the bay. The Somali tribes call the place Ausal, apparently perpetuating the Ausan of the South Arabian coast; which also at one time possessed much of the coast of East Africa (called the "Ausanitic coast" in § 15 of the Periplus). Avalites is thought by Forster (Historical Geography of Arabia, Vol. I) to perpetuate the name of Obal, son of Joktan (Gen. IV) whose name is almost unknown in Arabia; thus indicating a very early migration of this tribe to the Somali coast. This name seems also to survive in Obollah at the Euphrates mouth on the Persian Gulf; which was the Ubulu of the Assyrian inscriptions and the Apologus of § 35.
Of Zeila, Ibn Batuta, writing in the 14th century, said: "I then went from Aden by sea, and after four days came to the city of Zeila. This is a settlement of the Berbers, a people of Sudan, of the Safia sect. Their country is a desert of two months' extent; the first part is termed Zeila, the last Makdashu. The greatest number of the inhabitants, however, are of the Rafizah sect. Their food is mostly camel's flesh and fish. The stench of the country is extreme, as is also its filth, from the stink of the fish and the blood of the camels which are slaughtered in its streets."
Zeila is described by Burton (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 14) as "the normal African port—a strip of sulphur-yellow sand, with a deep blue dome above, and a foreground of the darkest indigo. The buildings, raised by refraction, rise high, and apparently from the bosom of the deep. . . . No crafter larger than a canoe can ride near Zeila. After bumping once or twice against the coral reefs, it was considered advisable for our ship to anchor. My companions put me into a cockboat, and wading through the water, shoved it to shore. The situation is a low and level spit of sand, which high tides make almost an island. There is no harbor; a vessel of 250 tons cannot approach within a mile of the landing-place; the open roadstead is exposed to the terrible north wind, and when gales blow from the west and south it is almost unapproachable. Every ebb leaves a sandy flat, extending half a mile seaward from the town; the reefy anchorage is difficult of entrance after sunset, and the coraline bottom renders wading painful."
Zeila, the nearest port to Harrar in the interior, had, when Burton wrote, lost the caravan trade to Berbera, owing to the feuds of its rulers; so that the characteristics of its people had not changed from the account given in § 7 of the Periplus.
At that time the exports from Zeila were slaves, ivory, hides, honey, antelope horns, clarified butter, and gums. The coast abounded in sponge, coral, and small pearls. In the harbor were about twenty
