JOURNEY UP FROM MOMBASA 



and of the soldiers are placed on the hills round 

 Nairobi, in, mostly, very healthy positions with 

 lovely views, looking over the town and over the 

 plains around. This time our destination was 

 Nairobi, but later we went farther up the line. The 

 train winds at the back of the town below the hills 

 where are the European houses, through the fertile 

 shambas of Kikuyu. From the trees hang numer- 

 ous strange-looking barrels, a tiny hole is made in 

 them large enough to allow bees to enter, and 

 when a swarm of wild bees passes it takes posses- 

 sion of the barrel. After the bees have filled the 

 barrel with honey and wax the natives possess 

 themselves of it. The native honey is unpurified 

 and very strong in flavour and dark in colour. In 

 Nairobi I caught a swarm and kept bees, but 

 without much success. Dotted among the native 

 shambas, every now and then a European has 

 his land, which can be distinguished by the regular 

 way in which he plants his crops, for the natives 

 seem to plant without much order or system. 



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