92 ACROSS LANDS OF KIKUYU AND MASAI part ii 



is some danger, as the Zanzibar! are such unreliable sentries 

 that Mr. Purkiss told me that his last thought every night when 

 going to bed was that if a well-planned attack were made, no 

 one would know of it till the enemy was in the fort. The whole 

 country was in an extremely unsettled condition, and no one 

 could go half a mile from the fort except under escort. One 

 of the first things Mr. Purkiss told me was that, according to 

 regulations, no one was allowed to go anywhere in this district 

 with less than twenty armed men ; and he requested me while 

 his guest to obey that regulation. In the November of the 

 previous year there had been a big fight with the Kikuyu ; but 

 as at that time the garrison was reinforced by the caravan of 

 the Railway Survey, by one under Major Smith, then on its way 

 to Uganda, and by another under Mr. Martin, then returning to 

 the coast, the natives were easily defeated and severely punished. 

 This had not, however, prevented them from attacking the fort 

 early in 1893, when they had besieged the station for a week 

 and killed ten of the garrison. 



The farm attached to the station has a splendid kitchen garden, 

 and most of the best English vegetables, including potatoes, 

 tomatoes, turnips, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, lettuce, water- 

 cress, and spinach, and all of excellent quality, were growing 

 there. The altitude of the station is estimated by the Railway 

 Survey at 6350 feet ; but as Mr. Purkiss told me that they had 

 a mercurial barometer in the fort, I hoped to get a more exact 

 determination. The instrument, however, was an ordinary ship's 

 barometer, of use only at sea-level. The mercury was several 

 inches out of sight down the iron tube. 



Mr. Purkiss invited me to stay with him for a couple of 

 nights, and I did so, to rest the men and make my final 

 preparations. For, after leaving Fort Smith, I did not expect 

 to see another European until my return to Machakos or the 

 coast. I had also to buy enough food to last as far as Baringo, 

 and for this needed nearly a ton. To help to carry the addi- 

 tional load I bought three donkeys. The food supply was 

 further increased by the purchase of a small flock of sheep, 

 and by a sackful of vegetables, a welcome present from Mr. 

 Purkiss. 



The day after my arrival one of the new recruits for the 

 garrison " ran amuck " through the fort, and tried to brain 



