5i8 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA 



are so great and frequent, that the cara\ans often take three or four times 

 as long. The cost of transit from Zeila to the capital is from I41 to I46 

 per camel-load of 504 lbs. To this has to be added the 10 per cent 

 import and export duty, besides the tolls to be paid on the road, which 

 amount in the aggregate to another $3 per load. In the matter of tolls, 

 however, the Zeila route compares favourably with the one leading to 

 Massowah, on which they are collected no less than five times between 

 Adis Ababa and the sea. All these causes contribute to enhance the cost 

 of merchandise and thus to depress trade, in some cases proving absolutely 

 prohibitive. The British consular agent at Harrar, for instance, states that 

 the imports of coffee from the interior are now next to nothing, the sale 

 price of I4 per faraslah (40 lb.) not covering even the cost of transport 

 from the Abyssinian districts to Harrar. 



I can only repeat my conviction that the readiest means of removing 

 these disabilities, and developing the trade with Abyssinia, as well as 

 securing the transit to ourselves, would be theimmediate construction of a light 

 railway either from Berbera or Zeila to Harrar and Tadechamalca. Even if 

 it were necessary to guarantee a private company a certain rate of interest 

 for a few years — as was done in the case of the Canadian Pacific — 1 feel 

 sure that the surplus revenue would in a short time be sufficient to make 

 the guarantee merely nominal, while in a very few years the wisdom of such 

 a measure would be as apparent to all as it has been proved to be in the 

 parallel case I have cited. My own experience leads me thoroughly to 

 endorse the opinions expressed by Messrs. Baird and Keyser on the great 

 possibilities of Abyssinia as a field for commercial enterprise. Everywhere 

 in the interior, where I passed on my journey from Adis Ababa, crowds of 

 people gathered round my men at the various markets, asking if I had 

 nothing for sale. With a vast population only beginning to realise its 

 wants, with the standard of comfort rapidly rising and leading to an 

 increased demand for European goods, with a settled and just government 

 such as it has never known before, Abyssinia has a great commercial 

 future before it, and the nation whose merchants and manufacturers first 

 realise this and grasp the opportunity will reap a golden harvest. 



3. Erythke.'\.i 



The Italian colony of Erythrea is divided into three great climatic 



zones, each of which may be again subdivided into an upper and a lower 



region. Starting from the coast line they are : — 



1 I am indebted for most of the facts and figures contained in this sketch to Major 

 Vittoria Elia, chief of the staff of the Itahan forces in Erythrea. The Italians spell, as 

 they pronoimce, the name Eritrea ; so likewise Etiopia, etc. 



