io6 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 



The landscape is superb. In beauty, in fertility, in verdure, in the 

 coolness of the air, in the abundance of running water, in its rich red 

 soil, in the variety of its vegetation, the scenery about Kenya far sur- 

 passes anything to be seen in India or South Africa, and challenges 

 comparison with the fairest countries of Europe. 



It is only a few years since regular control was established beyond 

 the Tana, not without some bloodshed, by a small military expedition. 

 Yet so peaceful are the tribes — now that their intertribal fighting has 

 been stopped — that white officers ride freely about among their vil- 

 lages without even carrying a pistol. Though the natives met with 

 on the road are armed with sword and spear, they all offer their cus- 

 tomary salutations, while many come up smiling and holding out their 

 hands to shake, till one grows weary of the civility. Indeed, the only 

 dangers of the road appear to be from the buffaloes which infest the 

 country, and after nightfall place the traveler in real peril. 



As for the lion, unless one encamps in the vicinity of a genuine 

 man-eater, there is apparently little to fear. Much as we have been 

 accustomed to speak in terms of respect of this "noble" -lord of the 

 wilds, African hunters frequently describe him in accents of contempt. 

 He is never "spoiling for a fight" — at least with man, and unless 

 goaded to anger and cut off from retreat, takes care to avoid battle 

 with this new and perilous foe. There are those w4io tell us that if an 

 unarmed man comes by chance into close vicinity with a half dozen 

 or so of lions, all he need do is to speak to them sternly and they will 

 slink away like scolded curs, the more rapidly if he throws a few stones 

 at them to hurry up their pace. This course of treatment is highly 

 recommended by some Afrikanders under such circumstances, but it 

 is doubtful if many of us would care to try the experiment. The 

 results of early education cannot but instil in us a certain wholesome 

 respect for this powerful and dangerous brute. How Colonel Roose- 

 velt would have acted if he had met a half dozen of these tawny prowl- 

 ers when unarmed, we are not prepared to say, as he never met even 

 with a single one without his trusty rifle in hand. 



Here let us dispel the view which some seem to entertain that the 

 tiger is a native of Africa. Even so prominent a statesman — and 

 unprominent a naturalist — as Mr. Bryan is on record as speaking of 



