Sailing Forbidden Coasts

Before the 1930's, American women must have been ultra-protected, even isolated as fragile creatures.  You know, "The woman's place is in the home."  In this last article in the September, 1931, issue of National Geographic Magazine, the independent, fearless, New American woman is evident.  Ida Treat yearned to visit the coast of Dankali, in the country of French Somaliland, in northeast Africa, south of Ethiopia and Eritrea, opposite Arabia across the Red Sea.  Even today I would ponder carefully if it was safe to venture in that troubled part of our world.

Ms. Treat was told outright, "You will never get permission to touch anywhere on the Dankali coast.  With the exception of Oback, perhaps, it has been taboo for years."  "But that is where I want to go," I (Ms. Treat) protested.  "And that is where I (the captain of a sailing ship) intend to take you.  Only you will have to travel as contraband.  If you were a man, it would not be so easy. . . they are not used to ladies embarking on any such wild cruise. . . So don't worry.  You will slip through the hands of my official countrymen like a letter in the mail," ("Sailing Forbidden Coasts," p. 357).

The author and the Captain were making these plans in the European town of Djbouti, French Somaliland, in a car heading to the Somali coast along the Indian Ocean.  Of course, Ms. Treat asked, "Why is the Dankali coast taboo?" and the Captain answered, "Oh, for a lot of reasons.  Chiefly because the Dankali have a deep rooted aversion to white skins.  And a nervous hand on the trigger.  They have never taken kindly to colonizing" (p. 357).

Once aboard the Captain's sailboat, the Altair, Ms. Treat was disguised in a sailor's uniform.  They sailed overnight to reach the Dankali coast and dropped anchor at the village of Oback.  The supplies they brought for trade were taken ashore.  In the evening, Ms. Treat was led through the streets.  Her feet and hands were stained deep red with henna and she was dressed like an Arab woman.  "That is in case we go ashore at Tadjoura," the Captain of the Altair explained.  "Not even I would care to land there with a European.  In that costume you will shock no one. They will take you for an Arab, a fitting companion for a Mohammedan of my importance" (p. 365).  The Captain, Ms. Treat, and sailors returned to their boat.

They skirted the coast and stopped near beaches several times to pick up bird eggs and other food.  At last they reached Tadjoura, the Dankali capital.  The Captain, Ms. Treat, together with two crewmen with rifles, proceeded after landing, up the beach and through the town.  Ms. Treat was impressed with the perfect cleanliness in evidence, "none of the cluttered filth of European towns."  At last, "Toward the outskirts of the town we turned into a gate that opened on a courtyard vaster than any I had yet seen and white with a layer of tiny shells" (p. 376).

In this Arab nation, incense was used everywhere to ward off the "dread jinn, those children of the devil . . . who are responsible for all the ills and misfortunes in this world" (p. 376).  Ms. Treat heard drums and screams of women and was told about the Zar tradition in which once a year young married women dance all night until almost in a state of collapse.  This guards against infertility and pregnancy problems.

There were several French officials, the only whites in the town.  They were tolerated but even spat upon by the children.  "I begun to understand why French officials preferred that no white man, unless escorted by colonial troops, should land on the coast of the Dankali country" (p. 378).  They left Tadjoura that night.

When the Altair retraced its route along the coast and returned again to Dankali, Ms. Treat learned from an important Sheik, friend of the Captain, several reasons why the white race was so hated.  First, the white interfered with their long-standing slave trading; secondly, they felt that white men would not honor their pledges.

The Sheik was concerned for the safety of the Captain, crew, and passenger due to pirates killing a ship crew within the past week.  Sheik Abd el Hai spoke, "And with Madame on board. . . there is only one man who can assure your safety . . . myself.  I will go with you" (p. 386).  Ms. Treat was safe on the rest of her exciting, adventurous, dangerous journey.