Burton Memorial Lecture: From Cana (Husn Ghorab) to Sabbatha (Shabwa): The South Arabian Incense Road

Extract

Sometime in 1921 I was sitting in the shade of a mango tree on the top of a bluff overlooking the mangrove-filled creek of Chake-Chake in Pemba, called by the Arabs the Green Island. I was the guest of the Sheikh of the Mauli tribe, Sheikh Salim bin Khalif, at his clove plantation of Kaole. There were a lot of Maulis, who came from the Wadi al Ma'awil in 'Uman, in positions of authority in Pemba, and with me sat Sheikh Abdulla Mbaruk al Mauli, the Mudir of Chake-Chake. We were watching the little ship Khalifa far out at her anchorage. Presently one of my boatboys climbed up the hill and handed me a large bag of mail brought from the ship. In it was a parcel. I opened it and took out the two fat volumes of Zanzibar, City, Island, and Coast. That was my introduction to the works of Sir Richard Burton.