Each slave is allowed an allotment for his own cultivation,
and the size of this varies from two hundred by ten yards,
to two hundred by fifty yards, the produce from which belongs
to him entirely.
No owner has any right to enter a slave’s house, unless in
a very extreme case, such as searching for a runaway, etc.
The master also never interferes with, nor has any claim on,
any poultry or other domestic animals reared and owned by
his slaves.
And, lastly, concerning the actual treatment of the slaves.
It is entirely against an owner’s interest to ill-treat or overwork
them, for if ill-used or harshly dealt with in any way, they
invariably escape to the various runaway-slave settlements
up the Sabaki and elsewhere in the bush.
CH A P T E R II
LIFE AT MAGARINI
Friendliness of the Li walis— Nasur bin Suliman’s Shambas—rCharming
Country— Commissariat Troubles— Choice of Head-quarters— Silence of
the African Night— Shambas under my Supervision— Luxuriant Vegetation—
Proposed Improvements— My Native Staff—Engagement of
Head-man— M’Doro the Nika Head-man— Native Path to Melindi—
The Jorori River— A Ducking—Dum Palms— Native Clearings—
Suitability of the Soil for Cotton— Ferry over the Sabaki—A Primitive
Bridge— Return to the Shambas.
I TAKE this opportunity to again acknowledge with thanks
all the assistance and friendliness that I received from the
Liwali, of Melindi. He entered into my proposed schemes
with great zeal and heartiness, and I found him an unusually
intelligent and liberal-minded gentleman. He sat talking
and smoking with us and joined us at our meals, we exchanged
dishes, and indeed he often kept our table going when our
own supplies ran short, for I was not proficient in African
housekeeping at first.
The Liwali of Mombrui also came to the rescue, and kindly
supplied us with milk until I got some goats.
In the afternoon of July 24 the labour-contractor from
Melindi arrived. He seemed a suitable man and I offered to
engage him, but he said he would have to consult his family,
and returned to do so. I afterwards heard, that for family
reasons he. could not accept my offer— this was a disappointment.
The Liwali theri suggested a man who was in charge
■of one of his own shambas, the son of an influential man in
Melindi, and I finally’engaged him. The next day the Liwali
and I started off to inspect Nasur bin Suliman’s shambas,
also administered by the Company, and as they were about
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