Introduction

If my fellow-traveller had lived, he intended to have put together in book form such information as we had gathered about Southern Arabia. Now, as he died four days after our return from our last journey there, I have had to undertake the task myself. It has been very sad to me, but I have been helped by knowing that, however imperfect this book may be, what is written here will surely be a help to those who, by following in our footsteps, will be able to get beyond them, and to whom I so heartily wish success and a Happy Home-coming, the best wish a traveller may have. It is for their information that I have included so many things about the price of camels, the payment of soldiers and so forth, and yet even casual readers may care to know these details of explorers' daily lives.

My husband had written several articles in the Nineteenth Century, and by the kindness of the editor I have been able to make use of these; also I have incorporated the lectures he had given before the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association. The rest is from his note-books and from the 'Chronicles' that I always wrote during our journeys.

I thought at first of trying to keep our several writings apart; but, to avoid confusion of inverted commas, I decided, acting on advice, just to put the whole thing into as consecutive a form as possible, only saying that the least part of the writing is mine.

The bibliography is far from complete, as I can name only a few of the many books that my husband consulted on all the districts round those which we were going to penetrate.

As to the spelling of the Arabic, it must be remembered that it is a very widely spread language, and there are naturally many different forms of the same word—e.g. ibn, ben, bin—and such very various ways of pronouncing the name of the Moslem prophet, that I have heard it pronounced Memet, Mamad and Mad.

I must give hearty thanks in both our names to all who helped us on in these journeys, and especially to Mr. Headlam, who has given me much assistance by going through the proofs of this book. Mr. W. C. Irvine has kindly provided the column of literary Arabic for the vocabulary.

BELED FADHLI AND BELED YAFEI XXXV. Experiences with the Yafei Sultan 399 XXXVI. Among the Fadhli 412 XXXVII. From the Plain of Mis'hal to the Sea 421

Abu'lfida Ismael ibn Ali Imad ed din, Prince or King of Hamar.—Geographie d'Aboulfida, traduite de l'Arabe et accompagnee de notes et d'eclaircissements par M. Reinaud, par M. S. Guyard. Paris, 1848-83.

Mueller, D. H.—Epigraphische Denkmaeler aus Arabien (Denkschriften der K.K. Ak. der Wissenschaften Wien). Phil. Hist. Cl. 37, 1894. Himyarische Studien (Z. D. M., Sec. 30). 1870.

Ali Ibn al Husain, El Masudi, Abu al Hasan, Diodoros, Marco Polo, Sir John Maundeville, Pliny, the Periplus, Strabo, Ebn Said, Ptolemy, and others; but, as many of these names have been copied by me from rough notes of my husband's, I cannot be certain about the editions. I hope the imperfections of this bibliography will be excused.

Theodore Bent Receiving Visitors at the Mounds, Bahrein 24 The Interior of Sheikh Saba's House at Rufa'a, Bahrein 34 The Castle of the Sultan of Shibahm at Al Koton 110 The Castle of the Sultan of Makalla at Shibahm 125 A Sabaean Altar 145 A Gara Forge 247 The Abyss of Abyssapolis, Dhofar 271 Elba Mountains From Shellal 304 Flute-Players in the Wadi Koukout, Soudan 337 The Plain of Eriosh, Sokotra 354 Theodore Bent making the Vocabulary at Fereghet 365 Vegetation in Sokotra 379 The Breakwater at Fereghet 383 Dragon's-Blood Trees at Yehazahaz 387 The Haghier Mountains from Suk 394 Castle at Kanfar 402 Dirgheg 408 Old Na'ab 413 Fadhli at Shariah, Wadi Reban, with Curious Sandal 418 Village of Mis'hal 421 Plain of Mis'hal and Aodeli Tribe 425 Fragment of Alabasteroid Limestone 435 Sabaean Antiquities 436

Arabia, showing the Routes of Mr. J. Theodore Bent to face p. xii Hadramut 70 Dhofar and the Gara-Range 226 Mount Erba and Surrounding Country 286 Sokotra 342 The Fadhli Country, South Arabia 400