SNOW MOUNTAINS, SOME SOCIETY, CLOTHES 



lot to do with people's character, and those people 

 living with a wide expanse around them always 

 seem larger minded ; also, spite is largely a matter 

 of nerves, and when climate or conditions of life 

 lower the vital system the moral tendency is 

 lowered too. It was with the greatest regret (and 

 shall I say it ! ) even with tears, that I left the good- 

 natured women of Nairobi, whom I had liked so 

 much. 



Officialism is in evidence, and so is the list of 

 precedence, that much laughed-at document. But 

 they are not so overpowering as in some other 

 places, where not to be an official — and an official, 

 mind, fairly high up on the list — means utter ex- 

 tinction socially, however superior the position of 

 that person may be at home over the position of 

 others coming higher up on that wonderful list. 

 Unfortunately, some of the higher officials suffer 

 from a disease rather common in Africa as else- 

 where ; it takes the form of an enlargement of the 

 head, which makes them unpleasant people to be 

 near, or have much to do with. If wise they re- 

 main abroad, as the English climate seems to irri- 

 tate the patient, who finds the ordinary Englishman 

 at home objects to him on account of his malady, 

 and fails to recognise his importance to the extent 

 of the patient's desire, especially as in the place 

 from which he comes, may be, he was a little tin 

 god! 



101 



