62 ( No. 86 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS within the East Africa Protectorate. On the On the map the existing railway system resembles the skeleton of a gigantic dinosaur lying in a north -westerly direction between ocean and lake, with legs stretching westward to Kilimanjaro and Lake Magadi, and an upperjaw planned to arch over the north - east end of Lake Vic toria. The Kilimanjaro branch , extending a hundred miles from Voi ( mile 104 ) , has recently been linked up by the military authorities with the German line from Tanga and the Usambara highlands . Further north, at m. 287 , the Magadi Railway branches off, running 91 miles down steep gradients to serve the soda deposits of Lake Magadi. Nairobi (m . 330) is the starting point of a short line which reaches out to Thika,32 miles north , and which may in the future be carried on through the agricultural "district of Fort Hall towards thewooded slopes of Mount Kenya. From Nakuru ( m . 452) theprojected extension , for which the preliminary surveyshave been completed and the neces sary grants voted, will run out in a north -westerly curve towards Mumias . This , the Uasin Gishu (Gwas Ngishu ) Railway, will open up an agricultural district, and mayin the future be carried westward to Uganda and the Congo, so as to offer an easier and continuous passage for the traffic from these regions. A proposal has recently been mooted for the construction of another line , to run south from the neighbourhood of Lumbwa (m . 521) for about 150 miles to Ikoma, in what was German East Africa, traversing a district said to be well watered, suitable for agriculture and cattle-raising, and healthy for Europeans.

Two offshoots of the Uganda Railway are found in the Uganda Protectorate. The Busoga Railway, 61 miles long, connects Lake Victoria with Lakes Kioga and Kwania . The embryo line , six miles long, which now links Port Bell and Kampala , seems destined in course of timeto extend westward to the Congo border. These two railways convey a large proportion of the traffic of Uganda and Eastern Congo down to Lake Victoria , whence it is shipped across to the Uganda Railway for transmission to distant markets.