GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



place to live in. A place apparently shunned by 

 Indians and natives alike ought to speak for 

 itself. Owing to the presence of, I believe, a 

 great quantity of lead, the water was not good, and 

 Mazerus was altogether a fever spot. 



The officers' quarters that were built were 

 ridiculous iron and wood houses, absolutely unsafe 

 for the tropics, the bachelor quarters were one 

 small bungalow divided into two quarters for two 

 officers, being small and very hot, and simply un- 

 bearable on the sunny side during the heat of the 

 day. It did not seem to strike those responsible 

 for their structure that the expense is much greater 

 of having officers going home on sick leave, and at 

 the same time lowering their power of usefulness, 

 than if they had built decent quarters, suitable for 

 such a hot climate. 



Even in Nairobi, those same bungalows were 

 unbearable during the hot months of January and 

 February, so in Mazerus they must have been too 

 terrible for words to express, to have to pass one's 

 days in. 



It caused a great deal of expense moving them 

 all, and putting them up in Nairobi ; and then 

 when up they let in the rain, and dust devils blew 

 parts of the houses down. The health and comfort 

 of officers in the King's African Rifles seem of very 

 secondary consideration. 



When I was ill in one of them, two or three 



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