125 
entire alluvial part, however, to judge from the nature of the 
soil and its position along the rivers, appears capable of being 
cultivated, and even profitably cultivated, for a considerable 
part. 
The Juba, as well as the Scebeli, is capable of supplying an 
immense quantity of water for irrigation. The average volume 
of the water of the Juba when at its height and in its middle 
‘course was found, by Engineer Fano, to be more than 600 
cubic metres per second.!' This volume is somewhat reduced 
farther down, by reason of the inundations to which it gives 
rise on the Anole-Margherita section, where its bed is on the 
incline. 
The volume of the water of the Uebi Scebeli when at its 
height at Afgoi was also estimated by Engineer Fano to be 
270 cubic metres per second, and, farther down, this volume 
also tends to diminish by reason of evaporation and in- 
filtrations. 
At the present time exact investigations with respect to the 
system of the two rivers are being carried out, with a view to 
organizing a regular use of their waters for purposes of 
irrigation. 
Very large herds of cattle graze over all the districts where 
there is prairie vegetation, and these are watered partly in the 
rivers and partly at wells. The calcareous mass is, in fact, 
soaked through with water by reason of its fissures. The water 
at the base makes its appearance in various artificial wells, 
dug by the natives in the limestone, and, in some parts, also 
issues from the surface of the soil, thus forming real springs 
(El Chondut, etc.). Where the calcareous bed is cut through, 
forming walls of rock, springs are also to be found, the largest 
of which is that of Baidoa; this also forms a small waterfall 
which can be utilized for the generation of power. The region 
of crystalline rock has no perennial wells, probably by reason 
of the sandy layer covering the rocky subsoil, which layer is 
permeable and very unstable and chokes up the ordinary native 
wells; it must, however, give rise, at its base, to an irregular 
water-bearing layer. 
Some of the alluvial valleys of the interior, although without 
surface water, have an underground current at no very great 
depth (wells of Ureghei, Heima, etc.). 
In the outer region, the alluvial and argillaceous zone is 
generally poor in subterranean waters, except in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the rivers; on the other hand, there exists 
a nearly continuous strip of water, generally somewhat salty, 
1 Fano R.—On the water system in our Colonies (Italian Somaliland). 
Second Congress of Italians Abroad. Italian Colonial Institute, 
Rome, git. 
