a half-built house, kitchen and bath-house erected by Suliman,
who had made this place his low country residence, and here
we pitched our tents. The Liwali left in the afternoon to
return to Melindi, and I was quite sorry to part with him,
being quite charmed with his manners and ways— he being the
first Arab gentleman I had as yet intimately associated with.
The difference of temperature as compared with Magarini
was very marked ; we had no cold wind in the morning, and
there were very few mosquitoes at night.
That afternoon and the following day we went over the
remainder of the shambas, a detailed list of which I give
further on. We spent a very quiet evening in camp, the last
I was to have with Bell-Smith, who was returning to Melindi
next day. I parted from him with regret, for he had been
most obliging. He 'left early the next morning, and I was
now quite alone in East Africa for the first time.
1 returned to Magarini to my solitary breakfast. In the
afternoon the Liwali of Mombrui arrived and quite concurred
in my proposed plans, and after going through and handing
over to me the accounts of the property, which being kept in
the Arabic manner were complicated and puzzling to a degree,
he returned to Mombrui. I then called all the head-men together,
and addressed them through my interpreter Ramazan.
I impressed upon them the fact that I had come up as the
Company’s representative, to do away with all the old bad
practices and ways, that a new and brighter time had begun
for them all, and that I looked and trusted to them to help
and assist me as much as they 'could.
It however took the people some time to get over their
surprise at a white man actually coming to live amongst .them.
On their return from work in the evening, a curious. crowd
stood a little distance away watching my every action with
the keenest interest and wonder. To see me eating, writing,
or reading—-doing all this in their own village— was at first
even a greater source of interest than the preparation of their
own evening meal. In the mornings too, however early I got
up, I was sure to find, on coming out of my tent, a number of
Wanika already squatting outside patiently waiting to get a
sight of the white man and to watch his curious ways.