What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile | Page 4

the east, and debouches in the Indian Ocean at the
northern extremity of the Zanzibar coast. According to Lieutenant
Cruttenden's map, there are only two other rivers besides this of any
consequence in the land,--the Webbe (river) Shebéli, or Haines river,
which is of considerable importance, having a large flow of water,
trending down a cultivable district of rich red soil, and another less
important to the eastward of these two, called very unfortunately by
him the Wadi[4] Nogal. The proper specific name for this river has
never, to my knowledge, been given; but the Jid Ali Tug is one of its
head branches. It rises in some small hills close overhanging the north
coast, and runs south-easterly into the Indian Ocean, dividing two large
territories, called Ugahden, or Haud, on the west, and Nogal on the east,
mouthing at Ras Ul Khylé. Ugahden is said to be a flat grassy country,
of red soil, almost stoneless, and having water everywhere near the

surface. It is considered by the pastoral Somali a famous place for
keeping cattle, of which by report they possess a great abundance, such
as camels, ponies, cows, and Dumba sheep--a fat-tailed animal, like the
Persian breed. Game also abounds in this country, of which the gazelles
and antelopes, I was assured, roamed about in vast herds like sheep.
The Nogal country is the opposite of this, containing nothing of any
material value in it. The rock-formation is all lime, very pure and white
like marble, which consequently makes the soil white, and, being very
stony, it is almost barren. The Somali keep cattle here, but with much
apparent difficulty, being, from the scarcity of springs and want of
water, obliged to march about, following the last falls of rain, to obtain
fresh herbage for their cattle. My first and greater journey gave me an
insight into this portion of the interior of the country south of Bunder
Gori. It was very interesting, though not profitable, from its never
having been visited by any Europeans before. I observed here two
distinct leading features in its physical geography. The first is a narrow
hill-range, about 180 miles long and 20 or more broad, which is
occupied by two large tribes--the Warsingali on the east, and a branch
of the Habr Gerhajis on the west. It is situated at an average distance of
from 200 yards to three or four miles from the sea-shore, separated
from it by a sandy flat or maritime plain, and, like the line of coast,
extends from east to west. Immediately due south of Bunder Gori, the
sea-face, or northern slopes of this range, are very steep and irregular,
being trenched down by deep ravines, which, during the rainy season,
shed their water across the maritime plain into the Gulf of Aden.
The lower folds on this side of the range are composed of brown rocks
and earth, having little or no vegetation upon them, and are just as
uninviting in appearance as the light-brown hills which fringe the coast
of Arabia, as seen by voyagers on the Red Sea. Further up the hill, in
the central folds of the range, this great sterility changes for a warm
rich clothing of bush-jungle and a little grass. Gum-trees, myrrh, and
some varieties of the frankincense are found in great profusion, as well
as a variety of the aloe plant, from which the Somali manufacture good
strong cordage. The upper part of the range is very steep and
precipitous, and on this face is well clad with trees and bush-jungle.
The southern side of the range is exactly the opposite, in all its
characteristics, of the northern. Instead of having a steep drop of from

6000 to 7000 feet, it falls by gentle slopes to successive terraces, like a
giant staircase, to scarcely half that depth, where it rests at the head of
the high plateau land of Nogal, and is almost barren. Nogal, as I have
said before, is also very barren, only producing trees, such as the hardy
acacia and jujube, in sheltered places, in the valleys or watercourses
which drain that land to the south-east. I had no means of determining
it, but should judge this second great geographical feature, the plateau
of Nogal, by the directions its streams lie in, to have a gradual
decreasing declination, like all the rest of the interior, from the north,
where it averages an altitude of from 3000 to 4000 feet, down to the
level of the sea on south and by east.
According to traditional histories furnished me by the natives who
accompanied me on the journeys I undertook, it appears that the present
Somali are of rather recent origin, not more than four and a half
centuries old. About the year 1413, an Arab chieftain, Darud-bin-Ismail,