I MOMBASA 9 



the old fort built by the Portuguese and now used as a 

 jail. It has Ijeen already mentioned that Mombasa is a 

 coral island, and has, like the adjacent coast, a fringing 

 reef. AVhen the tide is out, it is easy to walk across the 

 reef which is then covered bv a few inches of water: 



^TJ-c, 



^/^^^ir' 



The Baobab or Monkey Bread Tree. 



even at high tide the water is only a few feet in depth, 

 but in the comparatively narrow interval between the 

 reef fringing the land and that surrounding the island, 

 the wate^r s^iddenlv attains a depth of sixteen fathoms. 

 This makes it necessary for navigators to exercise 



