On The Contrary
I Found Them Well-Behaved And Intelligent And
Most Anxious To Learn.
As is the case with all other African races,
the women of the Wa Kikuyu do the manual
labour of the village and carry the heavy loads
for their lords and masters, the bundles being
held in position on their back by a strap passing
round the forehead.
Notwithstanding this some of them are quite
pleasant looking, and once they have overcome
their fear of the European, do not object to being
photographed.
Of the other tribes to be met with in this part
of the world, the Kavirondo are the most
interesting. They are an industrious, simple people,
devoted to agriculture and hospitable in the
extreme - a little addicted to thieving, perhaps,
but then that is scarcely considered a sin in the
heart of Africa. They are clothed (to use Mark
Twain's expression) in little but a smile, a bead
or two here and there being considered ample
raiment; nevertheless they are modest in their
ways and are on the whole about the best of
the East African tribes.
CHAPTER XXII
HOW ROSHAN KHAN SAVED MY LIFE
On May 12 railhead reached the Athi River,
where, as there was a great deal of miscellaneous
work to be done, our headquarters remained
established for some little time. One day not
long after we had settled down in our new camp,
I was joined quite unexpectedly by my friend Dr.
Brock, who had shared the exciting adventure
with me at Tsavo the night we were attacked
in the goods-wagon by one of the man-eaters.
Now Brock had so far not been fortunate enough
to bag a lion, and was consequently most anxious
to do so. Shortly after his arrival, accordingly,
he suggested that we should go for a shooting
expedition on the morrow, and that I should trot
out for his benefit one of the local lions. Of
course I said I should be delighted - I was always
ready for a hunt when it was possible for me
to get away, and as just at the time we were
"held up" by the Athi River, I could manage
a day off quite easily. So we made the usual
preparations for a day's absence from camp -
filled our water-bottles with tea, put a loaf of
bread and a tin of sardines in our haversacks,
looked carefully to our rifles and ammunition;
and warned the "boys" who were to accompany
us as beaters to be ready before dawn. I decided
to make a very early start, as I knew that the
most likely place for lions lay some distance away,
and I wanted to get there if possible by daybreak.
We should thus have a better chance of catching
one of the lords of the plain as he returned
from his nightly depredations to the kindly shelter
of the tall grass and rushes which fringed the
banks of the river. We therefore retired to rest
early, and just as I was dozing off to sleep, one
of my Indian servants, Roshan Khan, put his
head through the slit at my tent door and asked
leave to accompany the "Sahibs" in the morning
so that he might see what shikar (hunting) was
like.
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