Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/511

SOKOTRA. 419 Climate. — Products. Thauks to the monsoons, and to the alternating breezes along the coasts, the climate of Sokotra is less sultry than that of the adjacent Arabian peninsula. But this alternating movement of the monsoons is less favourable for navigation with the Red Sea than was recently supposed; and although Marco Polo spoke long ago of its extensive commerce, Sokotra has in modern times been unable to acquire any great importance as an advanced station for Aden on the route to India. In these waters the alternating atmospheric currents set on the one hand between the Somali and Arabian coasts, on the other between the Gulf of Aden and the high seas. During the first half of the year the wind blows chiefly to the south-west, in the direction of Africa ; during the remaining six months it venrs round towards the Arabian peninsula, and to the north-east towards the Persian Gulf, The opposing currents thus prevail regularly first on one then on the other of the oppo- site seaboards. Hence Sokotra would be well situated as a convenient station at the narrowest part of the channel between the two continents, at least if it possessed any suflRciently sheltered haven. But between such almost desert and lifeless shores the traflBc is necessarily insignifiicant. Sokotra is visited on each voyage by scarcely a dozen Arab vessels, plying with the monsoons between Mascat and Zanzibar. At present, the natives of the island require to import little from abroad beyond some dokhn [penicilana typhdiden), when the date crop has been deficient, and their cattle, sheep, and camels have failed to yield a sufficient supply of milk for the local consumption. In return they export nothing but a little (jlii, or clarified butter, and dragon's blood, the product of a peculiar species of plant, besides 3,000 or 4,000 pounds of aloes {aloes spicnta), of the best quality known to the European pharmacopoeia. The Socotran aloe grows on the slopes of the hills between the altitude of 500 and 3,000 feet. The inhabitants are almost exclusively a pastoral people, possessing numerous cattle, sheep, goats, sure-footed asses, and camels accustomed to traverse rugged and stony ground. The horses alluded to by old writers appear to be extinct, nor are there any cassowaries, notwithstanding the statement of Wellsted to the contrary. The local fauna is, in fact, very poor, comprising no species of rapacious beasts, though reptiles, including some venomous snakes, are common enough. The birds belong exclusively to African species, whereas the molluscs for the most part represent Arabian types. Topography. Taman'da, towards the middle of the north coast, is the chief village in the island. Kolcssea, at the north-west extremity, formerly did a little foreign trade, but is at present a mere convict station. On the south side there at one time stood a large Portuguese stronghold, the ruins of which have been visited and described by Hunter. Till recently the inhabitants of Sokotra were free, independent alike of the