The Government post at Meru is situated in a clearing won from the
forest on the first gentle slopes of Kenia's ranges.
The clearing
is a very large one, and on it the grass grows green and short,
like a lawn. It resembles, as much as anything else, the rolling,
beautiful downs of a first-class country club, and the illusion
is enhanced by the Commissioner's house among some trees atop a
hill. Well-kept roadways railed with rustic fences lead from the
house to the native quarters lying in the hollow and to the
Government offices atop another hill. Then also there are the
quarters of the Nubian troops; round low houses with conical
grass roofs.
These, and the presence everywhere of savages, rather take away
from the first country-club effect. A corral seemed full of a
seething mob of natives; we found later that this was the market,
a place of exchange. Groups wandered idly here and there across
the greensward; and other groups sat in circles under the shade
of trees, each man's spear stuck in the ground behind him. At
stated points were the Nubians, fine, tall, black, soldierly men,
with red fez, khaki shirt, and short breeches, bare knees and
feet, spiral puttees, and a broad red sash of webbing. One of
these soldiers assigned us a place to camp. We directed our
safari there, and then immediately rode over to pay our respects
to the Commissioner.
The latter, Horne by name, greeted us with the utmost cordiality,
and offered us cool drinks.
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