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 III!' ■— 
 
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 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
 
 BRITISH 
 EAST AFRICA 
 
 PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 
 
 By lord HINDLIP 
 
 F.R.G.S., F.Z.S 
 
 LONDON 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 1905
 
 [All rights resen<ed.'\
 
 n 
 
 r 
 
 ; I 
 
 DEDICATED BY PERMISSION 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR CHARLES ELIOT, K.C.M.G. 
 
 LATE HIS majesty's COMMISSIONER FOR 
 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF REGARD IN RECOGNITION OF 
 
 HIS SERVICES TO THE COUNTRY, AND AS A 
 
 PROTEST AGAINST THE TREATMENT 
 
 HE RECEIVED.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION AND SIR CHARLES ELIOT'S 
 RESIGNATION 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Sir Charles Eliot's resignation — The Masai — Their 
 origin — Occupation — Marriage customs — Dress 
 and habits — What led to Sir C. Eliot's resignation 
 — The East African Syndicate — Application for 
 concessions— Messrs Bovvker, Chamberlain and 
 Flemmer — Their application refused — Messrs 
 Jackson and Bagge — Sir Charles and the Masai 
 locations 1-9 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION AND SIR CHARLES ELIOT'S 
 RESIGNATION — contitiued 
 
 Correspondence between Mr Jackson and Sir Charles 
 
 Eliot — Solution of the Masai problem . 10-22
 
 X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE UGANDA RAILWAY 
 
 PAG«S 
 
 The railway and its critics — Its financial history — The 
 railway cat— The Protectorate dog — Construction 
 of the line — The Indian invasion — Indian com- 
 mercial morality — Trade on the railway — The 
 labour question — Temporary work — Probable 
 railway extension — New lines — The difficulties of 
 construction — Upkeep 23-30 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The High Commissioner and his staff — Provinces — 
 Continual change of local officials — Is it 
 necessary? — Health of stations — A sanitorium 
 required — Absence of survey — The Veterinary 
 Department — Indefinite boundaries — Difficulties 
 for settlers — Financial system — Sanitation — 
 Nairobi — Kisumu — The most unhealthy town — 
 Grass huts — Unfit for human habitation — Un- 
 necessary sacrifice of life 31-42 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ADMINISTRATION — continued 
 
 The Foreign Office and antiquated methods — Fixing 
 responsibility — More instances of negligence —
 
 CONTENTS xi 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The forces of the Protectorate — Massing the 
 poHce force — The Nandi — Fighting the Nandi 
 — Ridiculous operations — Government raid — 
 Native poHce and white settlers — The Abyssinian 
 question — The northern boundary — Its occupation 
 and protection — Fear of the Abyssinians — The 
 Boer Settlement — A possible menace — Govern- 
 ment farms — Expensive luxuries — Zebras crossing 
 with horses 43' 54 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ADMINISTRATION — continued 
 
 The settler's grievance — Necessity for a legislative 
 council — The amalgamation of East Africa and 
 Uganda — Sir Harry Johnston's scheme — The 
 Indian Penal Code — Indian traders and white 
 settlers — Speculation in town sites — Indian 
 currency — Unsuitability of the Ceylon currency 
 — Steamship services — German competition . . 55*^4 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 
 
 The value of the Pax Britannica — Tribal raids — The 
 tribes and the payment of taxes — The hut tax — 
 Payment in kind discountenanced — The value of 
 a cash demand — A tax on wives— Difficulties of 
 tax collection — Native collectors and their methods 
 — An iniquitous system — The suppression of Indian
 
 xii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Stores — Freebooters and Government control — 
 Labour supply — Unsuitability of rice food — 
 Extravagant sportsmen — Rich casuals — Labour 
 commission 65-77 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 East Africa as a white man's country — No attempt to 
 procure immigrants — Hampering settlers — Invent- 
 ing restrictions — A private estate of the Foreign 
 Office — A dog-in-the-manger policy — The grant 
 of Zionists — A history of settlers' difficulties — 
 The change to the Colonial Office — A final 
 warning 78-96 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 LAND AND PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS 
 
 The Protectorate and its boundaries — Zones — 
 Temperatures — A tropical and rich strip — The 
 water question — Government boring experiments 
 — A white man's country — Nairobi — Lord 
 Delamere's estate — Lord Hindlip's station — The 
 third zone 97-106
 
 CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS 
 
 PAOES 
 
 Minimum capital for intending settlers — Ploughs — 
 Oxen — Stock different districts will carry — 
 Medicine — Stock to import — Fencing — Housing 
 — Native languages 107-118 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A settler's views of game preservation 
 
 Licences — Anomalies — Casual sportsmen — Fencing 
 vegetations for preservation of game — Game 
 reserves — Some suggestions 119-132 
 
 APPENDIX 133 
 
 INDEX 139
 
 To teach you your business I offer no claim, 
 But the man who looks on sees a deal of the game. 
 — Whyte Melville.
 
 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 cs CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION AND SIR CHARLES ELIOT's 
 RESIGNATION 
 
 Sir Charles Eliot's resignation — The Masai — Their origin — 
 Occupation — Marriage customs — Dress and habits — What 
 led to Sir C. Eliot's resignation — The East African 
 Syndicate — Application for concessions — Messrs Bowker, 
 Chamberlain, and Flemmer — Their application refused — 
 Messrs Jackson and Bagge — Sir Charles and the Masai 
 locations 
 
 '■^ Some take their tucker with Tigers and so?ne with the 
 Giddy J/aja/."— Rudyard Kipling. 
 
 The trag-ic and almost dramatic resignation 
 of Sir Charles Eliot was the means of causing 
 many people to hear of the Masai, perhaps 
 for the first time in their lives. For a short 
 time it seemed probable that Sir Charles' 
 resignation would be taken up and an explana- 
 tion demanded, but it was, unfortunately, only 
 looked upon as a stick v/ith which to beat 
 
 A i
 
 2 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 the Government, and was dropped like a hot 
 potato when it was regarded (quite wrongly) 
 as entirely a question of native rights, and 
 no one in England was sufficiently acquainted 
 with local facts and necessities to dispel the 
 illusion. I do not intend to attempt to exhaus- 
 tively consider the manners and customs of the 
 Masai beyond what is necessary to acquaint 
 my readers with the circumstances which led to 
 the enforced resignation of Sir Charles Eliot, 
 and the loss (I hope only temporary) of a public 
 servant whose services the Empire can ill 
 afford to dispense with. 
 
 The Masai, or rather the Masai proper, who 
 are the main body and the real Masai, and 
 who are the "persons concerned," are a 
 pastoral nomadic race who are supposed, 
 though I believe there is no positive proof, 
 to have migrated southwards, and are perhaps 
 distantly related to the Somalis. Their occupa- 
 tions consist of stock-raising and raiding their 
 neighbours, or other portions of their tribe. 
 Their young men, or Laionis, from their boy- 
 hood up to the time of their circumcision, 
 are employed in herding their stock, cattle, 
 sheep, goats, and donkeys. From the date 
 of circumcision the youth blossoms out into 
 an El Moran, and is a warrior on the fighting
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 3 
 
 strength of his tribe. During the warrior 
 period, and until at the age of somewhere 
 about thirty, they become an Elder or Meru 
 and are allowed to marry, the Morans generally 
 live in distinct villages or Kraals, in sexual 
 intimacy with the immature girls of the tribe 
 until the latter have approached their woman- 
 hood, when they also undergo an operation ; 
 and a girl who shows any objection to follow 
 the universal custom and choose a lover is 
 often held up to scorn and derision. After 
 marriage the Meru is looked upon as an old 
 man, and joins in the tribal councils, while 
 he goes back to the bow and arrow of his 
 boyhood, and generally lives a life of ease, 
 and occasionally of debauch. 
 
 This custom of the Morans cohabiting with 
 the young girls has had a most injurious 
 effect upon the tribe, and unless suppressed 
 by contact with civilisation, will very possibly, 
 with the aid of venereal diseases imported 
 by Swahilis and Indians, which are very 
 rife among the Masai, reduce their numbers 
 to a very considerable extent. The arms 
 of a Masai during his youth consist of a 
 bow and arrow, and a club or Knobkerrie. 
 When he becomes a Moran, he discards the 
 bow and arrow, the club is carried behind
 
 4 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 in his belt, and his offensive weapons are 
 the typical Masai spear and a long, heavy 
 knife called a " Sime " ; while, for defence, he 
 carries a large shield, generally oval-shaped, 
 decorated with his family arms and made out 
 of buffalo or ox hide. On ceremonial occasions, 
 a head-dress made of a lion's mane is worn, 
 while the face is encircled by a leather band 
 into which ostrich feathers are fastened. On 
 entering the state of ease and becoming a 
 Meru, he reverts once more to the weapons 
 of boyhood, the bow and arrow, which he is 
 not allowed to use while a Moran. 
 
 Both sexes are fond of personal adornment, 
 the most noticeable, which is common to both 
 men and women, being the decoration, or 
 rather the mutilation of the ear, in which a 
 hole is pierced at a very early age and is 
 gradually stretched until it is possible to insert 
 a round piece of wood of about two and a 
 half inches or more in diameter. The phrase 
 "rings on her fingers and bells on her toes" 
 may be suitably applied to the men of the 
 Masai, anklets with a kind of bell being 
 worn, and bracelets, while one common armlet 
 consists of a leather band round the upper 
 arm with two uprights joined by a chain. 
 
 Clay and grease take the place of pomades
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 5 
 
 and powder among the toilet necessities, and 
 a gentleman dressed up for the occasion is a 
 very pleasant sight at a distance. As far as 
 actual clothing goes no one can accuse the 
 Masai of being over-dressed, a skin or piece 
 of cloth, or, when in affluence, a blanket, being 
 all that is required by the most fastidious 
 dandy. In Nairobi, however, no natives, not 
 even the favoured Masai, are supposed to be 
 allowed without a loin cloth ; such is the 
 punctiliousness of the inhabitants. 
 
 The ladies clothe themselves with care and 
 decorate themselves in profusion from wrist 
 to elbow, elbow to shoulder, and from ankle 
 to calf with bracelets, armlets, anklets, leglets, 
 made of iron wire. The neck is surrounded 
 with ring upon ring of wire, while resting on 
 the bosom are often curious flat coils of the 
 same material. Shaven heads are the rule, 
 and occasionally the face is slightly mutilated 
 or tatooed. The women make good milk- 
 maids. Polygamy is practised, though not 
 to the extent common among polygamists. 
 The Masai at present neither cultivate nor 
 kill game for food, therefore they are excellent 
 game rangers, except when their presence in 
 force drives game from their vicinity. Their 
 food is almost exclusively obtained from their
 
 6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 flocks and herds, and therefore consists of 
 milk, blood, and flesh. Warriors are forbidden 
 to eat anything else ; Merus, Laionis, and 
 women may, I believe, eat more or less what 
 they please, but when at home seldom avail 
 themselves of their privileges. When away, 
 however, they often prefer "forbidden" or 
 uncommon "fruit" — a practice not confined 
 to savages. 
 
 Having introduced the Masai, I will now 
 come to the events which led to the resigna- 
 tion of Sir Charles Eliot. Prior to the influx 
 of settlers, but not before concessions of land 
 had been applied for and taken up, the East 
 African Syndicate (which owes its inception 
 to a few men who served and travelled in 
 East Africa) had a staff of men under Major 
 Burnham of scouting fame, scouring the 
 country in a necessarily very superficial 
 manner for minerals, gold, and precious 
 stones. Except for two finds, one the dis- 
 covery of gold on the Victoria Nyanza, said 
 to be valueless, and the other, a soda deposit 
 on Lake Magardi, south of the railway in 
 Masai Land, which is supposed to be valuable, 
 their efforts were fruitless. The first applica- 
 tion made by the East African Syndicate for 
 a concession was entered on 22 nd April
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 7 
 
 1902, but apparently nothing more was heard 
 of it by the Foreign Office till May 1903, 
 when the Syndicate intimated that they had 
 selected 500 square miles, which was certainly 
 as much, if not more, within the nominal limits 
 of the Masai grazing grounds (the real cause 
 of the trouble) than were applications which 
 were put forward by Messrs Bowker, Chamber- 
 lain & Flemmer. Hard words have been used 
 in reference to the Syndicate, and they are 
 generally thought to have been granted the 
 land on far too easy terms. I do not quite 
 agree with the latter criticism, as they were 
 certainly the first in the field except small 
 settlers. I do, however, think that settlers in 
 East Africa need not look for support from 
 the Syndicate in their demands^ for reforms 
 or for concessions likely to benefit the 
 community. On receiving applications from 
 Messrs Bowker, Chamberlain & Flemmer, 
 Sir Charles Eliot twice asked for informa- 
 tion concerning them, first on 25th May in 
 a telegram which miscarried, and, secondly, 
 on loth September 1903. There was no 
 question raised of their not being desirable 
 persons, or that they should not be granted 
 their land because they were likely to speculate 
 
 1 I may say that I am a shareholder.
 
 8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 in it, but the application was refused by the 
 Government, the sole reason given being 
 that the grant, if given, would interfere with 
 the grazing rights of the Masai. It would thus 
 appear that a large tract of 500 square miles 
 might be granted to an influential Syndicate 
 in London, but that individual private settlers, 
 like Mr Chamberlain, Mr Flemmer, and Mr 
 Bowker, could not be granted 32,000 acres 
 apiece. This refusal was contained in Lord 
 Lansdowne's telegram to Sir Charles Eliot 
 on 27th February 1904, of which I quote 
 one sentence : " I am advised that the grant 
 of lands in these grazing grounds (Masai), 
 except the area comprised in the lease to 
 the East African Syndicate, may lead to 
 serious difficulties, and I cannot sanction 
 them." This was the first intimation received 
 by Sir Charles Eliot that his policy was not 
 approved by his superior, and that the latter 
 was being advised by Sir Charles' sub- 
 ordinates. This was followed on 3rd March 
 by a despatch from the Secretary of State 
 stating that "the Masai" "are said to be 
 quite satisfied that the lease (to the Syndicate) 
 should be given, and have expressed their con- 
 fidence in the gentleman (Colonel Smith) to 
 whom the local arrangements will be entrusted,
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 9 
 
 so that no apprehension need be felt as regards 
 that district." 
 
 Lord Lansdowne, as Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, could hardly be expected to 
 be as intimately acquainted with the (in 
 reality) comparatively unimportant affairs of 
 East Africa as was desirable that he should 
 have been ; and it was most unfortunate that 
 his decision should have been given on the 
 advice of Messrs Jackson & Bagge, two of 
 Sir Charles Eliot's subordinate officials, who 
 were apparently not favourably disposed towards 
 European immigration.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION AND SIR CHARLES ELIOT's 
 
 RESIGNATION — continued 
 
 Correspondence between Mr Jackson and Sir Charles Eliot 
 — Solution of the Masai problem 
 
 " It all went into the Laundry, but it never came out in the 
 wash." — RuDYARD Kipling. 
 
 A CONSIDERABLE amount of correspondence 
 
 passed between Mr Jackson and Sir Charles 
 
 Eliot in 1903, to which I will briefly refer. 
 
 In a memorandum of July 1903 Mr Jackson 
 
 states in reference to land questions : " In 
 
 Uganda the question has been settled with 
 
 the various tribes by agreement, and it is 
 
 recognised throughout the Protectorate that 
 
 land occupied by natives belongs to them, 
 
 and only unoccupied land to the Government." 
 
 The situation in the two countries, or rather 
 
 in Uganda and the country used by the Masai, 
 
 is totally different. Uganda tribes are not 
 10
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION ii 
 
 nomadic, the Masai are nothing but nomadic 
 raiders. Another point which must not be 
 overlooked, though it is perhaps open to some 
 criticism, is that East Africa is a white man's 
 country, while Uganda is said not to be. In 
 the same paper Mr Jackson states : " Europeans 
 are not likely to ask for anything but the best, 
 neither are many of them likely to allow the 
 Masai to graze their cattle and flocks on their 
 land." Men who leave their homes to try 
 and better their fortunes in a new country 
 naturally wish to obtain the best available 
 land, and it stands to reason that when their 
 holding is stocked they cannot allow other 
 flocks and herds to graze on what is necessary 
 for their own ; although till their flocks are 
 large enough to require almost the whole 
 holding, Masai cattle and sheep, if free from 
 disease, would be useful in keeping the coarse 
 grass down. Again, in another memorandum 
 of 15th August 1903, Mr Jackson, in suggest- 
 ing that the Masai should be placed on a 
 reserve round Navaisha and on both sides of 
 the railway, says : " This reserve as suggested 
 would only affect two out of five applicants 
 for land, and as these two appear to think 
 that there is such a brilliant future and fortune 
 before them in wool and frozen mutton, and
 
 12 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 that they are both prepared to go to consider- 
 able expense, they will no doubt easily find 
 other areas equally good and handy to the 
 railway, though perhaps at first not quite so 
 suitable for sheep as those areas that have 
 been grazed for generations by the Masai 
 fiocks." The suggestion of creating a native 
 reserve on the railway to the exclusion of 
 white settlers was outside the bounds of 
 practical politics, and was typical of the 
 attitude adopted in certain quarters towards 
 settlers ; while the remark as to fortunes in 
 wool and frozen mutton was certainly ill-timed 
 and most unnecessary sarcasm. Sir Charles, 
 in a clear and lucid memorandum on native 
 rights in the Naivasha province, points out 
 very forcibly that "two things seem to me to 
 have been confused : 
 
 " I. The right of the Masai to inhabit 
 particular districts. 
 
 " 2. Their right to monopolise particular 
 districts, 
 and keep every one else out." Sir Charles 
 then asks for the following information, i.e., 
 "an estimate of: — 
 
 " I. The numbers of Masai. 
 
 " 2. The averagfe number who live in one 
 village.
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 13 
 
 " 3. The number of sheep and cattle which 
 they possess " — 
 ending up with the perfectly harmless and, I 
 think, almost necessary remark, "The Masai 
 should beware of exaggerating their numbers, 
 as they might be called upon to pay more 
 hut tax." Bearing in mind the propensity of 
 all natives to swagger and exaggerate their 
 personal powers, wealth, etc., this seems an 
 innocent remark and would seem to o-uard 
 against unjust taxation, yet it brings forth a 
 most indignant sentence from Mr Bagge, who 
 says : "I have no reason whatever to suppose 
 that the Masai would for one instant inten- 
 tionally exaggerate their numbers, etc. ; " while 
 Mr Jackson interprets it to mean coercive 
 methods or an increase in the tax (3 rupees), 
 and declares that any increase would be a 
 breach of faith. This is distinctly humorous. 
 Is an extra id. in the £ income tax a breach 
 of faith? It surely cannot be maintained that 
 the hut tax for the Masai must remain at 
 3 rupees per hut for ever more, and that the 
 tax can neither be altered nor raised. 
 
 The peculiar partiality entertained by Messrs 
 Jackson, Bagge and the Foreign Office for 
 the Masai was misplaced, unnecessary, and, 
 having regard to the Other tribes of East
 
 14 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Africa, unjust. The sole reason, apparently, 
 for treating the Masai differently from other 
 tribes, not only in East Africa, but in other 
 countries where white men have made their 
 home, was, unless any occult reason existed, 
 because relations with them have never been 
 sufficiently strained to necessitate an expedition 
 against them. The slaughter of a Government 
 caravan consisting of a thousand or more un- 
 armed porters in 1894 seems to have been 
 overlooked. Sir Charles was perfectly correct 
 when he described their customs as "Beastly, 
 bloody, and immoral." As for their friendliness 
 to us, it is extremely doubtful that it arises from 
 any affection or disinterested motives. The 
 Elders or Merus are friendly and try to curb 
 their young Morans, because they know that 
 if they did not their peaceable existence would 
 probably be rudely disturbed. Another factor 
 conducive to friendliness, which does not bear 
 out Mr Bagge's statement of 29th September, 
 that " Assemblages of warriors are being, and 
 have been, continually discouraged," is that- 
 their Morans are used as friendlies in our 
 punitive expeditions, where they are used 
 chiefly for capturing cattle and sheep, and are 
 able to indulge in their favourite pastime of 
 killing without fear of retaliation. That efforts
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 15 
 
 are made to prevent cold-blooded murder, and 
 that rewards are, I believe, offered on these 
 occasions for women brought in unhurt, I am 
 willing to admit, and although the Masai are 
 generally in charge of one white man, it is 
 impossible for him to exercise much control 
 over them ; and the employment of the Masai 
 or other such-like friendlies, though perhaps 
 necessary for the capture of cattle, lays the 
 authorities open to charges of inhumanity ; 
 and led a late lamented officer in the Uganda 
 service to describe himself as " a Captain of 
 Bashi Bazouks, a raider, etc." 
 
 That the Masai deserve their reputation for 
 bravery and justify the opinion expressed by 
 their champions is open to considerable 
 criticism and doubt. When they existed in 
 very large numbers they were the terror of 
 the country for hundreds of miles (on one 
 occasion they raided almost to Mombasa), 
 extracting blackmail from all passing through 
 their so-called districts, and bullying any 
 and all weaker tribes who were unfortunate 
 enough to be their neighbours. Owing to 
 their reputation all caravans passing through 
 or near them were well armed, but it does not 
 seem that they ever did very much harm to an 
 armed Safari,^ whether a white man's or a 
 ^ Safa Ri = Caravan.
 
 i6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 native trader's. The late Colonel Vandeleur, 
 in his book, writing of the Masai and the 
 Nandi, says : " The Masai have never dared 
 to raid into their country (namely, Nandi), 
 preferring probably a less warlike and more 
 defenceless enemy." Again, in the unfortunate 
 Nandi expedition of 1900, when Colonel 
 Evatt's column was so roughly handled, the 
 doughty Masai friendlies huddled round the 
 Maxim and impeded its fire to a considerable 
 extent. 
 
 The solution of the Masai problem is not 
 hard. All parties concerned seem to agree 
 that they must be placed on a reserve ; but 
 the difference of opinion lies in where they 
 should be placed. The Foreign Office and its 
 chosen advisers wished to make the reserve 
 round Naivasha on both sides of the line, 
 and comprising some of the best land in the 
 Protectorate, to the exclusion of European 
 immigrants and to the detriment of the 
 interests of the railway and the country. If 
 no one was to be allowed to settle, except the 
 favoured Syndicate, anywhere in a district or 
 districts occasionally used by the Masai, why, 
 in the name of fortune, build a railway through 
 the country? In all reports presented to 
 Government prior to and during the construe-
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 17 
 
 tion of the railway, tribute has been paid to 
 the country and colonisation has been more or 
 less foretold, but, unfortunately, disregarded 
 by the authorities, no doubt owing, to use Sir 
 Charles' expression, to the Consular methods 
 of administration at home. Sir Charles Eliot's 
 pet project — if I may call it so — was to allow 
 the Masai to live among the settlers, and by 
 that means he no doubt hoped that by degrees 
 they would become absorbed as herdsmen, 
 policemen, boys, etc. This plan would not 
 have worked for any length of time, and his 
 alternative scheme was the only one really 
 worth taking into consideration, namely, 
 placing the Masai on Laikipia. The chief 
 objection advanced by the supporters of the 
 Naivasha reserve to this scheme was that 
 the Masai would be too far off, that they 
 would be out of touch and control would 
 be lost, and a contemplated outbreak would 
 not be discovered till too late. That fear is 
 groundless, for with a competent officer with 
 a force at his disposal stationed in the reserve 
 and due precautions taken, less apprehension 
 need be felt than if the Masai were close to 
 settlements. The Masai can certainly travel 
 far and fast, but a telegraph message, a 
 heliograph, or even mounted men, can travel 
 faster.
 
 i8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 During the period between his first cable 
 asking for information regarding Messrs 
 Flemmer and Chamberlain and his resigna- 
 tion, Sir Charles had, owing to the Foreign 
 Office policy, or rather lack of one, been 
 placed in a very false and unenviable position. 
 Every one in East Africa who wished to 
 take up land, or who was seeking for know- 
 ledge or for information as to what he could 
 do and what he could not, was blaming 
 Sir Charles for his apparent vacillation and 
 helplessness, while he, loyal to his chief at 
 home, took the whole blame on his own 
 shoulders, even when a demand was made 
 for his recall by the settlers ; and not till his 
 resignation was accepted was the truth known. 
 Then followed a revulsion of feeling, and 
 people saw how they had been duped. The 
 immediate result of Sir Charles' resignation 
 was that many men left East Africa in disgust 
 and despair, and many more were persuaded 
 not to immigrate owing to the idea, fast 
 gaining ground (and naturally), that no white 
 men were really wanted in the country, 
 except the favoured East African Syndicate. 
 It was not till Sir Donald Stewart, the next 
 Commissioner, declared that the Masai should 
 be moved, and that he was anxious to further
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 19 
 
 the interests of settlers and hasten the develop- 
 ment of the country, that the mischief done 
 by the Foreign Office was checked. If the 
 present policy of Sir Donald Stewart and 
 the Colonial Office, of placing the Masai on 
 a reserve on Laikipia with a Civil Collector 
 and a body of troops, is carried out, the 
 Masai question is practically solved. Certain 
 regulations and restrictions must, however, be 
 made, and, what is more important, maintained 
 and enforced. First of all, the Masai must 
 be kept on the reserve and the reserve must 
 be kept for them ; and, what is even more 
 important, they must be prevented from raiding 
 once and for ever. The objectionable practice 
 of using them as auxiliaries, except in a case 
 of grave danger, which tends to foster their 
 tribal customs and murdering propensities, 
 must be put an end to. If this policy is 
 carried out firmly and in its entirety, I see 
 no danger or likelihood of trouble. They 
 know that if they attempted to rise against 
 the whites, all their old foes would be only 
 too delighted to, in their turn, play the 
 part of friendlies, and, while helping the 
 Government, get a little of their own back 
 again. 
 
 The Masai Laionis already make excellent
 
 20 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 house-boys and herdsmen. I have had experi- 
 ence of an almost raw Masai as cook, and he 
 was as good as any ordinary native chef, 
 while the Roman CathoHcs have, I hear, 
 succeeded in making very fair carpenters of 
 some. Encouragement should be oiven to the 
 chiefs to send their Laionis out into service ; by 
 this means mutual knowledge would be gained 
 both by Masai and whites. The Laionis would 
 grow up, and if raiding is abolished, their 
 fighting spirit would not be fostered ; they in 
 their turn would become old men who would 
 likewise in their turn help to do away with 
 the present tribal customs ; the race of Morans, 
 therefore, as warriors would die out, and in a 
 generation or two the Masai, as the word 
 Masai is now interpreted, would cease to 
 exist, and probably the necessity for a reserve 
 would in the not far distant future be non- 
 existent. The Masai are supposed to be a 
 race who will never take to work willingly ; 
 an interesting and instructive parallel may be 
 drawn from the report of the Department of 
 Indian affairs in Canada, in which it is stated 
 that in twelve months, ending June 1904, 
 127,290 dollars had been earned by the 
 Indians of Manitoba and the north-west 
 territories numbering 24,336 in all. Surely
 
 THE MASAI QUESTION 21 
 
 if the Redskin will take to honest labour the 
 Masai will. A word in conclusion : Sir Charles 
 has been compelled to resign owing to his 
 high ideas of right and wrong. He refused 
 to play the part of phonographic receiver in 
 East Africa ; he had a definite policy which 
 he was not allowed to carry out,^ but which 
 has been practically adopted by his successor 
 and the Colonial Office, and events have 
 proved him to be in the right. His despatches 
 were perhaps not such as the Foreign Office 
 were wont to receive, and as such perhaps 
 placed him in the wrong. His policy was 
 the right one, and it would be a great boon 
 to the nation and a gracious act on the part 
 of the Foreign Office or Colonial Office to 
 reinstate him in his former high position in 
 some post where his undoubted abilities would 
 enable him to again work for the Empire. 
 He left East Africa with the knowledge that 
 he had done his best for the country, that 
 his efforts were, and are, appreciated by settlers, 
 and that the policy he propounded has been 
 adopted by the Colonial Secretary. If Sir 
 Charles is compelled to remain in oblivion, his 
 case is but poor encouragement to any public 
 servant who believes in his own judgment, 
 
 ' Appendix.
 
 22 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 and who refuses to be simply a dummy at 
 the end of a wire. 
 
 I wonder if the efforts of Sir Charles Eliot 
 and Sir F. Younghusband would have met 
 with their respective rewards at the hands 
 of the Colonial Office ?
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE UGANDA RAILWAY 
 
 The railway and its critics — Its financial history — The railway 
 cat — The Protectorate dog — Construction of the line — 
 The Indian invasion — Indian commercial morality — Trade 
 on the railway — The labour question — Temporary work — 
 Probable railway extension — New lines — The difficulties 
 of construction — Upkeep 
 
 " Money ^ like manure, does no good till it is spread. 
 There is no real use of riches except in the distribution.^'' 
 
 — Maxim. 
 
 With the exception of its constructors and the 
 late Committee of Management the Uganda 
 Railway has few champions, but neither its 
 most rabid opponent nor its most severe critic 
 can say that it should not have been built. 
 What would Uganda and East Africa have 
 been without it ? Valueless, certainly, and 
 they might possibly have even passed into 
 other hands. It has lately been described as 
 one of " the largest advertisements of the 
 British Empire," and not quite so lately as
 
 24 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 " the English Panama," which certainly was 
 an exaggeration. Personally, I should say it 
 provides future statesmen with a valuable 
 object-lesson of "how not to do it." 
 
 Having decided to build the line, there 
 were three courses open : one was to call for 
 tenders and build it by contract, another 
 was to call in the assistance of a financier 
 or financiers who might have had the line 
 built to certain specifications in a given time 
 with a guarantee of interest from the Govern- 
 ment, the third course was to construct the 
 line departmentally. Tenders were called for, 
 submitted, and for some unknown reason, 
 refused ; the third method was adopted, and 
 a committee was formed by the Foreign 
 Office of most excellent and worthy gentlemen 
 to build a railway into the heart of Africa ! 
 This committee was entirely separate from 
 the administration of the East African Pro- 
 tectorate, through whose territory the line 
 was to run ; the railway zone was separate 
 and under the entire control of the railway 
 authorities, who also employed their own 
 police. The result of this was that the 
 railway and the Protectorate might well be 
 compared to the Uganda Railway cat and the 
 East Africa Protectorate dog — the cat, as
 
 THE UGANDA RAILWAY 25 
 
 usual, oretting: all the old ladv's milk and the 
 poor dog the bones. To the charges of ex- 
 cessive cost which is the chief cause of com- 
 plaint, the champions of the railway reply that 
 conditions were very hard and peculiar, and that 
 compared to many lines the average cost per 
 mile was not so extraordinarily high ; these 
 two arguments are very easy ones to advance, 
 but it does not follow that because A. spends 
 a great deal of money on a certain enterprise 
 or venture, that because B. does not spend 
 much more or as much in a possibly similar 
 undertaking, he does not spend more than 
 necessary. It is quite futile to deny that the 
 Uganda Railway has cost more than it should 
 have done, because it is patent to every one 
 who travels on it with even half an eye open, 
 while if one only believes a thousandth part 
 of the stories told of its construction, one is 
 bound to hold up one's hands in bewilderment 
 and wonder if such things could have happened, 
 or whether all David's alleged followers of 
 Ananias have taken up their abode in East 
 Africa for the set purpose of declaiming 
 against the railway. The line was initiated in 
 the first instance by the I.B.E.A. Company, 
 who commenced the construction of a light, 
 narrow gauge line at their own risk, rather
 
 26 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 than waste valuable time and perhaps endanger 
 the enterprise and future of the country by- 
 waiting for a subsidy or grant from a dilatory 
 government. This line was built for a distance 
 of some eight miles, and then had to be 
 abandoned in 1891, owing to the indifferent 
 attitude of the home authorities. When the 
 Foreign Office decided in 1895 to build the 
 line to the Lake, it decided that everything 
 should come from India, which was practically 
 the beginning of what may be termed the 
 Indian invasion. Indian artificers, coolies, 
 drivers, telegraph operators, all were brought 
 into the country, while this necessitated the 
 employment of white men able to speak 
 Hindustani. Naturally with this large number 
 of workmen came storekeepers, merchants, 
 etc., all on the make, and very few were 
 disappointed. The Indian standard of com- 
 mercial morality can hardly be styled a high 
 one, and with so many inhabitants of that 
 country, their peculiar habits and practices 
 had plenty of opportunity. Axles of trucks, 
 conveying railway stores on more than one 
 occasion, are said to have become hot from 
 some mysterious reason ; and the truck, if of 
 a full train, often had to be left behind from 
 that cause at a station, where, curiously enough.
 
 THE UGANDA RAILWAY 27 
 
 was often a load of goods belonging to some 
 Indian merchant which was thus able to con- 
 tinue its journey ; while storekeepers and traders 
 often found themselves at the mercy of drivers 
 or guards to enable them to continue their 
 journey, and not to leave their load behind. 
 Irregularities were freely spoken of, and several 
 scandals occurred, one of which has certainly 
 left an unpleasant feeling of insecurity among 
 merchants new to the country. There are 
 even now by far too many Indians and Goanese 
 employed on the line, all through the system, 
 from storekeepers and station-masters down- 
 wards. Indian drivers are not the most 
 economical in the long run, and some of the 
 Americans who built the viaducts are reported 
 to have stated that the American engines would 
 have a very short life in the hands of their 
 Indian drivers. As trade increases it will be 
 found impossible to handle the traffic without 
 a larger white staff; the slow methods of the 
 Indian, bound up with red tape, would send 
 any English or American railwayman stark 
 staring mad in a few days, and can commend 
 themselves to no railway except, perhaps, a 
 Spanish one. 
 
 It was, of course, impossible to obtain the 
 whole of even the unskilled labour necessary
 
 28 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 in the Protectorate, but I can hardly beHeve 
 that it was obligatory to have imported so 
 many Indian coolies, or that, even if it were 
 so In the beginning, their services could not 
 have been dispensed with sooner. They had, 
 and have, to be fed on expensive imported 
 food-stuffs, and their presence in the country 
 and their intercourse with the natives has had 
 a disastrous effect both morally and physically. 
 The Company was able to obtain a certain 
 amount of labour from the country, and the 
 Government should have made every effort to 
 use the native, and not have imported a single 
 Indian over and above the absolutely lowest 
 number required. 
 
 The amount of temporary work on the line 
 was enormous, and although doubtless the 
 champions of the line will defend it on various 
 grounds, after so great an authority as Colonel 
 Gracey ^ has in his report condemned much of 
 it as unnecessary, the defence does not carry 
 much conviction. However, although the 
 railway has been constructed in a most 
 expensive and wasteful manner, it is now 
 finished, and with the settlement of the country 
 in a fair way towards paying expenses. The 
 line was an absolute necessity for the opening 
 
 ' 6th April 1901.
 
 THE UGANDA RAILWAY 29 
 
 up of East Africa ; although that does not seem 
 to be the object for which it was built, it was 
 a great enterprise which has been justified by 
 events. The policy of the present manage- 
 ment appears to be to reduce freight to a 
 minimum and to do all that is essential for the 
 welfare of the settler in the country ; but until 
 ocean freights are considerably reduced, both 
 the railway and the producer will be heavily 
 handicapped. Feeders or branch lines will 
 soon be necessary — one to Lake Magadi, 
 where the East African Syndicate have a 
 concession of the deposits of soda, will 
 probably be commenced very shortly by a 
 Syndicate formed for the purpose, starting 
 from Kiu or somewhere near there. The 
 construction of three other lines will in the 
 future have to be considered, one from Voi to 
 the German districts and Kilimanjaro, another 
 north from the coast to tap the fertile coast 
 belts, and a third from Nairobi out to the 
 Fort Hall districts where lands have been 
 extensively taken up. Another line has been 
 mentioned as likely to be built from Londiani 
 to Ravine by a Syndicate said to be anxious 
 to exploit the timber in the Ravine district. 
 
 In conclusion, it must be admitted that the 
 constructors of the line had a most arduous
 
 30 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 task, and their paths were beset with many 
 difficulties, while they have brought the enter- 
 prise to a more or less satisfactory termination. 
 Whilst maintaining that the cost was excessive, 
 there is one branch where, with one or two 
 notable exceptions, extravagance has not only 
 been justified, but might well have been 
 imitated by the Foreign Office administration 
 of the Protectorate, and that is that proper 
 dwellings were provided for the white staff 
 employed. It must not be thought that all 
 expenses connected with construction have 
 ceased : considerable ballasting is needed, and 
 a considerable sum needs to be expended upon 
 rolling stock, etc. ; while, in my poor opinion, if 
 East Africa as a country succeeds and comes 
 up to the scratch, the present metre gauge line 
 will be quite inadequate to handle and carry 
 the produce, and the Government and the 
 tax-payer have, I fear, not heard the last of 
 the misnamed Uganda Railway.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The High Commissioner and his stafif — Provinces — Continual 
 change of local ofificials — Is it necessary? — Health of 
 stations — A sanitorium required — Absence of survey — 
 The Veterinary Department — Indefinite boundaries — Diffi- 
 culties for settlers — Financial system — Sanitation — Nairobi 
 — Kisumu — The most unhealthy town — Grass huts — Unfit 
 for human habitation — Unnecessary sacrifice of life 
 
 " What C07istitutes a State ? 
 
 Not high-raised battlemejit or laboured mound. 
 Thick wall, or moated gate ; 
 
 Not cities proud with spires aiid turrets crowned; 
 Not bays and broad armed ports 
 
 Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride; 
 Not starred and spangled Courts, 
 
 Where low-born baseness wafts perfume to pride." 
 — Sir William Jones. 
 
 The East African Protectorate is now ad- 
 ministered by a High Commissioner (Sir 
 Donald Stewart) under the Colonial Office, 
 while there is a Deputy Commissioner whose 
 services are often required to proceed to any 
 point requiring for the moment special atten- 
 tion, and who acts as commissioner when
 
 32 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 the latter is on leave or absent. There are seven 
 provinces, each under a sub-commissioner, and 
 these are subdivided again under collectors 
 and assistant collectors, whose duties are of 
 the most varied description. The collectors 
 and assistant collectors in out-stations, and 
 where they are single-handed, have at times 
 a hardish lot, and as the Administration is 
 under - staffed, they are frequently detained 
 after their leave is due owing to there being 
 no one to relieve them, and for the same 
 reason have to stay in unhealthy stations 
 lono-er than is conducive to health. Occasion- 
 
 o 
 
 ally a collector has to leave his station on 
 account of illness or other cause, and his 
 clerk, generally a Goanese, is left in sole 
 charge. Collectors who are fortunate enough 
 to be left in a healthy station for some time 
 are able to become acquainted with the sur- 
 rounding country and the natives ; but often, 
 when they have gained the confidence of the 
 chiefs and are beg"innino- to do their district 
 justice, they are moved to another station 
 where they have to begin all over again, only 
 to be moved once more. The reason given 
 for not keeping men in a station when they 
 have become intimately acquainted with its 
 workings, and for the continual changing, is
 
 ADMINISTRATION 33 
 
 that it is unfair to keep one man in a healthy- 
 place and another in an unhealthy one. 
 The remedy is simple, but no doubt at first 
 an expensive one, i.e., an increase in the 
 staff, which, however, also means increased 
 efficiency. Districts or provinces with un- 
 healthy stations, and they all have one or 
 more, should always have at least one spare 
 officer who could be sent to take temporary 
 charge of a station while the officer belonging 
 to the station was sick or on leave ; while 
 it would be of great benefit to East Africa 
 and also to Uganda if a sanitorium could be 
 built and maintained in some healthy place 
 where convalescent officials from both Pro- 
 tectorates could be sent to recoup. The 
 Administration is under - staffed throughout, 
 and especially in the Survey Department and 
 Land Office. Great dissatisfaction has been 
 caused by the failure of the Administration 
 to provide for a survey of the country ; for 
 this the local authorities cannot be blamed, 
 and an urgent appeal by Sir Charles Eliot 
 for more money for survey purposes was met 
 with a flat refusal. Another department 
 which has been starved is the veterinary ; the 
 local authorities were driven to such extremities 
 that they had to appoint "quacks." Any one 
 
 C
 
 34 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 would do for a veterin'riry surgeon at the 
 coast and to examine animals entering the 
 country ; and fees were charged for examina- 
 tion of animals by men who, whatever their 
 other qualifications might be, certainly were 
 not fitted for the post of veterinary surgeon. 
 If this was not obtaining money under false 
 pretences I do not know what is ! This has 
 now been rectified, and the Colonial Office 
 certainly appear to be anxious to push on 
 the survey of the country and increase the 
 staff, without which no development can take 
 place. The veterinary department has also 
 been added to. It is impossible to expect a 
 man to develop or even fence his holding 
 until he knows exactly where his land lies ; 
 he cannot afford to fence two or three times 
 or risk building on other people's land, and 
 consequently work is delayed and capital 
 wasted or lying idle. Personally I am a 
 great sufferer, as also is my manager, Mr 
 Clutterbuck. My application for land was 
 made on 31st October 1904. There was no 
 objection, and yet, as I write now, the end 
 of June 1905,^ no attempt has been made to 
 even roughly ascertain my boundaries. 
 
 ' In a letter dated ist August I have heard that a rough 
 survey had been made of a portion of my holding. My survey 
 fees wete paid last Noveiliber 1
 
 ADMINISTRATION 35 
 
 Mr Clutterbuck's case was very annoying, 
 and might have resulted in considerable loss ; 
 and similar cases to his are sure to occur. 
 He applied for, and was granted, his land, and 
 some three or four months after was informed 
 that he could not have it, because it did not 
 exist ; other farms were overlapping. This is 
 really laughable, but it is serious, and typical 
 of the result of eleven years' administration by 
 the Foreign Office. Many intending settlers 
 have left owing to the lack of survey, and 
 because they have been unable to obtain any 
 definite reply to their applications for land. 
 Men coming into a country to earn their living 
 cannot afford to spend months in hotels or 
 travelling round the country looking for land, 
 and then to be told that the districts in which 
 their selections lay are Jew reserves, Masai 
 reserves, game reserves, forest reserves, closed 
 districts, etc. : yet this was the state of things, 
 which has not by any means been entirely 
 remedied yet. 
 
 The financial system was impossible in a 
 new and growing country where the unforeseen 
 was continually happening, and where allow- 
 ance could not under the system be adequately 
 made even for the foreseen. Estimates had 
 t6 be made for the ensuing year sometimes
 
 36 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 even more than a year in advance, and the 
 grant from home was based on these estimates. 
 The utter impossibility of working on such a 
 system, which was a hard-and-fast one, can 
 be imagined. Economy it might be imagined 
 to be, but as false as false can be. For 
 instance, houses have to be erected for officials 
 and for other purposes such as offices, etc., 
 instead of being built and paid for ; the services 
 of Indian speculators are called in and the 
 houses are built by them, the Government 
 finding the land. The Indian builds the house, 
 and the Administration pays lo per cent, on 
 the cost as rent for a number of years, often 
 ten, when the lease falls in ; and unless the 
 Government has exercised its option of 
 purchasing at any time during the lease at 
 cost price ; the house, and presumably the 
 land, becomes the property of the builder. 
 Is this economy ? Is the Government so 
 hard up or its credit so bad that it must 
 pay such a percentage for money? It is 
 devoutly to be hoped that the Colonial 
 Secretary will change this, if he has not 
 already done so. 
 
 ■ Among other matters with which the 
 Treasury will have to be more liberal, or upon 
 which more money will certainly have to be
 
 ADMINISTRATION 37 
 
 spent, are the sanitary arrangements, and the 
 housing and general conditions for the pre- 
 servation of health. Mombasa itself requires 
 much more attention to be paid to sanitation. 
 Most of the official residences are built on 
 high ground, and in positions where the sea 
 breezes blow away mosquitoes, etc. ; but every 
 one cannot be an official, and not even all 
 officials can at present live in the best part of 
 the island. A great deal of the scrub and 
 rank vegetation on the island needs clearing 
 away in the first instance, and when, as must 
 be soon, the main stores and offices are moved 
 across to Kilindini, it is to be hoped that no 
 native village or Indian bazaar will be allowed 
 as near the European settlement as at present 
 at Mombasa. Both Germans and Belgians 
 as well as, I believe, our own West Coast 
 authorities have found that the healthiness 
 of a place is greatly increased by not allowing 
 any native habitations within a given distance 
 of the white settlement. Another problem for 
 the authorities is that of the water supply ; at 
 present all the drinking water in Mombasa is 
 obtained from wells, in case of an epidemic — 
 a source of great danger. Every effort should 
 be made to secure a satisfactory and sufficient 
 water supply to Kilindini, which must supersede
 
 38 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Mombasa as a port, where the fleet could take 
 advantage of the splendid harbour and procure 
 a supply of water instead of, as now, being 
 obliged to go to Zanzibar. 
 
 Nairobi also presents an almost hopeless 
 task to those to whom the sanitary arrange- 
 ments are entrusted. Built, with the exception 
 of the houses of chief officials, the club, and 
 some newcomers, in an absolutely flat level 
 plain which in the rains is often in many 
 places a swamp, and where under many 
 houses, especially those inhabited by Indian 
 railway employees, stagnant water collects, 
 forming ideal breeding - places for anophiles, 
 its future drainage seems a most difficult 
 undertaking. Why Nairobi was dumped down 
 where it is, is hard to conjecture : some passing 
 whim or momentary mental aberration on the 
 part of the first builders is the only solution. 
 Fever is present in Nairobi to a certain extent, 
 and this drawback could have been easily 
 obviated by building the town a mile or so 
 away on rising ground, and leaving perhaps 
 only the station and railway works on the 
 level plain. Nairobi must be the capital of 
 East Africa, and will be in a short time a 
 town of no inconsiderable size. On the hill 
 it is pleasant and healthy, but the town itself,
 
 ADMINISTRATION 39 
 
 with Its flat plain, although at an altitude of 
 some 5,450 feet, with its breeding-places for 
 mosquitoes, its Indian bazaars, and native 
 markets, presents great difficulties to the 
 medical and sanitary staff 
 
 No doubt the most unhealthy, or rather the 
 only really unhealthy, township or station on 
 the Uganda Railway is Kisumu, or in railway 
 nomenclature. Port Florence. Although the 
 new European portion of the township is built 
 on rising ground, and certain precautions, such 
 as a water supply independent of the lake, and 
 the cutting- down of much of the scrub, have 
 been taken, yet the place has a nasty, unhealthy 
 atmosphere, where one always feels as if one 
 had too many clothes on, and where one runs 
 a great risk of catching a severe chill by going 
 about without a coat in the evenings, or where 
 one is exposed to a breeze from the lake. 
 Many thousands of pounds will have to be 
 spent before Kisumu is made a healthy station, 
 and even then I do not see that the effect will 
 be lasting. Papyrus abounds all round the 
 shores of the lake, while into the harbour of 
 the Ugowe Bay floating islands of rank and 
 rotten vegetation are continually being carried, 
 both silting up the harbour and breeding 
 thousands of mosquitoes, while the stench
 
 40 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 from near the pier at night is something 
 terrific. On my return to England in 
 November last year, in an interview with a 
 representative of the Morning Post, I made 
 certain remarks as to the unfitness for human 
 habitation of a grass hut at Kisumu which 
 had been used by Dr Mann for want of a 
 better, and in which the unfortunate officer 
 had died ; and I gave it as my opinion that 
 he had been to all intents and purposes 
 murdered, I was afterwards told by some one, 
 for whose opinion I have the very greatest 
 respect, that this was not for the following 
 reasons a stick with which to beat the 
 Government, (i) Owing to the outbreak of 
 sleeping sickness, it was essential to move up 
 to Kisumu the best medical officer in the 
 country, and also to move the hospital 
 suddenly. (2) That neither the P.M.O. for 
 East Africa or Dr Mann ever complained 
 of the accommodation found for the latter. 
 (3) That a contract given to a firm in the 
 country to build a residence fell through owing 
 to the failure of the firm. (4) And lastly, that, 
 as usual, the Administration had no funds 
 which could be applied for the purpose, or 
 perhaps something might have been done. 
 I really do not quite see that any of these
 
 ADMINISTRATION 41 
 
 arguments meet the case, and certainly they 
 do not alter my opinion, neither can they 
 justify the housing at the terminus of a railway 
 in the year 1904 of any white man in as 
 notoriously an unhealthy station as Kisumu 
 in a grass hut without any protection from 
 mosquitoes. I am of the opinion that for the 
 sum of ^50 or so a temporary mosquito-proof 
 dwelling could have been perfectly well erected, 
 if only the grants had not been so rigidly 
 allocated ; and if prompt attention at home to 
 telegraphic requests could have been relied 
 on, and if the fear of responsibility were not 
 made, as throughout the services, so dominant, 
 a valuable life would possibly not have been 
 sacrificed. If any further argument be needed 
 to prove my contention I may state that since 
 the occupation of Kisumu five Protectorate 
 officials and one railway official have died 
 there, and yet up to the final report of the 
 Uganda Railway Committee about ^5,317,000 
 had been spent on the line, while the sum 
 expended on the Protectorate up to the same 
 date was under ^80,000. This, I think, speaks 
 for itself. I have also heard it argued with 
 reference to the same case that because certain 
 members of a certain commission who once 
 proceeded to Uganda slept in canoes without
 
 42 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 mosquito-nets, and that one anyhow of the 
 number escaped fever, that there was no 
 reason to adequately house officials living 
 permanently at an unhealthy station on the 
 railway in 1904.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ADMINISTRATION — continued 
 
 The Foreign Office and antiquated methods — Fixing responsi- 
 biHty — More instances of negligence — The forces of the 
 Protectorate — Massing the poHce force — The Nandi — 
 Fighting the Nandi — Ridiculous operations — Government 
 raid — Native police and white settlers — The Abyssinian 
 question — The northern boundary — Its occupation and 
 protection — Fear of the Abyssinians — The Boer Settle- 
 ment — A possible menace — Government farms — Expensive 
 luxuries — Zebras — Crossing with horses. 
 
 No ! Men, high-7ninded men. 
 With powers as far above dull brutes endued. 
 In forest, brake, or den, 
 
 As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude j 
 Men, who their duties know. 
 
 But know their rights, afid knowing dare maifitain j 
 Prevent the lo?ig-aimed blow. 
 And crush the tyrant while they rejid the chaift. 
 These constitute a State." Sir William Jones, 
 
 "The Ideal of a State." 
 
 By the same method of controversy or 
 argument I might with just as much reason 
 and truth maintain that " Because in the dim 
 days of BibHcal history Noah and the animals
 
 44 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 lived together in the Ark, that in a.d. 1904 
 there was no reason that the late African 
 branch of the Foreio^n Office and its satellites 
 should not have been content to carry on 
 the affairs of the nation in an antiquated 
 and insanitary barge on the Thames. Of 
 course it is unfortunately impossible to fasten 
 the responsibility on to any one person, and 
 I certainly am not prepared to attempt to 
 do so ; possibly the blame may rest with the 
 British Constitution, possibly with a public 
 office, and possibly with one man. It is 
 only one instance where, owing to the lack 
 of .^50 or £100, an official's life is lost, or 
 where he has had to be invalided home and 
 pensioned, another engaged to take his place, 
 and the Government in the end incurs a far 
 greater expense. 
 
 Another instance also in Kisumu where a 
 few extra rupees would have made all the 
 difference in the comfort and healthiness of 
 a residence, was in the house built to accom- 
 modate the Sub-Commissioner or Collector. 
 This was a substantial, well-built house, 
 composed of stone, and which should have 
 been made proof against mosquitoes. Yet, 
 apparently for no reason, except, I suppose, 
 the want of money, the house was infested
 
 ADMINISTRATION 45 
 
 with these dangerous pests. For one thing, 
 there was no door at all to the front entrance, 
 which should have had at least one door, 
 and if only one, that one should have been 
 made to fit closely, perfectly mosquito - proof, 
 and with a powerful spring to keep it shut. 
 The same applies to at least one other door, 
 which leads out of the sitting-room on to 
 the verandah overlooking the Bay. Here, 
 owing to there being a fastening on only one 
 side, I think on the inner, it was impossible 
 for any one going out by that door to fasten 
 it after him, the result being that the room 
 was always full of mosquitoes, and owing to 
 these two deficiencies, which should not have 
 cost more than 30s. to rectify, the house was 
 by no means a fit and proper residence for 
 white men at a place like Kisumu. 
 
 As a larger grant must be given to the 
 Protectorate, and receipts are increasing and 
 will increase in proportion to the money 
 spent, it may not be out of place to consider 
 where money can be saved. I think that the 
 military force could be very well reduced 
 instead of being increased, which was the 
 intention ; I do not know if it is so still. 
 
 I do no'i think that such a large body of 
 so-called regular troops are necessary, and I
 
 46 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 cordially agree with Sir Charles Eliot when 
 he states : " Well-trained troops which military 
 officers desire are unsuited for administrative 
 purposes, being only intended for use in an 
 emergency. I would, therefore, propose not 
 to have more than a thousand regular troops 
 in the country, and to devote the economy 
 thus made to considerably increasing the 
 police force, who should have a sufficiently 
 military training to enable them, if necessary, 
 to fight with naked savages only armed with 
 spears and arrows." The police arrangements 
 are inadequate and require special attention ; 
 moreover, a mounted force is a necessity, 
 both native and a small, compact body of 
 white mounted police, men after the stamp 
 of the North - West Frontier police : these, 
 combined with a volunteer force and an 
 adequate police, would be quite sufficient to 
 deal with any internal trouble with the aid of 
 the aforementioned regular troops. It has, I 
 believe, been proposed to try and enlist 
 more Masai for the King's African Rifles, 
 but as the general idea, which I do not 
 share, seems to be that the Masai are to be 
 the dreaded factors, I fail to see the force 
 of trying to enlist so many more of them. 
 !n the last report on East Africa, it was
 
 ADMINISTRATION 47 
 
 stated that all fear of trouble with the Nandi 
 was over — that statement was quite incorrect, 
 and perhaps by now has been proved to be 
 so ; the Nandi form a most disturbing element, 
 and their punishment must take place one 
 day. It would have been meted out to 
 them in 1900, only the expedition which was 
 operating against them was injudiciously 
 stopped by a higher authority than the Com- 
 missioner, just after a reverse, which action 
 has had most unfortunate results, and the 
 work, which was then half accomplished, will 
 have to be done again. When I w^as on the 
 railway an exciting account reached me of 
 the Nandi operations near Mohoroni and Fort 
 Ternan. Two columns of troops had left 
 to co-operate with the police at Nandi, and 
 directly they left, the Nandi thought they 
 would pay the railways a visit, which they 
 did, killing several coolies working on the 
 line, and also murdering two Sikh soldiers in 
 broad daylight, within a few hundred yards of 
 their own camp. The situation was comical 
 in the extreme ; here were three columns in 
 the Nandi country looking in vain for the 
 Nandi, who had come down and practically 
 besieged the punitive force's base, where they 
 had built a Boma to hold the cattle they hoped
 
 48 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 to capture. This was done, I suppose, to 
 warn the Nandi that they were to be attacked, 
 although the whole thing was supposed to be 
 a dead secret. The official report on East 
 Africa for 1904 says that the Nandi trouble 
 is over, makes little or no mention of the 
 murdered coolies, and yet, late in 1904, 
 the Nandi were raiding at will, and in 
 1905 attacked the caravan of the Zionist 
 commissioners. 
 
 A word or two on Government punitive 
 expeditions in East Africa will perhaps not 
 be out of place here.^ An East African official 
 once said that every officer should land with 
 two medals; for the first "nigger hunt" he 
 took part in he should lose one, and for the 
 second he should lose the other. I most 
 thoroughly agree with him ; and Sir Charles 
 Eliot strongly deprecated the idea that 
 punitive expeditions were fun, and insisted 
 upon calling them police operations. When it 
 is necessary to punish a tribe the punishment 
 should be short, sharp, and decisive. If the 
 case can be met by the imposition of a fine of 
 cattle, the chief or chiefs should be told that 
 they were to pay so many head in a given 
 time ; and if the fine be not paid by the stated 
 date, then an expedition would be sent, and 
 
 1 Opinion also quoted in " The East Africa Protectorate." 
 Sir Charles Eliot.
 
 ADMINISTRATION 49 
 
 would take double the amount. If the animals 
 were not forthcoming by the given time, then 
 the expedition should start at once and if 
 possible capture the stock, and should return 
 any taken over and above double the original 
 fine, unless fighting had taken place when 
 more should be kept. If this were done 
 the Government would cease to be regarded 
 as mere looters, and would be thought just. 
 All tribes have from time everlasting been 
 accustomed to raids and to counter-raiding in 
 return. The Government follows the same 
 plan ; one day it retaliates and takes what it 
 can lay hands on, but there is no system or 
 systematic punishment, and often fines are 
 never enforced — a fatal error. 
 
 A white police force, if not already needed, 
 and I maintain that it is, will certainly be 
 necessary in a very short time. With the 
 rapidly increasing European population the 
 employment of native police solely will sooner 
 or later be sure to lead to trouble with the 
 settlers. I know that it is not the policy or 
 intention of Sir Donald Stewart to arrest a 
 settler except by a white officer if he can help 
 it, but cases are sure to occur, and to attempt 
 to arrest whites with black police will be fatal, 
 and in the interests of the prestige of the 
 
 D
 
 50 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 white man throughout Africa should not be 
 attempted. 
 
 Again speed is everything, and a small body 
 of mounted men could often stop a raiding 
 party of natives, or a freebooting party of 
 Indians, Somalis, or Whites when all the 
 regular infantry in the country would be 
 perfectly useless. The Abyssinian question 
 is really the only one for which a large force 
 must be kept. When the northern boundary 
 of East Africa is decided upon it must be 
 occupied at once ; and as it will probably 
 stretch from somewhere on the eastern shore 
 of Lake Rudolph to Kismayu, a force of 
 Somalis or Soudanese mounted on the hardy 
 Boran pony of the country would be most 
 valuable for keeping up a system of patrols, 
 and also for holding up parties of raiders who 
 break through the posts. Camels might also 
 be used, as they are indigenous. To keep up 
 this force sounds impossible because of the 
 expense it would necessarily entail, but I feel 
 convinced that there would be little difficulty 
 in inducing Boran people to pay heavy taxes 
 in order to escape the cruelties and oppression 
 of the Abyssinians. Somalis who have been 
 through the country have often told me that 
 the Borana, like us, detest the Abyssinian, and
 
 ADMINISTRATION 51 
 
 would be only too thankful for an English 
 occupation — not projection. 
 
 When it is realised that from one unfortunate 
 tribe, the Turkhana, who live on the western 
 shores of Lake Rudolph, a year or so ago the 
 Abyssinians stole 25,000 head of stock, it is 
 not to be wondered that tribes would pay large 
 tribute to ensure their safety. The Abyssinian 
 question is a serious one, and must be faced 
 directly the boundary is delimitated, or trouble 
 and endless difficulties will ensue. A secondary 
 danger is that of the Somalis north of the 
 Juba. The last expedition sent against them 
 was hardly successful, but as I know practically 
 nothing of the question I merely refer to it. 
 While on the subject of defence it will not be 
 out ol place to refer to the Boer settlement 
 supposed to have begun near Kilimanjaro, in 
 German East Africa, where the Germans are 
 said to be encouraging the Boers to settle, and 
 arming them freely. Several parties have been 
 heard of poaching on the Masai Land game 
 reserve, and it is a factor in the situation which 
 must not be lost sight of. They may very 
 likely prove to be a disturbing element, and 
 it may be noted that there are some very 
 serviceable field guns in German East Africa, 
 and none in British.
 
 52 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Before leaving the subject of grants in aid 
 I might throw out a further suggestion towards 
 retrenchment. I must confess that I do not 
 see the use of or necessity for the Government 
 farms ; they are very expensive, and might 
 very well be abolished. Nothing is grown by 
 them which cannot be produced by settlers ; 
 and as there are now in East Africa men 
 from every colony, it is probable that certain 
 individuals know more of produce peculiar 
 to the country whence they came than any 
 one person official or unofficial. The farms, 
 according to the report for 1904, are managed 
 on anything but business methods, therefore 
 they must tend to destroy individual enterprise, 
 which should be encouraged and not dis- 
 couraged. Later, possibly, when the Admini- 
 \ stration is in a position to run farms on 
 practical and business lines, perhaps take 
 pupils, and generally run them for purposes 
 of education, they might prove to be most 
 valuable assets ; but in the present state of the 
 country they are of little benefit, for it surely 
 cannot be claimed that they attract desirable 
 settlers. One plea may possibly be advanced 
 for their retention, i.e., on account of the zebras. 
 It will prove a great boon to Africa generally 
 if the zebra can be successfully crossed with
 
 ADMINISTRATION 53 
 
 the horse and retain its immunity from Ts^- 
 Tse. Still, even if the Zebra Ranche were 
 retained, its cost is put down at ;!^8oo per 
 annum ; this might be maintained separately 
 from any farm and solely for the purpose of 
 crossing. In the same report it is stated that 
 thoroughbred stock costs too much to import 
 for crossing purposes ; this surely is not so. A 
 really serviceable blood stallion can be easily 
 purchased for from £2^ to £ap in England ; 
 add £^^0 for freight, fodder, etc., to Kilindini, 
 £b or £"] railway fare to Naivasha, and ^15 
 for incidental expenses, £"] for insurance, and 
 the cost to Naivasha is, say, ^100, and this, I 
 think, is an outside figure. Personally, I have 
 landed one seventy miles beyond Naivasha 
 for less, and his price in England — ^42 — was, 
 I think, his full value, and a suitable animal 
 should be obtained for £y:y. 
 
 In South Africa I believe the broken zebras 
 have never been successful because they are 
 said to have a very bad, or perhaps very good, 
 memory, and that unless they are worked 
 nearly every day they, after a short rest, 
 become again unmanageable. As expensive 
 luxuries and toys they may have uses and 
 a certain value, but the future of the zebra, if 
 there be one, lies in successful mating with
 
 54 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 horses and ponies ; and as the wild zebra will, 
 I fear, disappear, though not in the immediate 
 future, these are certainly strong arguments in 
 favour of the continuation of the Zebra Ranche. 
 Young zebras are easily caught and tamed, but 
 are most difficult to rear. 
 
 My last suggestion towards reduction of 
 expenditure lies in the labour wages and in the 
 rationing of labourers, and also prisoners. The 
 Government is in very many cases or places 
 the greatest offender in keeping up the rate 
 of wages, and also, except in out-stations, they 
 ration natives of the country on rice, an 
 expensive and imported food-stuff which is 
 quite unnecessary. By substituting an equal 
 ration of native food, Matama flour and beans 
 for rice, the cost of rationing the men per man 
 per diem would be halved, which would reduce 
 a considerable item of expenditure. The same 
 remarks apply to native prisoners, and as I 
 shall refer to this subject again in the chapter 
 dealing with Labour I will, for the moment, 
 leave it.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ADMINISTRATION — Continued 
 
 The settler's grievance — Necessity for a legislative council — 
 The amalgamation of East Africa and Uganda — Sir Harry 
 Johnston's scheme — The Indian Penal Code — Indian 
 traders and vi'hite settlers — Speculation in town sites — 
 Indian currency — Unsuitability of the Ceylon currency — 
 Steamship services — German competition 
 
 " Tribunes^ we will have tribunes.'''' — Lord Macaulay. 
 
 The greatest grievance among the settlers 
 and the unofficial community, and a most 
 natural one, is that they have no representa- 
 tion, and consequently no voice in the govern- 
 ment of the country, or in the formation of 
 regulations relating to matters of vital im- 
 portance to their interests. Naturally for 
 the present representative government is out 
 of the question, but some kind of legislative 
 council in which representatives of the settlers 
 and the unofficial community will have seats 
 is to my mind an absolute necessity. This 
 question of representation and the proposals 
 
 65
 
 56 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 for amalgamating Uganda and East Africa 
 do not seem to be widely different, and I 
 will attempt to discuss them together. In 
 April last, after reading in the Mo7^ning Post 
 an able article on the amalgamation of African 
 interests, it appeared to me that the most 
 important question in East Africa, namely, 
 representation, had been overlooked, and I 
 was induced to write a letter to the same 
 paper, drawing attention to this point, which 
 I now give almost verbatim. 
 
 "The problem of the administration of our 
 African possessions is one which has been 
 put before your readers on several occasions, 
 and it has been advocated that Uganda and 
 East Africa should be united and placed under 
 one High Commissioner. It appears to me 
 that concerning these two countries the most 
 important factor in the future has been over- 
 looked. This point is the influence which 
 the present and future white unofficial popula- 
 tion of East Africa must have on the develop- 
 ment and destinies of the country. It seems 
 to me that the conditions of the two Pro- 
 tectorates are totally different. In Uganda 
 there is a species of native civilisation, a 
 country unfitted for the support of a white 
 population or colony ; land questions have
 
 ADMINISTRATION 57 
 
 been settled, and native rights are vested and 
 acknowledged ; the chiefs rule to a great 
 extent, and cases are referred to them, I 
 believe, by officials. In East Africa you 
 have a country where at present there are 
 some five hundred white families ; land 
 questions are under consideration, the country 
 is capable of supporting a large white popula- 
 tion, and perhaps in the future it will rank 
 among the food - producing countries of the 
 world. The country has emerged from the 
 condition in which it was subject to the bureau- 
 cratic consular jurisdiction of the Foreign 
 Office, and has passed under the experienced 
 and enlightened rule of the Colonial Office. 
 Sir Donald Stewart is working for the settlers' 
 interests, and has even called meetings of 
 settlers to discuss matters appertaining to 
 the defence of the country ; a Land Commis- 
 sion has been sitting, on which were appointed 
 two unofficial members. It is idle to suppose 
 that a colony of five hundred families, a 
 number which is constantly increasing, will 
 rest content without some kind of representa- 
 tion in the councils of the Commissioner. 
 If all form of representation is withheld it will 
 create a feelinof of intense dissatisfaction, and 
 it will not tend to allay friction between the
 
 58 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 official and the unofficial communities. Such 
 a scheme has already been adopted in German 
 East Africa, where the unofficial population 
 is certainly not as large as in British East 
 Africa. If, therefore, in the not far distant 
 future East Africa is formed into a Crown 
 colony and amalgamated with Uganda, the 
 unofficial members of any council might be 
 perhaps called upon to legislate upon matters 
 appertaining to Uganda with which they 
 would not be conversant, and which would 
 be much better dealt with by a commissioner 
 for that country. The interests and future 
 of the two countries seem to be so totally 
 different that I hope that no amalgamation 
 will be made without due consideration being 
 paid to the points I have ventured to set 
 forth in this letter. In view of the great 
 engineer'ing schemes for the regulation of the 
 Nile, is it too much to suppose that perhaps 
 the future high road to Uganda may be via 
 the waterway of the Pharaohs, and not via 
 the Suez Canal and the Uganda Railway ? " 
 Provided that the interests of settlers do 
 not suffer, that they are granted some form 
 of representation and that their opinions on 
 matters concerning their own affairs are not 
 likely to be rejected without very good reason,
 
 ADMINISTRATION 59 
 
 I am not prepared to oppose the amalgama- 
 tion of the two Protectorates ; and although 
 I reserve the right to change my opinion, I 
 think I may join with Sir C. Eliot in agree- 
 ing with Sir H. H. Johnston's proposal, which 
 was that the two Protectorates should be united 
 under a High Commissioner assisted by three 
 Deputy Commissioners — one for the coast, one 
 for the Highlands and Kisumu, and one for 
 Uganda, from which might be separated the 
 Nile province, which could be added to the 
 Sudan territories, and which could be supplied 
 to a great extent by the Nile steamer. But 
 if this arrangement be carried out, I — and I 
 am sure the majority of settlers in the country 
 will agree with me — should stipulate that 
 the Deputy Commissioner for the Highlands 
 should be brought in from some colony, and 
 that he should be a man of tried ability, 
 conversant with the necessities of a white 
 agricultural population. But at the same time 
 any change in administration which may delay 
 the formation of a council on which settlers 
 will be represented is to be strongly depre- 
 cated : and will cause intense irritation and 
 dissatisfaction among the unofficial community. 
 Among other matters to be noted by the 
 Colonial Office both in the consideration
 
 6o BRITISH EAST AFT^ICA 
 
 of the amalgamation proposals and in the 
 ordinary administration of the East Africa 
 Protectorate, is the law under which all 
 sections of the population of the two countries 
 are to be governed. At present the Indian 
 Penal Code is in force amplified by various 
 ordinances and regulations which are con- 
 tinually being repealed, changed, or re- 
 enacted, to such an extent that, as there is 
 no means of discovering what law is really 
 in force except through wading through 
 columns of print and innumerable issues of 
 the Official Gazette, in many cases it is 
 almost an impossibility to discover what rule 
 is for the time being law. The Indian Penal 
 Code may work excellently in India, but it 
 is inapplicable in an uncivilised country, while 
 it is out of place in a young colony. I have 
 heard it said that Canada is freer from crime 
 than almost any other country, owing to the 
 simplicity and paucity of its laws ; but then 
 Canada has been ruled and made by men 
 who understand their business. I am aware 
 that in a new country it is impossible to do 
 without ordinances and regulations, but they 
 $hould be changed as little as possible. But 
 as files of the Gazette have to be searched 
 and a new man at a station sometimes finds
 
 ADMINISTRATION 6i 
 
 them incomplete, great delay is caused, and 
 a list of rules and reg-ulations miiJ^ht well be 
 published every six months, which would 
 save delays and endless clerical work. 1 
 cannot resist, while on the subject of law in 
 East Africa, relating the following anecdote, 
 which I have every reason to believe to be 
 a true one, and if it is not, perhaps some one 
 will be kind enough to correct me. A settler 
 and the employee of another settler had each 
 certain articles of wearing apparel — to wit, a 
 pair of boots and a pair of trousers — stolen by 
 the same thief, The thief was arrested, and 
 the two gentlemen who had been robbed 
 were warned to appear on a certain date to 
 prosecute. I should mention that the court 
 where the trial was to take place was some 
 fifty miles distant, and that there existed no 
 sort of accommodation for travellers, which 
 meant that any one proceeding there would 
 be obliged to take a camp and outfit with 
 him. The two prosecutors did not appear, 
 possibly because one was without his boots, 
 and the other did not wish to appear in public 
 minus his nether garments, with the result 
 that the thief was discharged, the two 
 prosecutors were fined different sums for 
 Contempt of Court, and the Revenue of the
 
 62 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Government was augmented by the confisca- 
 tion, intentional or otherwise, of the stolen 
 property. 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that the Indian 
 trader is such a power in the land, and there 
 are unpleasant feelings of insecurity which 
 should be dispelled at once. The authorities 
 should confirm and amplify Sir C. Eliot's 
 statement, that the Highlands should be kept 
 for white settlers. Nairobi is to a great 
 extent the property of Indians, to whom 
 every opportunity of speculating in town 
 sites at a minimum risk has been given. 
 There is a great danger also that by means 
 of mortgages they may become possessed of 
 agricultural land, and for this reason, transfer 
 of land except among white men should be 
 forbidden. If, however, the Administration 
 intends to go back on its word, let it do so 
 at once before settlers have incurred greater 
 losses. The Highlands are unfitted for 
 Indians, but there is not so much reason 
 why they should not be allowed to settle 
 on the coast belt and also in the province 
 of Kisumu, where crops peculiar to tropical 
 climates flourish, and where white men cannot 
 live in absolute comfort. The Indian currency 
 was another incident of the Indian invasion,
 
 ADMINISTRATION 63 
 
 and apparently as a parting shot in a death 
 struggle, the Foreign Office proposed and 
 has forced upon the unfortunate country that 
 bastard coinage, the rupees and cents of 
 Ceylon. The one saving clause is that paper 
 notes will be issued, which will save great 
 trouble and expense ; but why, in the name of 
 all that is wonderful, a coinage only current 
 in a small Eastern island should be foisted 
 upon a young, rising, white colony, whose 
 trade will in the future be with white countries 
 where the English coinage runs, passes all 
 comprehension. 
 
 It is a great pity that there is practically 
 no English steamship line running out to East 
 Africa, the cargo boats of the British India 
 being unable to contend with the foreign lines, 
 and only carrying a percentage of the cargo, 
 which is borne chiefly by the German East 
 Africa, while the majority of the passenger 
 traffic goes to the Austrian Lloyd. It is not 
 only the traffic to and from East Africa and 
 Uganda which should attract a steamship line, 
 but a considerable amount of passenger and 
 oroods for the Congro Free State and German 
 East Africa goes in and out via the Uganda 
 Railway, while further south, besides German 
 East Africa, there are British Central Africa,
 
 64 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Portuguese East Africa, and Delagoa Bay. 
 It is said that the Steamship Hne, which would 
 most naturally undertake the service, contends 
 that it is at present not feasible, but granted 
 a reasonable subsidy, a good English line would 
 soon capture the majority of the east coast 
 trade, and also would give a great impetus to 
 colonisation and progress, at any rate, in East 
 Africa.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 
 
 The value of the Pax Britannica — Tribal raids — The tribes and 
 the payment of taxes — The hut tax— Payment in kind dis- 
 countenanced — The value of a cash demand — A tax on wives 
 — Difficulties of tax collection — Native collectors and their 
 methods — An iniquitous system — The suppression of Indian 
 stores — Freebooters and Government control — Labour 
 supply — Unsuitability of rice food — Extravagant sportsmen 
 — Rich casuals — Labour commission 
 
 " A little rule, a little sway, 
 A sunbeam in a winter's day. 
 Is all the proud and mighty have 
 Between the cradle and the grave" 
 
 —Dyer. 
 
 The taxation of uncivilised people is a very 
 complex question, and one which has to be 
 treated most carefully. It may be argued 
 that it is not rigrht to tax natives livinor in 
 their own land, but it must be remembered 
 that if it were not for the Pax Britannica 
 the tribes who pay tribute would be subject 
 to raids (as they very often are in spite of
 
 66 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 it) from their neighbours, and perhaps have 
 to pay the equivalent of taxes to another 
 and more powerful tribe. _ Ii_seems fair, then, 
 to demand certain payments in return for, at 
 any rate, a show of protection and the opening 
 up of trade. It is a matter for congratula- 
 tion that many of the tribes pay taxes quite 
 willingly, and that in many cases even the 
 initial collection of them has been made with- 
 out any opposition or bloodshed. The present 
 taxation of natives takes the form of hut tax, 
 which is supposed to vary from two to three 
 rupees per hut per annum. The payments are 
 made by means of sheep, goats, ivory, grain, 
 labour, and cash. The payment in kind (such 
 as sheep or goats) should be, I think, dis- 
 couraged, except in the case of tribes who 
 have no other means of making payment. 
 One reason for discouraging payment in kind, 
 in addition to those I shall refer to under 
 grain payments, is because there is consider- 
 able risk of loss and wastage. The number 
 of a flock of sheep driven into a station 
 is frequently lessened en route^ and often 
 there is no immediate sale for them at the 
 station. Payment^ even in male ivory should 
 
 ^ In the French Congo a decree has been recently issued 
 prohibiting the payment of taxes in ivory.
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 67 
 
 also be discouraged for obvious reasons, while 
 immature male and any and all female ivory- 
 should be confiscated at sight, and the owners 
 fined, unless in cases where the system 
 has only just been initiated. It is difiicult 
 to determine whether the payment in grain, 
 tobacco, cotton, etc., should be encouraged 
 or not. I am strongly inclined to say "No" 
 for the following reasons. One of the most 
 important questions to be considered is that 
 of labour, without a sufificiency of which no 
 development can take place ; and if much 
 encouragement is given to the natives to pay 
 their taxes in grain, etc., the supply of labour 
 will visibly decrease. I am sure that as far 
 as possible taxes should be paid entirely in 
 labour and in cash. A demand for cash 
 should be created among the natives, who 
 would then have to obtain coin in order to 
 pay their taxes. Thus the agricultural natives 
 would be induced to work, and the pastoral 
 natives both to work and trade, which they 
 are not too willing to do. The former, it is 
 only too true, by this means would be 
 encouraged to grow produce for sale, but if 
 the payment in produce was discouraged 
 they would find it more difficult to sell their 
 produce to dealers and merchants than if
 
 68 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 they were able to just bring into a station 
 enough to pay their yearly tribute and to 
 have sufficient over to keep them till the 
 following season. Except in a time of famine, 
 when the native naturally makes an attempt 
 to procure food by hook or by crook, he is 
 quite content to only grow sufficient or earn 
 sufficient to keep him, his only object in 
 saving being to obtain cattle with which to 
 purchase wives. It seems that a tax on wives 
 on the system in force in parts of South 
 Africa would help to create a supply of labour. 
 There can be no doubt that at some future 
 period the hut tax will be superseded by 
 a poll tax, which, though not applicable at 
 present to outlying districts, would be beneficial 
 in towns and near stations where loafers and 
 general riff-raff not only abound but flourish 
 amazingly. There will always be some 
 difficulty in collecting the taxes, and to 
 perform this work in certain parts is at 
 present an impossibility, owing to the great 
 distances involved. Even when the country 
 is properly controlled there will be isolated 
 cases of oppression and injustice, especially 
 if any system of passes is introduced by which 
 the police will be empowered to enforce pay- 
 ment in the case of no pass or receipt for
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 69 
 
 taxes being forthcoming. While the country 
 remains in its present state all taxes should 
 be collected by a European officer in person ; 
 and where this is not possible, they should 
 be collected through the chiefs and brought 
 by them to a European official. When the 
 chiefs are entrusted with the collection of the 
 taxes it is customary to hand them a percentage 
 of what they bring in, which is no doubt 
 more or less necessary ; but at the same time 
 the chiefs probably take care that they benefit 
 themselves beyond the extent of the percentage 
 allowed them, and therefore the system cannot 
 be entirely commended. Some of my readers 
 may perhaps have perused Major Powell 
 Cotton's " Unknown Africa," and Sir Charles 
 Eliot's "The East African Protectorate." In 
 both these books reference is made to the 
 employment of Swahili hut tax collectors in 
 the province of Kisumu. In the latter it is 
 stated that their employment " has led to 
 complaints," while in the former Major 
 Cotton shows that although they were 
 originally introduced in the hope of increas- 
 ing receipts that their employment has really 
 had the opposite effect. On no grounds can 
 this policy be defended. The system was 
 that certain Swahilis were employed to collect
 
 70 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 hut tax from the Kavirondo, and in order to 
 assist them in the execution of their "duties," 
 they were each allowed to raise a small following 
 of armed natives with whom they scoured the 
 country. The method of paying these men 
 was by giving them a percentage (I think lo 
 per cent.) of what they obtained, while the extra 
 amount wrung by them from the unfortunate 
 Kavirondo did not appear. Grave excesses 
 were committed by these men and their 
 followers, who were little better than authorised 
 thieves. I cannot conceive how their employ- 
 ment ever came to be sanctioned or even 
 thought of. I do not know, and I do not 
 wish to know, who was primarily responsible 
 for the initiation of this iniquitous system, 
 which was done away with by Sir Donald 
 Stewart, and had only been allowed to continue 
 as long owing to the lack of funds, which 
 did not allow of an adequate staff being 
 stationed in the province. The system has 
 had its evil consequences. North of Elgon 
 are to be found parties of traders belonging 
 to many tribes, and even several nationalities, 
 who masquerade under the guise of Govern- 
 ment employees, and who raid, collect taxes, 
 and plunder more or less at their will, while 
 owing to the lack of money and mounted
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 71 
 
 troops they are very seldom brought to 
 book. 
 
 A reference to the Indian stores outside 
 the sphere of influence or beyond the arm of 
 the law will perhaps not be considered out of 
 place. I should like to see these suppressed, 
 because I know that they supply these gangs 
 of freebooters and marauders with necessities 
 which they otherwise could not acquire with- 
 out coming or sending in to a station where 
 they would be within reach of the Administra- 
 tion. If these permanent stores were abolished, 
 the large encampments which are far beyond 
 the reach of the law, and which are only 
 semi - permanent, forming bases for flying 
 trading and other expeditions into the far 
 interior, where advantage is often taken of 
 inter-tribal quarrels to join in and reap the 
 benefits of victory, a great change would 
 soon come over the outlying districts. 
 
 Hut tax, or whatever taxes are imposed 
 on the natives, must have a great effect 
 on the supply of labour for the Protectorate, 
 and the state of the labour supply is at 
 present very far from satisfactory. Much 
 could be done to improve the existing state 
 of things without any form of coercion : 
 increase of the hut tax, or the expenditure
 
 72 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 of money by adopting the means I have 
 already referred to in my remarks on 
 retrenchment — i.e., the reduction of wages 
 and the substitution of native or indigenous 
 food for the expensive imported rice. The 
 practice of feeding men on rice was no 
 doubt originated by the Indian invasion, 
 and by the absurd regulations governing 
 the rationing of prisoners, and has been 
 fostered and encouraged by rapacious 
 merchants, both Indian and white, who are 
 naturally unwilling to lose a good trade. 
 The chief offenders, as I have already 
 stated, are the Government, while follow- 
 ing close upon their heels, are, I regret to 
 say, one or two settlers, and the majority 
 of wealthy, casual and exceedingly careless 
 sportsmen who infest the railway and the 
 districts adjoining. In many cases the 
 blame does not lie with the sportsman, who 
 arrives in a blissful state of ignorance and 
 excitement, and believes what he is told by 
 those who take him in tow, and foist every 
 conceivable article upon him on the plea 
 of necessity, regulation, and that abomina- 
 tion — custom. I blame many officials very 
 much for trying to make sportsmen give 
 their men rice ; they are the very people
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 73 
 
 who for their own sakes should try to keep 
 the rate of wages down. I know one case 
 where some gentlemen from South Africa, 
 who had come into the country with the 
 intention of selecting farms, were made to 
 pay ordinary up-country porters ten rupees 
 per month and feed them on rice, when the 
 wage of the district was from six to eight 
 rupees, or less, and native flour ; thus these 
 men had to pay two or more rupees per man 
 per month, plus an anna per man per diem, 
 more than was necessary, and this arrange- 
 ment was officially made. Sometimes sports- 
 men, who should know better, seem to delight 
 in spending money in a ridiculous fashion, 
 and in pandering to all the wants and fancies 
 of their boys ; one, at least, has described 
 almost gleefully how the headman of the 
 caravan practically refused to leave the 
 precincts of bazaars and stores, and how the 
 men were fed, not only on rice, but also on 
 the game killed, which was thrown in as an 
 extra. These practices should be put down, 
 as it will be impossible to get men to work 
 for a wage which settlers can afford to pay 
 if rich casuals can come in for a few months 
 and provide a very large number of men 
 with sufficient to keep them in affluence for
 
 74 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 a considerable time, and ration them on 
 expensive food which they should not be 
 allowed. Men working on a farm may 
 naturally expect a present of a meat ration 
 over and above their " posho " ^ once in a 
 way ; and if they do not get it, no doubt 
 some of the settler's flock will die in some 
 mysterious manner, and the boys will devour 
 the carcase with gusto. I can truthfully 
 say that during my two expeditions to East 
 Africa, with the exception of my first week 
 in the country, not a single man ever had 
 a handful of imported food, with the excep- 
 tion of my personal Somalis, in spite of all 
 efforts of merchants and others to induce me 
 to ration my men on rice, and I have never 
 had any trouble whatever, and I always took 
 very good care that no game killed was 
 wasted in any shape or form. 
 
 At the time of writing I believe there is a 
 commission sitting in East Africa to consider 
 the question of labour regulations and laws, 
 and it is devoutly to be hoped that their efforts 
 will be made in the right direction, as at 
 present everything is apparently for the 
 native and nothing for the employer, who 
 has no security and no redress. The com- 
 mission consists of Mr Jackson," Mr Ainsworth, 
 
 ^ Poslio = daily allowance of food. 
 
 ^ Sub-Commissioner Ukamba Province.
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 75 
 
 and Mr Currie, the manager of the Uganda 
 Railway ; great discontent has been caused by 
 the fact that the settlers on this commission 
 have no representation, which feeling of dis- 
 satisfaction is doubtless intensified by the 
 fact that the Colonists' Association had two 
 representatives on the Land Commission. 
 Surely the one question is identical with, and 
 of as vital importance to settlers as the other. 
 Moreover, I am afraid that the constitution 
 of the commission after Mr Jackson's attitude 
 in the Eliot incident will not be popular ; and 
 although this commission will probably take 
 evidence and will only make proposals to 
 Sir Donald Stewart, it will be felt that it is 
 by no means certain that the proposals will 
 be satisfactory. To my mind a better com- 
 mission could have been formed by the 
 appointment of the manager of the Uganda 
 Railway, the Director of Agriculture, a legal 
 official, with a representative of the Colonists' 
 Association with their legal adviser, and with 
 Mr Jackson or Mr Ainsworth as chairman. I 
 think, then, that all interests would have been 
 represented, no one would have anything to 
 cavil at, and the Government would (with the 
 chairman's casting vote) have been in the
 
 76 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 majority of five to two — large enough for any 
 bureaucratic administration. 
 
 At present, with the exception of the 
 Swahihs, the coast people who are expensive, 
 the Kikuyu and Wakamba from whom the 
 chief supply of labour is drawn, dislike going 
 very far from their own country for any length 
 of time, and often desert in a few days, leaving 
 the employer minus workmen, and sometimes 
 confronted with the loss of the railway fares 
 paid to convey them to his station. 
 
 The Kavirondo, who are only fair workers, 
 but who are content with a very low wage, and 
 who do not object to serve for a sufficiently 
 long period, seemed to be a source of labour 
 supply which should be fostered and used ; 
 but owing to the sleeping sickness in the 
 islands of the Lake and Uganda, and also to 
 the recent outbreak of plague at Kisumu, the 
 supply is most limited. 
 
 Labour bureaux should be opened in 
 different districts where the chiefs should be 
 induced to supply labour, and where settlers 
 could obtain men at a fair wage on a definite 
 contract. There would be no objection on 
 the part of the settlers to pay registration 
 fees, etc., if the Government would do its 
 duty, fulfil its contract, and see that the
 
 HUT TAX AND LABOUR SUPPLY 77 
 
 native performs the work he agrees to do. 
 Collectors and assistant collectors should 
 ascertain at once what available labour exists 
 in their districts, and forward returns to the 
 labour bureau of the province. The time 
 which would be thus taken up would be far 
 better employed in this way than in writing 
 triplicate returns, and in collecting the folk-lore 
 of the various tribes for purposes foreign to the 
 actual development of the country and the 
 interests of the British tax-payer.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 East Africa as a white man's country — No attempt to procure 
 immigrants — Hampering settlers — Inventing restrictions — 
 A private estate of the Foreign Office — A dog-in-the- 
 manger policy— The grant to Zionists — A history of 
 settlers' difficulties — The change to the Colonial Office 
 — A final warning 
 
 " Be where you list, your charter is so strong 
 That you yourself may privilege your time 
 To what you will; to you it doth belong 
 Yourself to pardo7i of self doing crime. 
 I am to wait., though waiting so be hell 
 Not blame your pleasure., be it ill or well." 
 
 —Shakespeare. 
 
 From the very first all reports forwarded to 
 the home authorities from East Africa have 
 maintained that the Protectorate offered great 
 possibilities as a farming land and generally 
 as a white man's country, yet for many years 
 practically no steps whatever were taken to 
 prepare the country for settlement, or to 
 attempt to induce men to immigrate. In 
 
 ?8
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 79 
 
 drawing- up the land regulations, and even up 
 to the time of the transfer of the country to 
 the Colonial Office, both the home and local 
 authorities seemed actuated by fear lest any 
 unfortunate individual should make money in 
 East Africa, and appeared to go almost out of 
 the way to hamper him and invent restrictions. 
 The authorities really seemed to think that 
 the country should be a kind of private estate 
 of the Foreign Office, and that every one should 
 be kept in abject subjection, and not be allowed 
 to call anything his or her own. It is hard 
 to determine what the reason was for this 
 dog-in-the-manger policy, and the explanation 
 may be the same as is perhaps applicable to 
 the backward state of the country. In old 
 days progress was necessarily slow, individuals 
 often did the work of Government, and 
 found and practically made new countries ; 
 but when France and Germany appeared on 
 the scene as candidates for or rivals in colonisa- 
 tion of the Dark Continent, the Government 
 had to hustle in an unaccustomed way, and 
 evinced extraordinary jealousy of anything in 
 the way of private enterprise. They had, 
 however, no right to commit themselves to 
 schemes, unless they were capable and willing 
 to carry them through effectually, When^
 
 So BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 towards the end of 1903 it was announced 
 that a large tract of land had been offered to 
 the Zionists to the exclusion of English settlers, 
 a wave of indignation passed through East 
 Africa, and every one in England who knew 
 anything of the country was at a loss to know 
 to what new act of imbecility the Foreign 
 Office had committed itself. In the attempts 
 made to justify this absurd and dangerous 
 offer, it was stated that it was found almost 
 impossible to attract settlers to the country. 
 At the time the offer was made public this 
 excuse was untrue, as despite the many 
 difficulties and annoyances the tide of im- 
 migration had commenced to flow. 
 
 The following is a short account of the 
 difficulties which confronted the unfortunate 
 pioneer up to 1903, with some of the main 
 restrictions and regulations. First and fore- 
 most came the ridiculous law, which was 
 repealed almost immediately, that no settler 
 might keep goats without express permission. 
 
 ii. Provided always that the Commissioner 
 may, in any particular case, insert special 
 additional conditions, when he shall deem 
 such to be necessary, 
 
 iii. The right of the occupier to cut or 
 sell the timber, if any, situated on the land.
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 8i 
 
 and to get, work, or take away any minerals 
 or precious stones in, upon, or under the 
 land, shall form the subject of a special 
 agreement to be inserted in each certificate. 
 
 iv. That the occupier will develop the 
 land as provided in this certificate, and 
 within the first five years of his holding will 
 either plant at least one-quarter of the land 
 with coffee, cocoa, cotton, indigo, rubber 
 or other plants approved by the Commis- 
 sioner, and will maintain the land and the 
 above-mentioned plants in a proper state of 
 cultivation to the satisfaction of the Com- 
 missioner, or will maintain upon the land at 
 least — (here insert the number of cattle, 
 sheep, or other animals to be maintained) — 
 and will not, without the written permission 
 of the Commissioner, use the land except 
 for residence and for the purpose of cultiva- 
 tion, grazing, or of the operations connected 
 with cultivation or grazing. 
 
 v. That, if at any time the occupier fails 
 to perform, or contravenes any of the remain- 
 ing conditions of this certificate, the Com- 
 missioners may declare the land forfeited, 
 and may remove the occupier from the land 
 without compensation. 
 
 vi. Travellers shall be allowed to encamp 
 
 F
 
 82 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 with their servants, animals, waggons, and 
 baggage, for a period not exceeding forty- 
 eight hours on any land purchased or leased 
 from the Crown under this ordinance, which 
 is uncultivated, and which is not within a 
 quarter of a mile of a dwelling - house, and 
 shall be allowed access, or their servants and 
 animals, to any river, stream, or lake upon 
 the land. 
 
 vii. Any person refusing to allow travellers 
 to camp or to have access to water under 
 this section, or interfering with travellers who 
 are encamped, or any traveller refusing after 
 request from the owner or lessee of the land 
 to depart after the expiration of forty - eight 
 hours, or interfering in any way with the 
 comfort or convenience of the owner or 
 lessee of the land, shall be guilty of an 
 offence, and liable to a fine not exceeding 
 looo rupees, or to imprisonment of either 
 kind not exceeding two months, or to both. 
 
 viii. The Commissioner may at any time 
 hereafter enter upon any land sold or leased 
 under this Ordinance, and take therefrom 
 stone and other material for the making or 
 repairing of roads, railways, canals, or other 
 public work'^. 
 
 ix. If the materials are taken from
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 83 
 
 cultivated land, compensation shall be 
 payable by the Commissioner, but not other- 
 wise. 
 
 Homesteads 
 
 i. Within six months the settler shall fence 
 or mark out in a distinct manner, to the 
 satisfaction of the land officer, the whole of 
 his selection, including any pre-empted land. 
 
 ii. Where a holding has forest on it, at 
 least 10 per cent, shall be kept in perpetuity 
 as forest land, and be maintained to the 
 satisfaction of the forest officer. For this 
 purpose any belt of forest, if not less than 
 one chain in width, shall be accepted as 
 forest. When there is less than 10 per 
 cent, of forest in the holding, the settler must 
 raise the amount of forest to the required 
 proportion, provided that he shall not be 
 compelled to create more than 5 per cent, 
 of new forest in any event. 
 
 iii. Price four rupees (5s, 4d.) per acre 
 payable at the expiration of three years. 
 Provided that the settler may spread the 
 payment over a period of sixteen years, 
 paying at the rate of four annas per acre 
 per annum without interest, with a right to
 
 84 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 pay the whole or part of the outstanding 
 balance at any time in sums of loo rupees, 
 or a multiple thereof. 
 
 Settlers will be permitted to draw only a 
 reasonable amount of water from any lake, pond, 
 source, or stream being on or passing through 
 their homesteads, and may not pump up water 
 for any but domestic purposes ; or draw up or 
 divert, or in any way interfere with the natural 
 flow of water either directly or indirectly (as 
 by sinking wells so as to diminish a stream), 
 except with special leave, to be obtained from 
 the land officer in writing, for temporary 
 purposes not exceeding a period of one year, 
 or by Crown Lease if for any longer period 
 than one year. 
 
 All timber on a homestead is the p7^operty 
 of the Crown. Settlers may use so much as 
 they may require for their own purposes on 
 the homestead, but may not take any timber 
 without permission of the Forest Office, and 
 may not clear away timber except for the 
 purpose of cultivation. 
 
 Every settler who keeps live stock must 
 provide fences to prevent his stock from 
 straying off his own land.
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 85 
 
 Grazing Land 
 
 i. Land suitable for grazing will be let on 
 twenty-one years' lease up to a total of 3000 
 acres at a rent of one anna per acre per annum. 
 
 ii. Land taken up on grazing lease must be 
 fenced in within two years, if the area rented 
 does not exceed 1000 acres. If the area 
 rented exceeds 1000 acres, the first thousand 
 acres must be fenced in two years, the second 
 thousand in three and a half, and the third 
 thousand in four and a half years. 
 
 iii. Tenants must be prepared to import 
 their fencing, as the Government will not 
 ordinarily supply timber from the forests for 
 the purpose. 
 
 iv. All leases of grazing lands will be con- 
 ditional upon the erection of proper fencing, 
 and until the land is fenced the lessee shall 
 have no exclusive right to use the land. 
 
 Every tenant of a grazing area shall within 
 five years stock his run with at least one head 
 of horses or cattle or ten sheep for each seven 
 acres. 
 
 In the case of water-courses running through 
 a grazing tenancy, the tenant will not be
 
 86 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 entitled to the exclusive use of the water ; 
 and the same prohibitions in regard to its use 
 will be enforced as in cases of water running 
 through homesteads. As a rule, a strip of at 
 least TOO feet on either side of a permanent 
 water-course will be reserved by the Crown. 
 When grazing land is let, the Crown will 
 reserve the right to grant a passage to water 
 to neighbouring tenants at such points, and 
 upon such conditions, as the land officer may 
 from time to time determine. 
 
 All timber and saplings on grazing areas 
 will be reserved to the Crown, and may not be 
 felled without permission. 
 
 Besides these laws import duties were 
 charged on nearly all articles including even 
 seeds till 1903, and up to June, or later, in 1904 
 horses also had to pay duty. 
 
 From the foregoing it will be seen that it 
 was a practical impossibility for any one to 
 obtain land, and even when in August 1902 
 a notice was issued for the sale of land, it was 
 not obtainable at a reasonable rate. Moreover, 
 sub-commissioners had the power to refuse 
 land without reason — a dog-in-the-manger 
 policy which was pursued in more than one 
 case. 
 
 What the Government expected, I cannot
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 87 
 
 think. They could not suppose that free men 
 would come into a new untried country, and 
 be satisfied with a grazing lease of 3000 acres 
 for twenty-one years, and only to have common 
 rights with wandering, thieving natives, the 
 only alternative to which being that they 
 would be compelled to import timber from 
 abroad, when there were thousands of square 
 miles of forests of both valuable timber and 
 timber fit only for fencing or firewood. Free 
 access to this land for forty-eight hours was 
 insisted upon, but there were no restrictions 
 or conditions by which the settlers could move 
 on or keep off thieves, suspected persons, or 
 persons or animals with contagious or infectious 
 diseases, who might contaminate their land, 
 flocks, and even their drinking water. It is 
 doubtless necessary to provide rights-of-way, 
 but there should be clauses by which damage 
 and danger to life should be avoided. Yet no 
 precautions appear to have been taken in this 
 respect. To be compelled to plant their land 
 according to the wish or caprice of every short- 
 lived commissioner, and to be obliged to keep 
 a certain head of stock per acre in an untried 
 country, were impossible conditions. Mr 
 Jackson, whose name appears as signing these 
 land regulations, was both consistent and
 
 88 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 inconsistent in his attitude during the dis- 
 cussion of the Masai question ; consistent in 
 that his laws made settlement a practical 
 impossibility, and inconsistent in that in the 
 same laws he attempts to compel a settler to 
 keep ten sheep on every seven acres, while 
 in many parts of Australia land capable of 
 carrying one sheep per acre is considered 
 good, and worth £2 per acre freehold. In 
 1903 he states that sheep farming in East 
 Africa is an unknown quantity ! 
 
 In addition to the regulation under which a 
 settler was to conform to all conditions which 
 might be made by the Commissioner, the 
 settler was liable, if he did not carry out all 
 regulations, to ejectment from his holding 
 v/ithout compensation, even after perhaps 
 spending several years of his life and sinking 
 his capital in an untried and strange country ; 
 surely no such unjust and arbitrary law existed 
 under any other so-called civilised government. 
 
 It will be also noticed that the Commissioner 
 was empowered to obtain and take without 
 compensation, any building material from any 
 land not actually cultivated. 
 
 All water rights were reserved to the 
 Crown, and all land was subject to any 
 future Government irrigation schemes, good
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 89 
 
 or bad. A settler could not even use a 
 pond or lake which might be entirely sur- 
 rounded by his land for any purpose other 
 than those actually domestic ; he might not 
 pump for irrigation even. 
 
 Within six months a settler on a home- 
 stead was to fence or mark out to the 
 satisfaction of the land officer his whole 
 selection, with imp07'ted timber, the Govern- 
 ment refusing to supply timber from the 
 forests ; and every man keeping stock was 
 to fence. 
 
 It may be argued that perhaps some of 
 these rules and regulations might not have 
 been enforced if men had freely taken up 
 land, but they were quite sufficient to 
 prevent a great many from attempting to 
 immigrate. I think that the foregoing 
 will have effectually proved that the 
 authorities did not do their best to attract 
 men before offering the Uashin Gishu 
 Plateau to the Zionists. If it had been 
 proposed to settle the country with slaves 
 or convicts, the land laws up to 1903 might 
 not have caused so much surprise ; but that 
 a code of laws containing such provisions as 
 I have attempted to describe and intended 
 for the regulation of a free white settle-
 
 90 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 ment, should have emanated from any place 
 other than Colney Hatch, is, to say the 
 least, curious. 
 
 In January 1903 Sir Charles Eliot issued 
 a new and very fairly liberal set of land 
 laws, and later in the year, in May, free 
 grants of land not exceeding 64.0 acres were 
 obtainable. Under these laws great progress 
 was made, and the immigration increased 
 for the country, enormously, only to be 
 checked by the unfortunate decision of the 
 Foreign Office in the Eliot incident. This 
 caused a great set - back, which was luckily 
 remedied by Sir Donald Stewart almost im- 
 mediately after his arrival. I stated in an 
 article in the Nineteenth Century in 1903 that 
 the feelinof in certain circles in East Africa 
 towards settlers was not what it should have 
 been, and this statement has been sub- 
 stantiated by Sir Charles Eliot in the same 
 publication in 1904. I do not understand 
 how the feeling arose, and it is a thousand 
 pities that it ever did so. That a number 
 of ruffians arrived in East Africa to attempt 
 to settle, or make what they could, and 
 that a certain number are there still, cannot 
 be denied, and I agree that the country 
 would be far better off without them. But to
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 91 
 
 condemn all for the faults of a few is not 
 fair ; and the settlers as a class were branded 
 as unclean without deserving it, and deeply- 
 resented the only too freely-used expressions 
 " land grabbers," and epithets applied to the 
 word "settler." This was the commence- 
 ment of the feeling which at one time rose 
 to almost bursting-point ; and in proof of 
 this statement, it was thought by one official 
 politic and necessary to write a personal 
 letter to an influential settler to ask him to 
 deny the statements circulating to the effect 
 settlers were not wanted. I think this 
 letter did a certain amount of good, and it 
 was meant in the proper spirit. I hardly 
 believe that the feeling at first arose 
 altogether in East Africa, and cannot help 
 thinking that it was originated to a great 
 extent at home, and by the policy pursued 
 there. It is to be hoped that now this feel- 
 ing will die out, and that all opposition to 
 settlement has ceased ; while now the country 
 is under the Colonial Office, the slate has, 
 metaphorically speaking, been cleaned, and 
 the Protectorate has entered on a new phase 
 in its history with a clean sheet and, it is 
 to be hoped, a time of prosperity. A land 
 commission was appointed by Sir Donald
 
 92 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Stewart towards the end of 1804, and on 
 representation by the Colonists' Association, 
 two settlers were appointed to sit with the 
 official members, a concession which gave 
 satisfaction, and which must be regarded as 
 tacit acquiescence in the demand that settlers 
 must be given some form of representation. 
 
 In the future it must be understood that, 
 with the already mentioned exceptions to 
 Indians and natives, the free^ transfer of land 
 is absolutely essential, if the country is going 
 to prosper. It is quite right to proceed 
 cautiously with the sales and leases of land, 
 but it must be remembered that very few go 
 to a new country to be tenants, or to be con- 
 tent with making a bare living ; if they can buy 
 the land they will be content to live and slowly 
 develop their own, and a living, in that case, 
 will satisfy many. But any restrictions as 
 to transfer between white men (proved unde- 
 sirables excepted) will be fatal. Men cannot 
 be expected to develop their land in the same 
 fashion when leased as they would when it is 
 freehold. If the Government wish to preserve 
 the country as a domaine privt^e and the 
 settlers as tenants, then they should be pre- 
 pared to pay for their amusement, and should 
 perform the ordinary duties of a landlord. This 
 
 ' Appendix.
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY 93 
 
 they certainly will not do, and therefore the 
 idea of only selling a few acres and leasing 
 the remainder is a preposterous policy which 
 cannot long continue. The present laws 
 limit a settler to 1000 acres freehold. I 
 cannot conceive whence this idea originated, 
 or what is its object, for a sheep farm 
 of 1000 acres is a childish impossibility. 
 The Government can always share the 
 prosperity of individuals by taxation, and 
 therefore the objection to sell the land, which 
 is supposed to emanate from the Treasury 
 at home, becomes frivolous and certainly 
 vexatious. No doubt the Treasury, as well 
 as the local authorities, are terrified by the 
 Bogey of Speculation ; perchance there is a 
 motto hidden away in the archives of the 
 Treasury : " No Speculation." Speculation is 
 bad when the land is largely taken up by 
 rich syndicates, who can afford to sit still, do 
 practically nothing, and wait for a rise in 
 values ; but when individuals prove that they 
 are developing the land, whether they mean 
 eventually to sell or not, the condition is 
 different. Speculation, whether successful or 
 unsuccessful, is a good thing for the country. 
 Would there be a railway in the world, or a
 
 94 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 ship on the ocean, if there had not been 
 speculation ? Would there be any business 
 in any country if it were not for speculation ? 
 If it is thought best to keep a band of 
 struggling men in East Africa till they give 
 up in despair, then "No Speculation" is an 
 excellent motto to follow ; but if it is, on the 
 other hand, thought better to make the country 
 a flourishing colony, then place practically no 
 restrictions on land transfers ^ and encourage 
 men to develop as well and as fast as they can, 
 whether they do so for speculation, or only to 
 make a home. 
 
 Mr Wason in his recent book on East 
 Africa and Uganda makes some very useful 
 observations on the settlements, and valuable 
 suggestions for the reception of settlers by a 
 Government official, who should provide for 
 their immediate transport up country, and for 
 their accommodation at an average price, so 
 as to save them the expenses of hotels and 
 agents. But Mr Wason, although perfectly 
 correct in declaiming against grants of land 
 to syndicates who have no intention of doing 
 more than absolutely necessary, apparently 
 wishes no one man to hold more than 640 
 acres for either cultivation or grazing. This, 
 
 ' See Appendix.
 
 SETTLEiMENT OF THE COUNTRY 95 
 
 if carried out, woud have a more paralysing 
 effect on the development of the country than 
 any present opposition to transfer of land. 
 For even now 10,000 acres can be obtained 
 by suitable settlers, on proof of sufficient 
 capital, for grazing purposes. If the country 
 were to consist of Cockatoos or small men 
 holding 640 acres, and there were not 
 men in the country with capital, no 
 real progress could be made ; it would be 
 impossible, there would be no one to make 
 experiments or import stock from home or 
 the Colonies, and individual enterprise would 
 not only be strangled, but there would be no 
 one able to embark in any venture. Individual 
 enterprise is the greatest asset a country can 
 possess, and any restrictions will be fatal. No 
 country can prosper unless the people are 
 well-to-do, and no inhabitants of any country 
 can thrive unless private individuals or firms 
 are fiourishina-. That chaos in the land settle- 
 ment reigned, and reigns even now to a great 
 extent, I admit, and have said so on more 
 than one occasion ; but to attempt to remedy it 
 by parcelling the country into small allotment 
 holdings would be madness. Small holders 
 are very valuable people, and to a great extent
 
 96 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 should be encouraged, as long as they are 
 capable of making a living, but a country 
 cannot be developed without capital, and a 
 man with capital could not, and would not, 
 attempt to make anything of 640 acres
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 LAND AND PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS 
 
 The Protectorate and its boundaries — Zones — Temperatures — 
 A tropical and rich strip — The water question — Govern- 
 ment boring experiments — A white man's country — Nairobi 
 — Lord Delamere's estate — Lord HindUp's station — The 
 third zone 
 
 " There's no setise in going further — Vw the edge of cultivation.^ 
 So they said and I believed it — broke my land and sowed 
 my crops. 
 Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border 
 station., 
 Tucked away belotu the foothills where the track runs out 
 and stops." — RUDYARD Kipling, 
 
 In this chapter I shall endeavour to describe 
 the country, beginning at the coast and follow- 
 ing the railway line to the Lake ; I should, 
 however, warn intending settlers that nearly 
 all the available land along the line has been 
 taken up, and immigrants will have to go 
 further afield, unless they prefer and are able 
 to purchase a " going concern " — in some cases, 
 perhaps, a preferable course. 
 
 The Protectorate is bounded on the east by 
 
 G ^'
 
 98 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Italian 
 Benadir coast and the Juba river as far as 
 the undefined Abyssinian boundary, on the 
 west by Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza, 
 and by German East Africa on the south. 
 The country can be divided for present 
 purposes into three zones, of which the coast 
 or first zone should, to be accurate, be sub- 
 divided into three. Mombasa, the chief port 
 and terminus of the railway, is naturally in 
 the first or actual coast zone, which stretches 
 for some ten to twenty miles or more inland 
 from the sea. In the town, the of^cial tables 
 show that in the cool season, July to October, 
 the thermometer often falls in the evening 
 to 70 degrees Fahr. (I should have thought 
 lower), and in the hot season, January to 
 April, the nights are cool, and the temperature 
 does not rise in the daytime above 90 degrees ; 
 these figures, I suppose, apply to the whole 
 coast belt. This strip is tropical and not too 
 healthy, but it is rich, and offers a greater field 
 for immediate returns on speculation than the 
 healthier or higher plateaux. The vegetation 
 consists of mangrove forests, cocoanut palms, 
 mangoes, fibrous plants, such as sisal and 
 sansvirei ; while bananas, pineapples, oranges, 
 limes can be obtained at the proper time of
 
 PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS 99 
 
 year. There are also forests of valuable 
 timber and of rubber, while the mangrove 
 forests have been already successfully exploited. 
 Labour is fairly easily obtained ; and if the 
 natives had, like the tramps at home, to show 
 "visible means of sustenance," it would be very 
 much more plentiful. Within ten miles of the 
 island European vegetables are grown to a 
 certain extent, such as potatoes, cabbage, 
 carrots, beetroot, and turnips, while maize, 
 native cassava, and sweet potato are also 
 cultivated ; and these foregoing remarks can, I 
 believe, be applied to Lamu and the Tana river 
 districts, where it is expected that cotton will 
 be grown to a considerable extent, but where 
 the question of labour is a serious one, and 
 where the river is not under control. Beyond 
 the twenty miles or so of actual coast strip the 
 bush becomes thicker and wider, interspersed 
 with fibrous plants ; at Samburu, forty-three 
 miles from Mombasa and 910 feet above 
 sea - level, low scrub and euphorbias pre- 
 dominate, and while maize is grown, water 
 is very, very scarce. There is nothing further 
 of any great interest till Makindu, miles 
 209 ; and from there to Kiu, some fifty-eight 
 miles might be termed the third subdivision 
 of the coast zone. In this part there is some
 
 loo BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 fair grazing land, but nearly up to Kiu water 
 is scarce, and the soil is thought to be too 
 porous for the construction of dams. This 
 is the opinion of the three South African 
 colonists, who also state that they found 
 excellent grazing for cattle, goats, and in- 
 digenous sheep, which they think should thrive. 
 They express doubts as to the rainfall being 
 sufficient for agricultural purposes, and fear 
 that owing to the scarcity of water irrigation 
 would be hardly possible. Personally, although 
 in this respect I do not care to put my opinion 
 forward against theirs, I think and sincerely 
 hope that they have exaggerated the draw- 
 backs of this district. I believe that in time 
 some of the subterranean rivers which are 
 universally believed to flow somewhere under 
 this part of the country will be tapped, and 
 the country supplied with water by means of 
 Artesian wells. At Mile 6i, the Government 
 were boring for water in October last, and 
 their experiments will be followed with great 
 interest. I now come to the second zone, or 
 the real white man's country. The Kapiti and 
 Athi plains extend from Mile 280 to Nairobi 
 328, and are noted chiefly for the herds of 
 game, gangs of gunners, and the quantity and 
 ferociousness of the ticks : near the Athi riverj
 
 PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS loi 
 
 Mile 311, these pests are particularly bad. 
 These plains will do for stock, if the ticks 
 are not too deadly. At present I am afraid 
 that they would be. South of the railway and 
 these plains is the Masai Land game reserve 
 in which the East African Syndicate's soda 
 lake lies, and to which they will build a 
 railway probably from Kiu. At Mile 328 is 
 Nairobi, the future capital of the Protectorate, 
 at an altitude of 5450 feet. I have discussed 
 the healthiness and the questionable site of 
 the town before ; the days are not very hot, 
 and the nights are cool, if not actually cold. 
 The headquarters of the railway and troops 
 are here, while the other Government depart- 
 ments will probably very soon be established 
 here also, with the exception of one or two 
 such as the Customs, which are inseparable 
 from the coast. A buildino- stone of orood 
 
 o o 
 
 quality is plentiful in the vicinity, and is being 
 freely used. Three hotels — one recently failed, 
 I believe — were running last year, but another 
 well-built one, with first-class accommodation, 
 situated on the hill should pay. A town hall, 
 market-place, Indian and native bazaars, all 
 find their places ; while to provide amusement 
 are a race-course,^ where races are held twice 
 
 ^ Races. See Appendix.
 
 I02 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 a year, cricket ground, an agricultural show, 
 and the Colonists' Association rooms. Quite 
 a number of blue gums have been planted, 
 which serve three extremely useful purposes : 
 they provide shade, they look very well, and 
 they diminish the unhealthiness of a malarious 
 situation. A branch of the Bank of India 
 has been opened, and it is to be devoutly 
 hoped that they will soon have a rival in the 
 field, for the practical monopoly which they 
 hold, though perhaps excellent for the share- 
 holders, is by no means as advantageous to 
 their clients. Although living is cheap in 
 Nairobi, as the Government is so backward 
 in the matter of a survey of the country, they 
 might well assist intending settlers, and might 
 provide accommodation for bond fide men at a 
 minimum rate. Nairobi is, not unnaturally, 
 at present the chief centre of settlement, 
 and land has been taken up towards Fort 
 Hall and the north for a distance of some 
 thirty miles ; this, the Kikuyu country, on the 
 whole, is essentially an agricultural district as 
 opposed to a grazing and stock-raising one, 
 though for the combination of the two I prefer 
 the land further west, where the stock-raising 
 prospects are infinitely superior and the agri- 
 cultural possibilities, in my mind, hardly inferior.
 
 PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS 103 
 
 Passing from Nairobi along; the line there 
 is evidence on all sides of the strides made 
 during the last two years, and no doubt on 
 my return I shall, I hope, see more signs of 
 increasing development and prosperity. After 
 cresting the Kikuyu escarpment the railway 
 brings one down to the fine grazing lands 
 round Naivasha Gilgil and Elmentcita, to the 
 north of which lies the valuable sheep-runs of 
 the East African Syndicate, which, owing to 
 the Masai flocks, are perhaps better prepared 
 to be immediately stocked with wool-bearing 
 sheep than any other land in the country. 
 Near Naivasha are also the Government stock 
 farm and zebra ranche, both of which I have 
 spoken of in previous chapters. Beyond 
 Elmentcita, Nakuru is reached, and northward 
 from here towards Lake Baringo some twenty- 
 three farms have, I believe, been taken up for 
 South African farmers. These nestle under 
 the foot of the hills of Laikipia, on the high 
 plateaux of which range is the land reserved 
 for the Masai. Almost adjoining these farms 
 on the north of the line is Lord Delamere's 
 station, a leasehold property of 100,000 acres, 
 a great deal of which, although not the finest 
 land, is a tract of country well fitted for 
 carrying a large stock of sheep, and apparently
 
 I04 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 sufficiently watered to guard against even a 
 most serious drousrht. On this station a 
 settler can obtain more object lessons on the 
 way of cross-breeding and of imported sheep, 
 as well as the crossing of cattle, than he could 
 in almost the whole of the rest of the Pro- 
 tectorate put together. On the south side 
 of the railway between Nakuru and Njoro 
 Stations lies my own station, which, although 
 in an embryo state, may show not uninteresting 
 trials and experiments, and where the bond 
 fide settler of whatever means will always be 
 cordially welcomed. Adjoining my own land, 
 also on the south of the line, is the estate of 
 Messrs Sheen and Tunstall, who are trying 
 to succeed by growing oil seeds, and whose 
 previous experiences in India and Ceylon 
 will no doubt prove of great value, not only 
 to themselves, but to their neighbours. At 
 Mile 476 is the sawmill belonging to Lord 
 Delamere and Dr Atkinson ; while not far 
 beyond, along the line reaching to Londiani, 
 are several farms taken up by South Africans. 
 Southwards is the Lumbwa country, and south 
 again the Sotik, which country is at present 
 disturbed and unfit for colonisation, but both 
 of which will no doubt shortly provide a 
 considerable tract for settlement. West of
 
 PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS 105 
 
 Londiani and north of the railway beyond the 
 foot-hills lies the Nandi plateau, said to be one 
 of the most promising districts in the whole 
 country, but which, owing to the turbulence of 
 the natives, is practically a closed district. 
 Clover is said to be unusually abundant in this 
 part, which should be a great consideration. 
 North of the Nandi plateau is the Uasingishu 
 plateau, which was offered to the Zionists, and 
 which will, I am sure, prove to be both a stock- 
 raising and agricultural district which will be 
 very hard to beat. It is a country for large 
 farms, as the homesteads and buildings will have 
 to be built near the fringes of the forests, and 
 the runs stretch out into the open plains. The 
 only drawback is that it is a little way off the 
 railway, but when transport is better and roads 
 or tracts are made, that difficulty will be to a 
 great extent overcome. This plateau extends 
 for a considerable distance northwards, the 
 grazing still being good when the bush is 
 reached, but growing coarse after crossing 
 the first tributary or affluent of the Nzoia. 
 Returning to the line after dropping down 
 from the main plateaux Fort Ternan (Mile 
 536) is reached, and here, with the exception 
 of the high ground to the north, the edge of 
 the white man's country proper is reached.
 
 io6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Beyond Fort Ternan another drop of some 
 800 feet runs before at Mohoroni, the third 
 zone begins stretching to the lake at Mile 
 584. Near Mohoroni there is good grazing, 
 but west of Fort Ternan I should be doubtful 
 about importing stock ; this third zone is really 
 hardly fitted for a white man's home. It has 
 been thought that cotton and ground nuts 
 should do well in this district. An Indian 
 settlement has been started at Kibos, which 
 is reported to be making progress. In the 
 Kavirondo country, in addition to the crops 
 grown by the natives and stock-raising, I 
 think that rice should succeed ; but this again 
 is hardly a district for a settler's permanent 
 home. The country lying to the north of 
 Kenia and across the Guaso Nyiro is 
 practically an unknown quantity, and by many 
 is supposed to be useless ; personally I am 
 very sceptical of this, and until it has been 
 stated by a party of competent men to be of 
 no value I shall believe from what I have 
 been told that the country, except where 
 an absolute desert, has great possibilities for 
 wool-producing and stock-raising.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS 
 
 Minimum capital for intending settler — Ploughs — Oxen — Stock 
 different districts will carry — Medicine — Stock to import — 
 Fencing — Housing — Native languages 
 
 " It was our faulty and our very great fault, and now we must 
 turn it to usej 
 We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single 
 excuse? —Kipling. 
 
 Until fit and proper preparations are made 
 to receive immigrants and a survey of the 
 country has been made, so that settlers shall 
 not be put to the expense and inconvenience 
 of wandering over the Protectorate, any in- 
 tending immigrant from this country should 
 ascertain as much as possible about the 
 districts likely to suit the style of farming 
 he fancies, and also he should try to find 
 some firm connected with the country who 
 could perhaps select one or two pieces of 
 land for him to choose from on arrival. The
 
 io8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Government reports state that ;^300 is the 
 minimum capital to be possessed by an in- 
 tending settler ; personally, I should say 
 ^500, and I am inclined to say that till 
 proper preparations are made, such as I 
 have already suggested in former chapters, 
 ;^iooo should be taken out intact. I had 
 formerly thought that ^300 would suffice, 
 but then I was almost guilty of the folly of 
 "putting my trust in princes," for I never 
 dreamt that the survey would not have 
 taken place, and that bureaux, etc., would 
 not have been established long ere this. If 
 the settler has made up his mind to settle 
 in East Africa, and has made the necessary 
 enquiries, he will find that it will save time, 
 trouble, and expense in taking a few absolutely 
 essential agricultural implements out with him, 
 for at present they are practically unobtain- 
 able in the country, and a good firm with 
 enterprise might make a good thing out of 
 supplying first-class machines. The rolling 
 disc stump -jumping ploughs, such as are 
 used in Australia, are the most serviceable ; 
 the discs can be taken off or added at will, 
 according" to the nature and state of the 
 soil, and the depth at which it is desirable 
 to plough. Oxen are, and will be for many
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS 109 
 
 years to come, the chief beast for traction 
 and agricultural purposes : their prices vary- 
 ing from a little over £1 upwards for un- 
 trained animals, and from ^3 upwards for 
 trained or broken ones. Their size is 
 generally small, and they will no doubt 
 improve when crossed with — preferably — 
 Hereford bulls. Horses are few and ex- 
 pensive, an animal of any size at all costing 
 jCso at least ; and although there are one 
 or two imported stallions in the country, 
 and the attention of some is being turned 
 to horse - breeding, heavy losses have been 
 incurred, and the enterprise is one of, at 
 present, greater risk than almost any other. 
 It would be of great service if a first-class 
 expert were to be sent out to fully in- 
 vestigate the horse diseases of the country. 
 Apparently the beginning of the rains is, 
 as usual, the most dangerous period. Mules 
 are scarce, and cost anything from ^20 
 upwards : the last mail from East Africa 
 stating that they were not to be purchased 
 for love or money. This state of things 
 will soon, doubtless, be remedied, for a 
 mule's value is very great. Donkeys which 
 are bred by the Masai and Suk, are not easily 
 obtained in any number, they are of a fair
 
 no BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 size, and are most useful for pack animals, 
 and could be used as in South Africa for 
 drawing waggons, etc., while they are liable 
 to fewer diseases than any other domestic 
 animal. Zebras and hybrids, as yet, cannot 
 be taken into consideration. It is too soon 
 to state what head of stock different districts 
 can or will carry. It is, however, certain 
 that many parts will have to be heavily 
 stocked to keep down and break in the 
 rough pasturage ; but statements that certain 
 districts will carry as many as four sheep to 
 the acre, seem to me to be almost rash ; and, 
 although not traversing these assertions, I 
 will content myself by saying that they should 
 not be taken as absolutely proved. Im_ported 
 bulls and cows must be taken care of, and 
 should not be imported until arrangements 
 can be made for their accommodation and a 
 crop of some suitable fodder grown, as the 
 local forage is not only expensive, but the 
 supply is at present uncertain. 
 
 A store of medicine should be laid in, and 
 will be found invaluable. Very few of the 
 animals, both native and imported, which die 
 receive proper treatment, and I firmly believe 
 that the death-rate among cattle and sheep will 
 be greatly decreased by judicious use of drugs
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS iii 
 
 and dips, and with proper attention and food on 
 arrival. For milking purposes the Shorthorn 
 will be probably the best for a number of 
 years. A Jersey strain might be introduced 
 later, but not until more is known and a 
 free market is available for dairy produce. It 
 might not be unwise, and would certainly be 
 interesting, if a Friesland bull were imported 
 from Holland ; the breed is popular in South 
 Africa for dairying. For stock-raising, both 
 for meat and for working bullocks, the Here- 
 ford is undoubtedly the best animal. He is 
 extremely hardy, is a good beast for meat, 
 and matures more quickly than the equally 
 hardy Polled Angus, which is thought much 
 of in the Protectorate. Among live stock 
 sheep offer the quickest and surest means 
 of success, and the Merino from Australia or 
 New Zealand has been found to be the best 
 animal for crossing with the native hairy 
 beast, as well as the hardiest of the different 
 varieties imported as yet. Personally, I sent 
 out a couple of Hampshire rams and half 
 a dozen ewes, and, so far, they are doing- 
 very well ; but it is too early yet to say whether 
 they will be more successful than other 
 English breeds, though I am inclined to think 
 that they will be. The opinion has been
 
 112 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 expressed that parts of Mau and similar districts 
 are unfitted for wool-bearing sheep on account 
 of heavy rainfall. I do not share this appre- 
 hension, but should it be so, it does not 
 necessarily mean that the districts are unfitted 
 for sheep ; it probably only indicates that 
 sheep will have to be grown for meat instead 
 of wool, as in the Argentine, where the sheep 
 are fed on natural grasses in the summer, 
 and on stacks of Lucerne in the winter. The 
 chief drawback will be the delay before there 
 is a cold storage to handle the carcases. 
 
 It has been found that with the Merino 
 crossing with the native 65 per cent, and 
 upwards of lambs should be obtained, and 
 possibly this percentage may improve. Sheep 
 can be bought at from 4s. to 8s. per head ; 
 the former is the price that hut tax sheep and 
 captured sheep are sold at by the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Some of the South African settlers have 
 lately been agitating for the withdrawal of 
 the restrictions placed on the importation of 
 South African sheep, and a circular has by 
 order of the Commissoner been sent to the 
 owners of imported sheep. I expressed 
 myself strongly against the importation of 
 any stock from South Africa, except under
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS 113 
 
 the most stringent regulations and examina- 
 tions. There are quite sufficient diseases to 
 battle with in East Africa already without 
 the importation of others from South Africa, 
 where the Merino sheep, at any rate, are, or 
 were, of a poor description. I also recom- 
 mend compulsory dipping of all wool-bearing 
 sheep, which has been so successfully carried 
 out in Australia, and a law for the same is now 
 being introduced in this country. Goat breed- 
 ing with imported Angora animals is said to 
 offer good prospects, and should do in districts 
 where Merinos and wool sheep will not. 
 
 Imported pigs thrive in East Africa, and 
 the produce of Berkshires are especially 
 sought after by settlers ; there is little expense 
 attached to the breeding and keep of pigs, and 
 the chief danger in sending them out from 
 this country is the heat. 
 
 There is, I think, an opening for a butter 
 manufactory in the Highlands as well as for 
 the already established Dairies near Nairobi. 
 Butter in Nairobi and Mombasa costs 2s. per 
 pound, while some of the inhabitants get their 
 butter from Uganda, nearly 800 miles distant 
 from Mombasa. A butter business could be 
 easily started ; the chief difficulty would lie in 
 obtaining agencies at Nairobi and Mombasa. 
 
 H
 
 114 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 If this were carried out no doubt the Fleet and 
 some of the liners would be glad to obtain fresh 
 butter. While eventually it is not unreason- 
 able to hope that a considerable trade in butter 
 would be opened with the United Kingdom, 
 especially considering the enormous amount 
 exported annually from Australia, which country 
 is much farther from England. This, as well 
 as the trade in frozen beef and mutton, can 
 only be commenced when there is the capital in 
 the country and cold storages, etc., are estab- 
 lished to deal with the produce ; but it might 
 just as well be remembered that East Africa 
 is a British possession, and when preferential 
 tariffs or retaliation comes, as it surely will, 
 the country will have a very considerable 
 advantage as regards the trade with Great 
 Britain in dairy produce, frozen beef, etc., 
 over such countries as Denmark, Holland, 
 Argentine, the United States, etc. 
 
 The question of fencing^ is a serious one, 
 and as it is expensive the settler should not 
 fence more land than he actually requires. 
 He will, of course, have to ensure that his 
 stock is safely enclosed at night in a place 
 where they will be secure from lions, 
 leopards, hyaenas, etc., and it will often be 
 necessary to have a guard all night. Herd- 
 
 ^ Of course fencing lessens the danger of disease among stock.
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS 115 
 
 ing is resorted to in the daytime — the Masai 
 making very good herds. Fences should 
 be protected from grass fires by the land 
 being ploughed up on each side of the fence 
 for some eight or ten feet. The East African 
 grass fire is a poor thing, and cannot be 
 compared to a serious fire in Australia. It 
 is as well when fencing to take some pre- 
 caution against the ravages of white ants ; 
 a simple and inexpensive method of pro- 
 tection being partially filling up the post- 
 hole with ashes of burnt grass, twigs, rubbish, 
 etc., and charring the stake. Cultivated land, 
 where there is much game in the vicinity, 
 will have to be carefully fenced, and in the 
 neighbourhood of forest wire-netting will be 
 very useful to keep out small animals such 
 as duikers. Barbed and plain wire, as well 
 as corrugated iron sheets, are best got at 
 home, and will, I think, be obtained thus 
 cheaper ; all these are necessary. The 
 settler will at first be content with a grass 
 hut. It is a mistake, I think, to build these 
 too elaborately ; I would suggest separate 
 houses, if there are more than two in the 
 family, for sleeping and eating rooms, which 
 should be pulled down and burnt and others 
 built when, after about nine months' time,
 
 ii6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 other occupants have arrived, and then even 
 the best powders, however lavishly used, are 
 of but small service. These grass houses 
 are really quite comfortable, and luckily plans, 
 etc., do not, at present, have to be sent in 
 for the approval or sanction of any local 
 authority, either builder or parson ! 
 
 Two native lang-uasfes should be learned 
 by settlers, except those on the coast, where 
 Swahili will suffice ; those engaged in plant- 
 ing in Kikuyu and employing Kikuyu labour 
 might with advantage learn Kikuyu, while 
 those who use the Masai for boys, etc., 
 or herds should certainly learn Masai. 
 Swahili is imperative, and time spent in 
 picking it up on board ship would be far 
 from wasted. It is difficult to suggest what 
 crops the settler should turn his attention 
 to, and the first thing he will probably do 
 is to grow sufficient for his own consumption 
 and for his imported stock, if he has any, or 
 for half-breed stock bought in the country, 
 if it is found to require any. Potatoes have 
 been grown more than any other crop, and 
 an export trade was commenced with South 
 Africa with almost disastrous results. How- 
 ever, this was perhaps not entirely the fault 
 of the article, and the lessons learnt may not
 
 SUCiCI'lS'IMONS l<'()K SI'.'I riJ-.KS ir; 
 
 prove im])r()(il;il)Ic, wliilf, in spile ol llic; 
 failures of lliis ciilcrjjrisc Irnin pcrli.ips v.irioiis 
 reasons, it nuisi iioi Ixt thoiij'lil ili.il il is 
 no use ^rowin^ pol.itocs. 'I'licrc is ;i ci rl.iin 
 dcniaiul, of cotirs*', for hrcid sliids in l\nt 
 couiilry, which will, il ihc (oiiiihy prospers, 
 iialiii.illy in(;r(:as(;, and I here h.is h'cn souk; 
 mention o( ;i mill, hut until there is mort; 
 (l(in;ui(l and a lar^Mrr local ni.irkcl, cereals 
 will noL jirove atlractivt;. Owini' lo the 
 imj)ortalion ol stock ol ;ill lunds Ironi 
 different j);irls of the world, iIk re i:i a sni.dl 
 l)iit ^rowin;^ demand lor joeeii crops ol 
 any description ; hut (lic.e ajsiin will not he 
 V(;ry reniimer.it ive indess the 'oowei- is 
 lortun.'ite enoujdi to supply ;i. sudden local 
 d<:ma,nd. 1 he most lik<:ly ( if)|>s are die 
 
 more exjKMisive (;ne,:;, so th.il when heavy 
 rates and sea frei^dits h.ive h< en p.iid there 
 is still a lair m.irjdn ol piolii. Anion;.' 
 (Uhers I mijdit mention ;ooiind-niits, linseed, 
 and rajH; seed, while hcans ol .ilmost .ill sorts 
 have heen siiccesslully ^rown. ^.ollee jo'ves 
 ^reat hopes of success, and the jjlantin^ of 
 this is increasing. Very few trees h.ivf; as 
 yet readied the he.irin!' sta^r;, hut tlif;se 
 th.'it have promise well for the. eroj). 
 Tobacco is grown extensively in Kikijyu»
 
 ii8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 and might be successfully grown by settlers. 
 Black wattle grows well, and as this is a 
 valuable product, worth from ^8 to £<^ per 
 ton, it should be well worth attention. Fruit 
 trees, such as apples and apricots, have done 
 well in certain districts, and Cape plums 
 ought to be worth importing. The settler 
 has not one string to his bow, he has a 
 varied choice, and probably a mixed farm 
 is at present the best to go in for. The 
 seasons are not properly known yet, and 
 much has to be learnt as to the proper time 
 and way to plant different crops. Every 
 day spent by settlers in hotels waiting for 
 their land is so much out of their working 
 capital, and a margin, if possible, should be 
 left for travelling expenses incurred in select- 
 ing land. I think, and certainly hope, that 
 East Africa with ordinary fortune and fair 
 government should have a prosperous future, 
 and that in time it will become a large 
 wool- and food-producing centre.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A settler's views of game preservation 
 
 Licences — Anomalies — Casual sportsmen — Fencing vegetations 
 for preservation of game — Game reserves — Some sugges- 
 tions 
 
 " The game was never worth a rap 
 For honest man to play., 
 Into which some danger^ some mishap 
 Ca7i t possibly find a way." 
 
 — Whyte Melville. 
 
 No game may legally be killed in the Pro- 
 tectorate without a licence, the terms of which 
 vary for different classes of people. The first 
 set of licences issued were (i) A sportsman's 
 licence, costing ^^50 ; (2) a public officer's 
 licence, costing ^10 ; and (3) a settler's licence, 
 costing ^10. While the first two mentioned 
 allowed the holder to kill identically the same 
 number and variety of animals, the third only 
 allowed the holder, a settler, to kill a very 
 limited number of the ordinary animals on his 
 
 119
 
 I20 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 own land, and did not permit him to kill any- 
 such game as elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, 
 zebra, topi, giraffe, eland, and other species, 
 or even protect his crops against animals, 
 large or small. To enjoy the same privileges 
 as an official he had to pay ;^50, which was 
 grossly unfair, but typical of the treatment the 
 settler then met with. When the first sudden 
 influx of settlers came, the local administration 
 had, I believe, no power to change the law, 
 and the Foreign Office authorities, following 
 the dictates of red tape and clerical autocratic 
 ideas, would not permit them to do so. Con- 
 sequently the law-respecting settlers became 
 practically a dead letter, with the result that 
 many neglected to take out a game licence, 
 and frequently did not even possess a licence, 
 to carry a gun or a rifle. Such an impossible 
 state of thing's ouo-ht never to have arisen. 
 
 Lord Delamere, to whom we, as settlers, for 
 many reasons owe a great debt, was the first 
 to do more than merely protest against the 
 existing regulations. His action took the form 
 of killing one zebra beyond the number his 
 £50 licence entitled him to ; this he did to 
 test the legality of the regulation which 
 prevented a settler killing animals, causing 
 damage to his crops, fences, etc. He was
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 121 
 
 fined by a magistrate whose decision was 
 upheld on appeal, but almost immediately 
 after this decision a new law came into force, 
 allowing the settler, for a sum of ;^3, to take 
 out a licence to kill animals other than " Royal 
 game " on his own land, and also to kill 
 "Royal game" found damaging his property. 
 In the latter case, however, the skin, horns, 
 or ivory of the Royal game shot was to be 
 the property of the Crown. As I was leaving 
 East Africa the end of last October another 
 law was spoken of as likely to come into force, 
 viz., that for ;^io a settler would be entitled 
 to kill the same number and variety of game 
 as a public officer — a perfectly fair arrange- 
 ment. If these last two laws have been put 
 in force the settler has nothing much to cavil 
 at, except that it is perhaps hardly likely that 
 he would take the trouble to preserve the 
 skin of, say, a zebra, or do very much more 
 than advise the nearest official of what he had 
 killed, and request him to send and remove 
 any portion of the animal which the Govern- 
 ment might claim. 
 
 I am sure that all settlers with large 
 holdings, and the best of the small men, will 
 be the last to wish to exterminate the game, 
 and to regard the settlers, as a class, as being
 
 122 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 antagonistic to the preservation of game is to 
 do them a great injustice, and is not advisable 
 in the interests of the wild animals themselves. 
 The settlers will not kill or wound the same 
 quantity of game as was killed and wounded 
 before and during the construction of the 
 Uganda Railway! 
 
 If the settlers are fairly treated as regards 
 game, the good ones will assist greatly in its 
 preservation ; but it is also to be hoped that 
 the proper authorities will rigorously prosecute 
 all persons who slaughter or wantonly kill 
 beyond their limits. The men who wish to 
 keep game on their properties will, I feel sure, 
 uphold and assist the game ranger, and I 
 hope that all public officers will do the same, 
 and when Mr Percival, the game ranger, 
 applies to any district for information for the 
 detection of breaches of the game regulations, 
 that he will be promptly given all the assistance 
 possible. The interests of the settlers, how- 
 ever, sadly need protection, especially from 
 casual sportsmen who appear to imagine that 
 for some occult reason they are allowed to 
 roam about and shoot on whatever orround 
 , they please without asking permission of any 
 one, and at present it is often regarded as
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 123 
 
 below the dignity of a "public servant" to 
 warn them that certain lands are private. 
 
 Owing to the absence of survey it is 
 impossible for all settlers to fence their land, 
 and even if the land were surveyed it would 
 be impossible to fence a large holding in a 
 short time, while temporary boundary marks 
 would receive scant attention from the 
 majority of "gunners." I can quote a case 
 affecting myself: Two sportsmen camped for 
 a week on what is, I believe, a portion of my 
 land ' within sight of a police officer's station, 
 but it was not for him or his men to warn 
 them off. As it happened, the sportsmen in 
 question happened to be personal friends of my 
 own, and it did not therefore matter, but what, 
 I ask, are police for ? They are certainly not 
 paid by the British tax-payer only to look 
 after the interest of the Government and 
 public servants ; yet this is far too often the 
 case in British East Africa, and it is to be 
 hoped that the Colonial Office will remedy 
 this state of things before unpleasant cases 
 occur. I will mention another case — perhaps 
 more amusing than serious. A sportsman, 
 
 ^ It is only fair to state that possibly the officer was away, 
 and more probably he had had no official notification that the 
 land in question was private. Ofticial wheels grind slowly.
 
 124 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 whose name I will not mention, was shooting on 
 a certain landowner's property without having 
 asked leave, and without taking the slightest 
 notice of the owner. The latter purposely- 
 ignored the presence of the poacher, and 
 when the gunner eventually went away he 
 remarked: "What a funny man the land- 
 owner is! He never called on me !" In this 
 connection I cannot resist repeating part of 
 a conversation I overheard at a dinner party 
 this year, " Do you get much shooting in 
 South Africa, Mr So-and-So?" "No, not 
 much now ; you see the beastly farmahs 
 have fenced their land and you have to ask 
 their leave to shoot their game — beastly 
 nuisance." The sooner the British East 
 African colonists assert their rights the 
 better. 
 
 The present regulations for the preserva- 
 tion of game in the country are miserably 
 inadequate, and require immediate attention. 
 The yearly expenditure remitted is the 
 wretchedly small sum of £ss^ P^^ annum, 
 being ;^2 50 as the salary of the game ranger, 
 and £100 a year for expenses. What can 
 a man with ;^ioo a year for travelling do 
 in a country like East Africa ? and it is only 
 lately that Mr Percival, the present Warden,
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 125 
 
 has been encouraged and assisted in the way 
 he should be. Before leaving the financial con- 
 siderations, I will attempt briefly to point out 
 to what a very large extent the Protectorate's 
 exchequer benefits from the presence of game. 
 I do not know how many sportsmen visited 
 East Africa during the last twelve months, 
 but in Sir C. Eliot's report, dated Mombasa, 
 9th February 1904, giving the amount of 
 game shot during 1903, I find that there 
 were thirty-five sportsman's licences, eighty- 
 eight public officer's, and seventeen settler's. 
 These licences, the number of which have 
 increased in 1904 and, I fear, are still increasing, 
 show a total of ;^28oo. To this considerable 
 sum must be added very heavy import dues 
 on rifles, ammunition, cameras, glasses, pro- 
 visions, camp outfits, etc. ; registration fees 
 for porters, boys, etc.; railways expenses and 
 export dues on trophies, skins, etc. ; and a 
 very large sum will be found to be derived 
 solely from the presence of game in the country. 
 However, the sum obtained from licences alone 
 would amply suffice for the more or less 
 adequate protection of the game. I would 
 suggest that the number of game wardens 
 be increased to three, that their duties should 
 be entirely confined to the protection of game
 
 126 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 and that they should not be temporarily 
 appointed to do ordinary collector's work at 
 a station, or employed for months on end risk- 
 ing their lives and wasting their time solely 
 for the purpose of catching lions for Indian 
 potentates. These three wardens should consist 
 of one chief and two assistants, and their pay 
 and expenses might be as follows : Chief 
 warden ;^300 to ;^350 per annum, and ;^500 
 for expenses; two assistants ;^200 to ;^2 50 
 each, and ;^500 each for expenses : a total of 
 £1^00, or ^1850 or say, ;^2000, which is well 
 inside the actual amount brought in by licences 
 alone. 
 
 I do not think it is an extravao^ant demand 
 that a proportion of the money obtained by 
 means of the game should be spent on its 
 adequate protection. By the present system 
 the revenue of the Protectorate may benefit 
 more for a few years, but at what cost ? the 
 cost of the game : which is, and I hope will 
 be for many years, the means of attracting a 
 few people and a certain amount of money and 
 attention to the country. 
 
 Besides the game ranger and game licences 
 the other means of preservation adopted are 
 game reserves. Of these there are three, 
 none of which are really worthy of the name.
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 127 
 
 The first reserve, the only one which can be 
 really spoken of as such, is the southern or 
 Masai Land reserve. This would be an 
 excellent reserve, were it one in reality, but 
 when the following facts are taken into account 
 it will be seen that it ceases to be one except 
 in name. 
 
 (i) W'androbo tribesmen, who subsist almost 
 entirely on game, hunt In a portion of it. 
 
 (2) It is poached from German territory, 
 and since the inception of the Boer settlement 
 on the border, has been visited and shot over 
 by small parties of four and five men. One 
 party told an official that they were shooting 
 at trees ! Boers were always fond of wasting 
 ammunition. 
 
 (3) I believe some land in the reserve has 
 been granted to settlers. 
 
 (4) The East African Syndicate are talking 
 of building a railway from Kiu to their soda 
 concession. Lake Magardi. When a company 
 starts building a railway, heaven help the 
 game, for they will be used to feed the railway 
 employees. 
 
 (5) Officers of the Boundary Commission 
 and some survey officers have been allowed 
 to kill a certain amount of game in it. A 
 reserve ceases to be a sanctuary when it is
 
 128 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 shot over, and I fail to understand why officers 
 performing their duties should be allowed such 
 extraordinary latitude. It is the principle 
 which is objectionable, and leave to officers 
 to shoot in a reserve should only be given 
 under most exceptional circumstances : and 
 then only leave for a strictly limited number 
 of animals. In the case of the commissions I 
 believe this was so. Private persons who have 
 done survey work generally tell me they have 
 very little time to shoot. The practice of 
 allowine officers to shoot in reserves has had 
 curious results. 
 
 I have heard of it being suggested by an 
 officer that because he held a licence to shoot 
 ofame in one British Protectorate, he should be 
 allowed to go and shoot in all without taking 
 out another licence. The coolest incident I 
 have ever heard of, and one which has even 
 been supported by some legal authorities, was 
 the case of an officer in a certain Protectorate, 
 who killed a number of animals without a 
 licence, and what is more, killed more than he 
 could have been entitled to, even if he had 
 taken one out. This "gunner" was fined by 
 the local administration, and paid up; but he 
 appealed on the grounds that as he was under 
 military law he could not be fined by the civil
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 129 
 
 powers. I believe and hope he is still appeal- 
 ing, and sincerely trust that he is finding it a 
 very expensive form of amusement. 
 
 But this is wandering from the subject. 
 The two northern reserves, Sugota and 
 Jubaland, are not worth discussing, as they 
 are not watched, and traders kill what they 
 want. Occasionally a party is caught and 
 convicted of trading in a closed district, or, 
 perhaps, of killing elephants, but this is the 
 exception. Mr Percival lately made a good 
 capture, and I hope he will meet with still 
 more success in the future. 
 
 The mile reserve north of the railway 
 was a very good one, as, to a certain 
 extent, it prevented shooting from trolleys, 
 etc. Unfortunately it has been done away 
 with! 
 
 If a private person who happens to be 
 an owner of land in the country may offer 
 any suggestion for the benefit of the game 
 without being accused of doing so for his 
 own interests, I should like to make the 
 following proposals : 
 
 I. Make the present Southern or Masai 
 Land Reserve a real sanctuary ; this will 
 probably mean more money and necessitate 
 a post or patrol on the German frontier. 
 
 I
 
 I30 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 Perhaps the question of the Wandrobo can 
 be dealt with. 
 
 2. Renew the ordinance, making a reserve 
 along the north side of the railway line for 
 a distance of a mile from the centre of the 
 track. This would extend from the coast 
 to Nairobi except on private land. 
 
 3. If the Masai are moved into a reserva- 
 tion on Likipia (as I hope they either nave 
 been, or will be), this tract would make a 
 good game reserve, and the officer in charge 
 of the Masai reservation could be held 
 responsible for the protection of the game. 
 I would also make the adjacent Baringo 
 district, now heavily shot over, part of the 
 new Masai reserve, and do away with the 
 so-called reserves of Sugota and Jubaland. 
 By this means the New Masai reserve 
 could be well watched without any fresh 
 grant being necessary for the game ranger, 
 provided that the officer in charge of the 
 Masai and the officer at Baringo were made 
 responsible for the protection of game in 
 their districts. 
 
 The ordinance of ist December 1904, which 
 allows female and immature ivory to be sold 
 to Government, should be repealed, and all 
 female and immature male ivory should be
 
 VIEWS OF GAME PRESERVATION 131 
 
 confiscated, or the possessor should be allowed 
 to buy his own ivory from the Crown at a price 
 to be fixed by the game ranger and H.M. 
 Commissioner. The example of the French 
 in West Africa, where they refuse to accept 
 ivory as payment of hut tax by natives, might 
 be well followed. 
 
 In my opinion it is not In the interest of the 
 game that a sportsman may — within ten miles 
 of the line — shoot as many of whatever species 
 as an individual travelling over a large tract 
 far from supplies where he may have to shoot 
 up to his limit for meat. I think that the 
 issue of two forms of licences would meet the 
 case : (i) A ;^30 licence enabling the holder to 
 shoot half the number at present allowed by 
 the ^50 licence, w-ithin a certain distance from 
 the line, say up to fifty miles. (2) The present 
 ;^50 licence for sportsmen travelling over larger 
 areas away from supplies, etc., might enable 
 them to kill the same amount as at present, 
 while a ;^6o licence might also include a male 
 . buffalo, giraffe, and eland ; add an extra 
 antelope or two, if the number of species in 
 the districts traversed was limited. But this 
 licence should not be issued to those who only 
 shoot from the railway. I think that as so 
 many sportsmen shoot so close to the railway
 
 132 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 that they are allowed to shoot too much, and 
 considerably more than necessary, but if their 
 limit were to be curtailed the cost of their 
 licence should be reduced.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 From the latest information derived from British 
 East Africa, it appears that I was rather premature 
 in giving Sir Donald Stewart and the Colonial 
 Office credit for wishing to more or less adopt Sir 
 Charles Eliot's policy. Certainly the Masai are 
 being moved on to Laikipia, and settler's repre- 
 sentatives were appointed to sit on the Land 
 Commission. But the all-important question, or 
 perhaps demand for, of some form of council has 
 apparently met with objections from East Africa, 
 and also the demand for a white mounted police has 
 encountered opposition presumably emanating from 
 the same source. Colonists will no doubt be 
 interested to learn where the opposition really 
 comes from, but I am led by circumstances to 
 believe that it does not come from home. 
 
 The military forces consisting entirely of Africans 
 have unfortunately been increased instead of 
 decreased, and greater expense must now have 
 been incurred ; while efficiency seems to have been 
 sacrificed to display, and the formation of a force 
 capable of striking a swift and effective blow at a 
 threatened spot, seems to have been entirely
 
 134 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 neglected. I cannot help imagining that the 
 Colonial Office have (temporarily, I hope) sanctioned 
 this policy against their own judgment. 
 
 It is with great regret that I hear that three race 
 meetings are to be held annually in Nairobi instead 
 of two. If there are sufficient white men and horses 
 to justify six days' racing a year, there can be no 
 valid objection to a white mounted police. More 
 attention to the needs and demands of settlers, and 
 less to gymkhana and mummery, seems to be 
 required. 
 
 The crying necessity for a white police can be 
 pointed out in startling colours by the following 
 case which is quoted not verbatim from the local 
 paper, the East African Standard : 
 
 " A settler named Graham, whose wife was 
 approaching her confinement, was annoyed, and 
 Mrs Graham apparently frightened, by a number 
 of natives creating a disturbance near his house, 
 which was an isolated one. As they refused to 
 desist, or leave, Graham is said to have fired off a 
 shot gun in their direction, for the purpose of 
 frightening them, and to have accidentally slightly 
 wounded one of their number. For this he was 
 arrested and tried, presumably without jury, by a 
 Sub-Commissioner, who sentenced him to six months 
 imprisonment, and a fine of six hundred rupees. On 
 being sentenced Graham was handcuffed to a black 
 policeman, and marched to Nairobi, a distance of 
 sixty miles, while his wife was left without any 
 protection."
 
 APPENDIX 135 
 
 Such an action on the part of an official is absolutely 
 indefensible ; it can only be characterised as an 
 outrage, and sufficient to cause an outbreak of the 
 feeling existing between the official and unofficial 
 communities. It is certainly to be hoped that the 
 Right Hon, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 whose attention has been directed to the matter, 
 will take steps to prevent a recurrence of such a 
 dangerous and unwarrantable action. 
 
 The settlers, in a memorandum, have formulated 
 their wishes and demands ; among them the repeal 
 of the Indian Penal Code is made a sine qua non. 
 The Times report (ist August) of an appeal to the 
 Privy Council by a settler named Wehner against a 
 sentence of death com.muted to Penal Servitude for 
 Life by the Commissioner, is worth noticing. 
 
 " The grounds on which it was denied to appeal " 
 were these : 
 
 i. "The Petitioner was tried before five Juries 
 
 instead of nine." 
 ii. " The Judge purported to sit as a Session's 
 
 Judge under two orders in Council, which 
 
 it was contended had both been repealed, 
 iii. " The native witnesses were not sworn, but 
 
 only warned to speak the truth, 
 iv. " The Judge, it was contended, did not give 
 
 any explanation of the law to the Jury in 
 
 his summing up. 
 V. " The Jury were sworn after two witnesses 
 
 had been examined."
 
 136 
 
 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 The Lord Chancellor said the more serious point 
 was that there was no verdict of guilty ; that what 
 the Jury said did not amount to a verdict of 
 guilty. 
 
 " The Lord Chancellor, having again pointed out 
 the importance of the point that there was no 
 verdict of guilty, said their Lordships would humbly 
 advise His Majesty to grant special leave to appeal." 
 " It was not a question of a new trial being ordered, 
 because in their Lordships' view there had been no 
 trial." Such is the law in British East Africa ! 
 The Colonists also ask for either a subsidised line 
 of British ships or a Government vessel to convey 
 produce to Delagoa Bay and Durban ; also for 
 inclusion in the Customs Union of South Africa : 
 these seem moderate and not unnatural demands. 
 
 The table given below shows the increase of trade 
 in May and June 1905 over the same months of 
 1904, in rupees : — 
 
 Imports — May 1904 
 585,505 
 
 Exports — May 1904 
 194,940 
 
 Imports — June 1904 
 584,898 
 
 Exports — June 1904 
 141,804 
 
 Imports — May 1905 
 817,101 
 
 Exports — May 1905 
 311,296 
 
 Imports — ^June 1905 
 767,916 
 
 Exports — June 1905 
 230,586 
 
 Increase 
 231,596 
 
 Increase 
 116,356 
 
 Increase 
 183,018 
 
 Increase 
 88,782 
 
 Figures from Official Gazette, 
 I cannot quite concur with the settler's request
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ^Z1 
 
 that transfers of land should be absolutely free, 
 because at present the Commissioner has power 
 to deposit an individual without showing cause. 
 As I do not think this right, I think there 
 should be a clause by which a proved undesirable 
 could be prevented from obtaining land, and I 
 think this can be met by the sanction of the 
 Commissioner being required and cause shown in 
 case of refusal. 
 
 The land regulations proposed by the Com- 
 missioner have not yet been made public in England, 
 but I have heard of one which savours more of the 
 old regime of obstruction than of Colonial Office 
 methods. The law is this : Land in the Railway 
 Zone will only be leased for thirty-five years, and 
 50 per cent, is to be planted with wattle for the 
 use of the railway. At the termination of a thirty- 
 five years' lease the tenant has the option of renewing 
 his lease, paying according to the value of the land 
 in thirty-five years' time, This sounds extraordinary. 
 If some kind of Agricultural Holdings Act were in 
 force in the country it would be more or less all 
 right, but to expect a man to work for thirty-five 
 years and then be mulcted according to his 
 industriousness is puerile. But I cannot honestly 
 say that I should be very much astonished at any 
 curious local regulation made in British East 
 Africa. 
 
 Latest cables state that an expedition has been 
 sent to the Nandi country, and that it is hoped 
 to deal finally with these natives. This will show
 
 138 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 the value of last year's Official Report, and the 
 result of the injudicious intervention of a gentleman 
 in 1900. 
 
 I have just heard that a survey of my land was 
 finished the end of August, but no plan or map has 
 yet been delivered.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abyssinian Question, 50, 51 ; 
 
 boundary, 98 
 Africa, 24, 50 
 Ainsworth, Mr, 74, 75 
 American engines, 27 
 Angora goats, 113 
 Argentine, the, 112, II4 
 Athi plain, 100 
 Atkinson, Dr, 104 
 Australia, 88, 108, iii, 113, 114, 
 
 "5 
 Austrian Lloyd, 63 
 
 B 
 
 Bagge, Mr, 9, 13, 14 
 
 Bank of India, 102 
 
 Baringo, Lake, 103, 130 
 
 Bashi Bazouks, 15 
 
 Berkshire pigs, II 3 
 
 Boers, 127 
 
 Boma, a, 47 
 
 Boran pony, 50 
 
 Borana, the, 60 
 
 Boundary Commission, 124 
 
 Bowker, Mr, 7, 8 
 
 British Central Africa, 63 ; Con- 
 stitution, 44 ; Empire, 23 ; 
 Protectorate, 128 
 
 Burnham, Major, 6 
 
 Canada, 20, 60 
 Ceylon, 62, 104 
 
 Chamberlain, Mr, 7, 8, 18 
 Clutterbuck, Mr, 34, 35 
 Cockatoos, 94 
 Colonial Office, 19, 21, 22, 31, 
 
 33, 57. 59, 79, 91, 123, 133, 
 
 134 ; Secretary, 21, 36 
 Colonists' Association, 75, 92, 105 
 Congo Free State, 63 
 Cotton, Major Powell, 69 
 Currie, Mr, 75 
 Customs Union of South Africa, 
 
 136 
 
 D 
 
 Dark Continent, 79 
 Delagoa Bay, 64, 136 
 Delamere, Lord, 103, 104, 120 
 Denmark, 1 14 
 Director of Agriculture, 75 
 Durban, 136 
 
 East Africa, 6, 9; a white 
 man's country, 11 ; 14, 18, 21, 
 23, 25 ; opening up, 29 ; 30 ; 
 Sanatorium, 33 ; capital, 38 ; 
 P. M.O. for, 40 ; report on, 46, 
 48 ; punitive expedition in, 48 ; 
 northern boundary, 50 ; re- 
 trenchment in, 52 ; important 
 question in, 56, 57 ; 58 ; law 
 in, 61 ; 63, 64, 74 ; reports 
 from, 78 ; 79 ; sheep-farming, 
 139
 
 140 
 
 INDEX 
 
 East Africa — continued. 
 
 88 ; 90, 91, 94, 108, 109 ; pigs, 
 113 ; 114, 115, 118, 121, 124, 
 125 ; British, 51, 123, 133, 
 136 ; German, 51, 58, 63, 64 
 
 East African Protectorate, 24, 28, 
 30; administration, 31, 60; 
 Survey Department, and Land 
 Office, 33 ; veterinary depart- 
 ment, 33 ; sanitary arrange- 
 ments, 37 ; water supply, 37 ; 
 officials, 41, 45 ; police arrange- 
 ments, 46 ; Boer settlement in, 
 51 ; labour for, 71 ; 78, 91 ; 
 boundaries; 97; loi, 104, 
 107, III, 119; Standard, 134 
 
 East African Syndicate, 6, 7, 8, 
 16, 18, 29, loi, 103, 127 
 
 Eliot, Sir Charles, I, 2, 6, 7, 8, 
 9, 10, 12, 14, 17; false posi- 
 tion, 18; high ideas, 21, 22; 
 urgent appeal, 33 ; 46, 48, 59, 
 62, 69, 75, 90 ; report of, 125 ; 
 policy, 133 
 
 Elmentcita, 103 
 
 El Moran, 2 
 
 England, 1 14 
 
 "English Panama, the," 24 
 
 European immigration, 9 ; immi- 
 grants, 16 ; settlement, 37 ; 
 portion of the township, 39 ; 
 population, 49 ; vegetables, 99 
 
 Evatt, Colonel, 16 
 
 Flemmer, Mr, 7, 8, iS 
 
 Foreign Office, 7, 13, 16, 18, 19, 
 
 21, 24, 26, 30, 44, 57, 79, 80, 
 
 90, 120 
 Forest Office, 84 
 Fort Hall, 29, 102 
 Fort Ternan, 47, 105, 106 
 France, 79 
 
 French, the, 131 ; Congo, 66 
 Friesland bull, in 
 
 German frontier, 129 
 
 Germany, 79 
 
 Goanese, 27, 32 
 
 Government, 8, 10 ; slaughter of 
 a Government caravan, 14, 16 ; 
 guarantee of interest from, 24 ; 
 28, 30, 36, 40, 44 ; punitive 
 expeditions, 48, 49; 54; revenue 
 of, 61 ; employees, 70; 72, 75, 
 76, 79, 85, 86, 88, 89, 92, 93, 
 94, 100, loi, 102, 103 ; reports, 
 108, 121, 123, 130 
 
 Gracey, Colonel, 28 
 
 Graham, 134 
 
 Guaso Nyiro, 106 
 
 H 
 
 Hampshire rams, iii 
 Hereford bull, 1 1 1 
 Hindustani, 26 
 Holland, ill, 114 
 Hut tax, 66, 70, 71 
 
 I 
 
 I.B.E.A. Co., 25, 28 
 
 India, 26, 104 
 
 Indian affairs in Canada, 20 ; 
 " Invasion," 26 ; 27, 72; coolies, 
 28 ; speculators, 36 ; bazaar, 
 Zl^ 39 > railway employees, 38 ; 
 penal code, 60, 135; currency, 
 62 ; stores, 71 ; Ocean, 98 ; 
 bazaars, loi ; settlement, 106 ; 
 potentates, 120 
 
 Indians, 3, 62, 92 
 
 Italian Benadir, 98 
 
 J 
 
 Jackson, Mr, 9, 10, 11, 13, 74, 
 
 75, 87 
 Juba, 51 ; land, 129 ; 130
 
 INDEX 
 
 141 
 
 K 
 
 Kapiti, 100 
 
 Kavirondo, 70, 76, 106 
 
 Kenia, 106 
 
 Kibos, 106 
 
 Kikuyu, 76, 102, 103, 1 16, 117 
 
 Kilimanjaro, 29, 51 
 
 Kilindini, t,!, 53 
 
 King's African Rifles, 46 
 
 Kismayu, 50 
 
 Kisumu, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 59, 
 
 62, 69, 76 
 Kiu, 29, 99, loi, 127 
 Knobkerrie, 3 
 Kraals, 3 
 
 Labour bureaux, 76, 77 
 Laikipia, 17, 19, 103, 133 
 Laionis, 2, 6, 19, 20 
 Lake Magardi, 6, 29, 127 
 Lake Rudolph, 50, 51 
 Lamu River, 99 
 Land Commission, 57, 75, 133 
 Lansdowne, Lord, 8, 9 
 Likipia, 130 
 Londiani, 29, 104, 105 
 Lucerne, 112 
 Lumbwa, 104 
 
 M 
 
 Makindu, 99 
 
 Mann, Dr, 40 
 
 Masai, the, i ; origin, 2 ; adorn- 
 ment, 4, 5 ; land, 6 ; grazing 
 grounds, 7, 8 ; 10, 11; flocks, 
 12; numbers, 13; 15, 16, 17, 
 18, 19, 20 ; reserves, 35, 46, 
 51; Question, 88; loi, 103, 
 109, 115, 116; land reserve, 
 127 ; 129, 130, 133 
 
 Matama flour, 54 
 
 Mau, 112 
 
 Merino, in, 112, 113 
 
 Meru, 3, 4, 14 
 
 Mohoroni, 47, 106 
 
 Mombasa, 15, 2,7, 38, 98, 99. 113, 
 
 125 
 Morans, 3, 4, 14, 20 
 Alorning Post, 40, 56 
 
 N 
 
 Nairobi, 5, 29, 38, 62, 100, loi, 
 
 102, 103, 113, 130 
 Naivasha, li, 12, 16, 17, 53; 
 
 Gilgil, 103, 134 
 Nakuru, 103, 104 
 Nandi, 17, 47, 48, 105 
 New Zealand, III 
 Nile, 58, 59 
 Nineteenth Century, 90 
 Njoro, 104 
 Nzoia, 105 
 
 Official gazette, 60 
 
 P 
 
 Pax Britannica, 65 
 Percival, Mr, 122, 124, 129 
 Polled Angus, 1 1 1 
 Port Florence, 39 
 Portuguese East Africa, 64 
 
 R 
 
 Ravine, 29 
 
 " Royal Game," 121 
 
 Safari, 15 
 
 Samburu, 99 
 
 Sheen, Mr, 104 
 
 Sikh soldiers, 47 
 
 " Sime," 4 
 
 Smith, Colonel, 8 
 
 Somalis, 2, 50, 51, 74 
 
 Sothik, 104 
 
 Soudanese, 50 
 
 South Africa, 53, 68, 73, 100, 103, 
 
 104, no. III, 112, 113, 116, 
 
 124
 
 142 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spanish railway, 27 
 
 Stewart, Sir Donald, 18, 19, 31, 
 
 49, 57, 70, 75, 90, 92, 133 
 Sudan territories, 59 
 Suez Canal, 58 
 Sugota, 129, 130 
 Suk, 109 
 Swahili, 3, 69, 76, 1 16 
 
 Tana River, 99 
 
 Thames, 44 
 Times, 135 
 Treasury, the, 37, 93 
 Tse-Tse, 53 
 Tunstall, Mr, 104 
 Turkhana, 51 
 
 U 
 
 Uashin Gishu Plateau, 89, 105 
 Uganda, 10, 11, 15, 24, 25, 33, 
 
 56, 58, 59, 76, 94, 98, 113; 
 
 railway, '23, 39, 63, 75, 122 ; 
 
 railway committee, 41 
 Ugowe Bay, 39 
 United Slates, 114 
 
 Vandeleur, Colonel, 16 
 Victoria Nyanza, 6, 26, 76, 98 
 Voi, 29 
 
 W 
 
 Wakamba, 76 
 
 Wandrobo, 127, 130 
 
 Wason, 94 
 
 Wehner, 135 
 
 West Africa, 13 
 
 West Coast authorities, 37 
 
 YouNGHUSBAND, Sir F., 22 
 Yuba River, 98 
 
 Zanzibar, 38 
 
 Zebra, 52, 53, 54, 103, 1 10, 120 
 
 Zionists, 80, 89, 105
 
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