38 No. 97 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (2 ) AGRICULTURAL AND GENERAL RESOURCES The inhabitants cultivate vegetables, millet, &c. , round their own dwellings, but the only field crop grown is bombe ( Sorghum vulgare). There appears , . however, to be but little of this, and although in Sokotra the crop requires watering, in only one case has irrigation been known to have been employed. A little tobacco and cotton is grown in the plains. The date palm is cultivated extensively along the lower courses of all the perennial streams, and on the shores of most of the freshwater lagoons. It is valued not only for its fruit, but also for its wood, leaves , and fibre, which can be used for roof-beams, ropes, and sleeping mats. Owing to the lack of suitable soil, the scanty rainfall, and the deep channels of the perennial streams, which would make it difficult to install irrigation works, there is little scope for extending cultivation .

In ancient times the wealth of Sokotra lay in its export of the various varieties of myrrh, frankincense , aloes, and dragon's blood gum. These are still valu able, but all can now be obtained elsewhere, and their export from Sokotra has practically ceased. There are many plants used locally for dyeing purposes.

The chief export from Sokotra is ghee, or clarified butter, which is of excellent quality and well known in the towns and villages of the Arabian and African coasts. Immense herds of cattle are therefore main tained on the island, especially at the eastern end. They are small shorthorns, without humps and with a deep dewlap, and are excellent milkers . There is much rich pasture-land towards the centre of the island. There are a good many small sheep , generally black, with poor fleeces. There are no mules, horses, or dogs. A few fowls of an inferior kind are kept. The camels, to which reference has already been