Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/466

 830 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. the Katara, doHcribcJ as an "immense" river. According to native report the Zuai comnmnicatc-8 southwards with the second lake, which is known by the name of Ilogga, and it is quite possible that both of these reservoirs send an emissary in a southerl'v direction to the basin of tlio .Tuba. In the north the Awash also escapes towards tho phiins throuj,-h a deep mountain gorge, beyond which are seen the summits of the Shoa highhinds standing out against the horizon. Between the escarpments of the inland plateau and the seaboard, the inter- vening rcgioHs do not slope uniformly in any given direction. According to the information colli-cted by GuiUain, Wakefield, James, and other explorers, the monotony of the plains is diversified by isolated peaks, chains of hills, and rugged uplands. But in the northern part of Somali Land the ground rises from the coast inland in such a way as to develop a long ridge of irregular mountains, which are mainly disposed in a direction parallel with the shores of the Gulf of Aden, and which in their general formation resemble the chains of South Arabia on the opposite side of the gulf. Thus the volcanic heights appear to correspond oa both sides of the marine inlet. The irroup of the Ilarrar Mountains, by which the city of the same name is en- circled as by a magnificent natural amphitheatre, may be regarded as the western limit of the North Somali coast range. Mount Mulata, one of the summits lying t4» the south-west of Ilarrar, is said to attain an altitude of 10,000 feet ; while Mount llama, to the north-west of the same place, rises to the}ieight of 7,300 feet, and several other crests exceed 6,500 feet. East of these granite eminences, the waterparting between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean becomes more uni- form with the surrounding plains. It no longer anywhere presents any imposing elevations, and even gradually merges in a vast and almost level steppe to which Burton has given the name of the " Marar Prairie," and the northern range of which falls in terraces down to the shores of the Gulf of Aden. This plateau, the (jii of the Somali natives, is furrowed here and there by ravines or river-beds which are now mostly waterless, and tcrminnts abruptly in the cliffs and escarp- ments of the Bar, that is to say, the northern coast range. The prevailing formation of these escarpments are granites veined with white quartz and overlain with sandstone and limestone. The rains and running waters have swept away all the vegetable soil from the upper slopes, lodging it in the cavities on the rocks, where are seen a few acacias of pale-coloured foliage, some- what resembling stunted olive-trees at a distance. The cliffs of the Bor are rent at intervals by deep gorge-like crevasses, through which, after the tropical rains, the torrents escaiK? seawards. At the foot of the escarpments stretches the Gohan, or maritime plain, with its dunes and shingle, its wadys and depressions, alternately saline and marshy. South of Berbera the coast ranges again acquire a considerable elevation, and here one of the summits, the wooded and twin-crested Gan Libash, or Toro, exceeds C,o00 feet in altitude.* A narrow pass crossing the divide between the two marine basins stands at a height of 4,500 feet. Beyond this point going eastwards the • 9,500 feet, according to Haggennutcker. *