CHAPTER IX 
HINTS FOR A WOMAN IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
By Lady Cranworth 
The woman who makes up her mind that she will 
share the life of a settler in East Africa will still have 
many vicissitudes to face. Danger is no longer one of 
them, and discomfort, though at first one cannot fail to 
feel the altered conditions, is not nowadays a very 
serious item. It is the third D, however, dullness, 
that causes the chief worry to newcomers, or rather I 
would say to newcomers who have not resources in 
themselves. Nearly every settler is a busy man, and 
if, as is almost certain, he is farming, planting, or 
developing property, in some form or another, his 
whole day is occupied, and when he is not working, he 
is planning the next step to prosperity. This absorption 
in his pursuits is, I am told, a feature of all Colonial 
life, and is in itself a proof of the prosperity of that 
life. In East Africa one is lucky in that there are 
work and interests ready to hand, in which not only 
can the woman share, but which, as a rule, she can do 
much better than her menkind. Among such pursuits 
are cooking, washing, poultry-farming, gardening, 
household pursuits, and, in modern days, the care of 
the stables. There are also many matters on the farm 
84 
