UP FROM THE COAST 



and impressive entrance. This brief fleeting quarter 

 hour of glory is unique and passes. It is like crossing 

 the Line, or the first kiss, something that in its 

 nature cannot be repeated. 



The hack was once a noble vehicle, compounded 

 of opulent curves, with a very high driver's box in 

 front, a little let-down bench, and a deep luxurious 

 shell-shaped back seat reclining in which one 

 received the adulation of the populace. That was 

 in its youth. Now in its age the varnish is gone; 

 the upholstery of the back seat frayed; the uphol- 

 stery of the small seat seat lacking utterly, so that 

 one sits on bare boards. In place of two dignifiedly 

 spirited fat white horses, it is drawn by two very 

 small mules in a semi-detached position far ahead. 

 And how it rattles ! 



Between the station and the hotel at Nairobi is a 

 long, straight, wide, well-made street, nearly a mile 

 long, and bordered by a double row of young 

 eucalyptus. These latter have changed the main 

 street of Nairobi from the sunbaked array of galvan- 

 ized houses described by travellers of a half dozen 

 years back to a thoroughfare of great charm. The 

 iron houses and stores are now in a shaded back- 

 ground; and the attention is freed to concentrate 

 on the vivid colouring, the incessant movement, the 

 great interest of the people moving to and fro. 



"7 



