PROSPECTS OF EAST AFRICA 13 



and coffee, but with the boom in the Canadian 

 North-West and the low Atlantic freights, it is 

 questionable whether their grain would pay them ; 

 while so long as Brazil alone grows more coffee 

 than the world consumes, their beans could hardly 

 find a profitable market. Potatoes and European 

 fruit and vegetables do well in some districts, but 

 the cost of transport by the railway is great, and 

 the way is long to the nearest market, South Africa, 

 which is on the way to growing these things in 

 sufficient quantities for herself. If prosperity is to 

 come to British East Africa, the means of it will 

 probably be the cultivation of cotton. There are 

 large districts where the soil and climate are well 

 suited to the plant, and even in the cooler uplands 

 it has been grown with considerable success. Most 

 of the native tribes are capable of learning agri- 

 cultural methods, and it is not unreasonable to hope 

 that in a few years' time the colony will have 

 become one of the great cotton-producing countries 

 of the British Empire. 



At that time (December, 1905) the settlement of 

 land seemed to be in a state of complete chaos. 

 There was a large number of prospective colonists 

 waiting about in the country, and suffering from 

 various forms of distress. Some of them had had 

 land allotted to them, which had subsequently been 

 taken away again ; some had been given land which 

 did not exist ; and some had received grants of land 

 which had previously been given to another. There 



