138 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



that it would hardly be more fatal to me to walk 

 a half -hour in the streets of Nairobi than to 

 march six or seven hours as I often did when 

 on safari or in the hunting field. After that I 

 got a little exercise, to the vast scandal of the 

 rickshaw boys. In fact, so unusual was my 

 performance that at first I had fairly to clear 

 myself a way with my kiboko. After a few 

 experiences they concluded me a particularly 

 crazy person and let me alone. 



Rickshaws, however, are very efficient and 

 very cheap. The runners, two in number, are 

 lithe little round-headed Kavirondos, generally, 

 their heads shaved to leave a skull cap, clad in 

 scant ragged garments, and wearing each an 

 anklet of little bells. Their passion for ornament 

 they confine to small bright things in their hair 

 and ears. They run easily, with a very long 

 stride. Even steep hills they struggle up some- 

 how, zigzagging from one side of the road to the 

 other, edging along an inch or so at a time. 

 In such places I should infinitely have preferred 

 to have walked, but that would have lost me 

 caste everywhere. There are limits even to a 

 crazy man's idiosyncrasies. For that reason I 

 never thoroughly enjoyed rickshaws, save along 

 the level ways with bells jingling and feet pat- 



