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Lambarene, Ogowe, Lat. 0°·40′ S., Long. 10°18′ E. Observer: Rev. C. Bonzon..

Result of observations made at 9 A.M. during November 1893.

Rain, 13-10 in. on 23 days. Heaviest fall, 164 in. Cloud, amount, 8 0.

The Exploration of Southern Arabia.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. H. SEEBOHM (Chairman), Mr. J. THEODORE BENT (Secretary), Mr. E. G. RAVENSTEIN, Dr. J. G. GARSON, and Mr. G. W. BLOXAM. (Drawn up by Mr. BENT.)

THIS last winter, after leaving Muscat we proceeded along the coast for a distance of 640 miles, and applied ourselves to the exploration of a certain district known as Dhofar, with the Gara mountains. The results of this expedition, which lasted over several weeks, may be treated of under three different heads :

1. The geographical results referring to the nature of the country, its configuration, and its productions.

2. The anthropological results, with an account of the inhabitants and a comparison of them with those of other parts of Arabia. 3. The archæological results of the study of the various ruins and identification of sites mentioned by ancient authors.

(1) The district of Dhofar is for Arabia a most remarkable one. It constitutes a sort of oasis by the sea, and consists of a flat alluvial plain about 60 miles long and 9 miles at its widest point, very fertile, and with

abundance of water lying either in stagnant pools or procurable by sinking shallow wells. It is capable of producing almost anything: cocoanut palms grow in clusters along its whole length; cotton, indigo, tobacco, plantains, jowari; and in the gardens papyas, mulberries, lemons, oranges, and chillis grow profusely. The inhabitants of the villages scattered along the coast are for Arabia particularly prosperous; they are governed by a representative from the Sultan of Oman, who has of late years been successful in establishing peace. Behind this rich plain is a range of mountains, known as the Gara range, rising to about 3,000 feet above the sea level. In the valleys sloping towards the Indian Ocean on the south, and towards the desert of Nejd on the north, are found the various frankincense districts where the frankincense tree, Boswellia Carteri, is still found, and which constitutes an industry for the inhabitants, as it has done for thousands of years. There are three chief districts where the shrub grows, and the export of the gum is now about 9,000 cwt. per annum, which is sent to Bombay in dhows. Myrrh is also found in proximity to the frankincense tree, and in ancient days the commerce in these odoriferous drugs gained for this district a world-wide reputation. The Gara hills are rounded and undulating, except on the coast side, where the approach is precipitous and rugged; they are of limestone formation, and retain a surprising amount of moisture, which is at the same time the cause of their fertility and the fertility of the plain of Dhofar, which is an alluvial deposit from them. The valleys running into these hills from the coast are of great fertility, containing a dense mass of tropical vegetation, huge sycamores block up the valley, with cacti, acacias, and numerous creepers; in several places lodgments of water have formed themselves into little lakes or tarns, an altogether unknown condition of affairs in any other part of Arabia. The mountain sides are honeycombed with caves, in which the inhabitants dwell with their flocks and herds. Right up to the summits of the Gara mountains the same condition of fertility is observable-they are covered with grass all over, and clusters of sycamores grow right up at the summit, giving to them quite a parklike appearance; and the flora of this district is very extensive. Although we were there during the dry season we collected 260 different specimens of plants, as against 150 collected during a much longer period and more extended area in the Hadramut last year. These plants have now been deposited at Kew, and though more numerous they do not contain so many new varieties as those from the Hadramut; they establish an extension westwards of the Indian and Beloochistan flora, whereas those of the Hadramut are more African in their character, tending to prove by their geographical distribution that the floral line of demarcation between Asia and Africa takes place somewhere between the Hadramut and Dhofar.

From the summit of the Gara range an interesting view over the frankincense country is obtained. To the north the hills slope down towards the desert of Nejd, which gradually destroys the vegetation, and ends in a long blue horizon like the sea. To the east and west the same characteristics are observable, and to the south the view is bounded by the sea. The district of Dhofar owes its peculiar fertility to the waterretaining qualities of its geological composition, and to the regularity of its rainfalls, which occur from July to September, when the valleys are turned into torrents, and even the Bedouins find it difficult to get about.

On proceeding up a valley to the east of the Gara range we came

across a very curious natural phenomenon. The valley, which is here about a mile and a half broad, with hills on either side reaching an elevation of about 2,000 feet, has been blocked up by a calcareous deposit, which has collected round an isolated hill in the centre of the valley, and has formed itself into a perfectly sheer and precipitous wall or abyss. To the east of this hill the abyss is 550 feet high and three-quarters of a mile in length. It is hung with white stalactites, and presents a whitish-grey colour; over this abyss small waterfalls precipitate themselves, and the ground below is spongy and fertile, and all along the river bed the rocks are white with calcareous deposit. At the top of this abyss an exceedingly fertile flat meadow extends for several miles inland, richly wooded, and providing rich pasturage for the cattle of the Bedouins, who own it; and about a mile and a half from the abyss are two lakes joined together by a meandering stream. They are long and narrow, but in places of considerable depth, and it is the overflow from these lakes which falls over the abyss. Bulrushes, water plants, and water birds abound here, and the spot is marvellously fertile.

(2) The inhabitants of the Dhofar district may be divided into two distinct groups, namely, the Arab inhabitants of the coast villages who cultivate the fertile plain, and occupy themselves in fishing, and the nomad Bedouins of the Gara tribe, who inhabit the mountains, and are purely pastoral.

The coast Arabs are chiefly from Oman, and are of the Ibadiyeh sect, recognising the Sultan of Oman as the head of the church. This sect of Mohammedans is much less fanatical than the others in Arabia, probably from the long struggle they had with the Wahabis of Nejd at the commencement of this century. They offered no objection to our visiting their mosques, and we were subjected whilst amongst them to none of that fanatical hatred which caused us so much inconvenience during our sojourn in the Hadramut last year. The mosques of the Ibadiyeh are small and without minarets; their heterodoxy consists in not accepting any of the Imams who succeeded Mohammed, but they consider that the Imam or head of the church is to be elected by the people as occasion requires.

Eighteen years ago the Arabs in Dhofar were in a very sorry condition, and sent to the Sultan of Oman to ask him for a governor the blood feuds between the tribes and the hostile attitude of the Bedouins rendering existence almost intolerable. Sultan Tourki of Oman sent as Wali a trusted friend of his named Suleiman, who has been there nearly ever since. and by his wise rule and administrative power peace and a measure of prosperity have been restored amongst the Gara tribe. The Arabs themselves never penetrate into the interior, but are content to cultivate the fertile plain of Dhofar, and inhabit the prosperous villages by the coast.

The Bedouins of the Gara tribe, who are perhaps the wildest and most uncivilised of any of the tribes of the South of Arabia, form a most interesting study for the anthropologist. They are clearly an aboriginal race, as distinct from the Arab as the Spaniard is from the American Indian. They are small of stature and of limb, but exceedingly lithe and well made. They go about naked, save for a loin cloth, and wear their long tangled locks bound together by a leather thong. There are hardly any firearms amongst them, but every man carries with him three indispensable weapons-his shield made of wood or sharkskin, with a knob at one end, which he turns round when tired, and uses as a stool; his flat iron sword with a wooden handle; and his throw stick, a wooden weapon pointed

at both ends, which he uses with great skill both in war and in the chase.

The Gara live chiefly, as stated above, in the deep caves of their limestone mountains, which provide accommodation for the family and many head of cattle. They have a large number of milch cows and goats, and make ghee in great quantities, which is exported from here. All their implements are of the most primitive description. The churn is a skin hung on three sticks which a woman shakes about until butter is formed; to make their cows give milk freely they stretch a calf's skin on two sticks, and give this to the cow to lick. The calves and kids are kept in the innermost recesses of the caves during the absence of the dams at the pasturage.

Camel breeding is also a great industry among the Gara Bedouins, and the animals are remarkably fine and healthy; they have but little use for these camels, but they take them to great fairs and recognised rendezvous of the Bedouins of the interior, and sell them. The camels are curious feeders, bone being greatly appreciated by them, also small dried fish and sections of a cactus which grows in the mountains. Some of the richer Bedouins own as many as seventy camels and 500 head of cattle; they are, however, devoid of luxury, seldom constructing any habitation for themselves, and never using tents. In the wet season, when they come down to the plain of Dhofar for the pasturage, they erect as shelter for themselves round beehive huts of grass and reeds, but in the mountains they never require more than their ancestral caves, which are cool in the heat and dry in the rain, and the floors of which are springy and soft with the deposits of many generations of cattle.

The Bedouins of the Gara mountains have many interesting customs: their greetings are very complicated and curious to watch. For an acquaintance they merely rub the palms of the hands when they meet, and then kiss the tips of their fingers; for an intimate friend they join hands and kiss each other; for a relative they join hands, then rub noses, and finally kiss on either cheek.

The Gara are great believers in the existence of Jinnis, or spirits, in their mountains and streams. As we passed by a great rock one day they all set to work to sing the words 'Alaik Soubera,' which we were told was a request to the Jin to let us pass in safety. Again, at a lake we visited in the mountains they affirmed their belief in the existence of Jinnis, stating that it is dangerous to wet your feet in the lake, or you will catch a fever. The Jinnis inhabit the caves, the trees, and the streams; and at an annual festival and gathering of the various families into which the Gara tribe is divided, the great ceremony is the propitiating of the Jinni of the lake by a magician who sits on a rock, and performs his incantations whilst the people dance around.

They believe that the Jinnis when propitiated are very helpful to mankind; and inasmuch as they inhabit the lower heaven, they can overhear the conversation of the angels, and if disposed communicate their valuable secrets to man. This would seem to be almost the only trace of religious observance amongst the Gara Bedouin; they may have others which we were unable to ascertain, but one thing is certain, that though they may conform to the dictates of Islamism when visiting the Arab villages on the coast, when up in the mountains they observe neither prayer nor ablution, nor any of the ceremonies inculcated by that creed. The Arabs attribute to the Bedouins certain pagan rites, and they are probably cor