A White King in East Africa: The Remarkable Adventures of John Boyes, Trader and Soldier of Fortune, Who Became King of the Savage Wa-KikuyuBoyes, John
History
A White King in East Africa: The Remarkable Adventures of John Boyes, Trader and Soldier of Fortune, Who Became King of the Savage Wa-Kikuyu
Boyes, John
Africa, East; Kikuyu (African people)
Not being able at this time to buy any more food, I went about among the
natives and started improving my own camp, cultivating the land, making
roads, &c. On my visits to different parts of the country I talked with
the chiefs and took general note of what was going on, and at the same
time bought any ivory that I heard of. Eventually it was brought to my
notice that the people I had billeted on the different villages when
they were starving, being now healthy and well fed, were bullying and
domineering over the natives who had helped them in their time of
misfortune. These people I had brought in had previously lived on the
edge of the country, in touch with the white man and his civilization,
consequently they had different notions and ideas from those amongst
whom they had come to live, who had not, as yet, come in contact with
any white man except myself. They declined to acknowledge my authority,
and endeavoured to assert their power over the natives by taking charge
of the villages, and, in some cases, stealing their sheep and
interfering with their womenfolk. This led to all kinds of trouble, and
the people naturally became anxious to get rid of their unwelcome
guests, and they came to me saying that, as I had brought them in, and
they were now all right, they ought to leave the country. I explained
this to the intruders, but they absolutely refused to go. Amongst the
number were some Swahili, who would settle down in a village for a
twelvemonth, simply loafing about and living on the natives; and though
they called themselves traders, they were really deserters from some
caravans. There were also many who were wanted at the coast for
different offences, and had somehow or other managed to get mixed up
with the famine-stricken people. They knew that I was not a Government
official, and as they refused to obey my orders I could not get rid of
them. This gave rise to a lot of quarrelling, and a number of people
were killed on both sides; so that I could see that the only thing for
the peace of the country was to get rid of this bad element at all
costs. I therefore gave them three days’ notice to quit, informing them
that if they were found in the country at the end of that time I would
not be responsible for anything that happened to them. They took no
notice of my warning, and at the end of the three days the people took
matters into their own hands, and drove them out of the country, when,
although there was no really serious fighting, some of them got killed
and several were wounded. The evicted ones, as I expected that they
would, went straight to the officials and complained that I had robbed
them of their sheep and driven them out of the country. I was first
informed of this by a letter from Mr. Gilkinson, the Government official
at Nairobi, and at once sent Karuri and some of the other chiefs into
Nairobi to explain the true facts of the case, thinking that a personal
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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