APPENDIX IV 
Notes on Somali Trade 
The manufactured goods which the African wants, and the raw material 
he can export, are much the same all over the countries of tropical Africa. 
But Somaliland has one great advantage as a trading country over many 
other African regions. Trade caravans depend for their transport upon 
camels, not upon human beings ; and these camels, although compara- 
tively weak, are vastly superior to those of many other camel countries, 
in that they cost only about £2 each 1 and pick up all their food by the 
wayside. A comparison of the cost of camel transport in Somaliland with 
the human transport on the Zanzibar coast will show the former to great 
advantage. 
The calculation which follows is based on my own experience of both 
countries. It is some years since I was at Mombasa, so I am open to cor- 
rection if the prices there have been recently reduced, which is unlikely. 
The Zanzibar coast porter carries a 60 lb. load of merchandise and a 
few days’ rations, and costs about £1 per month in pay and food. Thus 
six porters would carry 360 lbs. of merchandise for a three months’ 
journey at a cost of £18. 
Two camels could be bought at Berbera for £4, 2 and after a long 
journey, and allowing for a percentage of loss by death, they would fetch, 
if sold by the Somali owners, about £3. With the two camels would be 
one attendant, and his pay and rations for three months would involve 
an outlay of about £3 : 15s. The camels, if lightly laden, would carry 
275 lbs. each ; and the merchandise they would carry, if the liberal allow- 
ance of 63 lbs. be deducted for the weight per month of the attendant’s 
rations, would be 360 lbs., or the same as that carried by the six porters. 
The cost of the two camels and their attendant for the three months 
would, however, amount to only £4 : 15s. as against the £18 for the 
porters. 
During one of my last journeys we carried rations of rice, dates, and 
ghee at If lb. per man for a period of four and a half months. This could 
never be done by a caravan of Swahili porters, who can only carry a few 
days’ rations in addition to the load. Serious hardships from want of 
1 We are here considering prices as they are to the native trader, removed from the 
competition obtaining among sporting caravans. These prices have probably not 
altered much in recent years. 
2 Camels have since risen to nearly £3 each. 
