From Ruwenzori to the Congo : a naturalist's journey across Africa

Dedication

To Youth there comes a wJiisfer out of tlie West : ' 0 loiterer, hasten where tttcre waits for thee

A life to build, a love therein to nest.

And a man's work, serving the age to be.'

Preface

It is often complained that when a man has made a journey, whether it is across the Channel, or a mountain-range, or a continent, he thinks it his duty on his return to chronicle his achievement in a book. I confess that I have sometimes been of those who complain, but I generally read the books, rarely with little, often with great, enjoyment. Qui s excuse s accuse is a proverb which applies particularly to the writers of Prefaces, but I am assured, on no less authority than that of Mr. Murray, that the Preface or Apology at the beginning is as essential a part of a book as the Index or Guide at the end.

The idea of writing this book was first suggested to me by my friend, the late Professor Alfred Newton, of Cambridge. In a letter which reached me on the Congo a few weeks before his death, he wrote : ' I am rather like the poor girl in one of Dickens's books who exclaimed that " Africa is a beast," and accordingly have never been able to take any real interest in the country, finding nearly all African books of travel to be duller than anyviii PREFACE

thing short of " Bradshaw." Yet the subject ought to be highly interesting, and that I don't find it so I set down to the want of style on the part of the authors — most of whom take themselves so very seriously, while the few who do not disgust one by their flippancy. It is a very curious thing, and one at which I have often wondered, for in a general way most books of travel, whether by Englishmen or foreigners, in other parts of the world, exercise a charm upon me, and I feel sorry when I come to the end of them. If you will write me some more of your letters I may alter my opinion of the " beast." '

Professor Newton died before he read many more letters from Africa, but his suggestion germinated slowly and bore fruit in the shape of the present volume. Africa is a beast, it is true, but a beast of many and varied moods, often disagreeable and sometimes even dangerous to body and soul ; but withal she has an attraction which can hardly be resisted, and when once you have come under her spell you feel it a duty to uphold her reputation. So I have attempted, for the benefit of those who have a misconception of the country, to convey something of the ' feel ' and smell of Africa as it appeared to me on hot and hilly roads, on winding waterways, and on cloud-girt mountain-sides. The book contains no tales of thrilling adventures and

PREFACE ix

hairsbreadth escapes, nor are there records of ' '^^g'g^d ' elephants and Hons. The first half of the book is occupied with the time spent by the British Museum Expedition in Ruwenzori, while the rest treats of the countries through which Carruthers and I passed on our way from Uganda to the West Coast. Though geographical research was not a part of the object of the expedition, many of the districts which we visited are almost unknown to Europeans, to Englishmen least of all, and are here described for the first time. I have avoided, as far as possible, the journal method of writing, and have merely introduced a thin thread of narrative to connect the description of one region with that of another. If I appear to give an unduly favourable impression of the Congo Free State in Chapter XVIII., it is because the other side of the case is the only one which is ordinarily presented to English readers.

The last part of a Preface is easier, and requires less explanation. I am indebted to the Editor of the Westminster Gazette for permission to publish parts of Chapters II. and IX., which originally appeared in that journal. Signor Vittorio Sella, who accompanied the Duke of the Abruzzi on his Ruwenzori expedition, has most kindly allowed me to reproduce the beautiful photograph which appears at p. 92. My thanks are due to Mr. R. B. Woosnam

X PREFACE

for permission to make use of the photographs at pp. 60, 90, and 158 ; to Mr. D. Carruthers for the photographs at pp. yS and 162 ; and to Mr. F. A. Knowles, of Uganda, for the photograph at p. i68.

To my friend, Henry Newbolt, for his invaluable suggestions, for his kindness in reading the MS. and correcting proofs, and for the Dedication which he has written for this book, I will not here attempt to express my thanks.

In conclusion, I may say that if any reader finds one-hundredth part of the pleasure in reading that I have had in writing the book, I shall be well rewarded.

Chelsea, 1908.

Contents

>'AGE

Dedication. By Henry Newbolt - - • v

Preface ------- vii

Introduction. By W. R. Ogilvie-Grant - xxi

Chapter I

Origin and objects of the British Museum Expedition — To East Africa by foreign steamships — Germans crossing the Line — Mombasa — The modern traveller in Uganda — Game on the Athi Plains — Kenia and Kilimanjaro — Prospects of the colony - - i

CHAPTER n

NAIVASHA AND THE VICTORIA NYANZA

Kikuyu and the Great Rift Valley — Lake Naivasha — A naturalist's paradise — Water-lilies and papyrus — Sea-eagles and willow-wrens — Zebras and water-buck — Crescent Island — The descent to the Victoria Nyanza — An ocean steamer in Mid- Africa — Stormclouds, or clouds of flies ? — Entebbe- - - t6

Chapter III

The official capital of Uganda — Sleeping Sickness Commission and hospital — The Botanic Gardens — Grey parrots and monkeys — Rickshaws and bicycles — xii CONTENTS

I'ACE

The native and mission capital — Collecting porters

— Engaging * boys ' — Start ' on safari ' - - 29

Chapter IV

TRAVELLING IN UGANDA A String of shells and its uses — Travelling in Uganda — The best hour of the day — A chorus of birds — Porters' laziness and greed — ' Elephant - grass ' — Incidents along the road — A jodelling porter — Missionaries and pineapples — Rest-houses — 'Jiggers ' — Visits from chiefs— Evenings in camp - - 40

Chapter V

Toro, the Western Province of Uganda — King Kasagama — No sign of Ruwenzori — View of Lake Albert — Exaggerated accounts of Ruwenzori — The waters of Ruwenzori — Start from Toro — Religious fervour of the porters — Two missionaries — Scenery changing — ' Gamballagalia!' — Snow-mountains at sunrise — Was it an optical illusion ? — A recollection of Mont Blanc — The icy Mubuku — Join the British Museum Expedition - - - - 53

Chapter VI

Our base-camp at Bihunga — Natural history collections — Natives as naturalists — Mountain flower-gardens — The scenery of the lower slopes of Ruwenzori — The mountain forest — Views of the higher peaks — Rain and fog — An Austrian climber — Monkeys and chimpanzees— Lions and wild pigs — Houses of the Bakonjo — Cultivation — Ruwenzori treacle — The natives as musicians - - - 65

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER VII pac;e

Previous ascents in Ruwenzori — We start for the snows — Our Alpine equipment — Bamboos and tree-heaths — A crater lake — Kichuchu — The ghosts of Ruwenzori— The terraces of the Upper Mubuku — Antediluvian scenery — Bujongolo rock -shelter — Bats — Earthquake - . - - - 8i

CHAPTER VIII CLIMBING IN RUWENZORI (continued)

View of the snows — A sun-bird at the snow-line — The Mubuku Glacier — Grauer's Rock — Ascent of Kiyanja — Helickrysum bushes — A trail of ' everlasting ' flowers — View of the highest peaks — Theories as to the highest peaks of Ruwenzori — Ascent of the supposed Duwoni — Subsequent ascents — Always in fog — Our conclusions as to the range — Ruwenzori as a resort for mountaineers - - - - 93

Chapter IX

We leave the mountains — The plains of Lake Ruisamba — Our second base-camp at Muhokya — Park-like country — Kikarongo — The hippo's bathing-place — Tameness of the antelopes — First view of Lake Albert Edward — Purple mountains and distant volcanoes — An abandoned British fort — Crossing a frontier — Belgian hospitality — Daily storms — Two notable birds — Meet the Duke of the Abruzzi at Toro — A huge caravan — Kasagama's band — Successful results of the Duke's expedition - - io8 xiv CONTENTS

Chapter X Page

Delays and delays — A boundary question — Are we to * climb down ' ? — Enter the Congo Free State — The Semliki Valley — Like the Ouse — My first big-game shooting — Military precautions at the Lumi River— We arrive at Fort Beni — The Semliki Cataract — Ruwenzori from the west — Club-houses — Funeral of Kilongozi - - - - - 125

Chapter XI

Start for the mountains again — The edge of the Semliki Forest — Hostile natives — Drums and war-horns — A midnight serenade — We lose the way — The Butagu Valley — We destroy the gardens — Shoot a ' buffalo ' — Disappearance of the natives — Belgian departs with escort — Start for the snows — 11,000 feet — Disaster and disappointment — Retreat — A running fight and a corpse — Poisoned arrows and surgery — Beni again — Major Powell - Cotton — The Semliki Forest — Elephants — Okapis and Pygmies — Walking through the forest — Congo waters — The Lake Albert Basin - - - -

CHAPTER Xn

ANKOLE AND LAKE ALBERT EDWARD

End of the British Museum Expedition — We go by different ways — Entebbe again— Preparations for the Congo — We start for the West Coast — Mosquitoes — Buddu — Ankole — A tribute of cattle — Beautiful crater lakes — A ' record ' water-buck — A troublesome chief and a peace-offering — We leave Uganda — Watch a herd of elephants — An elephant slaughter — The west shore of Lake Albert Edward — Last view of Ruwenzori - . - . .

CONTENTS XV

Chapter XIII I'age

South end of Lake Albert Edward — Vichumbi — Hartebeeste and wart-hogs — Tick fever — Carried up to Rutchuru — Cream cheese and strawberries — Lions — The Rusisi-Kivu district — 'Life in a Congo post — Buglers — Women in the Congo — Leopold XL's birthday— Through the Mfumbiro volcanoes — Desolation and fertility — A land of milk and honey — But no water— Pygmies — Plains of lava — Lake Kivu in sight — We reach a beautiful cove - - - 172

Chapter XIV

Recent formation of Lake Kivu — Rift valleys of Africa — The Mfumbiro volcanoes from a dam — Kivu cut off from the Nile — Volcanoes still unexplored — Another boundary question — The German post of Kissegnies — -Lavish expenditure — Native fishermen — An entente cordiale dinner — Smuggling — Bobandana — Cannibals — Abuse of authority — Voyage down Lake Kivu — Beauty of the lake — Paddlers' boat-songs — The island of Kwijwe — Otters — Land at Nya-Lukemba - - 190

Chapter XV

Payment in trade goods — A multiplicity of fashions — Wanted : a currency — Trouble of recruiting porters — Congo method of carrying loads — The outlet of the lake — Rusisi Valley — Prosperous natives — Prospects of colonization — Tanganyika in the distance — Lago Maggiore — Arrive at Uvira — Daily wind and sea — Cosmopolitan Christmas dinner — \'oyage down the lake ------- 207 xvi CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVI I'AtJK

Burton Gulf — Baraka — Sleeping sickness — Disappearance of the population — More doctors Avanted — Tanganyika mountains — A scene from the * Water Babies' — Manyuema country — I punish and get into trouble — Congo justice — Kabambare — Unpleasant incident with a chief — The Congo at last — No more porters — Commandant Moltedo — Travail et progres - 224

CHAPTER XVn

Down the river in canoes — Boating songs — Arab influence — A hippo orgy — Wireless telegraphy — Beginning of the forest — A tame chimpanzee— Botanical station at Send we — Impoverishing the country — -Europe at Ponthierville — Copper mines at Bamanga — Stanley Falls — The consequences of letter- writing — Steamers down the river — Colours of the Congo — Leopoldville — By rail to Matadi — Red-tape at Boma — Sail from Banana ..---- 240

CHAPTER XVni

NOTES ON THE CONGO FREE STATE

Popular prejudice — British travellers in the Congo — The Act of Berlin — The case of Angola — Atrocities — Belgian treatment of women — The difficulty of finding the truth — Taxation and a money currency — The Congo State and Uganda ------ 260

CONTENTS xvii

I'ACIS

A. — Notes on the Zones of Vegetation in Ruwen-

B. — Sleeping Sickness ----- 285

C. — African Tick Fever (also called 'African Relapsing Fever,' or 'Spirillum Fever') - 294

D. — Approximate Times and Cost of Travel in

Uganda and the Congo Free State - - 298

E. — Big-game Shooting in Western Uganda and

F. — A Few Hints for African Travel - - 303

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Tlie Barbei- of Bihunga, Ruwenzori - - - Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Botanic Garden, Entebbe ------ ^

Rubber Vines ....... ^

Bridge-building in Uganda - - - - - 12

House-building in Ruwenzori - - - - - 18

Lobelia Giberroa, Ruwenzori (7,000 feet) - - - - 26

The Eastern Slopes of Ruwenzori (9,000 feet) - - "34

Lobelias, Senecios, and Helichrysums, Ruwenzori (10,000 feet) - 42

Vegetation at 11,000 feet, Ruwenzori - - - - 42

Lobelia Dcckenii, Ruwenzori (12,000 feet) - - - 48 Tree Heaths and Giant Groundsels {Senecio), Ruwenzori

Mount Luigi di Savoia, Ruwenzori, from the Upper Mubuku

Upper Mubuku Valley - - - - - - 60

The Upper Mubuku Valley, looking North, from 13,000 feet - 68

View from the Camp at Bujongolo, Ruwenzori (12,500 feet) - 74

Mosses on the Heath-Trees, Ruwenzori (10,000 feet) - - 78

Kiyanja (King Edward Peak) from Bujongolo - - - ^4

The Upper Mubuku : Kiyanja in Distance - - - go

The Highest Peaks of Ruwenzori, from the Slopes of Kiyanja - 92

Looking up the Mubuku Glacier - - - - - 96

A Native Hut near Lake Ruisamba - - . . 102 The Plains of Lake Ruisamba - - - - -no

A Bakonjo Mother - - - - - - 114

A Group of Bakonjo Porters ----- 122

Scene at a Funei^al, Semliki - - - - . 128

The Semliki River, near Fort Beni - - . . j^^

The Semliki Rapids ----.. j^q

A Chief in his Easy Chair -----. taa

In the Butagu Valley, Ruwenzori (West) . . . j^o

Dracaenas and Wild Bananas, Ruwenzori (West) - - 150

xix

XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Baamba Natives, Semliki Forest ----- 154

Pygmies, Ituri Forest ------ 158

A Pygmy Lad}', Ituri Forest . . - . . 162

Water-buck {Cobiis defassa), Albert Edward Nyanza - - 168

Albert Edward Nyanza (West Shore) - - - - I74

The Mfumbiro Volcanoes from the North ... 173

Tsha-nina-gongo from Lake Kivu - - - - 184

Candelabra Euphorbias ------ 184

The Northern Shore of Lake Kivu - . . . 188

The North-West of Lake Kivu - - - - - 188

Fisherman, Lake Kivu ------ iq2

War Dance, Lake Kivu ------ 1^2

Kivu Native making Fire ------ iq8

Paddlers, Lake Kivu ...--. 204

Paddler, Lake Kivu ------ 208

Natives of Kwijwe Island, Lake Kivu - - - - 214

Kivu Native (showing Snuff-Clip in Ear) - - - - 218

The Western Hills of Tanganyika . . . . 222

Cattle near Tanganyika (North- West) - - - - 222

A Tattooed Beauty from the Lower Congo - - - 226

A Rough Sea on Tanganyika ----- 226

Near Kibombo, Upper Congo ----- 236

Making a Fish-Trap, Upper Congo - - - . 244

At a River-side Village, Upper Congo •- - - - 250

Near Sendwe, Upper Congo . - . . - 254

Dug-out Canoes, Upper Congo ----- 254

Baskets of Rubber, Congo . - . . . 258

Chain-gang Road-making, Congo - - - . 258

The Congo above Stanley Falls ----- 274

MAPS

Western Uganda and Part of the Congo Free State - at end

Introduction

Ever since its discovery by Sir Henry Stanley in

1888, the great range of mountains in Equatorial

Africa, known as Ruwenzori, or the ' Mountains of

the Moon,' has attracted the attention of naturalists

in all parts of the world, especially in Europe

and America. The isolated position, and the great

altitude attained by the forest-clad, snow-capped

peaks, rising to nearly 17,000 feet, made it certain

that a rich and peculiar Fauna and Flora must await

the investigations of the explorer.

With a view to benefiting the British Museum

(Natural History), I therefore determined, if possible,

to be first in the field ; but the task of raisino-

sufficient funds for the purpose of sending out a large

and properly equipped expedition to thoroughly

explore all parts of the range took more time to

achieve than I had at first contemplated. At last,

xxi xxii INTRODUCTION

however, this difficulty was overcome through the generosity of —

His Grace the Duke of Bedford,

The Earl of Dartmouth,

Viscount Iveagh,

Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal,

The Hon. N. C. Rothschild,

Sir Alexander Baird,

Sir Ludwig Mond,

Mr. W. A. Bell,

Mr. C. Czarnikow,

The Trustees of the Percy Sladen Fund, and

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers,

who became subscribers to the Ruwenzori Expedition Fund on the understanding that the first set of the specimens collected should be presented to the British Museum. Mr. C. E. Fagan, Secretary of the British Museum (Natural History), kindly consented to act as treasurer to the fund.

Meanwhile, the services of four first-rate fieldnaturalists and collectors — viz. :

Mr. R. B. Woosnam (leader rLate of the

of the expedition) I Worcestershire

Mr. R. E. Dent, [Regiment,

Hon. Gerald Legge, and Mr. D. Carruthers —

INTRODUCTION xxiii

were secured, and to these was finally added Mr. A. F. R. Wollaston, who undertook to look after the health of the various members of the expedition, and to form botanical and entomological collections.

It would be a difficult matter to find any five people who could have carried out the work as successfully and as thoroughly as these gentlemen have done, and when a complete account of the zoological results is published in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London this will be abundantly evident. The botanical results have already been published in a paper by Dr. A. B. Rendle and others, which appeared in the JotLvnal of the Linn(£an Society, January, 1908, vol. xxxviii., pp. 228-279.

The organization and equipment of this large expedition took many months to arrange, and before it had reached its destination and commenced work a number of the birds peculiar to the region had already been procured, and sent to the British Museum by Mr. F. J. Jackson, C.B., whose nephew, Mr. Geoffi-y Archer, paid a short visit to the north-eastern slopes of Ruwenzori in February, 1902.

xxiv INTRODUCTION

The Ruwenzori range has now been investigated as completely as is at present possible ; unfortunately, the western heights, which lie within the Congo territory, had to be abandoned before they had been properly explored, owing to the hostility of the natives.

The collections formed are among the finest that have ever been sent to the British Museum, both as regards the number of species and the perfect condition in which they have reached this country; and, so far as the birds are concerned, they, no doubt, contain the great majority of the species which occur in Ruwenzori.

At present it is only possible to give some slight idea of what has been done, and the following is a list of the specimens which have been received :

404 Mammalia (twenty-three 33 Orthoptera.

new species). j 25 Neuroptera.

2,470 Aves (twenty-four new j 47 Hymenoptera

species).

j Reptilia \ (two new

\ Amphibia ) species).

3 1 Pisces (two new species).

12 Crustacea.

100 Arachnida.

1,015 Coleopteva (six new ; species)

species). I 66 Vermes.

1,372 Lepidoptera (forty-seven new species). 130 Hemiptera. 23 Homoptera. 55 Diptera. 38 Mollusca (six new

Lastly, a very fine collection of dried plants

INTRODUCTION xxv

(including thirty- four new species and one new genus) was made, and numerous growing plants and seeds were sent home, and are now being cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh under the care of Professor I. Bayley Balfour.

The close affinity between the Highland Fauna of Ruwenzori and that of the Cameroon is a very striking feature of the collection as a whole, and when the various groups have been thoroughly worked out, as will shortly be the case, a very valuable and important addition will certainly have been made to our knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Tropical Africa.

British Museum (Nat. Hist.), Cromwell Road,

London, S.W.

FROM RUWENZORI TO THE CONGO

Chapter I

' Over the great windy waters, and over the clear-crested summits, Unto the sun and the sky, and unto the perfecter earth, Come, let us go ' Clough.

The forest and mountain regions of Western Uganda and the eastern districts of the Congo Free State have long been an unknown land and difficult of approach, but the few accounts that had been given by travellers, and the remarkable birds and beasts that they had brought back with them, excited the curiosity of naturalists — not least among them the authorities of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. The discovery by Sir Harry Johnston of the okapi and other interesting forms in the Semliki Valley, and the numerous new species of birds obtained by Mr. F. J. Jackson's collector in the unexplored range of Ruwenzori, pointed to that district as being the most likely to produce

I birds and beasts new to science. The improved facilities for reaching Uganda by railway from the coast, the tranquil state of the country, and (possibly) the rumour of other zoological expeditions being sent by foreign countries to the same region, determined the dispatch of an expedition in 1905, Funds were raised from various generous contributors, and in October the British Museum Ruwenzori Expedition left England, fully equipped with apparatus for obtaining zoological and botanical collections. The expedition was under the leadership of Mr. R. B. Woosnam, and with him were Messrs. R. E. Dent, D. Carruthers, and the Hon. G. Legge. A day or two before the expedition started I heard for the first time of its existence, and that they were in need of a doctor who would attend the other members of the party, and, when not so occupied, would assist in making collections of plants and insects. I at once went to see Mr. Ogilvie Grant, and it was arranged that I should start by the next boat, in four weeks' time. It was unfortunate that I had just obtained an appointment elsewhere, but the chance was too good to be thrown away, even if it had been Harley Street and ten thousand a year that I was leaving behind ; so I incurred the wrath of my authorities, left them in a fortnight, and after two weeks of hurried preparations took ship from Genoa for Mombasa early in November.

I do not pretend to have the slightest knowledge

BY GERMAN STEAMER 3

of fiscal questions, but I could not help wondering why it should be necessary to travel to a British colony by a foreign steamship line. It is true that the British India Company has a service to Mombasa, but this involves changing ship at Aden, with always the probability of spending a few days in that most disagreeable port, and the possibility of having a part of one's baggage lost or broken in the transhipment. There are three lines of steamships which have direct services between Europe and Mombasa : the Austrian Lloyd from Trieste, the Messageries Maritimes from Marseilles, and the German East African Line from Hamburg. The first of these lines is the best, but the last is the most convenient for passengers from England, as their intermediate boats call at Dover, enabling one to send heavy baggage without transhipment direct to East Africa.

The Reichs Post Dampfer Markgraf could not, even by stretching truth to the uttermost, be called a good boat. She was uncomfortable and unclean, she rolled abominably in the calmest sea, and stories were even told of her having turned turtle in port. It is to be hoped that she has done so ere this. The voyage through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean is sufficiently familiar to a large proportion of Englishmen ; the first sniff of the East at Port Said, however much polluted by the worst of European civilization, is always a pleasant thing to the inveterate wanderer, and it is agreeable enough, only a week after leaving a cold November fog in London, to lie in a deck-chair and watch the camels shuffling along the grilling banks of the Suez Canal, and the pelicans soaring: hiorh over Lake Timsah. The Red Sea was kinder than it often is, and Aden was reached without any more exciting adventure than the slaughter by a ' sporting ' German of an unfortunate owl that perched one day upon the rigging. The bird fell overboard and was lost, but that did not seem to affect the spirits of the ' sportsman,' who was warmly congratulated by his friends on his good shooting.

From Aden, where the customary traffic in ostrich feathers and leopards' skins afforded us a few hours' diversion, the voyage down the east coast of Africa was dull in the extreme. Of ships we saw none at all, except the remains of a big French liner that had run ashore a few months previously near Cape Guardafui, and the few glimpses we got of the coast were of a bare and forbidding land. Our rather stiff and brass-bound fellow-passengers, most of them German officers going out to their East African colony, came undone in a quite unexpected way when we crossed the Line. For most of them it was their first voyage, and they submitted, with true discipline, to be ducked and soaped and shaved in quite the old-fashioned manner. It should be mentioned, however, that they washed away the taste of the soap in copious a:

UJ a

CQ

MOMBASA 5

libations to Neptune and Kaiser Wilhelm until the small hours of the following morning.

Late in the evening of the nineteenth day after leaving Genoa we sighted the lights of Mombasa, and the next morning at daybreak we steamed into the harbour, where there were three other steamers, all of them, to our disgust and to the delight of our companions, flying the flag of Germany. Nearly half a day was occupied in passing through the custom-house, thanks to the stiff-necked attitude of the Indian officials; but there was some compensation for the annoyance in watching the astonishing athletic feats of the Swahili labourers, who hoisted cases as big as grand pianos on to their heads, and trotted nimbly up the steep slope from the shore to the warehouses above. Mombasa is picturesquely situated on an island, with a small harbour, Mombasa Harbour, on the north, and a far finer harbour, Kilindini, a couple of miles or so to the south. It is a pity that the town was not built near to Kilindini Harbour, as only small vessels can enter Mombasa Harbour, while ships of large tonnage go to Kilindini, and land their passengers and cargoes a long way from the town.

The old town of Mombasa is a queer jumble ot India and Africa and Southern Europe ; men of every shade of colour between black and white may be seen in the streets, and almost every tongue is heard spoken. The old Portuguese fort, flying the red flag of the Sultan of Zanzibar, is a conspicuous building overlooking the harbour, but there is little else to see. The modern town, where are the new Government buildings, the cathedral, and the houses of the officials, lies on low ground on the seaward side of the old town. Some of the buildings are quite imposing, and the houses of the Europeans, most of them surrounded by large gardens, are comfortable dwellings with wide verandahs, well suited to the climate. There is a system of narrowgauge tram-lines running along the main roads, with branches running off to every house. Each official keeps his private trolley, in which he is pushed by coolies to and from his daily work. No Englishman in Mombasa walks if he can possibly avoid doing so ; indeed, if it be not impertinent for an outsider to sit in judgment on them, one would suggest that they do not take sufficient exercise.

There are two very indifferent hotels and an excellent club, where the members are as hospitable as Englishmen always are in tropical places. Outside the town are gardens of manioc and sweet-potatoes, and large plantations of coco-nut palms, with patches here and there of uncut forest. Hideous baobabs, with their stunted branches bare of leaves, and magnificent mango-trees laden with ripening fruit, were the most noticeable trees early in December ; but, its sweltering climate notwithstanding, Mombasa has not the appearance of rich tropical luxuriance that is so characteristic of