BRITISH SOMALILAND, s4-mit'1e-land. A British protectorate on the Gulf of Men, extend ing front about longitude 43° to 49° E., and bounded inland by Italian Somaliland (q.v.) and Abyssinia (Map': Africa, J 4). Its present area, after the agreement with Abyssinia in 1897. is estimated at about 68,000 square miles. The part along the coast is generally fiat, while the inte rior is covered with mountains mostly of volcanic formation and rising in some eases above 6000 feet. The detieiency of rivers is largely responsi ble for the poor vegetation which eharacterizes the whole territory. The climate is moderate and healthful in the more elevated regions and some what moist in the vicinity of the coast. The principal products exported are cattle, sheep, os trich-feathers, skins. hides, and gum. Transpor tation is effected chiefly by camels and donkeys. The principal commercial ports are Berbera, 1161 bar, and Zeyla. The annual value of the trade amounts to about $2,500,000, almost evenly di vided between imports and exports. A consider
able part of the trade comes from inland. and it is the general opinion that time completion of the Jibutil-Ilarar Railway line will affect it unfavor ably in view of the inadequate transportation facilities of British Somaliland. The protecto rate of Somaliland was created in 1884, and was under the control of British India till 1898, when it was put under the direct control of the Crown. It is administered by a eonsul-general, and the three main ports are under the supervision of British officials. The capital is Berbera. Accu rate information about the population is unavail able, as it is mostly nomadic. The Somali are of Hamitic origin and profess Mohammedanism. Consult: Swayne, Seventeen Trips Through So maliland (Loudon, 1900) ; Peel, Somaliland (London. 1899) ; llendebert, .1 u pays des Somalis et des Como•iens (Paris, 1901).