[CHAPTER VIII]
COMMERCE
Trade sources and commodities—A typical manifest—The old Jew goldsmith.
I call this chapter commerce. Not the commerce so dryly described in the mass of Zeila tabulated customs' returns that lie before me on the desk as I write. Into these figures, at a first glance, it would seem almost impossible to weave the slightest suspicion of adventure or romance. Yet the pursuit of our trade is not without adventure; often adventure of the good old-fashioned kind—well spiced with danger. But the main, and practically the only, industry of Somaliland is cattle raising, unless one includes the pursuit of war as an industry. If so it is a dying one. With the proceeds of the sale of his surplus cattle the Somal buys goods from all parts of the world. Cloth from America, Europe, Arabia, and India; bowls and other knick-knacks from Japan; the bulk, or all, of which comes to him through the great clearing house of the near east, Aden.
Although a couple of small coastal steamers owned by an Aden firm visit our port at stated intervals, most of our sea-borne trade is carried in the holds of dhows. The Zeila fleet is not a large one, and plies between the comparatively near ports of Berbera, Aden, Jibouti, Perim, towns on the Arabian coast; Assab, an Italian port in the Red Sea, and several other unimportant places. From Assab come mats for covering the huts and tents; string, and the leaf of the doum palm. This latter the women of Zeila plait in their spare time, as our women do knitting, into long flat strips, which are afterwards sewn into bags and mats. But the best mat grass comes from Berbera, and I have one mat plaited from this grass which is truly a work of art. Interwoven with the plaited grass are thin strips of red and blue cloth, forming a diamond pattern of tasteful design; the result being an article that pleases the most fastidious eye.
Apart from cloth, dates, rice, and sugar are our chief imports. Dates are a splendid and highly nutritious food, eaten daily if procurable. They come to us from Mokulla, Muscat, and Basra, and are, more often than not, transhipped at Aden. But our dhows are enterprising craft and go a-trading themselves. Here is the manifest of one that arrived home to-day:
"Dhow Fathal Kheir, Master Said Musa; cargo:
250 packages of dates 30 bags of lime 2 bundles of mat bags 1 package of sweets 6 bundles of coir rope —all from Mokulla."
| 250 | packages of dates |
| 30 | bags of lime |
| 2 | bundles of mat bags |
| 1 | package of sweets |
| 6 | bundles of coir rope |
| —all from Mokulla." | |
From Basra come, in addition to the dates, grain, carpets, and sweetmeats, the latter being the well-known Turkish delight. The carpets are disappointing, and it is to be feared that, though they actually come from Basra, the majority are made in Europe. I have only been able to secure one drugget of undoubtedly eastern manufacture, but it is so fiercely coloured that it will swear at everything in a civilised room. In the old days real, genuine carpets found their way here from Basra, and other ports. I have seen one such, though over fifty years of age, whose colours are as bright and fresh now as on the day it was made.