after sailing from melinda we touched at socotra, an island about a hundred miles in circumference. it is a wild country with no produce, no corn, no rice, no millet, no wine, no fruit trees : in short, altogether sterile and arid, except that it has plenty of dates, out of which they make bread, and also abounds ih cattle. the island is exposed to great heat from the sun ; the people are christian in name rather than in reality, wonderfully ignorant and rude : they cannot read or write.  they have consequently no records of any kind. still they pride themselves on being christians. they have churches, crosses, and lamps. each village has its caciz, who answers to the parish priest. these caciz know no more of reading or writing than the rest; they have not even any books, and only know a few prayers by heart. they go to their churches four times a dayat midnight, at daybreak, in the afternoon, and in the evening. they use no bells ; but wooden rattles, such as we use during holy week, serve to call the people together. not even the caciz themselves understand the prayers which they recite : which are in a foreign language (i think chaldean).  they render special honours to the apostle st. thomas, claiming to be descendants of the christians begotten to jesus christ by that apostle in these countries. in the prayers i have mentioned they often repeat a word which is like our alleluia. the caciz never baptize any one, nor do they know the least what baptism is. whilst i was there i baptized a number of children, with the utmost goodwill of their parents.
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