'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎209] (318/496)

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%eh, and I feel confident that a ship would not be able to ride in safety
through the S. W. Monsoon, owing to the heavy swell that must roll
round the point, and the violent gusts of wind blowing across the head
land. This northern bay, or Khor Hoordea, I should imagine to be the
most unhealthy spot on the Somali coast. Its shores and the bottom of
the bay are covered with decomposed vegetable matter, which, on being
disturbed, gives forth a noxious gas that is perfectly sickening, and in
which the unfortunate traveller who longs for a bathe sinks leg deep;
and yet we found many fishermen living on the sea shore, who, from
long habit, had become accustomed to these exhalations, and wished for
no better place.
We pursued our way for about nine miles to the Lagoon of Haudah,
passing over a flat country, composed almost entirely of coral and lime
stone, and evidently at one time covered by the sea. At Haudah, to our
great disappointment, we found the Lagoon salt water, except at its head,
where it was barely drinkable. A well of good water was however
found a few yards higher up, which shortly was crowded by the flocks
and herds from the wooded plains inland of us. Our very uncommon
appearance, the tent, and our baggage, occasioned unbounded astonish
ment to the natives, who poured in on every side, but no incivility was
offered, and no article of our baggage was missing when we prepared to
start on the following day. Milk was brought to us in abundance, which
was paid for in blue cotton cloth; and sheep were equally attainable.
Hafoon, however, like the whole Somali coast during the early part of
1848, was suffering from long-continued drought, which had occasioned
much misery amongst them.
During the time that the French surveying vessels were anchored in
the southern bay, in 1846, their crews cleared out one of the few wells
found there, and thus procured a supply of good water. The other wells
were brackish and bitter, and became deteriorated by constant use. In
the northern bay, or Khor Hoordea, we found no water at all, but at the
bottom of the bay, at a place called Khor Hashera, we were told that a
stream of water ran into the sea. It is possible that the river mentioned
by old writers as existing in the neighbourhood of Hafoon may be this
stream, and Khor Hashera the ancient Opone.
During the S. W. Monsoon, a kind of fair, similar to that at Berbera,
though much smaller, is annually observed at Khor Hoordea. The
merchants from Maculla, Shahr, and from the Mijirtheyn Bunders to
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