08 



THE COAST RANGE. 



sell a caravan, or the fierce Wamasai or the 

 Gallas will prevail against the traders. Briefly, 

 no spirit of prophecy is needed to foresee that 

 the Kikuyu line shall share the fate of many 

 others. 



A report prevalent in. Mombasah — even a 

 Msawahili sometimes speaks the truth — -that the 

 Mission House had been attacked by the savages, 

 and the march of an armed party from the town, 

 showing a belief in their own words, hurried us 

 up to Kisulodi-ni, on Sunday, January 18. The 

 rumour proved to be false, but it was a shadow 

 forethrown by coming events : as M. Rebmann 

 showed certain velleites for martyrdom, I insisted 

 that his wife, an English woman, should be sent 

 down to Mombasah, and we had the satisfaction 

 to see the boxes packed. This second visit added 

 something to our knowledge of the country. 

 The Ghaut, or Coast E;ange, which has no general 

 but many partial names, as E^abai, Shimba, and 

 others, varies in height from 700 to 1200 feet, 

 and fringes the shore from Melinde to the Pan- 

 ga-ni river. Distant but a few miles from a sea- 

 board of shelly coralline, it shows, like Madagas- 

 car, no trace of the limestone formation, which 

 forms the maritime region of Somaliland. These 

 hills are composed of sandstones, fine and coarse, 



