Page 24 - Arabian Studies (I)

12 Arabian Studies I
The mountain folk (di-fedlion) also made a lightly-fired pottery
some of which they sold in the towns, along with butter, meat and
dragon’s blood for essential supplies, and in particular rice.
Boats called with supplies at Socotra in the good weather. This
trade was organized on an elaborate system of credit.
Marco Polo says of Socotra in his Travels that the Christians12 of
this island arc the most expert enchanters in the world. A ship could
not sail away before paying its dues without the Socotrans conjuring
up a headwind and forcing the defaulting ship to turn back.
Although most of the local people avoid speaking of the supernatural
this is to avoid bringing the attention of wizards and witches upon
themselves, rather than because they expect outsiders to be sceptical.
Those who speak freely are educated people slightly outside the
system, or those of high social status in a parallel order competitive
with the local system of beliefs, namely religious dignitaries and
sayyids. In a discussion one of the latter, Sayyid ‘All, expressed great
scepticism about the powers of the makoli (medicine man)13 though
he probably did not doubt the existence of wizards and witches. He
went on however to claim that the ability to raise winds had fallen to
the lot of the sayyids. His grandfather had had this gift and when a
defaulting ship had sailed from Hadiboh he had gone that midnight
to the graveyard and, throwing a handful of gravel in the air, had
raised a wind to bring the ship back.
The makolis have their supporters however even among educated
people. One of these, Rashid ‘Awad, who gave me a number of texts
on local customs, told me that he had had a chest complaint,
probably infantile asthma, when he was a young boy during the war.
His mother had taken him to the small R.A.F. station which was on
Socotra for part of the war. They gave him medicine but it was of no
help, so she took him to a makoli. The makoli pointed to an Egyptian
vulture (nhimih) hovering high above and told her her son would be
cured if she caught the bird and gave him its uncooked heart to eat.
She tried to catch the bird, but failed and had to go back to the
makoli. This time he prescribed the raw heart of a wholly black ewe.
After much searching Rashid’s mother found a ewe without a single
spot of white and gave him the heart to eat. This cured him.
The makolis are consulted also when something has been lost;
women go to them to ask when they are to have children; they can
recognise witches; they will normally be asked to deal with the more
complex cases of branding. Branding (Ar. kayy\ S. so'or, MH. saher.
S. shar) is of course a universal panacea in Arabia and everyone will
do it. The Mehra and Dhofaris usually do it with smouldering rags,
but the people of Socotra use an iron (S. mosher, $. mushar,