DAR-ES-SALAAM 



some shocks. You must not judge the interior by 

 the coast. 



Of course, the real gate of East Africa is, or 

 ought to have been, Dar-es- Salaam, which is a little 

 to the south. " The Place of Peace " — that is the 

 meaning of the name — and no spot was ever named 

 more appropriately. A wonderful harbour, a perfect 

 harbour, and a sublimely beautiful place ; we had it in 

 our hands, and let it slip into those of the Germans. 

 There was absolutely no excuse for us. No excuse 

 has ever been suggested, save that we had got into the 

 habit of giving up things to the Germans. 



Mombasa is too well known for me to attempt to 

 describe it. The average tourist does that constantly, 

 and most people have managed to gather an idea of 

 what the town is really like. There is ice at the hotels, 

 and good lager beer and moderately good food which, 

 as is always the case in East Africa, has a curious 

 sameness of flavour. For a long time I could not 

 quite place this taste, but an Englishman from Durban 

 explained it to me, and I understood at once. It was 

 the taste of the coolie cook's hands. 



Of course, there was no train on the day we landed. 

 There never is in East Africa, otherwise half the coast 

 hotels would close their doors ; but in our case no 

 hotel-keeper profited through the fact. The skipper 

 of our steamer earned our thanks and no doubt 

 unpopularity with the hotel-keeping folk by asking 



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