EASTERN PACIFIC EXPEDITION 443 



plentiful in the neighborhood of the Mombasa and Lake 

 Nyanza Railroad, and his letters are full of descriptions 

 of them. " The presence of these large mammals gives 

 to the scenery a decidedly Tertiary look, and one can 

 readily reconstruct, if not the mammalian and reptilian 

 fauna, even of an earlier period, at any rate build up the 

 conditions under which they lived as contrasted to the 

 Tertiary period. The areas which still contain these huge 

 monsters of the present day are becoming more and 

 more restricted, and soon our imagination alone will be 

 left to draw upon and build up these prehistoric times." 



He used to tell of some amusing observations he 

 made of the giraffes. This animal is supposed to be a 

 fine example of the survival of the fittest, the fittest 

 in this case being those who possess the longest necks 

 and front legs, which enable them more readily to 

 reach the high boughs upon which they are supposed to 

 feed. He was interested to notice that all the giraffes 

 he saw were feeding upon low bushes ! 



Of his trip in the little steamer that plies around the 

 shores of Lake Nyanza he writes : " Equally interesting 

 are the natives but little removed from utter barbarism, 

 living huddled in reed huts and dressed in shields, 

 spears, and necklaces. But they are fine specimens of 

 humanity, in great contrast to the wretched type of 

 West African Congo negro, who has been imported to 

 the United States during the days of slavery. The natives 

 are thickly settled around the shore of Lake Nyanza. 

 Their villages are clean, well built, and orderly, and in 

 our cruise around the Lake we enjoyed nothing more 

 than our visit to these primitive settlements. We made 

 a few hauls of the tow net, but did not get anything of 

 importance." 



