Page 423 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

396
SOUTUKR N AKA HI A. [cm.

ticularly from the Sfiinali ports of Berbera
and Bunder Kassim; which are so situ­
ated with regard to this port, that their boats
cross over at either season with a fair wind.
In addition to the articles I have specified
in my account of Berbera, they bring rafters
for building houses, bullocks’ fat, which the

natives melt down and use as a substitute for
ghi, camels and sheep; the returns are rice,
tobacco, blue cloth: twenty or thirty yards of
the latter are purchased for a dollar, and sell
again in their own country for treble that
sum. The Sumalis have little to do with
the trade beyond conveying the merchan­
dise; a Banian residing at either port, to
whom it is respectively consigned ; but as the
religious principles of this class forbid their
dealing in animals, the Sumalis retain the
sale of their sheep, which arrive in great num­

bers at all seasons, from the ports of the
African to those of the Arabian shore. They
do not permit the Arab boats to engage in
this trade, which is very lucrative, it being
calculated that not less than ten thousand are
received annually. Their price varies accord­
ing to the season : in the south-west monsoon,