ch. ix HINTS FOR A WOMAN IN B. E. AFRICA 85 



itself acquaintance with which on the part of the 

 farmer's wife will do no harm. It will, at all events, 

 serve to show the farm labourers that the time of the 

 masters absence is not one which can be exclusively 

 devoted to food and sleep. This being so, any girl 

 who determines to try the life of a settler in the 

 Protectorate — a decision which it is unlikely that she 

 will ever regret — had better fit herself for that life by 

 learning the first elements of cooking, gardening, 

 stable management, and, if possible, a few of the 

 simplest rules of farming. I would add house-manage- 

 ment, were it not that the supervision of native 

 servants is an art in itself, and one in which the 

 qualities which make success or failure seem ingrained. 

 One could not, for instance, learn by experience in 

 England when is the right time to have a servant 

 beaten for rubbing silver plate on the gravel path 

 to clean it, and that after several previous warnings. 



We will suppose that a girl is coming to settle in 

 the country. The first question that she will ask is, 

 " What ought I to bring out ? " The answer to which, 

 of course, depends a good deal on where she is going. 

 Every year, however, the shops in Nairobi improve in 

 excellence, and every year therefore the necessity 

 to take out any special outfit either in clothes or 

 provisions becomes less pressing. 



The first point to be remembered is that although 

 the Protectorate lies astride the Equator, it is not for 

 the most part really a hot climate. In the Highlands the 

 mean maximum temperature is only about 75 , while 

 the nights are often quite cold ; indeed in most parts a 

 wood fire in the evening throughout the greater portion 

 of the year is distinctly comforting. This being so, one 

 is far more likely to make the mistake of taking too 



