Semi-weekly herald., 1909-05-17
The ground on which the town


is built is low and swampy. The sup
ply OF water is Indifferent and the sit
uation generally unhealthfui
A mile farther on, however, upon
the rising ground, finer position
could have been found. and this quar-
ter is already being occupied sparseiy
by government buildings, hospitals and
barracks. It's now too late to change,
and thus lack of foresight and OF
comprehensive view leaves Its perma-
nent imprint upon the countenance OF
a new country.
Our train traverses the Athi plains,
more crowded perhaps with game than
any other part of the line, and ap-
proaches swiftly the long lows OF one
story tin houses which constitute the
town. ,Nairobi is typical South Afri-
can town. 1t might be Pietermaritz-
burg or Ladysmith of twenty years
ago, before blue gum trees and stone
buildings had waxed and multiplied.
Nairobi an important Center.
The population is also South Afri-
can in its character and proportions
There are $50 white, 3,100 Indians and
10,550 African natives. The shops and
stores are, however, much more con
siderable than these figures would ap-
pear to warrant, and are fully capable
Of supplying the varied need of settlers
and planters over wide area.
Nairobi is also the headquarters of
a brigade of the Kings African Rifles
the central office and depot of the
Uganda railway and the seat Of the
administration, with its numerous of
fetal personnel The dinner of the
Colonists' association, to which / was
invited, afforded the familiar, yet iI
Central Africa not unimpressive, spec
tacle of long rows of gentlemen In
evening dress, while the ball given by
the governor to celebrate the kings
birthday revealed a company gay witt
uniforms and ladies' in pretty dresses
assembled upon spot where scarcel,
turbed
Every white man in Nairobi is
politician, and most of them are lead
ers of parties. One would scarcel.
believe it possible that a center 81
new should be able to develop so man.
, divergent and conflicting interests. o
that community so small should b
: able to give to each such vigorous an
even vehement expression.
There are already in miniature al
J the elements of keen political and RI
: cial discord, all the materials for he
and acrimonious debate. The whit
: man versus the black; the Indian vel
sus both; the settler as against tn
planter; the town contrasted with tn
, country; the official class against tn
unofficial; the coast and the higf
! lands; the railway administration an
The protectorate generally; the King
African Rifles and the East Africa
/ Protectorate police-all these differen
+, points of ytsw, naturally arising, hor
estly adoZ tenaciously held and nc
yet reeod kled into any harmoniou
) SeneraI conoeption, rupfrnnt the Wis
, tor in perplsxing disarray.
, Estates of Thousands of Acres.
The snow-clad peak of Mount Keny
100 miles away, can on clear morr
r ing be easily seen from the slope
J above Nairobi-a sharp, serrated sun
! NIT veined with a cleaning white. .
road-passable for wagons and even
4 motor car-runs thitherward by Fol-
, Hall and across the Tana river. O
the way there is much TO see. A wild
ragged-looking but fertile regio.
1 swelling into successive undulation
and intersected by numerous gorge
, whose streams are shaded by fin
c trees, unfolds itself to the eve.
e Scattered about upon spacious e
, tates of many thousand acres are
score or two of colonists, each grad,
ally making himself home and
j living in his own way. One raise
l S'"'hi aiothei piautS -cOlIee, W0lc
: grows SO exuberantly in this generou
soil as to threaten the speedy exhaus
) tion of the plant. Here are ostriches
sheep and cattle standing placidly te
! gether in one drove under the guard
, ianship of native child of II. Their
| is complete dairy farm, admirabl
, equipped. One of the streams ha
been damned effectively, and tul
bines are now lightning Nairobi win
electricity. Upon the banks o. IN
other there is talk of building a hotel
AT 'one place l found a family o
! good people from England grapplin
courageously with an enormous trac
OF 10000 acres. Hard by an old Boer
who has trekked the length of Africf
to avoid the British flag, sits smokina
stolidly by his grass house. recon
ciled to British rule at last He has
Few cattle and less cash, but he holds
decided views as to the whereabouts
OF lions. In short, one sees a sparse
heterogeneous population engaged in
various labors, but everywhere hard
WORK. straitened resources, hopes per.
] SlSting through many disonnoi,,......