I gave him a sm a ll present. Let me now describe the
country I passed through en route.
After leaving Nasur’s shamba I passed through a flat plain,
covered with a great number of baobab trees, growing, singly
-or in pairs. The soil was rich, generally a light, sandy,
chocolate-coloured loam. I saw neither coco-nut nor mango
trees, but was informed that the Guniahs did not care for
other cultivation than millet and sesame, not even cassava.
The land traversed' was cultivated chiefly with metamah,
which had now been all harvested. I passed only one enclosed
shamba (which had no trees),, and eventually emerged upon a
richly-cultivated area, all open, consisting of metamah (some
^ ^ harvested), a good deal of sim-sim, and a few patches of
beans close to Gongoni.
Gongoni is a fairly large native town, not protected in any
way, but quite open, I had expected to find it on the
sea-shore, but it is some distance from it. The houses were
fairly large and looked comfortable, and the place was tolerably
clean. The Guniahs keep herds of goats Tor milking, and
many dogs, very similar to the Indian pariah dog. Gongoni
appeared to be entirely dependent upon Mombrui, as it had
no bazaars, and not even pice were procurable.
The head-man Mohamed and many of the inhabitants
complained of the great scarcity of drinking-water. I visited
their two wells, one outside the town, with very little and
discoloured water, and the other much further off with a
larger supply, slightly brackish but drinkable. They said the
two wells dried up in the hot weather, so I suggested (as I
had already done at Magarini) that they should build a shed
over the well, first deepening it, to protect it from the sun ;
this they promised to do.. In the dry weather they had to
send as far as Nasur bin Suliman’s shamba for water (an
hours journey, or say three to three and a half miles). One
or two Europeans, they said, had told them they would find
water in the centre of the town, where the water lay in the
wet weather. I had a look at the place, and told them the
experiment was well worth trying, though I could not
guarantee its success.
I was struck by the appearance and size of the silk-cotton