FORT SMITH 91 



took up stations in shallows, equi-distant from the bank, and 

 held on to the rope to relieve the strain. Omari and two or 

 three of the strongest porters then carried across all the loads, 

 and the rest scrambled over along the rope. By great good 

 fortune we crossed without accident, but the four of us on whom 

 the brunt of the struggle fell were too tired to go farther that 

 day. I had been in the water for an hour and a half, during 

 which my feet and legs were numbed with cold, while my 

 shoulders were being sun-blistered. 



Next morning we continued our march across the lava 

 plains. During the day we were joined by a caravan of ninety 

 men, under a famous old headman, Wadi Bunduki (" The 

 Son of the Gun "). They were going to reinforce and carry 

 mails and stores to the garrison at Fort Smith, and had been 

 hastened forward so that we might traverse together the country 

 inhabited by the Kikuyu. We camped a little distance from 

 the forests, keeping double guard all night. Next morning we 

 met twenty of the Company's soldiers, who had been sent by a 

 night march to guide us. Our united forces therefore amounted 

 to 150 men. The forest paths were flooded, so while wading 

 along these we were safe from attack ; but when we reached the 

 plantations there was more danger, and crowds of natives 

 appeared and watched us. We marched in a compact body, 

 with skirmishers thrown out ahead to examine the clumps of 

 bush before we approached them ; and we kept ready at any 

 moment to repel attack from the natives who hung upon our 

 flanks. But they made no attempt to interfere with us, not 

 even at midday when we rested for a few minutes in a yam- 

 field and helped ourselves to the potatoes. 



In the afternoon we reached Fort Smith, the British East 

 Africa Company's station in the Kikuyu country. I found that 

 Mr. Purkiss (who has since died) was then in command, for 

 Captain Nelson, one of the officers of the Emin Pasha Relief Ex- 

 pedition, had died two months previously. The history of this 

 station is short but eventful. The Company's first settlement was 

 about four miles away at Dagorcti, which was built by Captain 

 Lugard and Mr. George Wilson in 1 890. That station, however, 

 was twice destroyed by the natives, and the existing fort was 

 built by Major Smith. The defences are so strong that there is 

 no fear of its capture except by surprise. Of this, however, there 



