100 RHINO AND GIRAFFES [ch. rv 



McMillan's place, Jiija Farm, on the other side of the 

 Athi. 1 stayed behind, as I desired to visit the Ameri- 

 can Mission Station at Machakos. Accordingly, Sir 

 Alfred and I rode thither. Machakos has long been a 

 native town, for it was on the route formerly taken by 

 the Arab caravans that went from the coast to the 

 interior after slaves and ivory. Riding' toward it, we 

 passed herd after herd of cattle, slieep, and goats, each 

 guarded by two or three savage herdsmen. The little 

 town itself was both interesting and attractive. Besides 

 the natives, there were a number of Indian traders and 

 the English Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner, 

 with a small body of native soldiers. The latter not a 

 long time before had been just such savages as those 

 round about them, and the change for the better 

 wrought in their physique and morale by the ordered 

 discipline to which they had submitted themselves 

 could hardly be exaggerated. When we arrived, the 

 Commissioner and his assistant were engaged in cross- 

 examining some neighbouring chiefs as to the cattle 

 sickness. The English rule in Africa has been of 

 incalculable benefit to Africans themselves, and indeed 

 this is true of the rule of most European nations. Mis- 

 takes have been made, of course, but they have proceeded 

 at least as often from an unwise effort to accomplish too 

 much in the way of beneficence, as from a desire to 

 exploit the natives. Each of the civilized nations that 

 has taken possession of any part of Africa has had its 

 own peculiar good qualities and its own peculiar defects. 

 Some of them have done too much in supervising and 

 ordering the lives of the natives, and in interfering with 

 their practices and customs. The English error, like 

 our own under similar conditions, has, if anything, been 



