340 
A COLONY IN THE MAKING 
CHAP. 
diminished almost to a vanishing point in the station. 
Alas ! Mr. Ainsworth, while gaining so signal a victory 
over fever, fell a victim himself to the insidious disease 
of golf, and its devotees now include no firmer adherent. 
The game itself, therefore, enjoyed a double triumph. 
The courses at Nyeri and Mweru are at present 
somewhat rough, and being situated in what are still 
somewhat unfrequented districts suffer from lack of 
funds and players. They possess, however, an asset 
in which they need fear comparison with no course 
in Africa, their turf. This is of the most splendid 
description, short, thick, and crisp, and when we add 
to this the magnificent scenery of mountains, forest, 
and river amid which they are situated, also the 
splendid air coming straight from the snows of Kenia, 
one can have little doubt that not only is their future 
assured, but that it will be most prosperous. 
There remains Nairobi, the principal course in the 
country, on which the championship is now annually 
decided. It owed its conception to the energy of 
the late Mr. Bell, who formed the club and laid out 
the original course in 1907. Naturally it has been 
gradually improved from year to year, and its present 
excellence is undoubtedly due to the great care and 
perseverance of the presentsecretary, Mr. A. E. Gardner. 
It must be confessed that the course represents, as in 
most African courses, the triumph of the game over 
natural obstacles. The soil is mostly clay and the 
grass somewhat sparse and rank ; but, as elsewhere, 
regular play is rapidly improving it, and as year after 
year it is fed down by sheep the turf gets shorter, 
crisper, and thicker. The greens are of sand-covered 
earth, very true but naturally forming a very difficult 
space on which to remain. (There can be no question 
