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immediata dei fumi. 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 l’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 della colonia, e specialmente 
nella plaga di rocce cristalline, in qualche parte delle zone 
alluvionali e nella zona costiera. 
[ TRANSLATION. ] 
GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND HYDROGRAPHICAL 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. hese 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 zolic 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 Bali. 
The hills of the dunes are covered with prairie vegetation; the 
