16 THE LAND OF THE LION 



The road, or more properly, track, for as yet there are 

 no roads in the country (if a few miles of gravelled roadway 

 near Nairobi be excepted) winds between rolling hills 

 and dense spurs of encroaching forest, twenty-two miles 

 to Eldama Ravine Boma. There is a government station, 

 and a district commissioner holds his court, ruling the neigh- 

 bouring tribes. The country you pass through for all 

 these twenty-two miles, is exceedingly rich and capable 

 of raising almost any crop and of supporting great herds 

 of cattle. Yet not one single settler's shamba * is visible 

 for all the long way. You ask why ? And the answer 

 is of a sort one hears far too frequently in the Protectorate: 

 "Oh, all this is So-and-So's concession." 



Twenty-two miles of splendid land, near the railroad, 

 too, locked up and refused to settlers, just because 

 someone with a "pull at home" asked, and someone in 

 authority gave, what he did not know anything about. 

 Real settlers are naturally discouraged by such a policy. 

 As I have mentioned this concession, near the railroad, 

 I may as well, since it is a flagrant case of governmental 

 unwisdom and lack of foresight, state what I learned about 

 it later on. 



Not only is this rich district between Londiani and 

 Eldama Ravine held back from settlers, but you may 

 ride more than forty miles after leaving Eldama Ravine, 

 through a country perhaps the very finest and certainly 

 the healthiest in East Africa, and look as far as you can 

 on either side of your way without seeing a head of cattle, 

 or one sod turned for purposes of agriculture. All has been 

 "concessed" to a group of individuals as a forest concession. 

 Now, it is true you are passing through the great Mau 

 forest region. Hundreds of square miles of the finest 

 timber borders your pathway. Let Government give away 

 the mighty Mau forest if it must, or does not know any 



*African word for farm. 



