This King Of Socotora Was Named Muley Amor Ebn Sayd, Being Only
Viceroy Under His Father, Who Is King Of
Fartak, in Arabia, not far from
Aden, and comes into the sea at Camricam..[351] He said his father was
At war with the Turks of Aden in his own defence, for which reason he
refused to give us a letter for the governor of Aden, as it would do us
harm. The people in Socotora on which the king depends are Arabs, the
original natives of the island being kept under a most servile slavery.
The merchandise of this island consists of Aloes Socotarina, of which
they do not make above a ton yearly; a small quantity of Sanguis
draconis, some of which our factors bought at twelve-pence a pound;
dates, which serve them instead of bread, and which the king sells at
five dollars the hundred [weight?] Bulls and cows we bought at twelve
dollars a-piece; goats for a dollar; sheep half a dollar; hens half a
dollar; all exceedingly small conformable with the dry rocky barrenness
of the island; wood cost twelve-pence for a man's burden; every thing in
short was very dear. I know of nothing else the island produces, except
rocks and stones, the whole country being very dry and bare.
[Footnote 351: We cannot tell what to make of this remark in the text.
Purchas, who has probably omitted something in the text, puts in the
margin, King of Fartak, or Canacaym; which does not in the least
elucidate the obscurity, unless we suppose Canacaym an error for
Carasem, the same with Kassin, or rather Kushem, to which Fartak now
belongs.
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