CHAP. XII ''THE AGE OF MIDDLE LIFE'' 229 



scales, and some mollusca determined by Professor Amalitzky 

 of Warsaw and Mr. G. F. Harris as Palcsanodonta fischeri 

 (Amal.) These show that at this period large freshwater lakes 

 occurred in the valley of the Sabaki. 



The next period in the earth's history was the Trias, 

 during which quaint reptiles lived at the Cape in the region of 

 " the baked Karroo," and a great continent extended across the 

 Indian Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope to India. This 

 probably extended northward as far as Western Russia, for 

 one freshwater fauna spread throughout this region. In 

 Eastern Africa a band of brilliant red sands and sandstones 

 occur near the coast behind Mombasa, and thence extend 

 northwards to the hills around the mission station of Ngao on 

 the Tana. These can be especially well seen in the hills above 

 the plantations of Magarini, and I therefore propose to call 

 them the " Magarini Sands." 



There is no direct fossil evidence as to the age of these 

 beds, but as they appear to overlie the Carboniferous rocks, and 

 are in turn covered by the next series, they are probably 

 Triassic. They are no doubt a desert sand, and, though 

 here and there the action of rivers and streams can be traced 

 within them, they indicate the existence of an arid climate 

 toward the close of the New Red Sandstone period. 



After the formation of the last of the Magarini Sands the 

 land subsided, until part of the coast region was below the 

 sea. The continent over the Indian Ocean was broken up, or 

 at least indented, by gulfs or seas that ran northward from the 

 great Southern Ocean. On the shores beds of shale were formed, 

 some of which are now found at intervals along the African 

 coast from Somaliland to German East Africa. These yield 

 ammonites, which show that the beds from which they come 

 were formed at the same time as the Oxford Clay of our 

 Midland Counties. 



In the next great period — that of the Chalk — another 

 change came over the country. In Sofala and Madagascar to 

 the south, and in Somaliland to the north, marine conditions 

 still occurred. The British dominions on the east coast, how- 

 ever, yield no marine deposits of this age. The next fossil 

 from them is Eocene in age, and allied to species found in the 

 Kirthar series (Upper Eocene) of India. The evidence of this 



