The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

SOKOTEA. 419Climate.— Prodicts.Thanks to the monsoons, and to the alternating breezes along the coasts, theclimate of Sokotra is less sultry than that of the adjacent Arabian peninsula.But this alternating movement of the monsoons is less favourable for navigationwith the Red Sea than was recently supposed; and although Marco Polo spoke longago of its extensive commerce, Sokotra has in modern times been unable to acquireany great importance as an advanced station for Aden on the route to India. Inthese waters the alternating atmospheric currents set on the one hand between theSomali and Arabian coasts, on the other between the Gulf of Aden and the highseas.During the first half of the year the wind blows chiefly to the south-west, inthe direction of Africa ; during the remaining six months it veers round towardsthe Arabian peninsula, and to the north-east towards the Persian Gulf. Theopposing currents thus prevail regularly tli'st on one then on the other of the oppositeseaboards.Hence Sokotra would be well situated as a convenient station at thenarrowest part of the channel between the two continents, at least if it possessedany sufficiently sheltered haven. But between such almost desert and lifelessshores the traffic is necessarily insignificant.Sokotra is visited on each voyage byscarcely a dozen Ai-ab vessels, plying with the monsoons between Mascat andZanzibar.At present, the natives of the island require to import little from abroadbeyond some dokhn {penicilaria fi/pho'ides) , when the date crop has been deficient,and their cattle, sheep, and camels have failed to yield a sufficient supply of milkfor the local consumption. In return they export nothing but a little ghi, orclarified butter, and dragon's blood, the product of a peculiar species of plant,besides 3,000 or 4,000 pounds of aloes (ahes sjjicata), of the best quality knownto the European pharmacopoeia.between the altitude of -500 and 3,000 feet.The Socotrau aloe grows on the slopes of the hillsThe inhabitants are almost exclusively a pastoral people, possessing numerouscattle, sheep, goats, sure-footed asses, and camels accustomed to traverse ruggedand stony ground. The horses alluded to by old writers appear to be extinct, norare there any cassowaries, notwithstanding the statement of "Wellsted to thecontrary. The local faima is, in fact, very poor, comprising no species ofrapacious beasts, though reptiles, including some venomous snakes, are commonenough. The birds belong exclusively to African species, whereas the molluscsfor the most part represent Arabian types.Topography.Tamai'ida, towards the middle of the north coast, is the chief village in theisland. Kokssea, 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 timestood a large Portuguese stronghold, the ruins of which have been ^isited anddescribed by Hunter.Till recently the inhabitants of Sokotra were free, independent alike of theE E 2