176 
A COLONY IN THE MAKING 
CHAP. 
the optimistic and ignorant, and even the common ant’s 
egg shining in the clay has raised the hopes of the 
tiller of the soil, only to be ignominiously squashed in 
the office of the mining expert. In cases where the 
discovery has had better grounds to justify it, it has 
usually been followed by a rush to the scene of the 
find, where a day or two’s search, a night or two’s 
jollification, a good deal of claim-pegging, and a small 
amount of disappointment, have sent the would-be 
capitalists back to the less exciting but surer occupa¬ 
tions in which they were previously engaged. The 
most famous of such rushes was that following the 
discovery of one or two very minute but genuine 
diamonds along the N’darugu river on the way to 
Fort Hall. The whole population of Nairobi left 
shop, office, field, or forge, and on horses, mules, 
bicycles, carts, or even on foot, migrated as fast as 
possible to the scene of the discovery. On arrival 
they pegged out claims for a distance of many miles 
north and south along the road ; though why along the 
road I can’t say. Little serious work was done, indeed 
it is doubtful whether five per cent, of the crowd would 
have recognised a diamond had they been fortunate 
enough to find one. But one eminent citizen did well, 
and it is his example that I would most earnestly 
commend to the young settler. Wasting no time over 
claims and peg-driving, this practical soul filled a 
waggon with beer and proceeding to the scene of the 
mining operations sold the contents at a profit of 
several hundred per cent. The proceeds of his enter¬ 
prise, great as they were, would have been finer still 
had his friends been fewer and his heart less generous. 
Next to the gold and diamonds, coal has proved the 
most alluring Will-o’-the-Wisp. Rumours of magni- 
