It
Is Pathetic To Read That Only Two Days Later A Large
Portuguese Fleet Appeared Off The Harbour, Bringing
The Long-Looked-For Reinforcements.
After this the
Portuguese made several attempts to reconquer
Mombasa, but were unsuccessful until 1728, when
the town was stormed and captured by General
Sampayo.
The Arabs, however, returned the next
year in overwhelming numbers, and again drove
the Portuguese out; and although the latter
made one more attempt in 1769 to regain their
supremacy, they did not succeed.
The Arabs, as represented by the Sultan of
Zanzibar, remain in nominal possession of
Mombasa to the present day; but in 1887 Seyid
Bargash, the then Sultan of Zanzibar, gave for an
annual rental a concession of his mainland
territories to the British East Africa Association, which
in 1888 was formed into the Imperial British East
Africa Company. In 1895 the Foreign Office took
over control of the Company's possessions, and a
Protectorate was proclaimed; and ten years later
the administration of the country was transferred
to the Colonial Office.
The last serious fighting on the island took place
so recently as 1895-6, when a Swahili chief named
M'baruk bin Rashed, who had three times
previously risen in rebellion against the Sultan of
Zanzibar, attempted to defy the British and to
throw off their yoke. He was defeated on several
occasions, however, and was finally forced to flee
southwards into German territory. Altogether,
Mombasa has in the past well deserved its native
name of Kisiwa M'vitaa, or " Isle of War"; but
under the settled rule now obtaining, it is rapidly
becoming a thriving and prosperous town, and as
the port of entry for Uganda, it does a large
forwarding trade with the interior and has several
excellent stores where almost anything, from a
needle to an anchor, may readily be obtained.
Kilindini is, as I have said, on the opposite side
of the island, and as its name - "the place of deep
waters" - implies, has a much finer harbour than
that possessed by Mombasa. The channel between
the island and the mainland is here capable of
giving commodious and safe anchorage to the
very largest vessels, and as the jetty is directly
connected with the Uganda Railway, Kilindini
has now really become the principal port, being
always used by the liners and heavier vessels.
I had spent nearly a week in Mombasa, and was
becoming very anxious to get my marching orders,
when one morning I was delighted to receive an
official letter instructing me to proceed to Tsavo,
about one hundred and thirty-two miles from the
coast, and to take charge of the construction of the
section of the line at that place, which had just then
been reached by railhead. I accordingly started
at daylight next morning in a special train with
Mr. Anderson, the Superintendent of Works, and
Dr. McCulloch, the principal Medical Officer;
and as the country was in every way new to me,
I found the journey a most interesting one.
The island of Mombasa is separated from the
mainland by the Strait of Macupa, and the railway
crosses this by a bridge about three-quarters of a
mile long, called the Salisbury Bridge, in honour of
the great Minister for Foreign Affairs under whose
direction the Uganda Railway scheme was undertaken.
For twenty miles after reaching the mainland,
our train wound steadily upwards through
beautifully wooded, park-like country, and on
looking back out of the carriage windows we
could every now and again obtain lovely views of
Mombasa and Kilindini, while beyond these the
Indian Ocean sparkled in the glorious sunshine as
far as the eye could see. The summit of the Rabai
Hills having been reached, we entered on the
expanse of the Taru Desert, a wilderness covered
with poor scrub and stunted trees, and carpeted in
the dry season with a layer of fine red dust. This
dust is of a most penetrating character, and finds its
way into everything in the carriage as the train
passes along. From here onward game is more or
less plentiful, but the animals are very difficult to
see owing to the thick undergrowth in which they
hide themselves. We managed, however, to catch
sight of a few from the carriage windows, and also
noticed some of the natives, the Wa Nyika, or
"children of the wilderness."
At Maungu, some eighty miles from the coast,
we came to the end of this "desert," but almost
the only difference to be noticed in the character
of the country was that the colour of the dust had
changed. As our train sped onwards through the
level uplands we saw a fine ostrich striding along
parallel with the line, as if having a race with us.
Dr. McCulloch at once seized his rifle and by a
lucky shot brought down the huge bird; the next
and greater difficulty, however, was to secure the
prize. For a time the engine-driver took no
notice of our signals and shouts, but at last we
succeeded in attracting his attention, and the
train was shunted back to where the ostrich had
fallen. We found it to be an exceptionally fine
specimen, and had to exert all our strength to
drag it on board the train.
Soon after this we reached Voi, about a hundred
miles from the coast, and as this was the most
important station on the line that we had yet come
to, we made a short halt in order to inspect some
construction work which was going on. On
resuming our journey, we soon discovered that a
pleasant change had occurred in the character of
the landscape. From a place called N'dii, the
railway runs for some miles through a beautifully
wooded country, which looked all the more
inviting after the deadly monotony of the wilderness
through which we had just passed. To the south
of us could be seen the N'dii range of mountains,
the dwelling-place of the Wa Taita people, while
on our right rose the rigid brow of the N'dungu
Escarpment, which stretches away westwards for
scores of miles.
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