a small town called Dibnee, very little inhabited except in the date harvest.  In the months of June and July the wind blows in this valley with astonishing violence; yet only a short gun-shot off towards the town of Delisha, over against the road where the ships ride, there is hardly there a breath of wind.  About 100 years ago [1500] this island was conquered by the King of Caixem, or Cushem, as the Arabs pronounce it, a sovereign of no great force, as his army does not exceed two or three thousand soldiers.  Besides Socotora, this king has likewise the two Irmanas and Abba del Curia.  The Irmanas, or Two Brethren, are small uninhabited stony and barren isles, having nothing but turtles. Abba del Curia is large, having great abundance of goats, and some fresh water, but not above three or four inhabitants, as we were told.  Amer Benzaid, son to the King of Kissem, resides at Socotora, which he rules under his father.  He trades to the Comora islands and to Melinda, for which he has two good frigates,[214] in which rice and mello [millet] are brought from the main, being their chief food.

[Footnote 213:  In his abbreviation of Finch’s observations Purchas has not clearly distinguished where those respecting Madagascar end, and those made at Socotora begin.—­E.]

[Footnote 214:  It has been formerly noticed, that, frigates, in these early navigators, were only small barks, in opposition to tall ships, galleons, and caraks:  These frigates, and those frequently mentioned as belonging to the Portuguese and Moors in India at this time, could only be grabs, or open sewed vessels, already frequently mentioned in the course of this collection.—­E.]

All the Arabs in this island are soldiers, being in a manner slaves to the snakee or prince, whom they attend and obey all his commands, some few of them having fire-arms.  Every one of them wears a crooked dagger at his left side, like a wood-cutter’s knife, without which they must not be seen abroad.  They have also thin broad targets, painted.  The dagger-handles and sheaths of the better sort are ornamented with silver, and those of the ordinary people with copper or red latten.  These Arabs are tawny, industrious, and civil, of good stature, and well-proportioned in their limbs, having their hair long, and covered with turbans like the Turks, and a cloth round their waist hanging to their knees; having seldom any other apparel, except sometimes sandals on their feet fastened with thongs.  They either carry their sword naked on their shoulder, or hanging at their side in a sheath.  They are fond of tobacco, yet are unwilling to give any thing for it.  Some of them wear a cloth of painted calico, or some other kind, over their shoulders, after the fashion of an Irish mantle or plaid; while others have shirts and surplices, or wide gowns, of white calico, and a few have linen breeches like the