To the traveller Nairobi is most interesting as the point from which
expeditions start and to which they return. Doubtless an extended stay
in the country would show him that problems of administration and
possibilities of development could be even more absorbing; but such
things are very sketchy to him at first.

As a usual thing, when he wants porters he picks them out from the
throng hanging around the big outfitters' establishments. Each man is
then given a blanket--cotton, but of a most satisfying red--a tin water
bottle, a short stout cord, and a navy blue jersey. After that ceremony
he is yours.

But on the occasion of one three months' journey into comparatively
unknown country we ran up against difficulties. Some two weeks before
our contemplated start two or three cases of bubonic plague had been
discovered in the bazaar, and as a consequence Nairobi was quarantined.
This meant that a rope had been stretched around the infected area, that
the shops had been closed, and that no native could--officially--leave
Nairobi. The latter provision affected us; for under it we should be
unable to get our bearers out.

As a matter of fact, the whole performance--unofficially--was a farce.
Natives conversed affably at arm's length across the ropes; hundreds
sneaked in and out of town at will; and from the rear of the infected
area I personally saw beds, chests, household goods, blankets, and
clothes passed to friends outside the ropes. When this latter condition
was reported, in my presence, to the medical officers, they replied that
this was a matter for police cognizance! But the brave outward show of