CHA Ib a. 
TROUBLES WITH THE WORKMEN 
Ir seemed fated that the building of the Tsavo 
Bridge should never be allowed to proceed in peace 
for any length of time. I have already described 
our troubles with the lions; and no sooner did the 
beasts of prey appear to have deserted us, for the 
time being at any rate, than other troubles, no less 
serious, arose with the workmen themselves. After 
I had discovered the stone for the bridge, I sent 
down to the coast for gangs of masons to work and 
dress it. The men who were sent me-for this 
purpose were mostly Pathans and were supposed to 
be expert workmen ; but I soon found that many 
of them had not the faintest notion of stone-cutting, 
and were simply ordinary coolies who had posed as 
masons in order to draw forty-five instead of twelve 
rupees a month. On discovering this fact, I imme- 
diately instituted a system of piece-work, and drew 
up a scale of pay which would enable the genuine 
