CHAPTER XV 



THE NATIVES OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



British East Africa is one of the most thinly popu- 

 lated districts of the Dark Continent, owing to the fact that 

 great stretches of the country consist of barren, arid lands, 

 and hundreds of square miles are nothing but deserts. On 

 the other hand, the country comprises many high plateaus 

 where there are hardly any people at all at the present 

 time, although in these regions, lying at an altitude of from 

 five thousand to eight thousand feet, there is plenty of 

 water, good grazing lands, and fine forests. These parts 

 of the country are particularly suitable for white settlers, 

 as they have a splendid climate all the year round. 



The coast is quite densely populated by the Swahili 

 people, who for hundreds of years have been slaves of 

 Arab and Portuguese masters. This tribe belongs to the 

 great Bantu race of Negroes, which comprises most of the 

 peoples of the whole of Central, East, and West Africa. 

 The Swahili resembles greatly the common type of Negroes 

 that live in the United States. They have, as a rule, very 

 prominent cheek bones, heavy, thick, projecting lips, low 

 foreheads, and curly hair, which the men generally wear 

 short, sometimes shaving it into strange-looking figures. 

 The women have their hair made into exceedingly small 

 braids, which run like ridges along their heads, and some- 



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