THE EAST COAST 169 



windows — wild animals not in scores, but by the 

 countless hinidred. 



One day Kilindini is to possess a deep-water 

 pier, but for the present all goods have to be 

 discharged and cargo taken on by means of 

 lighters, and a very slow and laborious sort of 

 business it is. One day, too, perhaps, Kilindini 

 will have a Customs House more worthy of the 

 Protectorate. As it is to-day there is chaos 

 indescribable at the landing-stage and in the 

 Customs sheds. 



An American lady globe-trotter has lost her 

 precious Kodak and tears frantically around 

 questioning oflficials and scrutinizing the loads 

 of smiling and confused Swahili porters. A big- 

 game hunter is having a freshly-loaded lighter 

 emptied because he thinks a box of cartridges 

 is under a load of potatoes. A missionary's 

 groceries have gone astray, and are rescued just 

 in time to prevent them returning by the home- 

 going boat to Europe. One heaves a great sigh 

 of relief when at last the luggage is safely out of 

 this zone of dangerous confusion. 



The town of Mombasa, as the scarlet flag of 

 his Highness proclaims, is in the Sultan of 

 Zanzibar's dominions, and is rented from him 

 by the British Government. Like Caesar's Gaul, 

 it may be divided into three parts — the old Arab 

 and native quarter, the central portion, which is 

 the town proper, and the stretch of high ground 

 facing the Indian Ocean and the surge of the 

 rolling sea where the European residents have 

 raised pretty bungalows. Native Mombasa ex- 

 tends towards the " shambas " or plantations, 

 and is largely hidden by them. In the central 

 portion are the Government offices, and the 

 shops and residences of the Goanese and Indian 



