SOCOTRA

Book excerpt: THE GROUND-BREAKING VISIT TO SOCOTRA ISLAND BY JAMES RAYMOND WELLSTED, in 1834, is the first comprehensive view of the island to the wider world. This edition of MEMOIR ON THE ISLAND OF SOCOTRA is retyped for clarity and includes modern photography to add insight. Wellsted arrived at the island on board the British survey ship the Palinurus, which was surveying the southern coast of Arabia. As part of the survey, Wellsted disembarked, with Charles Cruttenden, and travelled through much of the island. Wellsted's insights are noteworthy and include not only Socotra's unique flora but also the custom's of the population, as he understood and saw them. Socotra is one of the least-known, most spectacular of the world's islands and this book presents it before the modern age, This is a remarkable book, written in an easy style about an island that, even today, is isolated and little visited.