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Coll 1/24 'Aden Protectorate: status of Socotra' [38v] (76/94)
The record is made up of 1 file (47 folios). It was created in 10 Nov 1926-4 May 1933. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
t
r
976
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
June
by the ancients for spices, frankincense and myrrh ; and he 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 ruby-coloured dragon’s blood {Draco
Kinnabari of Pliny), three distinct species of frankincense, several
kinds of myrrh, besides many other valuable gum-producing trees,
and aloes of super-excellent quality.
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 Socoteri must be added to that already distracting
catalogue. Before going there we were informed that the inhabitants
spoke a language closely resembling the Mahri tongue of Southern
Arabia, and we very nearly committed the indiscretion of engaging
a Mahri-speaking interpreter at Aden. Though Socotra has been
under Mahri rule probably since before our era—for Arrian tells us
that in his day the island of Dioscorida, as it was then called, was
under the rule of the king of the Arabian frankincense country, and
the best days of that country were long before Arrian’s time—never
theless, the inhabitants have kept their language quite distinct both
from Mahri and from Arabic. Of course, it is naturally strongly im
pregnated 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 I took down in the presence of Mahri-,
Socoteri-, and Arabic-speaking people on the island, I found dis
tinctly more in the language derived from an Arab than from a
Mahri source.
In subtlety of sound Socoteri is painfully rich, transcribing the
words causing us the most acute agony. 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 or a lion, for
the same reason ; but for all the animals, trees and articles commonly
found there they have words as distinct from the Arabic and Mahri
as cheese is from fromage.
Dr. Schweinfurth sees in the name of Socotra a Hindoo origin,
and the survival of the Hindoo name for the island, Diu Sukutura,
which the Greeks after their easy-going fashion changed into
Dioscorides; this is very ingenious, and very likely correct. When
the Portuguese reached it in 1538, they found the Arab sheikh
dwelling at the capital, called Zoko, now in ruins, and still called Suk,
a survival, doubtless, of the ancient name. The present capital is
apparently a Latinised form of the Arabic tamar, or date fruit, which
The old capital of Zoko is a delicious spot, and the ruins are
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers regarding the status of Socotra [Suquṭrā], and a visit made by the Resident to the island and to the eastern borders of the Aden Protectorate.
Papers dated 1926 consist of a text of the following questions asked by Viscount Sandon in the House of Commons: whether any British agent was resident in Socotra; whether any form of administrative supervision existed there; whether any trading revenue accrued to the Crown. A reply by the Under Secretary of State for India is included.
Papers dated 1928 consist of correspondence between the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Sir J Laithwaite) and the Colonial Office, regarding published information on Socotra, the Brothers and Abd al Jura.
Papers dated 1929 consist of a letter from the Aden Resident (George Stewart Symes) to the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding his visit to Socotra in April, where he discussed Socotra affairs with Sultan Abdulla bin 'Isa bin 'Afrar at the capital Hadibu [Hadībū].
Papers dated 1933 concern the report by the Aden Resident (Reilly) of the death of Sultan 'Abdulla bin 'Isa bin 'Afrar, the succession of his cousin, Sultan 'Ali bin Salim bin Ahem bin Tu'ari, and the authorisation of his stipend. There is also correspondence concerning the Resident's visit to Socotra and the Hadhramaut. A report on the visit (folios 6-12) provides information on the following: his travels to Abd-el-Kuri, Socotra, and the ports of Qishn, Mukalla [Al Mukalla], Bir 'Ali and Balihaf, and his visit to the Hadhramaut; negotiations at Qishn regarding the establishment of emergency landing ground for the Royal Air Force; discussions with the Sultan of Qishn and Socotra regarding Ras Darbat 'Ali forming the eastern boundary of the Aden Protectorate; the development of villages in the Hadramaut; and a recommendation that the limits of the Red Sea Patrol be extended to the whole of the Gulf of Aden up to the eastern boundary at Ras Darbat 'Ali.
Included at the back of the file is a copy of the following: James Theodore Bent, 'The Island of Socotra', The Nineteenth Century , No. 244 (June 1897),(folios 37-46).
The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (47 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 47; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/1460
- Title
- Coll 1/24 'Aden Protectorate: status of Socotra'
- Pages
- 38r:46v
- Author
- Bent, James Theodore
- Usage terms
- Public Domain