natives carrying baggage or returning for more baggage, stepped briskly
aboard a very bobby little craft, clambered over a huge pile of baggage,
and stowed ourselves as best we could. A figure in a long white robe sat
astern, tiller ropes in hand; two half-naked blacks far up towards the
prow manipulated a pair of tremendous sweeps. With a vast heaving,
jabbering, and shouting, our boat disengaged itself from the swarm of
other craft. We floated around the stern of our ship, and were
immediately suspended in blackness dotted with the stars and their
reflections, and with various twinkling scattered lights. To one of
these we steered, and presently touched at a stone quay with steps. At
last we set foot on the land to which so long we had journeyed and
towards which our expectations had grown so great. We experienced "the
pleasure that touches the souls of men landing on strange shores."

FOOTNOTES:

[2] 82-88° degrees in daytime, and 75-83° degrees at night.




VIII.

MOMBASA.


A single light shone at the end of the stone quay, and another inside a
big indeterminate building at some distance. We stumbled towards this,
and found it to be the biggest shed ever constructed out of corrugated
iron. A bearded Sikh stood on guard at its open entrance. He let any one