dollars, which, though not a third of the price I paid
in the Warsingali country, was full price for the finest
a n im a ls at Berbera. Berbera during the fair time is
undoubtedly the cheapest place to purchase camels in
of all the coast-line, and the farther you leave it the
more expensive animals become, increasing in price at
the s am p, ratio as the extent of distance. Whilst halting
here I heard of the existence of the Victoria N’yanza.
The Somali described its dimensions as equal in
extent to the Gulf of Aden, and further alluded to
its being navigated by white men. None of the men
present had been there to see it, though it was currently
known as a positive fact amongst them. I did
not believe the story in the light they expressed it,
supposing they confounded an inland sea with the
Western or Atlantic Ocean. Colonel Rigby, H.B.M.
Consul at Zanzibar, tells me he also heard of this lake
when he was travelling in this country some years
previously. I t is strange this story was never published
earlier. The white navigators alluded to are
evidently the expeditionists who were sent by Me-
hemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, up the White Nile as
far as Condokoro, about twelve or fourteen years ago,
and the Nile and lake have been confounded as one
water in the transmission of the intelligence, though
both were seen.
The minds of the Kurrum people seemed greatly
discomposed about various rumours which they heard.
One was that the English intended to suppress the
slave-trade, and they wished me to tell them if such
was not a fact—saying it would be unjust for us to do
so, as sla ving was an acknowledged right given them
in the Koran, and handed down by their Russool
Mahamed.
The other bugbear which alarmed them was a report
that the English intended either to take possession
of Berbera, or that they would give it to Sher-
marky—a native chief and ally of ours who lives at
Zeylah. In short, these numerous fears arose from
Herne’s long residence at Berbera. I t looked suspicious
seeing him take notes there of everything, and
they naturally put the worst interpretation on all his
actions. What could be the use of his watching the
trade, if our Government did not want to take the
country ?—of watching the slave-trade, if it did .not
mean stopping it? And then the suppression of
Abbanships was the crowning of all.
The village of Kurrum consisted of a single fort and
a large collection of mat huts, all grouped together,
situated close to the shore. The maritime plain
consisted of sandy-brown soil, very uninteresting,
with scarcely any vegetation growing on it, and was
here only about half a mile broad. The hills in
the background were very insignificant, not half so
high as any I had seen, and were dull and brown,
like those one sees when travelling down the Red Sea.
The people say that in their recesses and ravines acacias
and other gum-trees grow as they do elsewhere. Cum
only exudes in the dry hot season; and the confined
air in the ravines is described as being so hot that