tunately, from the fact of the inland or continental
plateau approaching so near to the coasts, all the great
rivers have their navigation obstructed at relatively
short distances from their mouths." 1 It is this natural
obstacle which has been one of the chief reasons why
the whole of this vast continent, three times larger
than Europe, has been allowed to lie dormant and
undisturbed for so long. It is only in this generation
that it has become possible, without swamping the
undertaking by its initial cost, to organise means of
transport which will overcome the opposition of Nature,
and carry into the very heart of the interior the com-
merce, civilisation, and light of the outside world.

It has been already seen that the route which we
followed is not connected with any of the great rivers
or natural highways. An exaggerated fear of the
Masai had kept it as a sealed book until Mr. Joseph
Thomson made his celebrated journey from Mombasa
through Masailand to Lake Victoria in 1883-84 ; but
since that time it has been traversed by many caravans
equipped at great expense, and painfully conveying

1 The Development of Africa, chap. i. p. 9. By Arthur Silva White.
London : George Philip and Son, 1890.



154 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

small packages of goods on the heads of long-suffering
men. Such European parties as have come this way
have always found it a very expensive business ;
native and Arab traders have sometimes been able to
recoup their outlay, and even to make a profit, by a
judicious combination of trade in ivory and in slaves,
but I venture to think that even a cursory examina-
tion of the geographical, geological, and ethnological
conditions of the country thus traversed will make it
clear that all the commerce which can be carried, or
all the intercourse which can be established between
the coast and the interior under existing conditions of
transport and communication, will be too insignificant
in amount to have any important effect, or to confer
any material benefit upon the central countries near
the upper waters of the Nile, which are the objective
point of most of these expeditions.

To render this plain, I will proceed, for the benefit
of those who have not made any special study of the
question, to make a crude and rapid dissection of the
route which we have traversed.

In the first place, near the coast we find a narrow
strip of land of recent geological formation, steadily
risino; from sea-level to a height of about 300 feet.
This strip contains certain centres, usually in the
neighbourhood of towns and villages, such as Mombasa,
Malindi, or Wanga, where there is a fairly plentiful
population of the curiously mongrel race known as
Swahilis. The soil is fertile, and produces immense
numbers of cocoa-nut palms, areca palms, great
quantities of manioc, sweet potatoes, beans, some



THE COAST REGION 155

rice in suitable places, and, in short, most other crops
which it may please the farmer to sow. Where the
inhabitants are more scattered, and the ground has
not been cleared for planting, there is a good deal of
timber, sometimes of a valuable nature. Being ex-
posed to the hot breezes and washed by the warm
currents of the Indian Ocean, the mean annual tem-
perature of this region is high, and averages not less
than 80° Fahrenheit, while the mean range of tem-
perature between the hottest and the coldest months
does not average more than eight or ten degrees.
The rainfall, which occurs principally in the months
of April, May, and June, and again in November and
December, is plentiful, and may be estimated at about
sixty to seventy inches a year ; on the islands, such
as Zanzibar and Pembn, it amounts to perhaps ten
inches more.

As will be gathered from the above figures, this
reo-ion cannot be said to be well suited to European
inhabitants. There are, it is true, a good many
Europeans of different nationalities to be found living
on the coast, nearly all of whom are either traders,
officers of the Administration, or missionaries, but
it would be difficult to find one who looks as if his
residence there had done him good ; all, except per-
haps those who have just arrived from Europe, have
that bloodless, washed-out look which is so character-
istic of Europeans in Africa ; white children do not
thrive, and it would be better for the whole com-
munity if a universal rule could be made, that no
foreigner should be allowed to remain more than two



156 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

consecutive years on the coast without paying a visit
of at least two months' duration to more congenial
climates. The only exceptions to this rule might be
the Indians and Portuguese, all of whom appear to be
quite at home in this orchid-house atmosphere. It
is to be feared, however, that such a regulation can
only be made generally effective when men have
ceased to struggle, fight, and strangle each other in
the race for wealth, when international rivalries have
merged into universal friendship, and when religious
enthusiasm in Africa is tempered by broad-minded
moderation. But although it is too much to hope
that, until this millennium is declared, merchants,
companies, or governments will afford to their swel-
tering employes the luxury of a biennial " run
home," yet, if the East African question is seriously
taken up, an opportunity may offer itself of giving
fresh life to many an exhausted but patiently working
subordinate, of restoring health and vigour to many
an anaemic body or overtaxed brain at a merely
nominal expense, by the establishment of hill stations
and health resorts in the cool, healthy uplands only
300 miles from the coast. This suggestion, however,
like almost every other East African problem which
can be presented, resolves itself at once into the great
all-shadowing question of transport.

Leaving the coastal strip after a couple of
days' journey, we found at once a totally different
aspect of country. The palms and all the rich
vegetation and cultivation had disappeared, and
were replaced by interminable scrub, thorny acacias,



A VALUELESS DISTRICT 157

mimosas, and stunted, unhappy - looking trees of
similar kinds. In the course of the next 250 miles
we gradually — almost imperceptibly — ascended from
300 to over 3000 feet above the sea-level, the air
becoming proportionately lighter and the temperature
cooler. The rocks over which we walked, and the
painfully dazzling red soil formed from them, were of
the Mesozoic period, and lie in a sort of inner belt
behind the coastal zone alono- the whole east of Africa,
from Cape Town nearly to Cape Guardafui — some-
times, as in Somaliland, extending to the sea-shore
itself. It was easy to see that this district derived
but little benefit from the warm rains of the Indian
Ocean ; the general aspect of the country was parched,
and the nature and appearance of the stunted trees
and vegetation showed that they suffered from con-
stant drought. The annual rainfall in the lower parts
of this region probably does not amount to more than
some twenty-five or thirty inches a year, increasing to
about forty inches with the rise of altitude towards
Nzoi and the Ulu Hills. The mean temperature
decreases in inverse ratio to the rise of level, from
80 to about 72° Fahrenheit. The population, partly
in consequence of the poverty of the country, and
partly from inter-tribal wars and Masai raids, does not
exceed about four persons per square mile.

This district, commencing some dozen miles from
the sea-shore, and extending for 250 miles to the little
station of Nzoi at the foot of the Ulu Mountains
(where we camped on the 22nd of January), may
thus be written down as almost valueless. There are,



158 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

no doubt, here and there a few oases on the banks of
some of the small streams found at rare intervals,
where healthy young Englishmen might find life
bearable, and where, as at the Scottish Industrial
Mission at Kibwezi, their labour would be repaid by
the soil ; but, generally speaking, the heat of the
climate, the want of rain, and the consequent absence
of rivers, forbid us to hope that, at all events for
many years to come, this part of the country will
fulfil any role in history but that of a serious impedi-
ment in the way of reaching the more fertile and
salubrious districts lying behind it, which it has
shielded for so long against European invasion.

At 250 miles from the coast the nature of the
country undergoes a complete and sudden change ; Ave
found ourselves climbing hills of the Palaeozoic period,
and as we ascended steadily to a, height of 5000 feet
at Machakos, and 5500 at Kikuyu, the air became
proportionately cooler and more invigorating, while
the smiling aspect of the country showed clearly that
the rainfall was much greater than in the lower
regions. The mean annual temperature may be safely
said to sink with the rise of the land from 72° to
about 64° Fahrenheit, and the rainfall would prob-
ably be found to be some 50 to 60 inches per
annum, while the dews at night are heavy. As I
have said before in the course of the narrative, the
whole of this district appears to be exceptionally
fertile, well watered by clear mountain streams,
thoroughly healthy, and admirably adapted for
European residents, while the first settlers, if their



THE KIKUYU DISTRICT 159

tastes inclined in that direction, would have the
additional pleasure of living in the very heart of one
of the finest and best-stocked game countries in the
world. Labour could be fairly plentiful, as the
population, especially among the Wakamba tribes in
Ukumbi and the Ulu Hills, and again in the Kikuyu
country, is dense ; villages, huts, and native settle-
ments are packed close together in every direction on
the hills ; and although the fear of the raiding Masai
prevents the natives from settling on the more
exposed and open plains, the population of the whole
district cannot be less than thirty or forty per square
mile, all the adults of both sexes being actively
engaged in cultivation. It is this district, extending
from the Ulu Hills to Kikuyu, which holds out hopes
of prolonged life and health to the pale-faced
residents at the coast, on whom a month or two
among the hills of Kikuyu or on the plains of the
Athi river would confer the same blessings as a visit
to the moors of Scotland, without the crushing-
expense and loss of time entailed by the long sea
journey.

Immediately after leaving the Kikuyu district
there was another change. We entered suddenly
into a barren, arid -looking district, of which the
geological formation is purely volcanic or " eruptive."
Extinct volcanoes reared their heads on every side as
we crossed the great trough which furrows this part
of Africa from north to south for some 600 miles, and
in which lie a series of interesting lakes, from Lakes
Rudolf and Stephanie in the north down to Lake



160 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

Naivasha. The height of Lake Naivasha above the
sea is 6000 feet, and its climate cool and bright like
that of Kikuyu, though in this part there would
appear to be rather less rain ; but after leaving the
trough or " meridional rift " we rose rapidly to a
height of nearly 9000 feet while crossing the Mau
Mountains, before descending gradually to the level
of 4000 feet in the plains of Kavirondo. In the
higher altitudes the rainfall is naturally much greater
than in the districts previously traversed ; the moist-
ure which is held in suspension in the warmer air as
it passes over the plains, is at once condensed on
arrival at the mountain range, and the higher parts
of Mau receive probably not less than sixty to eighty
inches of rain every year. The soil, formed by the
decomposition of volcanic rocks, is generally rich, and
the whole country well watered, but some days before
reaching Kavirondo we were travelling through dry
plains and over the undulating hills of the Palaeozoic
period. The whole of this country, across which our
road led us for some 280 miles, would be well suited
to Europeans so far as climate is concerned, but at
present it is absolutely neglected, uncultivated, and
almost uninhabited. Its only occupants are the
Masai tribes, and these nomads cannot be reckoned
at more than two or three persons per square mile
of country.

In Kavirondo itself, which is also throughout of
Palaeozoic formation, the villages are in places fairly
close together, but, on the other hand, there are many
desolate tracts, extending for several days' journey, in



UGANDA 161

which no human being can be seen ; it would not,
therefore, be safe to estimate the population at more
than twenty to twenty-five per square mile. As the
whole country lies from 4000 to 4500 feet above the
sea, the climate is, on the whole, temperate ; the
nights are thoroughly cool, so much so, that although
the variation between the hottest and the coldest
months of the year cannot exceed five degrees, yet the
average temperature throughout the year may be
estimated at about 73° Fahrenheit. The annual rain-
fall, which occurs principally in the months of April,
May, and June, and again in November and December,
is probably forty inches.

In the last section of our journey, through Usoga
and Uganda, we entered upon what is perhaps one of
the oldest parts of the oldest continent of the world,
the rocks being throughout of the archaic period. As,
however, I shall have occasion later to speak more
fully of these countries, I will here conclude this
hasty and somewhat dry resume of the different
sections of our route, leaving the reader to draw his
own conclusions as to the present or future value and
prospects of the country described. Before leaving
this subject I should add that for many of the
statistics and figures which I have quoted above, I
am indebted to Mr. A. Silva White's book, The
Development of Africa, and to the valuable notes
and maps compiled by Mr. E. G. Eavenstein, F.R.G.S.,
which form its interesting appendix.

I now come to one of the most important of all
questions in connection with the future of Africa,

M



i62 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

viz. that of the road itself and the means employed
for carrying traffic along it.

As regards what is by courtesy called the "road "
but little need be said ; it is well known that an
African road consists simply of a footpath some ten
inches wide worn in the grass by the constantly-
passing naked feet of native villagers and caravan-
porters. If, for any reason, such a path falls into
disuse for a few months, especially during the rainy
season, it is quickly obliterated by the rank grass,
thorns, and creepers which always seem to ally them-
selves with the other forces of Nature in order to
repel the invasion of the stranger. All marching is
thus of necessity done in single file, and a large
caravan, even without straggling, will often spread
itself over a mile of country, while conversation is
only possible by the leading man addressing his
remarks to the empty air before him, and taking in
the answers at the hollow of his back.

On fairly level and open plains, where the long
grass has been burnt down, or before the young
shoots have grown more than six or eight inches,
these paths are good enough, and, if the weather is
cool, the day's march is a real pleasure ; but on the
sides of hills, especially on hard soil, where the
paths become runnels for rain-water, they are fre-
quently hollowed into a deep and narrow gutter by
no means well adapted for the comfortable progression
of a man in boots. After the rainy season, when the
grass of the plains has grown to four, six, or even
eight feet in height on either side, it is frequently a



THE ROUTE TO UGANDA 163

matter of some difficulty for the leader to see the
track through the overhanging masses of grass-heads
and weeds, and, while his progress is seriously im-
peded by the tangle, the discomfort of the traveller is
increased by his clothes being drenched through and
through every morning by the heavy dew, or by the
drops from the last shower which he brushes off the
foliage as he forces his way forward. As the sun rises
and gains strength the moisture is evaporated from the
grass, and the pedestrian's clothes are gradually dried
on him at the same time, but, nevertheless, it is an
undoubted fact that this ducking, undergone with
wearisome monotony from G till about 9 o'clock
every morning, is the cause of many a bad attack of
fever which is put down generally to the African
climate.

These, however, are among the minor inconveni-
ences inseparable from travelling on foot in uncivilised
regions ; what is a more serious annoyance, inasmuch
as it causes unnecessary delay and fatigue, is the
circuitous nature of the path, which twists, turns,
and winds in a ridiculous and most irritating manner
for no perceptible reason. In order to explain this
peculiarity of African tracks, we must lay down three
axioms : first, that the paths are made by natives ;
secondly, that to the native time has no value, and
he is consequently never in a hurry ; thirdly, that
the native will always prefer to go round even the
smallest obstacle rather than take the trouble of
cutting or clearing it away for his own benefit or for
that of his neighbours. Thus a fallen tree or an



1 64 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

overhanging bough, a new ant-heap, or even a tuft
of rank grass, will each be sufficient to cause the
path to deflect perhaps for many yards ; a similar
occurrence will take place on the loop thus made,
and so on, until in the course of years the road is
made to trend for a considerable distance away from
its objective point.

Frequently, towards the close of a long, weary,
and thirsty day's march, our patience and our tempers
have been sorely tried at finding ourselves following
the path in a northerly, southerly, or even easterly
direction, while we knew that our camping-place lay
due west. If the road in such places were to be
straightened, slightly widened throughout, and cleared
even of such minor obstructions as would not demand
any serious expenditure of labour, not only would the
journey to Uganda be shortened by several days,
but a still greater saving would be made in the
muscle, stamina, and health of the overloaded men
and donkeys. In forest countries and places where
constant attention would be necessary in order to
keep the road clear, it should be made compulsory on
every caravan to be preceded by a small band of
pioneers sent a mile or two ahead, armed with
hatchets and bill-hooks, whose duty it would be to
clear away such creepers, undergrowth, or overhanging
branches as might have even partially blocked the
path since the passage of the last party.

Again, an immense amount of delay and trouble to
caravans could be easily avoided by the construction
of a few bridges of the simplest nature ; a couple or



BRIDGES 165

perhaps three slender tree-trunks laid side by side,
and bound together by creepers or by rope, would in
most cases be quite sufficient for the present, especially
if these trunks were then covered over with grass,
branches, and finally sods of earth, so as to make
them passable for animals. There need be no fear of
the natives destroying such bridges ; on the contrary,
they would appreciate the convenience thus offered as
keenly as any European, and would most religiously
preserve them. Only recently I heard of such an
instance : a caravan was passing through a part of the
country in which the natives had the reputation of
not being too friendly to strangers ; a small river
offered an obstruction, and crowds of natives sat on
the adjoining hills while the commander of the party
superintended the building of a bridge by his own
men. As soon as the work was completed, and the
caravan had got safely across, the leader wished to
take away some rope which he had used for lashing
his bridge. Scarcely, however, had he touched the
rope than down came the natives who had been
quietly watching the proceedings: "No, no," said
they, " you have made us a nice bridge, and we see
the use of it as well as you do, but you need not
think that we are such fools as to let you destroy it
or take it away now that it is made ; pas si betes, we
thank you for your work, and now you may go in
peace ! "

It may be urged as an objection to all this, that
labour is so scarce along the road to Uganda, that the
expense and difficulty of any such undertaking as



166 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

road-making would far outweigh its advantages ; but,
as a matter of fact, such is not the case. It has
already been proved that near the coast the Wa-
Deruma and the Wa-Nyika are perfectly willing to
work for infinitesimal wages, if once they are sure of
not being maltreated, of being punctually paid, and
of securing protection for their homes from the
attacks of more powerful neighbours during their
absence. A little farther inland the Wa-kamba are
ready to work on the same conditions ; the Kikuyu
people have been suffering under a bad reputation, and
have never yet been given a fair chance, but there
can be little doubt that with tact and patience their
confidence could be gained, and a vast supply of
labour thereby rendered available ; the Kavirondo
people are willing to do almost anything for a string of
beads, and if they could see the chance of an occasional
gift of meat, either from a bullock — price four or five
dollars — or from the carcass of a hippopotamus, which
could be easily shot at any time by the overseer, the
supply of muscular men and wiry women would be
found to exceed the demand twenty times over. In
Usoga and Uganda this sort of labour is already
organised to some extent by the native chiefs, to whom
the execution of the work would have to be entrusted,
and who already well understand the art of road and
bridge making.

It is only just to those who have especially
interested themselves in securing new fields for
British commerce in Africa, to remind the reader that
this question has not been entirely overlooked. It



TRANSPORT OF GOODS 167



will be remembered that on the Taro plain near the
coast we found that the Imperial British East Africa
Company had cleared a road through thick bush for
about ten miles, and a little farther on about double
that length of road had been constructed by the
energy of the Scottish Industrial Mission at Kibwezi.
I am given to understand, moreover, that since our
departure from the coast this work has been carried
on at the personal expense of the late deeply-regretted
President of the East Africa Company.

We now come to what is perhaps the most im-
portant of all questions in connection with the
establishment of commercial intercourse with the
rich countries of Central Africa, that of the means
of transport of goods. It is well known that from
the earliest times until to-day every parcel and
package of barter-goods, personal baggage, or food
has been carried on the heads or shoulders of men,
occasionally assisted by a few half - starved and
decrepit donkeys. So many abler pens than mine
have written eloquent words about this system that I
should be unwilling to say anything on the subject,
did I not feel that it is the duty of every leader of
an expedition who has been compelled by force of
circumstances to use this only available form of
transit, to lose no opportunity of entering his formal
protest against it. From a moral and humanitarian
point of view the arguments are obvious ; they have,
moreover, been set forth in innumerable books and
pamphlets, and thundered from countless platforms,
frequently with more zeal than accuracy of detail.



i68 THE MISSION TO UGANDA

Therefore, passing over all question of humanity, or of
the rights of man, and shunning all argument as to
the equality or superiority of our black brothers, I
will venture merely to touch briefly upon the utili-
tarian side of the question.

As an animal of burden man is out and out the
worst. He eats more, carries less, is more liable to
sickness, gets over less ground, is more expensive,
more troublesome, and in every way less satisfactory
than the meanest four-footed creature that can be
trained, induced, or forced to carry a load. Why,
then, is the question which naturally occurs to the
stranger, has not some animal ever been substituted
for man ? The answer to this is, that until the last
year or two, since Equatorial Africa has become a
European field of enterprise, all commerce with the
interior from the east coast has been a monopoly in
the hands of Arabs and half-breeds, who have always