'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1865 to December 1867. (Edited by the Honorary Secretary.) Volume XVIII.' [‎86] (222/268)

86
REPORT ON PLACES BETWEEN ADEN AND SUEZ
was also abundance of the rich creeper grass, known in India as Hurr-
yali. On the west side of the valley is a fine, clear, and extensive pla-
teau raised about 60 feet above the level of the sea, an excellent posi
tion’for a settlement. The wind during the summer months blows
constantly from the South-west, which would be direct off the sea on to
this plateau. The water would he close by in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , and forage
plentiful there also. But there is the one important drawback of no
supplies being procurable with the exception of meat and ghee. There
is no place worthy of the name of a town nearer than Tajura, 35 miles
off The inhabitants of the country aie Dunkellis, pure nomads, who
mo’ve where grazing is best. No grain whatever is grown in the country;
when any can be procured from Aden the Dunkellis use it, hut, this
exhausted, they live on meat and milk only, like the Somallees.
There were two Dunkelli shepherds tending their goats and camels,
_ . /ii x J V*Gvvvnrmf n livino* tEino* woes
Allcic; vv l ^
with, one of whom I conversed, but otherwise not a, living thin
T •"11 "1 ^ I v—v /~v I y /-» /^1 l~v s~\ t- » 5 I 1
was
HPl. n 4-
distant, backed by a second much higher range. Coal is said to exist
in the latter to the north-west. The French sank some wells in the
water-course ; these have been filled np again by subsequent floods.
They have also set up two piles of coral about 10 feet high each, one
on Has Obokh, the other on the edge of the Ut/adi about 1,000 yards
from the shore, evidently as beacons. Beyond this nothing seems to
have been done. The shepherd said the French had bought the place
from his Sooltan Beeme, of lloheita. The hill on which the large
plateau is, consists of sandstone and coral, the latter was found cropping
out close to the top of.the hill, showing a comparative recent up-heaval,
or that the sea had once a very much higher level than it has now.
A rough sketch chart is appended.
Massowa -—The chief place of export from Abyssinia, about oOO
miles north north-west of the straits of Babel Mandeb, and 400 from
Aden'. The navigation is simple and easy until nearing Massowa, when
the numerous islands called the Bhalae group, and many coral reels
make great caution necessary, and daylight a desideratum ; the passage
can be done at night, but this is avoided if possible. If the night is
very dark and hazy, so that the land cannot be seen, vessels generally
anchor outside the group and run in the following morning. Massowa
being an island, the anchorage is vrell protected from the prevailing
strong breezes by being in the channel between it and the mainland.