FIBRES. 



FIBRE INDUSTRY OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



By A. WlGGLESWORTH. 



LAST summer I visited British East Africa in order to 

 investigate the fibre industries in that country, and an 

 account of my observations may interest the Congress. 



British East Africa is one of the newest of British 

 possessions; its administration by the Colonial Office 

 dates from 1895. It covers an estimated area of 185,000 

 square miles, more than twice that of Great Britain. It 

 has a white population of 4,000 to 5,000, mostly residing 

 in the Nairobi district, and a native population estimated 

 at 3,000,000. 



The Protectorate stretches from latitude 4 South to 

 above the Equator, and but for the fact that the land 

 rises steeply from the ocean to a plateau at an altitude 

 averaging 3,000 to 4,000 ft., the country would be of 

 little interest to Europeans. 



The scenery is varied and very beautiful, with an 

 exceptional wealth of plant and animal life. Favoured 

 as the country is by great varieties of climate, that of 

 the uplands is not unlike an English summer, with 

 comparatively small variation in temperature. There is 

 a double rainy season, first March to June, then the small 

 rains during November to December, making a total 

 annual average of about 50 in. This double rainfall has 

 an important influence on the growth of fibre. The rich 

 volcanic soil has been rendered still more fertile by the 

 deposit throughout many generations of forest humus. 



First, let us take sansevieria. The discovery in the 

 Voi district of vast areas of Sansevieria Ehrenbergii led 



