TRAVELS IN EAST AFRICA
P a r t I.— T H E MAINLAND
IN T R O D U C T IO N
THE COAST-LANDS OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA
General Appearance— Vegetation— Rivers and Harbours— Rain-fall—
Prevailing Winds— Temperature—Relative Humidity— Population.
T h e ! explorations described in these pages covered (in
addition to the islands of Lamu and Patta) the whole of the
coast region between Mombasa and Port Durnford, extending
up i the Sabaki valley for upwards of one hundred miles,
the: country between Lamu and Port Durnford being entirely
new and previously unexplored. A glance at the map shows
that the country traversed by me embraces the greater part
of the four hundred miles of coast-line pertaining to the
British East African Protectorate.
■The general appearance of this coast-line is flat and low;
its «leading characteristics, apart from its occasional coral
nature, coral forming the principal substratum, being its
frequent winding inland creeks, which are belted with "dense
fringes of mangroves. These creeks form natural water-ways,
anci are admirably adapted to serve, as in fact they do, as
outlets for inland produce. Such, for instance, are the several
creeks running back from thé fine land-locked harbour of
^^Hbasa or Kilifi, opening out into one of the finest havens