e country,
surrounded by native tribes that still are mystified by a glass mirror,
and perhaps many days' march from the nearest white person, he still may
feel that he is in touch with the great world outside. His mail reaches
him somehow or other, even if he is in the center of some vast unsettled
district devoid of roads or trails.

How it is done is a mystery; but the fact remains that every once in a
while a black man appears as by magic and hands one a package containing
letters and telegrams. He is a native "runner," whose business it is to
find you wherever you may be, and he does it, no matter how long it may
take him. A telegram addressed to any sportsman in East Africa would
reach him if only addressed with his name and the words "British East
Africa." There are only four or five thousand white residents in the
whole protectorate, and the names of these are duly catalogued and known
to the post-office officials both in Mombasa and Nairobi.

[Photograph: _In the Forest_]

If a strange name appears on a letter or despatch, inquiries are made
and the identity of the stranger is quickly established. If he is a
sportsman, the outfitters in Nairobi will know who he is. They will have
equipped him with porters and the other essentials of a caravan, and
they will know exactly in which section of the protectorate he is
hunting. So the letter is readdressed in care of the _boma_ or
government station, nearest to that section. The letter duly arrives at
the _boma_, and a native runner is told to go out and deliver the
message. He starts off, and by inquiry of other natives and by relying
on a natural instinct that is little short of marvelous he ultimately
finds the object of his search and delivers his message.

If you look at a map of British East Africa you will be amazed at the
number of names that are marked upon it. You would quite naturally think
that the country was rather thickly settled, whereas in fact there are
very few places of settlement away from the single line of railroad that
runs from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza. The protectorate is divided into
subdistricts, each one of which has a capital, or _boma_, as it is
called. This _boma_ usually consists of a white man's residence, a
little post-office, one or two Indian stores where all the necessities
of a simple life may be procured, and a number of native grass huts.
There is usually a small detachment of askaris, or native soldiers, who
are necessar