CHAPTER V 



WE START HOUSEKEEPING 



Arrival in Nairobi — hotel life — housekeeping — Ali's history — 

 Goanese cooks — plague in Nairobi — Baruku's presents. 



At Nairobi station we were met by officers of our 

 battalion, and again we had to sample an African 

 hotel. This same hotel has been much improved, 

 but when we were there it was very primitive. As 

 it is a long way down the main thoroughfare, we 

 hired and paid heavily for a curious rough cart to 

 take us there from the station. The weather was 

 quite chilly and dull, so different to Mombasa. We 

 arrived in East Africa at the end of August, during 

 the winter in fact. People were most kind to us. 

 We were asked out to dine the first night, but the 

 hotel rickshaw was broken, and no other procurable, 

 I think there were only two in the place then, so we 

 ordered a carriage, which, however, after much 

 waiting on our part, did not turn up at all, owing 

 to the fact that there had been a little rain ; the 

 Indian livery-stable man is very casual. Distances 

 are very great in Nairobi, therefore we could not 

 walk, but had to send a boy with a note instead, 



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