MOMBASA. 83 



appear again. Convoyed in this pleasant fashion 

 we wound and twisted up and down and round and 

 about through the most appalling maze. We saw 

 the native markets with their vociferating sellers 

 seated cross-legged on tables behind piles of fruit 

 or vegetables, while an equally vociferating 

 crowd surged up and down the aisles. Gray 

 parrots and little monkeys perched everywhere 

 about. Billy gave one of the monkeys a banana. 

 He peeled it exactly as a man would have done, 

 smelt it critically, and threw it back at her 

 in the most insulting fashion. We saw also the 

 rows of Hindu shops open to the street, with 

 their gaudily dressed children of blackened eye- 

 lids, their stolid dirty proprietors, and their 

 women marvellous in bright silks and massive 

 bangles. In the thatched native quarter were 

 more of the fine Swahili women sitting cross- 

 legged on the earth under low verandas, engaged 

 in different handicrafts ; and chickens ; and 

 many amusing naked children. We made friends 

 with many of them, communicating by laughter 

 and by signs, while our guide stood unobtrusively 

 in the middle distance waiting for us to come on. 

 Just at sunset he led us out to a great open 

 space, with a tall palm in the centre of it and 

 the gathering of a multitude of people. A 



