80 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



Island of Blood," has been swept have made the 

 exposed seaward lands impossible. 



No idle occupation can be more fascinating 

 than to wander about the mazes of this ancient 

 town. The variety of race and occupation is 

 something astounding. Probably the one human 

 note that, everywhere persisting, draws the whole 

 together is furnished by the water-carriers. 

 Mombasa has no water system whatever. The 

 entire supply is drawn from numberless pictur- 

 esque wells scattered everywhere in the crowded 

 centre, and distributed mainly in Standard Oil 

 cans suspended at either end of a short pole. By 

 dint of constant daily exercise, hauling water up 

 from a depth and carrying it various distances, 

 these men have developed the most beautifully 

 powerful figures. They proceed at a half trot, 

 the slender poles, with forty pounds at either 

 end, seeming fairly to cut into their naked shoul- 

 ders, muttering a word of warning to the loiterers 

 at every other breath semeelay ! semeelay ! 

 No matter in what part of Mombasa you may 

 happen to be, or at what hour of the day or night, 

 you will meet these industrious little men trotting 

 along under their burdens. 



Everywhere also are the women, carrying 

 themselves proudly erect, with a free swing of 



