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CHAPTER II. 



Arrival at Berberah. — Description of the Town and Fair.< — 

 Departure for Zeila.- — The Town of Zeila. — Second Visit to 

 Tajourah. — Time, from the 1st to the 6th of March. 



Berberah is situated on the same coast of the sea of 

 Babel Mandeb, but about 130 miles to the eastward 

 of Tajourah. It is remarkable for having been a 

 mart for the exchange of African and Asiatic 

 products between the merchants of either continent, 

 from the earliest antiquity. 



For the greater part of every year, during the 

 S.W. Monsoon, from September to March, this place 

 is the busy scene of an extensive commerce, and a 

 deserted wilderness for the remaining months ; after 

 which interval, again the ships of foreign and 

 the caravans of native products begin to arrive. 

 Another temporary town rises as if by the wand of 

 some magician, and thousands of huts and mat 

 houses are erected upon the beach, where but a few 

 weeks before nothing was to be seen but bare 

 sands ; nothing to be heard save the howling of 

 numerous wild beasts, as they prowled in search of 

 food, amongst the heaps of filth and animal remains 

 collected during the preceding fair. 



