340 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



circumstances the British Foreign Office could 

 not obtain, for a fair quid pro quo, the concessions 

 mentioned above, then we are incapable of any 

 further extension ; we could not build a railway or 

 develop Uganda ; and we should say to the spirit 

 which " stets verneint " (I mean Mr. Labouchere), 

 " Ich Hebe dich." 



The great argument in favour of the African 

 Lakes Eoute, however, lies in the fact that it will 

 unite and keep together our colonies in British 

 Central Africa and East Africa. 



If the Mombasa railway is built at the present 

 time, then they will be isolated from one another 

 for ever. 



If it had not been for the curious hostility of 

 Germany towards ourselves (which seems to date 

 from the Emin Pasha expedition), we should have 

 had the whole of Africa east of 30 degrees longi- 

 tude in the hands of ourselves or our friends, 

 winch were Germany, Italy, and Egypt (for the 

 unhealthy Portuguese coast and the sands of 

 Obock may well be left to their possessors). 



Even now, if some sort of arrangement with 

 Germany is arrived at and this scheme is carried 

 through, we should be able to hand over to our 

 descendants this vast territory. It is possible 

 to-day to buy in Glasgow a ticket for the north 

 end of Tanganyika, and if this scheme were per- 

 sistently carried through, then it will be possible 

 in 1930 to take a through ticket via Euwenzori 

 from Cairo to Cape Town. 



