On the morning following the last night spent at Watito's village, my husband struck camp, and started on his return journey to the Kikuyu fort, where we anxiously awaited his arrival and tidings of his dangerous mission. After several days' journeying through a delightfully interesting country, where many difficulties and dangers beset the path traversed, he arrived once more at the stronghold, on the eve of Christmas day.
We had a time of uneasy and painful suspense during his absence, and many were the prayers that ascended to God for his safety and protection in the unsafe venture which he had taken upon himself.
On the day before his return, there came into the fort a caravan from Victoria Nyanza, headed by Major Smith and his lieutenant James Martin, both of whom were in the service of the Imperial British East Africa Company. When they heard that my husband had entered the heart of the Kikuyu country with a few followers they were amazed. Major Smith himself, with a large force of armed men, had built the fort under great difficulties, and had some practical knowledge of the condition of the country. They were all very anxious to hear the news of the dangerous undertaking, and highly complimented my husband on getting back with his life. They strongly warned him to put no confidence whatever in the promise of the Kikuyu natives, for they were the most treacherous people on the face of the earth, and not on any account to risk returning, else we should all be certainly slaughtered. My husband was not inclined to receive their advice, though he acknowledged it was honestly given from their point of view.
The Major made no secret of his opinion on the matter. He said, "Mr. Watt, I have built this Kikuyu fort, and have had a great deal of experience with the Wakikuyu while doing so. I consider that you have accomplished a wonderful exploit in entering and passing through their country with a handful of untrained men, and returning with your own life and theirs still safe. I can assure you, however, that you ought not to trust to any of their promises, for until now their promises have all been broken in treacherous massacre. The chief, with whom you have made blood brotherhood may remain faithful, but I doubt it. You evidently made a wonderful impression upon him or he would not have sent his son with you, but even though he may try to keep his blood covenant with you, yet your wife and children and porters will surely be murdered by the neighboring people."
My husband expressed his gratefulness to all for their interest and counsel, but was, nevertheless, very firm in his resolve to open up Missionary work in the country, and in the name of God to take the risk.
A very happy, quiet Christmas day was spent at the fort, and Mr. Hall did all he could to make his large party comfortable. Never before had such a number of Europeans met together in that part of Equatorial Africa. Large wooden boxes formed informal tables, and small ones served as chairs for the happy company, who sat down to Kikuyu red meat and Messrs. J. J. Morton's tinned plum pudding.
In the garden of the fort, some months before, was laid to rest a gallant officer of the East Africa Company, Captain Nelson, who had accompanied H. M. Stanley in his quest of Emin Pasha. We dropped a few wild flowers on his lonely grave in the midst of hostile surroundings, within a few yards of the stream where men of the fort had been murdered while drawing water.
Inasmuch as we had already got within reasonable distance of our final destination, and finding that our men were in great fear and dread of proceeding into the interior of the country, we thought it wise to release to the Coast the most fearful and frightened of the carriers, lest their example should seriously affect the morale of the entire company, and that under some trying or hazardous experience there might be a disastrous flight of the whole caravan. My husband came to the conclusion that it would be safer to pass through the dangerous country with seventy men, possessed of reasonable courage and nerve, than with the large following of one hundred and twenty, among whom there were two or three score whose knees were knocking together with fear—''A little leaven leavens the whole lump." He therefore marked off fifty men for returning to the Coast, to whom were given a quantity of food, and some barter goods for obtaining a further supply of native grain on the way down country. They were also provided with sufficient rifles for their protection and, under the charge of several headmen, were dismissed to the Coast. After much shaking of hands and salaams oft repeated, they took their departure amid great shouts in the Swahili tongue of, "Farewell great Leader! Farewell great Mistress! To the fish of the sea let us go!"
We arranged with our kind host, Mr. Hall, that the fifty loads of the disbanded men should remain in the fort until we could send a caravan for them. Meantime we remained a few days after Christmas, seeking with our barter supplies to refill our stock of food for the porters. An unusual shade of red beads was the only kind the Kikuyu tribe would accept in exchange for their grain. Fortunately we had a fair quantity of the deep crimson tinge which they preferred, and were thus enabled to make some adequate purchases.
The Europeans had several further conversations with my husband, advising him to stop from his attempt to open up Missionary work among such treacherous natives, seeing that the trained armed force of the company had experienced, on the border land, such continual trouble and loss of men. My husband was quite unmoved by any argument that had been brought to bear upon him concerning the dangers of his project, and was determined upon building in the interior of the country at all hazards.
On the second day after Christmas, however, our principal headman came to us with unhappy expression, and informed us that there were still a great many of our porters who were in much dread of entering the Kikuyu country, or engaging in the work of building there; and that he believed many of them would desert the caravan after leaving the vicinity of the fort. This evident unrest was a serious burden for us to bear, and especially so at this very important moment, when about to enter a hostile country with little children.
My husband was ever ready to give full consideration to the reasonable fears of his men, especially when warranted on undeniable grounds. We talked the matter over, and brought it definitely before the Lord in prayer. We were assured that God had wonderfully preserved my husband on his long journey through the country, and had given him a miraculous opening into the hearts of the chief and his people, and was able to protect us under the most difficult and dangerous circumstances.
The question remained, however, if it were right to force the porters, against every natural feeling of self preservation, to enter the country and remain with us to build the station, while in continual fear of an untimely end, and the still further question if it was within the limits of our power to do so. Both were certainly difficult.
Nevertheless, we rejoiced to think that, under the blessing of Almighty God, the way into the interior of the country had certainly been opened up for future Missionaries, who in days to come would find a ready entrance among the Wakikuyu, due to my husband's friendly march through their country.
We were led to think of the desirability of crossing the Kapte plain, and starting work among the less treacherous, though more warlike, tribe of the Wakamba, whose territory was in the main an open rolling country, in which danger could be more readily discerned.
On that afternoon, as we pondered over these matters, Major Smith asked to have a little talk with us. Inside the quadrangle formed by the moat of the fort, we paced up and down together, engaged in mutual conversation. The Major showed a very deep interest in the safety of our lives, and brought before us a few of the terrible cases of unprovoked slaughter, during the short time that had elapsed since he built the fort; and said that, although he admired the fearlessness of my husband, yet he felt assured that if we proceeded into the interior to build, our party would certainly be massacred. If my husband were a single man he thought he might have some chance of escaping, but the case was absolutely different when a lady and several young children were in the caravan. "Why not," said he, "cross over to the more open Ukamba hills and begin Missionary work there?"
We told him that we had been considering the matter but that there was one difficulty in the way, as we had only seventy porters for about one hundred and twenty loads. He immediately replied that in his caravan there were fifty empty-handed men, which he could let us have on the following morning to carry the balance of our goods.
We eagerly appreciated the offer of the gallant Major and, recognizing that it was a provision of the Lord, we decided to accept the offered help of fifty extra porters, and determined to make a start in the morning across the plain to Ukamba, in the hope that our disappointment would be found to be God's appointment for us. There was general rejoicing among the Europeans, who warmly congratulated us on coming to this decision.
The son of the chief Watito, who had been waiting our return to his country, was called and informed of our new plans and seemed greatly disappointed. We sent with him a present for his father, asking him to tell the chief that we were very sorry at having to change our purpose of building in his country, but that we should be glad if he would remember the message my husband had given him, and make it known to his people. When he would hear of the locality in which we had settled, we should be happy if he would send us news of himself and his people from time to time. After many "Kuhoros," and with a somewhat sorrowful heart, the son of Watito returned to his home, by the side of the quick flowing stream in the heart of the Kikuyu country.
Faithful to our request, Watito once and again sent messages to us; and in after years we had evidence that he had been greatly influenced by my husband's visit, and that a large area of country within the sphere of his jurisdiction had been very favorably impressed with the white man. When we were erecting our second station, he sent to us several hundreds of men on a journey of nearly fifty miles, laden with bamboo poles and midribs of palm for building purposes, and all this without any gift from us, save the single item of a Turkish fez to cover his hoary head.
It was with very sad hearts we heard from his sons a few years later that Watito had passed away from earth, without seeing any other Missionary in his part of the country. On the morning after the departure of the chief's son from the camp at Kikuyu fort, we bade farewell to Mr. Hall, who had so graciously entertained us, and started out on our new project.
For four days we marched across the scorching, grassy plain, where animals roamed in great numbers. The grass, which ran about two feet high, was at that time alive with myriads of ticks. These little insects of about a quarter of an inch in length, and protected by a tough leathery skin, swarmed on each stalk of grass, waiting to attach themselves to some passing animal.
As we trudged along on the march, dozens of these greedy sucking creatures clung to our clothing and made their way to the flesh, into which they delved their barbed heads, causing intense pain and irritation. Sometimes we got into a stretch where their eggs had just been hatched, and in passing among their young offspring, our clothes were literally covered with hundreds of these tiny but vicious mites, which were no larger than the head of a pin.
When we reached our camping place in the afternoon, the first thing to be done was to change our clothing, handing each item to some of the porters to rid them of the despicable parasites. A hot bath and change of linen were the only means of relieving our torture.
After feeding on the blood for some time, the full grown insects attain the size of a pea, and are then readily removed; but oftentimes those which have recently attached themselves to the flesh cling so closely that, in tearing them off, they leave their heads in the puncture which they have made, and cause very considerable tenderness. The thousands of animals which ramble and browse on the plain are infested with ticks, but their skin being so much thicker and less sensitive than that of the human, they seem to pay little or no attention to these annoying companions.
On reaching our third camp on the plain, we had no sooner pitched our tents than a lion appeared in the long grass near to a gully beside our tent. My husband, taking his rifle, went out to stalk the animal, but it disappeared in the ravine before he was able to get a shot at it. Fortunately we were near to some jungle, and from thence the men brought in piles of fuel, and kept huge fires burning during the night. At intervals in the hours of darkness, lions were roaring in the vicinity of the camp, but the blazing light of our fires discouraged their approach.
On the morrow we camped on the border of Ukamba, and my husband made several excursions into various parts of the country, to select a site for the Mission Station. After several days' looking through the undulating hills, he was eventually successful in discovering a situation at a place named N'gelani, which was considered in every way desirable, and particularly so due to the numbers of natives which swarmed among the hills. These, however, exhibited towards my husband very considerable resentment, suspicion and hostility. While he was examining the water supply to see if it were likely to be permanent, they raised their war cry, with the immediate result that the naked and agile warriors congregated in scattered mobs here and there along the hills, armed with their bows and poisoned arrows.
My husband returned with the welcome news that we were to move to our permanent residence on the following day. With a glad and thankful heart I saw the camp struck for the last time. None but God can ever know what we endured with our little children in those long journeys, through drought and deluge, in swollen rivers and rushing streams, across marshy swamps and over endless stretches of rough and inhospitable jungle. We had then entered the third month since leaving the Coast at Mombasa, and it was with inconceivable joy we pitched our tents on the summit of N'gelani in the scorching heat of an equatorial sun.
The position chosen was on the top of a wooded hill, which declined gradually on the northern side for a distance of five or six miles, to the Masai plain we had just crossed, one thousand feet below. Directly opposite to the site, and over that plain, rose the snowy spire of Mount Kenya, and there at its base lay the country of Watito, fifty miles distant. On the south side of N'gelani there was a natural causeway, connecting the hill with a crescent-shaped elevation of extended dimensions, which stood out at a distance, half encircling our position. There issued forth from either side of the causeway, two perennial streams of water, which continued their divergent courses around the base of the hill on which we were to build. From the smallest and nearest of the fountains we drew our water.
The huge trees covering the crown of the hill were, alas, neither useful for building nor firewood, but consisted of a soft pithy stem, bearing large drooping clusters of bright scarlet flowers, which, in the glowing sunlight, lit up the landscape with a red blaze of dazzling splendor. Along the sloping side of these heights for many miles there was a crowded population of wild Wakamba.
The day after we pitched our tents on the selected site of N'gelani, the natives came around us in great numbers in a threatening manner; and when my husband deputed a band of men to find out their purpose, the only reply was that they did not want us there, and that if we attempted building we should all be dead in three days. We found them seeking to poison our water, but providentially our supply was drawn from an overflowing spring, and hence their designs were ineffective in that direction.
When they found that we paid no attention to their threats, and that we still drew water with impunity, they evidently came to the conclusion that, in spite of their menacing attitude, we were determined to remain and build beside them, for shortly afterward the petty chief of the district sent word that he desired to make blood brotherhood with my husband. Though the function was not a very pleasing one to him, yet, thinking it might give him more influence with those wild, naked natives, and be helpful to peace and the safety of our lives, he gave his approval.
The day was appointed on which the ceremony was to be performed, at a time when the sun had reached the zenith. In the early hours of the morning, scattered bands of numerous warriors could be seen in the distance, approaching along the slopes of the surrounding crescent shaped elevation. When the fierce orb of day rose high in the heavens, the extended hill on which we were camped was black with people, armed with bows and poisoned arrows. Many of them also carried two-edged blades of native iron, which hung in goatskin scabbards from a thong of hide tied round their waist. Their stark-naked bodies were daubed with castor oil and red ocher.
The rigid-faced chief, with a large following of elders, came forward to our camp, and gave his salutation, "Uvoo! Mundu mweu" (Peace! to the white man). He was baldly naked and unashamed like his followers. One of the two sheep which he brought as a present was slaughtered in proximity to our camp, the entrails being removed and placed carefully on one side. From the sheep, a small piece of flesh was cut, and thrust on to the end of a whittled, pointed stick. Under a spreading tree selected by the chieftain, some tinder and dry firewood were gathered together; and a warrior took from out his quiver, his two small firesticks, and twirled them so rapidly, that in less than one minute a bright fire was blazing between his feet. Then, driving into the ground the base end of the stick, on the point of which the meat had been skewered, he leaned it at an angle over the fire, and the process of roasting had already begun.
Two of our camp chairs were called into use, and these were occupied by my husband and the chief, as they sat face to face with their knees together. The large number of elders who accompanied the chief fell in behind him, while our headmen and interpreter took up a position at the back of my husband's chair.
The Master of Ceremonies, a big savage-looking man, dressed in a fresh coat of war paint, with white and yellow stripes drawn diagonally across his abdomen and thighs, took a keen-edged blade of native iron and carefully made an incision on the breast of the chief, until the blood trickled to the ground. He then came to my husband whose chest had been uncovered. Never before had this dusky operator drawn blood from a white-skinned man, and, as he leaned over, his hand trembled considerably. At last the sharp blade touched the skin over the region of the heart, until the red blood flowed from the gash.
The piece of meat was then brought hot from the fire and divided. One portion was dipped in the blood which oozed from my husband's breast, and given to the chief to eat. The other half was touched with the blood of the chief and given to my husband to dispose of in like manner. The old warrior chieftain seemed keenly to enjoy the flesh, but I think my husband had considerable difficulty in getting his piece down.
The intestines of the slaughtered sheep were coiled around the ebony-colored native and the white-faced intruder as they sat together, indicating the bond of unity and peace which, from thence, was to exist between them. The leader of the ceremony then called out in a loud voice, before the assembled multitude, that if the chief ever turned traitor to us, the rain should be withheld from heaven, his cattle should be barren, and his wives childless; that if we brought any disease upon his herds or harm to any of his people, or allowed our Coast men to enter his villages at night, destruction and death should fall upon us and ours.
When this peace was accomplished, we settled down to build a dwelling house, and a small church or meeting place, in which we might be able to get the natives together to deliver to them our message. Our porters were sent out through the surrounding district, to cut down trees of various sizes for the erection of the buildings. During the first few days, some of the men returned to camp without any trees, having had to flee for their lives from the poisoned arrows of the Wakamba. We were then convinced that, whatever attitude the chief had assumed towards us after entering into the blood-covenant, many, if not all of the natives strongly resented our presence amongst them, and were still our incurable enemies.
We therefore adopted the plan of always dispatching the men in batches of fifteen to twenty, armed with rifles and cartridge belts, under the imperative injunction that they were never to resist any attack of the natives, so long as they could escape and get away with their lives. They were only to use their rifles when confronted with wild beasts, or when brought to bay by the natives and in imminent danger of slaughter. On several occasions the war-cry was raised and hostilities were declared, because our men had attempted to cut down some trees which were sacred to the natives. A diplomatic and discreet talk with our blood-brother chieftain, however, always, in the providence of God, allayed the inflammatory feelings, and cut short the impending turmoil. At times our men were accused by the tribe of entering their cultivated patches in the forest and stealing pumpkins and sugarcane. When indisputable proof of this sort of plunder was brought before my husband, the offender was corporally punished, and made to pay over to the owner in beads or wire, double the recognized value of the amount of pillage, as a warning to the rest of our Coast men to respect the property of the natives.
Eventually our men had gathered together a diversified collection of timber trees from the forest, which had been cut according to measurements suitable to the requirements of the station building. Here were great piles of stout, forked, bearing posts as hard as iron, which were for the framework of the walls, and in cutting which some of our best axes were broken. There lay immense, long bearers for the support of the roof, each of which required twenty men to carry, and heaps of lighter poles for rafters, while yonder were stacked up thousands of thin forest vines and saplings, for the purpose of forming a double lattice on the timber of the walls for holding the mud, and a single network on the roof to support the thatch. Around the camp were tons of long grass, which had been pulled by the hand or cut with knives on the adjacent hills, and all neatly tied in small bundles for roofing. Here and there were masses of pliant fibrous bark, which had been stripped from the different kinds of wattles that flourished in the spongy defiles of the hills, to be used in tying the timber and lattice work; for neither hammer nor nails were used on the buildings, except on the window and door frames.
In the area of the camp were numerous hills of white ants, and, with the double intention of clearing out these destructive insects, and using for the walls of our houses the well-beaten earth, which formed their extensive underground tunnels, men were asked to dig into and open a pit in the center of each. A long file of porters with large gourd shells were also set apart for the work of carrying water with which to mix the clay.
When the water was poured into the prepared pits, numbers of men jumped into the cavities, and commenced pounding the clay with their feet, until it arrived at the consistency of stiff dough. It was then rolled up in large balls of twenty or thirty pounds, and carried to the different buildings, where other men thrust it into the lattice work of the walls. After this process was completed they returned to the first wall, which was by that time dry, and commenced plastering it inside and out with well-beaten clay of a bright red color, and smoothing it with the palms of their hands.
During the work of erection, the natives, though still hostile, occasionally gathered round in considerable numbers to see the wonderful building of the white man, and my husband took every opportunity of having conversations with them through our interpreter, who knew a little of their incomprehensible language. Though our houses were mere wattle-and-daub buildings they seemed huge and meaningless structures to these natives, who for ages had lived in little conical grass huts, into which they crawled through a small hole on one side.
The most nimble of our porters were selected by my husband for the business of thatching, which was the most important department of jungle building, since the weatherproof qualities of the houses depended entirely upon the perfection with which that work was executed. Along the eaves of the roof a layer of grass was laid, about nine inches deep, which was fastened tightly down by means of horizontal rods, tied through the grass to the rafters below. Above this line of grass another level was laid, overlapping the former and so on, layer after layer, until they eventually reached the distant ridge, which was crowned with a bed of extra long grass, doubled down on either side of the ridgepole, and secured by wattles and fibrous bark.
When the eaves of overhanging thatch were neatly cut, a one-foot course of adhesive clay was beaten into the floors, and upon the six-foot verandah which encircled the dwelling-house. In the window frames were fixed, longitudinally and horizontally, stout bars of solid iron, to allow of free ventilation and keep out lions and leopards, while the doors were pieced together with portions of wooden boxes of different lengths. Across each room, from the tops of the four walls was stretched a ceiling of white Indian calico, to catch the falling pieces of grass from the roof, and prevent the rats and snakes, which revel there at night, from dropping down upon our beds.
After three months of tough labor, encompassed by confusing and complicated difficulties with the naked natives day by day, and amidst the night-time serenading of panthers and the howling of hyenas night after night, the station buildings were at last finally completed. It was to us a glad day when we first pitched our camp on the summit of N'gelani, but an infinitely more joyful experience to pass from that tented camp into a permanent home, though the building covered an earthen floor and was crowned with forest grass.
Having been thus placed in our rude jungle habitat, our caravan porters were all disbanded to the Coast, and we were left absolutely alone with the wild and native tribe of the hills among whom our lot was cast.