APPENDIX II 
Physical Geography of Somaliland 
With Notes on Pronunciation and Meaning of 
Native Names 
The Somali country occupies the triangle known as the “Horn of Africa,” 
whose eastern angle is Cape Guardafui. The coast-line, beginning at 
Gubbet Khrab, in the north-west, runs eastward for about six hundred 
miles to Cape Guardafui, thence southward for eleven hundred miles to 
Kismayu, near the mouth of the Juba River (Webbe Ganana). 
Starting with the north Somali coast at our port of Berbera, the first 
natural feature we come to is the sea-beach of sand and coralline limestone, 
backed by the hot, semi-desert Maritime Plain, from two to twenty 
miles broad, its breadth varying with the distance of the Maritime Ranges 
from the coast. The plain, gradually sloping upwards from the sea, rises 
to about three or four hundred feet at the base of the Maritime Mountains, 
and these rise about a thousand feet higher. Beyond the Maritime 
Mountains stony, jungle - covered interior plains rise to the high Golis 
Range, the true plateau of the interior of Africa, which is in places nearly 
6900 feet above sea-level. The country from the coast-line to the foot of 
Golis, some thirty-five miles inland, is called Guban. Golis Range, with 
its prolongations east and west, forms the seaward face of the high interior 
country, which is called Ogo. 
On the north Somali coast there are harbours at Berbera and Zeila, an 
uninhabited creek at Khor Kulangarit, near Zeila, and the open roadstead 
of Bulbar, partially protected by a surf-beaten spit of sand, which runs 
for a few hundred yards parallel to the beach, over which at high tide 
small dhows can pass, but steamers have to anchor outside. 
Berbera is built in two parts, three-quarters of a mile distant from one 
another. To the east is the native town, composed of a few Arab rubble 
buildings, a fort, and a large number of permanent Somali huts of matting 
and poles (called agal). These huts are divided by streets, the different 
blocks of building space being allotted to the respective Somali tribes, 
clans, and families. Three-quarters of a mile to the west is the new or 
official town, originally built by the Egyptians, the houses being of rubble 
masonry, in one story, with flat roofs. There is a good pier. 
Berbera harbour, which is an excellent one, and the best to be found 
either on the north or east Somali coast, is formed by a sand spit, similar 
