the 20th) without the
whole of the money, so they had to he given that and the
twenty-seven dollars for the Hamoami. Besides this they
always demanded their camel-hire every evening.
They next said the way was very dangerous, and we
must take men from five other tribes (though we could not
imagine how so many could be accommodated in that
wilderness), and pay twenty dollars. As my husband re-
fused, and asked them to reflect upon the consegaences of
their conduct, the soldiers came and now said they recom-
mended him to pay and recover the money at Shehei;
I
ubjGoOgIc I
HABASSED BY OUE GUIDES 179
otherwise they, the soldiers, said they would give np their
weapons to the Jabberi as a pledge that they would pay
forty dollars at Sheher. We said they might, but Talib told
us that if we did not pay they would give the Hamoami their
money and all go back themselves. We then summoned
Imam Sharif and had another council of three.
The servants, meanwhile, used often to be leaning in at the
tent door, scanning our faces and begging us to do anything
the Jabberi wanted, and moaning that we should never see
the ocean any more.
The Jabberi bad gone aWay, as my husband said be mnst
think over this ; so we consulted together. We at first quite
decided to return to Al Koton, and try to reach the coast
by Wadi al Ain and, if we could not have the camels, to
load our own three animals with necessaries and money,
leaviag all else behind, and perhaps to slip by Siwoun in the
night. So Talib was recalled, and told that we would go
back ; that we were now convinced of the dangers of this
road, as we saw he was afraid himself, and as he had told
us of two places where murders were always committed.
But afterwards we thought it wiser to consent to pay the
extra thirty dollars (in all fifty-seven) as siyar to the
Hamoumi, all the tribes mentioned being varieties of
Hamoumi. The money was to be placed on the Koran and
taken thence by Talib, with an oath that, if the sultan of
Sheher thought it unnecessary, it should be refunded. Seid-
bin-Iselem and three soldiers witnessed this, but Talib
would not allow the Hamoumi to be present. Instead of
taking Talib's gun as a deposit, the soldiers were to keep
the money in their hands. We were still to be at Sheher
within the seven days, and not now to wait two or three
days for the five tribes.
Though we did unpack a Koran and make Talib-lnn-
Abdollab swear on it, we did not then understand that merely
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180 THE HADHKAMOUT
Bwearing on the biDding is nothing. The Koran mast be
opened, and some places are better than others. Oaths by the
life of a son, or to divoice a faTonrite wife, are really good.
We being, as I say, ignorant, the oaths were broken.
My husband and I now felt quite conquered ; and it
most be admitted we had reason.
We had a horrible evening of dnst-storms and hurri-
canes, and were dreadfully afraid of the tent b^g blown
down. In the morning we packed, and the baggage was
taken out to be tied in handles, when Tahb demanded the
eleven dollars camel-hire for the day befora In vain was
he told that all was packed, and he should have them at the
next stage. No I he would not go away withont his money ;
so at great inconvenience we had to pay on the nail.
We had not gone an hour before we stopped, unloaded,
and changed our camels for Hamomni camels. 'Now all
is peace,' said Talib-bin-AbduUah, and in the same breath
asked for two dollars for two extra camels, that we had had
before we reached Sa'ah. My husband refused, but when
we reached our stage Talib asked for that day's pay, and
would not take it without the two dollars. Of coarse my
husband refused again, saying we were not responsible for
those two camels ; that Talib had contracted to take us
and our baggage, and that now we had twenty-two camels
instead of the fifteen with which we arrived at Al Koton.
Equally, of course, he knew he must pay, and did.
We settled oureelves under some thorny trees at Bir bin
Aboudan, where there are two wells with good water. It is
larger than most Hamoumi villages, and has palm-trees and
many large b'dom-trees.
Besides the Hamoami, Jabberi, and Yafei, there are
many small subsidiary tribes, or rather families, forming
little independent communities of their own, in this region.
To continue the life of Talib-bin-AbduUah. As soon as
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HARASSED BY OUR GUIDES 181
he had receivecl the last-mentioned money, he and his
companions and the Hamoami bad a great and lond quarrel.
Omr money, being bo bnlky, was in bags scattered about
among all the baggage, but we always had one store-bag in
my box, and my husband had some for current expenses.
The camel-men thought all the money was in a certain bag
that was solemnly carried into the tent every night. While
they shouted we filled the bag with a certain amount of
dollars, meant to represent our entire fortune, and placed it on
the table. We had become great hypocrites, but now we
both decided that sweet words were of no avail Whenever
Imam Sharif was sent for, the servants crowded round,
scanning our faces, and in despair themselveB, saying ' our
lives are sacrificed,' and making great lamentations about
their wives and families.
It was very hard sometimes to keep our voices and
countenances cheerful while holding counsel with Imam
Sharif as to how we ought to act, for sometimes it is right
to haggle over fourpence and sometimes it is right to pay
through the nose. It is difficult, indeed, when you are
cudgelling your brains, not to knit your brows, even if you
only wish to decide if you will take your umbrella or not.
Talib had not been absent from ns an hour when he
again arrived, saying he wanted four dollars to pay a debt
he owed in Bir bin Aboudan ; ' it was to come out of the
thirty dollars still owing for the siyara, and to be paid at
Sheher,' he said. He was, of couiBe, told that the money
for the siyara had been fully paid up, seventy dollars before
the Bultan of Shibahm, and forty at Sa'ah. Talib bawled a
good deal, and my husband pointed to the money-bag and
said, ' If you want all my money, take it ; but call it by
no other name than robbery. Take all at once instead of
bothering me perpetually, and I will settle with you at
Sheher.'
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183 THE HADHBAMOUT
When they heard this they were frightened, and went
away, Bajdng ' Oh I No I Not We do not want that.' They
were soon back, and said they wanted four dollars on their
food money (foar annas a day), ' bnt not at all nnlesa we
wished.' They then acknowledged, before the soldiers, that
the siyar was fully paid up, and that Talib had made a
mistake abont those two dollars that he had obtained for the
camels. In the meantime we had been planning to get
om; most urgently needed things ready to load on the hoisea
and to walk to Sheher, only sixty-five miles— but such miles I
However, we knew our enemies had the advantage of knowing
the way and the water-places, which we did not, and could
climb like monkeys over places where we could not take
horaes.
I am sure we shonld never have found the way over such
mountains, where camels sat down and slid, and we did
mach the seme, sometimes quite involnntarily.
Saleh at this time seemed disposed to do bis duty. The
money (thirty dollars) that had been extorted the day before
for siyar to the Hamomni, who had not yet turned np, and
given to the soldiers, was by them put into Saleh's keeping,
as he had a box that could be locked. In the night Talib came
to Baleh and said : ' Six Hamoumi are here ; give me the
money for them.' 'Wait till morning,' said Saleh, ' and I
will give it you before Mr. Bent, Imam Sharif, and every-
body,' but when he offered it to him then, he said, 'No,
keep it.'
We had gone a little ahead next morning, February 21,
Talib, Imam Sharif, and I, with the needful escort, my
husband having to ride a camel as his horse's back was sore,
and had proceeded an hour on our road when—' Bang I '
went a gun high up in the rocks, to our left, near
the village of Kouna or Eoutna, and ' bang I ' went another ;
8o we stopped, and with some hesitation five of the soldiers
^dbyCoogle
HARASSED BY ODE GUIDES 183
and some of the Jabberi went forward, getting round behind
the shelter of aome trees. There were seven men np in the
rocks, and a tower in the village was crowded. They con-
stantly fired from both places. The camels soon came up,
and we all dismounted and stood together with onr animals,
Basha, Znbda, and Mahsond close by. This shooting and
parleying went on for half an hoar. We thought at first that
they would only fire over our heads, but a bullet struck the
ground very near us.
We coold not make out what it was all about. There
were eo many different suggestions made as to the cause ;
some said the people of the village wanted to come with us
OS 8iyara, and some that they wanted to fight the Hamoumi,
who had lately taken their camels.
Our men shouted, ' Siyara I Siyara / ' and the men on the
tower, ' Come no nearer I ' ' By my God you shall not come
on I ' ' We are fighting and we will slay him who daree to
stir a step I '
Talib said, ' Now ws can go neither backward nor for-
ward,' and amazed us by asking for no money.
At last the soldiers came back from the village and told
us to advance, so we mounted and rode through the village
amidst uncompUmentary remarks from the scowling inhabi*
tants. We were told some people had gone on to intercept
us, and accordingly about half a mile farther there were
more shots, this time to our right. We of course came to
a standstill, but Talib, in spite of the shooting, rushed at
Mahsoud's bridle and dragged Imam Bharif down into the
river bed, calling excitedly to the rest of us to hurry on.
We passed safely, and you may be sure looked in every rock
and bush for enemies.
Hardly a quarter of a mile on, and where the valley is
about three hundred yards wide, there was a small tower to
our left, and we saw a lot of men rushing into this and
^dbyCoogle
184 THE HADHEAMOUT
appearing on the bftttlements. We knew they would shoot
at US and I was watching for the pnff. The first shot threw
np the earth nearly two yards from my horse's nose, and the
next seemed to say ' tshiah ! ' jast at the back of my neck.
It went jost between my hoehand and Imam Sharif, who
were on foot behind me.
Everyone ran as fast as the rocky gronnd let them, to
some trees oat of sight of that tower, but not knowing
whether we were not going to meet with more shooters, we
always had our revolvers ready, thongh no one knew that ;
our safety lay in being unarmed in the enemies' eyes ; we kept
them for worse need.
The sheikh of Koona said his name was Abdullah-bal-
Jabbeli, of the tribe of Obathani. There are two other
small tribes, Zedin — Sheikh Ebenadon, and Shibim — Sheikh
Bengadem.
After that last firing there was no more that day, and
we slept peacefully at Nalda, which we reached about 12.30,
and where the inhabitants were qnite friendly, bringing as
all the food we asked to buy. The valley seemed to come
quite to an end, but took a sudden tarn eastward just before
we reached the village. It is rather a pretty place, bat the
spot on which we were encamped was dreadfully dirty, and
we were so afflicted by dust-storms, that our books were
covered while we read, and the colour of our clothes and
bedding obliterated, and we had to tie our hair up in hand-
kerchiefs to keep it clean.
We always had quilts of tarkey-red or some other cotton,
for when we lay down our beds often became sandy, and
the quilts could easily be shaken or broBhed, and besides
protected the blankets from burrs and grass-thorns. We
were by ourselves in the afternoon when Talib came quite
alone, and with an air of secrecy, to ask for his eleven dollars
for that day's camel hire. I rushed out to the kitchen and
byCcKigle.
HARASSED BY OUE GUIDES 186
brought Matthftios bs a witnese. Then Talib asked for
two dollars, and when my huBbtuid began to call Sateh, he
said he did not want them and went away. He was soon
bock again, however, with Saleh, tp ask if my hosband
wished to pay any more for siyara of the people we were
coming to. My husband said ' No,' and after some talk
Talib said he would not ask it if my hosbtmd did not wish.
I told Tahb that the very next thing he woald get would be
my husband's money-bag, so he retired. Later he came for
thirty dollars to send to some people that night, bat my
husband told him to send his own men for them, and not
afterwards to say he had paid a messenger ; the money would
only be paid into those people's own hands. We lay down
with no great certainty of peace for the morrow, when we
expected to reach Ghaida.
All, however, went quietly that day, much to our relief.
My husband hod been induced to pay a rupee to send a scout
up the mountain to look behind rocks and bushes for dangers,
but we passed on our way completely unmolested by the
shepherdesses, young and old, who were all we met with in
the shape of human beings.
The valley became narrower, we rose higher, Euid the
cliffs were cavemoua. Sometimes the valley seemed quite
to finish up, but then it always took a turn again. Much of
the way was over lai^e, round stones, most horrible for the
horses.
We passed a water-place two hours after we left Nalda,
though Talib had made us stop there because, he said, there
was no water within a day's journey, and we found our-
selves stopped at Bahba, two hours at least before G-haida,
where we expected to be, Talib still sticking to it that we
should be at Sheher in three more days. He only asked for
four annas for coffee to drink at the great tomb of a wali.
Sheikh Salem-bin-Abdulloh Mollah el Mohagher, who is
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186 THE HADHKAMOUT
buried near a mosqae and a tank, the footbath of cattle,
from which we drank pea-green water, boiled and filtered of
course. Altogether Bahba is a pretty Tillage, bat mnch
exposed to wind. The tribes thereabout are Mahri, Gohi,
and 8albani.
Febmary the 23rd was a weary day. Talib had asked leave
to go to Snfeila to arrange something with the sheikh, soon
after our arrival at Bahba, saying he would not be away
long. He did not go all day, but at night said he was now
going, and would take sixty rupees siyar then, but was told
we would take it ourselves. In the morning the Hamoumi
refused to load up, saying they had not been paid the twenty-
seven dollars. Talib was absent, bat being fetched said he
was keeping the money, as otherwise the Hamoumi might
leave as anywhere they liked. In the meantime the soldiers,
according to their habit, instead of keeping their weapons
for our safeguard, once more gave up their swords and gons
to the Hamoumi. They always were pledging them to our
enemies, as an earnest that we would do what they wanted.
The Hamonmi loaded the camels, on the oath of Talib'
that they should have the money that night at Sufeila, a
place that we were to pass, and which the day before we
were told it was impossible to reach in one stage. They
swore to take us to Bir Bsiokban. We started about ten
o'clock, and at eleven the camels were stopped at Sofeila,
and the men said they would wait a quarter of an hour, to
which my husband consented. They then began to lead
the camels away to feed, so my husband stoutly said that if
they did that he would get other camels. Neither he nor
any of us knew how or whence these other camels could be
procured, hut it had the desired effect, and they left the
camels sitting among their loads. Saleh was sent to arrange
with the wretched little sheikh, and remained away till after
two o'clock. A soldier was sent to fetch him, and then
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HARASSED BY OUB GUIDES 187
srose a tremendoas aproar. First they said we should stay
where we were, then that we shoidd go only a short distance,
and on a different way to that already settled. After that
we were told we conld not go to Al Figra or Al Madi, as
these were recognised places for murders, and we were told
the same of Ghail Babwazir ; also a good many different
numbera of days were mentioned for our jonmey.
My husband said he would camp at Sufeila, but they
quickly loaded up for Bir Baokban, they said. The sheikh
was given fifteen dollars, and he told as he would send four
of his sons with us.
I must say that after those four or five hours of being
stared at and called bad names, I was pretty tired. We
none of us remarked that three of the aoldiera, all the
Jabberi, and the four sons stayed behind.
I was ridJDg with Imam Sharif, two Indians, four
soldiers, and the groom leading 2abda, whose back was
still sore, when we came to a fork in the way. The soldiers
asked a passing man, ' Which is the way to Ghail ? ' The
man looked puzzled ; so were we. I said, ' We want to
know the way to Bir Baokban.* ' No, no ! Ghail,' said the
soldiers, and when I said ' Baokban ! ' again they laughed
scomfolly. Our kafila came up, and I rode to my husband
and told him I was sure we were being led out of our way.
We were guided down a rocky slope into a valley not
more than 200 feet wide, with thick woods up each side,
and a sandy bottom. Here we were stopped by a good
many shots from each side, and retreated a little, without
turning our backs, and then looked about for the four sons.
There was another row of course, and my husband said we
would return to Sufeila ; but we were told at last that we
might pass, so we did, and one of the shooters soon joined
us and asked for a rupee for coffee, but was refused, and
then said he would let us go to Bir Baokban if he got a
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188 THE HADHHAMOUT
rupee, bnt he did not insist. We now thought it well to
ask where we were, and were told that it was Hadbeh, a place
we had never heard of before. My husband said we should
return to Sufeila, and carried off a string of camels. There
was a great consultation, amid much roaring and ehouting.
I rode fast to the head of the kafila to see what was happen-
ing, my husband still going back with about sis CEunels, the
others going on, they eaid, to Bir Baokban. I then galloped
back over the stones to the soldiers who were behind, and said,
' Your sultan has placed you under onr orders ; go and get
those camels back.' ' No, no,' they said, ' it is quite safe to
go on,' and ran back as hard as they could.
I then rode back quickly to my husband, and found him
in abject distress ; one of his camels had shed its load, and
was seated on the ground. The soldiers remained behind,
sitting on a bank. After a long council, we determined to
go on to a village close by, where we joined the other
camels. We had barely time to set up the tents before
dark, and onr store of bread and charcoal stood us in good
stead. The Indian party were dreadfully late getting to
bed. Dismay reigned supreme amongst us all.
Saleh came in to our tent and said, 'The man who shot
at us says, " You cannot go on to-morrow. To-day we only
shot our bullets in the air, but to-morrow we shall shoot at
you.' "
We thought of going back to Sufeila, and sending to
the sultan of Sheher for help, but where could we find a
messenger? When we were in bed, Saleh came and said
two men with the matches of their guns alight were standing
by our tent ; some of those that had shot at us, and said
they wanted four or six annas, as they were returning to
Sufeila. They refused to take four then, so my husband said
they had better come about it in the morning.
Morning revealed that these were some of our own
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HARASSED BY OUR GUIDES 189
camel-men, who were just pretending to be the shooters in
order to get money, ftnd also we found out that Talih had
employed the shooters to give us the fright, in order te>
delay us, that the Jabberi and the soldiers might have a
feast at our expense in the village, and time to eat it. They
did not reach camp till eleven.
Next morning the soldiers brought my husband twelve
of the fifteen dollars the sheikh had received (being part of
the original thirty, said to be for the three other tribes of
Hamonmi), saying that he was a very wicked man, as he
had not sent his four sons, so they had only left him three
dollars for the feast. Hardly had my husband pat this by,
when Talih came and had to be given thirty-six dollars for
siyar to the Mahri. Plainly we were in their hands, and
had to pay whatever Talib chose, as we might be hemmed
in at any moment. We felt as if we were in a net.
The eleven dollars camel-hire which we had kept out
having gone to make up this sum, and the camel-men
refusing to load without it, we had to unpack again to
get it for them.
Sufeila, where we had endured such a disagreeable delay,
is on the tableland, 3,150 feet above the sea-level, with
excellent air, excellent water, palm and other trees, and
would make a first-class sanatorium for Aden. It is ten
miles inland from Sheher as the crow fiies.
About 8 o'clock next morning we started, not knowing
precisely whence or whither, and determined to keep together
as much as possible. We followed for miles the bed of a
stream, which collects all the water from this part of the
akaba, and gradually develops into Wadi Adim, the great
approach to the Hadhramout. There is a fortress on a
hill 3,500 feet above the sea-level, the highest point in this
part; Haibel Gabrein being 4,150 feet, and near Dizba the
highest point is 4,900 feet. After some miles on the akaba.
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190 THE HADHEAMOtJT
we plunged into a valley about 200 feet wide, and wooded
with palms ; tbe earthen cliffs were about 60 feet high,
and the bed sandy.
By this time we neither had a liking for valleys, cliffs,
trees, nor people. We did not feel pleased at being led
straight across the valley to a band of armed men, in a most
unpleasant situation for us if they meant mischief. These
were only Jabberi travelling, and they were told that we
were friends of the sultan of Sheher, and not going to stay
a minute. I suppose they would have fired if we had not
been introduced to them. We were glad to reach Bir
Bookbon at 11.30. It is a well in a bare place at the mouth
of a valley. Talib did not wish to stay there, for the water
is brackish, and he wanted us to go on before the camel-men
came up, but we waited, and they and the Jabberi had a
loud and angry quarrel, and we were told there was no water
nearer than Al Madi, and some of them wanted to stop at
a place half-way to Al Madi and send for water. We could
make neither head nor tail of it. TaUb then asked my
husband which he wished to do, for so it should be ; but as he
knew it was a case of ' You may do as yon like, bat you
must,' answered to that effect, ' Whichever Talib liked, we
were in his hands and could not choose.' After great
hesitation we encamped in a windy, dusty, but rather
pleasant place near Bir Baokban.
There were many tombs on the way. One had three
upright stones, which the Hamoumi camel-men touched, and
then kissed their fingers.
They cheerfully told us that many caravans have been
robbed here, and men murdered ; pleasant news for ns.
We asked them why we had been fired on, and they
said that the people believed we poisoned the wells. The
soldiers came ajid shouted at us a good deal, saying, ' Why
do you hire Bedouin to protect you ? Are we not here ? Do
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HABASSED BY OUR GUIDES 191
you not trast us ? ' We soothed them with flattering words,
and then Talib came and extorted nine more dollars.
In the morning we had to pay three dollars to three men
who said they had seen four men, which four men ran away.
We were informed that we were to pass through three
tribes that day, and should have a good deal of trouble on
the way to Dizha, the place half way to Al Madi. As a matter
of fact we were pretty sure that these later scares were only
got np to frighten more money out of our pockets. The
soldiers were told to go in front, but they often sat down
and lit a fire for their water pipe, got behind, or rode a
camel.
Though we went up and down a good deal, it was not
too steep to ride all the way, and though there were watch-
ings and scoutings, we saw neither man nor beast, nor
any habitation of the three tribes. As we went along my
husband was told that an old woman (whom we never saw)
had come and said that the men of AI Madi would not let
us pass, and that we must write to the sultan of Sheher to
send us two hundred soldiers.
There is water at Dizba, though we were told there was
none till Al Madi. We encamped in a sheltered spot, a
sort of pot between low hills. We ought, according to the
solemn contract, to have been at Sheher by that time. We
talked over the plan of sending to Sheher, and decided that
doing BO meant much pay to the messenger, thirty or forty
more doUars aiyar, and, what was worst, four days' delay ;
it would also coat forty-four dollars in camel-hire ; so we
decided that it was far better to pnsh on, for our delay would
only give time to more enemies to gather round us. It would
likewise be far cheaper, and so it subsequently turned out.
From being hypocrites we now became liars, and iny
husband said he had not so much money left, and that he had
already paid four rupees to send men on the morrow. There
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192 THE HADHEAMOUT
was aome talk of oar all going by night and getting past
Al Madi, bat in that case oar own men would only fire on us
to frighten us. Next we heard that there was no village at
Al Madi where we could bay forage ; we had but little left,
though plenty of dried bread. Then three Jabberi came and
said they were getting lame, and wanted eight dollars to
buy a donkey out of their food-money, but my husband
said he had paid bo much for siyara that he had not enough
to pay that till we reached Sheher.
There was an idea that they woald shoot round us in
the night, for they spoke of the dangeroua situation in which
we were, and wanted six or eight dollars to pay for scouts on
the hills, but went away when my husband said he would
see about it in the morning. In case they did we determined
to remain silent in our beds that they might be unable to
locate us, and in that case they would not &re at oar tents
for fear of hitting us.
We had a very cold night ; the dew in the morning was
streaming off our tent in heavy drops.
Talib said, ' The people of Al Madi do not want money,
but our lives and souls.' We did not think they meant to kill
us, bat only to frighten money out of us. We also overheard
some conversation about our lives and baggage being in
peril. We had not far to go, bat the way was very intricate.
At sunset we three had a great council, and sent for
Saleh; the soldiers, having been Mattered, were fetched
too, as we now thought we had them on our side, and we
threatened to ruin them and their families, or to give them
good bakshish if they did well by us. My husband said we had
decided that in future he would not give another pi (not to eat,
but there are a good many pies in an anna and also pice), but
that, as the camel-men spoke of stopping between Dizba and
Al Madi, we would have some food ready to eat on the journey
and get the soldiers to force them on ; and, if we had to stay.
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HARASSED BY OUR GUIDES 193
to load the horses aad start the following morning to Sheher.
The soldiers agreed on promise of a good sheep next day ; the
Hamoomi camel-men were promised coffee and sugar, so
they agreed also.
When they were all gone, Saleh, to our unbounded
amazement, said that Seid and Talib had confided to him
114 rupees, on account of his having the locked box j bo he
brought them to us, and amid shonts of laughter they were
engnlfed in our bag.
By the bye, we actually had two of the AI Madi people ■
with us, BO we ought to have been safe ; or what is the good
of siyara ?
In the morning an awful object met our view. This was
a soldier, a very ugly black man, who was dragged aJong on
bis knees by bis arms and shoulders to our tent. He had
been struck by the cold, his companions said. He seemed
to be perfectly helpless, and to have no control or use of
any muscles save those which were at work making the
most horrible grimaces. I ran to the kitchen and fetched
our tea, to the rage of Matthaios, who said he had no more
water to replace it, and that as it was we could not have
a cupful each. It was poured down his throat in a very
rough way, but refused to stay. My husband gave him
some of an unknown medicine, that' he said was specially
used for such cases, and this brandy just trickled out of his
month, so they dragged him away to their own fire, still
in a kneeling position. They then opened his jacket and
burnt him a good deal with a hot sword, and he was given
tepid water to drink, which stayed down very well. When
we were about to start, he was held upright by two men.
A thick square shawl was put rather carelessly over his
head with the fringe over his face, and pushed back off his
shoulders, to allow his arms to come ont through an abba, a
kind of cloak with armholes, which was also put over his head.
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194 THE HADHEAMOUT
They came out so high up of course, that the hands Btnck
out on a level with his ears. High up under hie elbows,
and far above his waist, a turban was wound, and a muffler
was put round his neck and mouth ; be hobbled along
with two supporters and leaning on a epear, with the shawl
streaming on the ground like a train — a very absurd sight.
In about an hour he was quite well.
Talib, not knowing of our little plan of going with the
Hamoumi to Al Madi, came and told us how very dangerous
Al Madi was, and that it would be far better to go by Ghail
Babwazir, if only the camel-drivers would agree. If they
would not, he wonld put all our most necessary things, i.e.
our money, on his own camel, and we would ride secretly off
together. It is needless to say we did not consent, as it
would have been ' Good-bye Talib and money ! '
Then All, the chief of the camel-men, came and said he
would not go unless he got six secret dollars for himself and
six for the others, and said he would (like Ananias and
Sapphira) swear he had only six. Imam Sharif and Saleh
again perjured themselves in our behalf to such an extent
that my husband and I could hardly sit by, but we must
speak the language of the country, I suppose.
From Dizba we passed over very high ground, 4,300
feet, with a cold refreshing wind from the sea. It seemed
to us a healthy climate. In a httle narrow pass is a rude
tomb near the rough stone cabin of a sainted lady called
Sheikha, where our soldiers and camel-men made their
devotions.
I bad a very uncomfortable ride, for on the way we saw
an aloe of a kind we bad not seen before, and which proved
to be new enough to obtain the name of Aloe Luntii. The
botanist sawed off the head of it (which is growing now in
Kew Gardens), and we knew he dared not try to take it on
hia camel, as the men always quarrelled over every weight
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HABASSED BY OUR GUIDES 195
th&t was added to the load ; so I told him to go on and
leave it, as if he did not care for it, and then I tied it to
the ofF-Bide of my saddle, and hsid to ride haDging heavily
on my left atirmp, as otherwise I should have been over-
balanced, and my horse would have got a sore back. On
arrival, I dismounted in a quiet place, put the aloe down
with my jacket thrown on it, and later fetched it into the
tent, under cover of my feminine draperies, and at night
it was smuggled into some package. On one occasion, when
no one had been riding for some days past, a felt saddle-cloth
somehow was left behind by us, so one of our own men
was forced to carry it in his hand till I discovered it, and
tied it to my saddle, for he was not allowed to put it on a
camel. I tell this to show how very disobhging they were
to as.
Mariftia is the name of a disgusting pool or cistern of
the very dirtiest water, on a bare and lonely hiliside, where
we were exposed to wind and cold, and where we encamped
in much the same state of perplexity as usual.
Soon after our arrival my husband was asked for eight
dollars to send fifteen men up the bills to look for murderers ;
he refused, then the camel-men said they would not start
without six men to go ahead, hut that was refused too.
Next morning we started for Al Madi. We wound up and
down, over bare ground, and could see no danger for miles.
At a point on the highland we waited for the camels to come
up ; they came and passed to theaouthward on a well-trodden
path. Talib called out to them to stop, and said that he would
not go that way, and that we should not, and that the men
were taking us into danger. He pointed to the south-west,
but we did not like parting from our baggage. Talib then
asked my husband which way he pleased to go.
' Which is the best ? ' he asked.
' I do not know,' said Talib.
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196 THE HADHEAMOUT
' Very well,' said my hnsband, * we will follow the
cameU.' On we all went in great doubt, and the Jabberi told
us awfal Btories of the Hamomni intentions. We had five
anned Jabberi, seven soldiers, and twelve Ilamoumi, all
armed, including two little boys.
The soldiers, so brave the night before, said : ' We can
do nothing — we are afraid. If we fired a gun, ot if they
fired, hondreds of people would come, and they would
kill us.'
They never either raised their weapons or their tongues
in our defence. They said the sultan of Sheher would not
be able to go himself or send soldiers into these parts, and
that the Al Madi people wished to decoy ns to Al Madi and
kill us. The Jabberi said the same, and Talib again wished
us to ride off with him.
The Hamoumi said it was all Talib's fault, for he owed
a great deal of money at Al Madi, and was afraid of going
thither.
The Hamoumi then said they would take na to Qhail
Barbwazir or Barbazir or Babwazir, but we must keep it
a secret from the Jabberi and the soldiers.
Saleh said to them, ' My dear friends, tell me the truth.
Where are we going ? I also am an Arab and a Moslem,
and I Bwear by my Koran and my religion, that we will
give you forty dollars, and spend two days in Ghail
Babwazir, during which you will have your eleven dollars
a day ; and we will engage you on to Sheher, and give you
good bakshish, and a good character to the sultan and two
nice turbans.'
We gasped in amazement at this.
' Oh ! ' said Saleh, ' I only read tbem something from the
preface of the Koran ! We are not bound at all. If I had
to swear falsely on the Koran, I should have to be given a
great many guineas !
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HARASSED BY OUR GDIDBS 197
We never knew the name of the place where we slept
that night.
Talib came in the morning and said he could not per-
suade the Bedou Hamoumi to go to Ghail Babwazir. We
told him that they had agreed to do so, and he was very
angry at oar having settled anything without him. Then
Ali said he could not go in two days ; so he was led aside and
privily threatened with public betrayal as to having taken
twelve dollars and saying he only had six. Then they all
wanted payment in advance, but the same threat to All
availed to avert this bother and we set out, told that wo
should go as far as Gambia.
We had, after, all, to part from the camels, which went
a more roundabout way, while we climbed down 1,000 feet
over very steep rocks, ■ft'ith the use of hands as well as feet,
the horses being with us, to a place not very far from water.
The horses were sent to fetch a little, while we awaited the
camels more than half an hour, and ate some food we had
with us.
The horses had been badly off and had only bread and
dates, for the camel-men would sell us no forage. When
they arrived they said we must stay where we were, and
there was a fierce row as usual. They also demanded their
eleven dollars, but gave up sooner than unload, as we said
we would not atop.
At one time, when we had been waiting a long while for
the return of those camels which had gone to fetch skins of
water, Talib caused our horses to be saddled, mounted his
came), and started, but my husband would not go on to
Gambia, when the camel-men had refused to go there. Then
we all lay down on rough atones, scorching in the sun for
hours, wondering what would happen and whether we could
get any farther that day, but at length we suddenly were
invited to start.
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108 THE HADHEAMOUT
We had a very Bteep climb np on foot aaid then down,
and pitched our tents for the night in a very bare little
hollow. We* were very sorry for the horses ; it was sad to
see them turning over the stones, and we longed for some
real horse food for them.
The soldiers sent a letter to Sheher to announce our
arrival, and they wished to send for more soldiers, but we
begged them not to do so, as they were quite useless.
Seid-bin-Iselem in this lonely spot came to Saleh and
wanted some money to buy something, where there was no
one to sell. Saleh said the money y/aa still in his bos, and
to make his words good smuggled it in again, in a most
clumsy but quite successful way.
All's secret had twice to be threatened, next morning,
for different reasons before we could start, and then they all
roared that they would none of them carry our chairs. We all
travelled on foot still, as there was much climbing to do. We
climbed down 2,000 feet, very steep in parts, to Gambia,
Gambia is a verdant and palmy place where we could
buy so much food for our hungry horses that at length my
Basha turned his back on his big pile, and came with long
green streamers hanging from his sated mouth to doze
beside me.
There was a struggle, of course, to stay the night at
Gambia, and we were told we could not reach Ghail Bab-
wazir till very late, but we said we did not care how late,
and Ali was once more privately drawn aside, and again
threatened about the twelve dollars, so It was agreed we
should go on.
We waited, however, a long time, and seeing no camels
collected to load I said very loud, ' Call all the Hamoumi
together here, and tell Ali that the very last moment has
come.'
Ali rushed about, and soon had us on our way.
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CHAPTER XV
BETBIBUTION FOB OUB FOES
We reached Crhail Babwazir in three hours, at half-past
&ve, passing through Beveral oases. It is a large town,
ijome children, as I came round a comer, cried, ' Let us
flee ! here is a demon' (afrit).
All the guns of our escort were fired, and we were
nshered into a house, where there was a good-sized room
with some matting.
We were all very tired, hot and hungry, but alaa for
Arab hospitality ! No cofFee was brought, not even water,
and when our servants asked for water and wood^ — ^ Show
UB first your money " was the answer they got.
We had a very public visit from the governor, who is
called sultan, and who asked us if we had had a pleasant
journey, and wondered how we could have been so many
days on the road.
He was told of all our troubles, and took the Hamonmi,
Mohammad, who shot at us, a prisoner, and hisjerabia (or as
they say in Southern Arabia ghembia), without which be is
ashamed to be seen, was given into my husband's custody.
Our expedition all passed a peaceful night, thankful to
be in security after eighteen days of anxiety, never knowing
what ambushes we might be led into ; but Talib we heard
did not sleep at all and was quite ill from fright, as contrary
to his wishes he was, said the sultan, to be taken to Sheher
with us on the morrow.
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200 THE HADHEAMOUT
Ghail Babwazir is an oasis ot serieB of oases of rank
fertility, caused by a stream the water of which is warm
and bitter, and which is condncted by channels cut in the
rock in various directions.
Acres aqd acres of tobacco, bananas, Indian corn,
cotton, and other crops are thus produced in the wilder-
ness, and this cultivation has given rise to the overgrown
village.
The stream waa discovered about five hundred years ago
by one Sheikh Omar, and before that time all this part was
waste ground.
This fertilising spring rises under a hill to the east,
where a large reservoir has been dug out. Above on the
hill are some Arab rains, places where things were stored,
and there is a road up. Canals cut some twenty feet deep,
like the kanats of Persia, conduct the water to the fields.
The chief product is tobacco, known as Hamoumi tobacco.
Our roof happened to command a view of the terrace
where a bride and her handmaidens were making merry
with drums and coffee. In spite of the frowns and gesticu-
lations of the order-keeper, who flourished her stick at us
and bade ub begone, we were able to get a peep, forbidden
to males, at the blushing bride. She wore on her head
large silver bosses like tin plates, her ears were weighed
down with jewels, her fingers were straight with rings, and
her arms a mass of bracelets up to the elbow, and her breast
was hidden by a multiplicity of necklaces. Her face, of
course, was painted yellow, with black lines over her eyes
and mouth like heavy moustaches, and from her nose hung
EOmething which looked to us like a gold coin. The bride
herself evidently had no objection to my husband's presence,
but the threatening aspect of her women compelled us
reluctantly to retire.
On the 29th we sot out for Shcher, or Shaher Bander as
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EETRIBUTION FOE OUE FOES 201
it is called, a most cheerful set of people, at least as far as
our own immediate party was concerned ; some of the others
had little canse for pleasant anticipations.
"We were in advance of the baggage camels, riding onr
horses and donkey, and accompanied by Talib, without
his dagger, on his camel. Matthaios, the Jabberi, and the
soldiers surrounding the prisoner Mohammad, attached by
a long rope to my husband's horse, an arrangement not
invented by my husband, but which we enjoyed very much,
and no wonder, after all we had suffered I
The servants all thought that as soon as might be after
getting to Sheher we should take ship for Aden, and many
were the plans made for vengeance upon Saleh once he was
safe in our clutches on board that ship.
We, however, had quite another design, which was that
my husband and Imam Sharif and I should go ofT to
Bir Borhut, if the safety of our lives could in any way
be guaranteed, we taking only Noura, one of the Indian
servants, as onr own attendant. Of course the others
would be with their master.
Several times we went by small passes through gypsum
hills, lovely to behold, and twice we passed water, not so
bitter as Ghail Babwazir. We had plenty of up and down
hill, but never had to dismount. The way was, for the most
part, arid and uninteresting. Four years before, in theso
passes, the Hamoumi had attacked a caravan and killed
nine men, taking eighty camels and 2,000 rupees. They
must have had sii/ara, though, from some tribe. Each tribe
has its fixed tarifif. The Hamoumi have twenty-seven
dollars, the Jabberi seventy, the Tamimi one hundred, &c.,
and when this sum is paid, if you have only o;>.e of each
tribe with you, you are safe.
When we had gone two-thirds of our way we reached a
palm-shadowed village called Zarafa. Here we went into a
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202 THE HADHEAMOUT
house to cat out luncheon and obtain some coEfec, which
had to be prepaid.
We reached Sheher about lour o'clock. The last three
miles, going eastward, were close along the shore at low tide.
It was quite delightful, and we were very much amused at
all the crabs we put to flight.
We were very glad to dismount in the middle of the
town, at the gate of an old castle, and were shown up into
a room about 50 feet by 30 feet, with a good many chairs,
tables, and sofas, arranged stifdy, and all dusty. ludian
cotton carpets covered the floor, and there was a great
number of very common lamps with lustres.
We waited wearily nearly an hour, while the Sultan
Hussein Mia and his brother. Sultan Ghalib Mia, put on their
best clothes, and at last we became so out of patience that
my husband sent a message to the wazir, asking him to be
kind enough to send a man to point out to us a spot where
we might pitch our tents, and an answer then was returned
that the sultans were coming. When they appeared, very
gorgeous, our letter from Aden was given, with that from
Sultan Saiah of Shibahm, and my husband requested leave
to make a camp. Sultan Hussein looked round him and
asked if this room would not do ? Imam Sharif explained
to Lim that we were rather a large party for such accom-
modation (the whole of our expedition being then present
in the room), that we should require separate apartments,
and, therefore, would prefer a private house. We were
given tea in crockery of the commonest kind ; I had an odd
cup and saucer which both leaked badly, and I feared my
cup would fall into four pieceSj but they had come from afar,
and I dare say the sultans would be astonished at the care
we take of cracked cups from foreign parts.
We were then led on foot quite to the other side of the
town, where there was a ' summer-house ' partly constructed
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EETBIBUTION FOR OUE FOES 203
and partly furnished, the builders were on one side and we on
the other. We had a room with a carpet, a aettee, and two
httle tables, and set up our own beds and chairs. We had
rather a good dinner served by an Indian butler who could
talk English, bo we had hopes of being very comfortahle.
The summer-house at that time consisted of two very long
rooms back to back, and several rooms at each end projecting
80 as to form a verandah for each of the long rooms. The
back one was quite unfinished then, and upstairs there were
only rudimentary walls traced out, three or four feet high.
There was a great square wall surrounding a piece of desert
in process of being transformed into a garden ; the sea sand
came quite up to the wall.
We found the heat intense, so we had our tent somehow
fastened up on the roof to sleep. All the sides had to be
tied up for coolness, but the defences against mosquitoes and
fleas were very stifling. Goats had been kept on the roof,
and hence the fleas. We could only stay there till sunrise,
and then had to betake ourselves to our sufifocating room, to
And the flies wide awake. We bad to use our mosquito
curtains by day on their account. In Shibahm the mosquitoes
are awake by day only, and at Aden both by day and night.
Imam Sharif found great favour in the eyes of the two
sultans, who asked him to supper every day. The con-
versations he had with them about us, and the letters they
had received from their cousin at Shibahm, did us far more
good than the letter from the wali of Aden. They said this
gave them no idea other than that my husband was ' only
a merchant ' or a person of that rank. They were very
hospitable to us while we were in their town.
They examined into our complaints with regard to the
treatmentwe had experienced on our journey. Mohammad,
who had shot at us, and Ali, the one who had extorted the
money from us, were both imprisoned, and this money was
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204 THE HADHBAMOUT
made to pay for our last two days' joorney. Talib was forced
to repay the thirty dollars and sent to summoD the heads of
thoee villages which had fired npon ne, his sword being
taken from him as a disgrace, and all were to wait in Sheher,
till after Eamadan was over, to be judged.
This, of course, was pleasing to ns ; however, no money
could repay us for the anxiety of this journey under the
protection of the Jabberi, and we considered it as quite the
worst experience we had ever undergone in the course of
any of our travels.
On reflection we could attribute these troubles neither to
any indiscretion on our part, nor to neglect of care on the
part of the' sultan of Shibabm.
We have always been perfectly polite in respecting the
prejudices of the inhabitants of the countries through which
we have travelled, never, on the one hand, classing all non-
Europeans aa ' natives ' and despising high and low alike
as inferior to ourselves in intelligence and everything else,
nor, on the other, feeling that, having seen a few men, not
quite as white as ourselves, in no matter what country or
continent, we thoroughly understood how to manage ' these
niggers."
Saltan Sal&h did, assuredly, bis very uttermost to secure
our safety and comfort, quite disinterestedly. He absolutely
refused to take a sum of money, saying, ' I want nothing, I
have plenty,' When we determined to have some money
melted and to have a silver-gilt present made for him, he
heard of our vain inquiries for a non-existent jeweller, and
earnestly begged that we would do no such thing. *He
loved the English, and only asked that my husband would
mention him favourably to the English Government ' — and
this favourable mention has gained him nothing.
If when my husband asked that areliable interpreter should
be recommended to him, he had been sent a man favour-
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EETHIBUTION FOB OUR FOES 205
abl; disposed towards ourselves, and capable of inspiring
respect in others, instead of a little clerk, aged twenty, from
a coal-office, a fanatical Moslem who hated his employers,
we should have been in a much better position, and have
been able to pass on from the Jabberi to the Hamoumi,
whereas travelling with the Jabberi through the Hamoumi
country we had to encounter their enemies as well as our
own.
Sheher is a detestable place by the sea, set in a wilderness
of sand. Once it was the chief commercial port of the
Hadbramout valley, but now Makalla has quite superseded
it, for Sheher is nothing but an open roadstead with a couple
of baggalas belonging to the family of Al Eaiti, which
generally have to go to Hami to shelter, and its buildings
are now falling into ruins, since the Kattiri were driven away.
Why anyone should choose such a place for a town, and
continue to live in it, is mysterious. It is a place so un-
pleasant with flies and fleas, that the inhabitants often go to
sleep on the seashore. The doors of the houses are very
prettily carved all over, also the cupboards, and lintels to
doors; we tried to buy some but could not. They have
texts from the Koran carved on them. We were not
allowed to buy them for fear we should work magic with
them.
There is a very picturesque mosque with a sloping
minaret, white domes, palm-trees, and a well, and hard by a
house we saw a miniature mosque — a sort of doll's house-
built for children who play at prayers. They can just crawl
into it. It is hung with lamps, and the children make mud
pies of various shapes, which they put in it. Especially
during Bamadan they are encouraged to play at mosque, and
the lamps are lit up every evening. It is 3 feet high and
3 feet square, and has its little dome, minaret, and parapet
like other mosques.
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206 THE HADHEAMOUT
There is an imposing gateway to the town — but bnilt
in a kind of Bomanesgue style which does not suit Arabia —
with long guard-houses on each side, and various quaint
weapons and powder-flasks hung upon it.
(rhalib, the eldest son and heir of the chief of the Al Kaiti
family, ruled here as the vicegerent of his father, who is in
India as jemadar or general of the Arab troops, nearly all
Hadhrami, in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Ghalib was quite an oriental dandy, who lived a life of
some rapidity when in India, so that his father thought it
as well to send him to rule in Sheher, where the opportunities
for mischief are not so many as at Bombay. He dressed
very well in various damask silk coats and faultless trousers
of Indian cut, his swords and daggers sparkled with jewels,
in his hand he flourished a golden-headed cane, and as the
water is hard at Sheher, he sends his dirty linen in dhows to
Bombay to be washed. He was exceedingly good to ue, and
as we wanted to go along the coast for about eighty miles,
to get a sight of the mouth of the Hadhramout valley near
Saihut, where it empties itself into the Indian Ocean, he
arranged that the chief of the dreaded Hamoumi tribe should
personally escort us, so that there might be no further doubt
about our safety.
Sultan Hussein had married a daughter of Sultan Sal&h
two years before, when she was eleven years old.
The AI Kaiti family have bought up property all round
the town, and talked of laying out streets and bringing
water to Sheher. We heard that one brother had to have
all his share in money, and had twenty-two lacs of rupees,
about 150,OO0Z.
We became very tired of Sheher before we finally left,
having to stay a week, while arrangements were made
for our onward way, and on account of Ramadan no com-
munications could be held with anyone, or business be done
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EETBIBUTION FOE OUB FOES 207
till sunset. We seemed all day to be the only people alive,
and then at night we could hardly sleep for the noise.
Our only pleasures were walks at sunset along the sand,
picking up lovely sheila and watching the crabs, and we used
to sneak out as quietly as we could for fear of being pursued
by soldiers. Our little walks were very much shortened
when we had aD armed escort dogging our steps. Once we
got a mile away but were fetched back for fear of the
Hamoumi, Sheher being quite on the frontier. There
is a round, black basaltic mountain which they call the
Hamoumi mountain. The Hamoumi tribe occupy nearly
all the mouDtainous district east of Sheher, between the
Hadhnunout valley and the sea, and they are reported
to be very powerful. Next to them come the tribe of
Mahra.
Even Sultan Ghalib himself cannot ride far out of his
capital unprotected, because the Hamoumi are his foes.
We tried to get leave to go to Saihut in the Mahri
country, but that was impossible, and at last it really was
settled that we should go to Bir Borhut and Kabr Houd.
We were highly delighted, and fear broke out badly again
among the servants, who dreaded the very name of those
places. They gladly took permission to remain behind.
All arrangements about siyara were made, and we were never
to stop more than one night anywhere, and to return by a
different way, and the day of departure was settled ; but the
day before that fixed, it became apparent that we Christians
could by no means be permitted to go near Kabr Houd, and
that the time occupied for the journey would now be thirty-
one days, and we must wait till after Bamadan. It was to
be a mere journey without our seeing anything that we
wanted to see, and it was getting very late and hot, and we
did not feel we could spend so long a time for so little ;
therefore we gave up all idea of seeing Bir Bothut and Eabr
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208 THE HADHEAMOUT
Houd that yeaj. It was to have cost us 670 dollars, at seven
to the pound sterling.
By the way, Maria Theresa dollars are always spoken of
as reals. You have to buy them dear, two rupees and a
varying amount of annas, and are told they are very hard to
get. They are tied up in bags, and you may very well trust
the hanker for the number of coins ; bat if you ore wise you
will examine them all, for any dirty ones, or any that are
the least worn or obliterated, or that have any cut or mark
on them, will be rejected and considered bad in the interior.
When you return to civilisation you hasten to the banker
to change these dollars, and you sell them cheap, for you
are told that there is now little demand for dollars, they are
quite going out of use and rupees only are used — quite a
fable. No matter how many extra annas you may have
paid, the dollar only passes for two rupees in the interior.
We lost 1,100 rupees on this one journey between our
departure from Aden and our return to Aden,
We next settled to go to Mosaina along the coast, and
still to start on the appointed day. Therefore we were up
betimes (what little baggage we were to take being bound
in bundles the day before), packed our beds, and then we
waited ; it was not certain till four o'clock that no camels
were coming. No one could do anything, as the sultan had
no power beyond his own dominions, and the camel-men
were all foreigners.
However, next morning seven camels came and we were
quickly on the road, causing great terror to the crabs.
When I say the road I mean the sand at low tide.
We had the chief of all the Hamoumi with us, a very
old, rich, and dirty man, hut most precious to us as a safe-
guard. Two of his sons were kept aa hostages in Sheher
till we should return in peace.
We also had the governor of Eosscir with us, as well as
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RETRIBUTION FOR OUR FOES 209
men of the various little tribes whose country we were to
traverse, as siyara. The camels and siyara cost twelve
dollars. The camels were hired by the job, twelve days,
80 it would not pay them to dawdle.
We had told the sultans how Saleh had behaved and
asked them to keep him nnder their eyes till our return, and
this is bow we managed without him as interpreter. "We
talked English to Imam Sharif, he talked Hindustani to his
Afghan servant Majid, Majid talked his own tongue to an
Afghan whom we annexed at Sheher, and he could speak
Arabic. We got on very well, but as such a party had to be
assembled to say important things, we had to struggle to
express simple things ourselves.
DigmzedbyGoOgle
THE HADHEAMOUT
CHAPTER XVI
COASTING EASTWABD BT LAND
The journey waa delightful, nearly all the way by the edge
of the sea, past miles and miles of little moimdB thrown up
by the crabs in making their holes : daily they make them,
and they are daily washed away by the tide. They live in
holes higher up, but these are refuges for the day while
they are scavenging in the sea. They were nearly under the
feet of the horses. Near Sheher we passed the mouth of the
Arfa river, where there is water, and near it are horribly
smelling tanks where they make fish oil.
We had to make a deviation of two miles inland to cross
the estuary of the Wadi Gherid, and then go down to the sea
again, but the last mile was over a low cliff covered with a
smash of huge shells. It must be a furious place in a storm.
We passed a wretched hamlet consisting of a few arbours
and a welt, whose waters are both bitter and salt.
Hami (hot), where we stopped, is sixteen miles from
Sheher. It is most picturesquely situated at the foot of
some low spurs, volcanic in nature, and is fertilised by a
stream so very hot that you can hardly put your hands in
it ; indeed, in the tanks where it is collected in large volume,
it is quite impossible. It is much cooler in the little irriga-
tion channels, which have hard beds from the incrusta-
tion of the sulphur. The water is very nasty when hot, but
much better when it cools. We did not enjoy our tea at all
in Hami. . We were encamped in a delightful spot under
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COASTING EASTWARD BY LAND 211
both date and cocoanat-trees, and hot baths were a pleasare
to everyone. I had to wait a long time till mine in the tent
was cool enough.
There was a great flutter when we arrived on the scene,
for there were a large namber of women and girls bathing.
They did not seem to mind their own relations seeing them,
but on onr approach they rushed into their blue dresses
and fled.
This sulphureous stream makes the crops grow pro-
digionsly, and we walked through fields of jowari and
Indian com as high as our heads. At our camp we had a
delicious sea-breeze, but in oar walks abroad we got an
occaaioDal whifT of the Uttle fish which were being boiled
down to make oil for lamps and colours used in ship-
painting.
We paid a visit to the governor of Hami, who received
us on the roof of his house, where many were assembled,
and scarcely had he greeted as when they all fell to praying,
the mollah standing in front to lead, and all the others
standing in a row behind. After that they gave us coffee
with no sugar, followed by tea with far too mach, and they
pressed ns to stay with them and partake of their evening
meal, but we declined politely and retired to our camp.
On March 11 we started for Dia without any rows or
brawls whatever. Die is fifteen miles off. We never went
down to the shore at all that day, but travelled over a barren,
undulating country which mns oat to sea and forms Bas
Bagasbwa. We went for half a mile close above the sea
on a chff 20 or 30 feet high, with many shells, some in an
ordinary state, some half petrified, and some wholly so, but
none embedded in the stone. After travelling three hours
and a half we passed over and amongst a range of low hills,
a volcanic jumble with earths of all colours, seams of gypsum
stuck ap edgeways, and many other things.
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212 THE HADHRAMOUT
I QBed once to sigh and groan over not having bronght
a geologist with na, but I waa wiser by that time. It waa
enough to think of his epecimens and their transport, to
say nothing of the responsibihty for his safety. Still my
hnsband and I often wished we knew more of geology than
we did.
When the geologist does visit these parts he must make
a special bargain with his camel-men, not based on his
apparent, present, visible baggage, but upon what it may
expand to. He might arrange to pay at the end according
to the results of his jonmey. On one of the dreadful days
with the Jabberi, the man whose camel carried the botanical
boxes positively refused to load up, on account of having seen
ston^ with lichen put in; and but for the fact of his
being last and that all the other camels had started, we
might have had to throw the things away.
There was nothing to see at Dis but a sadden oasis of
fertility caused by a ghail, but the report of an inscription
led my husband a long wild-goose chase. The district is
very populous, and from the old forts near it evidently has
been and is a very prosperous place.
We had a great many patients, and were nearly driven
wild with starers.
To avoid the crowd we pitched our tent tight up against
a field of sugar-canes, but so anxious were the populace to
see me, that the whole field was trodden down and no one
seemed to mind. There were perpetual shouts for the
' woman ' to come out. On this part of the journey, as well
as in the Hadhramout, I waa always simply spoken of as the
Honna (plur. Harem) and never ae Bibi (lady).
There were some very light-skinned Arabs at Dis, with
long dark hair, which they dress with grease, wearing round
their neck a cocoanut containing a supply of this toilet-
requisite for the purpose. Most of them affect red plaid
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COASTING EASTWARD BY LAND 213
cottoD torbans and waiBt-cloths, a. decided relief to the eye
from the perpetual indigo.
We had a very damp night, not from rain but from dew,
though there is more rain in thia part than in the interior.
We had an uninteresting march next day, over desert and
many stones, up and down hill, past a village called Ghaida,
and went somewhat out of omr way to see a rock with
bitumen or asphalte oozing out of it. We went fifteen
miles and encamped near Bagashwa on the margin of a
large and pretty pool made by recent rains, with bushes
round it. Though pretty, this pool was not clean. Almost
before we could dismount the camels were unloaded and
in it, my horse immediately followed, and likewise all the
camel-men, and by the time our vessels could be unpacked
to fetch the drinking water, the soldiers were washing their
clothes, consequently our water was turbid and of mingled
flavom^.
Later my husband took a bath, and said he felt as if he
was sitting in warm oil.
My horse, for two days after this, was afflicted with a
mysterious bleeding from the mouth which we did not till
then discover was caused by three leeches under his tongue.
We did not Uke to put the bit in, so the immense iron ring
which was usually round hie chin hung round his neck and
clanked like the clapper of a b^, while the nose was thrust
through that part meant for his ears.
Some pastoral Bedouin were encamped near here, whose
abodes are about the simplest 1 ever saw : just four posts
stuck in the ground with a roof of mats to afford some
shelter from the sun ; on this roof they hang their
cooking utensils, their only impedimenta when they move.
One old woman was boiling a pot of porridge, another was
grinding grain on a stone, another was frying little fish on a
stick, whilst the men were engaged in picketing the kids on
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214 THE HADHEAMOUT
a rope with a very loose noose round each little neck,
and preparing the oil-cakes for their camels. We had just
sunlight left to photograph them, and perpetuate the exis-
tence of this most primitive life. Young camels are reared
here,
We were so lucky as to discover a scorpion that had
travelled in our tent from Dis, before it could do us harm.
That day one of the Bedou soldiers came to me and
asked me in a confidential sort of whisper, ' Are you a man
or a woman ? '
We were five hours on our journey to Kosseir (11 miles),
which was our next stage, over stones first, then over heavy
sand to the shore again. There were not so many shells,
seaweeds, corals, crabs, madrepores, sponges, and flamingoes
as we had seen near Sheher, but hundreds of seagulls sitting
in the shallow water, and quantities of porpoises. The
lobster-shells which lie about are a beautiful blue mixed
with red.
The great stretch of basalt which runs for fully fifteen
miles along the coast, with Eosseir in the middle, caused us
to mount on to the rocks some little distance before reaching
Kosseir, and when we got quite near we sat on a rocky
hillock, contemplating the town and awaiting our kaftla,
that we m ight arrive with all the dignity due to the governor.
All our baggage was on five camels and the old sultan of
the Hamoumi on the sixth, so we really need not have had
the seventh. That dirty old Bedou owns many houses in
Ghail Babwazir and other places.
The governor was a very thin old man very like Don
Quixote, his scanty hair and beard dyed red with henna.
He had been governor five years before, and was now
reappointed at the request of the town, so great were the
rejoicings, manifested by the firing of many guns. Some
came to meet him at the rock, some stayed in the tovrH,
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COASTING EAST WABD BY LAND 215
some appeared oq the tops of the numerous towers, but no
matter where they were, one and alt, as well as those
who came with ns, fired off their guns whenever they liked,
under our noses, in and from every direction. Our animals
did not mind one bit.
The governor and all the foot-passengers arrived in the
town with their feet twice the natural size from the clinging
mud, through which we had to pass, and which necessitated
great scraping of feet and picking out between toes with
daggers.
We were most pleasantly received and taken upstairs
in the governor's castle to a roofless room with a kind of
shed along one side, and here we subsided on mats, very hot,
and soon a most powerfolly strong tincture of tea with much
sugar, ginger, and cinnamon was administered to ns ; and
though the kind old governor was bo busy being welcomed
by his happy old friends, he was always coming to see that
we were properly attended to.
We had our camp in his yard, where we had a very com-
fortable room, and enjoyed having his wall round us very
mocb.
In the evening we went on the shore and about the
town. The town is on a small point and approached
from the west it seems to ' lie four-square ' and to present
a very strong appearance, 'with its yette, its castle, and a'.'
We rode in by the gate on the northern side and were
surprised to find that the side towards the sea had no
wall, but only four detached towers. There were fishing-
boats on the beach, with the planks just sewn together
with cords.
The long line of black basalt, jutting into capes here and
there, is thought bj the Arabs to be formed by the ashes of
infidel towns. The tiny port of Eosseir is just a nook
where the boats can nestle behind a small, low, natural
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-216 THE HADHRAMOUT
breakwater o£ the basalt. Boats lie od either side, according
to the wind.
Next we went to Baida, three hoars all along the top
of the cliff; the old Hamoumi saltan was with as, of coarse,
otherwise there would have been no safety for as beyond
KoBSeir.
We had a dreadful experience passing the village of
Sarrar. The smell from the cemetery was bo awful that
even the Bedouin had to hold their noses for many yards
on both sides of it.
The village of Sarrar only consists of three large mud
houses and s good many bamboo shanties.
We were amused by a man whom we met alone, bis
terror of us was so great. As we approached he lit his
match, got his gun all ready, and left the path seeking cover,
but our people shouted : ' WTiat good can you do ? You are
one and we are many, and besides we mean you no harm ! '
BO he came forward, and there was great laughter both at
and with him.
Baida is a large fishing village. Certainly there are
strange eaters in these parts. The Ichthyophagoi here
prefer their fish generally in a decayed state ; and one of
OUT Hamoumi soldiers hadatreatof lizards, which he popped
in the fire to roast and ate whole.
We did not get much farther eastward that year, only
two hours farther to Bakhmit, a very uninteresting journey,
but we were buoyed up by hopes of some very delightful
iuBcriptioQB that were described to us : one on the way to
Kosaina, to which we were supposed to be going that day,
and another in a cave, quite close to Mosaina. When we
reached the river-bed at Bakhmit, a spot in the mountains
about five miles off was pointed out ; so after very much and
long consultation with the aged sultan, we decided it would
be safer to camp where we were, see Mosaina next day, and
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COASTING EASTWAED BY LAND 217
retom to the same cEUap. However, when we were quite
prepared to go the &ve miles, it appeared that it might be
dangerons. It was in the country of no one then present,
so we could have no siyara, and the old Eamonmi chief eaid
it would be bad for his sons, the hostages ; bo this plan had
to be abandoned.
Afterwards it was revealed to us that the cave is twenty
miles from Mosaina on the akaba, that there is no water
near, no village at Mosaina, no means of getting forage ; so,
as in that case farther progress was useless, as well as
impossible, we proposed to return the following day to
KoBseir, helping ourselves, if possible, with a boat from
Baida.
It took us three hours to return to Baida, where an old
seyyid took ns into bis house and led ub to a little clean
room, 10 feet by 6 feet, and there we settled down on the
matting to rest and have onr luncheon till one o'clock, when
we started, leaving the baggage camels to follow.
How thankful we were that, tastes differing, there were
people in Arabia who could look upon us as harmless and
pleasant individuals. Everyone had been nice to ub, and
we had had no difficulties whatever, and been treated like
human beings, just because we bad not that horrid little
Saleh Hassan with us. The more civil people were to us the
more enraged we were with him, and I think if the servants
hod carried out their threats against him when he should be
on the dhow, the mastere would not have interfered.
It IB fifteen miles from Baida to Kosseir. We were quite
determined, after the aevera lesson we had had two days
previously, to go to windward of Sarrar. When we passed
a well there I was requested to detach myself from the
party and go and let some women see me, and then the
Boldiers begged that t would show off Basha prancing about
that the women might see that I did not want holding on,
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218 THE HADHBAMODT
and finally they shoated ' Bhilloh I ' to make him gallop
away, amid EcreamB of delight. I dare say these women had
never seen a horse. The saltans at Sheher had only three.
We had already sent Zubda back to Al Koton. The soldiers
were very fond of terrifying my horse, when peissing a village
and I wanted to stare abotit, to show him off.
In avoiding Sarrar we got into great difficnlties with
the loose sand. We went over it half a mile, and when we
reached the sea there was so narrow a strip of firm sand
that, our animals being too much afraid of the rising tide,
we had to make our way up again. We reached Kosseir
about half-past five, warmly welcomed by Don Quixote, who
gave us coffee while awaiting our ka/Ua, which was, to our
surprise and delight, only half an hour behind as, not having
been fighting with the sand.
We were made more angry with Saleh by finding that
water, wood, forage, eggs, fish, and a little milk bad been
prepared for us beforehand. My night was disturbed by the
old Hamoumi chief choosing the eave of our tent just beside
my ear to say his prayers. Quiet nights, however, must not
be expected in Bamazan.
Next morning we were off at eight, of course dragging
the poor wizened old gentleman with us on a camel, two
hours (6 miles) up the Wadi Shirwan to see a ruin at the
village of Maaber, where there is a running stream.
At the entrance to Wadi Shirwan the ruins are situated.
They consist of a large fort, circular on one side and about
40 feet in diameter, built of round, water-worn stones set
in very strong cement, dating from the same period as those
at G-bail Babwazir.
Evidently the mediaeval inhabitants of Arabia chose
these two points for good water. Tobacco is also grown
here, besides other things. The water is really good and
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COASTING EASTWARD BY LAND 319
We behaved with the greatest temerity in entering these
ruins ; no one now living had been in before we did. The
building is the abode of jinni, and no one who goes in is
ever able to come out by the same door. We were bo
fortimate as to be able to do so. On the road we saw a
stone, and were told that a jinni (or ghinni as they are called
in Southern Arabia) was bringing this to help to build the
fort when he was met by another jinni who said, ' Why
do yoa bring stones when the fort is Snished ? ' so he
dropped it in disgust.
Jinni are able to get sufficiently near to heaven to hear
the conversation of the angels, and there are various
incantations to make them reveal the whereabouts of hidden
treasurefi. One called dark el Tnendel, carried on with a
handkerchief, is much in vogue.
Maaber nestles under a big pointed rock on the highland,
which sticks up aloft, and to which we heard that the Kafirs
used to tie their horses. Bottles were stuck into the graves
as ornaments, and built on to the tops of buildings.
We rested beneath a b'dom-tree, which showered its
little fruits on us, and made as many inquiries as possible
in a crowd of starers who were all very pohte.
We heard that Wadi Shekhavi is the end of Wadi
Mosila. It runs parallel to, and is almost as large as, the
Wadi Hadhramout. Ghail Benzamin is the principal town
in it.
At last, feeling that oor work and our researches were as
thoroughly done as in our power lay, we arose and turned
our faces toward England.
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THE HADHEAMOUT
CHAPTER XVn
COASTING WESTWABD BT 8EA
Though we rose so early next morning that we dressed by
candle-light, we were not up nearly bo early as Imam Sharif,
who, being sleepy and misled by a candle in our tent,
aroused his followers and made them light their fire for
breakfast at midnight. Kind old Don Quixote and many
others walked with us a mile to Bas Dis, where we were to
embark ; this is the harbour of the town of Kosseir. Bas
Dis is not near Dis, as Bas Bagashwa rmis out between
them. Probably before the interstices of the black rock
were filled up there may have been a decent harbour for
small craft. Two forts guard the way to Bas Dis, and near
it are two wali's or sheikh's tombs which afford perfectly safe
store-places to the fishermen. AH their gear, anchors, ropes,
sails, wood, fish, and what not are heaped round the tombs,
and none dare touch them.
Having been carried into a filthy boat, we scrambled into
a sambouka crammed and stuffed with the baggage — eight
passengers, including the Afghan interpreter.
There was a little deck 3 feet by 4 feet at its widest,
where Imam Sharif and I were packed, the steersman sitting
in a little angle, leaning against my gaiters. About ten
o'clock Matthaios began to make some tea, but soon had to
retreat to the bow yery sick. My husband finished this
cookery, and from a small hole in the baggage handed me
what little food he could reach, but soon everyone was
A
ubjGoOgIc
COASTING WESTWAED BY SEA 221
expanded over the baggage, no one having room for his legs.
Imam Sharif was soon a wretched heap, and not an appetite
was left among our party but my husband's and mine. We
had nothing bat a little kalwa (a sweetmeat) and no water, till
the end of our eighteen hours' voyage, so we rather envied the
others who seemed unconscious of the smells of cockroaches,
bilgewater, and fish oil, as well as of the great heat, for we
had no awning.
The wind was favourable, but there was little of it, and
fearing it would fail entirely we planned to land, taking
food, which would then be attainable, and the one blanket
we each had kept out, not knowing how long we should be
at sea, and lie in the sand, but we wasted an hour of
great trouble in a vain attempt. The shore was too shelving,
80 we dressed ourselves in our blankets and settled down
to catch bugs. We had seen few by day, but by night they
kept na bnsy, for they swarmed over us with their descen-
dants and their remote ancestors.
Once we saw some operations which made us think we
were going to tack, but to our dismay we perceived the
captain hovering over his bedding, and found that he had
put the ship to bed, and we were meant to be violently
rocked in the cradle of the deep till morning ; but he was
firmly reasoned with, and at two in the morning, worn and
weary, we were borne ashore at Sheher.
It being Bamazan, we easily found the Indian cook of
the house, and asked for some boiled eggs, but not till four
did we get some very nasty fried ones and tea, and then lay
down on the floor anyhow, to fight with mosquitoes and fleas,
our baggage and beds being still on board ; regular quarantine
measures were carried out as regards bugs when it came.
I felt too weak to stir till luncheon was brought me at
twelve, there having been some little difficulty as regarded
breakfast.
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222 THE HADHRAMOUT
The horse, donkeys, camels, siyara people, and soldiers
all came in by land next day.
A period of waiting and hoping for a ship to take as to
Aden now set in. Our annoyances were rather aggravated
by some Indian converts to Mobammedaoism being taught
their prayers well within our hearing.
A promising ship was said to have gone to Hami for
water, and anxiously we turned our eyes in that direction
for three days, till we were in snch desperation that my
hiuband went down to find any small boat to take us as far
as Makalla, but the ship had come at last and we were able
to leave.
Hussein Mia and Qhalib Mia took leave of us with much
friendlinesB and hopes of seeing us the following year, which
they did.
Mia is a kind of title.
We were told that the captain had gone on board with
the baggage, but we found it covering a vast expanse of sand,
live bens, dead foxes, swords, spears, and other strange
things making it look very nnlike Christian baggage. We
also had quantities of cocoanuts, that we might have some
palatable water on the voyage. A bargain was made with
much shonting in a great crowd, to put us and all belonging
to as on board for four dollars.
I was quietly looking on when a man came suddenly
behind me and whipped me up, seated me on his shoulder
and carried me off into the sea. It required all my balance
to keep safe when so suddenly seized. I did not know I
was being scrambled for as the lightest person. I hate that
way of being carried, with my five fingers digging into the
skull of my bearer, with one of his wrists placed lightly
across my ankles, while he holds up his clothes with the
other ; and I do not like being perched between the elbows
of two men, whose hands are clasped far beneath me, while
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COASTING WESTWARD BY SEA 223
I clatch their dirty throats. It is much nicer to be carried
in hoth arms like a baby.
Our ship lay tossing so far out that we had to be pat in
a good large boat first, and as I sat amidships I was well
dncked when those who had been pushing the boat off all
jumped in, shedding sheets of water from their garments.
Out ship did not look smart ; on the contrary it looked so
untidy that it had a kind of mossy, woolly, licheny appear-
ance. There was no ladder, so it was rather hard to climb
up the side in that uneasy sea. My first care was to
scramble up ropes and various other things to survey the
little deck, sure that Saleh had taken care of himself. There
were two charpoys or stretchers tied one to each side of
this little deck, and we determined that Imam Sharif should
have one, and the ' botanist ' the other. Saleh's things were
settled on the latter. I at once ousted them and lay down
till the proper occupant appeared, looking evidently anxious
to assume a recumbent position.
Saleh then put himself and his property in a place which
I told him was inconvenient as no one could pass,
' I only stay here a Uttle while,' he said. ' Mr. Lunt has
my place.'
' Yonr place ! ' I said. ' How did you get a place ? '
' I told the Nakkoda to keep that place for me.'
I said, ' Had you first asked Mr. Bent where he wished
you to sleep or where he wished Mr. Lunt to sleep ? '
'No.'
' Well remember that Mr. Bent is master on board this
ship and I am mistress,' I said. ' I have given that bed to
Mr. Lunt, and you can go there, and as you have a habit of
spitting on floors and carpets you will now spit over-
board or you will move.' So Saleh began to take a back
Beat. He was positively afraid to be among the servants.
Any excitement at sea is welcome, so we now began to
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224 THE HADHKAMOUT
take a great intereat in him and Mahmoud. We were
qaite anxiouB aa to whether they would be seasick or not.
You might wonder why we cared, but this is the reason.
If they were sea-sick their fast of Bamazan would be
broken, and all their previous fasting would go for nothing ;
they would gain nothing by going on with it, and might eat
as much as they liked.
All the Indian party had taken advantage of the excuse
of travelling to eat as usual.
Mahmoud soon broke down and rejoiced greatly there-
after, but Saleh reached the end of the day and hie evening
meal in safety, but his fast came to an abrupt termination
early in the morning.
Does it not seem a wildly funny idea that putting food
into yoor mouth by the back door (the throat) involuntarily
should be quite as bad for your soul as voluntarily putting
it in at the front door (the lips) ?
We started at half-past five and reached Makalla at
sunrise the following morning, Easter Sunday, March 25.
Our arrival being announced, the Sultan Manassar invited
us to see him, and he and his ugly sons were all dressed up
again, and we had tea and halwa. Saleh kept running
about trying to whisper to all the wazirs. My husband
kept him under his eye as much as possible, but once he
escaped and ran back and begged the sultan for a box of
honey and a carpet. He only got the former, so he returned
and was very abusive to my husband, saying it 'was his
fault ; I told him he could say what he liked at Aden, but
had better be quiet as long as he was on the sea with us.
My husband graciously gave permission to ship a cargo
of frankincense, and the ship was filled with delightfully
sweet, clean bales, on which our luggage and men could be
accommodated, and we were glad of the ballast.
We bad three more days and nights on the sea, and
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COAST[NG WESTWARD BY SEA 225
during the last had a miserable fear of a calm ; but at last a
fine wind sprang up and we whizzed along, all sitting np in
our beds, loudly rejoicing with one another on the prospects
of our arrival at the haven where we would be, which took
place at sunrise on March the 27th.
I am thankful to say that the work of our expedition was
Buccesafui in all its branches ; but what we should have
done without Imam Sharif, Ehan Bahadur, I cannot tell.
He was the greatest help to us in every way, and it was an
untold comfort to have one brave person as anxious to get
on as ourselves. I have always been sorry that the map was
made on so small a scale — eight miles to an inch. It would
have been more useful to future travellers had it been larger.
The spelling had, of course, to he according to the ancient
Indian method, and not that now recommended by the
Koyal Geographical Society, to which I have adhered myself.
The year before, when we were embarking for England
on board a Messageries steamer at Aden, we noticed an
Indian gentleman standing ii) the angle of the landing of
the ladder to let ns and our baggage pass, and little we
thought how well we should know that Indian gentleman,
and he on his side had no inkling how far he would travel,
two successive years, with all that baggage around him ; it
would have been so interesting could we have guessed. Imam
Sharif was returning from Zanzibar, and leaving that ship
to tranship for India.
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ubjGoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
DHOFAR AND THE GARA
MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XVIIl
UEBBAT AND AI. HAFA
After returning from our expedition to the Hadhramoufc
in 1894 we determined the next winter to attempt the am-
bitious adventure of making a journey overland right across
Southern Arabia from Maskat to Aden. On oar way we
hoped to revisit the Hadhramont, to explore those portions
which we had been compelled to leave nnvisited the former
winter, and so to fill up the large blank space which still
exists on the map of this country. Experience tanght us
that our plan was impracticable ; the only possible way of
making explorations in Arabia is to take it piecemeal, to
investigate each district separately, and by degrees to make
a complete map by patching together the results of a
number of isolated expeditions. Indeed, this is the only
satisfactory way of seeing any country, for on a great
through journey the traveller generally loses the most
interesting details.
My husband again, to our great satisfaction, had Imam
Sharif, Khan Bahadur, placed at his disposal ; and, as the
longest way round was the quickest and best, we determined
to make our final preparations in India, and meet him and
bis men at Karachi. .
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228 DHOFAR AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
We left England at the beginning of November 1894,
and at Aden, where we were obliged to tranship, we picked
np oar camp furniture, which we had deposited there on
our return from Wadi Hadhramout,
Imam Sharif came on board to meet as at Karachi, and
we also received a letter inviting us to stay at Government
House, where we were most kindly entertained by Mrs.
Pottinger, in the absence of her brother, Mr. James, the
Commissioner in Scinde. This was very delightful to us, as
we had already stayed in Beynolds's Hotel when on our way
to Persia.
Mattbaios had absolutely refused to come with us for
fear we should carry out our great wish of going to Bir
Borhut, and indeed the very name of ' Aravia ' was odious
to him. Of coarse, being in India, we had to take two men
in his place, and .accordingly engaged two Goanese, half
Portuguese: one Diego S. Anna Lobo, a little old man, as
butler, and the other, Domingo de Silva, as cook. The
former could speak English and Portuguese ; the latter
neither, only Hindustani. We took them back to India
with as the following spring, keeping Lobo as our servant
during the time of our stay there.
We had a calm and pleasant voyage of three days to
Maskat with Captain Whitehead on the B.I.S.N. steamer
Chanda, arriving just in time to escape a violent storm,
which lELsted for days, and in its commencement prevented
our landing at the usual place. We bad to go round a tittle
promontory. There was also a good deal of rain, which
cooled the air considerably.
We were the guests of Colonel Hayes Sadler, in his
hospitable Besidency, and he interested himself kindly in
our afEairs, giving us all the help he could in our arrange-
ments, as did also Dr. Jayaker, the Indian doctor.
We intended first of all to penetrate into the regions of the
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MERBAT AND AL HAFA 229
Jebel Akhdar, and then to pass through the territory of the
Jenefa tribe to Ghubbet el HashiBh, which takes its name
not from land grass, but from seaweed. There a boat was
to meet us and take us westward ; in this way we should
avoid a stretch of desert which the Bedouin themselves
shrink from, and which is impassable to Europeans. We
could not procure any information about our journey to the
Jebel Atfhdar, as it does not appear to be the fashion at
Maskat to go inland. However, both our old friend the
Sultan Feysul and Colonel Sadler took infinite trouble to
arrange for our journey ; camels were hired and a horse for
me, and the sheikhs of the tribes through whose country we
should have to pass were summoned to escort ua.
Owing, however, to the illness of some of our party, we
were at the last moment obliged to defer the expedition ;
though we had made all the preparations we could for the
great cold we should have to encounter, the change of
chmate would have been injorious to Imam Sharif and two
of his men. As events proved it was fortunate we did so,
for the insurrection (which I have already mentioned) broke
oat almost immediately afterwards, and in all probability
we should not have returned alive to relate our experiences.
We next determined to go by sea to Merbat, and thence
explore the Dhofar and Gara mountains. The sultan
offered us the use of his batU, which was preparing to go to
Zenghiber, as they call Zanzibar. We found on inspection
that it was a small decked boat, with a very light upper deck
at the stem, supported by posts. They were busy smearing
the ship vrith fish oil. We were told it might be ready in
three days, and we might take seven days or more over the
voyage. However, we were delivered from this long voyage,
for, unexpectedly, a steamer arrived most opportunely for us.
As it was not the pilgrim season, and as there was no
cholera about, we ventured on this steamer, which is one of
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230 DHOFAB AND THE GABA MOUNTAINS
those that ply under the Turkish flag between the Persian
OuU and Jedda. The captain was an Armenian : in fact,
all the steamers belonging to Turkey are run by Armenian
companies and manned by Armenian sailors. The captain
of the Hodeida was not too exorbitant in his demand of
600 rupees to drop our party at Merbat. The steward
could fortunately speak Greek.
We left Maskat on Monday, December 17, and had a
very calm voyage, but this being our fifth steamer since we
left home, we were anxious for a little dry land joomeying.
We saw the high mountains oH Tuesday, but nothing on
Wednesday after early morning. The coast recedes and
becomes low where the desert comes down to the sea. We
passed the Kouria Mouria I&lands in the night. They are
inhabited by the Jenefa tribe, who pursue sharks, swimming
on inflated skins. On Thursday we passed very curious
scenery, a high akaba, just hke the Hadhramout, in the
background, and foe about a mile between this and the sea
a volcanic mass of rocks and peaks and crags of many hues.
After passing this we were at our destination, and at three
o'clock in the afternoon we left the steamer to land at Merbat.
We were conveyed to the shore in three boats, one of which
was called ' el liebot.' It is only fair that the Enghsb who
have borrowed so many nautical terms from the Orientals,
should DOW in tiieir turn provide the Arabian name for a
boat. Cutters and jolly-boats have taken their names from
' kattira ' and ' jahlibot.'
Merbat, which is sixty-four miles from Maskat, is the
first point of the Dfaofar district after the long stretch of
desert has been passed. It is a wretched little spot consist-
ing of some fifty houses and a few Bedou huts, with about
two hundred inhabitants. It is built on a tongue of land,
which aflords shelter for Arab dhows during the north-east
XQoasoon. The water supply is from a pool of brackish water.
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MEEBAT AND AL HAFA 231
The excitement caused by the first arrivaj of a eteamer
w&s intense, and tiny craft with naked Bedouin soon
crowded round ub ; after entruBting ns to their tender
mercies oar Armenian captain steamed away, and it was not
without secret nusgivings that we landed amongst the wild-
looking inhabitants who lined the ahore.
We imagined we were being very kindly reoeived when
they pointed out the largeat building in the place as our
habitation, and my huBband, Imam Sharif, our interpreter
HaBsan, and I joyfully hastened thither.
Uufortmiately we had no recommendation to the head*
man of this place, and he evidently distrusted us, for after
taking us to a fort built of mud brickst which offered ample
accommodation for our party, he flatly refused to allow ua
to have our baggage or our servants th^ein.
After entering a kind of guard-room, we had to plunge
to the right into pitchy darkness and stumble along* stretching
out our hands like bHud men, each taken by the shoulders
and pushed and shoved by a roundabout way to a dark inner
staircase, where we emerged into the light on some roofs.
They wanted ub to stay where we were, but not wishing
to remain without conveniences, we succeeded in getting
between them and the door, and then found our way out of
the building and rejoined oui servants and our baggage on
the beach. We flourished our letter to WaU Suleiman in
his face; we expostulated, threatened, and cajoled, and passed
a whole miserable boor by the shore, seated on our belong'
ings under the blazing afternoon sun, watching our steamer
gradually disappearing in the distance. Hemmed in by
Bedouin, who stared at ub as if we had come from the moon,
exceedingly hot, hungry, and Qucomfortable, we passed a very
evil time indeed, speculating as to what would be the result
of the conclave of the old head-men ; but at last they
approached as in a more friendly spirit, begged our pardon,
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232 DHOFAE AND THE GAKA MOUNTAINS
and reinstated ns in the fort with our bag and baggage, and
were as civil as they could be. To our dying day we shall
never know what caused ns this dilemma. Did they really
think we had come to seize their fort (which we afterwards
heard was the case), and interfere vrith their frankincense
monopoly ? Or did they think we had come to look into
the question of a large Arab dhow, which was flying the
French flag, and was beached on the shore, and which we
had reason to believe was conveying a cargo of slaves to
one of the neighbouring markets for disposal ? Personally,
I suspect the latter was the true reason of their aversion to
our presence, for the coast from here to Maskat has a bad
reputation in this respect, and just lately Arab slave-dhows
have been carrying on their trade under cover of protection
obtained from France at Obok and Zanzibar. The inhabit
tants have plaited hair and knobkerries. I believe they
belong to the Jenefa tribe.
Finding Merbat so uncongenial an abode, with no points
of interest, and with a malarious-looking swamp in its vicinity,
and not being able to obtain camels or escort for a journey
inland, we determined only to pass one night there, and after
wandering about in search of interests which did not exist,
we came to terms with the captain of a most filthy baggala
to take UB along the coast to Al Hafa, the residence of Wall
Suleiman, without whose direct assistance we plainly saw
that nothing could he done about extending our expedition
into the interior. It was only forty miles to Al Hafa, but,
owing to adverse winds, it took ns exactly two days to
perform this voyage, and our boat was one of the dirtiest of
the kind we have ever travelled on. In our little cabin in
the stem the smell of bilge-water was almost overpowering,
and every silver thing we bad about us turned black with
the sulphureous vapours. These pungent odourswere relieved
from time to time by burning huge chafing dishes of frank-
ed byGooglc
MERBAT AND AL HAFA 233
incenBe, a large cargo of which was aboard for transport to
Bombay after we had been deposited at Ai Hafa. Ooe of the
many songs onr sailors sang when changing the flapping
Bails was aboat frankincense, so we tried to imagine that
we were having a pleasant experience of the country we
were about to visit ; and even in its dirt and squalor an Arab
dhow is a picturesque abode, with its pretty carvings and
odd-shaped bulwarks. We were twenty-five souls on board,
and our captain and his crew being devout Mohammedans,
we had plenty of time and opportunity for studying their
numerous prayers and ablutions.
The plain of Dhofar, along which we were now coasting,
is quite an abnormal feature in this arid coast. It is the
only fertile stretch between Aden and Maskat. It is formed
of alluvial soil washed down from the Gara mountains ; there
is abundance of water very near the surface, and frequent
streams make their way down to the sea, so that it is green.
The great drawback to the country is the want of harbours ;
during the north-east monsoons dhows can find shelter at
Merbat, and during the south-west monsoons at Bisout, but
the rest of the coast is provided with nothing but open
roadsteads, with the surf always rolling in from the Indian
Ocean.
The plain is never more than nine miles wide, and at the
eastern end, where the mountains were nearer to the sea,
it is reduced to a very narrow atrip, a grand exception to
the long line of barren waste which forms the Arabian
frontage to the Indian Ocean, and which gets narrower and
narrower as the mountains approach the sea at Saihut. Tall
cocoanut palms adorn it in clusters, and long stretches of
bright green fields refresh the eye; and, at frequent intervals,
we saw flourishing villages by the coast. Tobacco, cotton,
Indian com, and various species of grain grow here in great
abundance, and in the gardens we find many of the products
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234 DHOFAR AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
of India flonriBhing, viz. tbe plantain, thepapya, mulberrieB,
meloBB, chillis, brinjols, and fruits and vegetables of various
deacriptiona. We anchored for some hoars off one of these
villages, and paid our toll of dates to the Bedouin who come
off to claim them, as is customary all along this coast, every
dhow paying this toll in return for the privilege of obtaining
water when they want it.
The Gora mountains are now one of tlie wildest spots in
wild Arabia ; owing to the disastrous blood feuds amongst
the tribe and the insecurity of travel, they had never previouly
been penetrated by Europeans : all that was known of the
district was the actual coast-line. Exciting rumours had
reached the ears of Colonel Miles, a fonner political agent
at Maskat, concerning lakes and streams, and fertility
anwonted for Arabia, which existed in these mountains,
and our appetites were consequently whetted for their
discovery.
In ancient times this was one of the chief sources of the
time-honoured frankincense trade, which still maintains it-
self here even more than in the Hadhxamout. It is carried
on by the Bedouin of the Gara tribe, who bring down the
odoriferous gum from the mountains on camels. About
9,000 cwt. of it is exported to Bombay annually. Down by
the coast at Al Hafa there is a square enclosure or bazaar
where piles of frankincense may still be seen ready for
exportation, miniature successors of those piles of the tears
of gum from the tree-trunks which are depicted on the old
Egyptian temple at Deir alBohari as one of the proceeds of
Queen Hatasou's expeditions to the land of Punt.
The actual libaniferous country is, perhaps, now not
much bigger than the Isle of Wight, and in its physical
appearance not unlike it, cut off from the rest of the world
by a desert behind and an ocean in front. Probably in
ancient days the frankincense-bearing area was not much
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MEBBAT AND AL HAFA 235
more extenaiye. Claudius Ptolemy, the anonymous author
of the ' PeripluB,' Pliny, Theophrastus, and a little later on
the Arabian geographers, speak of it, and from their descrip-
tions there is no difficulty in fixing the limits of it, and its
ruined towns are still easily identified.
After much tacking and flapping of sails we at last
reached AI Hafa, where Wall Suleiman had his castle, only
a stone's throw from the beach. Our landing was performed
in small, hide-covered boats specially constructed for riding
over the surf, and was not completed without a considerable
wetting to ourselves and baggage. After so many preliminary
discomforts a cordial welcome from the wali was doubly
agreeable. He placed a room on the roof, spread with
carpets, at our disposal, and he furnished our larder with a
whole cow, and every delicacy at his command. The cow's
flesh was cut into strips and festooned about in every direc-
tion, to dry it for our journey. Our room was, for Arabia,
deliciously cool and airy, being approached by a ladder, and
from our roof we enjoyed pleasant views over the fertile
plain and the Oara mountains, into which we had now
every hope of penetrating. We looked down into his court-
yard below and saw there many interesting phases of
Arab life.
A] Hafa is ()40 miles from Maskat in one direction and
800 from Aden in the other ; it is, therefore, about as far as
possible from any civilised place. Kominally it is under the
sultan of Oman, and I may here emphatically state that the
southern coast of Arabia has absolutely nothing to do with
Turkey — from Maskat to Aden there is not a single tribe
paying tribute to, or having any communication with, the
Ottoman Porte. Eeally Al Hafa and the Dhofar were ruled
over autocratically by Wali Suleiman, who was sent out
there about eighteen years before as governor, at the request
of the feud-torn inhabitants, by Boltan Tourki of Maskat.
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336 DHOFAB AND THE GABA MOUNTAINS
In biB small way Wall Suleiman was a man of great capacity ;
a man who has made history, and could have made more
if his sphere had been larger. In his youth he was in-
strumental in placing Tourki on the throne of Oman, and
after a few years of stem application to businesB he brought
the bellicose families of the Crara tribe undei his power ;
and his influence was felt far into the interior, even into the
confines of Nejd. With a handful of Arabs and a badly
armed regiment of slave origin he had contrived to establish
peace and comparative safety throughout the Gara mountains
and, thanks to him, we were able to penetrate their fastnesses.
Wadi Suleiman was a stem, uncompromising ruler, feared
and respected, rather than loved.
The wall kept all his prisoners in the courtyard. When
we were there he had twelve, all manacled, and reposing on
grass mats at night. These were wicked Bedouin from the
mountains, prisoners taken in a recent war he had had with
the Mahri tribe, the castis belli being a find of ambergris
which the Mahri had appropriated, though it had been
washed up on the Dhofar coast. One prisoner, a murderer,
whose imprisonment was for two years, was chained to a
log of wood, and he laid his mat bed in a large stone sarco-
phagus, brought from the neighbouring ruins of the ancient
capital of the frankincense country, and really intended for
a trough. Another, convicted of stealing his master's sword
and selling it to the captain of a dhow, had his feet attached
to an iron bar, which made his locomotion exceedingly
painful. A mollah prisoner was, owing to the sanctity of
his calling, unfettered, and he led the evening prayers, and on
most nights— for want of something better to do, I suppose
•—these prisoners of Wali Suleiman prayed and sang into the
small hours of the morning. Day by day we watched these
nnfortunate men from the roof, and thought we had never
seen so unholy a set of men, according to what we heard ;
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MEBBAT AND AL HAFA 237
they did Dot look so. Some were morose, and chewed the
cad of their discontent in comers ; the yoanger and better-
looking ones were gallant, and flirted with the slave girls,
helping them to draw up backets from the well in the centre
of the coortyard ; the active-minded cut wood for the house-
hold, and walked about doing odd jobs, holding up the iron
bar which separated their feet with a rope as they shufBed
along, or played with the wali's little boy, five years of age,
who rambled about among them.
Goats, kids, cocks, and hens, also occupied this court-
yard, and the big, white she-ass, the only representative of
the equine race as far as we coiild see in Dhofar, on which
Wali Suleiman makes his state journeys to the various
villages in his dominions along the coast, and which he
kindly lent to me once when we went to visit the ruins.
The ladies of the wali's harem paid me frequent visits,
and brought me presents of fruit and embarrassing plates of
food, and snbstances to dye my teeth red (tambonl leaves
and lime), but they were uninteresting ladies, and their con-
versational powers limited to the discussion of the texture of
dresses and the merits of European underclothing. On the
very first morning they appeared before I was up — that is
about sunrise. As I had put them o£f the evening before, I
dared not do so again. My husband sprang out of his bed
and got out of their way. I managed to put on a jacket
sitting np in bed, and then, finding time allowed, a skirt, and
had just got my hair combed down when in they trooped.
I knew my shoes and stockings would never be missed, so I
felt quite ready for the visit. They wore bourkoa on their
faces, and had on a great deal of coarse jewellery with mock
pearls and bad turquoises. Whenever they chose to come
my husband had to depart, and I do not think he liked these
interruptions.
We were much interested in the male members of the
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238 DHOFAR AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
wali's family. His eldest son was pEiralysed and bedridden,
and he had adopted as heir to his position in Dhofar a
nephew, who lived in a separate wing of the castle, and had
his separate harem establishment. Besides these the wall
had two dear little boys, one of twelve and the other of
eight, who constantly paid us visits, and with whom we
established a close friendship. Salem, the elder, was a fair,
delicate-looking boy, the eon of a Georgian slave who was
given to Wali Suleiman by Sultan Tourki of Oman. Some
years ago she ran away with her boy to Bombay, but was
restored to her husband, and now has been sent as a punish-
ment to Zanzibar ; she is a servant in the bouse of one
of the princesses there. Salem would often tell us that his
mother was coming back to him in a year or two, but we
thought differently.
The tragedy connected with little Mnoffok, the younger
boy, a bright, dear little fellow, very much darker than
his brother, in fact nearly black, is far more heartrending.
About two years before, his mother, also a slave, an African,
was convicted of miBconduct, and on her was visited the
extremest penalty with which the Arab law can punish a
faithless wife. In the presence of a large assemblage, the
unfortunate woman was buried up to the waist in the sand
and stoned to death.
The poor little motherless fellows were constantly on the
go, rushing hither and thither, playing with and petted by
all ; at one time they amosed themselves with the prisoners
in the courtyard, at another time they teased the (rara
sheikhs who sat in the long entrance corridor, and then they
came to torment us, until we gave then some trifle, which
they forthwith carried off in triumph to show it to every-
body. Both the little boys wore the large silver and gold
daggers of Oman round their waists, and powder-flasks
similarly decorated hung on their backs ; and when dressed
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MEBBAT AND AL HAFA 239
in their best silk robes on Friday, they were the most
fantastic little fellows one could wish to see.
Wall Snleiman was, as I have said, an aostere and
unlovable man, but he was the man for his position :
tacitom and of few words, but these always to the point.
Before he would permit as to go forth and penetrate into
the recesses of the Gara mountains, he summoned the heads
of all the different families into which the tribe is divided
to Al Haf a, and gave us into their charge, we agreeing to pay
for their escort, their protection, and the nse of their camels
a fixed sum per diem in Maria Theresa dollars, the only coin
recognised in the country.
Such palavering there was over this stupendous piece of
diplomacy I Wall Suleiman and the Gara sheikhs sat for
hours in solemn conclave in a palm-tbatched bam about
fifty yards distant from the castle, which takes the place of
a parliament house in the kingdom of Dhofar. The wali,
bis nephew, and Arab councillors smoked their narghiUhs
complacently, whilst the Gara Bedouin took whiffs at their
little pipes, which they cut out of soft limestone that
hardens in the air, and all drank endless cups of coffee
served by slaves in huge cofFee-pots with long, bird-like
beaks, and we looked on at this conference, which was to
decide our fate, from our roof, with no small amount of
impatience.
Before starting for the mountains we wandered hither
and thither over the plain of Dhofar for some days, visiting
sites of ruins, and other places of interest, and greatly
admired the rich cultivation we saw around as, and the
capacity of this plain for producing cotton, indigo, tobacco,
and cereals. Water is on the surface in stagnant pools, or
easily obtainable everywhere by digging shallow wells which
are worked by camels, sometimes three together, and so well
trained, that at the end of the walk they turn by themselves
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2iO DHOFAR AND THE QARA MOUNTAINS
as S03D as they hear the splash of the water into the
irrigation chaanel, and then they walk back to fill the skin
backet again. The cocoanut-palm grows admirably here, and
we had many refreshing draughts of the water contained in
the nuts during our hot rides ; and in pools beneath the trees
the fibre of the nuts is placed to rot for making ropes, giving
out an odour very similar to that of the flax-pits in the north
of Ireland.
Between Capes Bisout and Merbat we found the sites of
rained towns of considerable extent in no less than seven
different points, though at the two capes where now is the
only anchorage, there are no mins to be seen, proving, as
we afterwards verified for ourselves, that anchorage of a
superior nature existed in the neighbourhood in antiquity,
which has since become silted up, but which anciently must
have afl'orded ample protection for the boats which came for
the frankincense trade. At Takha, as we shall presently see,
there was a very extensive and deep harbour, running a
considerable distance inland, which with a little outlay of
capital could easily be restored.
After a close examination of these ruined sites, there
can be no doubt that those at spots called now Al Balad and
Bobat, about two miles east of the wali's residence, formed
the ancient capital of this district. We visited them on
Christmas Day, and were much struck with their extent.
The chief ruins, those of Al Balad, are by the sea, around
an acropolis some 100 feet in height. This part of the town
was encircled by a moat still full of water, and in the centre,
still connected with the sea, but almost silted up, is a
tiny harbour. The ground is covered with the remains of
Mohammedan mosques, and still more ancient Sabsean
temples, the architecture of which — namely, the square
columns with fiutings at the four comers, and the step-like
capitals — at once connects them aicbitecturally with the
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MERBAT AND AL HAPA 241
columns at Adulis on the Eed Sea, those of Koloe and
Aksum in AbyBsinia, and those described by M. Amaud at
Mariaba in Yemen.
ta some cases these are decorated with intricate patterns,
one of which ia formed by the old Sabeean letters O and X,
which may possibly have some religions import. After
seeing the ruins of Adulia and Koloe and the numerous
temples or tombs with four isolated columns, no doubt can
be entertained that the same people built them.
As at Adulis and Koloe there were no inscriptions which
could materially a^ssist us ; this may be partly accounted
for by the subsequent Mohammedan occupation, when the
temples were converted into mosques, but besides this the
nature of the stone employed at all these places would make
it very difficult to use it for inscribing letters : it is very
coarse, and full of enormous fossils.
This town of Al Balad by the sea is coimected by a
series of ruins with another town two miles inland, now
called Robat, where the ground for many acres is covered
with ancient remains; big cisterns and water-courses are
here cut in the rock, and standing colimins of the same
architectural features are seen in every direction.
With the aid of Sprenger'a ' Alte Geographie Arabiena,'
the best guide-book the traveller can take into this country,
there is no difficulty in identifjdng this ancient capital of the
frankincense country as the Mavretov 'Aprifii&oa of Claudius
Ptolemy. This name is obviously a Greek translation of
the Sabeean for some well-known oracle which anciently
existed here, not far, as Ptolemy himself tells us, from Cape
Bisout. This name eventually became Zufai, from which
the modem name of Dhofar is derived. In a.d. 616 the
town was destroyed and Mansura built, under which name
the capital waa known in early Mohammedan times.
Yarioua Arab geographers also assist us in this identidcation.
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242 DHOPAR AND THE QARA MOUNTAINS
Yakut, for exajnplo, tells us how the Prince ol Zular had
the monopoly of the frankincense trade, and punished with
death any infringement of it. Ibn Batuta says that ' half a
day's journey east of Menanra is Alakhaf, the abode of the
Addites,' probably referring to the site of the oracle and the
last stronghold of the ancient cult.
Sprenger sums up the evidence of old writers by saying
that the town of Znfar and the later Mansura must un-
doubtedly be the ruins of Al Salad. Thus, having assured
ourselves of the locality of the ancient capital of the frank-
incense country — for no other site along the plain has ruins
which will at all compare in extent and appearance with those
of Al Balad — we shall, as we proceed on our journey, find that
other sites fall easily into their proper places, and an
important verification of ancient geography and an old-world
centre of commerce has been obtained.
The ruins at Al Balad and Bobat were last inhabited
during the Persian occupation, about the time of the
Crusades, 500 of the Hejira. They utilised the old Himya-
ritic columns to build their mosques. Some of the tombs
have beautiful carving on them.
In the mine of one temple the columns were elaborately
carved with a kind of fleur-de-lis pattern, and the bases
decorated with a floral design, artistically interwoven.
I had dreadful difficulty with a photograph which I took
of these columns. I developed it at night, tormented by
mosquitoes, and in the morning it was all cracked and dried
off its celluloid foundation. I put it in alum, and it floated
off half an inch too large in both directions. If I had had a
larger plate on which to mount it, it would have been an
easy enough job, but I had not, so I was obliged to work it
down on to the original plate with my thumbs. It took
me seven solid hours, and I had to be fed with two meals,
for I could never move my thumbs nor eyes off my work.
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MEEBAT AND AL HAFA 243
I felt very proud that the cracks did not show when a
magic-lantern slide was made from it.
There was a great deal of vegetation among the ruins.
Specially beautiful was a very luxuriant creeper called by
the inhabitants asaleb. It hae a luscious, large, pear-shaped
red fruit with seeds which, when bitten, are like pepper. It
has large flowers, which are white at first, and then turn
pink.
On our way home from AI Balad we stopped to rest
under some cocoa-palms, and stones and other missiles were
flung up by onr guides, so the cocoanuts came showering
dovm in rather a terrifying way. The men then stuck their
gkatrifs in the ground and banged the nuts on them, and
thus skinned them. Then they hacked at them with their
swords till they cut o£F the tops like eggs, and we enjoyed a
good drink of the water.
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244 DHOFAB AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XIX
TEE QABA TBIBB
Wb left Al Hafa OQ December 29, after waiting six days for
camels. There was much difficulty io getting a sufficient
quantity, and never before had camels been hired in this
manner. It was hard to make the people understand what
we meant or wished to do.
When at length the camels were assembled, they arrived
naked and bare. There were no ropes of any kind, or sticks
to tie the baggage to, no vestige of any sort of pack saddle,
and we had to wait till the following day before a few ropes
could be procured. A good many of our spare blankets had
to be used as saddle-cloths, that is to say under the baggage ;
topes off our boxes, straps, raw-hide riems that we had used
in South Airica, and in fact every available string had to be
used to tie it on, and the Bedouin even took the strings
which they wear as fillets ronnd their hair, to tie round the
camels' necks and noses to lead them.
There was great confusion over the loading, as all that
ever yet had been done to camels in that country was to tie
a couple of sacks of frankincense together and hang them on.
The camels roared incessantly, got up before they were ready,
shook off their loads, would not kneel down or ran away
loaded, shedding everything or dragging things at their heels.
Sometimes their masters quite left off their work to quarrel
amongst themselves, bawling and shouting. Though we
were ready at seven, it was after midday before we were off,
though Wali Suleiman himself superintended the loading.
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THE GAEA TBIBE 345
Camels in Dbofar are not very choice feeders, and have a
predilection for bones, and if they saw a bone near the path
they would make for it with an eager rush extremely
disconcerting to the rider. Fish, too, is dried for them and
given them as food (called Jcei by the Gara and okma by the
Arabs), as also is a cactus which grows in the moontains,
which is cut into sections for them. They are fine sturdy
animals, and can go np and down hill better than any camels
I have ever seen. The fertile Gara range is a great breeding
place for camels, bat as there is no commerce or commoni-
cation with the interior, the Bedouin do not make much use
of them themselves, but sell them to their neighbours, who
come here to purchase.
My husband, Imam Sherif and I had each a seat on a
separate loaded camel, with our rezais or lahafs — thick cotton
quilts — on the baggage ; six of the servants rode in pairs
while one walked, all taking tarns. We went about eight
miles westward the first day and considered it a wonderfully
good journey. We stopped at the edge of the plain, about
half a mile from the sea at Bas Eisout, where some very
dirty water was to be obtained nnder a rock.
We passed some ruins with columns foar miles west of
Al Hafa at Ankad.
The approach to the mountains is up narrow gulleys full
of frankincense-trees.
We had a stormy and quarrelsome start next day, after
a delay caused by my husband's camel sitting down con-
stantly and unexpectedly, and a stoppage because two possible
enemies being descried, it was deemed needful to wait
till all the camels came up that we might keep together.
When they arrived we waited so long that we got up, told
them that we did not want to be kept all day on the road,
and began to mount our camels, saying we would return to
the wall at Al Hafa. In the end they began quarrelling
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216 DHOFAB AND THE QAEA MOUNTAINS
with eiich other and made peace ^ith us, and next we set
off to a place farther north than they had before intended,
where there waa good water in a small amphitheatre of
mountains. We went up a lovely gorge with ferns, trees,
and a running stream, as different as possible to the aridity
of the Hadhramont.
January 1, 1895, began with a wild-goose chase after
some rains consisting of a circular wall of loose stones about
a foot in height, very likely only a sheep pen.
The camels were much quieter and the Bedouin very
friendly. We only travelled an hour and a half, having
gone round some spurs and found ourselves in a round
valley, back to back with that we bad left, and about hall a
mile distant from our last camp. It was surrounded by
some very high and some lower bills, and we were just
mider a beetling cliff with good water in a stream among
bnlruBhes, reeds, and tropical vegetation.
There was a Bedou family close by with goats ; they sold
no milk at an exorbitant price and asked so much for a kid
that we stuck to our tinned meat.
The Gara, in whose country we were now, are a wild
pastoral tribe of the mountains, travelling over them hither
and thither in search of food for theii flocks. They are
troglodytes of a genuine kind and know no home save
their ancestral caves, with which this limestone range
abounds; they only live in rude reed huts like ant hills, when
they come down to the plain of Dbofar in the rainy season
for pasturage. There is a curious story connected with the
Gara tribe, which probably makes them unique in Arabia,
and that is, that a few years ago they owned a white sheikh.
About the beginning of this century an American ship was
wrecked on this coast, and all the occupants were killed save
the cabin boy, who was kept as a slave. As years went on
his superior ability asserted itself, and gained for him in his
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D,„u„ab,GoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
THE GAHA TRIBE 247
later years the proud position of sheikh of all the Garas. He
lived, married, and died amongst them, leaving, I believe,
two daughters, who still live ap in the mountains with their
tribe. The Ufe and adventtireBof this Yankee boy must have
been as thrilling and interesting as any novelist could desire,
and it is a great pity that the white sheikh coold not have
been personally interviewed before bis death, which occurred
over twenty years ago.
Sprenger {§ 449) supposes that the tribal name Gara,
or Kara corresponds to the ancient Ascites whom Ptolemy
places on this coast ; but as the Ascites were essentially a
seafaring race, and the Gara are a pastoral tribe of hill
Bedouin, the connection between them does not seem very
obvious. It is more probable that they may correspond to
the Carrei mentioned in the campaign of Aehus Gallus as a.
race of Southern Arabia, possessing, according to Pliny, the
most fertile country.
As for weapons, the Gara have three, and every male of
the tribe carries them. One is a small shield {gokb) of wood
or shark's skin, deep, and with a wooden knob at the centre,
30 that when they are tired and want a rest they can turn it
round and utilise it as a stool ; the second is a fiat iron
sword with a wooden handle, actually made in Germany,
for we saw a dhow arrive from Zanzibar whilst we were at
Dhofar which brought a cargo of such swords ; the
Bedouin purchased them with avidity, and were Uke
children with a new toy for some time after, bending them
across their naked shoulders, and measuring them with their
neighbours, to see that they were all equally long ; handing
them safely about by their blades. These swords are simply,
fiat pieces of iron, made narrower at the top to leave a place
for the hand to grip them ; there is no form of hilt of any
kind. They are used to cut down trees, split logs, scrape
sticks, and cut meat into joints. They have scabbards
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248 DHOFAB AND THE GABA MOUNTAINS
covered with white ctilico, which are not aJways OBed, and
there are no atrapB to attach the sword to the person. The
third weapon is a wooden throw-stick, made of a specially
hard wood called miet, which grows in the mountains ; it
is about a yard long, and pointed at both ends ; it is called
ghatrif. The Gara are wonderfully skilful at hurling it
through the air, and use it both in battle and for the chase
with admirable precision. They have hardly any guns
amongst them, and what they have are only of the long
matchlock class ; in fact, they do not seem to covet the posses-
sion of firearms, as onr friends in the Hadbramout did the
year before. Every man clutched the sword and ghatrif in
one hand very tightly as there was nothing to prevent their
slipping, being both pointed.
The little pipes which they use are of limestone, soft
when cut and hardening in the air. Th^ are more like
cigarette holders than pipes.
The thorn-extractors used by the Gara tribe are like those
used by most of the other Bedouin : a knife, a sort of stiletto,
and tweezers. They sit down on the wayside and hack
most heartily at their feet, and then prod deeply with the
stiletto before pulling the thorn out with the tweezers.
Certainly black skins are not so sensitive as white, and
though, of course, I do not approve of slavery, I do think a
great deal of unneeded pity has been wasted on slaves by
people who took it for granted that being men and brothers
they bad the same feelings as ourselves, either in mind or
body. No one with the same feelings as we conld go so
readily through the burning cure {kayya). In Mashona-
land I have seen people walking on narrow paths only
suited to people who have never learnt to turn out their toes,
all overhung with thorny bushes which not only tore our
clothes but our skins. The black people only bad white
scratches as if they were made of morocco leather. If by
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THE GAHA TRIBE 349
any chance a knock reaJIy brought a bit of flesh or skin off,
and blood annoyed them by atreaming down, they woald
clutch np a handful of grass with a dry leaf or stick, and
wipe the wound out quite roughly.
We had never put onrseheQ into the charge of such
wild people as the Garaa — far wilder in every way than the
Bedouin of the Hadhramout, inasmuch as they have far less
contact with civilisation. The Bedou of Southern Arabia is,
to my mind, distinctly of an aboriginal race. He has nothing
to do with the Arabs, and was probably there just as he is
now, centuries before the Arabs found a footing in this
country. He is every bit as wild as the African savage, and
not nearly so submi^ive to disciphne, and is endowed with
a spirit of independence which makes him resent the slightest
approach to legal supervision.
When once away from the influence of Wali Suleiman,
they paid no heed to the orders of the soldiers sent by h-m,
and during the time we were with them we had the unpleasant
feeling that we were entirely in their power. They would
not march longer than they liked ; they wonld only take us
where they wished, and they were unpleasantly familiar ;
with difficulty we kept them out of our tents, and if we
asked them not to sing at night and disturb our rest, they
always set to work with greater vigour.
Seventeen of these men, nearly naked, armed as I have
described, and wild-looking in the extreme, formed our
bodyguard, and if we attempted to give an order which did
not please them, they would independently reply, ' We are
all sheikhs, we are not slaves.' At the same time they paid
the greatest deference to their chief, the old Sheikh Sehel,
and expected us to do the same.
Sheikh Sehel was the head of the Beit al Kathan, which is
the chief of the many families into which the Gara tribe is
divided, and consequently he was recognised as the chief of all
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250 DHOFAE AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
the Garas. He waa a wizened, very aTaricions-looking old
inaD, who must have been close upon seventy, and though he
owned 500 head of cattle and 70 camels, he dressed hta old
bones in nothing save a loin-cloth, and his matted grey locks
were adorned and kept together by a simple leather thong
twisted several times round his forehead. Despite his appear-
ance he was a great man in his limited sphere, and for the
weeks that were to come we were completely in his power.
He had the exclusive charge of me and my camel, which
he led straight through everything, regardless of the fact
that I was on several occasions nearly knocked off by the
branches of trees ; and if my seat was uncomfortable, which
it often was, as well as precarious — for we all sat on luggage
indifferently tied on — we had the greatest work to make
Sheikh Sehel stop to rectify the discomfort, for he wm the
sheikh of all the Garas, as he constantly repeated, and his
dignity was not to be trifled with.
The seventeen sheikhs got half a dollar a day each for
food, their slaves a quarter.
Our expedition nearly came to an untimely end a very
few days after our start, ovring, as my husband himself
confessed, to a little indiscretion on his part ; but as the
event serves to illustrate the condition of the men we were
with, I must not fail to recount it. During our day's march
we met with a large company of the Al Khathan family
pasturing their flocks and herds in a pleasant valley. Great
greetings took place, and our men carried off two goats for
an evening feast. When night approached they lit a fire of
wood, and piled stones on the embers so as to form a heated
surface. On this they placed the meat, cut in strips with
their swords, the entrails, the heads, and every part of the
animal, until their kitchen looked like a ghastly sacriflce
to appease the anger of some deity. I must confess that
the smell thereof was exceeding savomy, and the picture
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THE GABA TEIBE 251
presented by these huagry Bavages, gathered round the lurid
light of their kitchen, was weird in the extreme. Daggers
were used for knives, two fingers for forks, and we stood at
a respectful distance and watched them gorge ; and so
excited did they become as they consumed the flesh, that
one could almost have supposed them to be under the
influence of strong drink. Several friends joined them from
the neighbouring hills, and far into the night they carried on
their wild orgy, singing, shouting, and periodically letting
off the guns which the soldiers sent by Wali Suleiman had
brought with them.
We retired in due course to onr tent and our beds, but
not to sleep, for in additicm to their discordant songs, in
msbiug to and fro they would catch in our tent-guys, and
give us sudden shocks, which rendered sleep impossible.
Exasperated at this beyond all bearing, my husband at
length rushed out and caught a Bedou in the very act of
tumbling over a guy. Needless to say a well-placed kick
sent him quickly about bis business, and after this silence
was established and we got some repose.
Next morning, however, when we were prepared to start,
we found our Bedouin all seated in a silent, solemn phalanx,
refusing to move. 'What is the matter?' my husband
asked, ' why are we not ready to start ? * and from amongst
them arose a stem, freezing reply. ' You must return to Al
Hafa. We can travel no more with you, as Theodore has
kicked Sheikh Sehel,' for by this time they had become
acquainted with our Christian names, and never used any
other appellative.
We felt that the aspect of affairs was serious, and that in
the night season he had been guilty of an indiscretion which,
might imperil both our safety and the farther progress of
our journey. So we affected to take the matter as a joke,
laughed heartily, patted Sheikh Sehel onthe back, said that
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252 DHOFAB AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
we did not know who it was, and my hasband entered into
a solemn compact that if they would not catch in onr guys
again, he would never kick his majesty any more. It was
surprising to see how soon the glom faces relaxed, and how
Boon all ill-feeling was forgotten. In a very few minutes
life and bustle, chattering and good humour reigned in our
c&mp, and we were excellent friends again.
It was on the third day after leaving Al Hafa that we
passed through one of the districts where frankincense is still
collected, in a narrow valley running down from the moun'
tains into the plain of Dhofar. The valley was covered for
miles with this shrub, the trunk of which, when punctured,
emits the odoriferous gum. We did not see any very large
trees, such as we did in Sokotra. The Bedouin choose the
hot season, when the gum flows most freely, to do this
puncturing. During the rains of July and August, and
during the cool season, the trees are left alone. The hrst
step is to make an incision in the trunk, then they strip oflE
a narrow bit of bark below the hole, so as to make a recep-
tacle in which the milky juice, the ^mmapinguis of Pliny,
can lodge and harden. Then the incision is deepened, and
after seven days they return to collect what are, by that time,
quite big tears of frankincense, larger than an egg.
The shrub itself is a picturesque one, with a leaf not
unlike an ash, only stiffer ; it has a tiny green flower, not red
like the Sokotra flowers, and a scaly bark. In all there are
three districts in the Gara mountains where the tree still
grows ; anciently, no doubt, it was found in much larger
quantities, but the demand for frankincense is now so very
limited that they take no care whatever of the trees. They
only tap the most promising ones, and those that grow
farther west in the Mahri country, as they produce an
inferior quality, are not now tapped at all.
The best is obtained at spots called Hoye and Haski.
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THE GARA TRIBE 253
aboat four days' journey inland from Merbat, where the Gara
moQutains slope down into the Kejd desert. The second in
quality cornea from near Gape Itisout, and also a little farther
west, at a place called Chiaen, .near Bakhioat, frankincense
of a marketable quality is obtained, but that farther west
in the Mahri country is not collected now, being much
inferior. The best quality they call leban laht, and the
second quality Uhan reaimi, and about 9,000 cwt. are exported
yearly and sent to Bombay. It is only collected in the hot
weather, before the rains begin and when the gum flows
freely, in the months of March, April, and May, for during
the rains the tracks on the Gara mountains are impassable.
The trees belong to the various families ol the Gara tribe ;
each tree is marked and known to its owner, and the product
is sold wholesale to Banyan merchants, who come to Dhofar
just before the monsoons to take it away.
One must imagine that when this industry was at its
height, in the days when frankincense was valued not only
for temple ritual but for domestic use, the trade in these
mountains must have been very active, and the canning old
Sabsan merchants, who liked to keep the monopoly of this
drug, told wonderful stories of the phtenix which guarded
the trees, of the insalubrity of the climate and of the deadly
vapours which came from them when punctured for the
gam. Needless to say, these were all false commercial
inventions, which apparently succeeded admirably, for the
old classical authors were exceedingly vague as to the
localities whence frankincense came. Merchants came in
their ships to the port of Moscha, which we shall presently
visit, to get cargoes of the drug, but they probably knew au
little as we did of the interior of the hills behind, and one
of the reasons why Aelius Gallns was sent to Arabia by
Angnstus on his nnsuccessful campaign was ' to discover
where Arabian gold and frankincense came from.'
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254 DHOFAB AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
Early Arabian authors are far more explicit, and we
gather from Makriei, Ibn Khaldun, and others, something
more definite about Dhofar and the frankincense trade, and
of the prince of this district who bad the monopoly of the
trade, and punished its infringement with death. These
writers, when compared with the classical on^, assist US
greatly in identifying localities.
The Portuguese knew about Dhofar and its productions,
forCamoens, in his Tenth Lusiad, 716, writes :
' O'er Dhotar'B plain the richest incense breathes.'
But not until Dr. Carter coasted along here some fifty years
ago was it definitely known that this was the chief locality
in Arabia which produced the drug.
Myrrh, too, grows in large quantities in the G-ara range,
and we obtained specimens of it in close proximity to the
frankincense-tree. The gum of the myrrh-tree is much
redder than ordinary gum Arabic, whereas the frankincense
gum is considerably whiter. The commerce of Dhofar must
have been exceedingly rich in those ancient days, as is
evidenced by the size and extent of the Sabcean ruins on the
plain. They are the most easterly ruins which have been
found in Arabia of the SabEean period, and probably owe
their origin entirely to the drug trade.
for the first few days of our journey, we sufifered greatly
from the unrulineas of the camels. They danced about like
wild things at first, and scattered our belongings far and wide,
and all o! us in our turns had serious falls, and during those
days, boxes and packages kept flying about in all directions.
Imam Sharif had his travelling tnmk broken to pieces and
the contents scattered right and left, and some treasured
objects of jewellery therein contained were never recovered,
So scarce did rope become during our journey, tbat the
Bedouin had actually to take the leather thongs which
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THE GARA TRIBE 265
bound their m&tted locks together, to lead the camels with,
and rope was almost the only thing they tried to steal from
ns while we were in their company. At length our means
of tying became so exhausted that we had to send a messenger
back to bay rope from Wall Suleiman, and obtained a large
sackful for two reals.
Our new supply of rope was made of aloe-fibre, barely
twisted in one thin strand, and at every camp we had to set
up a rope-walk to make ropes that would not break. The
Oaras were always cutting off short bits to tie round their
hair or their necks. The aervftnts, headed by Lobo, had to
be very sharp in picking up all the pieces lying about after
miloading, or we should soon have been at a loss again.
We originally understood that Sheikh Sehel was going
to take us np to the mountains by a valley still farther west,
but for some reason, which we shall never know, he refused ;
some said the Mahri tribe was giving trouble in this direction,
others that the road was too difficult for camels. At any
rate, we had partially to retrace our steps, and following
along the foot of the mountains, found oorselves encamped
not so many miles away from Al Hafa.
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256 DHOPAE AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
CHAPTEE XX
THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
At length we turned oar f&ceS towards the Gara mouQtains,
with considerable interest and cariosity, and prepared to
ascend them by a tortuous valley, the Wadi Gheisld, which
dives into their very midst, and forms the usual approach
for camels, as the mountain sides in other parts are too
precipitons. After riding up the Valley for a few miles, we
came across one of the small lakes of which we were in guest,
nestling in a rocky hole, and with its fine boulders hung
with ferns and vegetation, forming altogether one of the
most ideal spots we had ever seen. That arid Arabia could
produce so lovely a spot, was to us one of the greatest
surprises of our lives. Water-birds and water-plants were
here to be found in abundance, and the hill slopes around
were decked with fine sycamores and acacia-trees, amongst
the branches of which sweet white jessamine, several species
of convolvulus, and other creepers climbed.
The water was deliciously cool, rushing forth from three
different points in the rock among maidenhair and other
ferns into the basin which formed the lake, but it is impreg-
nated with Hme, which leaves a deposit all down the valley
along its course. Evidence of the mighty rush of water
during the rains is seen on all sides, rubbish is then cast into
the branches of the great fig-trees, and the Bedouin told us
that at times this valley is entirely full of water and quite
impassable.
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THE GARA MOUNTAINS 2J7
Next day we pursued our way up the gorge of Ghersld,
climbing higher aud higher, making our way through dense
woods, often dangerous for the camel riders, and obliging as
frequently to dismount.
Merchants who visited Dhofar in pursuit of their trade
knew of these valleys, and not unnaturally brought home
glowing accounts of their fertility, and thus gained for Arabia
a reputation which has baen thought to be exaggerated.
In the Wadi Ghersld, amongst the dense vegetation
which makes the spot a veritable paradise, we came across
many Bedoum of the Beit al Kathan family tending their
flocks and dwelling in the caves. They were all exceedingly
obsequious to Sheikh Sehel, and we soon found that he
was a veritable king amongst them, and forthwith we gave
up any attempt to guide our own footsteps, but left our-
selves entirely in his bands, to take us whither he would
and spend as long about it as he liked. One thing which
interested us very much was to see the greetings of the
Bedouin : for an acquaintance they merely rub the palms of
their hands when they meet, and then kiss the tips of their
respective fingers ; for an intimate friend they join hands
and kiss each other ; but for a relative they not only join
hands, but they rub noses and finally kiss on either cheek.
Whenever we met a party of their friends on our way, it
was a signal forahalt that these greetings might be observed,
and then followed a pipe. At first we rather resented these
halts ; but they take such a short time over their whiff
of tobacco, and are so disconsolate without it, that we soon
gave up complaints at these delays. They literally only
take one whiff and pass the stone pipe on, so that a halt for
a smoke seldom lasts more than five minutes, and all are
satisfied. Sheikh Sehel met many of his relatives in the
Wadi Ghersld, and his nose was subject to many energetic
rubs, and the novelty of this greeting, about which one had
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258 DHOFAE AND THE GABA MOUNTAINS
TEbguely read in years gone by, excited oar interest deeply,
but at the same time we were thankful we were not likely to
meet any relatives in the valley, and to have to undergo the
novel sensations in person.
Every afternoon, when our tents were pitched and our
baggage oper, whole rows of Bedouin would sit outside
asking for medicine ; pills, of special violence of course, and
quinine were the chief drngs required, and then we had
many aore eyes and revolting sores of every description,
reqniriug closer attention. As to the pills, we had some
difficulty in getting the Eedouin not to chew them, hut when
one man, Mas'ah by name, solemnly chewed five Holloway's
pills and was very sick after so doing, it began to dawn
upon them that our method was the right one. Host
embarrassing of all our patients was old Sheikh Sehel
himself. Fortune had been kind to him in most respects :
she had given him wealth and power amongst men, and the
fickle goddess had bestowed upon him two wives, but alas t
no offopring, and to seek for a remedy for this, to a savage,
overwhelming disaster, he came with his headmen to the
tent of the European medicine men. It was in vain for my
husband to tell him that he had brought no remedy for this
complaint. They had seen him on one or two occasions
consult a small medicine book, and their only reply to his
negative was, ' The book ; get out the book, Theodore,' and
he had solemnly to pretend to go through the volume before
they could be convinced that he had no medicine to meet
the case.
It was cnrious to bear their morning greeting, ' Sabakh,
Theodore ! Sabakh, Mabel ! ' The women of the Gara
tribe are timid creatures, small, and not altogether ilt-looking;
in fact the Garas are, as a tribe, undersized and of small
limbs, but exceedingly active and lithe. The women do not
possess the wealth in savage jewellery which we found to be
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THE GARA MOUNTAINS 259
the case in the Hadhramout the previous year, nor do they
paint themselves so grotesquely with tunueric and other dyes,
bat indulge only in a few patches of black, sticky stuff like
cobbler's wax on their faces, and a tonch of antimony round
their eyes and joining their eyebrows ; they weEir no veils,
and at first we could not get near them, as they ran away
in terror at our approach. They have but poor jewellery —
silver necklaces, armlets, uose, toe, and finger rings. One
evening, when up in the mountaios, we were told that a
harem wished to see us, and we were conducted to a spot
just out of sight of our tents, where sat three females on
the ground looking miserably shy, and in their nervousness
they plucked and ate grass, and constantly ae we approached
retreated three or four steps back and seated themselves
again. Presently, after much persuasion, we got one of
them to come to the tent aud accept a present of needles
and other oddments, the delight of womankind all the world
over. Altogether these G-ara women formed a marked and
pleasant contrast to the Bedouin women in the Hadhramout,
who literally besieged us in our tent, and never gave us any
peace.
It is interesting to read in the ' Feriplus ' (p. 32) a de-
scription of this coast and of the high mountains behind,
' where men dwell in holes,' We often went to visit the
troglodytes in their cave homes, where we found men,
women, and children living with their flocks and herds in
happy harmony. The floor of their caves is soft and springy,
the result of the deposits of generations of cattle ; in the
dark recesses of the cave the kids are kept during their
mother's absence at the pasture, and though these caves are
slightly odoriferous, we found them cool and refreshing after
the external heat. In some of them huts are erected for the
families, and in one cave we found almost a village of huts ;
but in the smaller ones they have no covering, and when in
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260 DHOPAE AND THE GAHA MOUNTAINS
the open the Gara cares for nothing but a tree to shelter
him. All their fann implementB are of the most primitive
nature ; the chum is just a skin hung on three sticks, which
a womELD shakes about until she obtains her butter. Ghi
or rancid butter is one of the chief exports of Dhofar. They
practise too, a pious fraud on their cows by stretching a
calf-skin on a stick, and when the cow licks this she is
satisfied and the milk comes freely. They have but few
pots and pans, and these of the dirtiest description, so when
we got milk from them we always sent our own utensils.
In these valleys, by rocks near the streams and under
trees, live, the Bedouin told us, those curious semi-divine
spirits which they call jinni, the propitiating of which seems
to be the chief form of religion amongst them. One
morning, as we were riding np a nsLrrow gorge beneath the
shade of a beetling cliff, our guides suddenly set up a sing-
song chant, which they continued for fully ten minutes.
' Aleik soubera, Aleik smibera,' were the words which they
constantly repeated, and which were addressed, they told
ua, to the jinni of the rocks, a supplication to allow ns to
pass in safety.
Jinni also inhabit the lakes in the Gara mountains, and
it is considered dangerous to wet your feet in them, for you
will catch a fever. We could not induce the Bedouin to
gather a water-plant we coveted in one of them for this
reason. They inhabit, too, the caves where the people
dwell, and have to be propitiated with suitable offerings. In
fact, the fear of jinni, and the skill of certain magicians in
keeping them friendly, are the only tangible form of religion
that we could discover amongst them. When at the coast
villagestheyoutwardlyconformto the Mohammedan customs,
but when away in their mountains they abandon them
altogether. During the time we were with them they never
performed either the prayers or the ablutions required by the
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THE GASA MOUNTAINS 261
MoBlem creed, and the only thing approaching a religious
festival amongst them that we heard of, ie an annnal festival
held by the Garos in November by the side of one of their
lakes, to which all the members of the different families
repair, and at which a magician Bits on a rock in the centre
of a group of dancing Bedouin, to propitiate, with certain
formulas, the jinni of the lake. Amongst the Bedouin of
the Hadhramout we noticed the same sbaence of religious
observances and the same superstitious dread of jinni, but
at the same time I fully believe they have their own sacred
places and festivals, which they conceal as mnch as possible
from the fanatical Moslems who dwell amongst them. A
Bedouin never fasts during Bamazan, and does not object to
do his work during the month of abstinence, but he goes to
mosque and says his prayers when occasion brings him to
the coast. It seems to me a carious coincidence that in
many other Mohammedan countries we have visited we have
come across the same story of concealed religion as practised
by the nomad races. We have the Ali-Ullah-hi in the
Persian mountains, about whose secret rites horrible stories
are told ; we have the Ansairi and the Druses in the Lebanon,
and the nomad Yourouks of Asia Minor, and the Dimmeh
of Salonika, about all of whom the strict Mohammedans of
the towns tell yon exactly the same story that we heard
about the Bedouin of Sonthem Arabia. They are all looked
upon as heathen by the Moslems, and accredited with secret
rites and ceremonies about which no definite knowledge can
be gained ; and thus it would seem that throughout the
length and breadth of Islam there are survivals of more
ancient cults which the followers of Mohammed have
never been able to eradicate, cults which no doubt would
offer points of vast interest to the anthropologist if it were
possible to unravel the mysteries which surround them.
We were for ever hearing stories of jinni amongst the
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262 DHOFAR AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
Gura Bedouin, and all we coold gather was that when
propitiated they arc friendly to the human race. Old
Sheikh Sehel and his men stuck to it that they had
constantly seen jinni, and their belief in them seems deeply
rooted. This word is pronounced ghinni in Southern
Arabia.
On January 4 we were at Beit el Biatan. We had to
climb on foot. The valley became narrower as we went on,
and the cliffs at the side were full of long caverns, with
great stumpy stalactites and stalagmites, looking like teeth
in gigantic mouths. The rocks we had to climb up were
very rough and rugged, but where millions of camels' feet
in thousands of years had polished them they were quite
smooth and slippery. When we got above the woods, all
very hot, we were able to ride again, at an elevation of 2,600
feet, on undulating, grassy ground.
We encamped under two large fig-trees, and the weather
being cloudy and windy were glad to find a quantity of wood
ready gathered, the remains of a night shelter. There was
mnddy water at a little distance. The climate seems most
healthy, in winter at least. Three kinds of figs grow here.
Some are little purple ones with narrow leaves, and some
large red ones with broad leaves.
Leaving the Wadi Ghersld we had a beautiful journey.
We two enjoyed every minute of the three hours and a
half.
We went up the valley through a thick forest of lovely
trees. There were myrtles, ilex, figs, acacia, and a quantity
of other trees, with climbing cacti and other creepers, and
great high trees of jasmin. Sometimes it was hard enough
to get through the bashee and under the trees, perched up
aloft on our camels. We were down in the river-bed part of
the time, and then climbing through the forest to get to the
top of the falls. Above the forest rise tiers of cliffs, and there
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THE GABA MOUNTAINS 263
were trees at the top on a tablelaad, as well as large isolated
trees on most of the moontain tops, sheltering many birds.
We had to wait fully an hour for our tent, aa the servants'
camels were somehow belated, and it was considered to be
all owing to the jiuni, whose abode we passed. Large
white bustards assembled round our camp.
Once we were settled, there was the usual run on the
medicine chest. A very nice Bedon soldier, Aman, the head
one, was given five pills into one hand by my husband, and
as he insisted on grasping his weapons with his other, he
had such difficulty in consuming them that I had to hold
the cup qi water for him to sip from.
Madder trees grow about, and the Bedouin make clothes
from the eilky fibres.
We ascended a good deal the following day, to a point
whence our view extended over the great central desert. It
looked like a blue sea with a yellow shore. We then turned
a little to the south, then north again, and found ourselves
among a quantity of wooded spurs, and on the edge of a
deep wooded wadi.
'Bight up to the tops of the mountains, which reach an
elevation of about 3,000 feet, the ground is fertile and
covered with grass, on which large herds of cattle feed ;
clusters of sycamores and limes growing here and there give
to the undulating hills qnite a park-hke appearance. As we
happened to be there in the dry season, the grass was all
brown and slippery, and there stood around us acres upon
acres of hay with no one to harvest it ; but after the rains
the aspect of the Gara hills must be aa green and pleasant
as those of Derbyshire. The dry grass often catches fire,
and from the mountains in various directions we saw columns
of smoke arising as if from the chimneys of a manufactur-
ing district. The country through which we travelled for
the next two days is covered with thorny bushes and anthills,
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264 DHOFAR AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
and is more like Africa than Arabia. The anthills, thoDgh
very exteneive, were not so fantastic as those we saw in
Africa. We were going eastward over high ground ; we
decided to halt for two nights near a pretty little hole full
of maidenhair fern , where there was water. It was nice and
clean at first, bat even at the end of the first day it was
much diminished and very muddy. Travellers like onrselves
must be a great naisonce drinking up the scanty supply of
water which might last the inhabitants for a long while.
We had hoped to get a good rest after our many days of
marching, but while we were here there came on the most
frightful hurricane from the north ; it blew steadily for
two days and nights and put all rest out of the question.
With difBculty could we keep our tents erect ; when we
were in ours we had to be tightly tied in and sit next to the
sunniest wall ; in the evening when the wind abated a little
we used to sit by a large fire, dressed in blankets.
The piercing blasts quite shrivelled up our poor unclad
condactore, who crouched in an inert mass round log fires
which they made. We were obliged to remain inactive, for
they said the camels would not move during this wind,
though I believe the cause of inaction rose more from their
own dislike to travel in the cold ; and so inert were they
that we conld hardly get them to fetch us water from the
neighbouring spring, their whole energy being expended in
fetching huge logs of wood to keep the fires burning, and I
think they were all pleased when the time came to descend
to the lower regions again and a warmer atmosphere.
We were afraid to start before the sun was up for fear
the camels would be too cold to move, and he did not visit
us very early.
Sheikh Sehel promised to take us across the Gara border
into Nejd if we wished ; but as it would have entailed a
considerable delay and parley with the sheikhs of the Nejd
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THE GAEA MOUNTAINS 265
Bedouin, and as we could see from our present vantage ground
that the country wonld afford ub absolntely no objects of
interest, we decided not to attempt tbis expedition.
On leaving our very exposed and nameless camping-
ground, we pursued our course in a north-east direction,
still passing through the same park-tike scenery, through
acres and acres of lovely hay, to be had for nothing a ton.
It is exceedingly slippery, and dangerous foothold for the
camels ; consequently numerous falls were the result, and
much of our journey had to be done on foot.
We and they used involuntarily to sit down and slide and
be brought up suddenly by a concealed rock.
To the south the descent is abrupt and rocky to the
plain of Dhofar and the Indian Ocean, and the horizon line
on either side is remarkably similar, for in the far, far distance
the sandy desert becomes a straight blue line like a horizon of
water. To the east and west the arid barrenness of Arabia
soon asserts itself, whereas the undulating Grara range, like
the Cotswold, is fertile, cmd rounded with deep valleys and
ravines running into it full of rich tropical vegetation.
On the second day we began again to descend a
hideously steep path, and a drop of about 1,500 feet
brought us to a remarkable cave just above the plain, and
only about ten or twelve miles from Al Hafa. This cave
burrows far into the mountain side, and is curiously hung
with stalactites, and contains the deserted buts of a Bedou
village, only inhabited during the rains. Immediately
below this cave in the Wadi Kahast are the ruins of an
extensive SabEean town, in the centre of which is a natural
hole 150 feet deep and about 50 feet in diameter ; around this
hole are the remains of walls, and the columns of a large
entrance gate. We asked for information about this place,
but all we could get in reply was that it was the well of the
Addites, the name always associated with the ruins of the
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266 DHOFAE AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
bygone race. They also said the Minqai had ^lived in
the tows. In my opinion this spot is the site of the
oracle mentioned by Ptolemy and others, from which the
capital of Dhofar took its name. It mnch resembles the
deep natural holes, which we found in Cilicia in Asia Minor,
where the oracles of the Corycian and Olbian Zeus were
situated. It is just below the great cave I have mentioned,
and, as a remarkable natural phenomenon, it must have
been looked upon with awe in ancient days, and it was a
seat of worship, as the ruined walls and gateway prove ;
furthermore, it is just half a day's journey east of the
city of Mansura or Zufar, where, Ibn Batuta somewhat
contemptuously says, ' is Al Akhaf, the abode of the Addites,'
and there is no other point on the plain of Dhofar where
the oracle could satisfactorily be located from existing
evidence. Some time, perhaps, an enterprising arcbeologist
may be able to open the ruins about here, and verify the
identification from epigraphical evidence.
When we reached the valley Imam Sharif said : ' We do
not know how we got down that place, for ail of our feet
was each 36 inches from the other foot.' We had such
trouble squeezing through the trees, too.
We encamped not at all far from the deep hole, and at first
were too hot and tired after our tremendous clamber to look
round, but my husband found it in hie sunset stroll, and
came and called to me to hurry out while light yet lingered
in such joyful tones that I asked, ' Is it Dians Oraculum ? '
Before starting in the morning we went to visit some
troglodytes, dirty, but pleasant, and willing for as to see all
there was to be seen, and as anxious to see us ; indeed, tbey
wished to see more of me than I thought convenient, bat
fortunately my husband's collar-stud came undone and they
all crowded to see his white chest amid shouts of ' Shouf
Theodore ! ' (Look at Theodore).
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THE GARA MOUNTAINS 267
One of these people had fever and another neuralgia.
We found neuralgia pretty common in Arabia. Quassia-
chipB were given to each to steep in water, but carefully
tied np in different coloured cotton bags. Our way was very
uninteresting, due south to the sea at Bizat.
My husband's camel required repacking, and he and
Hassan managed to lose sight of thereat of the kafila. Imam
Sharif and I went on without perceiving that the rest had
stopped. We had to wait an hoar to be found. I dis-
mounted, and Bat in a circle of thirteen men. When one of
them wished to attract my attention he tapped me on the
knee with sword or stick, saying, ' Ya (oh), Mabel ! '
One of the first days I heard them consulting what
my name might be ; several were suggested, but at last they
thought it must be ' Fitema ' and to try called ' Ya F&tema t '
I said ' My name is not " F&tema " ; ' then they asked, and
thus they learnt our names.
They said they did not wish us to give them orders of
any kind as they were sheikhs ; certainly not through the
soldiers. * We are gentlemen, and they are slaves, and if we
choose we can kill them. What is it to us? We shall have
to pay 400 reals, but we can give a camel each and can well
afford it. We are rich.'
I must say these men were often very kind to me.
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DHOFAR AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
CHAPTER XXI
THE IDENTIFICATION OF ABTSSAPOLIS
We now pursued our way aJong the coast-Iine of Dhofar in
.an easterly direction. Wali Suleiman entertained us for a
night at a farm he had built at a place called Bizat, the land
around which is watered by an abundant stream. His
garden was rich in many kinds of fruits, and on our arrival,
hot and weary from the road, be spread a carpet for ub under
the shade of a mulberry tree while our camp was pitched,
and ordered a slave to pick us a dishful of the fruit, which
was exceedingly refreshing. Besides these he provided us
with papyas, gourds, vegetables, and all sorts of delicacies
to which we had been strangers during our wanderings in
the Gara mountains. In this genial retreat Wali Suleiman
passed much of his time, leaving behind him at Al Hafa
the cares of state and the everlasting bickerings in his
harem.
The next morning, refreshed and supplied with the
requisites for another journey, we started off again in our
easterly course towards Takha, the most important village
at the east end of the plain of Dhofar. As we rode Eicross
the plain we were perpetually harassed by the thought as to
where the excellent harbour could be, which is mentioned by
all ancient writers as frequented by the frankincense mer-
chants, and which modem writers, such as Dr. Glaser and
Sir E. H. Bunbury, agree in considering to be some little way
west of Mcrbat. Yakut tells us how the ancient ships on their
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THE IDENTIFICATION OF ABYSSAPOLIS 269
way to and from India tarried there during the monsoons,
and he (urthar tells ns that it was twenty parasangs east of
the capital. The ' Periplus ' apeakB of it as Moscha, Ptolemy
aB AhysBapolis, and the Arabs as Merhat ; but as there is no
harbourage actually at Merbat, it clearly could not be there.
So as we went along we pondered on this question, and
wondered if this celebrated harbour was, after all, a myth.
It was a most uninteresting ride along this coast : flat,
and for the most part barren, broken here and there by
lagoons of brackish and evil-smelling water and mangrove
swamps. On the way we saw antelopes and foxes with
white bushy tails. One night we encamped by one of these
river beds on slightly rising ground, and were devoured by
mosquitoes, and so pestilent are these insects here that they
not only attacked us, but tormented onr camels to such a
degree that they were constantly jumping up in the night
and making such hideous demonstrations of their discomfort
that our rest was considerably interfered with.
When we reached Takha, after a ride of fifteen miles, wa
found ourselves once more amongst a heap, or rather two
heaps, of Sabssan rains, which had not been so much dis-
turbed by subsequent occupants as those at the capital, but -
at the same time they were not nearly so fine, and the
columns were mostly undecorated. There were also some
very rough sarcophagi.
The wali of Takha received us well, and placed his
bouse at our disposal, but it was so dirty we elected to pitch
our tents, and encamped some little distance from the
village. On the following morning the wali sent us with a
guide to inspect some ruins round the neighbouring head'
land which forms one end of the bay, of which Bas Itisout
is the other. The rock of which it is composed is white in
all the sheltered parts and where the path is polished, and
nearly black in the exposed parts. When we reached the
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270 DHOFAK AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
other side of this promontory, to our amazement we saw
before ub a long sheet of water, stretching nearly two milea
inland, broken by niEuiy little creeks, and In eome parts folly
half a mile wide. This sheet of water, which is called Eho
Eouri, had been silted up at its mouth by a sandbank, over
which the sea coald only make its way at high tide, and the
same belt of sand separated from it a forti&ed rock, Khatiya
by name, which must formerly have been an island pro-
tecting the double entrance to what once must have been an
excellent harbour, and which could be again restored to ita
former condition by an outlay of very little capital and
labour. We were the more amazed at coming across this
shfet of water, as it is not marked in the Admiralty chart.
Surely there can be no doubt that this is the harbour
which was anciently need by the merchants who came to
this coast for frankincense. It would be absolutely secure
at all seasons of the year, and it is just twenty paraaanga
from the ruins of the ancient capital — exactly where it ought
to be, in fact — and probably the Arabs called it Merbat, a
name which has been retained in the modem village on the
sheltering headland, where we landed when we first reached
Dhofar. As for the name Moscha — given in the ' Periplus '
— it is like Mocha, a name given to several bays on the
Arabian coast, and I think we discovered why Ptolemy
called it Abyssapolis, as I will presently explain. We
ascended the rock at the entrance, took a photograph of the
sheet of water, and felt that we had at last succeeded in
reconstructing the geography of this interesting bit of
country.
I hear that the Egyptologists are in search of a harbour
to which the expedition to the land of Punt was made under
the enterprising Queen Hatasou. Some imagine that this
coast of Arabia was the destination of this expedition, and I
herewith call thsir attention to this spot, for I know of none
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ubjGoOgIc
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THE IDENTIFICATION OF ABYSSAPOLIS 271
other more likely on the barren, harbourlesB coast between
Aden and Maskat. If we take the illustration of this
expedition given in the temple of Deir al Bahari, we have,
to begin with, the frankincense trees, the long straight line
of water running inland, the cattle and the birds ; then the
huts which the Bedouin build on tall poles, approached by
ladders, from which they can inspect the produce of their
land and drive off marauders, look exactly like those thereon
depicted. All that we want are the apes, which certainly do
not now exist in the Gara mountains, but it is just the spot
, where one would expect to find them ; and in a district
where the human race has been reduced to the smallest
point, there is no reason why the kindred race of apes should
not have disappeared altogether. Apes still exist near Aden.
We had great difficulty in getting the camels to face the
water and carry us to the peninsula, the water being half-
way up their sides. On climbing up we saw columns lying
about, and there had been a wall all round the summit. It
had originally been built in courses with roughly squared
stones, as we could see near the doorway, but the present
wall is of ordinary broken stones.
Leaving the harbour behind us we again approached the
moimtains, and, after journeying inland for about eight
miles, we found the valley leading up to the mountains
choked up by a most remarkable formation caused hy the
calcareous deposit of ages from a series of streams which
precipitate themselves over a stnpendous wall in feathery
waterfalls. This abyss is perfectly sheer, and hung in
fantastic confusion with stalactites. At its middle it is 550
feet in depth, and its greatest length is about a mile. It is
quite one of the most magnificent natural phenomena I have
ever seen, and suggestive of comparison with the calcareous
deposits in New Zealand and Yeliowstone Park ; and to those
who visited this harbour in ancient days it musi have been
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272 DHOFAR AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
a, familiEir object, so no wonder that when they went home
and talked about it, the town neat it waa called the City of
the Abyss, and Ptolemy, as was his wont, gave the spot a
fresh appellative, jnst as he called the capital the Oracle of
Artemis.
About a quarter of a mile from the western side of the
whole abyss is a small conical mountain, about 1,000 feet
high, which looks as if it bad once stood free bat were now
nearly smothered by the petrifaction of the overflowing
water. It rises above the level top of the cliffs, and has
aboat a quarter of a mile of abyss on one side, which is only
300 feet in depth, and half a mile on the other. It is all
wooded. The larger side and the upper plain is called
Derbat, and the smaller Merbat or Merg4.
The three days we spent in exploring the neighbourhood
of this abyss were the brightest and pleaRantest of all during
this expedition. Our camp was pitched under shady trees
about half a mile from the foot of the abyss, whither we could
wander and repose under the shade of enormous plantains
which grew around the watercourse, and listen to the
splashing of the stream as it was precipitated over the rock
to irrigate the ground below, where the Bedouin had nice
little gardens in which the vegetation was profuse. One
day we spent in photography and sketching, wandering
about the foot of the rocky wall ; and another day, starting
early in the morning, with one camel to carry our things, we
set off to climb the hill by a tortuous path under shady trees
which conducted ns along the side of the hill, and got lovely
glimpses of the abyss on both sides through the branches.
On reaching the summit we found ourselves on an ex-
tensive and well-timbered flat meadow, along which we
walked for a mile or so. It was covered with cattle
belonging to the Bedouin grazing on its rich pasturage. It
seemed like the place Jack reached when he had climbed up
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THE IDENTIFICATION OP ABTSSAPOLIS 273
the beanstalk. At length we oame to two lovely narrow
lakes, joined together by a rapid meandering stream, delicious
spots to look upon, with well-wooded hills on either Bide,
and a wealth of timber in every direction. We Innched and
took oar midday siesta under a wide-spreading sycamore by
the stream, after walking up alongside the lakes for nearly
two miles ; fat milch cows, not unlike our own, were feeding
by the rushing stream ; birds of all descriptions filled the
branches of the trees, water-hens and herons and ducks were
in abundance on one of the lakes, bolmshes and water- weeds
grew in them ; it wonld be an ideal little spot in any country,
but in Arabia it was a marvel. The trees were ioa<led with
climbing cactus aDd a large purple convolvulus with great
round leaves.
We wanted to get some water-plants, easily to be
obtained if anyone wonld have entered the lake in which
they grew, but the jinni or ghinni who lives there (our old
friend the Genius of the ' Arabian Nights '} was so dangerous
that the plants had to be hooked ont with sticks and branches
tied to strings. Sheikh Sehel maintains that he has seen
ghinni in that neighbourhood.
This wide-spreading meadow can be watered at will by
damming up the streants which lead the water from the
lakes to the abyss, and in a large cave near the edge of the
precipice dwells a family of pastoral Bedouin who own this
happy valley ; before leaving the higher level we went to
the edge and peered over into the hollow below, where, far
beneath us, was our camping ground among the trees, and
in the sun's rays the waterfall over the white cliff gave out
beautifol rainbows. We bad to cross much swampy gromid,
and got our feet wet, without catching the inevitable fever.
Imam Sharif camped away from ns one night and found
that the streams which feed them have their source up in the
limestone, about two days' journey from them. The Bedouin
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274 DHOFARAND THE QAEA MOUNTAINS
are exceedingly proud of them, and in the absence of much
water in their coontty they naturally look upon them with
almost superstitious awe and veneration. Perhaps in Scotland
one might be more inclined to call them mountain tarns, for
neither of them is more than a mile in length, and in parts
they are very narrow ; yet they are deep, and, as the people
at Al Hafa proudly told us, you could float thereon any
steamer you Uked, which may or may not be true, but their
existence in a country like Arabia is, after all, their chief
■cause for renown. This really is Ajrabia Felix.
If ever this tract of country comes into the hands of
a civilised nation, it will be capable of great and nseful
development. Supposing the harbour restored to receive
ships of moderate size, the G-ara hills, rich in grass and
vegetation, with an ample supply of water and regular rains,
and, furthermore, with a most deUcious and health-giving
air, might be of inestimable value as a granary and a health
resort for the inhabitants of the bomt-up centres of Arabian
commerce, Aden and Maskat. It is, as I have said, aboat
half way between them, and it Ih the only fertile stretch of
coast-line along that arid frontage of the Arabian Peninsula
on to the Indian Ocean.
Every November a fair or gala is held up here by the
side of the lakes, to which all the Bedouin of the Gara tribe
come and make merry, and the fair of Derbat is considered
by them the great festival of the year. A round rock was
shown us on which the chief magician sits to exorcise the
jinni of the lakes, and aroimd him the peojtle dance. There
is doubtl^s some rehgibus purport connected with all this,
but, as I have said before, it is extremely difficult to get
anything out of the Bedouin about their religious opinions ;
like the Bedouin of the Hadhramout,- they do not .observe
the prayers' and ablutions inculcated by the Mohammedan
creed, and the Arabs speak of them as heathen, but beyond
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THE IDENTIFICATION OF ABY8SAP0LIS 275
this we conld not find out much. Their langu&ge, too, is
different from anything we had heard before. They can
onderstand and converse in Arabic after a fashion, but when
speaking amongst themselves none of our party, Arab or
European, could make out anything they said, and from
SQch simple words as we were able to learn — such, for
example, as wtjt for \BaM, a valley, tkar instead of yom for
day, and Itha instead of vahr for a river — we were led to
believe that they speak an entirely different language, and
not a dialect as in the Hadhramout.
Aa we passed through the hay, the Qara bad gathered
up a lot of it in sacks, which they put under the camels'
loads by day and used as beds by night, and between times
applied to quite a different purpose. One of these sacks
was used as a combined diah and strainer when they
boiled their rice. The rice was turned out of the pot, and
as soon as the cook bad scraped it all out with his hands
they sat round, and fed themselves with handfuls of it.
After another day, spent over sketching, photography,
and measurements, we felt we had thoronghly explored the
neighbourhood of the abyss, so we started back to Al Hafa
to prepare for our departure from Dhofar.
It took UB three days to get there. We stayed a night
on the way on some high ground above one of the swamps,
and on the second day stopped to visit Hamran, or Hameroun,
where -the wali had built a small fort and a farm, which
supplied him when at Bizat with butter, vegetables and
fruit. He also grew tobacco there.
We found ourselves once more in our old quarters in
the castle, where many fleas had been bom in our absence,
while the flies and mosquitoes were not diminished. The
wali had more prisoners. We again visited Bobat and the
other ruins.
The interests which centred in this small district — the
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376 DHOPAE AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
Euicient aites, the ftbyse, and, above all, the Barprising fertility
of the vftUeya and motmtainB, the delicions health-giving air,
and the immanity from actual danger which we had enjoyed
— combined in making as feel that oar Bojoom ia Dhofar
had been one of the most enjoyable and prodactive of any
expedition we had hitherto undertaken, and that we had
discovered a real Paradise in the wilderness, which will be
a rich prize tor the civilised nation which is enterprising
enough to appropriate it.
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CHAPTEB XXII
SAlLUtO roou KOSSEin TO ASfiN
Our object had been to go ftcross from Dhofar by land to the
Hadhramoat, across the Mahri conntry. Wall Snleiman had
done all in hia power to help ns, but withont much saccess,
as the Gara were more or less at war with the Mahri, who
are a dangerous warlike tribe. When we first left AI Hafa,
a message had been sent to the Mahri chiefs to come and
arrange abont oar joorsey, bat on our retom we foand that
only two had come. They said if we woald give them
200 reals, i.e. about 122., they would let as go through their
country, hat they made no allosion to the request that they
would arrange with the Minhali, Amri, Kattiri, and Tamimi.
As far as we and the wall could make out, they would only
have let as go a certain way along their coast, and then we
should have been in difficulty about a ship. The reply from
the sultan of Jedid was also onfaToorable, so we had nothing
left but to hire a batil and set soil along the coast for Kishin,
to the sultan of which place my hasband had a letter from
the British political agent at Madiat.
We took leave of Wali Suleiman with much regret, and
had we foreseen all the disappointments that were in store
for ns we should, I think, have stayed far longer under his
favourable influence. We were sorry afterwards to hear of
his death. A rebellion broke out, in which his castle was
knocked into ruins, and in the battle he, his eldest eon, and
little black Muoffok were all killed.
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278 DHOFAB AND THE GAHA MOUNTAINS
A long sea journey in an Axab batil is exceedingly on-
comfortable. We had a cabin in the stem, open all roond ;
a sail was etretched in front to secure onr privacy ; it woe 80
low that we could by no means stand or even sit np except
on the deck, as 3 feet 6 inches was the height of this place.
It was roofed over with palm-stalks supported on posts
ovarlaid with matting, so slippery that Imam Sharif and
Hassan, the interpreter, had to tie themselveB with ropes,
as there was nothing to prevent their sliding into the sea.
I stayed in my camp bed for six daya, aa there was nothing
else to do. Our servants crowded every space on the outer
part of the deck in and on boxes. We had some palm-leaf
matting hung on the port and southern aide to shield us
from the sun, and much rejoiced that we were not deprived
by the sun of the glorious views which unrolled themselves
along onr starboard side.
When morning came, Lobo nsed to creep in across my
hnsband's feet and bring onr basins to our bed-sides, and
when our toilette was finished he nsed to creep in and fetch
them, and then creep back, and, spreading the breakfast on
the floor, squat in the middle and hand ub our food. The
gunwale of the batil was only three inches from the level of
my bed. Airy as our ' cabin ' was, bilge-water was our
torment.
We had started on January 23, the weather being cool
and overcast, about 11 o'clock, and reached the village of
Bakhiout in thirty hours — only forty miles.
We called there to do a civility to the wali, and leave two
soldiers there. This is the end of Omani influence, and there
IS a small fort as a protection against the Mahri. There
was a contrary wind and such a violent swell that we rocked
and tossed for thirty more hours in front of the small village,
whence parties of inhabitants came to stare at us. It is on
a small flat space, with high hills and clifis all round it.
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SAILING FROM K0S8BIB TO ADEN 2Wi
We started at last, and got at least two miles, when we
were awakened by a great gale. I was nearly blown ont of
bed. The sail was taken down, and we were in some danger,
as it was feared the mast would give way. We anchored,
and the wind seemed to blow from all aides at once ; the
small boat was nearly smashed against the rudder. The
stars were shining brightly all the time.
We started again at dawn, and did not go more than
three-quarters of a mile in the whole day, the wind being so
contrary. One of the pecoharities of our navigation was
that whenever we tacked we went completely round. At
suiset we had to cast anchor again, and lie tossing till three,
and then went on well.
While at anchor we beard shouts and cries to come to
land, but oar sailors would do nothing of the sort. They
said a single man might often be seen calling that he was
wrecked, and asking to be fetched away, but a party of
armed men wonld be behind a rock, and come out and
murder the benevolent crew and steal the boat.
It was really delightful in the morning to open my still
sleepy eyes and, without moving, to see the lovely picture
which seemed to be passing before me — not I before it — of
beautiful mountains with their foreground of water, every
fold and distance filled up and separated by soft vapours:
Then sunrise began to paint the rocks red, and black
shadows came and changed their shapes, and presently all
became hard and stony looking.
Passing Bas Hamar, which is the next cape to Bisout,
we had seen easily how it had acquired the name, for it looks
like a donkey drinking, with its nose in the water and its
ears cocked. This shows particularly from the west. In
the pilot book of that sea, it is stated that it is called Hamar,
or Ahmar, from its red colour ; bat it is not red. The two
peculiar peaks on its sunmiit are noticed.
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380 DHOFAK AND THE GAEA MOUNTAINS
The wind died away aboat nine, asd we shook aboat and
went round and roand ; but in the afternoon we had a good
wind, and at noon of the next day (Jonnary 28} we were
before Kishin.
The sultan was at hts village, three miles inland, or,
more correctly, in sand — a hot walk. He is a wizened little
old man, who can neither read nor write, and was poorly
dressed, visitors being qnite unexpected.
The village of Kishin, the Mahri capital, consists of a
few scattered houses and some Bedou huts of matting and
poles placed in a dreary sandy waste, very different from
the fertile plain of Dhofar, and more like the eurrotmdingB
of Sheher.
When my husband asked for the sultan's assistance to go
into the Hadhramont, he said : ' Ko one ever goes that way,
it is full of robbers.'
Of course he was civil enough, as my husband showed
him the letter from Maskat, but he seemed to have little
authority. I think his followers were sorry to see such a
likely prize depart unmolested. Those on board were rather
alarmed at the length of time consumed in these negotia-
tions.
The old Sultan Salem is father to the sultan of Sokotra,
which belongs to the Mahri tribe, and brother to the sultan
of Saihoi. another robber chief, who is equally averse to
admitting -Enropeans to his dominions. The fact is that
these tribes ooject to European inquiry, as they know they
would no longer be able to exist in their present condition.
My husband extracted from him a letter to his brother
of Saihut.
After our futile attempts to penetrate into the Mahri
country, there was nothing left for as but to start again in
our boat for Sheher, and rely on the promises which Sultan
Hussein al Kaiti had given us the year before of sending us
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SAILING PBOM KOSSEIE TO ADEN 281
under safe escort to the eastern portion of the Hadhramout
valley, which mnst contain much of interest, not yet having
been explored by Koropeans ; bo we set sail again, and were
soon passing country that we had ridden over on camels.
Baa Fortak is the great landmark, but the fine scenery
ends at Jedid. Looking back, the rich colooring of the capes,
seeming to overlap one another, and the great height, give
a most impressive effect. The slopes are adorned with
feathery-looking trees, and there axe many little sandy
beaches, and there were also many deep caverns. For two
days we saw hardly an inbabitact.
Between Jedid and Bas Fartak the land is low and
recedes, and aa we sailed along we decided that it was the
month of some big valley from the interior, and after careful
cross-examination of the saltan of Kiahin and our sailors
we gathered that this was actually the mouth of the great
Hadhramout valley, which does not take the extraordinary
bend that is given in our maps, but runs in almost a straight
line from west to east, and the bend represents an entirely
distinct valley, the Wadi Mosila, which comes oat at Saihat.
We were two days getting to Sheher, anchoring both
nights ; the first, as ' dirty weather ' was causing alarm, was
a very noisy one, the servants and sailors talking aud singing
all night to be in readiness. The second night we were put .
to bed very quietly among the strange and weird stacks of
rocks at Bas Dis, and had a heavy shower of rain, which, of
course, penetrated our matting roof.
When we reached Sheher, a messenger was sent ashore
with a letter to Sultan Hussein, and a menage was returned
inviting ue to take up our gaarters in the same unfinished
palace where we had lived ten months before. One of the
first people to greet us was the nAkhoda of the ship on
which we had gone to Aden from Sheher. The word rets
for captain is never used. Gbaleb Mia was at the house to
^dbyCoogle
^3 DHOFAB AND THE GARA MOUNTAINS
meet as, and we were mach interested by finding that the
governors of everywhere round about were in Sheher to give
up their accounts. He of Hagarein was scowling, bnt they
of Dia, KoBseir, and Haura seemed friendly and pleased to
see us. We heard good accotmts of various patients, and
were especially pleased to hear that the dai^hter of the
governor of Dis, who had for some time been bedridden with
a bad leg, had been well ever since oar visit— qoite cured by
Holloway's ointment. The next day there were great
negotiations and plannings as to our future course.
Our scheme was that we should go from Sheher to Inat
in the Hadhramoat valley, down to Bir Borhat and Eabr
Houd, and thence eastward to Wadi Mosila, back to Sheher
by the coast, and then try to go westward — or, as to ua
appeared preferable, to go up by the Wadi Mosila to Wadi
Hadhramout, and then to try to get to the west without
returning to Sheher.
There we stuck for some days, listening to any gossip
we could hear, and taking evening vralks by the sea, guarded
by soldiers. We were told that Sultan Sal&h of Sbibahm
had lost his bead wife, the sister of Manasaar of Makalla,
but had consoled himself by marrying four others about two
months afterwards, and had divorced two of them already.
The family of Al Kaiti are not very good friends among
themselves; a soldier dischaxged by Sal&b of Shibahm is
always quickly engaged by Hussein of Sheher, and if
Hussein dismisses a servant he is sure of a place with
Manassar. They stop each other's letters and annoy each
other in many ways, but are always ready to unite if an^
strange foe assails their family.
Manassar had quarrelled vrith his vrife, the daught^ of
Sal&h, because Sal&h, on the death of hia wife, had refused
to marry a third daughter of Manassar, as his dying wife
requested. Hussein had only one wife and no children.
^dbyGoogle
SAIUNG FROM KOSSEIB TO ADEN 283
There had been great trotible with the Hamomni, and
only three months before two aoldiers had been killed about
half a mile from Sheher. Ghaleb Mia and Hussein Mia
dared not go to Inbula or anywhere outside their walla
without forty or fifty men, and when Sal&h's daughter, who
is married to the seyyid, came to Sheher, she had to come by
a circuitous route, with an escort of five hundred men.
When a BedoQ has committed a murder, he runs to the
bouses of the seyyids, where there is sanctuary, and gets
absolution on paying four or five hundred dollars, according
to the rank of the murdered man. Thiu travelling is diffi-
colt unless you have paid siyar, and a relation of the
siyara is kept in prison at Sheher. All this time the
behavioor of the sultans and their hospitality to us were very
different to what it had been the year before ; they sent us no
presents of food, nor did they ever invite Imam Sharif to a
meal, which they had constantly done when we were last there.
Their manner was stiff and constrained, and they said they
themselves had been badly treated for their kindness to na
and that they were now couBidered Kafirs themselves. The
fact is that all the Mohammedan world was in a state of
restless activity, as the jehad, or holy war, was being preached.
And now I will tell a most remarkable circumstance, quite
the most extraordinary in this book.
Sultan Hussein told my husband on February 1 that a
consul had been murdered at Jedda.
We were most excited about this, and anxiously inquired
about it when we reached Aden, but heard that no murder
had taken place, nor did it till May, when several consuls
were murdered.
This proves that it must have been a very long-arranged
plan, and that the saltan knew of it and thought it had had
time to be carried out. No doubt all this accounted for bis
bad reception of us.
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284 DHOFAB AND THE GABA MOUNTAINS
After a good deal of illasory delay, the sultan declared he
could not in any way be responsible for our safety if we went
anywhere from Sheher, eo we had to bow to the inevitable
and pat ourselves on board a dhow belonging to Kutcb,
bound for Aden.
The captain and sailors were all Hindoos, and to our
amusement our Mohammedan party were as unclean as
oarselvea. The crew would not let us touch their fire and
water, and filled our vessels themselves without touching
them, very good>hamouredly, and they made up an extra
galley tor as by putting some sand in a wooden box, and here
Christians and Moslems had perforce to cook together. Of
course we did not mind, but there was much laughter at
the expense of the others, in which indeed they joined, for
they bore their adversity amiably when it brought strange
cooking-fellows.
On reaching Aden we still desired to penetrate into the
Jebel Akhdar, so looked out for a ship going to Maskat.
We could find none, therefore we embarked for India with
all our company. I am not going to describe India, bat will
only tell of our money difficulties.
So ignorant were we and everyone at Maskat as to what
money was in use in Dhofar, that we were persuaded that it
was necessary to take an immense quantity of small change
in the shape of copper coins about the size of a farthing,
supposed to be Omani. We had four wooden boxes bound
' with wire, about 1 foot long and 5 or 6 inches high and
wide, delivered to us, all closed ap, and said to have a certain
Bom in each.
Soon after we set out we opened one of these boxes to get
out some money and have it ready, but found in it so many
and various kinds of coins, all the same size, that we opened
all the boxes, making quite a mound on the ground, to sort
out the Germaii East Africa, English East Africa, Zanzibar,
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SAILING PEOM KOSSEIR TO ADEN 285
ftnd other oaeless coins, and then packed them neatly up, an
awfully troableaome and dirty job. We kept oat what we
thought woald pass, bnt behold t all were nselesB ; no one
would look at anything bat Maria Theresa dollars and
Indian coins down to two-anna pieces —nothing lower.
All tbeee boxes, therefore, had to retom to Maskat, and
when paying off the interpreter, Hassan, a most respectable
person with large, round, gold spectacles, my husband asked
him to be kind enough to take his money in these boxes and
change at Maskat. No, he would only have good silver
dollars ; and sadly he rued his want of good-nature.
We two and Lobo, whom we retained, went to a hotel in
Bombay, bat Imam Sharif, Khan Bahadur, his four men, our
G^oanese cook, Hassan, and a certain young Afghan, Ahmet,
who had been a sort of odd man and tent-pitcher, went to a
caravanserai ; and after Hassan's steamer had departed to
Maskat, Imam Sharif came and told ue the doleful tidings
that Ahmet had disappeared with the good silver dollars
and the gold watch and chain of Hassan. No doubt he then
regretted he had not taken the boxes of copper.
^dbyGoogle
ubjGoOgIc
MAP OF
mou:nt erba
and Burrounding countjy
to lUuatrote the ea^doralioiiB of
M? J.THEODORE BENT
Bnl« sf Vila*
Oteludi-ZOiiiilai, lbtanlSul«I:U:e7,2(10
ubjGoOgIc
AN AFRICAN INTERLUDE
THE EASTERN SOUDAN
CHAPTER XXIII
COASTING ALONG THE RED SEA
In the winter of 1895, though we still -wislied to continue
oar investigations in Arabia, we found it impracticable,
owing to the warlike state of the tribes there, so we decided
to torn oar attention to the other side of the Eed Sea, and
travel once more in Africa.
Farts of Africa have to be discovered and other parts
rediscovered. Each little war and each little journey con-
tributes to the accomplishment of both these ends with
surprising rapidity, but the geographical millennium is
looming in the distance when the traveller will no longer
require his sextant and theodolite, but will take his spade
and pruning-hook to cultivate the land this generation is so
busy in discovering.
That winter we added a few square miles to a blank
comer of the map where re-discovery was necessary, and
where re-discovery will go on apace and produce most
interesting results, when we have finished conquering the
barbarous followers of the Khalifa, and restored law and
order to that wide portion of Africa known as the Eastern
Soudan ; tor the Soudan, meaning in Arabic ' the country of
the blacks,' really extends from the Atlantic to the Bed Sea.
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288 THE EASTEBN SOODAN
Little did we think when we etaxted to explore the western
ahores of the Bed Sea that the explosion with the Dervishes
was so near, otherwise I think we should have tamed oar
steps in another direction.
We had with ns Mr. Alfred Cholmley, who took numbers
of beautiful photographs, and Lieutenant, now Captain,
N. M. Smyth, D.9.O., Queen's Bays, kindly attached to our
expedition by Colonel Sir F. Wingate, and to his exertions
we owe the map.
My husband had always thought it foolish to engage an
interpreter unknown to him, on his own responsibility, and
would only have one recommended by the official of our
Qovenunent. The choice made for us on this occasion was
not at all Buccesafnl. He tried to make out that he was
the principal leader of the party, and his impedimenta far
exceeded ours. He may or may not have been sent to keep
us from going more than ten miles from the coast, but no
explorer would wish to remain within the limits set down
in the Admiralty Chart. My husband found it necessary to
dispense with his services when we were at Mersa Halaib,
and we got on far better without him.
Our first task was to choose a ship ; it was exciting work
rowing about in the harbour of Suez in order to find one
that would suit us.
A letter from our interpreter had told us we could have
one at 120i. a month, a sum which our great experience of
sailing-boats told us was quite too large. When we started
our search, having refused this, we were only shown wretched
boats in which we could hardly sit and certainly not stand.
We espied one we thought would do, and said nothing at
that time, but afterwards my husband and Matthaios went
off by themselves and engaged her for 35^. a month, and I
do not think that a better ship was to be found in Suez —
certainly there was none worth 120/.
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COASTING ALONG THE BED SEA 289
Our boat was an Arab dhow of 80 tons, named the
Taiair ; we at once pnt her in the hands of a carpenter,
who boarded off two cabins for Qs fonr whites, in the big,
open stem cabin, leaving a sort of verandah in front of them,
about 8 feet in depth, where we lived by day. Campbell
Bey, who lives at Terre Pleine, pronounced by the English
Terry Plain, kindly lent us two water-tanks containing half
a ton each.
We embarked late on Christmas night, and by the mtitky
light of lanterns the ship looked most dreary and uninviting ;
but when we had furnished it, by laying down our tent
carpet and beds and hanging sheets of coloured calico over
the gaping boards of our walls, and had put up the cabin bags,
we were quite snug. We always had to close in onr verandah
with a sail at night, for when the ship swung round at
anchor we were exposed to the north wind.
Our captain, Beis Hamaya, turned out an excellent
fellow, as also did the seventeen sailors he had under him ;
and though at times they would quarrel loudly enough
amongst themselves, the only points of discord which arose
between them and ns always had reference to the length of
time they wished to stop in harbour and the length of distance
they wished to go in a day. Ill-fed, dirty, unkempt men as
our sailors were, we got to like them all, from the elderly
dignified Mohammed, who thought he knew more about
navigation than the captain, to Ahmet Paraj, the buffoon
who played the tom-tom and made everybody laugh ; this
worthy individual was the recognised leader of all the
festivities with which they regaled qb from time to time,
consisting of very ugly songs and a yet uglier dance, the
chief art in which consisted in wagging their elastic tails
with an energy which mortals further removed from monkey
origin could never hope to approach.
We travelled all the first night, but the second wo
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290 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
anchored near Safaia Island, and the third at a place called
Sheikh Ganem, in front of the Ashrafi Light, and the fourth
day found ne at Kosseir, which means 'little castle.' The
Government steamer Abbas, which had started one day
after us and gone straight down ' outside,' had only got in
two hours before us, and we had been ' inside,' through the
reefs, and stopped all night, so we thought we had not done
badly.
We stayed two nights in the harbour to make our .final
victualling arrangements. Eosseir, our last really civilised
point, is now a wretched place, though twice in its existence
it has been of importance, owing to its road connection with
Keneh on the Nile. Five miles to the north of the present
town are the ruins of the old Ptolemaic one, Myos Hormos
(Kosscir Kadim), where the Bed Sea fleets in ancient days
assembled to start for India ; twenty years ago it was a
favourite point for the departure of pilgrims for Mecca, and
the P. and 0. had offices there, which are now turned into
camel-stables. Eosseir is waiting for a railway before it can
again recoup its fortunes.
There are two mosques of pretty architecture, with
courses of dark red stone from Eeneh, and white Kosscir
limestone ; there are also diaper and fretwork patterns ;
the pillars are similarly decorated and are quaint and
picturesque. The tombs of the Ahabdeh sheikhs have
melon-shaped domes, and there are endless dovecotes, chiefly
made of broken old amphone built into walls.
Along the whole coast-line from Kosseir to Sawakin one
may say that there are no permanent places of residence, if
we except the tiny Egyptian military stations, with their fort
and huts for the soldiers, at Halaib, Mohammed Gol, and
Darour; it is practically desert all the way, and is only
visited by the nomad Ababdeh and Bisharin tribes, when,
after the rains, they can obtain there a scanty pasturage for
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COASTING ALONG THE BED SEA 291
their flocks. During the Ptolemaic and early Arab periods
the condition of affairs was very different ; several consider-
able towns stood on this coast, now marked only by heaps of
sand and a few fallen wails. In spite of its aridity, this coast
has a wonderful charm of its ovtu ; its lofty, deeply serrated
monntains are a perpetual joy to look upon, and the sunset
effects were unspeakably glorious, rich in every conceivable
colour, and throwing out the sharp outline of the pointed
peaks against the crimson sky.
The natTire of this coast-line is singularly miiform, and
offers tremendous obstacles to navigation, owing to the great
belt of coral reefs along it, through which the passage was
often barely wide enough for our dhow to pass, and against
which on more than one occasion we came in unpleasant
contact. The bay of Berenice, for example, was for this
reason known in ancient times as aKaOapros KoXtros, and is
still known as ' Foul Bay ' ; it can only be navigated
with the greatest care by native pilots accustomed to the
various aspects of the water, which in many places only just
covers the treacherous reefs. All boats are obliged to anchor
during the night either just inside the reefs or in the
numerous coves along the coast, which are caused by the
percolations of fresh water through the sandbeds of rivers
into the sea, and these prevent the coral insect from erecting
its continuous wall.
The rapidly succeeding little harbours formed in the
coral reef are called jncrsa, or anchorage, by the Arabs,
from mersat, anchor.
Sometimes when the coral reef rises above the surface
low islets have been formed, with sandy surface and a scant
marine vegetation. By one of these, named Siyal, we were
anchored for a night, and on landing we found it about three
miles in length, some 50 feet in width, and never more than
4 feet above the surface of the sea. On its eastern side the
^dbyGoogle
292 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
shore was strewn with cinders from the numerous steamers
which ply the Bed Sea, and quantities of straw cases for
bottles, out of which the oapreys, which live here in large
numbers, have built their nests. Turtles revel in the sand,
and corals of lovely colours line the beach, and at one
extremity of the islet we found the remains of a holy
sheikh's hut, with his grave hard by. Many such holy men
dwell on promontories and on remote island rocks along this
coast in sanctified seclusion, and they are regularly supported
by the Bedouin and pearl-fishers, who bring them food and
water, neither of which commodities is to be found in such
localities. Onr sailors on New Year's Eve took a handsome
present of bread and candles, presented to them by us, to a
holy man who dwelt on the extreme point of Eas Bemas,
and had a long gossip with him concerning what boats had
passed that way and the prospects of trade — i.e. the slave
trade — in these desert regions. They burnt incense before
his shrine, and the captain devoutly said his evening prayer,
whilst he of the tom-tom, Ahmet Faraj, stood behind and
mimicked him, to the great amusement of his fellows — a
piece of irreverence I have never seen before in any Moham-
medan country. Still I think our sailors were as a whole
religious ; they observed their fasts and prayers most
regularly during Bamazan, and their only idea of time was
regulated by the five prayers, ' We shall start to-morrow at
" God is great," and anchor at the evening prayer,' and bo
forth, they used to say.
It is difficult to estimate how far these coral reefs have
changed since ancient days ; there is a lagoon at Berenice
which looks as if it had been the ancient harbour with a
fort at its extremity. Now there are scarcely two feet of
water over the bar across its mouth ; but all ancient accounts
bear testimony to a similar difficulty of navigation down this
coast. At the same time, it is manifest that this coast-line
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COASTING ALONG THE BED SEA 293
is just the one to haye tempted on the early mariners from
point to point, with its rapid BuccesBion of tiny harbours and
its reefs protecting it from heavy seas. More especially
must this have been the case when the boats were propelled
by oars, and in one's mind's eye one can picture the fleets
of the Egyptian Queen Hatasou and of King Solomon from
Eziongeber creeping cautiously along this coast and re-
turning after three years' absence in far distant regions
laden with precious freights of gold, frankincense, and spices.
In later days Strabo and Pliny tell us how flotillas of 120
ships proceeded from Myos Hormos to Okelis in thirty days
on their way to India, going together for fear of the pirates
who marauded this coast, and in those days the settlements
on the Bed Sea must have presented a far hvelier aspect than
they do now.
On both shores we find a curious instance of the migra-
tion and adaptation of an entirely foreign kind of boat.
Some Arabs who have lived in Singapore — and Singapore is
as favourite a point for Arab emigration as America is for
the Irish — introduced ' dug-outs ' in their native harbours,
and these have been found so useful in sailing over the
shallow coral reefs in search of pearls, that they now swarm
in every Bed Sea port, and steamer-loads of ' dug-onts ' are
brought from the Malay peninsula. The Arabs call them
' bouris ' — why, I cannot think — for a more uncomfortable
thing to sit in, when half full of water in a rolling snrf, I
never found elsewhere, except on a South-East African
river.
At the present moment the coast below Bas Bemas and
above Sawakin is the hot-bed of the slave trade, carried
on between the Dervishes of the Nile Valley and Arabia.
Begnlar Egyptian coastguard boats keep matters pretty clear
north of Bas Bemas, and we can testify to their activity,
for we ourselves were boarded and searched by one ; but south
^dbyCoogle
294 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
of this, before the influence of Sftwakin is reached, there is
a long stretch of country where the traffic in human flesh
can be carried on undisturbed. Troops of slaves are sent
do-ft-n from the Nile valley to the Dervish country at certain
seasons of the year, and the petty sheikhs along the coast,
owing a doubtful allegiance to the Egyptian Government,
connive at this transport ; and the pearl-fishing craft which
ply their trade amongst the coral reefs are always ready
to carry the slaves across to the opposite coast, where the
markets of Yembo, Jeddab, and Eodeida are open to them.
This will, of course, be the case until the Dervish power is
crushed, and the Soudan opened oat for more legitimate trade.
As we sailed along we passed hundreds of these pearl-fishing
boats engaged in this dual trade, Emd nothing could be more
propitious for their pursuits than the absolutely lawless con-
dition of the tribes by the coast. At Berenice, for instance,
there are absolutely no government or inhabitants of any sort.
Nominally, one of our Nile frontier subsidised sheikhs,
Beshir Bey Gabran, of Assouan, has authority over all the
country between the Nile and the Bed Sea, but the coast has
been visited more frequently by Dervish emirs than by
Beshir Bey. One Nasrai, a Dervish emir, ie said to have
resided in the mountains behind Berenice for some time past,
and, with a small following, collects tithes of cattle from the
nomads and sees to the safe conduct of slave caravans. The
collecting of yusur, or black coral, as they call it, a fossilised
vegetable growth, is a third trade in which these boats are
employed. From this pipes are made, and beads, and the
black veneer for inlaying tables.
The navigation of an Arab dhow is no easy task, with its
clumsy arrangements for sails, when there is a strong north
wind behind it and reefs in every direction. Three men
are perpetually in the bows on the look out for rocks, and
indicate the presence of danger to the steersman by raising
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COASTING ALONG THE HED SEA 295
their hands. The gear of these boats is exceedingly primitive.
They do not understand reefing a sail, hence they are obliged
to have no less than five different sizes, which they are con-
stantly changing as occasion requires. They use a clumsy
cogwheel for raising and lowering the sails, and do it all by
main force, singing silly little distiches and screaming at the
top of their voices as they haul the ropes. The arrangement
for baling out the bilge water is extremely laborious. A
large trough, with channels on either side, is erected in the
centre of the boat, into the middle of which, the water is
baled by shins from below, and the stenches during the
process are truly awful, as the water fiows out of either
channel, according to the roll of the ship. There was always
a large surface of wet wood to dry up.
Leaving Kosseir tm the last day of 1893, we reached Eas
Bemas on the second day of 1896, stopping, of course, each
night, always rolling and tossing about, and always keeping
a sharp look out toe coral reefs, the watchers shouting advice
continually to Beis Hamaya.
We were supposed to owe our safety in getting through
some dangerous reefs, with not a yard to spare on either
side, and escaping our other difficulties, to the lucky fact of
Beis Hamaya'a having discovered amongst the plants that my
husband had collected in our walks ashore one of the order
of Composite, which he pounced on gladly and h'ung on the
bow of the Taisir, as a protection to us.
He pointed out another thing, a shnib caUed tuldum,
with tiny yellow flowers on green stalks, good to tie round
the arm to make one see far.
Ras Bemaa is a long, wandering cape composed of rocky
hills of ironstone and silicate curiously blended together,
with shoals and rocks, and coral reefs, and sandbanks hanging
on to it in very shallow water. It is about twenty-five miles
long, and ends in a sandy spit.
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296 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
We encamped at the bead of the lagoon, and spent several
days amongst the niina of this old Ptolemaic town of
Berenice, and made sundry excavations there. In its centre
is an old temple of the date of Tiberias CiBsar, the hieroglyphs
in which are rapidly becoming obliterated. All around is a
sea of monnds covered with sand, where the honses stood,
mostly built of madrepore, and laid ont in streets. On the
surface are to be found numerous glass heads, Eoman coins,
bracelets, &c. and a great number of fragments of rough
emeralds. From the celebrated emerald-mines in the motm-
tain behind we picked up fully fifty of these, besides a large
quantity of oUvines or peridots, cornelians, and crystals,
testifjnng to the wealth of these parts in precious stones in
ancient days.
A few startled Ababdeh nomads came to visit ua ; at first
they only inspected us at a distance, but gradually gained
courage and came to oui camp, and we were able to purchase
from them two lambs to replenish our larder.
With its emerald-mines, its harbour, and its great road
terminns Berenice must have been one of the most impor-
tant trade centres of the Bed Sea ; though, judging from the
plans of the streets we made out, the town cannot have been
a very large one. In digging we turned up immense quan-
tities of textiles in scraps, fine and coarse, nets, knitted work,
as well as weaving, plain and in colours, and bits of papyrus
in Greek cursive hand. The wretched Ababdeh tribes were
constantly at war with one another, and the Dervish Khalifa
could make his authority felt about here with a small handful
of resolute men judiciously placed. Nasrai had, I believe,
done this for some time past with only thirty men.
The nights here were very cold, the thermometer going
down to 46" F. There were a few gazelles about, but we
saw no other animals.
The Bedouin brought us large shell-fish in those great
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COASTING ALONG THE RED SEA 297
shells we see polished at home. When hoiled the fish comes
oat. It is in shape like a camel's foot, and they call it
ghemel. In taste it is hke lohBter and oyster combined, bat
as tough as pin-wire.
We had a great tossing for three days after leaving
Berenice, and stopping eveiy night.
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THE EASTEBN SOUDAN
CHAPTEE XXIV
EALAIB AND SAWAKIH EADIM
It 13 hard to imagine anything more squalid than the
Egyptian fortress of Halaib, as it is spelt on the map, or
HaLei as it is pronounced, which was our next halting-place,
and from which we succeeded in getting a little way inland.
The governor, lamael, has been there seven years; he and
his family inhabit some wicket cages near the small white
fort, and gathered round them are the huts of hia soldiers
and the cabins of a few Bisharin, who hve imder the
immediate protection of the fort. Ismael is possessed of
the only patch of cultivated land that we saw during the
whole of our expedition, where he grows gourds, peas,
and aubergines or brinjols. The man of most authority in the
place is Mohammed Ali Tiout, head of the Bisharin tribe
of Acbmed Orab. He appointed his son, a fine, intelligent
young fellow of five-and-twenty, called the batran in the
local dialect, to act as our guide and protector during our
exploration of the Shellal range, which rises some miles
inland at the back of Halaib.
The people of this portion of the Soudan between the
coast and the Nile Valley, who do not own allegiance to the
Khalifa, belong to the Morghani confraternity of Moham-
medans ; their young religious sheikh, a self-possessed, clever
lad of about twenty, hves at Sawakin, and his influence
amongst the tribes not affecting Mahdism is supreme. He
is devoted to British interests, and no doubt in the present
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HALAIB AND SAWAKIN KADIM 299
condition of oflairs hie co-operation will be of great value.
The Egyptian Govemment instructed him to write to the
sheikhs around Halaib and Mohammed Gol to insure our
safety, and to this fact I am couvinced we owe the immunity
from danger we enjoyed, and the assistance given to as in
penetrating inland from Mohammed Gol. The Morghani
have the three cicatrices on either cheek, and as a confra-
ternity they are not in the least fanatical, and are well
disposed to Christians ; very different to the Arabs we met
in the Hadhramout, and very different to the Dervishes with
whom they are on such hostile terms.
While at Halaib I paid several visits to the wife and
family of the mamour or governor. They were very civil
always, and used to kiss me. They looked quite as unsettled
in their airy brushwood arbours as if they had not resided
there steadily for seven years.
There were three huts about 12 feet by 8 feet, one
being a kitchen. There is a brushwood fence all round,
part having a shed for the stores and water jars. The wife is
a Turk, and has one plain grown-up daughter. There waa
an old lady who made coffee, and a black maid slightly
draped in a sheet once white, but now of a general deep
grey, pure black in some parts. I liked getting coffee and
ginger best. The first day I had to swallow, smiling, tea
boiled and a little burnt.
All the furniture I saw was a 3-foot bed, three Austrian
chairs, a very common wooden table, and a little iron one
with a new and tight pink cotton cover and petticoat to
the ground. AU was very clean but the maid.
The kind lady thought her dwelling so superior to mine
that she begged me to come and sleep in the bed with her in
shelter from the wind ; tents, she said, were only fit for men.
I did not envy her her home in the drenching rain we had
all night and half one day. She wore a string round under
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800 THE EASTEBN SOUDAN
one arm, with seven or eight charms like good-sized pin-
coshions or housewif es of different coloured silks.
We made two expeditions from Halaib ; the first was to
the ruins now known as Sawakiu Eadim, which are on the
coast twelve miles north of Halaih. As only six camels could
be obtained we went by boat omrselves, leaving tlie camels
for the baggage. For this purpose we deserted the Taisir
and hired a smaller katHra, and having gone as near as we
could to land, and been in considerable danger from coral
reefs, on which we ran suddenly, nearly capsizing, we took
to the houri that we had towed astern. It was very like
sitting in a bath, and, after the hom;i, we had to be carried a
long way. We encamped not far from the shore, and had
to endure a dreadful kha?nsin and dust-storm from the
Bonth, with such violent wind that I was blown down, and
Matthaios dug our beds out twice with a trowel ; and the
next day we found the north wind nearly as bad. Why it
did not raise the sand I do not know.
Sawakin Kadim is like Berenice, nothing but a mass of
mounds, but it must at some time or another have been a
much larger place. We excavated one of these mounds, bnt
found nothing earlier than Kufic remains, unless the graves,
which were constructed of four large blocks of madrepore
sunk deep into the ground, may be looked upon as a more
ancient form of sepulture. We opened several, but unfor-
tunately they contained nothing but bones. Originally this
town must have been built on an island, or an artificial moat
must have been dug round it to protect it on the mainland
side ; this is now silted up, but is traceable all along. Three
large cisterns for water are still in a fair state of preservation,
and I am told that a Kufic inscription was found here some
years ago. There seems no doubt that this town is the
one mentioned by the Arab geographers, Abou'lfida and
Edrisi, by the name of Aydab, which was a place of consider-
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HALAIB AND 8AWAKIN EADIM 301
able importaDce between Baa Bemas and Sawakin. Tbere
are no traces elsewhere along this coast of any other town,
consequently we can fairly place it here. Abon'lfida says :
'Aydab is a town in the lanl of Bedja; it is politically
dependent on Egypt, though some say it is in Abyssinia.
This is the meeting-place for the merchants of Yemen and
the pilgrims, who, leaving Egypt, prefer the sea i-oute and
embark for Yedda. In other respects Aydab has more the
aspect of a village than a town, and it is seven days' march
north of Sawakin, where the chief of the Bedjas lives.'
Coonting a day's march at twenty-five miles, this would place
it near Halaib, which is 170 miles north of Sawakin. Hitherto
on our maps Aydab has been placed near Mohammed Gol,
but, as there are no traces of ruins there except the towers
to which we shall presently allude, this position for an
ancient town is untenable.
Edrisi tells us : 'At the extremity of the desert and
on the borders of the salt sea is Aydab, whence one crosses
to Yedda in one day and one night. Aydab has two
governors, one appointed by the chief of the Bedja, and the
other by the princes of Egypt.' From the fact that Aydab
is mentioned by none of the earlier geographers it would
appear not to have been one of the Ptolemaic settlements,
but a town of purely Arab origin. The people of Bedja, so
often alluded to by these Arabian geographers, seem to have
had considerable power, and to have occupied all the Soudan
and as far north as Berenice, being probably the precursors
of the Bisharin Amara tribes, which wander now over this
desert country. They were the recognised guardians of the
old gold-mines which existed in this district, and concerning
which I have more to say presently ; and though vassals of
the Egyptian kaliphs, nevertheless they seem to have had
considerable local authority, and to have carried on wars on
their own account.
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302 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
It is a cnrioas fact that in the Aksumite inscriptions we
come across an account of wars and victories by the old
Ethiopian monarchs over the peoples of Kaauh and Bega to
the north of Abyssinia, which peoples Professor D. H. Miiller
identifies with the people of Kusb and the Bedja alluded to
by the Arab geographers.
In course of time the Bedjas seem to have disappeared
from the face of the earth and left nothing bat their tombs
and a few mined towns behind them ; and for some centuries
it would appear that the coast of the Bed Sea north of
Sawakin was uninhabited until in later years came fresh
colonists from the Nile Valley, whose descendants still
occupy it.
The tribal traditions of the district are all that we have
now to rely upon regarding the immigration of new in-
habitants, and they state that two brothers vnth their
families, one named Amer and the other Amar, came from
the Nile Valley near Wadi Haifa, and settled along the
coast of the Bed Sea ; from them are descended the Beni
Amer and Amara tribes of Bedouin. These brothers were
followed in due course by four other brothers, Ali, Kourb,
Nour, and Queil, from whom the tribes and sub-tribes of the
Aliab, Eonrbab, Nourab, and Gueilior are respectively
descended. These tribes have never been anything but
pastoral nomads, living in miserable mat huts, and spreading
themselves over the district at wide intervals in search
of pasture for their flocks. They entirely disown having
anything to do with the remains of buildings and tombs
found in their midst.
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CHAPTER XXV
INLAKD FBOM MEESA HAIiAIB
"When we returned to Halaib we encamped preparatory to
going inland. Great doctoring had to be done over the hand
of Ahmet Farraj, our clown. He had held a large hook
overboard, with a bait, but no line, and a ahark 7 feet
long was caught and hauled on board. The shark bit the
man's first finger badly. Various remedies were applied by
the sailors in tuma — tar, grease, earth, and other things —
and it was in a very bad state when brought to as. It
was quite cured eventually, but we were afraid of blood-
poisoning. When I began cleaning it most tenderly he
scraped it out with a stick, and hia friends dipped atones in
the warm water and soundly scrubbed the surrounding
inflamed parts. My husband prescribed a washing all over
with hot water and stones. He was afterwards quite a
different colour.
Our second expedition was to Shellal, We took two
days on our way thither, passing through clouds of locusts —
that is to say, they were in clouds on our return, hut were
young and in heaps when we first saw them. We stayed at
Shellal several days, for my husband thought as wo could
get no further in that direction on account of the danger
of the Dervishes, it was as well that we, and especially
Captain Smyth, should make as many expeditions thence as
possible. We heard eo many contradictory reports, but little
thought how imminent the war was.
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8M THE EASTERN SOUDAN
After oor somewhat long experience oi life on s dhow
we were delighted to become Bedoti once more, and
wander among&t the fine rocky range of mountains, bnt we
were disappointed that onr gaide wonld not take as far
behind this range for fear of the Dervishes ; and, as shortly
after the outbreak of the war a party of Dervishea came
right down to Halaib, there is every reason to believe that
had we gone far inland at this point we might have been
compelled to pay the Khalifa a not OTer-pIeasant visit at
Omdnrman.
Wodi Shellal and the adjacent moantains of Shendeh,
Shindoeh, and Kiadh form a cul de sac as far as camels are
concerned, and only difficnlt momitain paths lead over into
the Soudan from here. As far as we could see the country
did not look very tempting or promise much compensation
for the difficulties of transit. We were taken by the Batran
to a few spots where there had been ancient habitations ;
they probably belonged to the Kufic period, and were doubt-
less military stations to protect the small hamlets scattered
at the foot of these moimtains, when Aydab was a place of
some importance, from the incursion of hostile tribes from
the interior.
Shellal itself reaches an elevation of 4,100 feet ; Shindeh,
4,500 feet ; Biadh, 4,800 feet ; and Asortriba or Sortnrba to
the south seems, though we did not get its elevation, to be
the highest of the group.
On our return to Halaib we passed a Bisharin encamp-
ment, consisting of half a dozen beehive huts made of
matting on rounded sticks. The women were weaving
rough cloths at the door of one of them, and were dressed
in long sheets which once may have been white, hut are
now the colour of dirt. They had glafis beads and cowries
tied to their matted locks, and brass and silver rings of con-
siderable size fastened to their noses ; the small children ran
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INLAND FROM MEB9A HALAIB SOS
about naked, with waistbands of leather straps, on which
were atrong long agate and camelian beads, with cowrie
danglements hanging down in front. They seemed very
poor, and the old ladies to whom my husband gave pinches
of tobacco were so aEFusive in their gratitude that for some
moments he feared bis generosity was to be rewarded by a
kiss.
Our net results from the excursions from Haloib were
more or less of a negative character. The mountain scenery
was grand, and the climate exquisite, but, from our observa-
tions, we came to the conclusion that at no time was this
country of much use to anybody, and that it never had been
thickly inhabited, the existence of Aydab being probably
due to its position as a convenient port opposite Arabia for
the inhabitants of the Nile Valley. Water is, and probably
always has been, very scarce here, and, except after the rains,
this country is little better than a desert.
The Bisbari of the Akhmed Orab tribe, who inhabit the
mountains, are exceedingly few in number, and the Batran
told UB that all the way from Bas Bemas to Mount Sorturba,
just south of Shellal, over which country his rule extends,
the whole tribe could muster only about three hundred
fighting men. They have the Ababdeh to the north, and the
Amara Bisharin to the south, and apparently their relations
with their neighbours are nsnally strained. These tribes
are purely pastoral, and cultivate no land whatsoever. They
live in huts in groups of from three to six together, and are
scattered over the country at wide intervals. They wear
their hair fuzzy at the top, with a row of curls hanging
down the neck, usually white and stiff with mutton fat.
They are medium-sized, dark-skinned, and some of them
decidedly handsome. They are girt only with a loin-cloth
and sheet, and every shepherd here carries bis shield and his
sword. Under a good and settled government they would
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806 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
undoubtedly be excellent members of society, bat with the
Khalifa on one side and the Egyptian Grovemment on the
other their position is by no means an enviable one. Their
huts are very small and dingy, being constructed with
bent sticks on which palm-leaf matting is stretched ; inside
they are decorated with their paraphernalia for weddings
and camel-travelling, all elaborately decorated with cowrie
and other shells, the most remarkable of these things being
the tall conical hats with long streamers used for dances
at weddings, entirely covered with cowrie shells in pretty
patterns. The things they use for hanging up food are also
prettily decorated with shells and strips of red and blue
cloth. The family occupying a hut sleep on mats in the
inner part, with the usual wooden African pillows, and
around the onter edge of the hut are collected their wooden
bowls for soar milk, their skins for water, their incense-
burners, and their limited nmnber of household utensils.
Often when he goes off to distant pasturages a Bishari
vrill pack up his tent and household gods and leave them in
a tree, where he will find them gnite safe on his return.
They live principally on milk and the products of their flocks,
water being to them a far more precious article than milk.
They are very knowledgeable in the moantain shrubs
and herbs, and pointed out to as many which they eat for
medicinal and other purposes ; bat the only one of these
which we appreciated was a small red gourd climbing
amongst the mimosa branches, resembling a tomato,
Cephalandra Indiea. This they call gourod, their usual
word for gourd. Also they are, like the aKpiBotftayot whom
Agatharchides places on their coast, large consumers of
locusts when in seasoil ; they catch them only when they
have reached the flying stage, and roast them in the ashes.
We often saw clouds of locusts in this district, devouring all
the scanty herbage and literally fllling the air.
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INLAND FROM MERSA HALAIB 307
For many years past the Egyptian authority in these
parts has been nil, and confined only to a few wretched
forts on the coast. Dervish raids from the interior and the
stoppage of whatever caravan trade there ever was have con-
tribated to the miserable condition of afEairs now existing.
One can well anderstand why these miserable hounded
tribes are wavering in their allegiance between the Eg3rptian
Government and the Khalifa, whom they dread, and why
they countenance the slave-traders, for the reason that they
have no power to resist them.
For all practical pnrposee it is a wretched country,
waterless during a great part of the year, except where some
deep ancient wells, scattered at wide intervals over the
country, form centres where camels and flocks can be
watered ; and as we travelled along we were struck by the
nombers of these wells which had been quite recently
abandoned. But the mountains are magnificently grand,
sharp in outline like Montserrat in Spain, and with deep
and lovely gorges. Formerly they abounded in mines, and
were celebrated for their mineral wealth, and if there is ever
to be a revival in this country it will be from this source
that hope will come.
We had such strong wind when we went to sea again
that we feared we should not be able to start, but we got
away after all, rising up early to be dressed before we were
shaken about ; but we forgot to empty our basins, and they
emptied themselves into our beds, and all the luggage
banged about and the kitchen things went all over the
place, including the ' range,' consisting of two little stoves
in paraffin-cans, but we got on splendidly till we began to
turn into Mersa or Khor Shinab, as the Bisharin call it ; the
Arab name is Bishbish.
£hor Shinab is a typical specimen of a mersa; it is
cruciform, and is entered by a narrow passage between the
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308 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
reefs, about 20 feet across, and nms ainaonsly inland for about
two miles, and ia never more than a quarter of a mile wide.
We had tbe Becond-aized sail up, bat that had to be taken
down and a smaller tried ; the sheet of this soon gave way,
and the sail went up in the air with tbe block and tore all
across. This was a frightful sight, as we were among coral
reefs. The sailors flew about, casting o£f garments in all
directions. A smaller sail tore up in a few momenta, and
we were stuck on a reef. Then the smalleat sail of all was
taken out of its hag, and that got us off with some grating,
the captain and some others standing on the reef on the port
side with water half up to their knees, pushing with all their
might. There were fourteen fathoms under us to storhoard.
The little eail soon gave way at the top and fell into the water.
One anchor was sent out in a boat and then another, and
when they tried to get up the first it was so entangled that
they were a long time over it, and one of tbe five flukes was
broken. We were kept off the reef by poles all this time.
That broken anchor was then taken ashore, and we were
very thankful to he safe.
The flat ground for miles inland is composed of nothing
but madrepore, and is covered with semi-fossilised sea-ahells,
which have probably not been inhabited for thousands of
years. We walked over this for three miles before reaching
the first spurs of tbe mountains, and it is impossible to con-
ceive a more barren or arid spot. Khor Shinab Is s well-
known resort for slave-trading craft; small boats can easily
hide in its narrow creeks and escape observation.
We stayed two days while the sails were mended on the
ahore, and it was hours and hours before tbe anchor that
was in the reef could be got up and fastened to the dry land.
We did try to get out to sea again, but tbe north wind was
raging so we coold not do it, and, besides, the sailors were
very unwilling to start, as a raven was sitting on the bow.
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CHAPTER XXVI
MOHAMMED GOL
At Mohammed Gol, to which port our dhow next conducted
us, our prospects of getting well into the interior were much
brighter, and our ultimate results beyond comparison more
satisfactory than they had been at Halaib. Mohammed Gol
is distinctly a more lively place than Halaib, possessing more
huts, more soldiers, and actually a miniature bazaar where,
strange to relate, we were able to buy something we wanted.
The houses at Mohammed G-oI are larger than those at
Halaib, and one can stand up in some parts of nearly all of
them.
The fort is surrounded by a very evil-smeUing moat, and
the village situated on a damp plain, white with salt. When
we made a camp on shore later we went well beyond this
plain.
In the summer season, when the waters of the Bed Sea
are low, traders come to Mohammed Qol for salt. The
salterns are situated on the narrow spit of land called Bas
Bowaya ; consequently, the people about here are more
accustomed to the sight of Europeans, and Mohanomed
Effendi, the governor, or mamour of the little Egyptian
garrison, who is young and energetic, seems far more in
touch with the world than Ismael of Halaib. He complained
much of the dulness of his post, ani passed his weary hours
in making waJking-sticks out of ibex horns, a craft he had
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310 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
learnt from the Bedouin of Monnt Erba., who soften the
horns in hot water, grease them, pnll them oat and flatten
them with weights and polish them, aeing them as camel
sticks. The governor gave as several of these sticks, and
also presented an ibex-horn head-scratcher to me, remarking
as he did so, with a polite gesture, that it was a nice thing
to have by me when my head itched. He was a little
and very dark man, with a pleasant, honest face, and
three transverse scars across his cheeks, each about two
inches long. His secretary was yet smaller, and decorated
in the same way. The chief of the pohce was a very fat,
good-humoored man, with two little perpendicular cuts
beside each eye. These are tribal marks.
There was great palavering about our jonniey into the
interior. Though several travellers had visited the Bed 8ea
side of the massive group of Mount Erba on hohdays from
Sawakin in search of sport, no one bad as yet been behind it,
Emd thither we intended to go. The governor had summoned
three sheikhs from the mountains, into whose hands he
confided qb. The day we first landed I thought I never had
beheld such scowling, disagreeable faces, but afterwords we
became good friends. My husband and I went ashore the
second day, and sat in a sort of audience-arbour near the
madrepore pier, and many maps were drawn on the ground
with cameUsticks, and we were quite proud that my husband
was able to settle it all with no interpreter.
Sheikh Ali Debalohp, the chief of the Kilab tribe, was to
take us to his district, Wadi Hadai and "Wadi Gabeit, some
way inland at the back of the Erba mountains, which group
we insisted on going entirely round. He was a tall, fine
specimen of a Bishari sheikh, with his neck terribly scarred
by a bum, to heal which he had been treated in hospital at
Sawakin. He is, as we learnt later, a man of questionable
loyalty to the Egyptian Government, and supposed to be
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MOHAMMED GOL 811
more than h&lf a DerriBb; this may be owing to the
exigencies of his poeition, for more than half his tribe living
in the Wadi Hayet are of avowed allegiance to the Khalifa,
and Debalohp's authority now only extends oyer the portion
near the coast. As far as we could see his intentions
towards UB were strictly honourable, and he treated us
throughout oar expedition in a much more straightforward
manner than either of the other two.
Sheikb nmnber two was Mohammeii, the son of Ali
Hamed, head sheikh of a branch of the great Kurbab tribe.
As his father was too old and infirm to accompany us, he
took his place. He was an exceedingly dirty and wild -looking
fellow, with a harsh, raucous voice, and his statements were
not always reliable. We have reason to believe that his
father is much interested in the slave-trade, and therefore
not too fond of Enropeans ; bnt these sheikhs by the coast
are generally obliged to be somewhat double in their dealings,
and, when anything can be gained by it, affect sincere
friendship for the English.
Sheikh number three bore the name of Hassan Bafori,
and is wagdah or chief of another branch of the Kurbabs, and
his authority extends over the massive group of Mount Erba
and Kokout. He is a man who seems to revel in telling lies,
and we never could believe a word he said. Besides these
headmen we had several minor sheikhs with us, and two
soldiers sent by the mamour from his garrison at Mohammed
Gol to see that we were well treated. Hence our caravan
was of considerable dimensions when we took our departure
from Mohammed Gol on February 6.
He of the Kilab tribe, Ali Debalohp, was the most
important of them, and he took one of his wives with him ;
all had their servants and shield-bearers, and most of them
were wild, unprepossessing looking men, with shaggy locks
and lard-daubed cm'lB, and all of them were, I believe.
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313 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
thorongh ruffians, who, as we were told afterwards, wonld
willingly have sold us to the Dervishes bad they thonght
tihey would have gained hy the transaction. These things
officials told us when we reached Sawakin ; but, to do oar
guides justice, I mast say they treated its very well, and
inasmuch as we never believed a word they said, the fact
that they were hars made but little difference to us.
Some of the men had very fine profiles, and one was very
handsome. Their hair is done something like the Bisharin's
— that is, with a fuz standing up on the top, bat the hanging
part is not curled ; the white tallow with which they were
caked, made them look as if their heads were Buxroimded
with dips.
I asked why the tallow was put on. One said to make
one strong, another to make one see far, Oind a third reason
was that the hair might not appear black.
We had fourteen camels for ourselves and two for the
police who came with us. The mamour was in European
luiiform, with a red shawl wound round his head, and sat on
a very smart inlaid saddle which came up to his waist in
front and reached to his shoulder-blades. The chief of the
police did not come, he being, as he told as, far too fat.
We were to fill all oui waterekins from a remarkably fine
well of particularly sweet water at Hadi, so we took only a
couple of skinfuls with us.
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CHAPTEB XXVII
'DANCING ON TOM TIDDLBE's GROUND, PICKING UP
GOLD*
IjITTLE did we dream when we left Mohammed Gol with cor
rather extensive caravan that hehind that gigantic momitain,
which though it only reaches an elevation of 7,500 feet, looks
considerably higher from the sea as it rises almost directly
out of the level plain, we were to find an ancient Egyptian
gold-mine, the ruins in connection with which would offer
Q8 the first tangible comparison to the ruins which had
exercised our minds so much in the gold-fields of South Africa,
Some miles inland on the plain behind Mohammed
Gol are certain mysterious towers, some 20 feet high, of
unknown origin. They have every appearance of belonging
to the E.ufic period, being domed and covered with a strong
white cement. They have no doors, but have windows high
np : some are hexagonal, some square, and they are apparently
dotted all along the coast. "Whether they were tombs, or
whether they were landmarks to guide mariners to certain
valleys leading into the mountains, will probably not be
definitely proved until someone is energetic enough to
excavate in one. They are found as far south as Massawa,
but as far as we could aecertun those we saw were the most
northern cues. In one we found two skeletons of modem
date, with the scanty clothing still clinging to the bones, as
they had lain in the agonies of death, poor sick creatures,
who had climbed in to die.
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314 THE EASTEEN BOUDAN
The tower of Asafra, which marks the entrance to the
Hadi Valley, is about 20 feet high, and is octagonal. It
strack as, from its position at the entrance of the valley
system to the north of Mount Erba, that its original object
had been a landmark which would be seen from the sea ;
had it been a tomb it would not have had the windows, and
had it been either a tomb or a fort it would have had a door.
There we halted, and bade adieu to the governors and officials
of Mohammed Ool, who had accompanied us thus far. Our
parting was almost dramatic, and the injunctions to the
sheikh to see to oor safety were reiterated with ever addition^
vehemence, the mamour holding my husband's hand aU the
time.
Near the well of Hodi are numerous ancient structores
of a different natore and more puzzling to account for.
Circular walla, from 10 to 14 feet in diameter and S feet high,
have been built, some in the valleys and some high up on
the hills. The interiors of these have been filled with stones,
the largest of which are in the centre, and in the middle of
these large stones is a depression a foot or so deep. They
certainly looked like tombs of some departed race, especially
as they were generally placed in groups of two or three, and
they resembled the tombs in the north of Abyssinia, except
that those are filled with mounds of small stones, whereas
these have larger atones and a depression in the centre. The
water turned out to be rather like port wine to look at, full
of little fish, tadpoles, and leeches. We put alum in a
bucket to precipitate the worst mud, then filtered it
without making it clear, but it was a tremendons improve-
ment. I think there really was a better water-place near, but
we did not find it. Bad as it was, water was taken for three
days, as they said we should see none for that time. As a
matter of fact, I think the people did not want us to know
the water-places.
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* DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GBODND ' 315
We had a very warm Dight at Hadi, our tent, beds, and
even clothes swarmed with beetles.
On Pebraary 7 we started for Gmnatyewa. All day we
went among Httle pointed hills, some, indeed many, marked
with most curious veins of ironstone, sometimes in cross-bars.
We soon reached a place in the Wadi Omnatyewa, whence
a camel to onr sorprise was sent for water, and was not very
long away, so water cannot have been far off. The rest of
the camels were onloaded, and we sat and waited onder some
trees. In fact, we could have camped near water each of
the days which we took getting to Hadai.
The sheikhs generally encamped at a little distance from
as, and as they were given to nocturnal conversations and
monotonous noises which they called singing, we were glad
they were not too near.
We gradually ascended as we followed the valleys inland,
after the Wadi Iroqais, until on the fourth day we came to
a curious narrow winding pass, about six miles long, which
just left room between the rocks for our camels to walk in
single file. This pass, which is called Todin, landed us on a
small plateau about 2,000 feet above the sea-level, where we
found a large number of the circular remains. Todin is one
of the most important approaches into the Sondan on the
north side of the Erba group, and is practicable the whole
way for camels, from which we never once had occasion to
dismount, though going down might not be so pleasant.
Before reaching the pass of Todin we passed a most curious
mountain, seeming to block up the valley. It looked latber
like a rhinoceros feeding among the acacia-trees.
Taking this country generally, I can safely say it is as
uninteresting and arid a country as any we have ever visited.
Our way perpetually led through valleys winding between
low brown mountains, the dry river beds of which were
studded here and there with acacia-trees. Occasionally one
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816 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
got B glimpse of the majestic spots of Erba, and occasionally
B. fantastic rock or a hill-slope a trifle greener than- the rest
would temporarily raise our spirits.
As for water, we had the greatest dlfficolty aboat it, and
our guides always, enveloped its existence with a shroud of
mystery. Men would be sent off to the hills with a camel,
and return to the camp with skins of water from somewhere,
probably from gulleys where rain-water still lay ; but until
we reached Wadi Hadai, after a ride of six days, we never
saw water with our own eyes after leaving Hadi. Afore
water can be obtained by digging. There is a great deal of
Mesembryanihemum about, which probably supplies the
place of water to most of the animals living in these regions.
A good many doves came to drink at the water in' the
evening.
Two days more brought as to Wadi Hadai, where we
were to halt awhile to rest the camels. On the hill imme-
diately above as was the circular fort, with its door to the
east, to which I shall later allude, and on the plain below
was another and smaller Kufic tower, several round baildings,
and targe stones erected on several of the adjacent hills
evidently to act as landmarks. Also here we saw many
graves of the Debalohp family — neat heaps of white stones,
with a doable row of white stones forming a pattern aronnd
them, and a headstone towards Mecca, on one of which was
a mde Arabic inscription. These tombs reminded as very
forcibly of the Bogos tombs in Korthem Abyssinia, and
evidently point to a kinship of custom.
The place where we stayed in a wood of thorny trees was
at the branching of two valleys. We always had cold nights,
but our widely spread camp looked cheery enough with
eight fires ; there were so many different parties.
Once we got into Wadi Hadai we were in Debalohp'a
country. He was chief of the large and powerful Kilab tribe,
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* DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND ' 317
half of which owns STOwed allegiance to the Khalifa, and
the other half, with their chief, is put down as wavering
by the Government at Sawakin. Luckily we did not know
this at the time, or otherwiae I question if we should have
ventored to put ouraeWea so entirely in his hands, with the
horrors of a visit to Khartoum, as experienced by Slatin
Pasha, so fresh in oor memories.
At Hadai for the first time during the whole of our
journey our int^^sts were keenly aroused in certain antiqui-
ties we found — antiquities about which Debalohp had said a
good deal, but about which we had never ventured to indulge
any hopes.
Hard by the Debalohp mausoleum was another Kufic
tower, though much smaller than those we had seen on the
coast, and not covered with white cement, and in the same
locality were several foundations of circular buildings very
neatly executed in dry masonry, which appeared to have
at either end the bases of two circular towers and curious
bulges, which at once reminded us of our South African
ruins. On climbing an adjacent hill we found a circular
fort, evidently constructed for strategical purposes, with a
doorway, the ends of the wall being rounded, quite a counter-
part of the smaller ruin on the Lundi river in Mashonaland.
The analogy was indeed curious, and we talked about
it hesitatingly to ourselves, as yet unable to give any satis-
factory reason for its existence. On various heights around
were cairns erected as it for landmarks, and we felt that
here at last we were in the presence of one of those ancient
mysteries which it is so delightful to solve.
We had as interpreter from Arabic to Hadendowa, as
none of our party understood that languE^e, the sheikh whose
name was Hassan Bafori. He brought three coursing
dogs with him. We had also with us a certain Annibile
Piacentini as general odd man. He was really Italian, but
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318 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
had lived bo long amoDg Greeks in Snez th&t he was always
called Annibale. He talked Q-ieek 'with my husband,
Mattaios, and ma, and Knglish with the others, besides
Arabic,
We rested our camels and onr men at Hadai, and drank
of some fresh water from a little pool, the first we had
Been in this barren country, which was supplied by a tiny
stream that made its appearance for a few yards in a shel-
tered comer of the Talley, a stream of priceless value in this
thirsty land. Debalohp suggested to my husband that he
knew of some rains in a neighbouring valley to which he
could take him, but it was not without considerable hesita-
tion that he decided to go. A long day's ride in this hot
country, supposed to be almost, if not quite, within the
Dervish sphere of influence, was not lightly to be under-
taken, more especially as he had been on so many fruitless
errands in search of ruins at suggestions of the Bedouin, and
returned disgusted, and when he mounted his camel next
morning, without any hope of finding anything, and sure of
a fatiguing day, had a reasonable excuse offered itself, he
would probably not have gone. But the unexpected in
these cases is always happening. The long ride turned out
only to be one of three hours. Wadi Gabeit was somewhat
more fertile and picturesque than any we had as yet seen,
and as a climax to it all came the discovery of an ancient
gold-mine, worked in ages long gone by doubtless by that
mysterious race whose tombs and buildings we had been
speculating upon.
DiodoruB, in his account of an old Egyptian gold-mine,
describes most accorately what my hnsband found in the
Wadi Gabeit. For miles along it at the narrower end were
the ruins of miners' huts ; both up the main valley and up
all the collateral ones there must have been seven or eight
hundred of them at the lowest computation. Then there
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'DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND' 319
were hnndrede of massive cmahing-stoneH, neatly constmcted
ont of blocks of basalt, which had been used for breaking
the quartz, lying in wild confasion amongst the mined hots,
and by the side of what once was a stream, but ia now only
a sandy, choked-np river-bed. On a high rock in the middle
of the valley he f onnd a trifle of a Greek inscription scratched
by a miner, who had evidently been working the rich quartz
vein just below it.
On an eminence behind the valley was another of the
circular forts in ruins, similar to the one on the hill above
Wadi Hadai, intended evidently for a look-out post to
protect the miners at work below. Burnt quartz and refuse
of quartz lay around in all directions, and on either side of
the valley, stretched for a mile or more, were seams of the
amiferoQB qaartz jnst as it had been laid bare by the ancient
workers. There was no question for a moment that he had
come across the centre of a great mining indnstry, lost in
these desert valleys behind the mighty wall by which
Mount Erba and its spurs shuts off this district from the Bed
Sea littoral.
Naturally he felt rather startled at being confronted with
this unexpected discovery, and in the short space of time then
aviulable it was impossible to gn^p it all. So he rode back
joyfully to tell the news to his party at Hadai. He told
Debalohp that he had decided that we should move oar
camp thither, and stay as long as it was possible.
Difficulties again confronted us. Oar two Kourbab
sheikhs did not want to go. Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hamid
was anxious to get on to his own country, and Sheikh
Hassan Bafori quite set his face against oar going at all,
and Debalohp himself had to be firmly spoken to. An extra
present to him was what finally helped us, and at length we
all made a start on the following day to my husband's new
EI Dorado.
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320 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
We had become rather confoaed as to dates, and there
wiB a difference of two days that we coald not be in nnity
about. Before setting out for Wadi Gabeit we conaumed
for breakfast the artificial horizon that Captain Smyth had
used for taking our latitude the night before. It was very
good ; it was golden syrup instead of quicksilver.
Wadi Gabeit was just a trifle better than the country we
had passed through, having finer trees in the valley beds ;
and here we saw the first colony of natives since leaving
Mohammed Gol, consisting only of three huts of pastoral
Kilabs, which will give an idea of how sparsely this country
is inhabited. Debalohp's huts were certainly somewhere in
the vicinity of Hadai, not more than an boor away, but for
some reason known only to himself he would not take us
there, though he went there himself every night, and when
he joined us on our way to Wadi Gabeit he brought with
him another wife, having evidently had enough of the other's
company on hia joomey from Mohammed Gol.
Their camping arrangements were never luxurious. The
Mrs. Debalohp used to hoist a mat on a spear, to keep off
the wind. Mr. Debalohp used to lie on another mat in the
open, surrounded by hia weapons.
The huts we saw were made of sail-cloth, and were very
neat inside. There is a passage all round where pots and
baskets are kept, and within that a square room made of
matting with a mat floor. One side of this is the sleeping
apartment, and is entirely hung round with meat-safes,
dancing hats, and camel trappings, all adorned with shells
and beads. The huts are bo small that it must be difficult
to lie at full length.
I bought a gazelle-trap from these people. It consisted
of a circle of thin sticks, 6 or 7 inches across, bound round
and round with bark. Between the bindings are set little
thin sticks like a wheel, but crossing each other thickly
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'DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND' 821
in the middle. This ia put under a tree over a hole, the
noose of a long rope laid loond it and the rope tied to the
tree ; the whole is covered with earth. When the gazelle
comes to eat he steps into the hole. By the time he has
disengaged himself from the trap he is caught in the noose,
and a cross stick, 3 or 4 feet long, tied about a foot from
the end of the rope, prevents him getting through bushes.
A short time before reaching our goal we were met by a
small band of natives, who tried to stop otir advance with
menaces, which we were determined neither to understand
nor recognise. Possibly they were some of the Eilab tribe,
who owned allegiance to the DervisheB ; possibly they were
actuated by the inherent dread the Moslem has of Christian
enterprise reaching their secluded vales. However, ooi
show of firearms and determination to go on had the effect
of intimidating them, and after a somewhat feeble hostile
demonstration and many palavers, we found ourselves
comfortably established in our tents in the heart of the
ancient industry, and peacefully distributing medicines from
our chest to our whilom foes.
The encounter was amnsing to look back on afterwards,
but by no means so at the time ; the yelling and brandishing
of spears and shields and the pariepng of Hassan Bafori and
Mohammed Ali Hamid, who went forward, and the earnest
vrishes for the presence of Sheikh Ali Debalohp, who had gone
round by his home to join us later. We and oar camels were
led back, but we dismounted and went nearer in a body, and
then our firearms were distributed, and my husband, saying
he would wait no longer, went past them, we all following.
He fortunately knew the way. After a bit our camels came,
and we were soon in the Wadi Gabeit. Knowing where the
water was, in a little rocky pool, my husband went straight
over to it, and ordered that the water-skins should be filled
at once, in case of any difficulties. My husband and I and
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32'1 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
Mr. Cholmley went for a little walk round & small hill, and
then I said I would go back alone to the small, oval valley,
TuBt round a comer I came face to face with all the enemy,
on foot and on camels.
I walked smiling to the worst old man, grasped his hand,
and wished him a happy day. He started back, vrrencbed
away his hand, waving me away, though Hassan tried to
make him shake hands. The soldiers mshed forward, and I
sat on a rock laughing at him, and saying I wanted to look
at them. They all seated themselves close by. Captain
Smyth, who had gone aronnd making a reconnaissance, now
arrived, his servant Hamid having galloped back on a camel
to fetch him. He thought I was the only survivor. I told
him the story before them, and imitated the old gentleman,
pointing him out, and they all laughed when I asked how we
could be afraid of them when they were so mnoh afraid of me.
They all shouted ' Peace ! peace I ' (salaam 1 salaam !)
' aman I aman t ' (mercy t) — and subsequently came in a body
to our tent to impress upon me that I need fear no longer —
we were friends.
The real truth was that we were now very near, if not
quite in, the territory of that branch of the Kilab tribe which
owns allegiance to the Dervishes; when Captain Smyth
rode ahead next day to take observations from a hill called
Darurba, Mohamed Ali Hamed, who accompanied him,
made him dress up in a sheet and pretend to be an Arab
woman when they came in sight of some people whom he
declared to be Dervishes.
We were told of a native who had lately found a gold
nugget whilst digging in the sand. The veins of quartz,
particularly on the southern side of the valley, are very
marked, and the chiselling by which the miners had followed
up their veins could easily be seen ; it would appear that
the workings here had been of a very extensive character.
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• DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND ' 323
and the output of gold id some remote period must have
been very large.
We were conducted to a hill about two miles from
out camp, where there are old cuttings in the quartz, some
of them going a considerable depth underground, and blocks
of quartz were still standing there ready to be broken up ;
also we saw several crushing-stones here, but there were no
traces of miners' huts, so presumably the quartz was removed
to the valley below.
On the rocks near the cuttings we saw many rude
drawings, one of a parrot and several of gazelles, evidently
done by the workmen with their chisels.
In referring to records of the ancient gold-mines of Egypt,
weSnd that a mine existed in the Wadi AIlaki,some days south
of Komombo. in the Bishari district. This mine was visited
and identified by MM. Llnant and Bonomi ; there- they
foand an excavation 180 feet deep, handmills similar to oars,
and traces of about three hundred miners' huts, also several
Eufic inscriptions on a rock. The mines, Edrisi tells us, were
twelve days inland from Aydab. We must therefore look
elsewhere for a notice of another mine nearer the Red
Sea. Edrisi makes two mentions of these mines of Allaki,
in one of which he says they are in a deep valley at the
foot of a mountain ; in another be alludes to them as on an
open plain. On turning to Abu'lfida, we find him relating
' that Allaki is a town of Bedja ; the country of Bedja is in
the neighbourhood of the Bed Sea. One finds there pearl-
fisherieB which do not give much profit, but in the mountain
of Allaki is a mine of gold, which covers the cost of working.
The mountain of Allaki is very celebrated,' Hence it would
seem that two different spots are alluded to both under the name
of Allaki, from both of which gold was obtained, one inland
and one near the Bed Sea. Professor de Goeje, of Leyden, the
greatest authority on early Arabian literature, pointed out
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324 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
to my hu&band further diacrepancies in the distances from
Aydab to the gold-mines of AJlaki in early Arab geographers,
and Buggests that the mines found by MM. Bonomi and
Linant and ours, though eeverol hundred milee apait, may
have belonged to the same reef, and have been knowa by the
same name.
In M. Chabas' ' Inscriptions dee Mines d'Or ' we have a
very interesting dissertation on an ancient Egyptian plan of
a gold-mine on a papyrus in the mtiseum of Turin, of the
time of Seti I., which he thus describes : ' Unfortunately,
the name of the locality, which the plan gives us under the
form Ti, ou, oi, the phonetic signs of which form a confnsecl
combination, does not give us any clue. We must therefore
limit ourselves to the conclusion that this map, the most
ancient that exists in the world, represents to us an auri-
ferous vein in a desert mountain situated to the east of
Higher Egypt, and very near the Ked Sea. The shells
spread on the path leading to it are a proof that the sea is
very near ; we can only think of the Bed Sea, the shores of
which abound in coral, in sponge, and shells variegated with
the most beautiful colours.'
There seems every probability that the mine discovered by
my husband was the one illustrated by the most ancient plan
in the world, and, curiously enough, the Greek inscriptioD we
found seems to give a combination of vowels closely resembling
the name given on the plan. On Egyptian inscriptions we
constantly read of the gold of Kush, and that the prince of
Eush was always interfered with in his works by the want of
water, and from the Arab geographers we learn that they
were finally abandoned by the caliphs owing to the want of
water for washing purposes, and as far back as the reign
of TJsertesen we get illustrations of their washing process.
Diodoms gives us a vivid description of the gangs of captives
and convicts employed in these mines, and the miserable
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•DANCING ON TOM TIDDLER'S GBOUND ' 325
cruelty with which they were goaded on to work until they
died of fatigne. He also gives some interesting details as to
the processes of abstracting gold, which tally well with what
we saw on the spot. ' They bom the quartz and make it
soft,' which will account for the quantity of burnt quartz
which we saw ; and again, ' they take the quarried stone and
pound it in stone mortars with iron pestles.' Mr. Budler
examined the specunens of quartz we brought home, and
describes it as ' vein quartz, more or less ochreous with oxide
of iron suggestive of auriferous quartz,' and told us that, unless
we were going to start a company, there was no nacessity to
get it assayed ; for archGsoIogical purposes the presence of
gold was sufficiently established.
Will this mine ever be available again for those in search
of the precious mineral ? is the first question that suggests
itself. Unfortunately being no gold expert, I am absolutely
unable to give an opinion as to the possibilities of the still
existing quartz seams being payable or not, but there is
abundance of it both in the Wadi Gabeit and in the collateral
valleys, and it is improbable that the ancients with their
limited knowledge of mining could have exhausted the place.
Specimens of quartz that my husband picked up at hap-
hazard have been assayed and found to be auriferous, with
the gold very finely disseminated ; an expert would un-
doubtedly have selected even more brilliant fipecimens than
these. Against this the absence of water and labour seemed
to us at the time to negative any possible favourable results ;
but, on the other hand, the mine is so conveniently near the
sea, with comparatively easy road access, that labour might
be imported ; and such wonderful things are done nowadays
with artesian wells that, if the experts report favourably upon
it, there would be every chance of good work being done, and
these desert mountains of the Boudan might again ring with
the din of industry.
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326 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
The morning after we reached Wadi Gabeit an express
meeseriger reached us from Sawakin, bidding as return to
the coast at once, as wb were supposed to be in considerable
danger. Dervish raids were expected in this direction, and
the authorities were evidently afraid of complications. A
solemn palaver forthwith took place, at which our three
sheikhs showed that they thought little of the supposed
danger, and said that, though we were nominally in Dervish
country at the time, there was no armed force near of
sufficient strength to attack us. So we decided, and backed
up our decision with a promised bribe, to stay another night
in Wadi Gabeit, and to continue our course round Mount
Erba, as we had originally intended, and with us we kept the
messenger of woe with his gun and spear as an additional
protection.
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CHAPTER XXVIII
BEHIKD THE JBBIEL BBBA
Wb left Wadi Gabeit next morning, aocl on the followint;
day another messenger from Sawakin met us with a similar
mandate ; but as we were now joomeying in a presumably
safe direction we annexed him too, and went on our way
rejoicing. Personally we felt that we knew the condition of
the country better than the authorities of Sawakin, who had
never been there. If our sheikhs had meant treachery they
would long ago have put it into practice ; our two Kourbab
ahoikhg, whose property is in and around Mohammed Gol,
were ample guarantee for our safety; and, moreover, the
country was so absolutely destitute of everything that we
gave the Pervishes credit for better sense than to raid it.
Our first day's march was dreary in the extreme, over
country covered with dark shale, just like a colliery district
without the smoke, and with the faintest possible trace of
vegetation here and there.
It was at this juncture that we lost our little dog, a pet that
heA journeyed everywhere with us ; when search failed we
gave it np for lost, and drew momnful pictures of the dear
creature dying in agonies in the desert, foodless and waterless.
The clever animal nevertheless retraced its steps, how we
know not, to Mohajnmed Gol in five days, without food and
with very httle water, over the desert paths we had come — a
distance of about 120 miles — and terrified the governor out
of his wits, as he naturally thought it was the sole survivoc
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338 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
of onr expedition. It made itB way straight to the jetty and
Bwam to oar dhow, the Taisir, and was picked np by our
Arab sailors more dead than alive. After resting and feeding
on the dhow for two days, the dog jomped overboard once
more, and went o£f by itself to the mountains for three days
in search of ua ; when this failed it returned again, and
reached oar dhow the night before we did, and was ready
to welcome us on our return with a wildly demonstrative
greeting. We eventually gave it to a sergeant at Sawakin,
and have reason to believe that it is at present taking part
with its regiment in the Soudan campaign.
That day. Sheikh Mohamed Ali Hamed, who was riding
a loaded camel, came to me so much disgusted with the smell
of a box covered with black American cloth, that he asked
me if it were not made of pig-skin. The people are so
ignorant of what pig-skin looks like that they often handle it
without knowing, otherwise they would not touch it.
It was a distinct disappointment to us only to see the
mountains of, and not to be able to penetrate into, the Wadi
Hayfet, owing to its occupation by Dervish tribes. On excellent
authority we heard that there were numerous ruined cities
there, especially at a spot called Oso ; that it was mora fertile
than the parts through which we had passed; that the
Mogarra mountains were higher than Erba ; and that it was
well watered. Apparently this important Soudanese valley
takesitsrise inBawati,to the south of Erba, and, after making
first a bold sweep right through the heart of the Soudan, it
reaches the sea to the north of Mount Elba, some twenty miles
north of Halaib. This wadi will form an interesting point
tor exploration when the Soudan is once more settled, and if
these statements are correct it will be of considerable impor-
tance in the future development of the country. As for the
valleys near the coast, unless they prove rich in minerals they
can never be of much value to any one. In Wadi Crabeit,
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BEHIND THE JEBEL EEBA 329
the only indastry now carried on by the very few inhabitants,
except tiie rearing of flocks, is the drying of senna, which
grows wild here in considerable quantities. They cat the
branches and lay them oat to dry on levelled circles ; these
they take down to the coast and export to Saez.
We were now sixty miles, as the crow flies, from the sea.
We were terribly afraid we should he made to go by a lower
way between the mountains and the aea, in which case our
journey would not be of nearly such great value in map-
making, but at last my husband persuaded the sheikhs,
saying he would sign, with all the rest of us, a paper to
protect the heads of Sheikhs Ali Debalohp, Hassan Bafori,
and Mohamed Ali Hamed, which we did.
They said they did not themselves expect any danger.
Had they done so they would never have let our camp extend
over so much ground, with no concealment as regarded fires
and shouting, nor would they have let their camels wander
BO far afield.
The first place after Wadi Qabeit that we camped at was
HambuUi, four hours distant. The thermometer was down
to 50° in the night.
There was another letter from the mamour and another
from Sawakin and a most tremendous lot of consultations,
and at last my husband sent a letter to the mamour : ' Your
Excellency, — I have decided to go by Erba and Sellala and
hope to reach Mohammed Gol in a shorter time by that
route.'
By this time we were in the Konrbab country, in that part
under Sheikh Hassan Bafori, who governs a branch of the
tribe. We liked the mamour's messenger. Sheikh Moussa
Manahm, who came on with us, very much. Four hours
of very desert journeying was our portion the following day.
We were a good distance from water, but some was obtained
by digging, thick with sand and earth. We bad thus far
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330 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
carried w&ter from Wadi Gabeit. We travelled six hours,
wandenDg throagh desert valleyB, in which everything was
dried up, with clumps of grass in it as black as if they had
been burnt, and as if they had not seen rain for years. All the
valleys to the west of Mount Erba seem to be arid except
Gumateo or Gumatyewa, a big valley which must have water
near the surface, whichrunsallalongat the back of the range,
with arid hills from 500 to 1,000 feet on either side of it.
Vegetation is more abundant, and masses of arack-trees
(salvadora), supposed to be the mustard-tree of the Bible,
grow here, the wood of which is much esteemed for cleaning
the teeth. "Wadi Gumateo seems to be a favourite nursery
for camels. On our way we passed many camel mothers
with their infants, feeding on the arack and other shrubs.
At the upper end of this valley, where we encamped for a
night, Mount Erba, with its highest peak. Mount Nabidua,
stands out in bold and fantastic outline. It is a remarkable
range as seen from this spot, shutting o£f like a great wall the
Soudan from the Bed Sea httoral.
It was a most beautiful place and there was plenty of
wood, so we could have fine fires at night and bum some
charcoal for future use.
On February 18 we had a much more enjoyable day, for
we were winding about among the mountains. Twice we
had to dismount to walk over passes. One was exceedingly
fine, with bold and stupendous cliffs.
There were several groups of huts in the Wadi Khur,
which we next reached.
There is much more vegetation here, many tamarisks
and other shrubs giving delightful shade. Wadi Khur is the
nursery for young donkeys, many of which, we were told,
from time to time escape to the higher mountain, and have
established the race of wild asses to be found here. The
valley has a good many pastoral inhabitants, and in the
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BEHIND THE JEBEL ERBA 331
side gorges are deep pools of lovely water in natnrarl reser-
voirs, in which we revelled after our somewhat limited
Bupply further inland. Up these gorges we found bulbs,
rushes, and water-plants. At our camp here out men busied
themselves in decorating their locks prior to reaching Sellala.
Mutton-fat is beaten in the hands till it becomes like lard,
and this material the hairdresser dabs at the curly wigs of hia
patients ; those whose curls become the whitest and stiffest
deem themselves the finest.
As we were going through a very narrow gorge, where
Wadi Khur has changed into Khor (gorge) Khur, some
stones were bowled down from above, without hitting any
part of our caravan. There was a great deal of shouting
from the principal sheikhs to the offenders, and they desired
one of the soldiers to fire off hia gun, which he did. Sheikh
Hassan did not half like the laugh that rose against him
when I said, ' Last time it was Sheikh Ali Debalohp's men,
and now it is yours."
We encamped while still in the Khor Khur, but the sheikhs
would not allow the tents to be put near the rocks, fearing
disaster, and in the morning Sheikh Hassan was in a great
huiry to be off, coming and shouting ' Al khiem I Al
khiem I ' (' the tents ! ') to hasten us out of them and lot them
be packed. We had had to carry water from the last place.
It had been so clear and clean when we had it in our own
buckets. It had taken more than four hours to fetch with
camels, but what we carried on was put into dirty skins,
full of the mud of the place before, so it was horrible and a
great disappointment ; we had to wait for more.
When we left this camp we were led to suppose we
should reach Sellala, said to be an oasis, in about two hours
and a half ; but it took us an hour to get out of the Khor
Khar, winding among high rocks with most beautiful shapes
and shadows, rounding Jebel Gidmahm, which was on our
^dbyGoogle
332 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
left, and then we entered a very hideous wadi called Amadet.
The floor of it was very up and down, and high rocks and
little hilla stood about, whereas the wadis are for the most
part flat in the middle. But all roand this ugly wadi there
were high and fantastic mountains, range behind range.
After that there was a narrow khor called Rabrabda,
and Anally a great sandy desert, where the hiUs were com-
paratively low, through which we marched for several
hours, always looking out for the oasis, where we pro-
mised onrselves great enjoyment, intending to spend a
few days in so nice a place. When at last we reached
Sellala, which Ali Hamid's son had led us to believe was
a perfect Paradise, instead we found a wretched arid spot,
with one deep and well -constructed well, probably of con-
siderable antiquity, sniTOunded by many mud drinking-
troughs, around which were collected a large nomber of
camels.
All our promised verdnre resolved itself into a few
mimosa-trees and desert plants, and we encamped in great
discomfort in a raging sandstorm, quite out of patience with
our guide for his deceit. The wind was very wild and cold.
"We did not enjoy Sellala at all. Our tent had to be tied up
in a tiny sandy cleft, and a huge boulder was under my bed.
"We had only two winds to trouble us there, though, instead
of all four, which were raging outside. About 200 yards from
the well was Ali Hamid's village, a collection of some six or eight
huts, in one of which dwells old Ali Hamid himself, the aged
sheikh of this powerful branch of the Kourbab tribe ; and the
only evidence that we had of greater prosperity was that
the women here wear gold nose-rings and have long gold
ear-rings and more elaborate ornaments hanging from their
plaited hair.
Ali Hamid looked very old and decrepit. He had a long
hooked nose and exceedingly unpleasant face, and when we
^dbyGoogle
BEHIND THE JEBEL ERBA 333
saw him we quite believed him to be, as they say, a hardened
old slave-dealer. Perhaps the most remarkable fact about
him was that he had a mother living, a wizened old crone who
inhabited a tiny hut at Mohammed Gol, and reputed to be
135 years old by her friends, though I question if she was
much over 90. Old age is rare among these nomads, and
heuce they make the most of any specimen they can produce.
We sat in the village for some time, and purchased
various camel ornaments — tassels which tbey hang from
their necks, and curious adornments decorated with cowries,
which they place before the covered awning beneath which
great ladies conceal themselves when on a camel journey.
Ali Hamid's son took us the next day on fast-trotting
camels to visit some graffiti on basaltic rocks abont eight
miles distant. Here we fonnd representations of animals
chiselled on the bard rocks, similar to those we saw in
Wadi Gabeit ; we could recognise gazelles, camelB, and
elephants, and we thought the artist also had intended to
depict giraffes, mongooses, and other strange beasts. Scat-
tered amongst these animals are several Sabcean letters, the
two ? iya) and ? {wa) being very conspicuous. These
scribblings were evidently done by the miners who were on
their way from the coast to Wadi Gabeit, having landed at
a convenient little harbour close by called Salaka. There is
also one of the ruined towers not far from this spot, and the
letters point to the fact that some of the miners here engaged
must have been of SabEean or Southern Arabian origin.
Sheikh Ali Hamid came often to see us, with many other
sons, besides Mohamed, who had travelled with us, and a
few of the latter's children, clothed and naked. They
used to sit in a semicircle round the door of our tent.
Of course an exchange of gifts took place, and we were
sent a sheep and a huge basketful of milk. The basket was
^dbyGoogle
334 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
shaped like & vase, a foot in diametier. A very nice inhabi-
tant of the forbidden Wadi Hayet came to see ns, Sheikh
Seyyid Ta'ah. He gave us useful infonuation as to the
geography of his neighbourhood and the course of the
valley.
Gaptain Smyth went off from Sellala with Sheikh
Mobamed to take a peep into Wadi Hay^t, and on
February 22 we left the place without any regret and turned
northward. There are five Sellalas, and one is really an
oasis. The splendid mountains of Erba had been quite
obscured by the sand, though there had been a magnificent
view of them when we arrived.
On the way we passed three more of the tall towers
similar to those we had previously seen, and felt still more
convinced that they were connected with the gold industry
in the inland valley, and had been built to mark the roads
conducting in that direction.
We tried to find a sheltered nook to encamp in when we
reached the mountains, but in vain. We stayed at Harboub,
and were nearly stified by the dirty dust that blew into the
tents. The water was very clear and soft.
We continued northward for two hours and a half, and
then turned westward up the steep Wadi Ambaya.
Wadi Ambaya is the chief valley of Mount Erba, and it
runs right into the heart of the mountain. Up this we were
conducted by Sheikh Hassan, in whose territory we now
found ourselves. This valley is fairly well inhabited by
pastoral people ; they live in huts dotted about here and
there, which are difficult to recognise from their likeness in
colour to the rocks surrounding them, which they would
almost seem to have been made to mimic. The slopes
of Erba provide pasturage for a large number of flocks at all
seasons of the year. Kabidua, the highest peak of the range,
reaches an elevation of 7,800 feet ; Sherbuk and Emeri ai'e
^dbyGoogle
BEHIND THE JEBEL ERBA 835
not much lower, and the outline of the rugged peaks is ex-
ceedingly fine. Up in the higher parts of this range there
are a great number of ibex, Beveral of which fell to Captain
Smyth's rifle, bnt we did not care much for the flesh. The
natives bunt tbem with dogs of a breed said to be pecnliar
to these partB.
Onr camp in Wadi Ambaya was a delicious spot, amid
fantastic boulders and rich vegetation. On climbing up the
gorge beyond us we came across a stream with running
water, forming deep green pools among the rocks, and
to UB, after the arid deserts we had passed through, this spot
was perfectly ideal ; and the people, too, who dwell up in the
higher ground, look infinitely healthier — lithe, active men,
who leap like goats from rock to rock, each with a sword
and shield. There are several valleys in Erba penetrating
into the heart of the mountains, bat Ambaya is the prin-
cipal one.
In the outer part of the valley, which is rather open, is a
way into the Wadi Addatter^b, where we had already been.
It was a tremendous scramble to get up the gorge, and our
tents were perched on rocks, and Mattbaios was delighted
with his nice clean kitchen in the middle of the gorge. He
rigged up some sticks to hang a cloak up as a shade. The
servants had plenty to do preserving antelopes and ibex
heads, and burning charcoal and washing.
We were here made glad by Captain Smyth's safe return,
and after staying three days we returned to the mouth of
our wadi, and then went on toward the north, and after
five houra camped under some large trees near a well of very
good water, called Tokwar.
We finished our journey into the Wadi Eoukout at
8 o'clock next morning, having to leave the camels and
squeeze on on foot. It is a veritable frying-pan. We had
hardly room to pitch our tents, or to get into them when
^dbyGoogle
336 THE EASTERN SOUDAN
pitched, by reason of the big bonlders and steep hollows
where water swirled abont. There was good water quite
close.
We had another messenger from Sawakin, Hassan
Gabrin, to guide us by land, or, if we went by sea, to say we
should go quickly.
The morning after our arrival we started very early to visit
Koukout, a mountain really separate from Ecba, but looking
like a spur of it, the highest peak of which is only 4,000 feet
above the sea. Here again one penetrates into the mountain
by a curious gorge, with deep pools of water, the rocks about
which are, if possible, more fantastic than those of Elba. One
comes to chasms, over which the water Sows, which look
like the end of all things ; but by climbing up the side of
these one finds the gorge continuing until the very heart of
the mountain is reached, where is a httle open ground well
stocked with water and green. High up here we spent a
few hours at a pastoral village, where we found the women
busily engaged in making butter in skins tied to a tree ;
these they shake until butter is produced. They store it in
jars, and tc^e it to Kohammed Gol to exchange for grain,
but they eat very little except the products of their flocks,
and, like the Abyssinlans, they do not mind eating meat raw.
We saw some interesting domestic featnres in this
mountain village. The children are given toy shields and
spears, with which to practise in early life ; and we found
here several long flutes with four notes each, the music of
which is weird and not unlike that of the bagpipes, and well
suited to the vnld surroundiuga.
Here, too, they play the ubiquitous African game,
munkala or tarsia. Two rows of six holes are dug in the
ground, and in these they play with counters of camel-dnng
a mysterious game which I never can leam. Here they
call it mangola, and it is played all down the East Coast,
S DiamzedbyGoOt^Ie
i
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FLUTE-PLAYERS IN THE WADI KOUKOUT, SOUDAN
DigmzedbyGoOgle
BEHIND THE JEBEL EKBA 337
troiu MashoDaland to Egypt, and also, I hear, on the West
Qoast ; it seems a general form of recreation throughout the
Dark Continent, and haa been carried by Africane to all
parts of the world to which they have wandered. Here
they were playing with boles in the sand, bat one often sees
them dug in marble blocks, or on rocks, or in pavements.
There are two games — the game of the wise and that
of the foolish ; the former, like chess, requires a good deal o£
thought.
Sheikh Hassan Bafori's mother resided in this village,
so old that she looked like the last stage of ' She,' but no
one sajd she was as old as old Ali Hamid's mother.
I think the weaving arrangements were quite the most
rude I have ever seen.
The yam had been wound over two sticks about 20
feet apart, and that stick near which the weaving was begun
was tied by two ropes, each a foot long, to pegs in the
gronnd. The other was simply strained against two pegs.
At this end a couple of threads had been run to keep
the warp in place. There was no attempt to separate
the alternate threads so as to raise each in tnm. There
was a stick raised 4 or 6 inches on two forked sticks to
separate the upper and under parts of this endless web
of 40 feet. The weaver sat on her goat's-hair web, and
never could get the shuttle across all the way. It consisted
of a thin uneven stick, over a foot long. She had to separate
twelve to fifteen threads with her hand, and stick in a
pointed peg about 10 inches long, while she put the shuttle
through that far ; then she beat it firm with this instrument
and went on as before, patiently.
The shepherd boys looked very graceful, playing on the,
long £utes with four notes. One of these flutes belongs to.
each hut. We were interested, too, in seeing men making
sticks out of ibex horns. They cover the horn with grease, and
^dbyGoogle
333 THE EA3TERN SOUDAN
put it in hot water or over the fire to melt and soften it,
and then ecrape and scrape till it is thin enough and
able to be straightened. The ibex-hom hairpins are made
with six or seven bands of filigree round them. The
women's camel-8add!e3 have great frameworks of bent
sticks, nearly as large as some of the huts, to give shelter,
and are very smart indeed on a joomey.
On leaving Koukout, Sheikh Hassan took us to his well
at Tokwar again, a deep and presumably ancient well, near
which he has his huts ; and from there to a spot called
Akelabill^h, about four miles from Tokwar, and not far from
our original starting-point of Hadi. Here we found slight
traces of gold-working. About half a dozen crushing-stones
lay around, and a good deal of quartz refuse. Probably this
was a small offshoot of the more extensive mines in the
interior which had not repaid continued working.
A rapid ride of three hours from Akelabill^h brought ns
back again to Mohammed Gol and the close of our expedition,
for already the first murmurs of disturbances with the
Dervishes were in the air, and the mamoor of Mohammed
Ool and the officers at Sawakin affected to have been very
anxious for our safety. We, however, being on the spot,
had been in blissful ignorance of any danger, and further
considered that the country we had traversed was not the
least hkely to be raided by any sensible people, desert and
waterless as it was for the most part, and would offer no
attractions in the shape of booty, except in the fastnesses
of Mount Erba itself. Not one inch of the ground was under
cultivation, and the few inhabitants were the poorest of the
poor, and I think this is the only expedition we have ever
made in which we never once saw such a thing as a hen or
an egg.
By the by, at the huts near Tokwar we rejoined Sheikh
Aii Dehalohp, who had been invited by Sheikh Hassan to
^dbyGoogle
BEHIND THE JEBEL ERBA 339
stay a uight, and with due permission from my husband
he was ftbie to do so. We saw the sleeping arrangements.
Oq the ground was a piece of matting large enough for both
to sleep on, and another bit a yard high, supported by sticks,
round the three windiest sides.
They were busy playing with a large lizard, of which
they seemed to be afraid, and which had a forked tongue and
very long teeth. It had a string round its neck, and was
kept at bay with a sword.
We reached Mohammed Gol the quicker that we had no
foot pa^engers. All had scrambled on to the camels, and
so we were by twos and threes on our animals.
The little mamour Mohammed Efifendi was delighted to
see us, and we were soon drinking tea in his public arbour,
surrounded by a crowd of now smiling faces — the very same
faces which had scowled upon us so dreadfully when we first
landed. We and our little dog Draka were equally delighted
at once more meeting.
We found the south wind blowing, if it can be said to do
so in a dead calm — prevailing would perhaps be a better
word. The madrepore pier had been nearly swept away,
and the houses near the water were flooded.
Wc settled into our ship again that evening.
Next day was pay-day, and my husband and Matthaios
went ashore with more than 40i. to distribute. The three
big sheikhs, by the advice of the mamour, were given 21.
apiece ; the soldiers got ten shillings each—far too much, he
said ; Mohammed Ismail, Sheikh Hassan G-abrin, Sheikh
Moussa Manahm, Mohammed Erkab, and one Akhmet, a
great dandy, had five shillings each.
Besides this, other presents were given. Sheikh Ali
Debalohp had a quilted cotton coverlet, and Mohammed Ali
Kamid the same and a cartridge-belt; Sheikh Hassan Bafori
a blanket, a smart silk ketilieh and a sword-belt ; and
^dbyCoogle
340 THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
the mainour an opera-glass and a silk blaDket, besides minor
things ; all seemed very well satisfied. They certainly were
all very nice to us.
The secretary gave me a tremendously heavy curved
camel-stick of ebony, and the mamour besides a bead-
Bcratcher, which he had made me himself from an ibex
bom, a stick of ibex horn, and seven and a half pairs of
horns.
We were weatherbound yet another day, everything
damp and sticky. The south wind seems to me to have a
very mysterions scooping and lifting power ; do other wind
lifts sand and water along as this one does. The wind
began to freshen np towards night and got as far as
the east, and by morning was blowing strong north by
east.
My husband had, as usual, to go out and stir up Beia
Hamaya and tell him we must be off. He seemed as much
surprised as he always was. We had a farewell visit from
the little mamour, and off we set for a very roily voyage.
The whole day we rolled with the smallest sail, everything
banging, beds jostling, but we were glad no longer to feel
wet and sticky as regards our clothes, bedding, and the
whole ship. Our last night on board was not the least
exciting.
We had stopped near Darour amongst reefs of coral.
Every night when we cast anchor the ship used to turn
round so that the north wind blew full on us and our cabins,
but this night it whizzed round so violently as to drag the
anchors, and we went back on to a reef — only a little, though,
but enough to alarm all on board. The anchors had to ha
got up and taken by boat to Bx into another reef. It was
necessary for all the gentlemen and servants to assist tha
sailors in hauling us off the reef. It was very hard on the
8ail?S):8, for their supper was smoking hot, ready for them
^dbyGoogle
BEHIND THE JEBEL EEBA 341
after tiieir day's fast, and the poor fellows hftd to work till
9 o'clock, doing the best they could for the safety of the
ship.
We went to bed, however, with the unpleasant know-
ledge that we were not very tightly fastened up, and
the uneasy feeling that we might drag in the night, and
not withoat making some little preparation in case of a
swim.
We were all safe in the morning, but almost the first
thing we did, as we sat at breakfast, was to grind over a
reef, more than the length of the keel.
We duly reached Sawakin in the afternoon of March 4,
where Hackett Pain Bey, who was acting-governor, kindly
lent us two accommodation in the GrOTerninent House, and
we said farewell to the Taisir, its cockroaches, its mosquitoes,
and its mouse ; and the ship had immediately to be turned
over on her side for repairs — needed, as the coral reefs bad
done a good deal of damage. Iteis Hamaya was enchanted
with a gift of the cabins with their padlocks, and I am sure
they soon became very dirty holes.
Though we were scolded for our pains, our approving
consciences told us how pleasing to the British Government
those pains had been, and how glad it was of some map
beyond the Admiralty chart. Eight days after oar arrival
the news of the declaration of war came to Sawakir.
We were offered a passage to Suez in the Behera
(which means delta), but as an ordinary steamer came in,
and we did not know how long the Behera might be
waiting for troops, we thought it better to make our way
northward at once. We reached Cairo just in time for
Captain Smyth to be rewarded for his bard work, while
with our expedition, by being ordered off to the war by
Sir F. Wingate, who, with the Sirdar, was starting that
night ; Captain Smyth was to follow in two days.
^dbyGoogle
342 THE EASTEBN SOUDAN
We felt very proud, and now he has the Victoria Cross,
because ' At the battle of Khartoum Captain Smyth galloped
forward and attacked an Arab who had run amok among
the camp-followers. Captain Sm3i>h received the Arab's
charge and killed him, being wounded by a spear in the arm
in BO doing. He thus saved the life of one, at least, of the
camp-followers.'
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THE MAHRI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
CHAPTEE XXIX
KALEKZIA
As we had been nnable to penetrate into the Mahri country,
though we had attempted it from three Bides, we determined
to visit the offshoot of the Mahri who dwell on the island of
Sokotra.
Cast away in the Indian Ocean, hke a fragment rejected
in the construction of Africa, very monntainons and fertile,
yet practically harhourlees, the island of Sokotra is, perhaps,
as little known as any inhabited island on the globe.
Most people have a glimpse of it on their way to India
and AustraUa, but this glimpse has apparently aroused the
desire of very few to visit it, for the Europeans who have
penetrated into it could be almost connted on the fingers of
one hand. During recent years two botanical expeditions
have visited it, one under Professor Balfour, and one under
Br. Schweinfurtb, and the results added marvellously to the
knowledge of quaint and hitherto unknown plants.
We passed two months traversing it from end to end, with
the object of trying to unravel some of its ancient history
BO shrouded in mystery, and leam something about its present
inhabitants.
Marietta Bey, the eminent Egyptologist, identilies
Sokotra with To Nuter, a place to be bracketed with the land
^dbyGoogle
344 THE MAHRI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
of Punt in the pictoria! decoratione of the temple of Deir el
Bahri, &s resorted to by the sjicients for epices, frankincenBe,
and myrth ; and be is probably correct, for it is pretty certain
that no one given spot in reach of the ancients could produce
at one and the same time so many of the coveted products of
that day— the mby-coloared dragon's blood (Draco Kiniia-
bari of Pliny), three distinct species of frankincense, several
kinds of myrrh, besides many other valuable gum-prodacing
trees, and aloes of super-excellent quality.
It is referred to by the author of the ' Periplus ' as con-
taining a very mixed and Greek-speaking population drawn
together for trading purposes, trafficking with Arabia and
India. Abu'lfida, Africanus, and other writers, Arabic and
otherwise, mention Christianity as prevailing here, and Theo-
doret, writing in the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of
the great missionary Theophilus as coming from the island
of Diu to teach Christianity in India.
Cosmas Indicopleuates calls the island Dioscorides. He
visited it in the sixth century, and accounted for the Greek-
speaking population he met with by saying that they had
been placed there by the Ptolemies. El Masoudi considered
the Greek a purer race in Sokotra than elsewhere.
As far back as the tenth century Sokotra wasa noted haunt
of pirates from Katch and Gujerat Bawarij, from a kind of
ship called barja}
Traders came from MuzaLemyrica (Canara) and Barggaza
(Gujerat).
Ibn Batuta gives an account of a certain Sheikh Said
of Maskat being seized by Sokotran pirates, who sent him
off empty-handed to Aden.
Marco Polo describes the catching of whales for ambergris.
El Masoudi ' says the best ambergris comes from the sea
of Zinj in East Africa : ' The men of Zinj come in canoes
> ElUot, L 6S. < i. 136.
^dbyGoogle
EALENZIA 345
and fall upon the creature with h&rpoons and cables, and
draw it ashore and extract the ambergris.'
In the inscription of the Nakhtshe Bustam, neat
Fersepolis, which we saw when in Persia in 1889, thirty
countries are named which were conquered by Darius, the
Akhemenid, amongst them Iskudtim, i.e. Sokotra.
Though it is Arabian politically, Sokotra geographically is
African. This is the last and largest of a series of islands and
islets stretching out into the Indian ocean, including thelittle
group of Abdnl Kerim. Some of these are white with guano.
Darzi, Eal Farun, Sambeh, and Samboyia are the names
of some of the smaller ones. Sokotra itself is situated about
240 miles from Cape Guardafui, and is about 500 miles from
Aden.
The latitude of the island is between 12' 19' and 12° 42',
and the longitude between 53° 20' and 54° 30'. It is 72 miles
long from east to west, and 22 miles wide from north to
south. There is a coral reef nearly all the way from Africa to
beyond Bas Momi.
According to the Admiralty charts the water between the
islands and the mainland is 500 fathoms deep, but among
the islands nowhere is it deeper than 200 fathoms.
It is an island that seems to be very much in the way
as far as navigation is concerned, and many shipwrecks have
been occasioned by its being confused with the mainland,
one being taken for the other. The wreck of the Aden,
and the great loss of life resulting Itom it, which took place
so soon after we were there, is still fresh in our memories.
Our party consisted of Mr. Bennett, who was new to
Eastern life, our old Greek servant, Matthaios, and two
young Somali, Mahmoud and Hashi. They conld talk a little
Knglish, but generally talked Arabic to us and Matthaios.
We were told before starting that Mahri, or Mehri, was the
language most in use, and we nearly committed the serious
^dbyCoogle
3i6 THE MAHRI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
error of taking a Mahri man from Arabia, who could also
speak Arabic, aa an interpreter, but fortunately we did not
do BO, as he would h&ve been quite useless, unleaa he could
also have talked Sokuteriote.
We found it no easy matter to get there. First we were
told we should, if we attempted to go by sailing-boat, have
to coast to Has Fartak, on the Arabian coast, and let the
monsoon blow us to Sokotra, and this seemed impracti-
cable. Finally we arranged with a British India steamer, the
Canara, that it should ' deviate ' and deposit us there for a
consideration.
The SE. Canara promised to await the arrival of the
P. and 0. steamer before leaving Aden, and would, for one
thousand rupees (62^.), take us to Bokotra and remain fonr
hours. After that we were to pay thirty rupees an hour,
and in no case would she tarry more than twenty-four
hourB. If landing were impossible, we were to be carried to
Bombay.
We were landed in a lifeboat, through the surf at the
town of Ealenzia, which lies at the western end of the island.
It is a wretched spot, a jumble of the scum of the East ; Arab
traders, a Banyan or two, a considerable Negroid population
in the shape of soldiers and slaves, and Bedouin from the
mountains, who come down with their skina and jars of
clarified butter, to despatch in dhows to Zanzibar, Maakat,
and other butterless places.
Butter is now the chief product and almost the sole ex-
port of the island, and Sokotra butter has quite a reputation
in the markets along the shores of Arabia and Africa. The
sultan keeps a special dhow for the trade, and the Bedouin's
life is given up to the prodnction of butter. Nowhere, I
think, have I seen so many flocks and herds in so limited a
space as here.
Kalenzia (the place has been spelt in so many ways that
^dbyCoogle
KALENZIA 847
we took the liberty of spelling it phonetically as we he&rd it
proDonnced) has an apology for a port, or roadstead, facing
the African coast, which is the most sheltered during the
prevalence of the north-east moneoon. Separated from the
Ehore by a bar of shingle is a lagoon, fed by the waters
coming down from the encircling mountains, which reach an
altitude of 1,500 or 2,000 feet. The lagoon is very prettily
embowered with palms and mangroves, and the waters are
covered with wild duck, but it is a wonder that all the inhabi-
tants do not die of fever, for the water is very fetid-looking
and they drink from nothing else. I believe this is the water
which is supplied to ships. The shore is rendered pestiferous
by rotting seaweed, and the bodies of sharks, with back fin
cut out and tail cut ofT, which are exposed to dry on the beach.
We preferred the brackish water from a well hard by ova
camp until we discovered a nice stream under the slopes of
the mountains, about three miles away, to which we sent skins
to be filled. This stream is under the northern slope of the
Kalenzia range, and near it are the ruins of an ancient town,
and as the water trickles on towards the lagoon it fertilises
the country exceedingly, and its banks are rich in palms and
other trees. The abandoned site of this old town is infinitely
preferable to the modem one, and much healthier.
We were received in a most friendly way by the inhabi-
tants, and hoped that, as we were English and the island was
to some extent under British protection, we should be able to
proceed inland at once. Our nationahty, however, made not
the slightest difference to them, and we were told we must
encamp while our letters were taken to the sultan, who lives
beyond Tamorida, and await his permission to proceed farther.
The eight days we had to remain here were the most tedious
of those we spent on the island.
One of our amusements was to watch boat-building
accomplished by tying a bimdle of bamboos together at
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348 THE MAHRI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
each end and pushing them out into shape with wooden
stretchers.
They have enormous lobster-pots, 6 feet to 8 feet in
diameter, made of matting woven with split bamboo, in
patterns something like the scats of our chairs. The men
often wear their tooth-brushes tied to their turbans ; a sprig
of arrack serves the purpose.
Whilst at Kalenzia we must have had nearly all the in-
habitants of the place at our t^nt asking for a remedy for one
disease or another ; they seemed to be mostly gastric troubles,
which they would describe as pains revolving in their insides
like a wheel, and wounds. The Sokotra medical lore is
exceedingly crude. One old man we fouild by the shore
having the bowels of a crab put on a very sore finger by
way of ointment. A baby of very tender age (eleven months)
had had its back so seared by a red-hot iron that it could
get no rest, and cried most piteously.
The poor httle thing was wrapped in a very coarse and
prickly goat-hair cloth, and its mother was patting its back
to stop its cries, quite ineffectually, as yon may well imagine.
I spread some vaseline on a large sheet of grease-proof
paraffin paper and appHed it most gently. Its whole family
then wrapped it up in the goat-hair cloth in such a way as to
crush and put aside the dressing, and the mother laid it on its
back, though I had warned her not to do it, on her knees, and
jumped it up and down. The baby was none the better, but
all around seemed pleased, and I could only sadly think that
I had done my best. I find the grease-proof paper most
valuable to spread ointment for man and beast where rags are
scarce.
One old lady, with an affection of the skin, would only
have the ' bibi ' as her doctor, so she came to me with a good
many men to show her off, but wonld have nothing to do
with my husband. I said the first treatment must consist in
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KALENZIA 819
a thorough washing all over with wann water and soap : but
behold I I heard there was no soap in the island, bo halves and
quarters of cakes of Pears' soap as well as whole ones, were
distributed as a precious ointment.
They have no soap, no oil, no idea of washing or cleansing
a wound, and cauterisation with a hot iron appears to be their
panacea for every ailment.
A favourite remedy with them here, as in Arabia, is to
stop up the nostrils with plugs fastened to a string round the
neck to prevent certain noxious scents penetrating into it ;
but, as far as we could see, they make no use whatsoever of
the many medicinal herbs which grow so abundantly on th^
island.
The women of Kalenzia use turmeric largely for dyeing
their faces and their bodies yellow, a custom very prevalent
on the south coast of Arabia ; they wear long robes, some-
times dyed with indigo, sometimes of a bright scarlet hue.
The pattern of their dress is the sajne as that worn in the
Hadhramout, i.e. composed of two pieces of cotton cloth wide
enough to reach the finger-tips and with a seam down each
side. The front piece is longer than in the Hadhramout,
coming down to within a foot of the ground, but the train is
also very much longer, and must lie more than a yard and a
half on the ground. These ladies get good neither from the
length nor the breadth of their dresses, for as the train
evidently incommodes them, they twist the dress so tightly
round their bodies that the left side seam comes straight or
rather lop-sidedly behind and one corner of the train is thrown
over the left shoulder all in a wisp. There is nothing to
keep it up, so down it comes continually, and is always being
caught up again. I never saw a train down, except once for
my edification.
Their hair is cut in a straight fringe across the forehead
and is in little plaits hanging behind. They wear a loose veil
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350 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
of a gauzy nature, with which they conceal half their faces at
times. Silver rings and bracelets of a very poor character,
and glass bangles, complete their toilet, and the commoner
class and Bedou women weave a strong cloth in narrow
strips of goat-hair, which they wrap in an inelegant fashion
round their hips to keep them warm, sometimes as their only
garment. They do not cover their faces. From one end of
Sokotra to the other we never found anything the least
characteristic or attractive amongst the possessions of the
islanders, nothing bat poor examples of what one finds every-
where on the south coast of Arabia and east of Africa.
Many weddings were going on during our residence at
Kalenzia, and at them we witnessed a ceremony which we
had not seen before. On the morning of the festive day the
Sokotrans, negro slaves being apparently excluded, assembled
in a room and seated themselves round it. Three men
played tambourines or tom-toms of skin called teheranes, and
to this music they chanted passages out of the Koran, led by
the ' moUah ' ; this formed a sort of religious preliminary to
a marriage festival ; and in the evening, of course, the dancing
and singing took place to the dismal tune of the same tom-
toms, detrimental, very, to our earlier slumbers. The teherane
would seem to be the favourite and only Sokotran instrument
of music — if we except fintes made of the leg-bones of birds
common on the opposite coast, and probably introduced
thence — and finds favour alike with Arab, Bedou, and
Negro.
The people here did not torment us by staring at and
crowding round us. They came only on business, to be
doctored, to sell something, or to bring milk whecewith to
purchase from us lumps of sugar.
The houses are pleasantly shaded amongst the palm
groves, and have nice little gardens attached to them in which
gourds, melons, and tobacco grow; and in the middle of
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KALENZIA 851
the paths between thera one is liable to stumble over turtle-
backs, used aa hencoops for some wretched specimens of the
domestic fowl which exist here, and which lay eggs about
the size of a plover's.
Though a poor-looking place it looks neat with its little
sand-strewn streets.
It contains a single wretched little mosque, in character
like those found in third-rate villages in Arabia ; Kadhoup or
Kadhohp possesses another, and Tamarida no less than two ;
and these represent the sum total of the present religious
edifices in Sokotra, for the Bedouin in their mountain
villages do not care for religious observances and own no
mosques.
Owing to the scarcity of waterin the south-western corner
of the island we were advised not to visit it ; the wells were
represented to ns as dry, and the sheep as dying, though the
goats still managed to keep plump and well-looking. Perhaps
the drought which ha,d lately visited India may have affected
Sokotra too ; and we were told before going there that a
copious rainfall might be expected during December and
January, for Sokotra gets rain during both monsoons ; but
daring our stay on the island we had little rain, except
when up on the heights of Mount Haghiere.
One day we two went some distance in the direction of
the moimtains, and came on a large upright rock with an
inscription upon it, evidently late Himyaritic or Ethiopic,
and copied as much of it aa was distinguishable. Not far off
was the tidy little hamlet of Haida. The walls of the yards
there are circular.
Farther on, behind the village of Kissoh, are the ruins of
an ancient village with a long, well-built, oblong structure
in the middle, possibly a tomb ; and it was behind this again
that we found the good water that we drank afterwards.
There must once have been a large population, to judge
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352 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTfiA
by the way the hills are terraced up hy walls, aud the many
barren, neglected palm-trees about among the oM fields.
The Kalenzia range of mountains is quite -distinct irom
Haghier, and is about 1,500 or 2,000 feet high. We could
find no special name tor it. They call it Fedahan, but that
is the generic Sokoteriote word for momitain.
The highest peak is called M&tala.
We were very glad when a venerable old sheikh named
All arrived bringing us a civil letter from the sultan and
saying he had been sent to escort us to Tamarida.
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CHAPTEE XXX
EBIOSH AND KADHOUP
Aftbb four days waiting for camels, and the usual wrangling
over the price and casting lots for us, which here they do
with stones instead of wood as in Arabia, we started late on
Christmas Day, going of course only a short way. As all
were mounted on the baggage we could trot all the way ;
the camels were not tied in strings. The first night we
stopped at Is^leh, an interesting place at the entrance of
Wadi G^ai below Mount L&he Diftom, about two hours
from Ealenzia, whence at night we could see the numerous
fires of troglodytes high up on the sides of the mountains;
and were able next day to ride nearly all the way, except
over a pass to Lim Ditarr, a depression in the hills sometimes
filled with water, though there was none for us. A little was
fetched, but we had to keep the water from our evening
wash to serve next morning. This depression had in former
times been used as a reservoir, for we could detect the remains
of a stone embankment, a good deal despoiled for Moslem
tombs.
Our onward journey took us past a lovely creek, called
Ehor Haghia, running two miles inland, with silted mouth
and overhanging yellow and white rocks. The bright blue
water and green mangroves made a brilliant picture.
About a qnarter of a mile inland there is a deep pot
of salt water, evidently left behind by the ocean when it
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354 THE MAHEI ISDAND OF SOKOTRA
receded from the shores of Sokotra ; it is Eibout 200 feet
across, and ha.s its httle beach and seaweeds all complete,
with its trees and bushes in its cliffs.
We lunched at the brackish well of Dia, and at sunset
reached the hideous plain of Eriosh, or Eriush, which has a
flat surface of rock, about a quarter of a mile in extent and
partly covered with dried mud, and of such soft stone that
we could easily cut into it with pebbles. It is covered with
purely Ethiopic graffiti, almost exactly similar to those we
saw on the steps of the church and on the hillsides around
Aksum in Abyssinia — long serpent-like trails of Ethiopic
words, with rude drawings interspersed of camels, snakes,
and so forth. Biebeck, who went inland from Itur, says
these are Greek. Conspicuous amongst them are the
numerous representations of two feet side by side, frequently
with a cross inserted in one of them ; there are many
separate crosses, too, on this flat surface — crosses in circles,
exactly like what one gets on Ethiopic coins. We met with
another inscribed stone to the east of the island, bearing
similar lettering.
Hard by this flat, inscribed surface are many tombs ol an
ftncient date. These tombs, which are found dotted over the
island, bear a remarkable resemblance to the tombs of the
Bedja race, once dwelling on the shores of the Bed Sea to
the north of Sawakin, and subject to the Ethiopian emperor ;
they consist of enormous blocks of unhewn stone, inserted
in the ground to encircle and cover the tombs, and this
forms another link connecting the remains on the island
with Abyssinia.
When the Abyssinian Christian monarchs conquered
Arabia in the early centuries of our era, and Christianised a
large portion of that country, they probably did the same by
.Sokotra, and, inasmuch as this island was far removed from
any political centre, Christianity probably existed here to a
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ubjGoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
EEIOSH AND KADHOUP 355
much later period than it did in Arabia. Marco Polo touched
here, and alludes to the GhristianB of the island.
In speaking of two isles near Greater India, inhabited
respectively by men and women, he adds : ' They are
Christians, and have their bishop, subject to the Bishop of
Socotora. Socotora hath an archbishop not subject to the
Pope, hut to one Zatuli, who resides at Baldach, who
chooseth him.'
F. Xavier said among other things 'that each village
had a priest called kashi. No man could read. The kaskts
repeated prayers in a forgotten tongue, frequently scattering
incense. A word like Alleluia often occurred. For hells
they used wooden rattles. They assembled in their churches
four times a day, and held St. Thomas in great veneration.
The kashis married, but were very abstemious. They had
two Lents, and fasted from meat, milk, and fish.'
When Padre Vincenzo the Carmelite visited the island
in the seventeenth century he found the last traces of
Christianity. ' The people still retained a perfect junable of
rites and ceremonies, sacrificing to the moon, circumcising,
and abominating wine and pork. They had churches called
moquame, dark and dirty, and they daily anointed with butter
an altar. They had a cross, which they carried in pro-
cession, and a candle. They assembled three times a day
and three times a night ; the priests were called odambo.
Each family had a cave where they deposited their dead. If
rain failed they selected a victim by lot and prayed round
him to the moon, and if this failed they cut off his hands.
All the women were called Maria.' Of this there is now no
trace. Both Sacraments had died out.
This debased form of Christianity existed as late as
the seventeenth century. The island was one of the places
visited by Sir Thomas Boe in 1615.
It is needless to say that all ostensible traces of our cult
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356 THE MAHEI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
have long ago been obliterated, and the only Sokoteri religions
term which differs in any way from the nsuil Mohammedan
nomenclature is the name for the Devil ; bat we foond, as
I have already said, the carved crosses on the flat sm^ace
at Eriosh, and we fonnd a rock at the top of a bill to the
east of the island which had been covered with mde repre-
Bentations of the Ethiopic cross. Scattered all over the
island ace deserted ruined villages, differing but little from
those of to-day, except that the inhabitants call them all
Frankish work, and admit that once Franks dwelt in them
of the cursed sect of the Nazarenes. We felt little hesitation
in saying that a branch of the Abyssinian Church once
existed in Sokotra, and that its destruction is of compara-
tively recent date,
If we consider that the ordinary village churches in
Abyssinia are of the flimsiest character — a thatched roof
resting on a low round wall — we can easily understand how
the churches of Sokotra have disappeared. In most of these
mined villages round enclosures are to be found, some with
apsidal constructions, which are very probably all that is left
of the churches.
Near Bas Momi, to the east of the island, we discovered
a cmious form of ancient sepulture. Caves in the limestone
rocks have been filled with human bones from which the
flesh had previously decayed. These caves were then walled
up and left as charnel-houses, after the fashion still observed
in the Eastern Christian Church. Amongst the bones we
found carved wooden objects which looked as if they had
originally served as crosses to mark the tombs, in which the
corpses had been permitted to decay prior to their removal
to the charnel-house, or Koifit)n^pia, as the modem G-reeks
call them.
We stayed two days at Eriosh to study the graffiti and
tombs.
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BEIOSH AND KADHOUP 357
Water had to be fetched from Diah4miii, which we after-
wards passed. It was brackish. I have heard riho said for
water, but diho was mostly ased, and certainly the names of
many water-places began with Di. I remember my hosband
answering the question where we should camp by calling out
in Arabic ' Near the water.' This was echoed in Sokoteri,
' Lai diho.'
We took five days in getting from Kalenzia toTamarida,
and found the water question on this route rather a serious
one until we reached Mori and Kadhoup, where the streams
from the high monntains began. Mori is a charming little
spot by the sea, with a fine stream and a lagoon, and palms
and bright yellow houses as a foreground to the dark-blue
mountains.
Eadhonp is another fishing village built by the edge of
the sea, with a marshy waste of sand separating it from the
hills ; it possesses a considerable number of surf-boats and
canoes, and catamarans, on which the fishermen ply their
trade. Just outside the town women were busy baking
large pots for the export of butter, placing large fires around
them for this purpose. The Sokotrans are very crude in
their ceramic productions, and seem to have not the faintest
inclination to decorate their jars in any way. There were
quantities of flamingoes on the beach.
We encamped at the foot of the hills, with a watery and
sandy waste between us and the village.
There are the foundations of some cnrious unfinished
houses near Kadhoup, also assigned to the Portuguese ;
hut there appears to me to be no re^on whatsoever for
ascribing these miserable remains to the builders of the fine
forts at Maskat, the founders of Ormuz and Goa, and the
lords of the East up to the seventeenth century.
The mountains here jut right out into the sea, forming
a bold and rugged coast line, and the path which connects
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868 THE MAHRI ISLAND OF SOKOTEA
the two placee is as fine a one to look apon as I have ever
Been.
We had read a very awe-inspiring account of thia path
by Lieatenant Wellated, and so were quite disposed to
believe all our camel-drivers told as of the awful dangers
to be encountered. They had formed a plan whereby their
Kadhoup friends might come in for some of our rupees. We
were not only to pay. for camels, but also for a boat. Borne,
at least, of the camels were sure, they said, to fall into the
sea from the cliffs, and our possessions, if not our lives
themselves, might be lost. They said that we ought to send
our baggage by boat, even if we risked the mountain path
ourselves.
We assured them that we had landed in Sokotra (which
they pronounce Sakoutra) to see the island, and not to
circumnavigate it. Others could pass, so we could.
Their last hope was in my hoped-for faintheartedness.
They watched till I was alone in the tent, and, having
recounted all the perils over again, said :
' Let the men go over the moontain, but yon, O Bibi !
will go in a boat, safely. Yon cannot climb, yon cannot ride
the camel, no one can hold yon ; the path is too narrow, and
you will be afraid,'
That being no good, old Sheikh AJi came. He was
anxious, poor old man, to be spared the exertion, and
eventually rode all the way, except when there was no room.
He said I should go in a boat with him ; he would take care
of me and give me musk (which he called misk) when we
reached Hadibo. He often promised misk, but I never got
any ; and here I may remark that I have frequently heard
Mask&t pronounced Mlakit in Arabia amongst the Bedonin
of the East.
■ We really did feel very adventurous indeed when we
started. I rode my camel a quarter of a mile to the foot of
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EEIOSH AND KADHOUP 859
the asoeut. No one else thought it worth while to moimt,
but X was comfortably carried over a muddy creek.
The Kadhonpers did get some rupees, for we were
attended by twelve men carrying bamboo poles 10 or 12
feet long.
It really wasa stiff climb, but we had a good deal of shade,
and when we reached our highest point there was a pretty
Hat bit with scattered trees and grass, about half a mile, I
think. The twelve men had to carry the baggage elung on
the poles for a quarter of a mile or so, where the over-
hanging rocks made the path too narrow for loaded camels.
It was quite high enough for their heads, and we had plenty
of room. It was marvellous to see the camels struggling along
this road, and awful to hear their groans and the shouts of
the camel-men aa they struggled up and down and in and out
of the rocks ; and the hubbub and yelling over a fallen one
was simply diabolical.
We had the moat tremendous clambering down soon
after that, the baggage being again alung on the poles, and
the camels came clattering down, with many stones, and
looking as if they would rush over straight into the sea.
When we got near the sea, say about 50 feet above it,
we, on foot, diverged from the camel-track, which goes
more inland, and followed a very, very narrow, washed-away
path. This I think most have been the one described by
Wellsted, for we were never, till we reached this part, near
the sea, though possibly had we fallen we might have rolled
over down a slope.
The views inland up the rugged yellow crags, covered
with verdure and studded with the quaint gouty trees,
are weird and extraordinary, and below at our feet tho
waves dashed up in clouds of white spray. Though we
had heard much of the difBculties of this road and the
dangers for foot passengers, and we were told of the
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360 THE MAHKI ISLAND OF SOKOTBA
bleaching bonea of the camels which had fallen into
the abyss below, we experienced none of these hardships.
We certainly saw the bones of one camel below us, but none
of ours followed its example ; and we revelled in the beauty
of oar eurroundinge, which made us think nothing of the
toilsome scramble up and down the rocks.
As we left the mountain side and approached the plain of
Tamarida, we passed close by what would seem to have been
an ancient ruined fort on the cliff above the sea, evidently
intended to guard this path.
k DigmzedbyGoOgle
CHAPTER XXXI
TAUARIDA OB HADIBO
Certainly Tamaridft ie a pretty place, with its river, its
lagoon, and ite palms, its whitewashed houses and white-
washed mosqueB, and with its fine view of the Haghier
range immediately behind it. The mosqaes are new, and
offer but little in the way of architectural beaaty, for the
fanatical Wahhabi from Nejd swept over the island in 1801,
and in their religious zeal destroyed the places of worship ;
and the extensive cemeteries still bear testimony to the
ravages of these iconoclasts, with their ruined tombs and
overturned headstones.
"We encamped on the further side of a good-sized stream
or little river, having it between nsand the town of Tamarida or
Hadibo ; and this was really a protection to us at night, for the
inhabitants of that neighbourhood are terribly afraid of certain
jinni or ghinni, which abide in the stream, and will not go
near it at night. Indeed, we remarked that it was considered
by Hashi and Mabmoud, the two Somali servants, a wise
precaution to draw all the water and bring up the washing,
which was drying, in good time of an afternoon.
They had heard such fearful stories that they were very
much afraid of being bewitched while in the island, though
I doubt whether I and my camera were not nearly as
alarming.
They had heard how a Sokotran man had turned a
woman of Maskat into a seal and forced her to swim over to
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363 THE MAHRI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
Sokotra in that shape. We were told that this etory is
perfectly trae !
This evil reputation of the islanders is very persistent.
Marco Polo says : ' The Sokotrans are enchanters, as great
as any in the world, though excommunicated by their
prelates therefor ; and raise winds to bring back such
ships as have wronged them, till they obtain satisftkction.'
It is only just to say we had no need to fear such honest
and friendly people.
Sultaji Salem of Sokotra, the nephew of old Sultan Ali ol
Kishin, the monarch of the Mahri tribe, whom we had
visited two years before on the south coa^t of Arabia,
governed the island as his uncle's deputy. He had a castle
at Tamarida of very poor and dilapidated appearance, which
he rarely inhabited, preferring to live in the hills near
Garriah, or at his miserable house at Haula, some eight
miles along the coast from Tamarida. Haula is as ungainly
a spot as it is possible to conceive — without water, without
wood, and invaded by sand — quite the ugliest place we saw
on the island, its only recommendation being that during
the north-east monsoons the few dhows which visit the island
anchor there, since it affords some sort of shelter from the
winds in that direction, and Sultan Salem has a keen eye to
business.
His Majesty came to visit us, shortly after our arrival at
Tamarida, from his country residence, and favoured us with
an audience in the courtyard of his palace, with all the
great men of the island seated around him. He was a man of
fifty, with a handsome but somewhat sinister face ; he was
girt as to his head with a many-coloured kefieh, and as to
his waist with a girdle supporting a finely inlaid Maskat
dagger and a sword. His body was enveloped in a clean
white robe, and his feet were bare.
His conversation, both then and when he returned our
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TAMAKIDA OR HADIBO 363
visit at our camp, on which occaBion he received a few
preBents, was Boleiy about the price of camels and how
many we should need. He did not ask ub one other
question. He talked little Arabic, being of the Mahri tribe.
We gave him an Enfield carbine of 1863.
On the plain behind Tomarida there is a conical hill
about 200 feet high called Hasan, which has been fortified
as an Acropolis, and was provided with cemented tanks.
These ruins have also been called Portuguese, but they
looked to us more Arabic in character.
When one has seen the very elaborate forts erected by
the Portuguese on the coasts of the Persian Gulf and East
Africa one feels pretty confident in asserting that they took
no steps to settle themselves permanently in Sokotra ; in
fact, their occupation of it only extended over a period of
four years, and the probability is that, finding it harbourless,
and worth little for their purposes of a depdt on the road to
India, they never thought it worth their while to build any
permanent edifices.
In the neighbourhood there is a hill where the English
are said to have encamped, and where there are traces of a
more ancient civilisation, probably Portuguese. There are
walls of small stones, cased with cement, and, inside them,
a tank with conduits.
Opposite to this hill, and across the stream, ia a ruined
village, only one house of which is still inhabited ; it has
circular walls and a circular paddock adjoining it for cattle.
It is, perhaps, annoying to have to add another to the
list of the many tongues spoken in the world, but I think
there is no room for doubt that Sokoteri mnst be added to
that aheady distracting catalogue.
Though Sokotra has been under Mahri rule probably
since before our era — for Arrian tells as that in his day the
island of Dioscorida, as it was then called, was under the
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364 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTKA
rule of the king of the Arabian frankiiiceiise country, and
the best days of that country were long before Arrian's
time — neyertheleas, the inhabitants have kept their language
quite distinct both from Mahri and from Arabic. Of course
it is naturally strongly impregnated with words from both
these tongues ; but the fundamental words of the language
are distinct, and in a trilingual parallel list of close on 300
words, which my husband took down in the presence of
Mahri, Sokoteri and Arabic speaking people on the island,
we foimd distinctly more in the language derived from an
Arab than from a Mahri source.
In subtlety of sound Sokoteri is painfully rich, and we
had the greatest difficulty in transcribing the words. They
corkscrew their tongues, they gurgle in their throats, and
bring sounds from most alarming depths, but luckily they
do not click. They have no word for a dog, for there is not
a dog on the island ; neither for a horse not a lion, for the
same reason ; they seemed surprised at the idea that there
might be such words in their language ; but for all the animals,
trees, and articles commonly found there they have words as
distinct from the Arabic and Mahri as cheese is boTo. frontage.
At Tamarida we annexed a respectable man called
Ammar as interpreter. He was familiar with all the lan-
guages spoken in the island, and daily, when the camp was
all pitched and arranged, my husband used to produce a
long hst of Arabic words, and Ammar used to sit on his
heels and tell the Mahri and Sokoteri equivalents, the words,
however, being for the most part shouted out in chorus by
numerous bystanders. I have since added the English, and
the vocabulary will be found in an appendix.
It was most difficult to get an answer as to anything
abstract.
For instance, ' clothes ' would be asked, and Ammar, after
inquiring if white clothes were meant, or blue, or black, or
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TAMARIDA OR HADIBO 365
red, and being answered ' any cIotheB,' wonld give a list of
garments of varions shapes.
' Age ' was a qaestion that caused a great awkwardness,
I am sorry to say.
' Well,' answered Ammar, ' it might be anything — seven,
fifteen, seventy — any^jhing ! '
After the greatest invention and planning on our part,
we unhappily thought to pat the question in this form :
' How do you say " What is your age ? " '
'My age,' said Ammar, 'mine — well' — with evident
annoyance and great hesitation — ' I'm thirty-five — not old —
not old at all.'
He is really quite fifty.
On such occasions there had to be a tremendous conver-
sation with the bystanders.
I will not say more of the language than that instead
of our little word I the Sokoteri is hemuhomdn and the
Mahri evomdhshom.
I wish we could speak confidently about the origin of
the so-called Bedouin, the pastoral inhabitants of the island,
who live in the valleys and heights of Mount Haghier, Eind
wander over the surface of the island with their flocks and
herds.
It has been often asserted that these Bedouin are troglo-
dytes, or cave-dwellers pure and simple, but I do not think
this is substantially correct. None of them, as far as we
could ascertain, dwell always or by preference in caves ; but
all of them own stoue-bnilt tenements, however humble, in
some warm and secluded valley, and they only abandon these to
dwell in caves when driven to the higher regions in search
of pasturage for their flocks during the dry season, which
lasts from November till the aouth-west monsoon bursts in
the beginning of June.
Whilst we were on the island the season was exception-
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366 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
ally dry, and most of the villages in the valleys were entirely
abandoned for the mountain caves.
The Bedon is decidedly a handsome individual, lithe of
limb like hia goats, and with a caf4-au4ait-coloaved skin ;
he has a sharp proHle, excellent teeth ; he often wears a
stubbly black beard and has beaatifolly pencilled eyebrows,
and, though differing entirely in language, in physique and
type he closely resembles the Bedouin fotmd in the Mahri
and Gara mountains. Furthermore, the mode of life is the
same — dweUing in caves when necessary, but having perma-
nent abodes on the lower lands ; and they have several other
striking points in common. Greetings take place between
the Arabian Bedouin and the Sokotran Bedouin in similar
fashion, by touching each cheek and then rubbing the nose.
We found the Bedouin of Mount Haghier fond of dancing
and playing their teherane, and also peculiarly lax in their
religious observances ; and though ostensibly conforming to
Mohammedan practice, they observe next to none of their
precepts ; and it is precisely the same with the Bedouin
whom we met in the Gara mountains. There is certainly
nothing African about the Sokotran Bedouin ; therefore I
am inclined to consider them as a branch of that aboriginal
race which inhabited Arabia, with a language of its own ;
and when Arabia is philologically tmderstood and its various
races investigated, I expect we shall hear of several new
languages spoken by different branches of this aboriginal
race, and then, perhaps, a parallel will be found to the
proudly isolated tongue of this remote island.
The Bedou houses are round, and surrounded by a
round wall in which the flocks are penned at night ; flat-
roofed and covered with soil, and inside they are as destitute of
interest as it is possible to conceive — a few mats on which
the family sleep, a few jars in which they store their
butter, and a skin chum in which they make the same.
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TAMARIDA OE HADIBO S67
The plan of those honses that are obloDg is that of two
cirelee united by & bit of wall at one side, the door being
ftt the other. In one house into which my basb&nd pene-
trated he found a bundle hanging from the ceiling, which
he discovered to be a baby by the exposure of one of its
little feet.
Everything is poor and pastoral. The Bedouin have
hardly any clothes to cover themselves with, nothing to keep
them warm when the weather is damp, save a home-spun
sheet, and they have no ideas beyond those connected with
their flocks. The closest intimacy exists between a Bedou and
his goats and bis cows ; the animals understand and obey
certain calls with absolute accuracy, and you generally see a
Sokotran shepherdess walking before her flock, and not after
it. The owners stroke and caress their little cows until
they are as tame as dogs.
The cows in Sokotra are far more numerous than one
would expect, and there is excellent pasturage for them ;
they are a very pretty little breed, smaller than our Alderney,
without the hump, and with the long dewlap ; they are fat
and plump, and excellent milkers.
The Bedou does very little in the way of cultivation,
but when grass is scarce, and consequently milk, he turns
his attention to the sowing of Jowari in little round fields
dotted about the valleys, with a wall round to keep the goats
off. In each of these he digs a well, and waters his crop
before sunrise and after sunset ; the field is divided into
little compartments by stones, the better to retain the soil
and water ; and sometimes you will see a Bedon papa vith
his wife and son sitting and tilling these hijou fields with
pointed bits of wood, for other tools are imknown to them.
We hired our camels for our journey eastwards from the
Arab merchants who live at Tamarida or Hadibo ; they are
the sole camel proprietors in the island, as the Bedouin own
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368 THE MAHBI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
nothing but their flocks ; and excellent animalB these cEtmels
are, too, the strongest and tallest we had seen. Of our
camel-men, Bome were Bedooin and some were negroes,
and we foond them on the whole honest and obliging,
thoQgh with the aeual keen eye for a possible bakshish,
which is not uncommon elsewhere.
The eastern end of Sokotra is similar in character to the
western, being a iow continuation of the spurs of Ha^hier,
intersected with valleys, and with a plateau stretching right
away to Bas Momi about 1,500 feet above the sea-level.
This plateau is a perfect paradise for shepherds, with much
rich grass all over it ; but it is badly watered, and water has
to be fetched from the deep pools which are found in all its
valleys at the driest season of the year, and in the rainy
season these become impassable torrents, sweeping trees and
rocks before them ; and the hillsides up to the edge of the
bare dolomitic pimiacles of the Hazier range are thickly
clothed with vegetation.
Three considerable streams nm from southward of Mount
Haghier, fertilising three splendid valleys, until the waters,
as the sea is approached, lose themselves in the sand. To
the north there are many more streams, and inasmuch as
the sea is considerably nearer, they all reach it, or, rather, the
silted-up lagoons already alluded to.
By the side of these streams innumerable palm-groves
grow — in fact, dates form the staple food of the islanders.
And ont of the date-tree they get branches for their hedges,
stems for their roofs ; the leaf provides them with their
sleeping-mats, and, when beaten on stones, with fibre, with
which they are exceedingly clever in making ropes. Our
camel-men were always at it, and produced, with the assist-
ance of fingers and toes, the most excellent rope at the shortest
possible notice. They also make strong girdles with this
fibre, which the slaves, who are employed in fertilising the
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TAMAEIDA OB HADIBO 369
palm-treeB, bind romid their bodies and the trees so as to
tacilitate their ascent, and provide them with a firm seat when
the point of operation is reached. They weave, too, baskets,
or, rather, stiff sacks, in which to hang their Inggage on
either side of the camel.
A Sokotran camel-man is a moat dexterous packer. He
mnet first obliterate his camel's hamp by placing against
it three or four thick felt mats or nummuds, and on this
raised surface he builds all his luggage, carefully secured in
his baskets, with the result that we never, during any of our
expeditions with camels, had so little damage done to our
property, even though the roads were so mountainous and
the box-bushes were constantly rubbing against the loads.
The camels are very fine specimens of their race, standing
considerably higher than the Arabian animal, and when
mounted on the top of our luggage, above the hump thus
unnaturally raised, we felt at first disagreeably elevated.
Whilst on the subject of camels and camel-trappings, I
may add that each owner has his own mark painted and
branded on his own property. Some of these marks consist
purely of Himyaritic letters, whilst others are variants, which
would naturally arise from copying a very old-world alpha-
betic original. I take these marks to be preserved by the
steady conservatism of the Oriental ; we copied many of
them, and the result looks like a partial reproduction of the
old SabEean alphabet, and they may be seen in an appendix.
Scattered over Sokotra there are numerous villages, each
being a httle cluster of from five to ten round or oblong
houses and round cattle-pens. I was informed by a competent
authority on the island that there are four hundred of these
pastoral villages 'between Eas Kalenzia and Bas Momi, a
distance of some seventy odd miles as the crow fiies ; and
from the frequency with which we came across them during
our marches up only a limited number of Sokotra's many
B B
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370 THE MAHRI ISLAND OE SOKOTEA
valleys, I Bhonld think the nmnber is not over-estimated. If
this ia so, the population of the island must he considerahly
over the estimate given, and must approach twelve or thirteen
thousand souls ; but owing to the migratory nature of the
inhabitants, and their life half spent in houses and half in
caves, any exact census would be exceedingly hard to obtain.
The east of the island is, however, decidedly more populous
than the west, as the water supply is better. We were con-
stantly passing the little round-housed villages, with their
palm-groves and theii flocks.
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CHAPTEE XXXII
WE BEPABT FOE THE LAND'S END— i.e. EA8 MOMI
Aftbk leaving Tamarida we spent a night at a place the
name of which has heen variously spelt. We decided to
speU it Dihelemnitin. It has otberwiBe been called
Dishelenata, &c. It is a lovely spot, at the confluence of
two Btieams in a wood of palms, and we had a nice little
flat field to camp in. When I say a fleld, I mean a wall-
supported place once used as such. We saw very little cul-
tivation except gardens at the viUageB, and the palm-trees
were for the most part qnite neglected. Near Tamarida we
saw just a few fan-palms, and one I remember looked very
odd, as it still retained every leaf it had ever had, and looked
like a yellow tower, with the green leaves at the top. All
the rest were bristling, withered down to the ground.
In South Arabia people are punished if they steal each
other's palm-leaves, as the ribs are valuable for many things
as well as the leaves themselves, but here there are no restric-
tions of that kind.
There was a good deal of climbing up and down to Sai^hen,
our next camp. While we stayed there my husband went
about everywhere that he was told there were rains or sup-
posed inscriptions, but saw nothing worth mentioning except
the inscribed crosses already alluded to.
At first, after leaving Saifehen, we kept along the lower
ground for some time, passing by Garriah Khor, a very long
inlet or lagoon which stretches inland for at least two miles.
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372 THE MAHRI ISLAND OF SOKOTEA
We dismountad at Die'haas, where, we were toM b; Ammar,
'the English once had houses.' It was a moBs of mins.
We went over a pass about 2,500 feet high, and up and
down two sets of hills to a level plain abont 1,500 feet high,
extending all the way to Bas Momi. Ab we ascended we
passed a peak 2,000 feet high, called G6dahaB, which has a
great hole in the middle of it, through which a large patch
of sky is visible. We encamped near it, close to the hamlet
of Kit'hab, in a wood of palms and varioos other trees,
full of those pretty green and grey birds, half parrot and
half dove, whose beauty, however, did not save them from
our pot.
From this place and even before we reached it we had
very little personal use of our camels, the clambering ap as
well as down was so severe.
There is behind the peak of Cr6daban a curious flat ridge,
raised not very many feet above the plateau, which is called
Matagioti, and is perfectly honeycombed with fissures and
crevices, offering delightful homes for people of troglodytic
tendencies. Huge fig-trees grow in these crevices, and
dragon's-blood trees, and large herds of cows aod goats revel
in the rich carpet of grass which covers the flat surface of
the plateau. Unfortunately, this rich pasture ground is only
indifferently supplied with water. We obtained ours from
two very nasty holes where rain-water had lain, and in
which many cattle had washed ; and when these dry up
the Bedouin have to go down to the lower valleys in search
of it. Before we left it had assumed the appearance of
porter.
There was a great deal of lavender growing about and
namerons pretty flowers, and we found many shells in that
place. It was so very cold that we had a fine bonfire to
dine by, and the dew that night was drenching, pouring off
our tents like rain in the morning.
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WE DEPART FOR THE LAND'S END 373
As KftB Momi is approached the country wears a very
desolate aspect ; there are no trees here, but low bushes and
stunted adeniums covered with lichen, and looking just like
rocks with little bushes on them ; very little water, bat
plenty of grass.
We encamped near the hamlet of Saihon, where, though
there was no appearance of a mosque, there was not only a
mollah but a doctor. The former vraa so free from fana-
ticism as to send us a present of a lamb.
The inhabitants were very friendly to us, and let us go
into their houses and watch their occupations. The women
were busy grinding limestone to make pots ; and we obtained
a very dirty little bag full of a kind of organic substance like
small white stones, which is ground to powder, mixed with
water into a whitish paste, which after a httle time turns
red. I think they paint the pots with it.
They were pleasant looking folk with quite a European
cast of countenance, mostly ugly, and some with scanty beards,
and rensinding us strongly of the old frieze of the Parthenon
sculptures in the Acropolis Museum at Athens. Beally, they
were just like them except for their colour, which is chocolate
brown. "We could not help thinking of the ' Moskophoros'
when one came up to look at us with a lamb round his
neck. We settled there for several days, not being able to
go nearer Bas Momi for reasons connected with water.
I cannot think it cotild have been really pleasant to the
people of Saihon that we should have drunk up nearly
all their water, and only left a httle the colour of coffee
behind us.
We suffered badly while there from two things ; firstly
from the dreadful kind of grass upon which we were
encamped, and secondly from a regular gale of wind.
The grass, a pennisetum I believe, is one we knew and
hated in Mashonaland. The seed is like a little grain of
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374 THE MAHEI ISLAND OP SOKOTEA
Ter; sharp oats, well barbe<3, which carries behind it into
yoDX clothes a thread hke a fish-hook, about 2 inches long.
Aa for the wind, when we came home one afternoon we
fonnd Matthaios in a most dreadful state, fearing the tents
would be down. He was trying to get the outer flies off
alone, and was dehgbted when my husband and I, the only-
two other experienced tent-dwellers, came to his assistance.
For days we might as well have lived in a dram, for the
noise of this tempest.
There was a little round enclosure to keep goats in ;
we knew that Hashi and Mahmoud had taken this as their
home, and we were satisfied that no matter which way the
wind blew they were sheltered ; but one evening before
dinner we heard that Mahmoud was ill with fever. We
both went to see that be was comfortable, and my husband
took him some quinine.
We found Hashi had put him to bed on the windy side
of the enclosure, with a hard, stiff camel-mat under him, one
over his body, and a third on his head. We soon moved
him and wrapped him in blankets, and my husband having
got some sacks and other things as a pillow, Hashi put them
on the top of Mabmoud's head. We built up a waterproof
tent over him, but soon had to unpack him, as the village
doctor appeared on the scene, demanding a fee of two annas
from my husband.
He began by making several slashes on the top of his
head and cupping him with a horn, which he sncked, gave
him some medicine, and having spent a little time blowing
in different directions, settled down, crouching over the
patient, waving his hand as if making passes to mesmerise
him, and muttering a few words alternately with spitting,
slightly and often, in his face.
Our joint efforts were successful ia the recovery of
Mahmoud, who was well next day.
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WE DEPART FOR THE LAND'S END 375
It is coriouB that in this somewhat wiM and at present
uninteresting locality we found more traces of ruins and
bygone habitations than are found in any other part of the
island. About five miles from Eas Momi, and hidden by an
amphitheatre of low hills on the watershed between the two
seas, we came across the foundations of a large square
building, constructed out of very large stones, tmd with
great regularity. It was 105 feet square ; the outer wall
was 6 feet thick, and it was divided inside into several com-
partments by transverse walls. To the south-east comer
was attached an adjunct, 14 by 22 feet. There vras very
little soil in this building ; and nothing whatever save the
foundations to guide us in our speculations as to what
this could be. Other ruins of a ruder and more irregular
character lay scattered in the vicinity, and at some remote
period, when Sokotra was in its brighter days, this must
have been an important centre of civiUsation.
None of the natives would help us to dig in this place.
They are very much afraid of the Devil, and think the ground
under the ruins is hollow and that there is a hoQse in it.
At one time hopes were held out that the sacrifice of a goat
might avert danger, but, after all, we and Matthaios had to
do the best we could in the way of digging. We always
carried tools with us. My part consisted in tracing out the
walls with the trowel and moving stones.
My husband and I found it most difficult next day to
take the measurements in the high wind.
From Saihon my husband climbed up a steep and
ragged mountain to a mined village on a strong place called
Zerug. Ammar's family mansion was near : a cave contain-
ing three women, some children, and large docks of goats,
kept in the cave by a wall ; it is heated at night, and
very stufiy.
Before leaving this coiner of the island we journeyed to
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376 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTBA
the edge of the plateau and looked down the steep clifTe at
the eastern cape, where Has Momi pierces, with a series of
diminlBhing heights, the Indian Ocean. The waves were
dashing over the remains of the wreck, still visible, of a
German vessel which went down here with all hands some
few years ago, and the Bedouin produced for our edifica-
tion several fragments of Grerman print, which they had
treasured up, and which they deemed of fabulous value.
Has Momi somewhat reminded us of Cape Finisterre, in
Brittany, and as a dangerous point foe navigation it also
resembles it closely. Near the summit of one hill we
passed an ancient and long disused reservoir, dug in the
side of it, and constructed with stones ; and during our
stay here we visited the sites of many ancient villages, and
found the cave charnel-houses already alluded to.
We lunched in a sort of cave, behind some huts on the
opposite side of the valley, if such it may be called, from
the bone caves, and were put to the rout by a serpent,
which evidently liked the water in a little rocky pit in the
mouth of the cave. It was horrible stuff, but we had brought
water for our tea with ub. Our supposed foe was slain.
The serpent was very pretty, fully a yard long, black and
salmon-coloured, and with a very tapering head and tail.
It was said to be poisonous, but we thought it could
not be.
The hills all about Bas Momi are divided into irregular
plots by long piles of stones stretching in every direction,
certainly not the work of the Sokotrans of to-day, but the
work of some people who valued every inch of ground, and
utilised it for some purpose or other. The miles of waUs
we passed here, and rode over with our camels, give to the
country somewhat the aspect of the Yorkshire wolds. It
has been suggested that they were erected as divisions for
aloe-grounds ; but I think if this was the case traces of
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WE DEPART FOR THE LAND'S END 377
aloes would surely be found here still. Aloes are still
abundant aboat Fereghet and the valleys of Haghier, but
near Bas Momi there are none, and it is hard to think what
else could grow there now ; but these mountain slopes may
not always have been so denuded.
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THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTBA
CHAPTEE XXXin
MOUNT HAQHIEB AKD FEBEGHE'r
Aptee leaving onr camp at Saihon we took a path in a
Bouth-weeterly direction, and after a few days of somewhat
monotonoos travelling we came again into the deeper
valleys and finer ecenery of the central districts of the
island. Through them we made oar way in the direction of
Mount Haghier.
Sokotra withont Mount Haghier would be hke a foody
without a soul. The great mass of mountains which
occupies the centre of the island rises in many jagged and
stupendoas peaks to the height of nearly fi,000 feet. At all
seasons of the year it catches the fngitive sea mists which
so rarely visit the Arabian coasts, and down its sides dow
sparkling streams and bubbling cascades. The Ghebel Bit
Molek (a name which, by the way, sounds as if it had an
Assyrian origin) is the highest peak. It is very sheer and
unapproachable at its summit, and though only 4,900 feet
high vrill give trouble to the adventurous crag-climber who
is bent on conquering it. Then there are the Driat peaks,
the Adonua peaks, and many others piercing the sky like
needles, around which vrild goats and civet cats roam, but
no other big game.
In the lower gronnd are found quantities of wild don-
keys, which, the Bedouin complained, were in the habit of
trampling upon and killing their goats. Whether these
donkeys are naturally wild or descendants of escaped tamed
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MOUNT HAGHIEB AND FEBEGHET 379
ones I am unable to Bay. Some are dark and some Eire
'white, and their Bkins seemed to be more glossy than those
of the domestic moke. The Bedouin like to catch them if
they can, with the hope of taming them for domestic use.
The glory of Mount Haghier is tmdonbtedly its dragon's-
blood tree {DractBnia einnabari), foxind scattered at an
elevation of aboat 1,000 feet and upwards over the greater
part of Sokotra. Certainly it is the quaintest tree imagin-
able, from 20 feet to 30 feet high, exactly like a green
lunbrella which is just in the process of being blown inside
out, I thought. One of our party thought them like huge
green toadstools, another like trees made for a child's Noah's
Ark. The gum was called kinjidbare, but the Arab name is
kAtir. The Sokoteri name is edah.
It is a great pitj that the Sokotrans of to-day do not
make more use of the rich ruby-red gum which issues from
its bark when punctured, and which produces a valuable
resin, now used as yamish ; but the tree is now found in
more enterprising countries — in Sumatra, in South America,
and elsewhere. So the export of dragon's blood from its
own ancient home is now practically nil.
If the dragon's-blood tree, with its close-set, radiating
branches and stiff, aloe-like leaves, is gnaint — and some might
be inclined to say ugly — it has, nevertheless, its economic
use ; but not so its still quainter comrade on the slopes
of Mount Haghier, the gouty, swollen-stemmed Adenium,
This, I think, is the ugliest tree in creation, with one of the
most beautiful of flowers : it looks hke one of the first efforts
of Dame Nature in tree-making, happily abandoned by her
for more grcicefnl shapes and forms. The swollen and twisted
contortions of its trunk recall with a shudder those miserable
sufferers from elephantiasis ; its leaves are stiff and formal,
and they usually drop off, as if ashamed of themselves, before
the lovely flower, like a rich-coloured, lalrge oleander blossom.
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880 THE MAHEI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
conies out. The adeuium bears some slight resemblance,
on a small scale, to the unsightly baobab-tree of Africa,
though it tapers much more rapidly, and looks as if it
belonged to a different epoch of creation to our own trees
at home.
Then there is the cucumber-tree, another hideous-stemmed
tree, swollen and whitish ; and the hill-slopes covered with
this look as if they had been decorated with so many huge
composite candles which had guttered horribly. At the top
of the candle are a few short branches, on which grow a few
stiff crinkly leaves and small yellow flowers, which produce
the edible fniit. This tree, in Sokoteri kamhdn, the Den^
drosicyos Socotrana of the botanist, is like the language of the
Bedouin, found only on Sokotra, and is seldom more than
10 or 12 feet in height. It is a favourite perch for three or
four of the white vultures which swarm in the island, and the
picture formed by these ungainly birds on the top of this
ungainly tree is an odd one.
To the south of Mount Haghier one comes across valleys
entirely full of frankincense-trees, with rich red leaves, like
autumn tints, and clusters of blood-red flowers. No one
touches the trees here, and this natural product of the island
is now absolutely ignored. Then there are the myrrhs, also
ignored, and other gum-prodncing plants ; and the gnarled
tamarinds, affording lovely shade, and the fruit of which the
natives, oddly enough, do know the value of, and make a
cooling drink therewith. Then there are the tree-euphorbias,
which look as if they were trying to mimic the dragon's
blood, the branches of which the natives throw into the
lagoons so that the fish may be killed, and the poisonous
milky juice of which they rub on the bottoms of their canoes
to prevent leakage.
Such are among the oddest to look upon of Sokotra's vege-
table productions. Wild oranges, too, are found on Mount
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MOUNT HAGHIER AND PEBEGHET 381
Haghier, of a very rich yellow when ripe, but bitter as gall
to eat ; and the wild pomegranate, with its lovely red flowera
and small yellow fruit, the flanuelly coating of which only is
eaten, instead of the seeds, as is the case with the cultivated
one.
The vegetable world is indeed richly represented in this
remote island, and one could not help thinking what possi-
bilities it would offer for the cultivation of lucrative plants,
such as tobacco, which is now grown by the natives in small
quantities,as is also cotton ; and perhaps cofFee and tea would
thrive on the higher elevations.
The Bedouin would bring us aloes both in leaf and in
solution, in hopes that we might take a fancy to this vener-
able Sokotran production. Now a very little of it is collected,
and everybody takes what he likes from the nearest source,
whereas, I believe, in former times, when aloes were an
object of commerce here, the plantations were strictly
divided off by walls, and the owners jealously looked after
their property.
The way the aloe-juice is collected is this. As the
Abyssinians do when they are going to wash clothes the aloe-
gatherers dig a hole in the ground and line it with a skin.
Then they pile old leaves, points outward, all round till the
pressure makes the juice exude. This at first is called taif
diho, or riho, both of the latter words used for water, though
the formeris the most usual. It is left till it isfirmer and drier,
and this takes about a month. Then it is called tai/geshisha.
When it has dried for about six weeks it is nearly hard, and
called taif kasahal. It is exported in skins. The collection
of dragon's blood is carried on just like that of the mastic
in Chios. The drops are knocked off into bags. The
drops which come oflf unbroken are the most valued, and
called edah arr^ello. Then the nice, clean, broken bits are
picked out, and called edah dakkak ; the refuse, with bits
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382 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOEOTEA
of dirt, bark, and leaves stack in it, edah. This is made up
into cakes with a little resin and sold very cheap.
My husband as usaal made a botanical collection, and I
believe it contained a lew novelties ; but for further particulars
on the flora of Sokotra and the trees thereof I must refer
yoQ to Professor Bailey Balfour's very huge and equally
interesting book. We were so fortunate as to have it with
us, and it added much to our pleasnre.
Our way was over broken ground, with little of interest
save the lovely views over mountain and gorge and the many
dragon, frankincense, and myrrh trees, past an open space
in which is the village of Jahaida, where the inhabitants
had cultivated some httle fields, to Boshi, where there was
no village but a good deal of water. We encamped in a
cattle-pen, the camel-men making themselves a capital
house with floors, walls, and sides of the thick mats of the
camels. These mats are really like hard mattresses, nearly
1 inch thick, and very stiff, abont 1 yard long by 2 feet wide.
We always tried to encamp in a fleld if we could, as then
we were sure of some earth for the tent-pegs. After three
days, during which I do not think onr guides knew their
way very well, we went over a steep pass, up and down, into
the deep valley of Es'hab. We had wandered about a good
deal backwards and forwards over stony wolds, and the men
all disagreed as to the direction, and we had scrambled up a
valley off our road to see some supposed inscriptions, a much
more dangerous place than the Kadhonp road.
The Es'hab valley, with its rich red stone dotted with
green and its weird trees, forms an admirable foreground to
the blue pinnacles of Haghier— tropical and Alpine at the
same time.
The climbing was most tremendous, np flrst and then down
very steeply, all over large sharp loose stones, till we reached
the water, the camel-men leaning backwards holding their
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MOUNT HAGHIEB AND FEEEGHET S8S
camels by their tadlB with all their might by way of patting
on the drag. When we reached the valley we gladly mounted
our camels, and squeezed through woods, and often were nearly
torn off. We encamped in a sweet place, with a stream and
shade and a most fragrant carpet of basil, some of which we
had in our soap, and acme of which was carried on for future
use. We found the management of our milk-tins rather
difficult. We often had to resort to them, for, surrounded
though we were by herds of cattle, the supply of fresh milk
was very irregular : sometimes we could have more than we
wanted and at others none at all. It is pretty dear, too, in
Sokotra, as so much is used up for the ghi.
On January 17 we forced our way on through more
woods, the peak of Toff seeming to fill up the end of the
valley, to the Wadi Dishel, and crossed over to the Wadi
Dikadik, where we settled near a wide river in a beautiful
grassy spot, with many trees entwined with monkey-ropes,
rejoicing that on the following day we should reach Fereghe,
or Fereghet, where we intended to rest some time. We had
heard from Ammar a delightful description of it, and as we
have so often been disappointed under such circumstances
we said we would take all possible enjoyment out of the
pleasures of hope beforehand. But really this time we had
everything we expected, including a wide rocky river,
enabling us to bathe, develop photographs, and set up a
laundry.
Fereghet was, in fact, a most charming spot. Here our
tents were pitched beneath wide-spreading tamarinds, and
we could walk in shade for a considerable distance under
these gigantic old trees. Fereghet, moreover, was the site
of an ancient ruined town which interested us exceedingly :
walls, 8 to 10 feet thick, had been constructed out of very
large unhewn boulders externally, filled with rubble, to
check the torrent, which in the rainy season tushes down
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384 THE MAHBI ISLAND OF SOKOTRA
here cftrrying all before it to the sea. These walls, showing
much skill in keeping a.straight line, are clearly the work of
an age long gone by, when weight-moving was better under-
stood than it is at present, and doubtless the ruins of
Fereghet may be braced back to the days when Sokotra was
resorted to for its gums. The fine old tamarind-trees had
done much to destroy the colossal wall, only about 100 feet
of which now remains, still about 5 feet high ; but there ore
many other traces of ruins and a small fort of later date. It
is likely enough that Fereghet was a great centre of the
trade of the island, for frankincense, myrrh, and dragon's
blood grow copiously around, and the position under the
slopes of Haghier, and almost in the middle of the island,
was suitable for such a town.
We opened a tomb not very far from Fereghet with a great
block of stone over it, 6 feet long by 3 feet thick ; but the
ill-conditioned relatives of the deceased had placed nothing
therein save the corpse ; and we were annoyed not to find any
trace of inscriptions near this ruined town, which might have
thrown some light on the snbject. All I feel sure of is that
the Portuguese did not build this town, as it is commonly
asserted. In fact we did not see any building on the island
which can definitely be ascribed to that nation.
Below Fereghet the valley gets broader and runs straight
down to the sea at the south of the island, where the
streams from Mount Haghier all lose themselves in a vast
plain of sand called Noget, which we could see from the
mountains up which we climbed.
This is the widest point of the island of Sokotra, and it is
really only thirty-six miles between the ocean at Tamarida
and the ocean at Noget, but the intervention of Mount Hag-
hier and its ramifications make it appear a very long way
indeed.
The island to the east and to the west of its great
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MOUNT HAGHIER AND FEEEGHET 385
moantaic very soon loaes its fajitastic scenery and its ample
supply of water. The most remarkable peak we could Gee from
Fereghet was Adouna. The topmost point of this mountain
is split. We saw this clearly afterwards, when we continued
our joomey up the valley, but from Fereghet, I found it out
by seeing a small cloud passing through it. To look at the
mountains yon would think they were made of black stone
with a few patches of red lichen, but really these patches of
red are the natural rock showing amongst the fine black
lichen which covers the mountains.
The channels of the water in the river-bed are shown
by this blackness, and the water looks like an inky stream.
Beyond Fereghet we were near a river the water of
which was very low. The main bed of the water-channel
was all black, and above this was a coat of white over the
blackened stones, and as the remaining pools were all white,
I suppose that some white tributary continues flowing later
than the black stream.
The few Bedouin who live round Fereghet were in
constant contact with our camp, as you will understand when
you know that our tent was pitched exactly on their high
road — a little narrow path. They behaved most kindly in
going aside. The women used to bring us aloe plants just
torn up, and seemed much disappointed at finding that we
did not find any use for them.
We heard from them that there is only one leper on the
island and he Uves alone in the hills.
Our sheltering tamarind-trees, wide-spreading Eind gnarled,
abounded in doves ; some were small ones hke ours, and
some of the parrot kind, whose cawing was far from sedative.
We enjoyed wandering in the shade of the fig-trees, vrild
and unprofitable, the date and other trees. Around us stood
the relics of a bygone race of men, who bad ill-naturedly
left US no inscriptions on stone, and no clue to tell us who
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386 THE MAHEI ISLAND OP SOKOTRA
they were. Motmt&ine hemmed as in on every side, and
any httle wind was very refreshing, for we were only about
400 feet above the sea-level, and quite sheltered from our
now only too-well-known north-east monsoon. On a kind of
promontory by a deep pool in the river is a building of
stones and mortar, later in style than the wall and equally
inexplicable, probably a fort.
It is impossible to describe the fantaBtic beauty of the
delightful Fereghet. We were quite sorry to leave it on
January 24. We rode a little way along the river, passing a
single fan-palm-tree, very tall and bare, and then had another
great climb up and down. We passed a good many old
tombs, which had been opened. They were made of large
slabs. We found one in the evening not far from onr camp,
60 we opened it the following morning before starting. After
a great deal of trouble with the pickaxes and crowbar
nothing was found but bones. We measured the top stone,
6 feet 5 inches by 2 feet 10 inches and 1 foot 5 inches thick.
We next scrambled up a wooded mountain, steep enough,
bnt nothing to the downward scramble. There was no
particular road: one had to stick one's heels into trailing
masB^ of sharp chips and blocks of red stone and let them
slide as short a way as they would. The booted portion of
our party began to feel great anxiety as to foot-gear.
We wondered if onr boots could possibly la-st to Tamarida
where we had left a good deal of baggage, i.e. clothes that
we had needed on the steamer. We used to apply the guma
of various treeB to the soles and toes to retard consumption.
The camels sat down and slid, or looked as if they were doing
so ; the camel-men, holding the tails, nearly lay on their backs ;
but we reached the river safely, encamped there, and rode
most of next day up a valley, crossing the water often.
We had to wind in and out of clumps of trees, sometimes
lying on our camels to get under branches, and finally, after
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MOUNT HAGHIEB AND FEBEGHET 387
going through thick woocIb, stopped at the foot of some
mighty moQDtains.
Though many of cm camps on Mount Haghier and the
expeditiona therefrom were very delightful, I think this one,
called Yehazahaz, was decidedly the prettiest- It was low
down on the sonthem slope of Mount Haghier ; our tents
were pitched in a grove of palm-trees at the meeting of two
rashing streams ; tangled vegetation hung around ns ou
every side, and whichever way we looked we had glimpses
of granite peaks and rugged hill-sides clad with dragon's-
blood. The village was quite hidden by trees and creepers,
but its inhabitants were away on the higher pasturage, and
our men occupied the empty tenements.
We stayed there a couple of days, and the first evening as
we were sitting in our tent after tea, a tremendous noise and
shouting proceeded from the direction of our kitchen. This
proved to be occasioned by the discovery of some long-
suspected sugar thieves. They were the three youngest of
our camel-drivers. They were all tied to a palm-tree with
their arms round it, and Ammar began scourging them with
a rope. I begged them off; my husband thought I had
been foolish, particularly aa the scourging had not been
ordered by him. The boys certainly did not seem to mind it
a bit. However, the elder men consulted and Ammar brought
a rupee next morning as a fine, which my husband thought
it right to accept.
The red mountains here assume a grejrish-white
appearance. The land shells seemed to grow larger on tha
tops of the mountains. We found some about 8 inches in
length.
On leaving Yehazahaz there was no riding for us, but
a climb afoot straight up a steep pass and down across a
river and over a second pass. The way was mostly rough
and through woods, but there were a few little grassy
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388 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF SOKOTBA
bits. We descended only abont 100 feet and pitched
our tents on a flattiBh, Bpongy piece of grass, neax a pretty
streamlet overhung with begonias and many other flowers,
at a Bpot called Adahan, where a sort of pass winds its
way between the granite peaks. We were encamped for
several days at an elevation of close on 3,000 feet above
the sea-level. Here, when the mist came down upon us,
we were enveloped in clouds, rain, and wretchedness ; but
the air to us was cool and invigorating, though I fear our
scantily clad attendants found it anything but agreeable.
There were drawbacks, too, to the enjoyment of our
mountain camps in the shape of several kinds of pernicious
gnoses, which grew thickly round our tent, aud the seeds of
which penetrated relentlessly into everything. Grass thorns
invaded our day and night raiment, getting into places
hitherto deemed impregnable, and the prickly sensation
caused by them was irritating to both body and mind.
From Adahan one could easily ascend to the highest
ground ; though perhaps one ought not to say easily, for
climbing is no joke up here, through dense vegetation and
rocky gullies. Looking down into the gorges, we enjoyed
some splendid effects, and were constantly reminded of the
Grand Corral of Madeira.
There were many trees and flowering shrubB, rocky
needles, and pinnacles all around us, and a view of the ocean
to the north ; and by climbing up we could catch sight of the
ocean to southward too.
My husband tried to ascend the highest peak in the
island — Briate it is called by the Bedouin — hnt when he had
gone as far as possible the peak soared above him about 400
feet sheer and impracticable, quite bare of vegetation. An
Alpine Club would find plenty of amnsement in Sokotra.
The bottoms and sides of the valleys, filled with bulbous
plants and rank vegetation, enormous dragon 'a-biood-trees.
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MOUNT HAGHIEB AND FEEEGHET 389
the long valleys of Feregbet and Yefaazahaz winding their
■way to the coast, the rugged mass of Bit Molek, and the view
over both seas make, my husband said, as interesting a
natural view as it is possible to conceive. The cloads had
fortonately rolled themselves up for the occasion.
We had, however, during our stay so much wet that
we had a special fire to dine by, and by it a very rudely
constructed clothes-horse to dry oar dripping garments.
Our kitchen fire was the constant resort of the Bedouin of
the neighbourhood, coming to see us and bring provisions
to sell. We had plenty of milk and one day bought a tiny
calf for three rupees. The camel-men who skinned it tried
to keep the head as their perquisite, but Matthaios secured
it and pat it in oar soap. To our surprise the two Somah
servants, Hashi and Mahmoud, would in consequence eat
none of the soup nor any meat. They usually ate anything
that was going.
A I&me Bedou brought us some green oranges and
potatoes, which were really the roots of a convolvulus : they
were not bad when baked in the ashes, but hard when boiled.
He also brought us a sweet herb which they use to stuff
pillows with. The greetings of the Bedou always amuse
us ; they first put cheek to cheek and then rub noses in the
most matter-of-fact way, so we may infer that this mode of
salutation is in vogue in the Mahra country. It was pleasant
to be among such friendly people, who had no horror of us
and did not even seem much surprised at seeing as there, and
to be able to go off quite alone for a scramble so safely.
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THE MAHBI ISLAND OF SOKOTBA
CHAPTER XXXIV
BACK TO THB OCEAN
After several days at Adahan we climbed down northward.
Our journey was only three milea along a very narrow valley,
but we made mnch more of it climbing after plants and
shells. We stopped at the first little flat place that would hold
our tents, a sort of small shelf more than knee-deep in that
awful grass ; and though we really enjoyed that camp foir two
days, pain was our portion all the time. The scenery was
magnificent, and all the more striking that the mountains,
having cast off their hchen covering, gleamed out in their
glowing red. All round us there was such steepness that it
was a work of great difficulty to set up my camera anywhere.
We had a very steep descent after that over sharp stones
to the plain, my husband and I, as usual, when on foot,
starting before the others, and though we were sorry when
we finally quitted the mountains, we were glad enough to
find ourselves on our camels again, to be carried to Suk,
where we decided to stay, as we heard that the sultan's boat
was there and the sultan himself was not so very far off.
We wished to engage the ship for our return to Aden.
Before leaving the s.a. Canara my husband had begged
the captain to take a letter to Bombay requesting that the
B.I.S.N. Co. would send a steamer lor us, and let ua know
about it by some dhow. A dhow had arrived from Bombay
with no letter for us, but with news of the plague : so we
became afraid that if the plague prevented the steamer
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BACK TO THE OCEAN 391
from coming ajid we waited for it, we might have to stick
on Sokotra during the whole of the south-west monaoon.
My husband therefore began parleying about saihug-boata
and had sent Ammar from Adahan, and the sultan had
sent his captain up to meet ub.
Dr. Schweinfurth sees in the present name of Sokotra a
Hindoo origin, and the survival of the Hindoo name Diu
Sukutura, which the Greeks, after their easy-going fashion,
changed into Dioscorides. This is very ingenious and most
likely correct. When the Portuguese reached the island in
1538, they found the Arab sheikh dwelling at the capital
called Zoko, now ia ruins, and still called Buk, a survival
doubtless of the original name.
The old capital of Zoko is a delicious spot, and the ruins
are buried in groves of palm-trees by the side of a large and
deep lagoon of fresh water ; this lagoon is only separated
from the sea by a narrow belt of sand and shingle, and it
seems to me highly probable that this was the ancient
harbour where the boats in search of the precious products
of the island found shelter. The southern coast of Arabia
affords many instances of these silted harbours, and the
northern coast of Sokotra ia similar, many of the lagoons, or
khors as they call them, being deep and running over a mile
inland. The view at Suk over the wide lagoon fringed with
palm groves, on to the jagged heights of Mount Haghier
rising immediately behind, is, I think, to be placed amongst
the most enchanting pictures I have ever seen.
Extensive excavation at Suk might probably bring to
light some interesting relics of the earlier inhabitants of this
island, but it would have to be deep, as later edifices have
been erected here ; and labour and tools would hare to be
brought from elsewhere.
The present capital is called Tamarida by Arabs and
foreigners, and Hadibo by the natives, and its construction
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392 THE MAHRI ISLAND OF 80KOTRA
16 quite of a modem date ; the name is apparently a Latinised
form of the Arabic tamar, or date fruit, which tree is largely
cultivated there.
Much is said by old writers about the Greek colonists
who came to Sokotra in ancient times, but 1 cannot help
thinking that the Hellenic world never carried its enterprise
much in this direction, for, if the Greeks did, they have left
no trace whatsoever of their existence there.
I should think few places in the world have puisned the
even tenor of their way over so many centuries as Sokotra
has. Yakut, vrriting seven hundred years ago, speaks of
the Arabs as ruling here ; the author of the ' Periplas ' more
than one thonsand years ago tells as the same thing ; and
now we have a representative of the same coantry and the
same race governing the island still.
Sokotra has followed the fortunes of Arabia ; thronghout,
the same political and religions influences which have been
at work in Arabia have been felt here. Sokotra, like Arabia,
has gone through its several stages of Pagan, Christian, and
Mohammedan beliefs.
The first time the island came in contact with modemideas
and modem civiliBation was when the Portagaese occupied
it in 1538, and this was, as we have seen, ephemeral. Then
the island fell under the rod of Wahabi persecution at the
beginning of this century, as did nearly the whole of Arabia
in those days. In 1835 it was for a short time brought
under direct ^British influence, and Indian troops encamped
on the plain of Tamarida. It was then uncertain whether
Aden or Sokotra would be chosen as a coaling station for
India, and Lieutenant Wellsted was sent in the PalinuTUs
to take a survey of it ; but doubtless the harbourless condi-
tion of the island, and the superior position of Aden in that
respect, caased the decision in favour of Aden.
The advantages Aden afforded for fortification and for
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BACK TO THE OCEAN 393
commanding the month of the Bed Sea influenced the
decision, and Sokotra, with ite fair moontainB and rich
fertility, was again aJlowed to relapse into its pristine state
of quiescence, and the British soldier was condemned to
sojourn on the harren, burning rocks of Aden, instead of in
this island paradise.
Finally, in 1876, to prevent the island being acquired by
any other nation, the British 6oTemment entered into a
treaty with the sultan, by which the latter gets 360 dollars
a year, and binds himself and his heirs and successors,
* amongst other things, to protect any vessel, foreign or
British, with the crew, passengers, and cargo, that may be
wrecked on the island of Sokotra and its dependencies,' and
it is understood that the island is never to be ceded to a
foreign power without British consent.
A more peaceful, law-abiding people it would be hard to
find elsewhere — such a sharp contrast to the tribes on the
South Arabian coast. They seem never to qoairel amongst
themselves, as far as we conld see, and the few soldiers
Sultan Salem possesses have a remarkably easy time of it.
Our luggage was invariably left about at night without
anyone to protect it, and none of it was stolen, and after our
journeys in Southern Arabia the atmosphere of secmity was
exceedingly agreeable.
The only thieves were the white and yellow vultures who
sat on guard around our kitchen and were always ready
to carry off our meat, and made many valiant attempts to
do so.
Money is scarce in the island, and so are jealousiea, and
probably the Bedonin of Sokotra will remain in their bucolic
innocence to the end of time, if no root of bitterness in the
shape of modem civilisation is planted amongst them.
' It is undoubtedly a providential thing for the Sokotran
that his island is harbourless, that his mountains are not
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394 THE MAHEI ISLAND OF 80K0TRA
aurifeious, and that the modem world ib not so keen about
dragon'B-blood, which is still called 'the blood of two
brothers,' frankincense and myrrh, as the ancients were.
A thing we regretted very much in leaving Sokotra was the
delightful peace of travelling without an armed escort,
which we had not enjoyed for years ; we knew we should
soon be travelling again with soldiers in Arabia.
There is a wretched hamlet of Somah at Suk, which had
been visited by us from Hadibo. We had only one night at
Suk, and in the morning my husband and Matthaios went off
on foot to Haulah or Haulaf to see the boat. This is where
the saltan lives. I beheve the boat was actually at Khor
Dilisha. They did not think it would have been so far or
they would have taken camels. It was a three-mile tramp
in the sand.
My husband and Matthaios came back from Haulah very
hot and tired, not having seen the saltan ; he was sleeping or
praying all the time, the mode in which Moslems say ' not
at home ' — in short he was keeping out of the way. They
described the boat as everything that was ddightful, though
people not so well accostomed as we were to voyaging in
these ships might not agree with them, but it was imposible
to come to terms. They had had a very stormy interview
with the saltan's captain, who said that 1,000 rupees was
the lowest price. My hasband said he had paid no more for
the steamer, and we had all bad beds provided and food ;
800 was his highest price.
The sultan has a miserable honse in a very uncomfortable
spot, surrounded by a few huts belonging to fishermen, who
go oat on little rafts made of bundles of palm-leaf ribs to
drop the traps for fish.
We then moved to Hadibo again, going along the shore,
and encamping quite in a different place to that in which
we were at first ; we were in a nice date grove by the lagoon
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BACK TO THE OCEAN 395
and close to the beach. We now commenced a time of
dreadful nncertainlj as to how or when we could leave the
island.
Hearing nothing from the sultan, Matthaios was sent
on a camel to offer 800 rupees, and returned most indignant,
2,000 being the lowest price asked, i.e. 121!. Later the
captain came, agreed to the 800, and said my husband must
pay 400 at sunset to get wood and water. As the men
never came for the money till we were in bed, they were sent
off till next morning, when they came very early and asked
for paper to write the contract. My husband produced some,
with pen and ink. They said they could only write with a
pencil, bat when that was got the captain said 500 must be
paid : be did not want it himself, nqr yet the snltan, bat
the sailors did ; my husband then said he would complain
to the Wali of Aden, and they all suddenly departed, and
the captain, we heard, went to Kadhoup, where there was
another boat, in order to prevent its owner spoiling the
sultan's bargain.
Two days after we had a message to say we were to pay
the whole 800 rupees at once, that the saltan was coming to
fetch it himself, and that we should positively stEixt that
day.
Ko sultan came, but next day a very affectionate letter
from him said he would come round with the ship at sunset.
We had to forgive his non-appearance that time, as there
was such a storm that we could not, in any case, have
passed the snrt. Next day he came by land to the castle,
where we had seen him, and sent to ask my hueband to
bring the money; so he went, attended by myrmidons
bearing money-bags, pen, and paper, bat as the saltan would
not sign the contract, the money was brought back. At
midday there was an apology sent with two lambs and a
Uttle calf, and at sunset the saltan really arrived at our
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396 THE MAHBI ISLAND OF SOKOTEA
camp, signed the contract, and carried off the money ; so we
left next day.
We had plenty to do, ao were quite occupied aU this
time. I used to develop photographs, for I had my dark
tent set up. I had awful trials to bear. The water was so
warm that the gelatine frilled in spite of alum, and what was
worse, when I put the negatives in the hyposnlphate of
soda they ran off their supports hke so much hot starch.
Some I saved, bat I never dared do more than carefully dip
them in the ' hypo,' and even then it seemed to froth up at
once. I had a good many negatives marked by this, and
had to smooth off the bubbles with my hands, regardless of
their colour, and I had to work at night for coolness.
We had very little milk while there ; none till the last
two days. A man was drinking a bowlful in our camp, and
this is the surprising way in which he did it : he dipped his
hand in and sucked his fingers (not clean ones at first), and
so continued till he had finished it all up. Our visitors used
sometimes suddenly to hurry off to pray, choosing a bit of
damp sand, and when they returned some of the sand was
sticking to their foreheads. The longer that sand stayed
on the better, as it was considered a sign of a religious man.
We had an anzions battle with white ants also. A
basket was nearly devoured by them, but our best steamer
raiment was preserved by the inner lining of American
cloth, though they were sitting on it in sheets. We had
remarked in South Africa that they never eat mackintosh.
The basket was brushed over the sea, steeped in the lagoon,
and inundated with boiling water. This was the only thing
attacked of all that we had left behind when we were in
Hadibo the first time.
Our brown ship, 70 feet in length by 15 wide, did really
look a very ' mere nutshell ' to go 600 miles over the great
ocean in, bnt it was far, far better than some we had been in.
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BACK TO THE OCEAN 397
From the deck Sokotra looked almost too beautiful to
leave.
The weather was very rough, the sailors not nearly ready,
and it was midday before we started. By this time all the
servants were prostrate, and my husband had to get the
sailors to help him in setting np oar beds, and arranging
the baggage in the place between decks astern, which was
3^ feet high, and, as the beds had to be tied to each other,
2 feet apart, as well as to the sides of the ship, we had to
bend low and step high when moving about. The two
Somali servants managed wonderfully to take it in turns
to be well after a bit, but Matthaios was one of the worst,
BO food was a dif&culty and his wrath was great when,
Mahmoud having made us tea Uke ink, he found the tea
canister empty. We had rough weather enough, but the
wind was favourable. We were always afraid of falling
off our seats at meals, for we were perched anywhere, on
anything we could get, round our kitchen box as a table.
Bmises alone were not the cause of our terror, but the
fact is that the sailors were always shaking their raiment
and making those searching and successful investigations,
accompanied by that unmistakable movement of the elbows
and backs of the thumb-nails, which literally ' give one the
creeps.'
The captain had a compass, hut no other instrument of
any kind, and none of the sailors seemed to know the way.
They showed ns islands, which we knew to he such, as the
African coast, and Cape Guardafui where we knew it could
not be.
On the third evening we saw the Asiatic coast, and at
sunset we saw the jagged Jebel Shemehan very far away,
and of course hoped to see it nearer next day. But when we
woke in the morning, my husband went out to see the cause
of the unusual rocking of the ship and still more unusual
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398 THE MAHEI ISLAND OP 80K0TEA
Bilence, and found everyone asleep and the Bbip lying to
oat of Bight of any laud.
The captain said they imagined we had passed Aden in
the dark, and thintdng they shoald soon be among rocks or
coral-reefs had stopped ; a dreadful uproar then arose, and
everyone on the ship shouted different directions for steering.
My husband desired them to steer north that we might find
land, as none of them had any idea of our longitude. At last
we saw a steamer, presumably from Aden, and getting north
of ber and steering west we at length had Africa on our
port side again, and reached Aden by the following sunrise,
though it took us till two o'clock to get into port.
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BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
CHAPTER XXXV
ESPEB1ENCE3 WITH THE TAFEI SULTAN
In the same year, 1897, soon after our return tbitbec £rom
Sokotra, we left Aden to explore the Yafei and Padhli
countries. Our preparations for this expedition were made
mider quite different and much happier circumstances from
those which attended oar last jonmey from Aden to the
interior of Arabia, i.e. the Hadhramout. We received every
help that coold be given us by General Cuningham, Colonel
Hayes-Sadler, Captain "Wadeaon, and, indeed, everyone from
whom we asked assistance was most kind. We took with us
only onr servant Matthaios, the Greek, Mnsaben, an elderly
man from the Aden troup, as jemadar or manager of the
soldiers and go-between generally ; and three or four soldiers.
No interpreter was necessary, I am glad to say, this time.
We left Sheikh Othman on February 28, 1897, for our
nine hours' ride to Bir Migbar, sorry to have to make so
long a joomey the first day. At first we went past pretty
gardens and villas, but soon left these traces of civilisation
behind us, and the way went through desert, sometimes
salty, sometimes sandy, sometimes bare, and sometimes with
low bushes, now straight, and at others wending among
sand-hills with cli^ to leeward, and ribbed and rippled like
water. In some parts every trace of path is smothered
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400 BELED PADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
by eand, and quicksand also mast be warily avoided. We
passed the rains of an old town near Sheikh Otbman, and
five miles on, Imad, a wretched-looking collection of brash-
wood hats around a dar, or tower, still in English land.
This place is, about Christmas time, the scene of a fair
to which all the neighbouring tribes gather, so a good study
can be made of the native tongnes.
A few patches of ground had the sand scraped off into
banks, and were awaiting rain to sow some crops for fodder,
bat looked as if they had been waiting a long time. This
caravan road across the Abyan is very old ; its monotony
is inexpressible, for the nine hours to Bir Mighar. At the
Bixth hoar the road to Hawash goes o£f to the left. As we
approached the well of Mighar the signs of population
increased, and a few scrubby acacias grow near. There are two
wells a mile apart ; the farther, where we encamped, was
once protected by a fort, now in rains. A few years ago a
hundred Yaf ei surprised the Fadhli, and sacked the fort, which
has not since been repaired. Many parties of travellers were
gathering round this well for the night ; one husband and
wife who took alternate charge of a baby slung in a straw
cradle and a goat ; another pair with their hoosehold goods,
baby, and many fowls on a camel, while they were each
laden with more fowls.
We passed a cold night, and were very tired ; onr things,
having been packed on board the baggalla in which we came
from Sokotra, were not in marching order. We only made
a short journey of six miles next day past Al Khabt, which
was just the same sort of place as Imad. We had to take
a most circuitous route to reach it, and it was hard to realise
that all the banks we wound amongst were fields waiting
for rain. Hagheri Ask, our next halt, was even a yet more
wretched hamlet — about six leed huts, and about as many
goats and jackal-like dogs.
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THE
FADHLl COUNTRY
SOUTH ARABIA.
Vrma a aketdi mrmrfby
M! J.THEODORE BENT.
1887.
ShI. of Nile*
Huunl S«>]<i 1: 600,000 or! mA - 7-8 mil».
D; . .AA>Ot^lC
ubjGoOgIc
EXPEEIENCES WITH THE YAFEI SULTAN 401
Our tents were most unsteadily pitched on sand. There ,
is a good weil, and there has been a village here ' from the
first,' as the Arabs say. There are many traces of antiquity ;
and numerons pieces of glass, good pottery, and bangles lie
about. There are three ruined tombs and some smaller ones
of mud bricks, and they make mad bricks there still. The
villages of the Abyan are most poverty-stricken places.
The first day we had our camels loaded with jowari, and
at Bir Mighar we took up fuel. From Hagheri Ask to
Kanfar is about six miles, and we spent two hours over it.
Trees became more numeroofi, good large ones, chiefly
arrack and acacia, and a few small fan-palms. There
were quantities of birds' nests, in every way a contrast to
ourfl ; for, instead of warm woolly ones, safe from wind and
rain in the innermost recesses of our soft-leaved, easily
climbed trees, these were loose open-work airy httle baskets,
dancing on the outer tips of the thorny branches. The
scenery in the desert part was much improved by mirages of
beautiful blue lakes and streams, nearly under our feet.
Once, on the journey, we thought the piping times of peace
had come to an abrupt end. The army of three became a
vanguard, one who was riding having very suddenly tamed
himself into infantry, the gnns were taken out of their
calico bags and cocked, but the supposed enemy turned out
to be only six or eight men carrying great rolls of skins and
huge dry gourds for sale, so the rifles were packed up again.
Some had Martini-Henrys and one or two of the camel-men
had matchlocks.
Since leaving the British Empire we had been in the
Fadhli country till we reached the Wadi Banna, or Benna,
the boundary between the Beled Fadhli and Beled Yafei,
then winding indeed was our way, for we were in thick wood ;
swords and daggers had to be used to cut a path, and we
were brought to a standstill more than once, with our heads
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402 BELED FADHLI AND BELED TAFEI
bent under trees, not daring to lift them. It would be easy
for the inhabitants to stop an enemy's attack here. The
smell of the arrack is not at all pleasant. Two Fadhli were
once directed into the Banna bed by the Yafei of Al Hnen,
and when they were in the wood they set fire to it and bmmt
them. The inhabitants do not venture off the path. There
are qoicksands in some parts of the wadi.
We encamped not far from the town of Kanfar, amongst
some large arrack bnshes on the sand, and surrounded by
monnds scattered over with bits of glass. There has been a
succession of towns here, and the present one is situated
on large mounds near some somewhat ruinous forts. It
would take an immense quantity of digging to come on
Himyaritic remains. Many gold coins are found, and set on
the jembias; our old Mus&ben had two on-his dagger, about
four hundred years old. We were told that Boubakr-bin-
Said, sultan of the lower Yafei, was to come in two days to
keep the feast of a saint, Wali Abdullah-bin-Amr, who is
buried here. In the meantime we surveyed our surroundings
while awaiting his coming. The ground under the arrack
bushes is perforated through and through by rats with
bushy tips to their tails, as far as the utmost branch
extends. Sometimes we felt our feet sinking, and discovered
we were walking over the site of a vanished bush. There is
an old ruined castle, with pretty herring-bone patterns and
open-work windows. The principal well;- a little distance
from the town, is very close by the present fortress, where
the Bultan lives. There is a gunpowder factory of a primitive
kind, tor there is plenty of saltpetre to be found close by.
We went all about the village quite comfortably with a
couple of Yafei guards, and the people were civil. We saw
curious ovens, like pots with lids, and oxen returning with
the dustpans they use for scraping the sand off the cultivable
soil, and many preparations for the feast in the way of food
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EXPBBIENCE3 WITH THE YAFEI SULTAN 403
and very smart new indigo-dyed clothes. Photography,
sketching, and unpacking the gifts for the sultan occupied
our time. The mosquitoes were awful.
The sultan came to visit ub very suddenly on the afternoon
of his arrival — a rather handsome, sly-looking man. He
wore a purple velvet jacket embroidered with gold, and a
many coloured turban and waist-cloth forming a petticoat
to his knees and leaving his fat legs bare. His com-
plexion is of a greenish brown. His first question was as
to my husband's age, that of the Wali of Aden, and of various
other o£Gcials. He brought some honey and made himself
most agreeable till we spoke of going to Al Kara. He then
immediately began to speak of danger. He read the letter
of introduction with more discretion than I have observed
in any of the Arab sultans I have seen. Instead of reading
to a crowd of slaves, he banished all but one very confidential,
though dirty man, who was lame and carried a long lance
adorned with silver bands, and read this letter and one
previously sent. When he left, toy husband told him the
sooner he sent a message as to the possibilities of going to
AI Kara the better it would be for him ; and we also told
Mus&ben to tell the Bedouin there would be money for them,
and also to mention to the sultan that we had a gun that he
might hope for.
It appeared, after much fruitless negotiation, that the
saltan was determined to cheat the Bedouin. He arrived very
soon after breakfast, i.e. before seven, and demanded 500
rupees for himself, which he immediately lowered of his own
accord to 400 rupees, and gave us to understand danger would
be averted if we paid this sum. He carried off 100 rupees for
coffee and a bundle of turbans and other garments. No one
but Mus^ben was to know of the money, and the fat parcel
he himself stuffed into the clothes of his dirty confidant,
explaining to us and them that he Should only show an
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404 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
aluininiain box as his sole gift, and walked off holdiag it
OBtentatiouBl; between bia finger and thumb. Later we
walked round the castle, and were let into the courtyard.
The saltan saw us from a window in his tower, and
beckoned us np. We had to go through gateways on all
sides of the tower, bo that they can quite command the
entrance. We went up a high winding stair to a room
about 10 feet square, where we sat on the door and bad
coffee with cloves and no sugar, and a coarse kind of sweet-
meat. His first question was, ' Where is the gun ? ' I
said, ' Where is Al Kara ? ' So be laughed merrily, and
said, ' You shall not go to Ai Kara till I have the gun.' So
I told him he should not have the gun till we bad been.
He then told my husband be must pay 1,000 rupees and
the gun first, and he would manage the Bedouin ; but my
husband said he woxJd pay afterwards, and not more than
400 rupees. So this conversation went on, and we left.
Mus&ben was surprised that we had been admitted.
We spent our days taking long walks in the cultivated
fields, stepping on banks between the canals, or ahrs. There
were many trees, and acres of dukhan grown for making oil,
gilgil, and other crops ; and the shade, the birds, the
greenery, and water made it a pleasant relief from the sandy
mounds. The workpeople are slaves of the subordinate race
of Hagheri. There are really very few Arabs. Watchmen
or scarecrows, with long canes, stand on high platforms
scattered about. The old well has very-much-wom stones
round its mouth, and had once an extensive building over it.
Com is gronnd in a mill made from the hollowed trunk of a
tree, with a camel going round and round. It was amusing
to see the little children with their arms held aloft bound up
in leaves to their elbows, to keep their hands nice, as they
had beenldyed with henna for the festival.
Jebel G-abeil is the acropolis of the ancient Kanfar,
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EXPEBIENCE3 WITH THE TAFEI SULTAN 405
about 200 feet high and a quarter of a mile long, with a
double fort on the top, containing an area of about 100
eqoare yards. The outer wall is built of fine large stones,
and the interior has a beautiful fonudation, evidently
Himyaritic, and commands an extensive view. The tomb
of the saint whose feast it was is sorrounded with tombs, all
in disrepair, but covered with very pretty carved wood. The
procession passed our camp both going and coming, and
vras an interesting sight. Quite early I was begged to come
out and see crowds of women and girls, who bad come to
visit me with their new clothes, some indigo-dyed and some
of red ingrain. They wear the same shape as in the
Hadbramout, but do not cover their faces. They have a
good deal of jewellery, and paint their faces yellow. I did
not see any of the fantastic patterns T saw in the Hadbramout
on the (aces. First came four men with lances, dancing to
and fro, then the sultan on a camel, dressed in red and
purple and gold, and after him about thirty soldiers. A
large white and red flag followed. On his return the sultan
stopped and delivered a short address, the bystanders
assenting by shouting ' Nahm 1 Nahm ! '
The sultan came constantly, always raising his demands.
One afternoon he came and said ' Where is the gun ? '
' Under that bed ; you cannot have it now.'
' I should like to see the cartridges,' said the sultan.
' They are packed up.'
My husband then did what might seem rude here but is
all the fashion there : he walked out of the tent and went off
a little distance with Matthaios and Mus&ben to have a
consultation ; and the sultan got up and stood craning his
neck and trying to listen, but I chattered and babbled to him
to prevent his doing so, and finding he could hear nothing he
said in a very cajoling sort of tone :
' Al Kara is such a very nice place ! you would like to
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406 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
see it,' and asked me jost to let him eee the gun and some
more clothes, and when my hnshaod retomed begged for
more money ; but he pat on an air of great indignation and
impatience and said :
' When we say a thing once it ie enough,' and when the
Bultan began again he said ' Bas I ' (Enough !) so loud that
his majesty hastily departed.
Finally, when he could not get what he wanted, and we
saw it was not safe to trust oorselves in the hands of so shifty
a man, be became bo insistent that my husband told him ' he
had seen enough of him ; he might leave our camp ; we
would not travel with him.' Off went the sultan in such b
hurry that he left his stick behind, and sent us a menage
that we were not to pass another night in his country. We
sent back a message that we would not stir till morning.
When the saltan was gone we had tea, and I was talking
to a dirty kittle boy of five sailed Boubakr and a bigger one
called Ali, to whom I was gi^g lumps of sugar dirtied by
the joumey. We were laughing well at the sultan, calling
him all sorts of names expressing our scorn of his mean-
ness, when to our amusement we found these were his sons.
He came himself about dawn next day to say we were to go
back ov« the Wadi Banna,, and not the- diortest way to the
part of the Fadhli county, which is beyond the Yafei, unless
we gave him more money. We would not speak to him
oaiselves, so he had to talk with the servants (who were con-
tinuing packing>aU the while, andiwe let him see the greatest
amusement on oar part. Mus&ben was most anxious to go
on, but tihe difficulties delighted Matthaios, as he was so
frightened that he wished to go. back at any price. When
we did go, about six o'clock, we only went a very little way
in the prescribed direction, then turned round, and took the
path we desired, our army now being a rearguard, rushing
up hillocks to watch fon puraueis. We reached At Kbaur,
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ESPEEIENCE9 WITH THE YAFEI SULTAN 407
a village with many ruined castles, and camped in trigbtful
dust. Tbo Wazir Abdullah bin Abdurrahman had been
sent by the Fadhli sultan to welcome us. He proved a very
agreeable travelling companion. He is young and refined
looking.
We saw a great deal of cattle about. There is a sheer
rock overhanging the village 1,000 feet above the plain. My
husband ascended Jebel Sarrar to see the ruins. A fine
paved road, protected by forts, climbs up past a corioua
square stone said to be full of money, and goes zigzag
through tt narrow gully like the walls at Zimbabwe. My
husband having heard of the stone from the wazir, very
much astonished the guides by pointing it out to them and
saying ' There is money in that stone.' At the top there is a
very strong fortress with many walls, and three cisterns just
like the smaller of the tanks at Aden, with steps down into
them, all covered with cement. This has been a very strong
fortification, protecting and overlooking the whole of the
Abyan from Jebel Goddam beyond Shukra to Jebel Shem-
shan at Aden. The Abyan is the low plain by the sea.
The following day we started for Dirgheg. The country
is all irrigated by water brought from Masana by a channel
called Nazai. At the comer of the Wadi Hassan the abrs
branch off in every direction. The sources belong to the
Yafei, and the Fadhli pay them annually 25 Maria Theresa
dollars, a basket of dates, and a turban for the saltan, but
the management is in the hands of seyyids in inam for ever,
they being supposed to be neutral, for fear a war might
produce a drought. Still, in time of war the water often is
cat off. The banks of the abrs were full of castor-oil bushes,
cotton, myrtle and tamarisk, all smothered with a pretty
creeper covered with yellow flowers and little scarlet gourds.
Dirgheg lies just on the left bank of the Wadi Hassan in
an almost desert place. There are many dars, or towers.
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408 BELED FADHLI AND BELED TAFEI
where the wealthy Aiaba, of whom there is a conGiderable
population, live. The Bervile tribe of Hagheri live in reed
hnts ; we saw them threshing gilgil and vetch. There are
a market and a few shope. I had no trouble about taking
photographs. Once, however, one of onr attendants asked
a man to move out of my way and gave him a little push.
Oat he pulled his ghembia, and there was a scrimmage very
dangeroQS to my camera and its appurtenances, as they were
going to be used as weapons of defence by our attendants.
I rushed into the midst, and they stopped fighting to tell me
not to be afraid, and peace was restored. I think it requires
some courage to plunge out of the tent into the boming
sand with the camera, but it never seems so hot once one is
out. We were given over by our soldiers to the charge of
two inhabitants of Dirgheg, and were quite elated at hearing
on other authcnity than our own, ' They can speak Arabic'
We had on our return to the camp the delightful pleasure
of a letter from Sultan Bonbakr, making another try for
the gun, and saying he would come and take us to Al Hnsn.
The messenger was fetched, and scornfully told by my
husband that it was too late ; we would not think of
travelling with so baii a man. I said, ' You have a great
thief for yoor sultan, and a great liar,' and told him all about
the money and clothes he had secretly taken ; so, no doubt,
he had to disgorge some after all. Mus&ben laughed very
much, and said my imitation of the sultan's manner was so
good he must get two sheikhs to hear the Bibi mimic the
Yafei sultan. The Yafei messenger was much interested.
I told the whole story, and how we had gone round three
trees and departed our own way, adding, ' The sultan could
see us from hie own castle ' ; and he said, ' Yes, he did.' We
told him all his conduct was written down and sent yesterday
to the Wall of Aden, so now he might be sorry and frightened.
We said we had been treated well by all the other Yafei we
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EXPERIENCES WITH THE YAFEI SULTAN 409
had met, bat the aultan wanted to cheat both them and as.
Indeed, it grieved ua to hear the kind Yafei spoken of with
horror and detestation by the Fadhh, bat no doabt they
have a different point of view to outb.
We went to another village called Abr Shebba, more
tinder the monntains. We were shown about very civilly,
and taken to the door of a large dar, and asked if we wished
to go in. We did not know if we were wanted, so made an
indefinite answer. There was a difference of opinion, and at
last they said the Bibi should go in ; so I crossed the court
and entered the house, and had hardly done so when my hEuad
was seized, and I was dragged by a man through black dark-
ness upward and round and round. I stepped high, and, as
quickly as I could, rushed after him. At the third round
I saw a little light shining on the roughest possible shallow
earthen steps, and was puUed into a little room, where I was
greeted vrith cries of amazement by some women, and then
continued my way unaided to the top of the tower. The
parapets were ornamented with gazelle horns. After some
time I wanted to go down, but I was on my way taken to a
large room where manners demanded I should settle down
for coffee. Every one was very kind, and for greater friend-
liness a naked baby four months old was placed in my
hands. When I wished to return it it was made to sit on
my knee. It soon kindly cried, and was, to my joy, removed.
It had never in its life been completely washed, though
several large spots and trimmings had been painted on its
head. My husband joined me at last, and had coffee too.
The first thing next morning, before our departure to
Al Ma'a, another letter came from the Yafei sultan about
Al Husn ; but the messenger was told that once was enough
to see that great thief [harami), and he could take the letter
back. It was fourteen miles to Al Ma'a, and took us six
hours. We passed up the Wadi Hassan, and saw Al Husn
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410 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
in the distance. We did not go quite to the comer where the
Wadi Hassan turns east. It is considered too near the Yafei
frontier to be safe, and the FEidhli always used a narrow pass
called Tarik al Kaha, going round Mount Oheraeh. It gets
narrower and steeper as it goes on zigzagging up Blabs of
shale, with only room for one camel at a time. There are
any amount of ambush places, especially on the north side.
The pasB goes uphill, west to east, and the steepest end is at
the east. A spur runs out west on the north side about
60 feet high, convenient to shoot over. The apptoachee are
quite open. It leads through Wadi Ooddam to Wadi
Hassan, and at the entrance to Wadi Haesan, Fadhli Bedouin
are foe ever stationed to watch for Yafei attacks on a tiny
jutting hill. Three men of ours, aheikhs who had come to
meet us, galloped forward to explain to them who we were,
and ascertain that all was safe. They dred a gun over our
heads. There were a few baboons about. We saw several
little heaps of stones, tind were told they marked spots where
Fadhli had been shot by Yafei. A very large heap is
formed by those who pass the valley safely for good lack.
We also passed the tomb of a seyyid with four large smooth
stones at the top anointed with oil for the Ed. Before we
reached Al Ma'a the river-bed narrowed in from the other
side, and along the raised bank at short interveUs were
watch-towers of the Yafei. At Al Ma'a they are quite close,
aboat half a mile off at most. The country was still very
arid and barren, but the motmtains very One.
Al Ma'a is a vrretched hamlet, which has seen very much
better days. There are high mined castles, destroyed by the
present snltan, as Al Ma'a and its headmen were once in re-
volt. Now there are only three or four Arab houses and a
collection of reed huts. The valley is about two miles wide,
and there are four or five Yafei towers near. Our escort were
very much afraid. They said that the Yafei might shoot
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EXPEBIENCES WITH THE YAPEI SULTAN 411
Tis, though a cannon would be necessary, and lay the blame
on the Fadhh, so they would by no means let us camp
anywhere but in a most disgustingly dusty place next the
village ; and they kept sharp watch all night, talking much.
The towers protect the approach to the Wadi Theba, which
here goes up or comes down from Al Kara. The country
roond is in a perpetual state of ferment, like Germany in the
Middle Ages, every one on the look-out for attacks from
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BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
CHAPTEK XXXVI
AMONG THE FADHLI
We were up and off before the bud rose, our party being
increased by Sultan Salem, brother to the Fadhli sultan.
He was twenty, and though not dark in colour, has woolly hair.
He and the soldiers and the wazir, Abdullah bin Abdorrah-
man, rode at some distance to our left, between ns and the
dangerous Yafei towers. The Goddam or Kadam range,
which separates the Wadi Yeramis from the Abyan, is a mass
of arid peaks, none reaching to more than 2,000 feet. A road
leads from Al Ma'a across the mountains to the sea at Asala.
We reached Earyat el Mtiksuf about ten, the valleys
getting narrower and more woody and grassy as we ap-
proached. There is an ancient fort on a hill 6S0 feet above
the valley, and about 1,800 above the sea, with a glorious view
over the Goddam range to the sea. There is another ruin of
a round fort on the left of the valley. We went on a mile to
a delightful place, where there were trees, water, and reeds, and
beautiful views through ahady glades to the mountain peaks,
and many cattle. We wished to remain there, but were told
it was better to get on to Naab, as there was a little danger.
We quite understood that danger was a bogey to prevent us
keeping them from a town, and we pointed out that the
Yafei were not likely to come down a light-coloured mountaon-
side with only a few tamarisks into a valley half a mile wide ;
BO my husband firmly said we would stay on the clean sand.
Here we saw many baboons. The first ruin is probably Persian
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OLD NA AB
(Br Tlurodori Btnti
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AMONG THE PADHLI 413
or later Arabian. The seconil one, which is a mile farther
up the Wadi Yeramis than the first, is evidently Himyaritic,
and protected the first town after Banna on the way to the
Hadhramont. It is circular, crowning a hill 300 feet high,
and enclosing a space of 50 yards in diameter. On the north-
east side it is protected by five square towers, and has one
gate to the south. It was the acropolis of a large town,
lying in all directions, but chiefly to the north-east. It has
evidently been a place of considerable strength, as the Wadi
Yeramis is only half a mile wide here. There is a regular
stream of water in a narrow channel, and the whole valley is
green and fertile.
Before we entered this narrow part of the valley, it was
curious to see below the peaked mountains a flat-topped
effusion of basalt, called borum, advanced forward.
We made a very early start next morning, and gradually got
into a thick low wood, bat where the Wadi Yeramis widened
out there were only tamarisks. Our ascent was rapid, and
after abont an hour we turned due east, this part being very
bare-looking, though there were a good many horrid acacias
and also euphorbias with rounded trunks. We soon burst
upon a lovely plain all mapped out in fields and abrs. It is
six miles to Naab, and we took three hours. We passed
through full two miles of this fertility, with three or four
villages— Souat, Nogat, Arrawa, and Old Naab, with mosque,
minar, and a fine old house all tumbling into ruins. Wadi
Yeramis is mnch opened out here, and the lower part is
bounded by the basalt in walls about 200 feet high, some-
times with mounds within them again, and hillocks of the
same formation as the high mountains. This cultivated
paradise is the property of Sultan Ahmet bin Salem, brother
to Sultan Saleh of the coast, and may be said to be the pick
of his whole dominions.
Arrawa, or New Naab, has twenty-four shops, and the
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414 BBLED FADHU AND BELED YAFEI
sultan gets half a real (or Maria Theresa dollar) on all
merchandise-camels going ap to the Beled Tafei. There
were many bales of merchandise in a sort of Costom-honse
when we arrived at this great centre of inland traffic. We
encamped on the opposite side of the wadi from the town
of Arrawa, which is perched on a raised plateau of earth
banks. When we halted, and had climbed up, there was a
line of people waiting to salute ns. We and Sultan Salem
walked in front, our eleven men with gnns walked behind,
singing a merghazi, or salutation song, of which I have a
copy. We halted again, and they fired ten salutes ; then we
advanced again, Saltan Salem leading, when twenty of the
local sultan's soldiers came forward and kissed bis hand and
shook OUTS. Then there was a refreshment of five or six cups
of coffee and ginger, very weak, on the floor in a tower. There
was milk in the first cnps, but it became exhausted. We never
saw \he sultan all the time we were there, for they said he
had a wound in his leg.
The earthen cliffs are about 30 feet high, and we had
to go a very roundabout way to get up them by very narrow
gullies. My husband went np a hill, Terad, just behind
Naab, with an old Arab fort on it above the Yeramis, which
ends here ; then begins Wadi Beban, with a clear course
north-east for three miles, then north, and then a long stretch
east again. There was a lovely view over the Yafei moun-
tains on the north and Goddam range on the south. A
Bedou, Abdallah, who went with him told him all the names.
Though he could understand when the Bedouin talked to him,
he could not understand two talking together. Abdallah said
he had been a soldier in the sultan's service, but when my
husband asked how long he answered, ' Four, five, six years,
I have never had it written down.' The Bedou gave my
husband some food called kharou, roast millet seeds put in
a mug with boiled milk, not at all bad.
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AMONG THE FADHLI 415
The Sultan Salem bin Saleh's old abandoned castle had
some nice decoration about it. They left it because there
were so many jinni {i.e. ghosts) in it. Oar informant bad
not seen them, bat only heard of them.
March the 12th my husband went up what he thought
was the highest mountain of the Groddam range, Minzoko,
just behind Naab, and made it 2,000 feet, bat considered
when he got to the top that its neighbour Haidenaab was 300
or 400 feet higher. The Tarik Minzoko goes between them.
The saltan sent to our camp some bowls of food, soup,
and a fowl cut up and cooked in gravy, very rich with oil
and onions. It would have been good but for the stuffy,
bitter taste of myrrh, which they like so much to put in
their food. He also sent us red cakes of millet bread.
A. poet of Naab made a merghazi on us during our stay,
about our treatment by the Yafei sultan : how he had
demanded money of us and how he had bidden us return to
Aden. This was thought so excellent by everybody that my
husband was forced to take a copy of it from dictation and
Saltan Salem took a copy hack to Shukra.
Our party was now increased by another ' prince,' Sultan
Haidar, son of the sultan of Naab, a person delightful to
contemplate. He was got ap in Bedou style ; his hair,
Q.vSy and long, was tied back by a fillet and stuck out in a
bosh behind. He had a curious countenance and very weak
eyes. He was wrapped in a couple of large blae cotton
cloths with very long fringes, half a yard at least. The
cotton is plastered with indigo, even beyond the dye, and
when calendered, as the clothes are when new, gleam purple
and red. The richer yoa are the bluer you are, and Sultan
Haidar was very blue indeed. The curious thing about
these blue people is that, as the prominent parts of the face
and body are the darkest, there is an odd inside-out effect.
While in Naab we bad our usual number of patients,
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416 BELED PADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
but the one we were most iuterested in was a woman who
had a dreadfolly sore foot. The foot was very much swollen,
and there was a sore on her instep and ankle in which one
could nearly put one's fist. This had never been washed,
though it had been going on for some years, and it had a
dressing composed of half a pound or so of dates stuffed into
it. The poor creature lay on a sort of bedstead or eharpai
in a tidy little house consisting of one room and lighted only
by the door.
Hy husband set off at once half a mile back to camp to
fetch the necessary relief and I waited, sitting on a cloak
that someone rolled up on the floor, for there was not even
a carpet to sit on. I was afraid of various insects, but I
could not rudely stand, and I should have had to stand a
good time as my husband had a mile to walk.
When he returned he syringed the sore with Condy's
fluid and I cleaned it with bits of wadding, and the woman
with her nails in a way that made me shudder, but she did
not seem to hurt herself. Then we put on zinc ointment.
She drew her bedding from under her foot so that the water
streamed through the bed to the floor, which was earthen
and below the level of the door. There was a big puddle, of
coarse, and I feared they would have mud to contend with,
but a woman soon came with a basketful of dry sand, and
by constantly brushing it up when wet into a palm-leaf
dustpan quickly cleaned up all the mess.
We went daily to attend to this foot and at last, if not
much better, it was improved hy becoming thoroughly clean,
foot, leg and all, and its poor owner was cheered and looked
much brighter herself.
We left her all the zinc ointment we had remaining to
use first ; a milk-tinful of ointment, composed by me from
pure lanoline, vaseline, and zinc powder, to go on with, and
some grease-proof paper to spread it on, a lot of tabloids of
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AMONG THE FADHLI 417
permanganate of potash and directions to pour it from a
water veasel, very clean.
Before the family would andertake to receive these tinal
instructions we had to wait while some elderly pereons were
fetched, reputed wiseacrea evidently, and it was like teaching
a class. The poor things, with such earnest faces, were
detennined to make very sure they all thoroughly understood
what to do. Ad old man took each thing and handed it to
the basband, telling him how to use it, and we all consulted
aa to the best niches in the roof in which to stow the things
safely. They, at least, longed for us to stay, and we felt sorry
to go. One feels so helpless face to face with such misery.
I do hope she got well.
The first day we visited this house a great crowd came
after us, but they were turned out with sticks and fastened
out in a very ingenious way.
Most of the houses are surrounded by a fence of prickly
brushwood, in which is an entrance 3 or 4 feet wide.
Outside this stands, on its head, with its root in the air, a
hush. The root has a rope of twisted palm-leaf attached to
it. You enter and pnll the rope. The bush stands on its
side then and blocks up the entrance ; the rope is secured
inside to a bar which is fixed across the threshold ajid no
one can pass this strange and thorny gate. The bush is, of
course, wider than the gateway.
Certainly Arabians are not all that one expect. I never
can believe that Mohammedans in general can consider dogs
so very unclean, when they have so many about them, and
one tribe in the Soudan is called Eilab (dogs). We used to
hear also that they all shaved their heads, leaving one lock
only for Mohammed to draw them up into Heaven. Instead of
this they do all kinds of things to their hair, and the only
people I ever saw with one lock were the Yourouks in Asia
Minor, and I think it was only a fashion.
£ B
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418 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAPEI
Some people think that all the rude efforts of aborigines
and nncnltivated tribes are inspired by truer wisdom than
are the results of science and civilisation, and amongst other
things, tiirbans are pointed out to ns as an instance of
the good sense of people in .hot climates, who know how
necessary it is to protect their heads from the son. If so,
why do some cover their heads with tarbane and some not ?
and why do those who wear turbans take them off to cool
their heads in the sun, and sqme accidentally leave a bit of
head exposed when they put the turban on without ever
finding it out? Some never cover the middle of the head at
all, but only wind the turban round. My theory, which may
be wrong, is tbeit it is really worn for ornament, as a diadem
in the original sense of the word, just tied round the head as
a mark of dignity.
Once or twice, our camp being on the far side of the
valley from the' town, we managed to give the dip to the
spearman who otherwise would have accompanied ns, and
sneaked up a very narrow little wadi, where we found a good
many flowers and enjoyed this very much.
Wild beasts live in holes in these hilla, and on the extreme
top of the mountain my husband ascended, was found a big
goat that had been killed in the wadi the night before, A
little hairy animal called auabri was brought to our camp.
'W'hen we left Naab we turned into the Wadi Beban to
Shariah — three hours and ten minutes, seven geographical
miles, four north-east and three north — and ascended 350 feet.
Wadi Beban is a quarter of a mile wide near Naab, but after
two miles opens out; and there are gardens, and now and
again running water appears, tind plenty of trees. At the
fonrth mile, near a fort, we turned sharply to the north, past
Jebol Biah, where Wadi Biah comes in, and then reached a
wide open space, where Wadi Bilib joins in. Jebel Sbaas
was beyond us, very high, and Wadi Ghinda to the right.
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FADllLI AT SHARIAH, WADI REBAN, WITH CURIOUS SANDAL
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AMONG THE FADHLI U9
This large open space is girt with mountains 500 to 5,000 feet
high, and is a great junction for the waters from Wadis
Beban, Silib, and Ghiuda. It was once exceedingly populous :
there are here no less than four old villages called Shariah ;
two conBiderable towns were perched on the rocks, forming
gates to the Wadi Silib, and two others at a great elevation
on the opposite side. The cause of the decrease in popula-
tion in Arabia must be the constant inter-tribal warfare and
the gradual filling up of the valleys with sand. Great banks
of sand 20 feet high line the river-beds, and wash away with
the heavy rains, which contribute to the silting up. This
country must have been very fertile to have supported the
population, for the four towns must have been large. The
stone buildings atone would make any one of the four larger
than most towns in Arabia to-day, and there must have been
the usual hut population. We had a very pleasant camp
among trees, and had a steep scramble to the ruins.
An enthusiastic geologist would have enjoyed our next
day's journey ironaensely ; we went through such a strange
weird volcanic valley — not a wadi, but a sheb, narrower and
shallower. The road is called Tarik Sauda. The strata of
the rocks are heaved up at a very steep angle, and we had
to ride along smooth rocks, sometimes without any trace of
a road at all among the stones ; sometimes we bad to make
very great windings amongst heaps and hillocks of all sorts
of diflferent-coloured earths. Hardly a green thing was to
be seen, and altogether the whole place looked dreary and
desolate ; but we were much interested in this day's journey
among the great scarred and seamed volcanic mountains.
We ascended 650 feet — very difificult indeed, travelling about
seven miles in four hours ; the steepest part is called Akaba
Sauda. We reached the headwater of the Wadi Ghiuda at
the top of the akaba, 2,000 feet from sea level. Nsiab is
1,000 feet above sea level; thence to Shariab is 350; and
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420 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
thence to Ghinda, 650. We passed Dogoter and M'Haider,
mere namea. We encamped on a waste of stones ; no tent-
pegs could be used, and it was windy and cold.
There are gazelle in this part and we hsid some for
dinner.
Now was oar time to send by Musaben to the camp of the
fioltana three very gay blankets toT them and AbduUab-bin-
Abdmxahman. The long name of the wazir's father had
constantly to be on our lips on account of his dignity, for
they are like the UnssiaoB in that respect — common people's
fathers ate not mentioned. The name was marrellonsly
shortened to B'd'rahman. We were thought to be in danger
that night, and did not make a very early start, as we had
to load up water ; and we two climbed down 350 feet into
the Wadi Ghinda, that I might take photographs. It was
so pretty, with pools of water and creepers hanging on the
trees.
The saltans, meanwhile, sat up in their beds of leaves
wrapped in their blankets. How absurd it seems that two
princes and a prime minister should have to sleep ont because
two English choose to travel in their coimtry I Not a word
of thanks did we ever get for those blankets, bnt they were
evidently much appreciated, for their recipients sat on their
camels wrapped over head and etas in them in the blazing
sun.
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CHAPTEB XXXVII
FBOM THE FLAIH OF MIS'HAI. TO THE SEA
We joined the camels on the way, and after two honia of
stones ascended the very steep Akaba Beva. The view from
the hills above — abont 2,500 feet — is splendid, all the Yafei
mountains and the Goddam range ending at Haide Naab,
and giving place to the higher mountains of Bekab and
Ghiuda. We descended, but not mnch, into the lovely
Wadi Hadda, full of trees smothered with a kind of vine
with thick glossy indiarubber-Iike leaves ; then we went on
straight up Akaba Hadda to the huge plain of Mis'hal, full
of villages, but ill-suppUed with water. There are only,
some very bad wells for the cattle, and they have to fetch
drinking-water from afar, from Ghenab and Lammas. We
engaged a Bedoa's camel to keep ilb supplied, while resting
our own. The plain is 2,700 feet above the sea. The sheikh's
name is Mohommod-bin-Nasr Nakai ; this is the first time
we heard this pronunciation of the Prophet's name. He was
determined to give as a grand reception. Sheikh Seil had
gone forward to announce us from Ghiuda, aud he came to
meet us on his pony down both akabas — a fearful joumey.
We always liked Sheikh Seil very mnch. He was the
sheikh of Dirgheg. His hair and his shaggy chest were not
white, but a lovely sky-blue. In that part of the world old
people's hair is not dyed red with henna, as it is in other
parts of Arabia and Asia Minor and in Persia, so the effect of
the indigo can be seen.
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422 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
From a distance we coold see the preparations. There
•was a long line on the sandy plain of between two and three
hundred Bedouin, naked save for a blue scarf round their
waists, with dagger, powder-horn, &c., stuck in. Some bad
guns, matchlocks, and some had spears. They mostly had
their long haii tied up and sticking out in a fuz behind, as
funny a long line of men ae ever one saw.
We dismounted, nearly a quarter of a mile o£E^ and all
our party advanced band-in-hand, fourteen besides ourselves
and MatthaioB, we being the only ones who did not know
the words in which to chant our response to the welcoming
shout. This they interrupted occasionally by the high
gargling sound they are so fond of, constantly coming ont of
the rank, one or other, and firing a gun and retiring. The
blue-bearded Sheikh Seil galloped up and down in front
of ns, twirling his spear. We stopped 150 yards from
them, and after much more firing the spearmen began to
parade before us in a serpentine way, two and two, backwards
and forwards, zigzag, and round and round the gunners,
gradually getting neuer and nearer to as, and dragging the
gunners after them, with a red flag, a seyyid, and their sheikh,
Mohommod-bin-Nasr, between them. When they got quite
close they welcomed us, and we said ' Peace ' to them. They
passed us so many times that we could see and notice them
well. Some were very tall ; one who was vray lame led his
tiny little boy. The lancers danced very prettily, having
a man a little way in front of them executing wild capers
and throwing np his spear and catching it, singing all the
while songs of welcome. We could not understand more
than some alluBions, which assured ns they were composed
for the occasion. After many gyrations they retired to their
former place, and then a herald came forward and made a
solemn address of welcome.
Then our turn came, and we sent forth a line of men with
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FEOM THE PLAIN OF MIS'HAL TO THE SEA 423
Sultan Haidar in it to sing and let off guns. "When the two
lines met tbey shook bands and kissed, the sultans and 8e3^id8
being kissed on the forehead and the upper part of the leg.
When they returned to us all our party joined hands to go
to our camp, now ready, a good distance off, all keeping step
in a kind of stilted, prancing way, singing. The epearmen
in front danced with all manner of light and graceful antics,
and we were nearly stifled with the dust ; and the din was
so appalling that we arrived quite dazed at our tents after
this welcome, which had lasted fully an hour. We were the
first white people who bad been at Mis'hal. I tore my
camera from its case to take a photograph before the people
left us, and it did better than I could have expected in such
a crowd, with no snn and so much whirling dust. The town
consists of a low square dar and a collection of brushwood
arbours, so slight that there i& no pretension of concealing
anything that goes on inside. We were very thankful for
a large pot of coffee and ginger, sent by a sultan, and a fat
lamb. The princes ventured to leave us in charge of
Ahdullah-bin-Abdurrabman, and abode in the tower. Sultau
Haidar went home from here.
The tableland of Mis'bal is approached by three akabas :
(1) Sauda, to <2,000 feet ; (2) Beva, to 2,500 feet ; (3) Hadda,
to 2,750 feet. The Nakai tribe hve here, and are on friendly
terms with their neighbours the Padhh — a sufficiently rare
circumstance in this country. The Nakaj chief can put four
hundred men in the Geld to help the Fadhli. The Markashi
were at war with them ; they live in the Goddam range, and
had been giving the sultan trouble lately.
The road to Shukra most frequented is the Tarik el
Arkob ; eastward goes the road to the Hadhramout, over the
plain. Northward is the mountainous coimtry of the A6deli
tribe, where they told us ' it is sometimes so cold that the
rain is hard and quite white, and the water like stone.' The
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424 BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAPEI'
plain is ten or fifteen miles long, by about foor or five miles
at: its broadest. If irrigated it would yield enonnooBly.
The well is of great depth, but the water very bad. My
husband ascended a mountain about 3,000 feet high, but only
400 feet above the plain, with a most remaritable view of
the A6deli mountains, about twenty miles away, towering up
to a great height — far higher than the Yafei range, which
Mr. Tate gives as 7,000 feet : these are probably 10,000 feet.
The range must run for thirty or forty miles from east to
west, with few breaks and no peaks. We were not well the
last day at Mia'hal.
The A6deli women paint red lines under their eyes and
down their noses and round their foreheads with a kind of
earth-dye which they call hisn. Sometimes there is a round
spot on the forehead and red triangles on the cheeks. One
woman had her face hterally dyed scarlet all over. She had
a heavy necklace of beads and carried the sheep-skin coat,
that she could not wear in the hot plain, rolled up and laid
on her head. It is curious how dissatisfied dark people seem
to be with the colour of their skins, so often trying to lighten
it ; the fairness of the English is in some places attributed
to the soap they use.
We took advantage of the curiosity of the A6deli, who had
juat arrived with a hafila, to make them stay in our camp
and question them. The El Ehaur mountains look most
fascinating to see only from a distance ; they are inhabited
by lawless tribes owing allegiance to no man, and, having
no wholesome fear of the Wali of Aden before their eyes,
would murder any traveller who ventured among them ; they
are all Bedouin. The A6deli are a very large tribe, and say
they have 4,000 men for war ; the Markasbi can put 500 or
600 in the field ; and the Fadhli 2,000. Lauda, the chief
town of the Aodeli, is much bigger than Shibahm ; there
are many Arabs. The sultan is Mohamed-bin-Saleh. It is
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PLAIN or mis'hal akd a6deli tribe
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FBOM THE PLAIN OP MIS'HAL TO THE SEA 425
six hours from Mis'hal — thirty-foar miles — and is situftted
below the moiintains. Ahove it is El Betha — Saltan Saleh.
Belad el Megheha, in the npper Yafei countFy, is under Sultan
Hakam Mohamed-bin-Ali. Sahad el Baida Besaes (where
there most be lead) ia not imder the Turks ; El A6deli live
there. Neither is Sahib Lauda under the Turks ; the inhabi-
tants are Angheri. This has a veiy soft guttural — the Arabic
ghin.
Our next stage was Bir Lammas, about four miles off,
mostly across the monotonous plain. We passed four dars
and villages. In time of war the Fadhli sultan comes and
occupies one of these dars. "We met sheikhs walking with
little battle-axes on long poles — weapons in war, and in
peace used for chopping wood, at all times emblems of their
rank. The plain at length broke away, and we got into the
narrow, and not very deep, wooded Wadi el Mimin. It has
very precipitous sides of basalt, brown in colour, and making
a very untidy attempt at being columnar. Bir Lammas is a
great, and I must add, very dirty, halting-place for caravans
going to Shukra, on the Tarik el Arkob, to El Kaur and the
Wadi Hadhramoufc.
We were two nights at Bir Lammas. I was too ill to
go about at all, but I could not resist going out to see some
baboons which came to look at us from the low cliffs. I am
sure their leader must have been 4 feet long without his tail.
My hnsband, who went for a chmh, came to pretty close
quarters with a striped hyena.
We were encamped about 380 yarda off from the wdl, and
thought it a very pretty place, with acacia-trees and creepers
hanging in long trails and making arbours of all of them.
The women do all the work here, having to fetch water from
Bir Lammas and Grhenab for Mis'hal. The children, up to
fourteen years of age, tend the flocks, and the men stroll
about or sit in very warlike-looking conclaves, with guna
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426 BELED FADHLI AND BELED TAFEI
and speeiis. Young ch'ldren have wooden jembiae to accustom
them to their ase, and it is funny to see tiny orchina of three
or four burling reede at each other in imitation of their
elders with more deadly weapons. The Eedoniu seem bom
in an element of war ; one we heard of had lasted fifteen
years, bat was happily now stopped for a Mttle while.
On a hill near the plain, about half a mile from Bir
Lammas, there are ruins of good style, probably of the
Ashabir period of Hamdani.
We were to ride five homis to the next water after Bir
Lammas. I felt it would be an awful journey, as I was
becoming more and more inert, but I was able to jump on to
my camel as usual. I begged my husband to tell me as each
hoar passed, being quite determined never to ask too soon,
but every time I did ^k it turned out to be only twenty
minutes from the last time.
We were soon out of Wadi Lammas, and went over
stony plains with basalt scattered over them, and no possible
place to encamp, which I was keenly on the look-oat for.
We went through a carious little pass, not high, but a very
narrow cutting just wide enough for us to ride through, for
300 yards, and then we had to wind down steeply at the other
side over rocks. I began to feel that I had no control over
my legs and I hardly cared to change my position for going
up or down hill, and once when my camel slipped down about
6 feet, I started to fall off headlong, bat a Bedou caught
me by my leg and held me on. If I had fallen, as the path
was very narrow, the camel would surely have stepped on
me. I should certainly have cracked my skull first. Camels
are not like horses — they do not object to stepping on people,
A late sultan of Shukra fell from his camel and was
trampled on, and ' though the Koran was read to him, and
herris or talismans were pat on him, his breath would not
stay in him, but came out in half an hour.' Herrises are
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FROM THE PLAIN OF MIS'HAL TO THE SEA i27
put on camels to make them strong ; my hasband's camel
had one, of which its master was very proud.
At last we came to the Wadi Samluf, and I begged that
we might stop and have a camel fetched for water. I had
to be dragged from my camel, and laid in the cinder-like
sand till the tent was pitched, for, as my malarial fever was
constant, and I had no tertian intervals, I lost my strength
completely. Both my husband and I, and several others
were very ill, and we were not strong enough to get at our
medicine chest. The water was very bad. The Sultan Salem
and other grandees camped at the more dangerous open
month of the valley.
The place where we pitched the tents was very pretty.
There were trees and very fantastic peaky rocks against the
sky, and a great step about 3 feet high, which had once been
a wave of basalt, black on the yellow sand.
The camel-men used to spread their beds and light their
fire on this sort of stage by night, but they spent the day
under the trees.
The last night we were in the Wadi Samluf there was a
great noise — guns firing, parties going out to reconnoitre,
and shouting — but it turned out that the new-comers who
arrived at such an unseasonable hour were sent by the sultan
of Shukra to welcome and escort us.
From this spot I had to be carried to the sea, seventeen
miles, on my bed, which was strengthened with tent-pegs
and slung on tent-poles. From the little sultan downwards
there was not one who did not help most kindly. We went
down gently 3,000 feet. I cannot describe this journey,
except that it was so very winding that I seemed to see the
camels meeting and passing me often. Fortunately the
crossing of the low hot Abyan was short.
I dreaded the journey, as I thought my bearers would
not keep step, but they did wonderfully well, though of course
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428 BELED PADHLI AND BELED YAFEI
they had no path to walk in, for two men and the bed were
far too wide for any path there was. I saw one man double
up his legB and go over a boulder 3 feet or 4 feet high ;
and they kept me very even too, and only dropped my head
once ; the bearers changed as smoothly as if they were accus*
tomed to it, and were always saying something kind to me.
I was not pleased at first at being carried off very
suddenly head first, but it was certainly sweeter not having
all those men in front of me, and I rejoiced in a delicious
sea-wind, which blew stronger and stronger, and just seemed
to keep me alive. I was very grateful to them, and took
good care never to ask if we had still far to go.
How glad I was to find myself in a rushing, roaring,
rabble rout of men, women, and children tearing along
beside me ! — ^not a thing I generally like, but now it told me
of the end of my weary journey. I was deposited on my
bed in a tower, tent-pegs and poles removed, and left with
a spearman on the doorstep to keep off intruders. The
rest of our miserable fever-stricken party came in half ui
hour later. The sultan of the Fadhli came to our tent to
see us — a pleasant-faced mustard-coloured man ; and also
his wife, the daughter of an Aden sheikh, a very handsome
woman. They were very kind in sending milk, water-
melons, and any little luxury they conld. The snltan Uved
in a fine brown building vrith a stunted tower, a glorified
Arab house, but nothing like those in the Hadhramout.
Ther send sharks' fins to China from here, as well as from
Sokotra and the Somali coast. This is probably Ptolemy's
Agmanisphe Kome. It is just the right distance from
Arabia-Emporium, i.e. one day ; so we found it. There
was the greatest difficulty in getting a boat, for none of the
ships wished to go to Aden, for fear of quarantine, as they
would be supposed to be coming from the pla^e-stricken
Bombay. My husband promised 100 rupees for every day,
t,CoogIe
FROM THE PLAIN OP MISHAL TO THE SEA 429
aad the saltan compelled a captain whose baggala was loaded
for Mokalla to take us to Aden, by refusing to give him his
papers otherwise.
Oar last moments at Shnkra were spent lying on the
Band with our heads on a bag, and sheltered by a little bit
of sacking on three sticks. The sultan eat over us on a high
chair, saying very polite things. We were lifted on board
our ship at three o'clock, and from the ship admired Shnkra,
which looked very picturesque in the evening haze, with its
towers, its few trees, and its many-peaked Goddam mountains
behind. We reached Aden at three next afternoon. This
is all I can write about this journey. It would have been
better told, but that I only am left to tell it.
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ubjGoOgIc
APPENDICES
LIST OF PLANTS FROM DHOFAB MOUNTAINS, SOUTH-EAST
ARABIA, COMMUNICATED BY J. THEODORE BENT, ESQ.,
TO KEW GARDENS, MAY 199S.
I. FaTBetia near longiailiqua, Done.
I. FacBetia 7 (too young)
;. DiplotaiiB Ham, Boies.
Dipterjgi am gUucam, Dene. far.
1. Oohcadenua baccatuB, Delile
': Capparides
I. lonidium, i
\. Potygala i:
F.AM.
:. Poljgala n(
.. Tammarii
Bp.
c hohenockeriana,
,r javana, DC.
iianniFera, Ehrenb.
S. FraokenU pnlveralenta, L.
S. Cleome brachfcaipa, Vabl
L. Cleome quinqnensnia, DC.
5. OjoandrapsiB peotaphjlla, DC.
D. Cappaha spmoaa, L.
1. Cadaba (incomplete)
S. Gadaba longilolia, B.Br.
i. Fol;carpea spicato, W. ilt A.
9. OTpBophila montana, Boll. fil.
3. QoBsypiom Sloduii, Mut.
1. PavDOia
Pavonia ae
Ebrenb.
9, Abatilon graTeolena, W. A A.
1. 32fi. Abatilon indiciim, Don.
3. Abntilon near indicom, Don.
7, 185. AbutilonInicUcoBam,Q.&P,
2. Sida hnmilis, Willd.
I. HibiBcua vititoliOB, L.
103. HibiBOUB micmnthns, h.
142. HibiscuB Trioonm, L.
66. Senra inoana, Car. wild ootton
4S. Ualvaceie, cfr. Sonra
206. CoohornB antichorua, Raeich
CoohoroB tri local aria, L.
80. Orewia asiatica, L.
181. Grewia popalilolia, Vabl
S4. Bosnellia Carteri, Birdwood
118. AcridocarpiiB orientalia, A. Jdbb.
194. DodoOEBa viBCOsa, L.
93. Vitia quadrangulariB, Willd.
137. BalEamodendron Opobalaamam,
Konth
93. Indeterminable
128. Moringa aplera, Oaertn.
8, 79. Zizn>l^°B Splna-ChriBti, Lam,
185. CelastniB BonegalensiB, Lam.
80, 199. Ruta tnberotilata, Fonk.
lie. Tribnloa alatOE, Delile
4. Tribulne terrestria, L.
Zygophyllom albnm, Ii.
17. FagoQia arablca, L.
Fagonia Lontii, Baker
08, Fagoaia, n. sp. near Loutii and
latilolia
167. Acacia Senegal, Willd.
206. Acacia verugera. Schweiof.
69. Caasia, n. ap.,neaiC.lioloserieea,
Fres.
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432
APPENDICES
22. Indigofere? (iucomplele)
16. Indigofera arabiea, J. A 8.
K. Indigofera paucifolisi Delile
9. lOS. Indigofera aigsnlea, L.
326. Fsorolen aorjlilulUi, L.
313. Argyrolobium roaenm, J. & S.
170, Bhynchoaia minima, DC.
74. 8«8bania punctata, Pera.
13, 84. Tephroaia purpaiea, Pera.
(Muscat)
47. Fapilionacea, not determinable
146. Oldenlandia Scbimperi, T. And.
132. Anogeisans
143. Woodfordia floribundft, Saligb.
48. Pimpinella Traginm, Vill.
1B2? Cepbaloitdn indioa, Nand.
200. CuourbitaceM (flowera racemosa,
11. Caciunia propbeUram, L. (Una-
eat)
233. Uollngo hiita, Thanb. (U. Olinna,
A.Ilich.)
Id, 176. Trianthema near T. pea.
tandra, L.
1S8, 233. Eclipta ereeta, L.
26, 333, 330. Vemonia cinerea, Leaa.
fil, 8. Temtaiia atripliottolia, J. & S.
l'J6. Conjza atrleta, Willd.
37, 9. ex parte Blomea Jacqnemontl,
Clarke
9. ei parte Fluchea
7. ex parte Plnohea
190. Qnaphaliom Intso-albmn, L.
40. MicrorhTDohnt nndicAulis, Lees.
328. Pnlicaria arabica, Cass.
171. Poljcaria leoix^jUa. Baker
81. Puliearia sp.
193. CarthamuB (Kentrophjllam)
186. Ecbinops Bpinoana, L.
36. Centanrea near Calictrapa, L.
221. Lactaca (Iieris)
236. Lactuca orientalta, Boise.
23S. Laatoc* cretica, Desf. ?
160, 234, 109. Lactaea7 (too incom-
plete)
149. Solannra uigrum, L.
33. Solanom melongena, L.
6. Solannm xantbocarpum jac-
qninii, Danal
73, 160. Withania sonmifera. Dnnal
(Mn^urt)
16. HjDgcjamua mutieaa, L.? (Mna-
cat)
140. Dnmia extenaa, RBr.
71. Dnmia oordata, Ii.Br.
330. Petitatropaia oynancboides.B.Br.
104. AdeDinm obesain, B. A S.
104. Aiima tetraeantha. Lam.
141. Salvadora pecdca, L.
163. Plumbago zejlanica, Linn.
87. Vogelia iodioa, Gibs. (V. arabica,
Boiss.)
199. AnagallU latifolia, L.
106. Jasminnm officinale, L.
13. Statioe axUlaris, Forsk.
115. Tricbodeama
168. Hfoscjamua n. ap.
16. Amebia hispidiaEiina, Fortk.
136. Cordia Bothii, R. A 3.
1. Beliotropiiun ondnlatum, Tabl
66. Heliotropinm ovalifotiom, Forsk.
13. Eeliotropium drepanopbjtlum,
Baher
121. Heliotropinm zejlanicam. Lam.
31. Lithoapermnm oallnum. Tabl
136. Ipomea blepbarosepala, Hocbat
814. Ipomaa (indeterminable]
112. Ipom»a pnrpoiea, Lam.
327. Ipomaa hederacea, Jacq.
144. Ipomraa obscnra, Ker.
119. Ipomaa palmata. Forak.
61. Ipomsabiloba, Forsk. (Peaeaprn)
Ipomma Batatas, Lam.
339. IpomBB near Lindlejri, Cbois;
147, 148. Ipomma (Capitata) ap.
63. ConvolTnlna arveasia, L.
65. ConvoWolus (Rect»)
64. Creasa cretica, Linn.
lis. UjpMSlM vertioillaria, R-Br.
88. Raellia?
107. Ruellia patula, Jacq.
60, 164. Bnellia Bpp.
110. Acantbns sp.
87. Barleria acantboides, Vahl
96. Barleria Hocbatetteri, nna
96, 174. Barleria Epp.
166. Nearacantbua ?
100. Menraeanthas t
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APPENDICES
lOS. BnttTA (HapUmthen speoiom
Hochat.)
as4. JtiBticU debilis, Vahl
91. Jnatioia rimplei, D. Don.
145. Jnaticia ip.
14, 72. Ltppik Dodlflom, Bich.
187. Striga.
II. Striga onibuiohoidei, Benth.
2ST. Btiige, hirauta, Benth.
167. Scrophnlarift T
3. Linaria maoilenta, Dene.
76, 3G. Lindenbergia Imttoosa, Benth.
78. Orobancbe eernoa, Loefl.
183. Lantana salvisfolia, Jacq.
111. Lindenbergia? (meomplcte)
338. HarpestiB Honnieria, H. B. K.
164. LaTandula Mtilera, T. And.
CoteuB vontaticnB, Benth.?
1S2. Orthosiphon near Eirkii, Baker
79. Ortboaiphon tenaifloraB, Benth.
191. Ooimnm menthKlolioni, Hoohat.
198. TBaeriumfStMhyobotryB)?
169. Tenoriam (Pohlinm)
10, 37. Digera arveDsIs, Forak.
177, 178. CelofU trigyna, L.
84. AchTTanthes aapeia, L.
98. Papalia lappocea, Moqnin
S. Boerhaavia ascendenB, WUld.
14. Boerhaavia elegons, Choisy
24. Boerhaavia pIumbaginBa, Cav.
89. Boerhaavia (leavea onlj)
i. CometoB abjaaiuica, It.Br.
67. Euphorbia n. ap. (cultivated at
Kew Itom Hadhramoot)
336. Euphorbia coneato, Vahl 7
43. Eaphorbia cactus, Ehrenb.
197. Euphorbia adenenia, Defers
129. Bnphoibia ap.
3, 63. Euphorbia indica, Lam.
37. Aristolochia braoteala, Beta.
88. Forskohlaa tenaoiaaima, L.
4. Ficua salicitolia, Tahl
fil, 70, ISO. Chenopodium mnrale,
L.
38. Amarantaa Blitam, L.
161. Poljgonnm glabnun, Willd.
4. Sateda baoeata, Forsk. ?
30, 216. Sweda fruticosa, Forsk.
44. Salsola vemioosa, M.B.
61.
Coraolaea monacatitha, Delile
101. Chrozophora obUqna, Tabl
139. Daleohampia acandena, L.
67, 181. Aoaln>ba indica, L.
331. Croton near C. saioocaTpiis,BaU.
fiL
99. Euphorbia arabioa, H. A S.
130. Jatropha apinoaa, Vahl
Jatropha villosa, MulL Arg.
Jatropba lobata. Mall. Arg.
16E. FhyllantbiiB sp.
0. PhjUantbus ap. (Mnsoat)
172. PhyJUnthoB, ap. rotundilolios,
BI. Pbjllantbas (Unsoat)
180, lOS, 133. Pbyllantbaa
ISO, 310. Ceratopteria tbalietroideH,
7S. Cbeilanthes tarinoM, Kanlf.
69. Adiantam caodatum, Linn.
69. Nepbrodinm odonttun. Baker
S8. Pteria longitolia, Linn.
218. Chara hisplda. Linn.
71, 123. ex parte Commel^'na
Forakalie, Vahl
123. ei parte CommelTna albesoena,
Hasek.
303. eiparteSurpuBlittoraliB.Bchrad
203. ex parte Janoellus laevigatas,
C. B. Claika
IBS. Eleoflbaria oapitata, R.Br.
41, 134. Cyperus rotnndua, Linn.
28. CypeniB conglomeratua, Bottb.
189. Aaparagna racemoana, Willd.
217. Kaias minor. Atl. '
219. NaioB major. All.
153. BI parte Poncratiom tortuoBum,
Harb.
153. ez pBTla HtBrnauthua arabicna,
Boem.7
94. Tfpha anguatifolia, Lino.
91. J uncus maritimuB, Linn.
216. Potamogeton pectinatua, Linn.
211. Potamogeton nataoB, Lino.
Panioum CruB-galU, Linn.
176. Cjnodon DaotfloD. L.
304. Phragmites oommnnia, Trin.
63. Latipea lenegalenaia, Ennth.
F V
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APPENDICES
49. AriatidA ealoptUft, Boiaa.
4S. Pennisfltnm oenchroidea. Para.
sa, 303. SporobolnB Bpioatiu, Vahl
29. Eleusine legyptiacA, Pen.
S6. Panicom geminatiim, Foitk.
18. J!liiropllB 1
S2. Heteoohloa dam, Pen.
43. Aplnda ftriatota, Linn,
A LIST OF THE LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS COL-
LECTED IN SOKOTRA BY MB. AND MRS. THEODORE
BENT
Bi Edoab a. Shith, F.Z.8., Assistant Eaeper ol Zoolog;, Britisli UuHcam.
PreTious to the researches of Mr. and Mrs. Bent, only forty-
eight land aod freshwater molluscs had been recorded from
Sokotra. In addition to twenty-three of these species, they were
fortunate in obtaining eleven new forms, some of them very re-
markable. These have been described and figured by the writer
in the ' Journal of Malacology,' vol. vi. pp. 33-38, plate v., figs. 1-9.
and in the ' Bulletin of the Liverpool Museum," voL ii. No. 1, p. 12.
The British Museum is much indebted to Mrs. Bent for the
donation of this valuable oolleotion.
„ Tbbbibtbiui SPBcna
1. Botiminns Passaraaianas
5. Baliminca Balloari
8. BoliminQB mirabitis, n. sp.
4. Buliminas Bentii. n. ap.
6. BuliminuB rotundua. n. sp.
6i Boliminua Bocotorenslt
7. BuliminuB aemioastansDa
8. Bnliminus Balfouri
B. Buliminus hadibnensia
10. Baliminua fragilis
11. BuliminuB tnailormia
18. BaliminQB acutus, n. ap.
13- BuliminuB innocena, n. ep.
13a. ButiminuB Theodoie, n. tp.
14. Stenog;ra soootrana
15. Stenog^Ta enodis
16. StenogTTa insonlpta, n. sp.
IT. Stenogyra deoipians, n. sp.
16. Bten<^[7ra Jea^ca
19. Stenogyra adonensia
20. Ennea ejlindracea, n. sp.
31. 3iioeitiea sp.
29. Otopoma Balfouri
33. Otopoma complanatum
24. Otopoma clathratulum
35. Otopomi
3B. Tropidopbor
37. Lithtdion it
36. Lithidion Bentii, n. sp.
39. C;elotapBis TadiolaU
90. Anrionia aoootrensia, n.
B. Fbsbhititxb SpBciEa
81. Melania tabercolata 82. Planotbis sp.
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FRAGMENT OF ALA6ASTER0ID LIMESTONE
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APPENDICES
III
V/e bought in Aden a fragment of alabaateroid limestone, Baid
to have come from the Hadhramout. It ie broken on all sides.
It is part of a perpendicular series of sunken square fields, on
each of which is represented in flat relief a sitting or lying goat or
chamois with enormous horns. My fragment has two complete
goats and parts of another above as well as below. The goats
look to the right, and there are some cuttings nhich may have
been port of an inscription on the surface of the stone to the right
of the column of goats. The squares are i inches high by 3^ inches
wide — 10 centimetres by about 9.
That these goats munt have some significance is clear from
th«r likeness to the following objects in the Hof Museum at
Vienna, and figured in ' Sfid Arabische Altertb timer,' by Prof. Dr.
D. H. Miiller. The first is the lower part of a slab, complete on
three sides with a plain surface down the middle, and columns of
goats in squares just like that described above, on either side, the
goats facing inwards. In neither of these cases can one know how
many goats were originally represented.
The second is an architectural fragment composed of alabas-
teroid limestone (yellowish in colour), 0-120 centimetres high, 0202
long, 0'15 thick (so far as it remains).
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486 APPENDICES
It repreeentB seyen chamois (or goats) lying in a row. The
heads are coarsely formed, the eyes like knohs, and the bodies of
tha two animivls which are outside are indicated in profile. The
original nse of the object is nncerbain, but, in any case, it must
have been a topmost ornament, tor the under-side, though regu-
larly smoothed, is not pohshed like the other surfaces, and therefore
cannot have been meant to be seen.
The trough which we brought from Al Gran Is of the same
atone as the former objects. It is 2 feet long by 11 inches wide and
4 inches high. It has an inscription containing a dedication to tha
God Sayan or Beiyin running all round it and finishing on one
side of the top. In the top there is a depression sloping towards
a spout, which is now broken off all hut an inch. The depth of the
depression is from one quarter to half an inch, and the channel in
the spout runs down to three-quarters of an inch. Prof. Dr. D. H.
Mtiller has kindly translated this inscription, which appears to
represent it as an altar. He thinks it must be for frankincense,
but I think it must have been for some liqnid. The inscription on
the end opposite the spout is worn by marks of ropes being dragged
We bought an object of fine alabaster in Aden. It was said
to come from the Hadhramout. It seems like a seal or stamp
and has a hollow round the back, with spouts in either of the
short sides. It had been used as a lamp when we obtained it.
There is a kind of handle or tube pierced through to the front,
probably for saspension.
In the same illustration are also part of an earthenware stamp
and the seal of Yarsahal, the younger of Shibahm, with its golden
setting, and a copper seal with Sabota on it.
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I i
ill
II
I I
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ubjGoOgIc
-n 9
t I
D
Lbtxeh cmmioDtBaADUi or an umqvt dbutkbatxd iHscitimoH kb4r Hum
TCJitaB, niB Kiuuiiu, Sosoibi, oofhii bi Theodobs Bent
DigmzedbyGoOgle
CbOSSES at DiatlTKKStS OK THE HIIJ. DlTHEKHX, A HPCB OF HaIIAH, SOSOTIU.
A FBBFECT KA«S OF CB08BEB, THE TABIODB BOAFU Ot WHICS, OH THB 20CKB,
Wiai coFiBS BX Thbodobb Bbnt
AT MniiBHA, Bab Mow, Soeotka
DigmzedbyGoOgle
T lJj LU II
SOSOTKA CAMEL lUBZS, COUiZCTEII ST TuXODOBX BsHS, 1897
D„.„ab,GoOgIc
APPENDICES
SOKOTEBI AND MAERI WORDS COLLECTED BY THEODORE
BENT IN THE ISLAND OF SOKOTRA, HE ASKING TUB
QUESTIONS IN ARABIC
The Irattsliteraiion of IJu aecmtd, fourth, and fifth columru if according to th«
tyilem of tha Roj/al Oeographieat Society.
DlHlMFt oRd Id
BDgUd.
BniUi Arabia,
toIiiotiuaU
^I^
llMbA
Sokotarl
Port . .
Qien . .
Hiin . .
Hazn . .
Hoan
Spring - toun-
tun
Pick»e
'Ain .
'Ain . .
Majon . .
Neshodebiu
Kltmab.
_
Easm . .
Eaher
Friend
Habib . .
5ablb . .
Mahabba udi
Hababba
babiba
Moon . .
Eamu, Bedr.
Qamar,Badr.
Knbkob,
Warra
Enbkob,
Ehri
FanenJ
OhineEa
Game (pwj) .
Baid .
Said . .
Kehimelmel-
beti4
Zami . .
Tahari
Give me
Atini .
•Atini . .
Endakhemn
01S«B .
Qazaz .
Lognt . .
Araahi
Galll . .
OalU . .
Anno .
Labak
Hair .
Sha'r .
Sha'r . .
Shnt .
Thief
Halt .
NiatorMm .
Nisi , .
Hum . .
Where . .
Fein . .
Fein . .
Fein . .
Fein
What . .
EiBh or El .
Eah . .
Inimdi
No matter .
Mal'elah
Laktiela .
Bithiokhth!
Thank yon .
Kathu^airak
EateAhairak
Stand here .
Staoni hinna
Sarbuhun .
Takozlia'a
Straight
I>ogri . .
Dn^rl. .
Hebkalaierom
(or Hepka)
Umbarrak .
Tomi
Slewed. .
Umbirrak or
Mubarak
Dmbank.
Mabarrak
Slop . .
Wakkaf. .
Waqqaf. .
Solop . .
Tznllebaba
Hammer
Shakoneh.
Hafll
Eleie . .
Taterra
Hang , .
Shanak .
Shanaq.
Aiab . .
EUanak
Hand . .
Yad . .
Yad . .
Hed . .
Ed
M«ru .
MarsS . .
Mold . .
UoW
Wagietras.
Waga'-ar-ria.
AbkoB era;he
EUakade
Often . .
Eetiran-Tam-
Zeit . .
Eathiran .
lebodamekin
Denatakin
Oil
Zait . .
Shigai . .
Shigar
Onion .
Bafal . .
Boellet . .
Baaahal
Water . .
Moya . .
MijrSJ) .
Hamou.
DihoBUio
Ghebel . .
Gabal . .
Ghebel .
Fidehan
Milk . .
Leben . .
Laban . .
Khlol . .
Ehlol
Stone .
B»gar . .
9.ear . .
Eoben .
Oben
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APPENDICES
IMaldrtiixdIii
BngUib
aonthAnMm
bat not In all
oondDedWK
iSb^
M^
80^
Brenl . .
Ehnba . .
Ehuba . .
Khoba . .
Eshere
Data
Nakhl .
N(Ail . .
Nakelat. .
Tamari
Mu)
Baeol . .
BaW . .
Beigh . .
Elk
Ime
Far
gsr. ;
8haiat .
Dabak . .
Neu
Oarlb . .
Qarlb . .
Oarib . .
Sheiki
WeU
Bir
Bir
Bir
Abahut
Bhsep
Ohaneni
Obanom
Ebeoi . .
Oi
Hon^
Eh^l . .
Eh^ . .
Ferehe . .
EhaU
Camet
Oemel .
Ounal .
Berr' . .
Bmt
8«a
Bahar .
Ba^r .
Dorum .
Danhem
Sand
Baml . .
Ba^ . .
Bhimeh
QarmeD
Tonb . .
B^raka '. '.
Farak bereU
Hove
Shihl .
Shllleil .
Below
Kftbl . .
Qabl . .
EBobba .
Goddam ahei
Name
Urn . .
Ibd) .
HemnkomSn .
Monndkehom
Bea
Fsraah .
Pirish .
Jaderi .
Oudere
SnnriiwB
Shfirug esh
Bharug-uah.
Skerkot Nay.
Shetkot Naa.
sbema
BhamB
bom
Ught
EalU ,
Ehafll .
DemekOt .
Hanghena
Gold
DahAb . .
Taab . .
Deheb . .
Deheb
Iron
?adid . .
Hadid . .
Hadld .
Hadld
BilTei
Fadda .
Fadda^. .
Derehem
Derahin
Cloth
Kamash
Qui^ .
Diahld . .
Shad'hem
Cloud
Sabal . .
Sa^abab 7 .
kiaia .
HehooT
Judge
Kadi
QHI . .
Eadi .
Ealdi
Take
EmiakorEm-
•ik
Bhaitin.
Imailc . .
Elkot .
Tela
SaUn . .
Bhaitan
Bhutan
HarkDBh
Difficult
Babi'" . .
Sabi' . .
Sabi . .
Marhere
Breniug meal
Aahar . .
■Aahfi . .
Izhhd . .
TeloimO
Midday. .
DotK .
Dhnhr . .
Tohr . .
Vohr
Plaee . .
Makao .
Makim. .
Mikon . .
D'half
Pace . .
Waeh . .
Wajh . .
Weg^ . .
Fens
Faith . .
Diu . .
Din . .
Din . .
Izallhen
Famll;.
Ahl . .
Ahl . .
Oher . .
DabiJikag--
haiho
Pat . .
Semen . .
Bama .
Mabmr . .
Hammi
Peaat . .
Eid
'Id . .
Eid
Ohioher
Feyer . .
Qammi
Dighilo . .
Little . .
Sham . .
EhaU . .
IhDil(orEint)
Herithen or
(Eierihen)
Uelane. .
MiUS . .
Milli -
Finger
Asbn- a,abe' .
U,bu',A,ba*.
Aaba . .
EsbaasaU
Flea
BarghU
Qberise
GberoB
Fool
Ehailak
Abmaq .
Diddo
Saddle
Sarga . .
sigT. .
Zmel . .
Zmel
Dog
Eelb . .
SaJb .
Eelb .
Not knom;
no word
,a eamel not to kiK>ok tgainit aiiTthing in a narrow
^dbyGoogle
APPENDICES
DUlutoiedm
EtlBlldl
s^a
"£S
MiM
s<™
Sheep
Eharufa
_
Tiwit . .
Te'eh
Salt . .
Mel^ . .
Math . .
Milhoda
Hilh
Knite . .
Bikkia . .
Sikbm . .
AJB
Sari
Fish .
Semek . .
Samak .
Seit . .
Zode
It ii neceB-
Lazim .
LBierom
Na-ah
«^-Joa
mast
Enough .
Bm . .
Bag . .
Baa . .
Ta'ad
One . .
WihBd
Wahad. .
Tat
Tat
Two . .
Itnein
Ithnain. .
Tro . .
Tta
Three .
Talata
Thalfitha .
Saratlt .
Talele
Foni . .
Arba'
ITba'- .
Arbote .
Arbaa
Five . .
Ehamsa
Khamaa
Khams .
Khamse
Six
Sitta
BIttft . .
Itlt
Sitta
Sewn . .
Saba'
Baba' . .
Ibeit
Saba
Eight .
Tamanii
Timmini
TamanU
Nine .
Tissa'
TSa- . .
Zeit . .
Testa
Tan . .
•Aehera
'Ashara . .
Aserait .
Asheia
Ti^nty .
'Ishrin
'IshHQ . .
Aaherin
iBhrin
One hundred .
Mia
Miat
Mleit . .
Mia
Work . .
Bhngh
Shatchl . .
Fiaa . .
MahalSh
Wound, Bore .
Gorrih
Gatuh . .
Sob . .
Goiii^
Pain . .
Waggl
Waga' . .
DebfahoB
Eriakh
D4wa
Dawa . .
Dewar . .
Tofin-i-dewar
Sun . .
Shems
Shame . .
Bajomn
Shebem
Beady . .
Tair
Tair . .
Akablt .
Batter .
ZAbda
Makoao
Qobomlne
I . . .
Ana
B^nkomim .
YOQ . .
Enta
Antam .
Mineamuk .
He . .
Hii
Hu
Bon .
Eope . .
9abl
9abl
Eeit . .
Rnkhar
Son, boy .
Welid
Walad
Aghien .
Muksbin
Daughter .
Bint
Bint
Aghinot
Ftohin
Woman
Horma
Baremet
kzbb
Wood . .
Hattab
Ba(ab
Hatab . .
Tirob
Strong . .
Eawl
Qftrt
Uuiiceb
Hnsirak
War . .
Barb
Barb
Barbahehen.
Barb ahehen
Hon) . .
Eamin
Kam-nun .
AahishfUa,
Ta'alt'hefiu,
Lawa
Fileta'iiiciteh,
Bi*h
Feleh'ntodih
Da
Price . .
Tamin. .
Thaman
Soaeh . .
Teteni
Meat . .
Lal^m .
Lahm .
Tiwe .
T4
1*8 ■ ■
Bigl . .
Bijl . .
Serein . .
Thlaub
Blood . .
Di^ . .
Dim . .
Douri .
Dnrr
Allah . .
Allah . .
Alltii . .
Allah .
Allah
Deal .
Tonnh .
Tnrab . .
YehomaUah .
Donli
Bouses.
Boayoiit
BnjQt .
Bonyout
Eeke
Seaweed, grass
Hashleh
Hareh . .
B6d
Servant.
'Abd . '
•AbT . .
Hoyar .
Qulma . .
Embaha
SUve . .
Gulam . .
Qhulam
BHhlekum
Tall, long .
Tawfl . .
TSWn . .
Tawll .
Ep
(Plural) .
AtwU
At,wal
Tawil . .
Dihom
ubjGoOglc
APPENDICES
DillMtDUdlll
EnBlUk
SoDlti AnbEi,
Utfimry
JUhri
Bokotsrl
StUB . .
Nagoiun
Nagdm
Nagonn. .
Eabkap
Lwmh. .
DaFe . .
Dart . .
Kerl . .
Mnkerd
Troth . .
Hak . .
9aqq . .
Hak . .
Hak
Without troth
BidAnhafc .
Bidunbaqq .
Ekmunk bak
In the house.
fi-I bait . .
fi'l bait. .
bebeit . .
Tofok,di4min
kar
In the nigfat .
fi'lleil .
fi'l lail .
beleil .
billeilhe
In the road .
fi'l tank
A'l ^rIq
beharoD .
Heal . .
Shifl .
BhM . .
Bekhairgh .
Bekbaeraghe
Heart . .
Ealb
Qalb . .
Kalb . .
Elbi
HeaveD .
Sams . .
BamS . .
Simma .
Heay, . .
Takil . .
Ttaqil . .
TakU . .
Eddak
Heel . .
Akab . .
'Aqlb .
AkoDoeh
EonoBh
Pig - .
Kbansir
Horn .
Kam . .
Qrnm . .
Kon . .
Eon
Beady . .
Hadir . .
Sadhir. .
Hadai . .
Hader
Imperfect
Nakii .
Ni^5 . .
NakuBB.
Udinya
Ghairniunkin
Impoeuble .
Gbair mmn.
Qhair mun-
Obair nnm-
-lin
-lin
kin
PoMible
Timkin.
Imkftn . .
Tnmhin
YnmlciD
Indigo . .
Na ^edal
na . .
Hihl . .
NQ
iDtsat
Xia (itfal pi.)
Till, mil .
Atlal . .
Atfal
lufldet . .
Eafl^ . .
KoHer . .
Eeffer
Ink
Hlbr . .
Hibr ~ .
Indnd . .
Medad
luteUeot
Akl . .
'Aql . .
Okol . .
Akal
iDterprater .
Teq;ain4n .
Targnmin .
Uakaddam .
Dehana n»-
kaddam
Qezeira
Island . .
G«tini . .
Oazlrah
Qeieira. .
Jew . .
Zahoiidl
lahadi .
Yahooda
Yahouda
Kiek . .
Bafos . .
Erkella . .
Tarikod
Intelligent .
Fahlkm
Fahtm . .
Fehemdi .
Febem
KiU . .
Katal . .
Qatal . .
Ilbedda. .
Talata
Kind .
LaM( . .
LaV( . .
Altebf . .
Altniphin
Armg .
Siliah . .
SilMi . -
Shkl . .
Shbo
Soldier . .
'Askar . .
>A<^ . .
Aakfit . .
Asker
King . .
Malik .
Malik .
Moli . .
D'hemmel
Arrive .
Wa^sala .
WafaU. .
Waaeel. .
Oidda
Matting-bag -
ZaStal. .
ZambU. .
ZambU
Wise . .
>AlUDBh
•Alim ,
Alakah di-
mondi
alemah
Cnt . .
ightftU. .
—
Hanmel bo-
Nerdober
Jonmey
Satar .
Batar . .
HebasBol .
Insofar
Tired . .
Ta'b,Ta'ban.
Ta'b-Ta-bin .
Eetlak . .
Besak
Tribe . .
KablU . .
QabQah
Eabila .
Kabela
Now
Dilwakhti .
Dhilwaqti .
LeauT .
Leasar
Leam . .
Ta'alem .
MoUum. .
Ma'alem
Tent . .
~%heim
Kblm^
ArahUt.
SUrlht
Sword .
Sei( . .
Saif . .
Eeit . .
Ee6t(aha
Snnunei .
Shitta. . .
Eazem .
Eibbor
ubjGoOglc
APPENDICES
DUlsitlUHllD
BogUMb
"initaiHM
oonlKKdlolt
"-2^
lUlul
Bokotal
Eight, South .
Temto .
Tamm .
OMfimhliie .
Left, North .
SbemU. .
Shamal. .
Shemln.
ShemiD
But . .
Shark . .
6harq .
Shorn
WmI . .
GwW. . .
Oharb . .
GbiEote
Attabon
LatesTening.
Mogreb. .
m^b
Mogareb
Hogareb
How are you.
Eheitalak .
Beeherhelt .
Alghiont
Towftlk
Uasbk . .
T« . .
Ewa . .
Ayyawi
Herri .
Herri
No
L8
La . .
Deh
Key . .
HItU .
MittUt .
Ulftih . .
MiftUi
Totia . .
UrbQt . .
Yarbut . .
UrbQt .
Come here .
Ta'al hinna .
Aagab . .
TasAm
OiTemo
Oibli, atini .
-
Inkalbo, Atini
Tadidbo Ha.
Take hold .
Khod . .
Sheliia . .
Tza
Kneel down
Baraka. .
Baraka. .
Hebrekaber .
Terbnrok
(to a oamel)
To-morrow .
Bukara.
Bnkara.
BukarM,
Biii
Badftn . .
Ba'den .
M'gori . .
Ensat
Before . .
Goddam .
Qaddam
Fenooni
Adminlefenl
iDBide . .
Dakhl ,
DSiUl . .
Eeb
Dakhl or
TnAo
Ontdde. .
Barra . .
Barr&n . .
Khar^ or Bar-
ran
Sheraga or
Door . .
Bab .
B&b
Bob . .
Tot
Year . .
Sanna .
Bannah. .
Senate .
Bhno
Week .
Bhahr . .
Shahr . .
Warrakh
Tadkleher
Drunk . .
Bherab .
Sharib .
Neroo
Bead . .
Tarik . .
Jartq .
Haurim
Haurim
Deftd . .
Mnt . .
Mat . .
Haul .
Zami
ToJaj. .
El Tom .
Al Yaam
Imor . .
Hail
Day after to-
B'adBnkra .
Ba'd bakanh
BadgeUn .
morrow
Yesterday .
Ems . .
Ami .
Imabi .
Imihl
Mo«,ae; .
U^lh'. '.
MaejW . .
Maajid . .
Msejid
Frieet . .
MnUi . .
Ua'alim
Ha'alim
Friday . .
Gamma
Oama' .
Ohimata
Gamma
CroM . .
Sallb .
MlB&n .
MiBon . .
Uison
S^ei ;
Hahidad .
Hal^Bfid.
Lael . .
Hatnt
Bawa . .
Sawa .
Nehanakafak-
Entalakhari
hari .
Bay . .
lehteri . .
lehtar* .
Hamiltht6r .
Intergjer
AboTe .
Fok . .
Fanq .
Hikala. .
MinaU
Below . .
Takbt .
Taht . .
Inkodediemui
Everything .
KuTahei
Kuil Bhai .
Haltikalla .
EyeniDg
ABBBt .
'A?ar .
Dinofari
WUdbeaBt .
Wa^ah. .
Wa^lh .
Deehlt . .
SbodUbra
How much .
Sam
Kam . .
B'kam . .
Dom-tree
Nebek . .
Naba* . .
Dom . .
Firehem
Good . .
Tajib . .
T^yab . .
Ohet . .
I»a
ubjGoOglc
APPENDICES
DUKotnMltn
ZngOA
bntDotlDill
LIMniT
Anbio
ICahrl
Bokolert
Bad . .
Bfttt&l .
BaS . .
Ehlob .
Dii
Kice . .
Zein . .
Zain . .
Ghit . .
Shik^
Oiut .
Eebir .
KAbll .
Aghna . .
Shitdb
Grefttest
Akbar . .
Akbar .
Aghnaa .
Shiblhb
Whita . .
Abaid . .
Abja4 . .
LebanM .
Labine
Bluk .
AmoA . .
Asoad . .
Hawa .
KhalakHa-be
Old . .
Kftdim .
Qadlm . .
Dewll .
Tahan
New . .
Ghedid . .
Oadid . .
Hidlo . .
Gedld
Cold
Bard . .
Bard . .
Gazfm . .
Habahnr
Hot . f
Hu
?arr . .
Hehen .
Shehem
Huni . .
HuminS
HanaaHark.
Diodenarher
B«d . .
Ahmar .
Ahmar . .
Uler . .
Afer
OreMi .
Akdar .
Akdar .
Yellow . .
Ajtar . .
A?rM . .
Hat'hor. .
Shedhor
Much . .
Ghali . .
Ghall . .
Zeboan . .
GhaU
Ch«p . .
Bakis . .
BakiB . .
Bakis
Rich . .
Ghani .
Ghanl .
Toglr . .
T«B
Poor . .
Fakir . .
¥^U . .
Faker . .
Faker
Wretched .
Heakin. .
Miskin .
MeeklD. .
Heakin
Fkthei .
Abu .
Aba
Hebe .
Bebe
Mother. .
Om . .
Uaun . .
Hamme
Bao
Eai . .
Aknl . .
Akal . .
HamkoDt .
Oebeasaneo
Fur .
Kh&f .
Linkbat
Angry .
IJam . .
Bhuhkol .
Daime
SiS . .
ffir! :
Biihell . .
Gioie
Brokea, In-
jured
New. . .
Makifir. .
Tiber .
Sheteghon
Eabar
Khabar.
Kobber . .
Eabr
EuW .
B«di-i,8ubb».
Eiiii, . .
Ksobba . .
Eaa^beya
FetM^ . .
Salaan .
Balam .
Subbaellah .
Albnrr
Dirty .
Waaakh
Uithkal
Haidek
Cle^ . .
Nodll .
Ohihdi . .
Nodeif
, Boat . .
Merkab .
Herkab .
Martab
Bide . .
Yerkab .
Yarkab '. '.
Hamle Mkhob
Nirorkab
Bmd . .
Hatar .
Ma(ar . .
Lehamed .
UeBBsr
Crooked
Awwaa .
'Awwaj . .
Nehanellom .
Netigher
Piniehed
Shalaa .
Tettin
Thu* .
Kidda . .
Eidft . .
00 . {
YemBtai. .
Yamshl.
Suh . .
To!ka
Bna . .
Rat
GhenI . .
Toher
Priwn . .
Habs . .
Haba . .
Haba .
HabB
Pieeent.
BakbBhis
Bakbshilh .
Bakhsheah .
Bakhabiah
Prophet
NeU
NabI
Nebe .
Nebe
Open . .
Mat tub . .
Maftuti . .
Bob &m
Qhinatten
OrphKi. .
Yatlm . .
Yatim . .
Ajtlm . .
Bnoket . .
Dala
DbIu
DolQ . .
M'l'hia
To punt .
Lanwao, Lann
Lawvan
Lann . .
Sourah
Pohnbranches
Saiaf Qakhl .
Sate . .
Hea el timeri
Paisnts.
Walidein
Walidain
Hebewahami
Bebe wavu-
beyah
Eat
Fowl . .
Dakika . .
_
Earoon .
LiTer .
Eabid . .
Kabid . .
Kabid .
Kabid
ubjGoOglc
APPENDICES
DUlwtBMdln
EogU
Sooth Armblh
A bnt not In ill
ocoflncd to It
liUnrj
Anblo
lUhri
Thirsty
•AMban
Bailok . .
Tolmek
HnnRTj
. Goto . .
Ql'an .
OOak .
Sottak
Pm«
. Bamd . .
I^amd . .
Hamd .
Bamd
Blow
. Ba'ati .
Aden abata-
yah
AdeDnan
Chriatiu
n . K^ari . .
Naearl . .
Hazari . .
Nazari
Immadi
t«lj. Hilan . .
^alau .
Lasorom
NB'ah
Mjrrbg
nm . LolAn . .
LnbSn . .
Tlahaa . .
TlahaB
MjSbb
ree . Leben . .
Hogheiate .
Emitdn
E^ee
. Knkbah. .
Barb . .
Berk
Lame
. A'rag . .
'Arag . .
Tibere .
Qnabel
To Uu8
. pahik . .
Qahqah
Istafaalk
N-dlabab
I^uehte
r . Pihk . .
piljk . .
Bthelbalk .
Entlahak
Leg
. Ba^ . .
SSq . .
Iblop _
Leper
. Abra? . .
Ibta, . .
B'hohg . .
Litt
. Drfa
Urfah . .
Dtafminha)
Like(rai
me as) Hitl-sbibh .
Mithl .
Iidah .
Toiba
Lion
. Aaad; plural.
Asia . .
Gailar . .
(No word, be.
eaose they
aaj'wenone
inSokotra')
To dwell
. Sakan . .
""■ •
Nehamel En-
N'Bobn benoa
Langa
. Blah . .
Hi, ah .
Gil-fhori .
0«ha
M«d^
. Magnfln
Magnnn .
Haiwal . .
Mankaina
UuikiD
. BeniAdam .
Bani Adam .
BeniAdam .
Uakalaka.
Sooth Africa)
Miiffio
. SihT .
Sihr . .
Saghlr . .
Sshire
Naked
. ■Aryia. .
'Utyan . .
Harket el bi-
nad
Fontah. .
EBOOfu libi-
neben
Polere
NftpkiQ
. FdotaorFiitfth
Fantah . .
Neck
. 'Unk-Bakabah
•Un^Baqabab
Ghoti .
Bokoba
Needle
. Ibrah; plural,
. SbarU .
Uakaito
Makite
Noble
BbaHf .
Sharif . .
Sharif
Noiee
. 9aut . .
^ni . .
Aronmekin or
Saat
Metdelhin or
Taad-hin
None
. LA abad
Liatiad .
Hadelabnn .
Balbeh
Noee
. AQf.'manak-
blr, khoBhim
Ant
Nabare
Harry
. Ishtagil.
Deghodnm .
Deooler
A quartE
!■ . Bab- . .
Rub' .
Erbeit . .
TSman
Bone
. ■Aim .
'Aim .
Atbail . .
BahiUa
Feather
. Bfsbah .
ThUf . .
Nelereri
Quilt
Lahil .
Li^af .
Ooderi .
HiskBl
Lamb
. Amab or Er.
neb .
-
Amab . .
(Tbey have no
word)
Bat
. Gard'bom .
Oardhnm
Oihreit .
Zadahin
Buined
. Khai^b . .
Kharab .
Khaiob .
Kharbeni
Pnrae,
bag, Oaib or Eiea .
Siib, jaib .
Kiee . .
Kiea
po«ke<
ubjGoOgIc
SIbIhm nted [n
BdgU.li
Boatb Arablm
but BDt Id hU
OOBJlil«l™iC
Utsraiy
AnUo
MAtirl
Bakotvl
Idle . .
KesUn .
KaaUu .
Foheel . .
Aghizdd
Amel Shnglak
AmalhagUd«
Tenolar disb-
or Mind your
leLene
beri
ownbuuneBB
Book .
Kitab .
Eitab .
Nektib .
Inkotub
Writing. .
Mektub . .
Maktub. .
Berklnb. .
Berklnb
Honay .
'Ami . .
■Asal . .
Aaaal .
AsBal
Behind .
W4ra .
Wata . .
Manghirek .
Mmherrin
Bitter .
Morr .
Mnrra . .
Heniet. .
Ajhi
Wielding .
irons .
'Ura .
Arouis .
Bnt
Lakin .
L&kin .
Lakin .
Takalta
CftreTM
KiAla .
Qatilab .
SbikSl^a .
Beghigbekfil
Load . .
Huml . .
HamI . .
Hamnl . .
Hamnl
Begin . .
Ibtida . .
'Ibtida .
Bedihn .
Kitohnn
Mufbukh .
MaibiAh .
Mutabukh .
Malbftkt
Bird . .
Dik . .
Dik . .
Dik
Dig . .
Hafar . .
Nebamelhafere
Nebafar
Beat . .
Bahab .
—
Bahah .
Tareharhin-
naba
Doctor . .
?akini . .
Hakim .
Cup
Finjan Kuba-
Finjan .
Finjan Eiibi-
FinjaTKiibi.
yet
yet
yet
Skin . .
Gild . .
Gild, jild
Geld . .
Geld
Eggi . .
Beid, Degade
Baij .
Degagbe
DegaRbe
Never . .
Abadan. .
Abadin. .
AbadAn
Stream .
Ohaa . .
Dihib . .
TbUb
Paper . .
Warak .
Wanq .
Werkart
Warraka
Sit . .
OhiMl Gitez .
Towel . .
Tealleh
Dry . .
Naahil . .
Naahsha/ .
Debar . .
Terabat
Held . .
Eari .
Qa?a-. .
Stub .
Kteb
Scarce .
Nadir .
Nadir .
EalAd .
Eblabrohb
Boast .
ahawa . .
Shawa . .
Hamtiwi .
Ti
Rob
Sarak . .
Baraq . .
Hirrik .
Seirek
Boom .
Oda . .
Odah . .
Hod . .
Hod
Bonnd . .
gaol . .
Haul .
Haglr . .
Haijhia
Root . .
AbI
AbI . .
Aeali . .
Aal
Run .
Rakad . .
Bakad . .
Hoaeh .
Tshi
Ripe . .
Mnstawi
MuBtawi
Mushtawi
MuBbbiwi
Bekl . .
KhaUra . .
Khatam
Khatini.
Houleb
Riches .
Mai
MoUbi .
Reap . .
Haood .
fla^ad . .
Hazad .
Hazd
Beat . .
Pft^ba. .
Paraba. .
L'bedi . .
Toghl
Not
BrandoQk .
Brandouk .
Brandouk
Obey . .
Ata . .
ASa' . .
Atawa . .
Naddub
Order . .
Amr . .
Amr .
Amar
Old woman .
■Agonz . .
■Aguzah'
Agoaz .
Khlibip
Zena . .
Zinat .
Git . .
Tobora
Owl . .
Bourn . .
Bum
Tlathitin
Tlarhiten
Castle or pal-
East . .
Qaer . .
?aw ed
Dowlet
Hazar Sada-
baa
Palm of the
Kaf-tuBs
EafI .
Dehite. .
Deh6
hand
ubjGoOgIc
APPENDICES
DtalMt luel In
BnilUh
Bontb Anbia,
but not In mi
LitenHT
Anbto
Hihil
Bokotol
Pardon. .
OhBfar. .
^atu. .
Netai min el
Beligiterwin
l>ftb«
elliabs
AUtUe.
Shwftya
Bhuwwyah .
Hosted
Einosheddbe
Wheroia tha
Fein el Beled
Fiainalbalad
Hoddehabed
Hodde belad
town
del Fetani
People . .
NSa . .
Nii« . .
Hsboa . .
Hobafoa
Head . .
Bai . .
Bia . .
Baa
Rbb
Blood .
Dam
UaaaOo
DlBOTdered
DamEholeU.
Douri". .
Dorr
blood
Pen . .
Kalam . .
Qalam . .
Ealam .
Kalwn
Anger . .
Ohadab.
Ghttdab
Ghatitali
Hetterhinhi
P^ . .
Wiillii . .
W^ti. . .
WoRehinki .
Waffio
Pepper .
Film . .
Film . .
Filal .
Tiflfarlo
Perinme
'Itr . .
'Itr . .
AUar . .
Hal
Perspire
Arak . .
•Ariq . .
DeanRhalen .
Ikimen
Pin . .
Dabbua. .
DabbflB.
Dabous .
DaboiiB
PlagM. .
Ta'iin .
Ti'fin . .
Eikeo
Eiked Onl-
hafel
Ogly . .
Ba'in . .
Behimet
Behimah
Plant .
NabU .
Nabat . .
NebbM .
Nebont
EDKliih
What is 8h« doing
I drink water
Yoa are verr kind
Do you know
Mehri?
We talk Sokotri .
Give ine another .
How many days
from here totfae
Eiafa yomUhn
Ana aberab moye .
Enta latif ketir .
Enta taraf el
Meheri
Nahn natUlem el
Sokoteri
Gibli wa^ad ^ina
Kam ayi/om min
hinna ilia el
bahr
Oarib el moya
Tnm al tUBin
Nehamel el tikhe .
Ueabiri meikin
Arebok Meberi .
Nahan nataU^
Bokoteriote
Hateli tadrhaa .
Eam yom m'boun
Uheik
Inempt ahnyet
Ithkellare
Latif Ixiyne
Abrah Helm
Ik n'atalam
Bokotoria
Abonli beladitie
Kam jora menba
afta'a
Lai ditto
D„.„ab,GoOgIc
LIST OP SOME OP THE ARABIC AND OTHER
WORDS EXPLAINED IN THE TEXT
Kbba, 108
kafila,8S
ohma, 346
•br,4»
kahwa, 84
ouft, 276 •
afrit. 100
kattin, 230
ftilb,109
kayya. lie
rack, 66
ftttar, Ul
kazbah, 190
Tsu, S81
ftwml,41
kei. 246 •
kharrad, 146
ie«u,24e
bfttn, 277
khawab, fiT
»ap, 146
b'dom, 109
kho, 275*
ealaug, 19
hrinjol, 141
konrzan, I IT
Bamboka, 220
kutoba, 119
Bbabib, 93
ghail. 66
abnr, 276*
Shul, 109
lahal, 245
Bicab. 19
ghstiif. US
low». 128
Bijar, 104
ghi, S7. 260
lutbba, 86
Biyara, IW
gohb, 2*7 •
gourod, 306
medakdak. 81
tara,21
madhar,88
tanla, 336
hab&t-aaaoba. 141
tawilah, 6
halwB. 221
majilia, 34
hirami, 116
raangola. SaK
whabba, 60
hormft, 212
masabam, 129
belt. 141
merghazi, 411
;asar. 394
bemB. 4S6
meraa, 291
miet. 248*
lamonta, 141
jembia. 199
niiB'hap, 128
ziara, 182
mankala, 836
kabila, 140
kadhlb, 108
nakboda, 281
' These woids are uud b
7 thsQua.
ubjGoOgIc
ubjGoOgIc
INDEX
Abudis tribe. 290, 20e, 305
Abr Sbebha, 409
Abjan, plain of tbe, 101, 407, 427
Abjaupolis, 2G9
AbyBBinia, 91,101. 3U-6
Abyisinians in Sokotra, S54
Adab, 106
Adah&n. S&S
Additea, 342, 265-6 ; legends of, 105,
130
Aden, 46, S9S ; diGHoDlties at. 72 ;
departare trom, 238. S46, 399;
retum to. 264, 898, 438
Adolis, rnins at, 241
Aelias GaUaB, 247, 253
Atriea, eiptoTation in, 2i?7
Akaba, the, 88 Ac. Ifrl, 168
Akbmed Grab, 30S
Alagoum, 130
Al Agran, 124
AI Balad, 210-1
Al Hata, 232, 235
Al Kaiti, famUy of, 7G, 7S <&e., 97, 144,
SOB, 282
Al Kara, 403
AlKoton, 111*0.
AJ Madi, 190, 191, 194
Albuqnerqae, in the Persian Quit, 10 ;
commentaries of, qaoted, 6, 40, 60
Ali, mounda of. 30 Sm.
AUaki, mines of, 323
Aloes, 194 ; in Sokotra, 37G. 381
Amara tribe. 301
Ambergris. 314
Amri tribe, 139. 171,277
A6deli tribe, 421 ; moantains of. ib. '
Apes, 271 ;
Arab games, 4, 333
Arad, 3
ArmenialiH. 230
Ascites, 347
Babooxs, 412
Baggala, 8, 20E
Bahrein, Islands of, 1 &e. ; assss ot,
S 1 Doffee-pota, B ; pearl flsherias,
6; boats, 8; hiatory. 9; wells in.
20. 10; springs, 14, 41; BritUb
protectorate, 13
Bahrein, Isa. Sultan ol, 13. Su alto
m Khalifa
Babr-Safl, 129
Bakbrein, 82
BalfouT, Professor. 843. 883
Baiahonl. See Bir Borbut
Basra, 88
Batil, e, 229. 277
Batran, 398
Bazabel, 166
Bedja tribes in the Bondan, 301, S33,
354
Beni, 302
Bedoain, attack Maskat, 59 ; ot tho
Hadhnunoiit, 74, 7i Ac, 93, 129.
313; the name, 128; religion ot.
18R, 361. 374 ; origin ot, 349 ; ot
the Oars. 339 Ac ; ot the Soudan.
801 (be, 350 ; ot Sokotra. 366 Ac ;
in Arabia, 426 ; daoces, 129
Berenice. 291-2, 294, 296
Bir Baokban. 190
Bir Borhut, 138. 236, 283
Bir Lammas. 425
Bir Migbar, 401
Bisharin, tribe ot, in the Sudan, 29S,
301, 304 Ac.
Boats, Arabian, 215, 220, 230, 277-8,
2S4, 288, 293. See BatU, Baggala,
Houra, S'nbuka
^dbyGoogle
453 IN
Britisli. Su MaBkat, P«niftn Onlt,
Sokotra
Bush ire, 2
Butter-making in Sokotro, 336, SIC
Buttra, 17, 35, i6, 6G
CmELa, in the EadhT&mout, fed on
fleli, 81 ; in Dhofnr, 244 ; in the
Soudan, S30 ; in Sokotra, 338-9
Camel marks, S69. 438
Camoens, 254
Campbell Bey, 289
Carrei tribe, 247
Carter, Dr., 954
Cholmley. Mr. A., 333
Coral, 291
DuocR, 290
Date-palms, stories oonceming, 19 ;
OBes of, ih. ; in the Hadhramout,
116
Derbat. 273
Dervishes in the Soudan, 298, 209, 304,
811-12, 326, 338
Dholar, plain of, 233 ito. ; produota
of, SII5; antiquities in, 339; camels
of, 241
Ihance Oraculum, 266
DiodoruB quoted, 318, 334
DioBoorides, name of Sokotra, 344, 863
DiTgheg, 407
Dis, 211
Dollars. Maria Theresa, 208, 239, 285,
414
Dragon's-blood tree, 344, 379
Dress of votuen, 95, 100, 110, 119,
136, 237. 349. 40S, 424
Durand, Sir M., 9, 29
Ebkb, the prophet, ISO, 132
Egyptians, ancient, in Arabia, 270 ;
trade in frankincense, 234 ; in the
Red Sea. 293; gold mines, 313,
318. 320 &c.
Egyptians, modem, on the Bed Sea
293; in the Soudan 307, 309
EI Hasa, 1 ; products of, 6. 38, 42
El Khalifa, family of, 12, 31, 36, 39
El MatTO, 68, 68
Emerald mines, 29G
Eratosthenes, 21
Erba, Mount. 814, 330
Eriosh, 854
Ethiopians, 302 ; in Sokotra, 354
Euphrates Valley Railway, 9
Faodu tribe, 399, 400, 408 £«.
Farash. 169
Fereghet, 383
Frankincense, 224 ; in the Hadhra-
mout. ancient trade in, 69 &c. ;
in Dhofar, 334, 245, 252 etc.;
in 9okotra, 344. 880
French in the Persian Onlf, 60
French, Bishop, 68
Oiiu, mountains, 234; eoenery of.
256 &a., 2(>2 &ti. ; tribe, 244, 246
Ac. ; weapons of, 247 ; customs oF,
2^7 ; women of, 258 ; religion, 260 ;
language, 27 S
Oebaniti, tribe of the, 152
Geological notices, 211-12
ahaida. 186
Obail Omr, 170
Uoddam. moontaine ot, 412, 421
Gold mineB, Egyptian, 301, 313, 318
■Sc. 338
GraOiti, 333, S54
HiOM, 316
Hadendowa, 317
Hadhramout, valley of the, 71 dtc. ;
population of, 79 1 meaning of the
word. 71 ; planU ot, 86, lOt) :
phyeici^ features, 90. 108 : castles,
106 ; Seyyids of, 115, 927, 280-2,423
Hadibo. See Tamarida
Hogarein. 96. 98 Ac, 108
Ilagareiu, Abdol, Sultan of, 08 Ac,
103,141,382
Hagheri Ask, 401, 408
Haghier. Moant. 351, 368, 378
Haibel Oabrein, 90
Haloib, 290, 298
Hami. 210
Haraoumi tribe, 168 &c.. 177, 186,
207, 283
Hamoumi, Sultan ot the. 214
Ham ram, 273
Hstaaou. Queen, 270, 293
Haula, 362
Haura, 106
Hauto, Sultan of, 283
Hazarmavetb, 79, 89, 96, 138
Herodotus, quoted. 31
Himjaritic remains, 49, 104. 1C6. 243.
402. 405. 413 ; civilisation. 71, 143
inscriptions, 71
Hirech. Uerr Leo, 73
Hormnz. 10
Houri, 68, 292
^dbyGoogle
Ibaddctab. See Ibadiet
Ibadiet, sect of the, 60
iDterpreteis, S, ao9, S88, 317. 345-
S64. .Sec 9aleh Huiaii
JuBBBi tribe, 151, 165 &a., 1G5
Jajaker, Dr., 69, 228
Jebel Akhdar, 229. 284
Jebel Erba. S« Erba
Jebel Gabeil, 405
Jebel Sarrnr, 407
JedUa, Consuls mnrdeTed at. 283
Jedid, 281 ; Sattao of, 277
Jtnni. 319, 2601 273, 361. 415
Eabb Houd, 130. 139, 282
Kkbr Saleli, ISO, 139
Eadhoup, 367
Eaidoua, 97
Kalenzia, 846
Kamour, ISO
Kanfar, 401-3
Karachi, 228
KatHra. BOO
Kattiri tribe, 119, 137, 130. 139,
146-7, 377
Khaila, 93, 109
Khalifa. Che, 387, 396
Ebati;a, 270
Kbo Houri, 270
Khor Shinab, 307
Khoreba, 91, 93
Eilab tribe. 310, 316-7
Kishiu, 277, 380 ; Sultan of, 280, 862
Koloe, rains at, 241
EoBseir, 214, 220, 290; Sultan of,
383
Kufic re
Earbab tribe, 311
Kutch, 384
300,3
1,316
Locusts, 303, 306
MUBER, 319
Mahri tnbe, 139. 236, 352-3. 277-6 ;
iD&ol[otra,S43, 346, 362; language,
363-4, 366, 389, 393, 434
MakaUa, 74 Ac, 113, 334
Ifakalla, MaDBEaar, Saltan ot, 75 Ac,
146, 234
Hanamah, 3 Ac.
Mandob, 161
Manauia, 241
EX 453
Marrtlar' AprrViim, 241
Marco Polo quoted, 60, 344. SSE, 362
Maria Theresa doUara, 308, 239, 414
Marriage oeremonies, 101
Mashonalaad, 317. 337, 873
Maskat [.See also Oman), 45 Ac.
description ol, 46, 6-^: barboar of,
47 ; bazaaiB, 64 ; Porlognese at,
60 &o.; British in, 54, 65, 68;
Snltanaor, 64,337, 368
Maskat. Fejsnl, Sultan of, 66, 61 ;
visit to, 67, 329
Maakat, Tourki, Sultan of, S5
Maasava, 313
Mauudeville, Sir John, 8
Medical eiperienoas, 85, 110, 117, 136,
268, 282, iJOS, 348, 416-6
Merbat, 230 &e.. 2GS-9
Merbat, Saleiman, Wall of, 331 Ac,
268, 377
Mersa Halaib, 288
Meshed, 101-3, 105, 141
Miles, Colonel, 284
Minhali tribe, 139, 161, ISS, 173. 277
Minqui, 3U6
Mirage, 401
Mis-hal, plain of, 421, 423 Ac.
Mohammed Ool, 296. 301, S09
Moharek, 2 ; visit to, 13
Monejof Oman. 61, 284
Morghani, seat of the, 298
MoBcba, 263, 269, 270
M;os Homos, 290. See Eosselr
M;rrh in the HadbramoDt, 77, 91 ; in
Dhofar, 264
: Nub, 412
1 Nahadi tribe. 105, tSS
] Naida. 184-6
: Nearchus, Periplua of, 6, 21, 49, !
I 269, 344, 392
\ Nejd, 39. 142. 236, 264. 361
' Nezweh, 47, 49
OiuM, 8 ; History of. 49 &c. ; Imams
, ot,ib.; kingdom of, 336. 278; coins
of, 284. Set aim Maskat
I Onir, tomb ol, 171
PutsEEB in the Hadhramont, 76, 77
Pearl fisheries, 6 Ac., 54, 292
Periplas. Se« Nearebni
Persians at Bahrein, 11, 17 ; in
DholM. 343
Persian Gulf, British ioflaence in. IS.
^dbyGoogle
454 IN
45 Ac, 54, Sg Ac. See Slavery,
Moskllt, Bahrein, Portuguese.
Pho-Diciaas
FhcBnicians in Bahrein. SI r£c. ;
origin of the, 22
Piracj, BDppresBion of, 65-6 ; in
Sokotra. 344
Plinj. quoted, 21. 88, 92. 162, 283
Polygamy. 114
Portagaeee, pearl fisheries, 6 ; at
Bahrein. 10 Ac. ; at Maekat, 50 &e. ;
I Dhofar, 254 ; in Sokotra, 867.
. 49,
868,3
PortDgDese baildiDgs. 11, 17, )
Ptolemaic period. 291-6
Ptolem; quoted, Stj. 92, 2*1, 266, 272
Pnnt. land of, 284, 270, 844
lUiDA, 216-7
Bakhiout, 276
Banaxan, 21», 221, 224, 292
Bos BagaehTa, 220
Bai Bemae, 2n2, 396
Bbb Die, 220, S»l
Bas Faitak, 281
Bss Hamar, 279
Baa Momi, 356, 368, S72, 37G-6
Baa Bisout, 246, 269
Bed Sea, coast of, 290 Ac., 840 ; slave
trade In, 294
Biadb, 304
Bisout, 233. 279
Bizat, 276
Bobst, 240-1
Boe, fiir Thomas, 365
Boitok, 47
Bnfa'a. 21 ; visit to, 33
Si'iH, 162, 173
Sabtcan trade in spices. 263-4 ; in-
Boriptiona, 126, 129,135,333; ruins.
49. 240, 265. 269
Sadler, Colonel Hayes, 228
Safi. King. 129
Hagan, 125
fiaiiben, 371
Baiban, 373
Ssihut, 142, 207, 233, 280-1
Salaka, 333
Baleh, the prophet. 132. See Kabr
Saleh
Saleh Hasan. 73. Hfi. 102, 106. 109,
167, 182, 1K6 4c., 223
Santbttka. 220
Sarrar, 214-7
SawakiD, 290, 341
Sawakin Eadim, 300
Scbveiqlnrth, Dr., 343, 391
Sedad, 67
Sellala, S31-4
Seyyids of the Hadhramont, 30
Shabva, 91, 129. 142. 162
Shafi, sect of, 154
Sbeher, 163. 171. 176, 200, 202 Ac,
205 4o.. 210. 281
Bheher, Hussein, Saltan at. 302, 222,
380. 281. 283
Shellal, 298, 303
Rbeadeh, S04
Shibabm, city oE, 126, 142 ctc.i
caatleot, 146 '' '
Shibahm, Salah 'bin 'Mohammad,
Sultan of, 107, 111 Ac, 162, 204,
Shukra, 425-7
Biet, 94, 101, 109
Siwona, 119, 146
Siyar. Siyara, 104, 178. 202. 209, 283
Slave trade. 232; in the Persian
Quit, 60; in the Red Sea, 293, 308,
311
Slavery. Arab, 60, 80, 404. 408
Smyth, CapUin, 288, 803. 320-3,
841-2
Snov, 423
Sobar, 49
Sokotia, inhabitants of, 280, 363, 369 ;
history of. 343 &o., 391-9 ; geo-
graphioal position. 345 ; language,
346, 357, 363-6, 439 ; antiquities of,
373-5, 379, SB4 ; Christianity in,
344. 364 ; Portuguese in. 367. 363,
384, 3S1-2 ; EngUsb in, 868. 392-8 ;
Greeks in, 392; scenery of, 368.
886, 896
Sokotra, Salem, Sultan of, 280, 362,
394
Solomon. 293
Somali, 89
Soudan, 287 <Sc.; Egyptian ganisona
in, 290 ; slave trade in, 298. 811 ;
gold. 325; population of, 301-2;
mountains of, 315
Spain, annexations of Portugal, 49.51
Sprenger. Aloys, quoted. 241-2. 247
Strabo, quoted. 293
Suakim. Se^ Sawakin.
Sufeila. ISli Ac.
Snk, 391, 394
^dbyGoogle
Tamariaa. 347, 301.391
Taminif tribe, 139, 151, 155 At., 171,
177.277
Terim, 119, 146
Terra PleiDe, 2B9
Thnmoti, 1G3
TodiD, 316
Tokhiun, 83
Torisi, i|uoted, 49
Toarki, Sultan of Moskat. 236. 236
Torka. in Bahrein, 13 ; in the Fersian
OuU, 51, 54 ; in Arabia. 235, 425
}, 170 A
Wadi al Ain (Hadbramont). 144. 158
Wadi al Aiaa (Hadhramout}, 90 •to.
Wadi Ambara (Soadan), 3114
Wadi Banna (Fahdli). 401-6
Wadi bin Ali (Badhramont), 159, 1G3
Ae.
Wadi Doan (HadhramDiit), 72, 90-1,
94,104
Wadi Oabeit (Soudan), 310, 818, 320,
828, 333
Wadi Ghafait (Hadhratnont), 84
Wadi Gherid (Hadhramout). 210
Wadi Gheraid (Oara), 366 <tc.
Wadi Gamatyewa {Soadan), 316
Wadi Hadai (Soudan), 810, 310
Wadi Hadda (FahdU). 421
Wadi HadiiB madhramoat), 1S3
Wadi Hassan (Fahdii), 407, 409-10
Wadi Hajet (Soudan), 811, S2S
EX 455
Wadi Howeri (Hadhramout). 85-6. 163
Wadi Iroquii (Soudan). 315
Wadi Kbbt (Hadhramout), 96
Wadi Khonab (Hadhiamout). 130
Wadi Ehur (Soudan), 330
Wadi Kookont (Soadau), S3S
Wadi Latat (Hadhramout), 130
Wadi MoEila (Hadhramout). 319. 281-
Wadi Nahaat (Gara). 266
Wadi Beban (Fahdli), 418
Wadi Samluf (Fahdli). 427
Wadi Ser (Hadhramout), 126
Wadi Shekheii (Hadhramout). 219
Wadi Sherwin (Hadhramout), 213
Wahabi, sect of, 5, 12, 34, 64, 63, 361
WaU Abdullah-hin-Amc, feud of, 403
&e.
Wall Boleiman. Set Herbat.
Wellated, Lieutenant, 368, 393
Wiogale, Colonel, 288
Wrede, Herr t., 72, 97, 129, 180, IM
Xatikb, Francis, 8SS
YaFEi (tribe in the Hadhramout), 75,
189, 143. 402 &o.
Yatei Bombakr-bin-Said, Snltan of,
403 ,£0., 408
Taraabal, seal of, 161
Yebazahaz, 387
Zahzibu. 55-6, 239
Zimbabwe, nilnB of. 407
Zoko. See &uk
Zufar. See Dhofar
DigmzedbyGoOgle
ubjGoOgIc
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Second Impression.
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Tlie Log of a Sea Waif:
Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life.
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Health Abroad :
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z Volumes, l-nige crown 8vo. With numerous Illustrations and Map;. iS/.
The Great Company, 1 667=' 1871.
Beln; a History of the nonourable Company of Merchant
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By BBCKLBS WILL80H.
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TBAVEL AHD ADVENTDBE IN AQSTBAUA.
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The Life of Charles Sturt,
Sometime Capt. 39th Foot, and Australian Explorer.
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The Life of Madame de Longueville
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A VOLUME OF HB. JAMES PATH'S ESSAYS.
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The Backwater of Life;
Or, Essays of a Literary Veteran.
By th« late JJLHB8 PXYM.
BEVISSD, ENLAHQED, AND CHEAPEB EDITION OF 'COLLECTIONS
AHD BECOLLBCTIONS.'
With Frontispiece. Large crown 8vo. 7^. &/.
Collections and Recollections.
By * On* vho ha« kept a XHary.'
VOLUME 2 OF MB. ROBERT BRIDGES' COLLECTED WORKS.
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PoeticalWorks of Robert Bridges.
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NEW WORK FOR JDVEHILES BT HIS HONOUR JUDGE PARRY.
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The Scarlet Herring, and other stories.
THE HISTORICAL SERIES FOR BIBLE STUDENTS.
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The History of the Jewish People.
Vol. I.— the BABYLONrAN, PERSIAN, AND GREEK PEKIODS.
By CHABLB8 FOBTBR KBRT, Ph.D.,
Associate ProfesEor of Bihlical Literature and History, Brown Universily ; Author o(
'The History of the Krbrew People.'
Lai^ crown 8vo. Ji. fid.
Unwritten Laws and Ideals.
Bdltod by MISS PITCAIBH.
By Rl. Hon. Sir Edm
CONTENTS.
The How of Common.. By Sit Rtgiiuld P.l-
gnvc, K.C.B.
TheT(oy»IN«vy. By Reir-Adminil C. C. P(IHO«
Fiuicnld, R.N.
Tht Brliish Army. By Major-Geo*™! J. F.
M.im«,CB., R.E.
Royal Enginwr.. Ey Lkat..C™eral J. J. Mac-
Leod Innei, V.C.
Royal Aoilkry. By MaJM-Geneml O'CmllaghaB.
Thta«Ky, ByiheReT. W, B.T™vety«i.
lliejiidites. BySirHetl
Vice-Ouncrlkn. By ihe Rs\', A. Aiisten Lei||h.
Provosi of Kinc'i Colleie. Cambridte.
Hadmulen of Public Schooli. By Dr. Welldan,
Mtlrop- Biibop of ChIcuiil
Boyi at Public ScJiodIl By the Re*. G. T.
Heywod.
BaiikiiiE. ByJ. HerbeitTHllan.
Muuc ByJ. A. FuIlet.Mailland.
Atiiiu. By G, F, Watu, R.A.
Archiiecu. ByAlftedWalerhouie. R.A.
London: SMITH, ELDER, &: CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W.
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