CHAPTER XXV 



BACK TO CIVILISATION 



Archer's Post is a little group of huts surrounded 

 by a wire fence, situated on an eminence on the north 

 side of the river. A small body of police is stationed 

 there, for it is quite an important little place in its way ; 

 it was founded by Mr. G. F. Archer (after whom it 

 was named) in 1909 while on his journey to Marsabit, 

 and is the starting-point for travellers going to 

 Abyssinia, Wajheir and the Northern Frontier 

 District generally. Close to the Post there is an 

 excellent ford across the Uaso Nyiro with a flat- 

 bottomed boat (for use when the river is in flood) 

 and an overhead cable to which it is attached, and 

 on the southern bank there are a few huts and a 

 small store kept by two young Englishmen. It is 

 the outskirt of civilisation, on the frontier, as it were, 

 of a fertile and well-watered land, beyond which lie 

 the arid and sun-scorched wastes of a great desert. 

 Round the Post gather together the Somali traders 

 from the north and east for a well-earned rest after 

 the labours and anxieties of their waterless journey, 

 followed, as they come, by long files of laden camels 

 or herds of cattle, sheep, goats, or ponies, forming 

 a scene at once animated and picturesque. 



I decided to leave my water-tanks, and proceed 

 immediately to Meru with some of my camels, and 

 to pay off my syces and send them back to Kismayu 



279 



