Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Twelve

The last station of the anonymous sailor was somewhere at the Horn by Little Nile and the last point he mentioned was Elephant cape. We may assume that Elephant Cape is somewhere around the tip of the Horn. Yes it is Cape Gaurdafui on the tip of the Horn. A sign of an approaching storm which is peculiar to the place, is that the deep water becomes turbid and changes its colour. When this happens they all run to a large promontory called Taba, which offers safe shelter. There imported into this market-town the things already mentioned; and there are produced in it cinnamon, (and its different varieties, gizir, asypha, arebo, magla, and moto) and frankincense. And from there the lush green of Accana on the coast could be seen.

Beyond this place the coast trending toward south there is the market and  Cape of Spices, an abrupt promontory at the very end of Berber coast towards the east. The anchorage is dangerous at times from the ground swell, because the place is exposed to north. A sign of an approaching storm which is peculiar to the the place, is that the deep water becomes more turbid and changes its colour. When this happens they all run to a large promontory called Taba, which offers a safe shelter. There are imported into this market-town the things already mentioned; and there are produced in it cinnamon, (and its different varieties gizir, asypha, arebo, magla and moto) and frankincense.

My Search:-

1. Taba: Most probably Tohen, south of Cape Gaurdafui.

2. Cape of Spices: Cape of Gaurdafui. It is just east of Berbera port. The region around Berbera is now devastated because of the civil war that took place during 1991 to 2012; piracy and maritime insecurity; drought and climate change, and economic instability and poverty.

End of the Section 

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