4 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



The climate is, however, fairly good, showing, 

 as I have often noticed in other parts of Africa, 

 that a very rich and fertile soil which can of 

 course only be formed in a hot and moist climate 

 where vegetation is rapidly forced into being, and 

 as rapidly decays, is almost always found in an 

 unhealthy and enervating climate. The laziness 

 of human beings in such places is counterbalanced 

 by the abundance of food and the small amount of 

 labour required to produce it. 



The " network of tramways ' and " narrow 

 gauge railway " of which we have heard at Mom- 

 basa is in reality a single tramway about 18 inches 

 wide, and is now used only to convey the acting 

 Administrator from his bungalow at Kilindini to 

 Mombasa and back. There are many other points 

 with regard to the work of the I.B.E.A. Co., 

 which were distinctly disappointing, but the Com- 

 pany is now completely dead, and it is best to say 

 nothing except requiescat in pace. 



The reason of the peculiar and thorough failure 

 of this Company is to be sought not so much 

 in their ideas or the schemes they set on foot as 

 in the manner in which they were carried out. A 

 deliberate attempt was made to direct and manage 

 everything from London, and the manager on the 

 spot was not allowed to carry out things on his 

 own responsibility, with results that are only too 

 disastrously obvious. It is necessary to mention 

 this on account of the extreme probability of the 



