MOMBASA 



Mombasa can boa,st of a cathedral, a Parsi fire 

 temple, Mohammedan mosques and a Hindu 

 temple. When I first went to Mombasa, the pri- 

 vate trolleys already mentioned ran along lines 

 connecting all the outlying houses with the town 

 and the Sports Club, but on a later visit there were 

 public trolleys, for which one took tickets, and 

 many more public rickshaws. 



The shops kept by Goanese are the usual 

 "stores" where anything can be bought, from a 

 needle to a bath, and from a suit of clothes to 

 French novels. There are some Indian shops, 

 but not equal to those in Zanzibar. The former 

 all seemed to bear the name of "de Sousa," pre- 

 ceded by different initials or Christian names, or 

 else they were called the " English " or " Mom- 

 basa " or " Colonial Stores ". This I found also in 

 Nairobi and Zanzibar. 



As I gazed from our hotel verandah on the 

 bright scene of sunlight and colour and white build- 

 ings, I felt I had touched the East indeed, but at 

 first, with my untrained eye, I could not distinguish 

 a native from an Indian child, nor anything else 

 coloured. There is such a medley of Somalis, up- 

 country natives, Swahilis, Indians, Goanese and 

 Arabs. However after a few months' residence up 

 country, I could distinguish all these at a glance, 

 and not only that, but one tribe from another of 

 those with which I had come in contact, such as 



25 



