74 A COLONY IN THE MAKING ch. vii 



cake. The greatest drawback, however, to the race in 

 this capacity is this, that practically without exception 

 no Somali can spoor or understands the elements of 

 hunting. 



In the Highlands those Somalis who are temporarily 

 taking a rest from their life's work live in a large 

 village on the outskirts of Nairobi, while in the town 

 itself they have their own club, wherein they are 

 waited on by natives of base degree. Many of those 

 who are rather pleased to observe the contempt with 

 which the Somalis look down on all the natives of the 

 country would be less pleased if they realised that they 

 also class the European on a hardly higher plane and 

 certainly as immeasurably inferior to themselves. If 

 the confidence of a specimen of this class be obtained, 

 as it may be, he will converse freely and most 

 courteously on the subject. He is ready to admit that 

 owing to a certain monkey-like cunning the European 

 nations are richer, and in a sense more powerful than 

 the leading African races. Intrinsically, however, 

 Europeans are neither so brave, so enduring, nor so 

 clever as either Abyssinians or his own people ; indeed 

 that after a while the two latter may find it worth their 

 while to combine and expel the European from the 

 whole of Africa, if indeed it may not prove desirable to 

 go further than that. 



It may be submitted that, with all his good qualities 

 and personal attractions, the Protectorate would be the 

 better for the total extinction of this in many respects 

 charming race. 



