CHAP. XI AN INDUSTRIAL MISSION 207 



made by Mr. George Wilson, at the expense of the late Sir 

 William Mackinnon. The narrow winding path by which we 

 had previously traversed the Motito Wakalia, or " Five Mile 

 Jungle," was replaced by a broad, straight, smooth track. I 

 revelled in the luxury of walking on a good road once more, so 

 went ahead, and marched to Kinani, if Mr. Wilson's mile-posts 

 are to be trusted, at the pace of four and a half miles an hour. 



At Kinani I found Major Smith and Mr. Martin with a 

 powerful caravan bound for Uganda. I had a pleasant after- 

 noon with them ; they told me more news, and said they 

 had only that day been wondering if I were still in the land 

 of the living. At three next morning they left for the interior 

 and we for the coast. The heat that day was intense. My 

 men collapsed beside the dry water-hole at Ngomeni. I left 

 Omari to look after them, and with two of my best porters 

 pushed on to the Tzavo river for water. I found Wilson 

 there, and he kindly sent some of his men with water for 

 mine. He helped me also with food. I had expected to get 

 some from the station here, but the headman was away and 

 had locked up the store. Mr. Wilson kindly sold me a few 

 loads. All being tired, we rested here for a day. Wilson told 

 me much about his adventures in the country, and of the 

 trouble he had experienced before he could succeed in making 

 the natives cut the road. But he had allayed their suspicions, 

 and-va large gang of Wa-taita were now at work upon it. I 

 think Mr. Wilson's road has been one of the most successful 

 industrial missions in East Africa. 



At Tzavo I diverged again from the beaten track to follow 

 the Sabaki. Eight days' march through thorn scrub brought us 

 to the freed slave settlement of Makongeni. The country was 

 uninhabited and monotonous in the extreme ; some of the 

 men knew it, though at first they denied doing so, and did 

 their best to induce me to return by the ordinary road. The 

 march was rewarded, however, by the discovery of some Permo- 

 Carboniferous beds, and a series of fossils. I found these one 

 evening at sunset, and continued the search far into the night 

 by fire-light. 



At Makongeni we entered the Giriama country, a tract 

 of wooded upland, with numerous villages. The population 

 seems, however, to be diminishing fast, and numbers of shambas 



