Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/267

 badly sheltered, and not of sufficient depth to admit vessels of small tonnage. The only part of the coast where the French have at last founded a permanent station, after having ignored the deed of concession, which was signed in 1862, for over twenty years, is on the eastern peninsula of the Danakil country, between the Bay of Tajurah and the mouth of the Red Sea. The hamlet of Obok, in the immediate vicinity, has given its name to the whole of the annexed territory, and here in 1881 the first commercial house was opened by Arnoux, a merchant who later on perished in a tribal feud.

Obok offers great advantages as a port of call for steamers. Situated near the

Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, it commands the passage to much greater advantage than the town of Aden, and transports could here put in for coal without altering their course. Although this port cannot be compared to that of Aden, yet it possesses a good anchorage, which might be completely sheltered at small cost. It is separated from the high sea by coral reefs, in which are openings accessible to large ships; the north and north-easterly winds, so feared by sailors, are deflected from the harbour by Râs-el-Bir, or "The Promontory of Wells," which projects into the sea north of Obok. The gradually widening valley, where the buildings of the growing village are beginning to replace the thickets of acacias and other trees, is commanded by a coraline cliff about 60 feet high, the ravines by which it is