This Scarcity Renders The
Habits Of The People Peculiarly Filthy.
After descending about 2000 feet from the crest of the mountains to the
southern fall, Lieutenant Speke entered upon the platform which forms the
country of the Eastern Somal.
He is persuaded that the watershed of this
extensive tract is from N.W. to S.E., contrary to the opinion of
Lieutenant Cruttenden, who, from information derived from the Somal,
determined the slope to be due south. "Nogal" appears, according to
Lieutenant Speke, to be the name of a tract of land occupied by the
Warsingali, the Mijjarthayn, and the northern clan of the Dulbahantas, as
Bohodlay in Haud is inhabited by the southern. Nogal is a sterile table-
land, here and there thinly grown with thorns, perfectly useless for
agriculture, and, unless it possess some mineral wealth, valueless. The
soil is white and stony, whereas Haud or Ogadayn is a deep red, and is
described as having some extensive jungles. Between the two lies a large
watercourse, called "Tuk Der," or the Long River. It is dry during the
cold season, but during the rains forms a flood, tending towards the
Eastern Ocean. This probably is the line which in our maps is put down as
"Wady Nogal, a very fertile and beautiful valley."
The surface of the plateau is about 4100 feet above the level of the sea:
it is a space of rolling ground, stony and white with broken limestone.
Water is found in pools, and in widely scattered springs:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 412 of 479
Words from 110263 to 110515
of 128411
