CHAPTER XI 



BRITISH EAST AFRICA : TO THE NYIKA- 

 BOUND NORTH 



The Uganda Railway has cost, in round 

 figures, six millions sterling, and never, probably, 

 was the expenditure of such a huge sum of 

 money initiated with a more vague and inde- 

 finite object. One outstanding reason for the 

 linking up of Mombasa and Lake Victoria 

 Nyanza — and be it ever to the credit of Great 

 Britain that it was a major reason — was 

 the crushing of the slave trade. The necessity 

 for maintaining an efficient means of com- 

 munication with rebellious Uganda was also 

 evident, but neither of these objectives was at 

 all clearly outlined or appreciated. The country 

 for some years after the Government acquired 

 it from the company of which Sir William 

 Mackinnon was the presiding genius was little 

 understood. It was known to be peopled by the 

 warlike Masai, and it was said in England by a 

 British statesman that for every mile of rail 

 laid a Briton would seek his grave with a Masai 

 spear deep in his heart. 



It is true that the tribes of East Africa have 

 given us some trouble in the construction of the 

 line. The Nandi campaign was the outcome of 

 systematic theft of metal from the lines and 

 telegraph wires in order to make bracelets and 

 forge spears. But the casualty list of those 



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