immediata del fiurni. Lungo la riva si ha invece una falda 

 quasi continua di acqua, generalmente un po'salmastra, che 

 trae le sue origini dalla collina costiera ed ha al mare il suo 

 livello di base. 



Gli studi hanno condotto 1'autore a ritenere, che le 

 attuali risorse di acqua, specialmente per uso pastorizio, 

 possono essere notevolmente accresciute mediante la trivel- 

 lazione di pozzi in alcune parti del-la colonia, e specialmente 

 nella plaga di rocce cristalline, in qualche parte delle zone 

 alluvionali e nella zona costiera. 



[TRANSLATION.] 



GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND HYDROGBAPHICAL SYSTEM 

 OF SOUTHERN ITALIAN SOMALILAND. 



The territory comprised within the course of the Juba below 

 Dolo, the middle course of the Uebi Scebeli, and the sea, which 

 is known by the name of Southern Italian Somaliland, may be 

 divided, from a geological point of view, into two districts. 

 The interior region is a tableland of low elevation sloping 

 down towards the plains, and consists of a mass of crystalline 

 rock (granites, gneiss, quartzites, etc.) which is covered in the 

 north and west by a bed of calcareous sedimentary strata which 

 may be attributed to the Jurassic age. These extend also for 

 a considerable distance to the right of the Juba into British 

 East Africa; towards the interior (Lugh, Dolo) the base of this 

 sedimentary series is formed of variegated sands and marls 

 with chalk. The alluvial zones, which are observed here and 

 there in the interior region (Baidoa, Dafet, etc.), are composed 

 of a brown compact clay and are partly cultivated by the 

 natives. As regards fertility, the clay is in contrast with the 

 alluvial lands of the remainder of this region (siliceous sands 

 and red earth) which are generally covered by woods. 



The outer region is formed by a series of sandy littoral hills 

 of seolic origin, old modified dunes, for a small part cemented, 

 bordered on the outside of their base by sandstone or lime- 

 stones of recent marine origin, the strata of which do not seem 

 to rise or extend towards the interior, as is the case in 

 Northern Italian Somaliland and in British and German East 

 Africa. Between these series of dunes and the interior region 

 there extends a large belt of argillaceous alluvial lands 

 bordering on the Juba and the Uebi Scebeli, which latter, being 

 deviated by the dunes, runs in its lower course over a long 

 stretch parallel to, and at a small distance from, the shore, 

 and finally loses itself in swamps in the region known as Balli. 

 The hills of the dunes are covered with prairie vegetation; the 



