II 



488 THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



Here we saw a large party of traders from Giriama, 

 a country not far from Mombasa. Formerly they feared 

 to come to this place, but at this time they could trade 

 in security. They said they were not afraid to go any- 

 where, provided European influence had rendered the 

 natives peaceful. I was told that this place was a 

 slave-trading centre, and that caravans which had been 



Dick's Grave at Mwyru 



trading at Kikuyu, and had acquired slaves, sold them 

 here for goats and cattle. The Wakamba were the 

 purchasers, and they employed them in work upon 

 their plantations. The price of a good-looking Masai 

 or Kikuyu girl was three goats. They also had a few 

 Galla slaves. The inhabitants of Kikuyu are a most 

 treacherous lot, and since the British East Africa Com- 

 pany established stations in the neighbourhood they 

 have behaved in the n;ost hostile manner. The day 



