364 , 
IN AFRICA 
We imagined that the ship from Mombasa to 
Bombay would be nearly uninhabited by passen¬ 
gers. Few people are supposed to cross that part 
of the Indian Ocean. But when we embarked on 
the Umzumbi on February first we found the ship 
full. There were British army officers bound for 
India, rich Parsees bound from Zanzibar to Bom¬ 
bay, two elderly American churchmen hound from 
the missionary fields of Rhodesia to inspect the mis¬ 
sionary fields of India; two or three traveling men, 
a South African legislator bound for India on rec¬ 
reation bent, and a few others. 
After leaving Mombasa our travels were upon 
crowded ships, on crowded trains, and from one 
crowded hotel to another crowded hotel. It seemed 
as if the whole world had suddenly decided to see 
the rest of the world. 
Bombay was crowded and we barely succeeded 
in getting rooms at the Taj Mahal. There were 
swarms of Americans outward bound and inward 
bound. You couldn’t go down a street without en¬ 
countering scores of new sun hats and red-bound 
“Murrays.” The taxicabs were full of eager faces 
peering out inquiringly at the monuments and 
points of interest that flashed past. 
The train to Agra was crowded and we succeeded 
in getting reservations only by the skin of our teeth. 
Also the hotels at Agra were jammed and many 
people were being turned away, while the procession 
of carriages jogging out toward the Taj Mahal was 
like an endless chain. Upon all sides as you paused 
