They Have No Arms Either Of Defence Or Offence, Except Very
Short Swords Of Dead Iron.
The men go entirely naked, except a clout of
a certain cloth called Cambolis, a considerable quantity of which is
manufactured in the island.
The country is very poor, and produces no
other merchandise than verdigris[267] and sanguis draconis; but the
verdigris is in great abundance, and is esteemed above all. All the
island is mountainous, and breeds abundance of all kinds of cattle like
those of Europe. There is no wheat or rice or other provisions of that
kind, which I believe is not the fault of the ground, but owing to want
of skill and industry in the people; as the land within the external
mountains is fresh, and hath many vallies and plains, very convenient
for culture. They have no manner of navigation, neither do they catch
any fish, though the sea around their coast has an infinite quantity.
They have very few fruit trees, among which the palm tree is chiefly
esteemed, and produces a principal part of their food. The land produces
all kind of garden and medicinal plants, and the mountains are covered
with the herb Basil and other odoriferous herbs.
[Footnote 267: By verdigris is probably meant the Socotorine
aloes. - Purch.]
Leaving Socotora, we were very near Aden in the morning of the 27th of
January 1541, which was to the north-west, distant from us about 6
leagues. The wind being from the east and fair, we sailed W.S.W. and
then knew that the land we had seen the evening before, thinking it an
island, was the mountain of Aden.
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