Cairo to Kisumu : $b Egypt—The Sudan—Kenya ColonyCarpenter, Frank G. (Frank George)
History
Cairo to Kisumu : $b Egypt—The Sudan—Kenya Colony
Carpenter, Frank G. (Frank George)
Egypt -- Description and travel; Kenya -- Description and travel; Sudan -- Description and travel
The retail business is done by East Indians, as is also the case at
Mombasa. I am told this is so in every settlement on this part of the
continent. The Hindus have made their way along all the travelled
routes, until their little stores may be found in every large African
village. They have trading stations upon Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika.
They are very enterprising, and as they live upon almost nothing they
can undersell the whites. They sell cotton of bright colours and of the
most gorgeous patterns, wire for jewellery, and all sorts of knickknacks
that the African wants. They deal also in European goods, and one can
buy of them almost anything from a needle to a sewing machine. Here at
Nairobi there is an Indian bazaar covering nine acres which is quite
as interesting as any similar institution in Tunis, Cairo, Bombay, or
Calcutta. The stores are all open at the front, and the men squat in them
with their gay goods piled about them. These Hindus dress in a quaint
costume not unlike that of the English clergyman who wears a long black
coat buttoned up to the throat. The only difference is that the Hindu’s
trousers may be of bright-coloured calico, cut very tight, and his head
may be covered with a flat skullcap of velvet embroidered in gold.
Moreover, his feet are usually bare.
But Nairobi is a British city, notwithstanding its African and Asiatic
inhabitants; the English form the ruling class. They are divided into
castes, almost as much as are the East Indians. At the head are the
government officials, the swells of the town. They dress well and spend
a great deal of time out of office hours playing tennis and golf, which
have already been introduced into this part of the black continent.
They also ride about on horseback and in carriages, and manage to make
a good show upon very low salaries. Allied to them are the sportsmen
and the noble visitors from abroad. A scattering element of dukes,
lords, and second sons of noble families has come out to invest, or to
hunt big game. They are usually men of means, for the prices of large
tracts of land are high and it also costs considerable money to fit out
a game-shooting expedition. In addition, there are land speculators, who
are chiefly young men from England or South Africa. Dressed in riding
clothes, big helmet hats, and top boots, they dash about the country on
ponies, and are especially in evidence around the bars of the hotels.
There are but few white women here. Some of the government officials have
their wives with them, and now and then a titled lady comes out to hunt
with her friends. I met three women who had themselves shot lions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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