Page 488 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XXIV.] SOUTHERN ARABIA. 455

at different periods had been despatched with
instructions regarding Socotra. “ The first
person told me,’' said the plain-spoken old
Sheikh, “ that he was the person chosen for
this duty; another and another then came
with the same tale—I believe you are all liars
together.”
To avoid swelling the bulk of these volumes,
I have here given only the heads of the infor­
mation [ collected during my stay in Southern
Arabia. The remaining observations will

best accompany the map now in progress.
When completed, it will fill up the most im­
portant blank which modern research has left
unexplored, on the globe; and although the
district to which I am at present alluding, is
deficient in many of those storied recollec­ l
tions which invest the shores of the Red Sea,
it has many spots which may also be con­
sidered as classic ground, and otherwise
possesses lively claims to our attention. Here
dwelt the noble tribes of Mahara, of Ad, and
of Amelik; here at Hasek is the tomb of the

prophet Hud, the fourth in descent from
Shem, the son of Noah. At Aden, though
miraculously hidden from view, the Arabian