PEOPLE. 141 



contempt, and condescension elsewhere. They 

 are pleasant people, and hospitable, and some of 

 them very distinguished in position or achieve- 

 ment ; and I am glad to say I have good friends 

 among them. 



But the native is the joy, and the never- 

 ceasing delight. For his benefit is the wide, 

 glittering, colourful, insanitary bazaar, with its 

 dozens of little open-air veranda shops, its 

 " hotels " where he can sit in a real chair and 

 drink real tea, its cafes, and the dark mysteries 

 of its more doubtful amusements. The bazaar 

 is right in the middle of town, just where it ought 

 not to be, and it is constantly being quarantined, 

 and threatened with removal. It houses a large 

 population mysteriously, for it is of slight extent. 

 Then on the borders of town are the two great 

 native villages one belonging to the Somalis, 

 and the other hospitably accommodating the 

 swarms of caravan porters and their families. 

 For, just as in old days Mombasa and Zanzibar 

 used to be the points from which caravans into 

 the interior would set forth, now Nairobi outfits 

 the majority of expeditions. Probably ten thou- 

 sand picked natives of various tribes are engaged 

 in the profession. Of course but a small pro- 

 portion of this number is ever at home at any 



