south of the Goro Escarpment (though the true Boran countries are Liban and Dirri in Abyssinian territory), while Somali occupy the country between the Tana and Juba rivers. Of the Somali tribes the Herti dwell near the coast and are more or less stationary. Further inland is the nomadic tribe of Ogaden Somali. The Gurre, another Somali tribe, occupy the country south of the lower Daua. Primitive hunting tribes are the Wandorobo in Masailand, and scattered tribes of small stature in various parts. The coast-land contains a mixed population of Swahili, Arab and Indian immigrants, and representatives of numerous interior tribes.
Provinces and Towns.—The protectorate has been divided into the provinces of Seyyidie (the south coast province, capital Mombasa); Ukamba, which occupies the centre of the protectorate (capital Nairobi); Kenya, the district of Mt. Kenya (capital Fort Hall); Tanaland, to the north of the two provinces first named (capital Lamu); Jubaland, the northern region (capital Kismayu); Naivasha (capital Naivasha); and Kisumu (capital Kisumu); each being in turn divided into districts and sub-districts. Naivasha and Kisumu, which adjoin the Victoria Nyanza, formed at first the eastern province of Uganda, but were transferred to the East Africa protectorate on the 1st of April 1902. The chief port of the protectorate is Mombasa (q.v.) with a population of about 30,000. The harbour on the south-west side of Mombasa island is known as Kilindini, the terminus of the Uganda railway. On the mainland, nearly opposite Mombasa town, is the settlement of freed slaves named Freretown, after Sir Bartle Frere. Freretown (called by the natives Kisaoni) is the headquarters in East Africa of the Church Missionary Society. It is the residence of the bishop of the diocese of Mombasa and possesses a fine church and mission house. Lamu, on the island of the same name, 150 m. north-east of Mombasa, is an ancient settlement and the headquarters of the coast Arabs. Here are some Portuguese ruins, and a large Arab city is buried beneath the sands. The other towns of note on the coast are Malindi, Patta, Kipini and Kismayu. At Malindi, the “Melind” of Paradise Lost, is the pillar erected by Vasco da Gama when he visited the port in 1498. The harbour is very shallow. Kismayu, the northernmost port of the protectorate, 320 m. north-east of Mombasa, is the last sheltered anchorage on the east coast and is invaluable as a harbour of refuge. Flourishing towns have grown up along the Uganda railway. The most important, Nairobi (q.v.), 327 m. from Mombasa, 257 from Port Florence, was chosen in 1907 as the administrative capital of the protectorate. Naivasha, 64 m. north-north-west of Nairobi, lies in the rift-valley close to Lake Naivasha, and is 6230 ft. above the sea. It enjoys an excellent climate and is the centre of a European agricultural settlement. Kisumu or Port Florence (a term confined to the harbour) is a flourishing town built on a hill overlooking Victoria Nyanza. It is the entrepôt for the trade of Uganda.
Communications.—Much has been done to open up the country by means of roads, including a trunk road from Mombasa, by Kibwezi in the upper Sabaki basin, and Lake Naivasha, to Berkeley Bay on Victoria Nyanza. But the most important engineering work undertaken in the protectorate was the construction of a railway from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza, for which a preliminary survey was executed in 1892, and on which work was begun in 1896. The line chosen roughly coincides with that of the road, until the equator is reached, after which it strikes by a more direct route across the Mau plateau to the lake, which it reaches at Port Florence on Kavirondo Gulf. The railway is 584 m. long and is of metre (3.28 ft.) gauge, the Sudan, and South and Central African lines being of 3 ft. 6 in. gauge. The Uganda railway is essentially a mountain line, with gradients of one in fifty and one in sixty. From Mombasa it crosses to the mainland by a bridge half a mile long, and ascends the plateau till it reaches the edge of the rift-valley, 346 m. from its starting point, at the Kikuyu Escarpment, where it is 7600 ft. above the sea. It then descends across ravines bridged by viaducts to the valley floor, dropping to a level of 6011 ft., and next ascending the opposite (Mau) escarpment to the summit, 8321 ft. above sea-level—the highest point on the line. In the remaining 100 m. of its course the level sinks to 3738 ft., the altitude of the station at Port Florence. The railway was built by the British government at a cost of £5,331,000, or about £9500 per mile. The first locomotive reached Victoria Nyanza on the 26th of December 1901; and the permanent way was practically completed by March 1903, when Sir George Whitehouse, the engineer who had been in charge of the construction from the beginning, resigned his post. The railway, by doing away with the carriage of goods by men, gave the final death-blow to the slave trade in that part of East Africa. It also facilitated the continued occupation and development of Uganda, which was, previous to its construction, an almost impossible task, owing to the prohibitive cost of the carriage of goods from the coast—£60 per ton. The two avowed objects of the railway—the destruction of the slave trade and the securing of the British position in Uganda—have been attained; moreover, the railway by opening up land suitable for European settlement has also done much towards making a prosperous colony of the protectorate, which was regarded before the advent of the line as little better than a desert (see below, History). The railway also shows a fair return on the capital expenditure, the surplus after defraying all working expenses being £56,000 in 1905–1906 and £76,000 in 1906–1907.
Mombasa is visited by the boats of several steamship companies, the German East Africa line maintaining a fortnightly service from Hamburg. There is also a regular service to and from India. A cable connecting Mombasa with Zanzibar puts the protectorate in direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. There is also an inland system of telegraphs connecting the chief towns with one another and with Uganda.
Agriculture and other Industries.—In the coast region and by the shores of Victoria Nyanza the products are tropical, and cultivation is mainly in the hands of the natives or of Indian immigrants. There are, however, numerous plantations owned by Europeans. Rice, maize and other grains are raised in large quantities; cotton and tobacco are cultivated. The coco-nut palm plantations yield copra of excellent quality, and the bark of the mangrove trees is exported for tanning purposes. In some inland districts beans of the castor oil plant, which grows in great abundance, are a lucrative article of trade. The sugar-cane, which grows freely in various places, is cultivated by the natives. The collection of rubber likewise employs numbers of people.
Among the European settlers in the higher regions much attention is devoted to the production of vegetables, and very large crops of potatoes are raised. Oats, barley, wheat and coffee are also grown. The uplands are peculiarly adapted for the raising of stock, and many of the white settlers possess large flocks and herds. Merino sheep have been introduced from Australia. Ostrich farms have also been established. Clover, lucerne, ryegrass and similar grasses have been introduced to improve and vary the fodder. Other vegetable products of economic value are many varieties of timber trees, and fibre-producing plants, which are abundant in the scrub regions between the coast and the higher land bordering the rift-valley. Over the greater part of the country the soil is light reddish loam; in the eastern plains it is a heavy black loam. As a rule it is easily cultivated. While the majority of the African tribes in the territory are not averse from agricultural labour, the number of men available for work on European holdings is small. Moreover, on some of the land most suited for cultivation by white men there is no native population.
In addition to the fibre industry and cotton ginning there are factories for the curing of bacon. Native industries include the weaving of cloth and the making of mats and baskets. Stone and lime quarries are worked, and copper is found in the Tsavo district. Diamonds have been discovered in the Thika river, one of the headstreams of the Tana.
Trade.—The imports consist largely of textiles, hardware and manufactured goods from India and Europe; Great Britain and India between them supplying over 50% of the total imports. Of other countries Germany has the leading share in the trade. The exports, which include the larger part of the external trade of Uganda, are chiefly copra, hides and skins, grains, potatoes, rubber, ivory, chillies, beeswax, cotton and fibre. The retail trade is largely in the hands of Indians. The value of the exports rose from £89,858 in 1900–1901 to £234,664 in 1904–1905, in which year the value of the imports for the first time exceeded £500,000. In 1906–1907 the volume of trade was £1,194,352, imports being valued at £753,647 and exports at £440,705. The United States takes 33% of the exports, Great Britain coming next with 15%.
Government.—The system of government resembles that of a British crown colony. At the head of the administration is a governor, who has a deputy styled lieutenant-governor, provincial commissioners presiding over each province. There are also executive and legislative councils, unofficial nominated members serving on the last-named council. In the “ten-mile strip” (see below, History), the sultan of Zanzibar being territorial sovereign, the laws of Islam apply to the native and Arab population. The extra-territorial jurisdiction granted by the sultan to various Powers was in 1907 transferred to Great Britain. Domestic slavery formerly existed; but on the advice of the British government a decree was issued by the sultan on the 1st of August 1890, enacting that no one born after that date could be a slave, and this was followed in 1907 by a decree abolishing the legal status of slavery. In the rest of the protectorate slavery is not recognized in any form. Legislation is by ordinances made by the governor, with the assent of the legislative council. The judicial system is based on Indian models, though in cases in which Africans are concerned regard is had to
