Kal Farun is the name of two rocky islets rising nearly 30o ft. above the sea 13 m. from the western end of Abd-el-Kuri. Birds flock to them in great numbers ; in consequence they are com pletely covered with guano, which gives them a snow-white ap pearance. The Brothers lie between Abd-el-Kuri and Sokotra. Semha is 61- m. long and 3 m. broad. It has rocky shores and rises in a table-shaped mountain to 2,440 ft. As in Abd-el-Kuri ambergris is found on its shores and turtles abound. There is running water all the year and it is a fishing ground of the Sokotri. Darzi lies 9 m. E. of Semha, is 31 m. long by I m. broad and rises almost perpendicularly from the sea to 1,50o feet. The coral banks which surround Sokotra and The Brothers are united and are not more than 3o fathoms below sea-level; a valley some I oo fathoms deep divides them from the bank around Abd-el-Kuri, while between Abd-el-Kuri and Cape Guardafui are depths of over Soo fathoms.
Sokotra has claims to be reckoned one of the most ancient incense-supplying countries, and it is probably referred to by the Egyptians under the name "Terraces of Incense" (from its step-like contours).
To the Greeks and Romans Sokotra was known as the isle of Dioscorides; this name, and that by which the island is now known, are usually traced back to a Sanskrit form, Dvipa-Sak hadhara, "the island abode of bliss." The Periplus of the Ery thraean Sea speaks of the island as peopled only in one part by a mixed race of Arab, Indian and Greek traders. It was sub ject to the king of the Incense Country, and was a meeting-place of Arabian and Indian ships. Cosmas in the 6th century says that the people spoke Greek and were largely Christian, with a bishop sent from Persia. They appear to have remained Nestorian Christians, with a bishop under the metropolitan of Persia, through the middle ages, though there are indications pointing to a connection with the Jacobite church. As early as the ioth century Sokotra was a haunt of pirates; in the 13th century Abulfeda describes the inhabitants as "Nestorian Christians and pirates" but the island was rather a station of the Indian corsairs who harassed the Arab trade with the Far East. The population seems in the middle ages to have been much larger than it is now; Arabian writers estimate the fighting men at io,000.
The Portuguese under Tristao da Cunha and Albuquerque seized Sokotra in 1507 in pursuance of the design to control all the trade routes between Europe and the East, but abandoned it in 1511. They found that Sokotra was held by Arabs from Fartak, but the "natives" (a different race) were Christians, though in sad need of conversion. As late as the middle of the I 7th century the Carmelite P. Vincenzo found that the people still called themselves Christians, and had a strange mixture of Jewish, Christian and Pagan rites. The women were all called Maria. No trace of Christianity is now found in the island, all the inhabitants professing Islam.
On the withdrawal of the Portuguese the dependence of Sokotra on Arabia was resumed. In the 19th century Sokotra formed part of the dominions of the sultan of Kishin. The opening of the Suez Canal route to India led to the island being secured for Great Britain. From 1876 onward a small subsidy has been paid
to the sultan of Kishin by the authorities at Aden; and in 1886 the sultan concluded a treaty formally placing Sokotra and its dependencies under the protection of Great Britain. Sokotra is regarded as a dependency of Aden, but native rule is maintained, the local governor or viceroy of the sultan of Kishin being a member of that chief's family, and also styled sultan.
SOL, the original monetary unit of Peru. It consisted of 25 grammes of silver, A- fine, and was therefore equivalent to the French silver 5-franc piece. It was divided into I oo centesimos. In 1897 the Peruvian currency was changed from the silver to the gold standard. The new monetary unit was the libra or pound, equivalent to the British sovereign, which henceforward was also legal tender in Peru. The sol was revalued, and became a sub sidiary coin, ten soles being equal to one pound. The sol was divided into I o dineros and alternatively into ioo centavos.
Notes are not issued directly by the Government, but certain banks are permitted to issue notes of LP.io, 5, 1 and of 5 soles. £P is the conventional sign for the Peruvian pound. Exchange on London is usually quoted at so much per cent. premium or dis count. 5% premium means that the pound sterling is worth that much more than the Peruvian pound, i.e., LP.' o5=L ioo sterling, and 5% discount means the reverse.
Since the war, the Peruvian and English pounds have moved far apart. The actual exchange rates for the post-war period, to be interpreted as above, are given in the following table:— End o f End o f 1919 . . • . 7-1% dis. 1924 . . • . 141% Pm.
192o . . . . 171% dis. 1925 . . . . 23i% pm.
1922 . . . . Io% pm. 1927 . . . . 231% pm.
Compared with many other South American countries, Peru had long had a good financial record, and relations with Great Britain were both close and cordial. This stood Peru in good stead immediately after the war, and though, at the end of 192o, the Peruvian pound only stood in New York at $4.31 against parity of $4.866, the pound sterling was as low as $3.64, so that, compar ing the two pounds, oo sterling only equalled £P.82.5. 1921 witnessed a complete reversal from a rate of i7-i% discount to one of 17% premium, now in favour of London. To some extent this reflected a loss of ground by Peru against the United States, but the main cause was an improvement of 15% in the dollar value of sterling from $3.64 to $4.20.
Until 1925, the exchange between the two pounds only moved within relatively narrow limits, but during 1925 and 1926, the Peruvian pound depreciated until the London rate was 34i% premium. Bad weather conditions and poor crops affected exports in the former year, and the commercial and credit position was difficult. Exports were further restricted in 1926 by the heavy world fall in the price of cotton and sugar, which form two of Peru's staple crops.
During the depression years from 1929 to 1939 violent fluctua tions occurred in the exchange value of this and other currencies and the outbreak of a new war in Europe in 1939 brought further disruption to the foreign exchanges.