The Web rises in the mountain chain a little S. and E. of the sources
of the Ganale, and some 40 m. from its source passes, first, through a
cañon 500 ft. deep, and then through a series of remarkable
underground caves hollowed out of a quartz mountain and, with their
arches and white columns, presenting the appearance of a pillared
temple. The Daua (or Dawa) is formed by the mountain torrents which
have their rise S. and W. of the Ganale and is of similar character to
that river. It has few feeders and none of any size. The descent to
the open country is somewhat abrupt. In its middle course the Daua has
cut a deep narrow valley through the plain; lower down it bends N.E.
to its junction with the Ganale. The river is not deep and can be
forded in many places; the banks are fringed with thick bush and
dom-palms. At the junction of the Ganale and the Web the river is
swift-flowing and 85 yards across; just below the Daua confluence it
is 200 yds. wide, the altitude here--300 m. in a direct line from the
source of the Ganale--being only 590 ft.
Below the Daua the river, now known as the Juba, receives no tributary
of importance. It first flows in a valley bounded, especially towards
the west, by the escarpments of a high plateau, and containing the
towns of Lugh (in 3° 50´ N., the centre of active trade), Bardera, 387
m. above the mouth, and Saranli--the last two on opposite sides of the
stream, in 2° 20´ N., a crossing-place for caravans. Beyond 1° 45´ N.
the country becomes more level and the course of the river very
tortuous. On the west a series of small lakes and backwaters receives
water from the Juba during the rains. Just south of the equator
channels from the long, branching Lake Deshekwama or Hardinge, fed by
the Lakdera river, enter from the west, and in 0° 15´ S. the Juba
enters the sea across a dangerous bar, which has only one fathom of
water at high tide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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