Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/473

THE WEBI RIVER. 887 beach, shoals, t.nd reefs arc uniformly disposed i:i precisely the same direction from north-east to south-west. Another Webi, like the Gugsa Webi which rises in Kaffaland, has also its chief source in Ethiopia, but farther north in the Gurage district, and on the off- shoots of the border range, some little distance south of the Awash. This Webi, or " River," which possesses no other name in geographical nomenclature, is fed by the waters of an extensive area of drainage. All the torrents between Gurage and the Ilarrar country converge towards this important watercourse ; but all do not reach the mainstream, especially in the dry season, while several are lost in saline depressions without any outflow. During the floods the Webi overflows its banks like another Nile, fertilising the rich plains of Ogaden, the " earthly paradise of Somali Land." Like the Juba, it sweeps round to the south in its lower course ; but as it approaches the coast it has no longer sufficient vigour to force its way seaward through iho intervening chain of sandhills. Hence it skirts the inner base of these dunes in a perfectly straight line for a distance of about 165 miles, and at last runs out in a marshy depression before reaching the loft bank of the Juba. Thus is presented the singular and extremely rare phenomenon of a not inconsiderable watercourse which, after vainly endeavouring to pierce the sandy barrier intercepting its seaward course, follows the inner face of this rampart, like some broad and deep moat artificially excavated for defensive purposes. This Tuni, or narrow maritime zone, separating the river from the Indian Ocean, has an average breath of scarcely more than twelve miles. The long line of sandhills is here and there strengthened by some rocky masses which are evidently upheaved reefs. All the other watercourses which, north of the Webi, traverse the Somali country as it gradually tapers towards the north-east, also fail to reach the Indian Ocean, except perhaps after unusually heavy downpours. The moisture, however, collected in their sandy beds suffices at least to nourish a somewhat scanty growth of riverain shrubs. The largest of these inland or intermittent fluvial basins has its rise immediately to the east of the Webi, in the Ilarrar mountains, and under the name of Tug Faf terminates its arrested course in a marshy depression within the territory of the Ilawiyah people. Another tug or wady, which takes its origin to the south of the Berbcra hills, runs out in the country of the Mijertin Somalis, more than IJO miles from the sea. The last of these wadys comprised within the oceanic area of drainage is the Tug Darror, or "River of Fogs," whose valley lies between the Ras Haf un and Cape Guardafui. On the slopes draining to the Gulf of Aden, the beds of the torrents are nothing more than short ravines excavated in the thickness of the escarpment. Hero running waters are as scarce as in the corresponding gorges on tie opposite coast of Arabia. Climate. In the southern district the climate of Somali Land resembles that of Zanzibar ; on the northern slope facing the Gulf of Aden, it corresponds with that of South