Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 2/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII.
WESTERN SAHARA.
EST of the transverse depression which extends from the southern limits of the province of Oran southwards to the Niger, and which throughout its entire length is probably occupied by the dried-up bed of the Messaura, the Suhara nowhere presents any prominent mountain ranges constituting a distinct physical region. Throughout its whole extent this vast tract, comprising a superficial area of over 800,000 square miles, presents nothing but an everlasting succession of dunes, depressions, slightly elevated hamadas, rocky ridges or low ranges scarcely anywhere exceeding 1,600 feet above sea-level. To the whole of this western section of the Sahara, which nevertheless has a breadth of over 600 miles, the inhabitants of the Wed Saura basin apply the general designation of Sahel, or "coastland," as if it were a mere inland extension of Atlantic seaboard.
The northern division of this Saharian region is mainly occupied with low plateaux or level tracts and dunes, the hills forming unimportant groups, lost, as it were, like islets in the midst of a boundless sea of sands. South of the Wed Draa the caravan routes running in the direction of Timbuktu at first traverse nothing but hamadas with a mean elevation of from 1,250 to 1,300 feet, and separated from each other by river gorges, all inclined towards the west. The surface of the plateaux consists almost everywhere of paleozoic formations underlying more recent rocks, which by erosion have been cut up into the appearance of towers, crenellated walls, and other fantastic forms. Some of the serirs are paved, as it were, with a mosaic floor consisting of myriads of little quartz, agate, opal, and chalcedony pebbles.
The Iguidi Dunes — Juf — Adrar.
South of these plateaux stretches, like a marine inlet, the great erg of Iguidi, which is disposed in the direction of the Atlas range, that is, from south-west to north-east, and which begins in sight of Twat, on the left side of the Wed Saura basin. At the point where the traveller, Lenz, crossed the chain of dunes east of the famous Bel-Abbas well, the general movement of the sands lies in the direction from north-west to south-east. Such, at least, appears to be the trend, judging the Atlas range, that is, from south-west to south-east. Such at least appears to be the trend judging from the normal disposition of the dunes, whose long incline slopes towards the marine wind, while the more abrupt declivity is turned in the direction of the continent. The prevailing atmospheric current in this region is a sea-breeze derived from the deviation of the regular trade-winds. The mean height of the 4 Iguidi dunes ranges from 300 to 350 feet, although numerous crests rise to a
still greater elevation. Throughout the sands are disseminated little black particles, or rather crystals, derived from the disintegrated rocks.
South of the chain of sandhills follow the El-Eglab mountains, consisting of granite and porphyry masses, which rise to heights of from 1,000 to 1,300 feet above the plains — heights which appear prodigious in contrast with the dead uniformity of the surrounding waste. Farther east stretches to an unknown distance the dangerous Tanezruft region, so much dreaded by the caravans owing to the general absence of water. But towards the south winds the bed of a torrent, which bears the name of the Wed Sus, like the river on the Marocco frontier, and which occasionally presents to the traveller's gaze a slender liquid streak.
South of this Saharian Wed Sub, other dreary waittos have still to be truvencd, forming a vast sea of sands, which is prolonged for hundreds of mile*, in the direction of the west. This region is indicated on the maps by the name of Juf, or •* Depression," although Lenz heard no mention of this term, except as applied to a ravine or small watercourse known as the Wed-el-Juf. Possibly the Juf may be less elevated towards the west, but there is no reason to supjjosc that it falls any- where below the level of the Atlantic. Hence the project put forward bv the English speculator, Donald Mackenzie, of cutting a canal in order to create in this region an " inland sea," with an estimated 8uj)crticial area of 22o,000,000 acres, or nearly twice the size of PVance, is based on a flight of the imagination destitute of the least geographical foundation.* The region of the Juf is the least kno^ii section of the Western Sahara, and like the Libyan desert in the extreme east, it still remains a blank space on our maps. This vast wilderness, covering an extent of over 1 '.^0,000 square miles, has hitherto been traversed by no European explorer, nor crossed by any caravan route. West of the Juf and of the dreaded Maghtor dunes, the monotony of the desert is broken by a group of rocky heights, to which the general name of Adrar (Aderer), or the "Mountain," has been aj)plied, as to so many similar eminences in the Berber country. But this " mountain " of the Westtrn Sahara, which is more specially known by the designation of Temar, cannot be compared with the other Adrars of Mauritania and the central regions of the desert. It is in fuct little more than a mere stony tract connected towards its southern extremity with the rugged plateaux of Tagant, and rising here und there to heights of from 250 to 300 feet above the surrounding sandy wastes. According to the statement made to M. Masqueray by three young pilgrims from Adrar, it is *' a long island hennned in between sandy plains, which present the ap]>earunco of a sea, and whose restless surface rolls away like the ocean waves." t liut these sandy spaces, above which rises the "mountain," would seem to stand at a considerable altitude, at least if the statement can be credited that at the declivity of the El-Aksabi plateau, to the north of Adrar, the outer escarpments present elevations of fn)m 1,350 to l,(>.jO feet. During the descent down these abrupt inclines, the camels often stumble, and rolling over, get killed at the foot of the cliff. Several other eminoncos, either isolated or develo])ing contiinious ranges, are scattered to the north and west of the Adrar heights. The most remarkable of these eminences, which are composed mainly of st nit i tied sandstones, are the rock* of El-Guenater, that is to say, the "Bridges" or "Archways," situated about midway between Adrar and the Wed Draa Valley. They consist of Ui.«^lt cliflTs between which huge blocks remain su.spended, like the keystones of immense vaulted roofs or arches. West of Adrar the highest group is the so-calltnl Adrar Settuf, or " Shell Moun- tain," round which is developed the most advanced section of the Suharian coast- • Donald Mnokorzio. "The Flooding of the Sahara." t " BuUetin of the Paris CommercUl Geograihical Society," March and Arn., 1880. 62— AF 474 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. line between Cape Berbas and Cape Blanc. The coast itself is here formed of slightly elevated cliffs, also containing many fossil shells belonging for the most part to species which still survive in the surrounding waters. North of Adrar Settuf stretch the vast plains of Tiris, forming a kind of granite floor pierced here and there by sharp rocks, " which serve as observatories for men and moufflons." The sand which is formed by the decomposition of the granite supports an aromatic vegetation affording excellent pasturage for camels. Rivers of the Western Sahara. The neighbourhood of the sea and of the zone of regular tropical rains secures for the Western Sahara a sufficient quantity of water to prevent this region from being entirely destitute, if not of a fully developed hydrographic system, at least of some intermittent streams and watercourses. South of the Wed Draa, which receives a considerable number of lateral affluents, another torrent drains in the direction of the Atlantic, terminating in a large mouth between the cliffs, which has been named the Boca Grande by the fishermen from the Canary Islands frequenting this coast. This is the Wed Shibica of the Arabs, and here probably stood the ancient Spanish settlement of Santa-Cruz de Mar-Pequeiia. At this point Mackenzie proposed to begin cutting the canal which was to convey the Atlantic Ocean across the intermediate waterparting into the imaginary depression of the Juf, and thus flood the Sahara. About 180 or 200 miles from the sea there certainly exists a watershed running parallel with the coast, whence the rain waters flow in one direction through independent channels seawards, in the other descend towards the south-east. In this direction they disappear beneath the Iguidi dunes, beyond which they again come to the surface in the form of springs and little gucltas, that is to say, small meres and saline basins. South of the Boca Grande, the only river valley of any great extent is the Sakiet-el-Homra, or " Red Watercourse," which has sometimes been designated as the official limit of Marocco, although really lying some 300 miles beyond the true frontier of the empire. The Adrar heights themselves also possess an independent hydrographic system, although certainly of very limited extent. The chain of hills skirting the east side of this group of eminences sends down supplies sufficient to feed two rivers, both of which flow in the direction from north-east to south-west, that is, parallel with the main axis of Adrar. The northern stream comes to an end in a depression where its waters spread out and evaporate ; yet it seems to be continued by the southern stream, both having their origin in the same valley. This watercourse, on whose banks are concentrated nearly all the inhabitants of Adrar, escapes from the region of highlands, ultimately losing itself in a marsh lying farther south in the desert. The Atlantic Seaboard. The coast, which is broken at intervals to admit a passage for the inland streams between its cliffs and dunes, is one of the most dangerous in the whole of Africa. Its forbidding aspect naturally inspired terror in the Portuguese mariners of the fifteenth century, when compelled by their instructions to follow a treacherous seaboard, which had already been sighted before them by the Phœnicians and French navigators from Dieppe. Cape Nun, or "Non," was so named, said these seafarers, playing on the word, because the sea echoed "Non" (No!) to any vessel,
attempting to round the point. According to another legend, those white mariners who sailed beyond it into the southern waters had all returned black.
From this dreaded headland to Cape Juby, from Cape Juby to Parchel or Bojador, and thence to Cape Blanco, the aspect of the coast changes little for a total distance of about 720 miles. The projecting promontories are indistinctly marked on the horizon, while the inland heights present everywhere the same monotonous appearance of uniform tablelands or sandy hills. The grey dunes and low brown beach, almost undistinguishable from the muddy surf, scarcely anywhere 476 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. present a patcli of verdure to relieve the gaze, or suggest the presence of man. The sea breaks several miles from the coast, and when the west wind blows, the first white crests of foam are formed in 50 feet of water. From October to April sailors carefully avoid these surf- beaten shores, where not a single lighthouse has yet been erected, where the land is almost perpetually wrapped in dense fog, and where a few hours suffice for the gale to lash the waters into billows of monstrous size. For sailing vessels the most dangerous part of the Saharian coast is the section lying between Boca Grande and Cape Juby. The ocean stream skirting the continent from north to south, usually at some distance from the mainland, and which is most felt some 6 miles seawards, also sets directly in shore. Hence vessels here often drift helplessly towards the inhospitable beach, which has been the scene of many shipwrecks. The current, which has a normal velocity of little over half a mile, acquires more than double that rate of speed near Cape Juby, probably owing to the neighbourhood of the Canary Islands confining it to a narrower compass. On the exposed Saharian seaboard, little shelter is afforded to shipping, although about midway between Cape Bojador and Cape Blanco a long inlet runs parallel with the sea, here penetrating through a break in the line of cliffs. This is the Rio de Oro, or " River of Gold," so named because in the year 1442 the Portu- guese obtained here a little gold-dust by barter. They thought they had discovered the golden " Pactolus," which was reported to form a branch of the Nile in the interior of the continent. The approach is difficult, and sailors penetrating into the river in foul weather run the risk of perishing of himger, because the bar prevents their return and the land yields nothing. Flora, Fauna, and Inhabitants of the Western Sahara. Receiving a share of the regular tropical rains, "Western Sahara is not entirely destitute of vegetation, and, like other regions of the desert, it contains some few oases. Even in the midst of the dunes the little saline swamps are covered here and there with tufts of herbage, which supply fodder for the herdsmen's camels. In the southern parts of the Juf, extensive tracts clothed with alfa, are known by the designation of El-Miraia, or " the Mirror," doubtless owing to the shifting play of dull colours and silvery tints, as the sea of alfa grass waves in the breeze. These alfa plains indicate the neighbourhood of the steppe region, which with its forests of acacias and mimosas, follows farther south between the desert and the Sudan. Adrar, which already belongs to this intermediate zone, is overgroAvn with gum- trees, in some places so numerous that " the gum would be given for nothing to anyone wishing to come and fetch it."* In those regions the zebra begins to make its appearance, and one of the com- monest animals is the ostrich, which suffers so much from the heat that it is easily run down by the hunter mounted on an ordinary horse. On the seacoast tho
- E. Musqueray, loc. cit.
fishermen of the Ulud Bu-Sbu tribe lie in wait for these birds when they oome to refresh thoniselves by boating the water with their wiugn. Then ftealing behind the dunes, they suddenly spring up raising loud erien, whieh ao tem'Be* tho ostriches that they rush deej)er into the sea, and ho are eaptured one by one. Like Marocco and tho other Barbery Staton, the Western Sahara ia divided between the autochthonous IJtrbers and tho intruding Arabs. The Ait-Attaa, Dui-Menias, Ikrabers, Dui-HcUals, and other tribes encamp on the step|K's, change ing their quarters according to the state of the grazing-gnmnds, and at timet undertaking long journeys, either for the purposes of trade, or on miMiona of vengeance or plunder. The Arab horsemen of the Sahel are said by Duveyrier to push their Tnaraudingexi>odition8 us far as the njutebetwt'cn Insidah and Timbuktu in order to pillage passing caravans. These raids are accunipaniid by camels ladin with water and suet. They are fed on the suet as long as it holds out, and then killed to supply food for man and beast. Some of these exjKditions last for several months at a time. The caravans equippetl in the regions south of Manjcco are organised either in Tafilelt, or in the oases skirting the great bend of the Wed I)raa, or else in the petty Berber states on the coast. One of their rendezvous is the Tekna oasis, situated in the basin of the " Red Watercourse." But a more favourite station is the little town of Tendcf, founded during the present century exclusively for trading purposes. It forms a group of over a hundred houses of beaten earth, encircled by a few palms, and situated on a we<l flowing towards the Draa basin. The town is inhabited by the Tajukant Berbers, who yield olxxlience to an Arab chief of the Maribda tribe. This market does a considerable trade not only with Maroceo and Sudan, but also with Twat and Arabia. Once a year, about December or Januar}-, the Tajakants assemble hore to form the Kafila-el-Kebir, or " Great Caravan " of Timbuktu, which comprises several hundre<l |H^rsons and thousands of camels. During his visit to this place, Lenz was infomud that the total value of the yearly caravan trade averaged about £.'J0,000. The return journey usually takes place in May or June. Owing to the devotion of its inhabitants to trade. Tenduf enjoys al>s(»lute religious tolerance. The Tajakant jKMtple are also far more enlightentd and better educated than most of the other Siiharian tribes. Tlu-y supply teachers to all the surrounding communities. The various tribes of this district arc regarded as belonging to a specially noble lineagt^ ; hence even in Alg<>ria many of the Ik-rlxT clans claim with pride to have come originally from the Si.kiet-el-IIamra count r}'. Topography. On the route from Tenduf to Timbuktu, which runs due south-west along the line of hamadas and sands, the only centres of population that cim be called towns are Taudcni oxxA Araicnti. Tho former, lying near the Wed Teli, in a low-lying part of the Juf depression, is an important station for caravans, which here find water in abundance. But the chief resource of tho place arc iu deposits of 478 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. mineral salt, which supply a large part of Western Sudan. The miners hew out blocks over three feet long weighing about seventy pounds, and of these four make a camel-load. In the vicinity are seen the remains of some former cultivated lands, and even abandoned villages. But the present inhabitants of Taudoni, a half-caste Arab and Negro people, occupy themselves exclusively with the salt-works. They call themselves Drawi, implying that they came originally from the Wed Draa district. But having ceased to keep up their relations with the mother-country, they depend now on the Berabish Arabs and on the merchants of Timbuktu. They lead a miserable existence, drinking a brackish water, which they endeavour to correct with curdled milk and other ingredients. Those engaged in the salt- quarries live part of their time as troglodytes. When the heat becomes excessive, they take refuge in the artificial caves excavated in the tufa hills skirting the Wed Teli. Till recently they still used instruments of serpentine in the salt- works, and these stone implements have become an article of export to Timbuktu, the Sudanese women employing them for grinding the corn. Arawan, lying near the southern margin of the desert, is the outpost of Timbuktu. It forms a converging point for caravans, corresponding to Tenduf at the other side of the Sahara. Although lying at a short distance to the north of the grassy steppes and mimosa forests, and abounding in water, which flows in an under- ground channel under the very houses, Arawan is one of the most wretched-looking places in the whole of the Sahara. Nothing is anywhere to be seen except dunes, unrelieved by a single tree, or a patch of verdure for the camels. The houses, scattered about irregularly to the number of about a hundred, form quadrangular masses with only a ground floor. The beaten-earth walls are pierced with a single opening for a low door enframed in ornamental work, occupying the whole height of the wall. Clay mouldings also embellish tlie edge of the terraced roof. The house is built round an inner court, which however is seldom occupied, owing to the sand filling the atmosphere, and the dense swarms of flies brought with every fresh convoy. Being an exclusively commercial town, troubling itself little with the religion of its visitors, Arawan is inhabited only by traders from Timbuktu, their retainers, and the Haratin, or free Negroes, who attend to the caravans, watering, loading, and harnessing the camels. The Barabish tribe, who act as escorts, defending the convoys from their here- ditary Tuareg enemies, levy a tax on all travellers passing through their territory. Notwithstanding their name, which would appear to be of Berber origin, the Berabish are, according to Lenz, of genuine Arab extraction. At the time of Lenz's visit, the tribal chief had in his possession most of the objects found on the body of Laing, when that explorer was killed in the desert in the year 1826. According to native report, his death was due to the failure of his medicines. Two patients whom he had treated died one after the other; so it was feared that he was distributing poison or had the evil eye. In the same region of the Sahara, ten days' march to the north of Taudeni, is situated Suhaya, where the English traveller was murdered by the Haribs ten years after the assassination of Laing. * A few other towns have been founded on the southern frontier of the desert. About 60 miles cast of Arawan, on the route of the now-abandoned Es-Suk, stand the towns of Mabruk (Mebruka) and Mamun, both near the Tanezruft desert and both inhabited by Negroes, who also acknowledge the supremacy of the Berabish Arabs. A more important place is Walata, which is said to be as large as Timbuktu, and which was visited in 1860 by the Senegalese officer, Alium Sal. It lies about 240 miles to the south-west of Arawan, north of the El-Hodh plateau, covering aof nearly half a square mile in an arid district bare of all vegetation I tence Lge Arawan, it depends for its supplies on passing caravans, but has tevenaul become a great centre of trade between the Senegal tribes and Tujukants of Tenduf.
A special local industry is the manufacture of sacks and tobacco-boxes sold in every market of the Sudan.
In the neighbourhood are seen numerous ruins, the habitations of a now-vanished people. But towards the north-west, in the direction of Adrar, follow several oases, amongst others that of Tishit, capital of the Kounta tribe, The town contains about six hundred stone houses, This borderland of the Sahara is roamed over by several Arab tribes, such as the Ulud-Mahmud, Ulad-Embarek, Ulad-en-Nacer; but the settled population of the oases are Azers, a Negro people of Mandingo stock originally from beyond the Senegal river.
In the sahel or coastlands there are no towns, but only a few mines and camping-grounds. Termasson, lying in the territory of the Reguibat (Rgueibat) tribe, south of the Wed Draa, is now little more than a group of stores where the surrounding Arabs keep their supply of corn. Zemmur and Grona, on the waterparting between the Sukiet-el-Homra and Juf basins, although figuring as towns 480 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. on our maps, are mere encampments of tents set up in the glens where flourish a few mimosas. The nomads of these districts belong to various races. The Ulad Bu-Sba, or " Sons of the Lion," Arabs by extraction, are slave-dealers and much dreaded marauders. The Sherguins, of Berber stock, are distinguished from all their neighbours by their round short features, small nose, prominent ears, high forehead, and small stature. The Tidrarins, also Berbers, keep generallj'^ near the seacoast, where they traffic with the fishermen from the Canary Islands, exchanging milk for fish and other produce. The Tidrarins fish only with the line or net, and have no skin boats, as had been stated by some travellers before Panet's expedition. They belong to the powerful Ulad-Delim confederation, whose tribes are scattered over the coastlands from the Wed Draa estuary to the plains bordering on the Adrar uplands. The Adrar Nomads. These nomads, allied to the Trarza and Brakna tribes on the right bank of the Senegal, are like them a branch of the Zenagas, largely intermingled with the Arabs, but much less so with Negroes. They also speak a Berber dialect, differ- ing little from the Taraazight language. Their women are remarkably handsome, and owing to the roving habits of the tribes, show less tendency to obesity, a feature so highly esteemed amongst the other peoples of the Western Sahara. The Ulad-Delim are always on the alert for attack or retreat, and when the order is given to strike their tents, half an hour suffices to collect the herds, pack all movables, and start for the next camping-ground. The Ulad-Delim, Ulad Bu-Sba, and Yahia Ben-Othman tribes are also met on the margin of the great saline of Ijil (Ishil), although the produce of the sebkha belongs not to them, but to the Kounta people, whose territory lies to the south- cast of Adrar. They require payment in cameb for permission to extract the salt and an export duty. No town has been founded on the shores of the sebkha, although a considerable traffic is carried on in the camps about the salt-works, especially after the rainy season, when the depression is flooded and all operations arrested. The salt is cut in slabs, the same size as those of Taudeni, the total annual quantity forwarded from Ijil to the Sudan being, according to Vincent, twenty thousand camel-loads, or about four thousand tons. . The chief market for the produce is in the Tishit oasis amongst the owners of the saline. Here the people of Sudan bring gangs of slaves, who are bartered for the salt, three slabs of which represent the average price of a man. Although rulers of Adrar, the Yahia Ben-Othraans do not reside in thij* district, but keep moving about from place to .place collecting the taxes imposed on the subject tribes. The settled populations, comprising altogether about seven thousand persons, besides the slaves, are of Berber extraction, far less mingled with foreign elements than the neighbouring "Moors." The current speech is also usually the Zenaga Berber dialect. They dwell for the most part on the banks of the streams that take their rise in the interior of Adrar. El-Guedim, or TUE MARABUTO— EUBOPEAX INFIJTEXCES. 481 El-Kidima, that i«, tho •♦ Old Town," alth<)u;jh thi'ir in^st ancient m-ttlcmcnt. 14 nevertheless situated beyond the Adrar uplands on tho verge of tho ea.»tem doMit. Near it is the town of }FmtaH, formerly tho Urgcst and most flouriJihing in Uie district. It was also the most learne<l, whence it« name, which in Arabio bmum the " Two Rivers," that is to suy, aoctirdin^ to the local interpretation, tho **Ravor of Dates and tlie River of Science." During' the first half of the sixteenth ccvtnry the Portu{?ueso had hero a factory, which, however, they wore oompcUod to abandon, owing to its p^reat distance from tho Atlantic neaboard. At the time of Vincent's j.»urney the capital of the district was Shingmti, which 8too<l in tho midst of the dunes to the south-west of Waihin. Yot although ' lost among tho sands, it was said to have contained as many m eight hundred houses, with a population of from three thousand to four thousand aouls. Attar^ the present residence of the chief, and T/V/, are al>.o populous villages. Altogether the Adrar oases contain al)out sixty thousand date-tree«, and bendet these plantations the natives also cultivate wheat, barley, and some other graina. According to Panet, the dowry of the bride is in reality merely the price sot upon her head, usually fixed at tliirteon ells of cotton. Should she fail to please her husband, she may be divorced by receiving buck the piece of goods. Rut should she on' her part be dissatisfied with her husband, she may resumo her liberty on the condition of returning the dowry. The Marabits — European lNFLrExrE.s. All the inhabitants of Adrar are marabuts, recognising the supremacy of a spiritual chief who resides at El-Guadini, and who also enjoys a certain temporal authority. Sjme of tho natives belong to religious confraternities, whoso head- quarters are in Marocco, Algeria, and Tripolitani. In most Mussulmin lands the marabuts are revered by the warlike classes; but in this frtmtier region of tho Sahara they are held in little esteem. They certainly occupy a higher position than the serfs and slaves, who are designated by the term Inhmeh, that is to say, " flesh good to eat ; " but the resjK'ct paid to them is of a purely formal charactor, except jjorhaps during the celebration of tho religious rites. Dn those occasions they take thcfir stand on a mound or a nwk set up in a space cleare<l of its scrub and stones, to which is applied tho title of mosque, like tho .sacred edifices erected in towns. Here the prayers are recittnl in a loud voice by the marabuts, prostrate ing themselves in concert with all tho congregtition of tribal warriors. Being mostly absorbed in mystic contemplation and generally of a meek disposition, the marabuts of Adrar and neighbouring districts submit uncomplainingly to tho oppressive exacticms imposed on them by the Moors of the military caste. At tho simo time, they would probably accept with satisfaction a change of government, by which they might acquire a greater share of influence than they seem at present to enjoy. Hence it is through their co-operation that the French of the Senegal settlements have several times endeavoured to ro-ostablish tho PoKugUflte factories that have now been abandoned for nearly four hundred years. 482 NOBTH-WEST AI'EICA. Thanks also to their support, the Spaniards have become, since the end of the year 1884, the nominal masters of the entire strip of coastlands which stretch for a space of about 480 miles, between Capes Bojador and Blanco. Through their influence Spain hopes perhaps to be able to penetrate into the interior, and thus attract the caravan trade towards its new settlements on the Atlantic seaboard. Four stations have already been founded on this coast, one at Villa Cisneros, in the Erguibats peninsula, another farther east on the shore of the Rio de Oro inlet, and one each on the C intra and Del Oeste creeks. But hitherto all these Spanish settlements have remained little more than obscure fishing villages, less important even than were formerly similar establishments founded in the same districts by the fishermen of the Canary Islands. At that time the waters were crowded with fishing smacks in the neighbourhood of Cape Bojador, and especially about Angra dos Ruyvos, or " Roach Bay."