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.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The Habr Awal, Habr Gerhajis, and Habr Toljaala.

[2] When a man commits murder or manslaughter the relatives of the deceased can claim blood money. The tribe to which the slayer belongs must either pay this, give up the murderer, or fight. Which of these three courses will be taken depends on the nature of the act, and whether the man is considered to be worth fighting for.

[3] The Gerád (Arabic Sultán) is the paramount chief of a tribe.