292 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
tables and station quarters erected, a water supply 
laid on, and a hundred and one other things 
done which go to the making of a_ railway 
township. Wonderfully soon, however, the nucleus 
of the present town began to take shape, and 
a thriving ‘‘bazaar” sprang into existence with 
a mushroom-like growth. In this, however, a 
case or two of plague broke out before very 
long, so I gave the natives and Indians who 
inhabited it an hour’s notice to clear out, and on 
my own responsibility promptly burned the whole 
place to the ground. For this somewhat arbitrary 
proceeding I was mildly called over the coals, as 
I expected ; but all the same it effectually stamped 
out the plague, which did not reappear during the 
time I was in the country. 
With a little persuasion I managed to induce 
several hundred of the Wa Kikuyu, in whose 
country we now were, to come and work at 
Nairobi, and very useful and capable they proved 
themselves after a little training. They frequently 
brought me in word that the shamdas (plantations, 
gardens) at the back of the hill on which my camp 
was pitched were being destroyed by elephants, but 
unfortunately I could never spare time to go out in 
quest of them. On one occasion, however, I passed 
the news on to my friend, Dr. Winston Waters, 
