'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎187] (296/496)

with the smooth-spoken Iranian from Porebunder, who, prudently living
on board his ark, and locking up his puggree, which would infallibly be
knocked off the instant he was seen wearing it, exhibits but a small
portion of his wares at a time under a miserable mat shed on the beach.
By the end of March the fair is nearly at a close, and craft of all kinds,
deeply laden, and sailing generally in parties of three or four, commence
their homeward journey. The Soori boats are generally the last to leave,
and by the first week in April Berbera is again deserted, nothing being
left to mark the site of a town lately containing 20,000 inhabitants, be
yond bones of slaughtered camels and sheep, and the framework of a few
huts, which is carefully jfiled on the beach in readiness for the ensuing
year. Beasts of prey now take the opportunity to approach the sea: lions
are commonly seen at the town well during the hot weather; and in April
last year, but a week after the fair had ended, I observed three ostriches
quietly walking on the beach. The great drawback to Berbera as a port
is the scarcity of good water, that in the two wells belonging to the town
being almost too brackish for use, and the wealtheir portion of the mer
chants are therefore compelled to send to Seyareh, a small harbour eighteen
miles distant to the eastward, for a supply. I had frequently been told by
the Somalis at Berbera that the remains of an ancient aqueduct were still
to be seen, and, taking advantage of an unavoidable detention at that port,
I visited the ruins, and satisfied myself that in former times water had
been conveyed to the port by an aqueduct of nearly nine miles in length.
At the distance of half a mile from the beach I found the remains of a
small building, apparently a mosque, and close to it a shallow reservoir,
built of stone and chunam, having a channel leading into it of about
twenty inches in diameter and twelve in depth. I opened this channel
in two or three places, and found it of an uniform size and structure. At
about seven yards from the reservoir it was lost for some distance, but
by walking in the direction of the nearest range of hills, known as Dthubar,
slabs of limestone, and fragments of chunam, served to shew the gene
ral course of the aqueduct; and at about a mile from the hill of Dthubar,
it was again found entire for several yards. The cement used was as
haul as the stone itself, and, as usual in all ancient remains in this part
of the world, mixed with large pebbles. Many graves are observed in the
neighbourhood, and the stones of the aqueduct had been used to form
the tombs.
Hall a mile from these remains I arrived at a swamp, having at the