TAJURAH— OBOK— ASSAB. 



207 



badly sheltered, and not of sufficient depth to admit vessels of small tonnage. The 

 only part of the coast where the French have at last founded a permanent station, 

 after having ignored the deed of concession, v^hich was signed in 1862, for over 

 twenty years, is on the eastern peninsula of the Danakil country, between the Bay 

 of Tajurah and the mouth of the Red Sea. The hamlet of Ohok, in the immediate 

 vicinity, has given its name to the whole of the annexed territory, and here in 1881 

 the first commercial house was opened by Arnoux, a merchant who later on 

 perished in a tribal feud. 



Obok offers great advantages as a port of call for steamers. Situated near the 



Fig. 69. — Tajurah Bay and Lake Assal. 

 Scale 1 : 900,C00. 



E of breenw ch 



(PMO 



15° 



Depth. 



Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, it commands the passage to much greater advantage than 

 the town of Aden, and transports could here put in for coal without altering their 

 course. Although this port cannot be compared to that of Aden, yet it possesses a 

 good anchorage, which might be completely sheltered at small cost. It is separated 

 from the high sea by coral reefs, in which are openings accessible to large ships ; 

 the north and north-easterly winds, so feared by sailors, are deflected from the 

 harbour by Ras-el-Bir, or " The Promontory of Wells," which projects into the 

 sea north of Obok. The gradually widening valley, where the buildings of the 

 growing village are beginning to replace the thickets of acacias and other trees, is 

 commanded bv a coraline cliff about 60 feet high, the ravines by which it is 



