CHAPTER V 
JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 
At Juja Farm we were welcomed with the most gener¬ 
ous hospitality by my fellow-countryman and his wife^ Mr. 
and Mrs. W. N. McMillan. Selous had been staying with 
them, and one afternoon I had already ridden over from 
Sir Alfred’s ranch to take tea with them at their other house, 
on the beautiful Mua hills. 
Juja Farm lies on the edge of the Athi Plains, and the 
house stands near the junction of the Nairobi and Rewero 
Rivers. The house, like almost all East African houses, 
was of one story, a broad, vine-shaded veranda running 
around it. There were numerous out-buildings of every 
kind; there were flocks and herds, cornfields, a vegetable 
garden, and, immediately in front of the house, a very 
pretty flower garden, carefully tended by unsmiling Ki¬ 
kuyu savages. All day long these odd creatures worked 
at the grass and among the flower beds; according to the 
custom of their tribe their ears were slit so as to enable 
them to stretch the lobes to an almost unbelievable extent, 
and in these apertures they wore fantastically carved na¬ 
tive ornaments. One of them had been attracted by the 
shining surface of an empty tobacco can, and he wore this 
in one ear to match the curiously carved wooden drum he 
carried in the other. Another, whose arms and legs were 
massive with copper and iron bracelets, had been given a 
106 
