Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/506

 414 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. to all the coastlands skirting the south side of the Gulf of Aden. Yet notwith- standing its obWous maritime advantages, this privileged seaport has at times been completely abandoned. Thus a war which broke out in the year 1870 between the surrounding Gadibursi and Dolbohant nations compelled all the inhabitants of Berbeni tcMuporarilv to quit their homes. But under the protection of Great Britain, which has 'inherited all the rights of Egypt as the ruling power on this seaboard, liorbera has again become the centre of considerable commercial activity. It has now a lighthouse, piers, warehouses, and even an aqueduct, whose copious water, tlu«rmarat the fountain-head, is brought from a distance of about seven miles.' Berbera is the successor of Bcmlor Alias, another town some ruins of which are still visible on the lowlying shores of the Tamar peninsula enclosing the road- stead on the north and north-west. Lying IGO miles to the south of Aden, and nearly under the same meridian, Berbera shares with that town and with Zaila, another port belonging to England, the whole of the commercial movement in the western parts of the Gulf of Aden. On the beach at Bnlliar, about 45 miles further west, lies the market-place where the Berbara traders meet the caravans coming from Harrar and from all the Somali- and Galla Lands to the south and west of that place. During the busy sc«ason, from October to January, as many as 15,000 persons are attracted to this place. Then, after all the commodities have changed hands, the tents are struck, the long strings of camels laden with their purchases move off in all directions towards the interior, the Arab dhows set sail, and solitude once more prevails along the seaboard. The Somali preter the Bulbar market to that of Berbera itself, because they find in the neighbourhood convenient pasturages for their numerous herds and flocks, whereas round about Berbera nothing is offered except here and there a few trailing plants and shrubs. Bulbar has unfortunately no harbour, and its surf-beaten shores are too often strewn with wreckage. The explorers who have ventured to penetrate from this point into the inland plateaux report the existence of numerous burial-places. The most frequented trade route running south-westwards in the direction of the city of Harrar has its seaward terminus at Bulbar. But Samawanak and DniKjiireta have been spoken of as more convenient starting-points for the future railway, which has already been projected, and which must sooner or later run through the Gadibursi territory towards the great city of the Upper Webi basin, easternmost station and bulwark of the kingdom of Shoa. Accordingly England and France have recently put forward rival claims for the possession of this future gateway to the interior of the continent from this direction. The English mean- time retain in their hands the disputed station, recognising in return the absolute sovereignty of France over the Gulf of Tajurah, which also gives access to the inland regions from the head of the Gulf of Aden. Thus is completed the chain of conquests round about the continental periphery, by means of which the European powers hope gradually to annex to their dominions the whole of the vast domain of the dark races. Year by year the circuit is drawn tighter, while at the same time our knowledge is enlarged of the