CHAPTER IV 



AT MOMBASA A SECOND START 



" Kongowea ya mvumo, maangavu maji male 

 Haitoi lililomo. Gongwa isingenyemele 

 Msiotambua ndumo na utambaji \va kale." 



Verses of Mityaka on Moiithasa, collected by Rev. IV. E. Taylor. 



(Mombasa roars like the wind through the fan-palm, 

 Surf breaks o'er its reefs in calm as at spring tide ; 

 It ever is sending forth, yet ne'er has it fail'd. 

 Think not 'twill be peaceful as you hear not its seething, 

 For you know not its war-cries, nor its story of old.) 



The town of Mombasa is situated on an island, which, owing 

 to the healthiness of its climate, the fertility of the neigh- 

 bouring country, the convenience of its harbours, and the 

 strength of its position, has exercised an influence on East 

 African history out of all proportion to its size. The town 

 stands on the edge of a cliff on the northern shore ; to the 

 east stretches a plateau of coral rock, healthy and dry, and 

 open to the bracing breezes from the sea. To the west the 

 country is richly wooded and fertile, but in places swampy 

 and malarious, for the red sands of which it is composed }'ield 

 a soil very different from that formed from the coral rock. 

 To the north and south of the island are the harbours of 

 Mombasa and Kilindini, which, with the exception only of 

 Delagoa Bay, are admittedly the finest on the eastern coast of 

 Africa. A shallow creek, which can be forded at low tide, 

 separates the island from a wide tract of rich food-bearing 

 country, which now, as at the visit of Ibn Batuta in the four- 

 teenth century, forms the granary for the inhabitants of the 

 island. With all these advantages, it is not surprising that 



