36 



GEOGRAPHY. 



the level ground is covered with the fertile 

 humus of decayed vegetation; the shape is an 

 irregular oval, about 3 miles long by 2| broad, 

 and this flat surface is capable of growing the 

 richest produce. The soil, excessively permeable 

 and bone-dry after a few hours following the 

 heaviest downfalls, allows neither swamp nor 

 bog. Eastward, or outside, there is good riding- 

 ground defended on both sides by reefs ; inside 

 a double sea-arm moats the islet in every direc- 

 tion from the coast. This channel of coral-rag and 

 oyster-rock, about 280 yards wide at the mouth, 

 broadens northwards into a deep and secure 

 basin, Captain Owen's^ Port Tudor, so called 

 from the officer who surveyed it, and westward 

 of the islet is Port Reitz, a longer and a wider 

 water. Vessels usually lie under the town 

 opposite English Point, where they find safe 

 anchorage. In the South- West monsoon, how- 

 ever, between May and September, square-rigged 

 ships must be warped out, and in so doing they 

 run some risk of being wrecked. 



On the N. West Point, where a little battery 

 commanded the jiassage, Mombasali Island is 

 separated from the mainland by a shallow 

 ford, and possibly this canal may be artificial. 

 ^ A plan of the Island was published by Kezende in 1635. 



