“ HALCYON DAYS” 149 
extraneous, so that I hope thus to show how much 
comfort and good living may be extracted even from 
savage Africa. 
When the meal is finished I set out to visit my 
plantations. They are situated about half a mile from 
my house. The walk thither takes you along the little 
stream which supplies a canal, or, to use a more ex¬ 
pressive Cornish word, a ££ leaf ” of water to our settle¬ 
ment, and the ground has been cleared and planted 
near the waterside, so that irrigation is easy. Here is 
working Kadu Stanley, a bright, willing Mganda boy, 
given by King Mtesa of Buganda to Stanley, when he 
visited that monarch in 1876. Kadu has sojourned 
several years on the Congo, and after his return to 
Zanzibar has taken service with me. I have made 
him head-gardener. 
Here are planted all the seeds I have brought from 
England, together with potatoes, onions, &c., brought 
from Zanzibar, and many native vegetables as well. 
Already, after a month or six weeks, the growth is 
surprising. Radishes are still in good condition for 
eating, the mustard and cress have run to seed, tur¬ 
nips are nearly ready, carrots and cucumbers are 
coming up, and sticks have been already placed in 
long rows for the peas and beans. The purple-green 
shoots of the potatoes are springing up wherever 
££ eyes ” have been planted, some of the onions are in 
flower. The only recalcitrant thing is spinach, which 
for some reason will not flourish. 
I leave Kadu and go onwards up the valley, sketch¬ 
book under my arm, and my small bird-gun in my 
hand. Across the stream there flits a large kingfisher, 
grey and rufous brown and verditer-blue, with red 
beak. Like the real aboriginal kingfisher, he feeds 
