Here you are in the heart of Africa, almost directly under the Equator. Port Florence is on the eastern side of Lake Victoria. It is a new town, in so far as Europeans are concerned. The Uganda railway leading to the port of Mombasa ends here. About the only whites to be found are officers of the British government, and employees of the railroad. These natives belong to the Swahili tribe of the black race. They are peaceable, but cannot be called civilized. They are not far removed from the cannibal state of savagery. The climate makes clothes needless, and it is good that it dies. The scanty clothes they wear - a breechcloth and a robe (sometimes) - are far from clean. Their chief dress consists of bright ornaments. Like all savages or near-savages, these black people like decoration. They wear armlets, bracelets, anklets, finger rings, ear rings, lip

pegs, nose pegs, necklaces, and browbands. From the woods and their small fields these people bring in loads of products to sell at Port Florence. Shippers send some of these goods to Mombasa for shipment on boats to Europe. There are here spread out before you beans, roots, bananas, sweet potatoes, and mealies. Mealies is the chief grain food of the central African. It is a mixture of corn and millet. A fairly good cake can be made of the ground meal of this mixture. You see a few native baskets lying about; but most of the products are carried to the market in leaf baskets, or as in the case of stems of bananas, on the bare shoulders. The shelter sheds were built by railroad. Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa. It is almost as big as Lake Superior. Its waters feed the Nile River.