AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS. 165 



for what they shall become. His imagination 

 can exalt this tiny seedling to the impressive- 

 ness of spreading noontime shade ; can magnify 

 yonder apparent duplicate to the full symmetry 

 of a shrub ; can ruthlessly diminish the present 

 importance of certain grand and lofty growths 

 to its true status of flower or animal. So from 

 a dead uniformity of size he casts forward in 

 the years to a pleasing variation of shade, of 

 jungle, of open glade, of flowered vista ; and he 

 goes away full of expert admiration for " X.'s 

 bully garden." With this solid training beneath 

 me I was able on this occasion to please im- 

 mensely. 



From the house site we descended the slope to 

 where the ostriches and the cattle and the people 

 were in the late sunlight swarming upward from 

 the plains pastures below. These people were, 

 to the chief extent, Wakamba, quite savage, but 

 attracted here by the justness and fair dealing of 

 the Hills. Some of them farmed on shares with 

 the Hills, the white men furnishing the land and 

 seed, and the black men the labour ; some of 

 them laboured on wage ; some few herded cattle 

 or ostriches ; some were hunters and took the field 

 only when, as now, serious business was afoot. 

 They had their complete villages, with priests, 



