The
Watershed Is Of Course From South To North, And The Rain From The Hills Is
Carried Off By A
Number of Fiumaras or freshets, with broad shallow beds,
denoting that much of the monsoon rain falling in the mountains
Is there
absorbed, and that little finds its way to the sea. At this season (the
dry weather) the plain is thinly inhabited; there are no villages except
on the sea-shore, and even these were found by the traveller almost
entirely deserted, mostly women occupying the houses, whilst the men were
absent, trading and tending cattle in the hills. The harbours are,
generally speaking, open and shallow road-steads, where ships find no
protection; there is, however, one place (Las Galwayta), where, it is
said, deep water extends to the shore.
Meteorological observations show a moderate temperature, clear air, and a
regular north-easterly wind. It is probable that, unlike the Berberah
Plain, the monsoon rain here falls in considerable quantities. This land
belongs in part to the Warsingali. Westwards of Las Galwayta, which is the
frontier, the Habr Gerhajis lay claim to the coast. The two tribes, as
usual in that unhappy land, are on terms of "Dam" or blood-feud; yet they
intermarry.
The animals observed were, the Waraba, a dark-coloured cynhyena, with a
tail partly white, a grey jackal, and three different kinds of antelopes.
Besides gulls, butcher birds, and a description of sparrow, no birds were
found on the Maritime Plain.
The Range of Mountains is that long line which fringes the Somali coast
from Tajurrah to Ras Jerd Hafun (Cape Guardafui). In the portion visited
by Lieutenant Speke it is composed principally of limestones, some white,
others brownish, and full of fossil shells.
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