It is amazing how these people mutilate themselves so as to be what they consider beautiful. The ears of many of the women are punched like sieves, in order that they may hold rings of various kinds. At one place I saw a girl with a ring of corks, each about as big around as my little finger, put through holes in the rims of her ears. She had a great cork in each lobe and three above that in each ear. There was a man beside her who had two long sticks in his ears; and in another place I saw one who had so stretched the lobe holes that a good-sized tumbler could have been passed through them. Indeed, I have a photograph of a man carrying a jam pot in his ear. The most numerous of the natives here in Mombasa are the Swahilis. These are of a mixed breed found all along the central coast of East Africa. They are said to have some Arab blood and for this reason, perhaps, are brighter and more businesslike than the ordinary native. The Swahilis are found everywhere. They have little settlements in the interior in the midst of other tribes, and the Swahili language will carry one through the greater part of Central and East Africa. The British officials are required to learn it, and one can buy Swahili dictionaries and phrase books. During most of my journey I shall take a Swahili guide with me, or rather a black Swahili boy, who will act as a servant as well as guide. Let me give you a picture of the Swahili women as I see them here. Their skins are of a rich chocolate brown and shine as though oiled. They have woolly hair, but they comb it in a most extraordinary way, using a razor to shave out partings between the rows of plaited locks so that when the hair is properly dressed the woman seems to have on a hood of black wool. I took a snapshot of two girls who were undergoing the process of hairdressing yesterday, fearing the while that their calico gowns, which were fastened by a single twist under the armpits, might slip. A little farther on Jack took a photograph of another giddy maiden clad in two strips of bright-coloured calico and numerous earrings, while I gave her a few coppers to pose for the picture. At the same time on the opposite side of the street stood a black girl gorgeous with jewellery. In her nose she had a brass ring as big around as the bottom of a dinner bucket, and her ears had holes in their lobes so big that a hen’s egg could be put through them without trouble. Not only the lobes, but the rims also were punctured, each ear having around the edges five little holes of about the size of my little finger. These holes were filled with rolls of bright-coloured paper cut off so smoothly that they seemed almost a part of the ear. The paper was of red, green, and blue and looked very quaint. [Illustration: The coast Negroes of East Africa are often Swahilis, descendants of Arab traders and their native wives. They have a dialect of their own and pride themselves on being more intelligent than the pure-bred Africans.]