FALSE REPORTS ABOUT KIKUYULAND 



Lake Baringo for fresli sup- 

 plies. Purchases are there- 

 fore always made either here, 

 where the natives are dealt 

 with direct, or at Miansini, a 

 place a little further on, also 

 on the borders of Kikuyu, 

 where the Wandorobbo act 

 as go-betweens. 



Before our arrival little 

 was really known about the 

 land or the people of Kikuyu, 

 with the result that count- 

 less tales were afloat of the 

 fierceness and hostility of 

 the natives. A caravan from 

 Mombasa, it was said, had 

 attempted, a few years ago, 

 to enter Kikuyu from the 

 east, and had been destroyed. 

 Since then no traders had 

 dared to venture within range 

 of the poisoned arrows, which 

 natives hidden in the dense 

 woods were reported to shoot 

 at every intruder in their 

 land. And two of the men 

 with us assured us that Dr. 

 G. Fischer had had to fight 

 every inch of his way when 

 he crossed this redoubtable 

 district somewhere in the 

 north, on his way to the 



