176 A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



the optimistic and ignorant, and even the common ant's 

 egg shining in the clay has raised the hopes of the 

 tiller of the soil, only to be ignominiously squashed in 

 the office of the mining expert. In cases where the 

 discovery has had better grounds to justify it, it has 

 usually been followed by a rush to the scene of the 

 find, where a day or two's search, a night or two's 

 jollification, a good deal of claim-pegging, and a small 

 amount of disappointment, have sent the would-be 

 capitalists back to the less exciting but surer occupa- 

 tions in which they were previously engaged. The 

 most famous of such rushes was that following the 

 discovery of one or two very minute but genuine 

 diamonds along the N'darugu river on the way to 

 Fort Hall. The whole population of Nairobi left 

 shop, office, field, or forge, and on horses, mules, 

 bicycles, carts, or even on foot, migrated as fast as 

 possible to the scene of the discovery. On arrival 

 they pegged out claims for a distance of many miles 

 north and south along the road ; though why along the 

 road I can't say. Little serious work was done, indeed 

 it is doubtful whether five per cent, of the crowd would 

 have recognised a diamond had they been fortunate 

 enough to find one. But one eminent citizen did well, 

 and it is his example that I would most earnestly 

 commend to the young settler. Wasting no time over 

 claims and peg-driving, this practical soul filled a 

 waggon with beer and proceeding to the scene of the 

 mining operations sold the contents at a profit of 

 several hundred per cent. The proceeds of his enter- 

 prise, great as they were, would have been finer still 

 had his friends been fewer and his heart less generous. 

 Next to the gold and diamonds, coal has proved the 

 most alluring Will-o'-the-Wisp. Rumours of magni- 



