NAIROBI 



the Tana River and the Lak Dera ? Such were only 

 a few of the questions which it was hoped the ex- 

 ploration of Jubaland would solve. Moreover, the 

 study of the inhabitants and the fauna could not fail 

 to be of interest. 



I arrived at Mombasa in the month of October 

 19 1 2, and immediately proceeded to Nairobi in order 

 to see the authorities and obtain permission to under- 

 take my journey. The railway journey is too well 

 known to need any description. Three years had 

 passed since I had last travelled on the Uganda 

 Railroad, but time had brought no change for the 

 better in its comfort, and the carriages were not 

 improved in any way. We arrived in Nairobi about 

 four hours late, and having engaged a room at the 

 hotel, I strolled round the town to renew old 

 acquaintances. I found Nairobi much grown in size, 

 but not in beauty. It is neither African nor European, 

 but seems to combine in one city the discomforts of 

 two civilisations without the advantages of either. 

 I at length managed to obtain a pass to enter 

 Jubaland after some irritating delays, but it was 

 only through the kindness of Captain Salkeld, the 

 Provincial Commissioner of Jubaland, who happened 

 to be in Nairobi on official business at the time. I 

 engaged, on his recommendation, a Somali headman 

 named Dahir Omar, and also an interpreter, who 

 came from Somaliland, while in the bazaar I found 

 an Akamba boy, who had been my personal servant 

 on a previous expedition, and I arranged to take him, 

 a cook and a gun-bearer (both the latter Swahilis) 

 with me, as it might be impossible to get others in 

 Kismayu, the little town on the coast of Jubaland, 

 from which I was to start my journey. Mr. R. P. 



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