And ere evening fell, I had
the pleasure of seeing the faces of friends and comrades once more.
FOOTNOTES
[1] I cannot guess why Bartema decided "Barbara" to be an island, except
that he used "insula" in the sense of "peninsula." The town is at very
high tides flooded round, but the old traveller manifestly speaks of the
country.
[2] These are the four martello towers erected, upon the spot where the
town of huts generally stands, by the Hajj Sharmarkay, who garrisoned them
with thirty Arab and Negro matchlockmen. They are now in ruins, having
been dismantled by orders from Aden.
[3] The former is an Arab craft, the latter belongs to the Northern Coasts
of Western India.
[4] A turban.
[5] The wild animals have now almost entirely disappeared. As will
afterwards be shown, the fair since 1848 has diminished to one third its
former dimensions.
[6] This subject has been fully discussed in Chap. IV.
[7] The old Persians.
[8] Especially the sea-board Habr Gerbajis clans,--the Musa Arrah, the Ali
Said, and the Saad Yunis--are interested in asserting their claims.
[9] Yunis and Ahmed were brothers, children of Nuh, the ninth in descent
from Ishak el Hazrami. The former had four sons, Hosh Yunis, Gedid Yunis,
Mahmud Yunis, and Shirdon Yunis; their descendants are all known as the
Ayyal or progeny of Yunis. The Ayyal Ahmed Nuh hold the land immediately
behind the town, and towards the Ghauts, blend with the Eesa Musa. The
Mikahil claim the Eastern country from Siyaro to Illanti, a wooded valley
affording good water and bad anchorage to wind-bound vessels.
[10] In the centre of the gap is a detached rock called Daga Malablay.
[11] It was measured by Lt. Herne, who remarks of this range that "cold in
winter, as the presence of the pine-tree proves, and cooled in summer by
the Monsoon, abounding in game from a spur fowl to an elephant; this hill
would make an admirable Sanitarium." Unfortunately Gulays is tenanted by
the Habr Gerhajis, and Wagar by the Eesa Musa, treacherous races.
[12] This part of Somali land is a sandy plain, thinly covered with thorns
and bounded by two ranges, the Ghauts and Sub-Ghauts. The latter or
maritime mountains begin at Tajurrah, and extend to Karam (long. 46° E.),
where they break into detached groups; the distance from the coast varies
from 6 to 15 miles, the height from 2000 to 3000 feet, and the surface is
barren, the rock being denuded of soil by rain. The Ghauts lie from 8 to
40 miles from the sea, they average from 4000 to 6000 feet, are thickly
covered with gum-arabic and frankincense trees, the wild fig and the
Somali pine, and form the seaward wall of the great table-land of the
interior. The Northern or maritime face is precipitous, the summit is
tabular and slopes gently southwards. The general direction is E. by N.
and W. by S., there are, however, some spurs at the three hills termed
"Ourat," which project towards the north. Each portion of the plain
between these ranges has some local name, such as the "Shimberali Valley"
extending westwards from the detached hill Dimoli, to Gauli, Dinanjir and
Gularkar. Intersected with Fiumaras which roll torrents during the
monsoon, they are covered with a scrub of thorns, wild fig, aloe, and
different kinds of Cactus.
[13] The climate of Berberah is cool during the winter, and though the sun
is at all times burning, the atmosphere, as in Somali land generally, is
healthy. In the dry season the plain is subject to great heats, but lying
open to the north, the sea-breeze is strong and regular. In the monsoon
the air is cloudy, light showers frequently fall, and occasionally heavy
storms come up from the southern hills.
[14] I quote Lieut. Cruttenden. The Berberah water has acquired a bad name
because the people confine themselves to digging holes three or four feet
deep in the sand, about half-a-mile from high-water mark. They are
reconciled to it by its beneficial effects, especially after and before a
journey. Good water, however, can be procured in any of the Fiumaras
intersecting the plain; when the Hajj Sharmarkay's towers commanded the
town wells, the people sank pits in low ground a few hundred yards
distant, and procured a purer beverage. The Banyans, who are particular
about their potations, drink the sweet produce of Siyaro, a roadstead
about nineteen miles eastward of Berberah.
[15] The experiment was tried by an officer who brought from Bombay a
batch of sparrows and crows. The former died, scorbutic I presume; the
latter lingered through an unhappy life, and to judge from the absence of
young, refused to entail their miseries upon posterity.
[16] The climate of Aden, it may be observed, has a reputation for
salubrity which it does not deserve. The returns of deaths prove it to be
healthy for the European soldier as London, and there are many who have
built their belief upon the sandy soil of statistics. But it is the
practice of every sensible medical man to hurry his patients out of Aden;
they die elsewhere,--some I believe recover,--and thus the deaths caused
by the crater are attributed statistically to Bombay or the Red Sea.
Aden is for Asiatics a hot-bed of scurry and ulcer. Of the former disease
my own corps, I am informed, had in hospital at one time 200 cases above
the usual amount of sickness; this arises from the brackish water, the
want of vegetables, and lastly the cachexy induced by an utter absence of
change, diversion, and excitement.
