Les explorations du lieutenant C. J. Cruttenden en Somalie (1)

Memoir on the Western or Edoor Tribes, Inhabiting the Somali Coast of N.-E. Africa, with the Southern Branches of the Family of Darrood, Resident on the Banks of the Webbe Shebeyli, Commonly Called the River Webbe, par C. J. Cruttenden, The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1849, 19 (1849), p. 49-76

With reference to the slave trade, the position of Zeyla is important. It is the sea-port of Hurrur, and it commands Tajoura and Berbera, the only available places of export: and when the time arrives for the final suppression of the slave-trade on the north-eastern coast of Africa, the numerous advantages held out by Zeyla will be duly appreciated. Hurrur depends for its foreign supplies solely on Berbera and Zeyla, and were these two ports cut off from the merchants, so far as regards the trade of slaves, it must prove a death-blow to the slave-commerce through that province from Abyssinia and Guragi. Berbera once forbidden, Tajoura is the only remaining outlet, and that outlet, thanks to the marauding habits of the Esa Somal and others, is much more frequently closed than open.

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The annual fair is one of the most interesting sights on the coast, if only from the fact of so many different and distant tribes being drwn together for a short time, to be again scattered in all directions. Before the Towers of Berbera were built, the place, from April to the early part of October, was utterly deserted, not even a fisherman being found there. But no sooner did the season change than the inland tribes commenced moving towards the coast, and preparing their huts for the expected visitors. Small crafts from the ports of Yemen, anxious to have an opportunity of purchasing before vessels from the Gulf could arrive, hastened across, followed, about a fortnight to three weeks later, by their larger brethen from Muscat, Soor and Ras el Khyma, ane the valuably freighted bugalas from Bahrein, Bussorah and Graen. Lastly, the fat and wealthy Banian traders from Porebunder, Mandavie and Bombay rolled across in their clumsy kotias, and, with a formidable row of empty ghee-jar slung over the quarters of their vessels, elbowded themselves into o prominent position in the front tier of craft in the harbour, and by their superior capital, cunning and influence, soon distanced all competitors.
during the height of the fair, Berbera is a perfect Babel in confusion, as in languages; no chief is acknowledged, and the customs of bygone years are the laws of the place. Disputes between the inland tribes daily arise, and are settled by the spear and dagger, the combatants retiring to the beach at a short distance from the town, in order that they may no disturb the trade. Long strings of camels are arriving and departing day and night, escorted generally by women alone, until at a distance from the town. Or an occasional group of dusky and travel-worn children marks the arrival of the slave-kafila from Hurrur and Efât.
At Berbera the Guragi and Hurrur slave-merchants meets his correspondant from Bussorah, Baghdad or Bunder Abbas; and the savage Gidr Beersi, with his head tastefully ornamented with a scarlet sheepskin in lieu of a wig, is seen peacefully bartering his ostrich-feathers and gums with the smooth-spoken Banian from Porebunder, who, prudently linving on board of his ark, and locking up his puggree, which would infallibly be knocked off the instant he was seen wearing it, exhibits but a small portion of his wares at a time, under a miserable mat-shed on the beach.
By the end of March the fair is nearly at a close, and crafts of all kinds, deeply laden and sailing generallyin parties of three or four, commence their homeward journey. The Soori boats are generally the last to leave, and by the first week in April Berbera is again deserted, nothing beeing left to mark the site of a town containing 20 000 inhabitants, beyond bones of slaughtered camels and sheep, and the fram-work of a few huts carefully piled on the beach in readiness for the ensuing year. Beasts of prey now take the opportunity to approach the sea. Lions are commonly seen at the town-well during the hot weather; and in April, last years, but a week after the fair had ended, I observed three ostriches quietly walking on the beach.
The great drawback to Berbera as a port is the scarcity of good water (that in the two wells belonging to the town being brackish); and the wealthier portion of the merchants are therefore compelled to send to Seyareh, a small harbour 18 miles to the eastward, for a supply. I had frequently been told by the Somalis at Berbera that the remains of an ancient aqueduct were to be seen; and talking advantage of an unavoidable detention at that port, I visited the ruins, and satisfied myself that in former times water had been conveyed to the port by an aqueduct of nearly nine miles in length.

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Half a mile from these remains I arrived at a swamp, having at the upper end a spring of water, which shwowed a temperature of 107° Fahrenheit, whilst the thermometer in the open air stood at 76°. The water was slightly bitter, and in quality highly astringent. The remains of a small fort or tower of chunam and stone were found on the hill-side immediately over the spring. In style it was different to any house now found on the Somali coast. It would no contain more than ten or twelve men, and, I imagine, must have been intended as a kind of guard house over the spring. On a hill to the N.E. of this, several small houses were found, each having a semicircular niche on the north side, similar to the prayer niche of the Mussulmans; but these again were built of loose stones, and I have seen others like them on the coast to the eastward of Berbera. Crossing the shoulder or the hill, another spring was found, apparently of rather better quality than the former, and which was the nightly resort of the wild ass, the ostrich and other animals, numbers of which were seen on the plains.

In the neighbourhood of the fort above mentioned abundance of broken glass and pottery was found, from which I infer that it was a place of considerable antiquity; but, though diligent search was made, no traces of inscriptions could be discovered.

During a short journey in 1847, I found the country inland from the hill of Dthubar consisting of low and undulating limestone ranges, thickly covered with tamarik and acacia trees, and, on the sides of the hills with the gum-arabic. At the distance of 2 hours from Dthubar I reached the pass of Gudh Harrirch, in which is to be seen a large cave, said to have been in former times the residence of the Galla chief Harrirch, wh was expelled from the country by the descendants of Ishaakh. The rock at this part is an exceedingly pure white limestone, and would be invaluable in Aden, were it not for the expense of carriage. In the valley, close to the pass, red granite, porphyry, white marbles and large fragments of gypsum are common. It is worthy to remark that the gum-arabic tree at Berbera differs in every way from that exported from the windward coast, the leaf and the tree both being smaller and of a different shape. The plain beyond this valley, extending 1 hour’s journey SSW, is infested with lions, hyenas and leopards; and it is considered unsafe for a single individual to cross it at night.

At the southern extremity of this plain I reached the valley of Dunanjer, a steep ravine having in its bed a few pools of very bad and stinking water, almost unfit for man to drink, but which, nevertheless, proved most acceptable to us after a hot a fatiguing march. Passing over several low ranges of limestone, through which in many places red granite had been thrust, I reached another watercourse having very steep banks of 30 to 40 feet high, thickly wooded and having a most picturesque appearance. The bed of the watercourse was of soft white sand, in any part of which water was procurable by scooping a hole a foot in depth. On the range of mountains between Dunanjer and this valley I observed many large blocks of very pure white marble, with an abundance of obsidian, gypsum, and large masses of basalt. The geological formation of the country appeared to be entirely without order, and led to the idea that by some extraordinary convulsion of nature rocks of all kinds had been thrown together in one large confused heap. A huge natural cairn might be observed 30 to 40 feet high, composed of six or seven different species of stone – a block of marble lying over or under an equally large boulder of red granite, and flanked, perhaps, by a fragment of conglomerate or black basalt. This valley is much infested with lions, leopards, etc., and the traces of elephants were numerous. The diameter of the lion’s foot was 51/2 inches, and of the elephant, after several measurements, 22 inches, which would give a height of upwards of 10 feet at the shoulders. This watercourse passes round the western flank of the Dunanjer range, and can be traced down to the sea, close to the town of Berbera: after heavy rains it discharges a large body of water into the bay. From this valley my course lay over a rough and stony tract of country, in many places well wooded and watered, but, so far as regards formation, exhibiting if possible a still stranger appearance than the valley above mentioned. Thousands of anthills, rising like slender sandstone pillars in many cases 14 feet high, were scattered inl evely direction, giving the country the appearance of an immense Turkish cemetery– many were hollowed out entirely, others were pierced with smaller channels longitudinally, and a current of hot air could be detected rushing through. On first seeing these columns, I fancied that I had reached some ancient ruins, so numerous were they. In one instance I observed a huge block of marble, weighing many tons, having three or four of these sand pillars round it, and bearing the exact appearance of a tomb. On the brink of a cliff close by an enormous rock of perhaps 18 or 20 feet in diameter, and diamond-shaped, stood exactly balanced on its point, and to all appearance required but a push to send it down into the ravine below. The number of graves found in every direction excited my surprise. They were well built and bore marks of great antiquity, but no inscriptions were found on them. Night closed in before we reached the plain of Shimberali, and we were glad to find an empty sheepfold to shelter us for the night, after a march of 17 hours on foot, of which 3 only could be spared for a halt during the greatest heat of the day.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Pierre Schneider (7 février 2025). Les explorations du lieutenant C. J. Cruttenden en Somalie (1). Les sociétés méditerranéennes antiques et les mondes de l'océan Indien. Consulté le 16 mai 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13a78