I 



MOMBASA THE GATE BY WHICH COMMERCE AND 



CHRISTIANITY ENTERED EAST AFRICA 



IT is undeniable that after spending fifteen days on 

 the high seas the eyes and the mind grow weary of the 

 apparently interminable watery part of the world 

 surrounding the ship. Watch the excitement among 

 the passengers when the news " land in sight " travels 

 round the decks, saloons, and smoking-room. I am 

 convinced that the majority of passengers soon grow 

 weary of the sea, even when the weather is uniformly 

 fair and sunny : some of them become quarrelsome ; 

 many pass sleepless nights, especially in tropical and 

 subtropical regions, and few really enjoy themselves. 

 When the weather is bad and the ship " pitches " or 

 " rolls," and more especially when the decks are awash, 

 the lot of the passenger is often very uncomfortable, and 

 those who are not sea-sick are honestly " sick of the sea." 

 Under such conditions, instead of being elated with the 

 interminable procession of roaring waves, they will, with 

 honest old Gonzalo, freely give " a thousand furlongs of 

 the sea for an acre of barren ground ; long heath, brown 

 furze, anything." 



We had spent seven days in an uncomfortable ship ; 

 its deck was hampered with mules from Somaliland and 

 with pilgrims. It is true we saw on the way the mighty 

 Cape Guardafui, which lacks a lighthouse, much to the 

 advantage of the natives living along the coast, who, 

 like the Cornish wreckers of olden days, thrive on 



