Lieutenant Speke Went To A Place Where It Is Said A
Rich Man Had Deposited A Considerable Sum, And Described
His "cache" as
being "on a path in a direct line between two trees as far as the arms can
Reach with a stick." The hoarder died between forty and fifty years ago,
and his children have been prevented by the rocky nature of the ground,
and their forgetting to ask which was the right side of the tree, from
succeeding in anything beyond turning up the stones.
Las Kuray is an open roadstead for native craft. The town is considered
one of the principal strongholds of the coast. There are three large and
six small "forts," similar in construction to those of Hais; all are
occupied by merchants, and are said to belong to the Sultan. The mass of
huts may be between twenty and thirty in number. They are matted
buildings, long and flat-roofed; half a dozen families inhabit the same
house, which is portioned off for such accommodation. Public buildings
there are none, and no wall protects the place. It is in the territory of
the Warsingali, and owns the rule of the Gerad or Prince, who sometimes
lives here, and at other times inhabits the Jungle. Las Kuray exports
gums, Dumbah sheep, and guano, the latter considered valuable, and sent to
Makalla in Arabia, to manure the date plantations.
Four miles westward of Las Kuray is Kurayat, also called Little Kuray. It
resembles the other settlement, and is not worth description.
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