CHAPTER IV 



ON THE EDGE OF THE ATHI PLAINS, FACE TO FACE 



WITH GREAT HERDS OF WILD GAME. UP IN 



A BALLOON AT NAIROBI 



BEFORE Colonel Roosevelt drew the eyes of the 

 world on British East Africa Nairobi was practi- 

 cally unheard of. The British colonial office knew 

 where it was and a fair number of English sports- 

 men had visited it in the last six or eight years. 

 Perhaps twenty-five or thirty Americans had been 

 in Nairobi on their way to the rich game fields that 

 lie in all directions from the town, but beyond these 

 few outsiders the place was unknown. Now it is 

 decidedly on the map, thanks to our gallant and 

 picturesque Theodore. It has been mentioned in 

 book and magazine to a degree that nearly every- 

 body can tell in a general way where and what it is, 

 even if he can not pronounce it. 



Before coming to Nairobi I had read a lot about 

 it, and yet when I reached the place it seemed as 

 though the descriptions had failed to prepare me 

 for what I saw. We arrived under unusual con- 

 ditions. Files of native soldiers were lined up on the 

 platform of the station to welcome the new gover- 

 nor, and the whole white population of the town, 

 several hundred in number, were massed in front 



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