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 shambas (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, 



