Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1081

 IT i ILaKD 1029

Through the land frontier the imports in 1918 amounted to 22,864,290 lire, and the exports to 12,786,784 lire.

There are 74 miles of railway from Massawah to Asmara (end of 1912), and now the line is being taken to Keren (60 miles) and to AgorJat (54 miles). There are 12 There is a telegraph line of 514 miles in

length. There are 803 niiles of telephone lines. Two wireless telegraph stations have been opeftsd at Massawah and Assab. They communicate with the radiotelegraph ic system of Italian Somaliland and also with Italy (Coltano). There is, thus, through wireless communication between Italy and Italian Somali land, via Massawah.

The legal currency consists of Italian coins and those of the Latin Union, but in actual circulation there are still Maria Theresa dollars. The Italian mint in 1918 issued a new silver coin, the Tallero d' Itnlia, the weight of which is 28-0668 grammes.

Italian Somaliland.

The Colony and Protectorates of I naliland have an area ol

189,430 sq. miles and a population of about 650,000. They extend along the east coast of Africa from British Somaliland to the course of the Juba. The inland boundaries are determined under the Treaty of May 16, 1908, between Italy and Abyssinia, by a line (only partially demarcated) from Dolo on the Juba to the confluence of the Juba with the Daua, thence to the WeW Shebeli (comprising in Benadir the territory of the Somali tribe Baddi Addo and dependent clans), and finally to the Anglo- Abyssinian frontier fixed by protocol of May 14 and June 4, 1897. As a result of the 'Treaty <>f 1915 and the Colonial rearrangements consequent on the war, Britain will grant Italy territories on the right bank of the Juba with the port of Kismayu. Italy thus coutrols the whole of the Juba.

Italian Somaliland comprises (I.) The Protectorates, viz. — U) The Sultanate of the Mijertins (Sultan Osman Mahmud), from Bender Ziade, the most northerly point belonging to Italy on the Gulf of Aden, to Cape Gabbee on the Indian Ocean (8° 13' N. lat.), with an Italian ' aer, resident

at Alula, capital of the Sultanate ; (2) the territory of the Xogal, from Cape Gabbee to < 6 47' jf. lat.), formerly occupied by I nllah ;

(3) the Sultanate of Obbia (Sultan Alilusuf), from Cape Oarad to the northern boundary of the colony of Ben. mined by a line which e:

ea near the wells of Fah (about 4°30'X. lat.), with an Italian Com- missioner resident at Obbia, capital of the Sultanate. (II.) The Colony formerly called ' Benadir ' but now officially known as 'Southern Italian Somaliland,' which extends from 4° 30' N. lat. to the mouth of the Juba, and comprises the following four administrative divisions : 1) Medio Shebeli, with Afgoi (population 3,000) as capital, (2) Basso Shebeli and Gosha, with Brava ..S.000) as capital. (3) Alto Shebeli, with Mai (5,000) us capital, and (4) Alto Juba, with Baidoa (2,000) as capital. 1 disho (population 14,000), capital of the Colony, with its territory, has been ed under the direct dependence of the Governor.

The Colony is administered by a civil governor who resides at Mogadisho. A royal decree of De> .'10, provides for the minting of silver coins

of 1 rupee, Ik and $ rupee for Italian Somaliland, of the value of 15 rupee to 11. sterling.

The principal of the people are cattle-rearing and agriculture.

Formerly only the lower classes of the population cultivated the fields ; but

ahem Somaliland, after the Italian occupation of the interior, the