Somaliland

SOMALILAND, a country of East Africa, so named from its Somali inhabitants. It is sometimes called the "Eastern Horn of Africa," because it projects sharply into the Indian ocean. In general outline it is an irregular triangle, with apex at Cape Guardafui. From the apex the north side extends over 600 m. along the south shore of the Gulf of Aden westwards to Tajura bay, and the east side skirts the Indian ocean south-west for some 1,200 m., the Tana river being about the limit of Somali settle ment. Inland the limits of Somaliland correspond roughly with the Shoan and Harrar hills, the Galla district south of Shoo and east of Lake Rudolph and E. as the western limit. The tri angular space thus roughly outlined has an area of about 370,000 square miles. It includes the 36,00o sq.m. of Jubaland added to Italian Somaliland by transferences from Kenya Colony. It is partitioned as under, the figures for area and population being in some cases estimates :— Somaliland was not generally adopted as the name of the country until the early years of the 1 gth century. The northern and central districts were previously known as Adel, the north east coast as Ajan. By the ancients the country was called regio aromatics, from the abundance of its aromatic plants.

Physical Features.—The region as a whole is a vast plateau of an average elevation of 3,00o ft., bounded westwards by the Ethiopian and Galla highlands and northwards by an inner and outer coast range, skirting the south side of the Gulf of Aden in its entire length from the Harrar uplands to Cape Guardafui.

The incline is uniformly to the south-east, and apart from the few coast streams that reach the Gulf of Aden during the rains, all the running waters are collected in three rivers—the Nogal in the north, the Webi Shebeli in the centre, and the Juba (q.v.) in the south—which have a parallel south-easterly direction towards the Indian ocean, though the Juba alone reaches the sea. The Nogal sends down a turbulent stream during the freshets, while the Shebeli, notwithstanding the far greater extent of its basin, does not reach the sea. At a distance of about 12 m. from the coast it is intercepted by a line of dunes, which it fails to pierce, and is deflected southwards, flowing in this direction for nearly 170 m. parallel with the coast, and then disappearing in a swampy depres sion (the Bali marshes) before reaching the Juba estuary.

The Somaliland plateau is chiefly composed of gneiss and schist. In the north the plateau is overlain by red and purple unfossilifer ous sandstones, capped near its edge by a cherry limestone also unfossiliferous but possibly of Lower Cretaceous age. The plains inland from Berbera, and the maritime margins between the coast and foot of the plateau, consist of Lower Oolitic limestones.

Temperature varies from 6o° or less in the early morning to or over in the early afternoon. On an average the coast-belt temperatures are some I o° higher than those of the plateau. Four seasons are recognized—January–April, very dry and great heat; May–June, cooler and the "heavy" rains; July–September, the season of extreme heat and the south-west monsoon; October– December, the "light" rains.

Flora and Fauna.

The flora of Somaliland is isolated because it lies east of the great belt of high ground of East Africa. In the mountainous north the flora resembles, however, to some ex tent, that of the Galla country and Abyssinia. The greater part of the country is covered either with tall coarse grasses (these open plains being called ban), or more commonly with thick thorn-bush or jungle, among which rise occasional isolated trees. The preva lent bush plants are khansa (umbrella mimosa), acacias, aloes, and, especially, Boswellia and Commiphora, which yield highly fragrant resins and balsams, such as myrrh, frankincense (oli banum) and "balm of Gilead." The billeil is a thorn-bush grow ing about i o ft. high and covered with small curved hooks of great strength. The bush contains also numerous creepers, one of the most common is called the armo. Of the thorns, the guda and the wadi often grow from 3o to 5o ft. high and have large flat topped branches. In places there are forests of these trees. On the summit of the Golis range the cedars form forests. Among the larger trees are the mountain cedar, reaching to 'co ft.; the gob, which bears edible berries in appearance something like the cherry with the taste of an apple, grows to some 8o ft., and is found fringing the river beds ; the hasscidan, a kind of euphorbia, attain ing a height of about 7o ft.; and the darei, a fig tree.