Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/510

 418 SOUTH AXD EAST AFMCA. the island. If so, this name and the cross seen on the graves are all the vestiges that now remain of the Christian faith. Nearly all the population, although really of very mixed origin, call them- pelvcs Arabs, and profess the Mohammedan religion, but without fanaticism, although the Wahabites occupied the island in 1800, and for some years subjected it to their intolerant rule. Schweinfurth thinks that the heaps of stones met in some districts are ruined altars ; but he has discovered no other old monument except a few undecipherable Greek letters inscribed on a rock. The so-called " Bedouins" of the interior, who are distinguished by their tall stature, developed muscular system, and robust health, are evidently a different race from the people of the coast, who appear to be mostly Arabs, either of pure descent or else crossed with Xegroes. These Bedouins are supposed to represent the in- digenous element. Their language, which is dying out, is sufficiently distinct from Arabic to be absolutely unintelligible to any inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula, except those of the nearest coastland. The Sayeni or Kishin hillmen, near the capital, Tamarida, claim kinship with the Portuguese; while the Monie of the eastern district would appear to be partly of Abyssinian descent. Others again resemble the Jews, and in fact are said to be of Hebrew origin. Physical Features. Sokotra, which has an estijnated area of 1,000 miles, with a population of twelve thousand, has the form of un elongated triangle with its apex facing eastwards. The sides of ihe triangle, however, are not rectilinear, but towards the centre are deflected southwards, so that the south side has a convex, the north a slightly concave, curvature. Near the middle of the north coast rises the granitic mass of the Ilaggiar, or more correctly, Hajar, that is to say, " Rock," whose jagged cre*.ts attain an elevation of 4,700 feet. The other hills, which are much lower, consist of limestone recks, pierced by numerous caves occupied by large colonies of birds, and here and there converte;! into human dwellings. Ihe island ai)pca?s to be geologically of very old formation, and botanists speak of it as a last retreat in which many primitive forms have take refuge. Of the WS known sjK'cies, including as many as 575 flowering plants, about one-fourth occur nowhere else.* Some districts, especially along the south coast, are covered with dunes disposed in parallel ridges. Elsewhere the island is very stony and consequenily far from fertile. Nevertheless in many places the surface is clothed with shrubs which assume a verdant mantle during the north-east monsoon. In the we>itern district a few valleys opening towards the north coast, are even shadcHl by large trees, and some of the more sylvan tracts are compared by Well- sted to the parklands of England. " In its splendid vegetation," says Schwein- furth, "Sokotra presents a marked contrast to the neighbouring shores of Asia and Africa." ^ ^ • Bayley Balfour, Botany of Sokotra. •