The manufactured goods which the African wants, and the raw material which he can export, are much the same all over the countries of tropical Africa. But SomÁliland has one great advantage as a trading country over many other African regions. Trade caravans depend for their transport upon camels, not upon human beings; and these camels, although comparatively weak, are vastly superior to those of many other camel countries, in that they cost only about £2 each and pick up all their food by the wayside. A comparison of the cost of camel transport in SomÁliland with the human transport on the Zanzibar coast will show the former to great advantage.

The calculation which follows is based on my own experience of both countries. It is some years since I was at Mombasa, so I am open to correction if the prices there have been recently reduced.

The Zanzibar coast porter carries a 60 lb. load of merchandise and a few days’ rations, and costs about £1 per month in pay and food. Thus six porters would carry 360 lbs. of merchandise for a three months’ journey at a cost of £18.

Two camels would be bought at Berbera for £4, and after a long journey, and allowing for a percentage of loss by death, they would fetch, if sold by the SomÁli owners, about £3. With the two camels would be one attendant, and his pay and rations for three months would involve an outlay of about £3:15s. The camels, if lightly laden, would carry 275 lbs. each; and the merchandise they would carry, if the liberal allowance of 63 lbs. be deducted for the weight per month of the attendant’s rations, would be 360 lbs., or the same as that carried by the six porters.

The cost of the two camels and their attendant for the three months would, however, amount to only £4:15s. as against the £18 for the porters.

During one of my last journeys we carried rations of rice, dates, and ghee at 1¾ lb. per man for a period of four and a half months. This could never be done by a caravan of Swahili porters, who can only carry a few days’ rations in addition to the load. Serious hardships from want of food are practically impossible when travelling with camels. In comparing porters and camels it must be borne in mind that the SomÁli caravans go from Berbera to ImÉ, four hundred miles, in sixteen days, which is faster travelling than could be accomplished by Swahili porters for the same length of road.

Of all the SomÁli coast ports by far the most promising is Berbera. Without counting the great capacity of SomÁliland itself as a consumer of our fabrics, which I shall touch upon later, Berbera has many advantages which will, I feel sure, cause it to become very valuable as entrepÔt and distributer to countries and tribes outside the existing sphere of British influence. If the resources of Central Africa are destined ever to be fully developed, I believe Berbera will be one of the chief outlets for Central African exports.

The position of Berbera is unique. The meat supplies for Aden come almost entirely from there, and freight is always obtainable. Already two, and sometimes three, coasting steamers call weekly at Berbera, to say nothing of the freights carried by dhows. Berbera is close to one of the greatest lines of shipping in the world, and when trade develops into direct communication, the proximity of Europe and India cannot fail to attract capital. Another advantage which Berbera has over the ports of the East African coast is that the long sea-voyage, with its dangerous Cape Guardafui and its uncertain currents, is avoided; and although the land distance to Uganda and the Equatorial Province is greater than from Mombasa, SomÁliland has, in Aden, a base secure from all attack, and is a week closer than Mombasa to England and India. I have already shown the advantage of camel transport in the Hinterland of the SomÁli coast. The route to Central Africa, at any rate as far as ImÉ, four hundred miles inland, is an excellent one, presenting no difficulties to caravans, either owing to physical causes or the temper of the natives; and, moreover, the whole of the country through which it passes is exceptionally healthy.

The GÁllas beyond ImÉ are camel-owners like the SomÁlis, and live much in the same way. The route is so good, for the first four hundred miles at least from the coast, that at any time, should the trade of Central Africa ever in the far distant future be sufficient to justify it, the construction of a railway following it would be perfectly easy.

The following statistics I find published in a Calcutta paper, having been taken from Lieutenant-Colonel Stace’s Official Report on SomÁli Coast Commerce, 1891-92: “The total value of the trade of Zeila last year was over a quarter of a million sterling, exports figuring for £151,721 of this sum. The exports consist almost exclusively of coffee from Harar (valued last year at over £100,000), skins, and hides; while their imports are piece goods (£12,508), rice (£31,827), American shirtings (£17,941), Indian shirtings (£10,057), and jowÁri (£10,000). The total value of the trade of Berbera and BulhÁr last year was £280,664, of which imports are responsible for £161,112. Berbera is supposed to contain about 30,000 people during the principal trading season, BulhÁr perhaps 5000, and Zeila 6000.”

There are many minor imports which do not compare in importance with those named. Among the possible imports in the distant future may figure common brown blankets. They are most popular as presents, and might eventually, I should think, develop into an article of trade.

Other chief exports at present, besides those already named, are—

• Gum,
• Ostrich feathers,
• Cattle and sheep (for the Aden market).

The hides, the trade in which seems to me to be capable of great development, go to America, whence most of the cotton goods are imported.

Considering the capacity of SomÁliland as a consumer of our fabrics, our countrymen’s lack of enterprise in having allowed American goods to gain the ascendancy in this market seems astonishing. Among the future possible exports of value are the fibre of the hig or pointed aloe, certain barks for tanning leather, and other natural products. Ivory at present mostly goes to ports west of Zeila, and does not figure largely in the exports from the British Protectorate. Now that the Eastern Soudan is closed, the gum of SomÁliland should be important.

There are many kinds of resin and of gum, the best gum being that of the adad, a low-spreading thorn-tree, exuding from the branches of which can be seen transparent knobs of the gum of a golden hue, the size of a lemon, and pleasant to taste. It is much eaten by the natives and by gazelles. Gum-pickers take it to their squalid-looking encampments, and loading camels with the sacks, they take them to the coast for sale.