THE BORDER LANDS

Evening Star, Issue 22145, 27 September 1935, Page 15

THE BORDER LANDS

ABDUT ABYSSINIA IMPORTANCE OF WATER Few parts of Africa could offer less inducement for colonisation than the inhospitable areas occupied by European nations around Abyssinia, says a writer in ‘The Times.’ Encircled by an arid belt, with little or few economic advantages, lies tucked away a country anachronistic in character that has somehow escaped serious invasion and avoided so-called civilising influences. It is yet to be proved whether Abyssinia holds the mineral wealth that is alleged, but owing to its altitude it is favoured by a pleasant and healthy climate for the Tropics, and the prolific rainfall on the high country opens up great potentialities for organised agriculture. Although so much rain falls on the highlands of Abyssinia and the runoff discharges on to the surrounding countries before reaching it is surprising how restricted are the channels which drain the country. The Blue Nile, with its tributaries, the Rahad, Binder, and Atbara, take more than their fair share of the country’s run-off, but elsewhere only the Shibeli and the Juba, which latter reaches the Indian Ocean at Kismayu, can be regarded as important perennial streams. Other watercourses draining the mountainous country only flow intermittently and spread their discharge over flats in the lowlands, where evaporation and water plants cause nearly all to he lost. British interests hereabouts are so intimately -.tied up with Abyssinia that events in that country can hardly fail to cause repercussions. LIKE THE WEST COAST. The Protectorate of British Somaliland, which has an area of about 78,000 square miles and an estimated population of 300,000, is bounded by French Somalilancl on the west, by Italian Somaliland on the east, and by Abyssinia on the south. Berbera, the capital; lies protected by a coral reef due south of Aden, where passengers transfer from luxury liners to small 1,500-ton steamers, and usually spend a comfortless night crossing. The saturated atmosphere of Berhcra is reminiscent of the West Coast of Africa. The official settlement consists of pleasant masonry bungalows situated round Government House and the administrative buildings, the fierce glare being tempered by a pleasing distribution of pepper trees; aud date palms. The African- town lies a mile or two away. Instead of the one tree, for the shade of which the whole population appeared to struggle when first visited bv the writer in 1918. there are now avenues of shady pepper trees along the wide thoroughfares which are the outcome or recent official activity. Even these amenities do not prevent the exodus of all who are able to afford departure on the approach of the Kharif, when for months an incessant howling wind thickly charged with dust and sand renders life nearly intolerable. Inland. Sheikh and Burao are being provided with a piped simply of water as the result of recent investigations. On the plateau country at elevations of l.OffOft to 7.(Xioft. lies a pastoral country where a simple nomad people follow the precarious occupation of herdsmen. Erratic rainfall restricts the areas of pasturage at all times. Famine and disease decimate flocks and herds periodically, the scarcity of water preventing the movement of tribes from one locality to another. Congestion around the few water holes accentuates' the localised over-grazing. This condition can and will be remedied by developing subsoil waters, which the native is quite unable to locate or develop. Most of the frontier regions consist of arid plains with little water, inhabited only by wild game in the hot dry months. In the rains enormous herds appear as if by marie. Although boundary posts now define the frontiers, they have resulted in no restrictions being imposed on tribes which have always claimed grazing rights in both Abyssinia and tlie Protectorate. ■Motor transport is possible almost anywhere except in the rains, and for most of the year trucks can run from Berbera to Harar via Hargeisa. The town of Zoila, which has recently come into prominence, lies some 30 miles southeast of Djibuti, the capital of French Somaliland, which owes its prosperity and growth to the railway into_ Abyssinia. The Zeila corridor consists of uninviting country where journeys can he made only when water is carried. The Sudan territory_ bordering the western frontiers of Eritrea and Abyssinia, while of enormous political importance, contains little of economic value except rich soils and a few fertile stretches. A considerable trade is conducted with Abyssinia via Gallahat, and imported goods are carried to Port Sudan by the railway which now links up with the El Obeid line. As a rule it is only practicable to cultivate land within the region of the Blue Nile and its major tributaries. The Blue Nile is the greatest blessing bestowed on civilisation by Abyssinia. It fertilises millions of aores of the richest soil in the world. Aided by the dam at Sennar, which retains some 700,000,000 cubic metres of water, no less than 700,000 acres of cotton soil in Gezira can be irrigated for cotton growth. REGULATION NEEDED.

Effective conservation can only be accomplished by regulation work at Lake Tsana, which is its source. Negotiations with Addis Ababa for the regulation of this great inland lake have proceeded for years without reaching a final result. The British position is delicate in view of the condominium over the Sudan, where we are morally bound to protect those interests whose existence depends upon the maintenance ox adequate water. In East Africa the Kenya frontier provinces which abut on Italian Somaliland and Abyssinia are almost unoccupied barren wastes of scrub and semidesert, and the erratic incidence ot rainfall enforces great hardships upon the few who eke out a precarious life in them. The northern province of Kenya is garrisoned _ with a few outposts, where a handful of troops deal with raids of border tribes. During the rains contact 'with the outer world is severed; nnbridged watercourses are in flood, and strips of soft cotton soil form a barrier against animal or vehicular movement. From this brief survey of the Abyssinian border lands it will be gathered that their value depends almost exclusively upon water, and, as the water which descends into them comes mainly from Abyssinia and Eritrea, all are vitally interested in any event likely to modifv its distribution.