AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



For it must not be forgotten that Nairobi, in spite 

 of these things — due to the direct but slender 

 thread of communication by railroad and ships — 

 is actually in the middle of an African wilderness; 

 is a black man's town, as far as numbers go.* 



The game feeds to its very outskirts, even wanders 

 into the streets at night.f Lions may be heard 

 roaring within a mile or so of town; and leopards 

 occasionally at night come on the verandas of the 

 outlying dwellings. Naked savages from the jungle 

 untouched by civilization in even the minutest 

 particular wander the streets unabashed. 



It is this constantly recurring, sharply drawn 

 contrast that gives Nairobi its piquant charm. 

 As one sits on the broad hotel veranda a constantly 

 varied pageant passes before him. A daintily dressed, 

 fresh-faced Englishwoman bobs by in a smart rick- 

 shaw drawn by two uniformed runners; a Kikuyu, 

 annointed, curled, naked, brass adorned, teeters 

 along, an expression of satisfaction on his face; a 

 horseman, well appointed, trots briskly by followed 

 by his loping syce; a string of skin-clad women, their 

 heads fantastically shaved, heavily ornamented, 

 lean forward under the burden of firewood for the 

 market; a beautiful baby in a frilled baby cab is 



*Fifteen hundred whites to twelve thousand natives, approximately, 

 frhis happened twice while I was in the country. 



120 



