Kijabe B.E.A. Jan 2^nd. 1904                                                                                                  Index

Miss Florence Minch,
Naperville, Ill.

My dear Florence:
        I have received your letters of Nov. 21^st and 15. Also the book which you sent. The lost letter however has not come yet. Your book came on the afternoon of Christmas Day. Wasn’t it funny it should just come on that day, and I tell you I enjoyed it too. For a few days before that I was working at a chimney and fireplace in my room, and it was just dry enough for a fire Christmas night. Imagine how comfortable I felt sitting in a big arm chair before a crackling fire, reading your book. It is so cool here that since I have started the fire I never let it go out. In fact it feels very comfortable at night. The chimney and fire place is all made of puddled clay, and looks very quaint but is quite home like. I hope some day you and I may enjoy the privilege of sitting up to it, and watch the fire. I have been decorating my room a bit, hanging up pictures and now feel quite at home in it. Some day I hope to have a floor. Dirt floors are very disagreeable since everything is covered with dust. I have also been fixing up a bit in front of the house. Right in front of the door was quite a high bank. The front of it I made straight and covered it with sod. On top all along are flower beds in which I have set some cactus and beautiful flowering plants. It looks grand. More than this I am making a large garden. For one week I had forty men clearing the ground. I didn’t tell anybody, but I thought I was making it for you. I want to make a good fence around it to keep out animals. There is a small deer here which plays havoc with gardens. Yesterday I set out eight banana trees so we shall have a banana grove. I also set out some bamboo. About 20 miles from here are large groves of bamboo. I am trying to start some other trees orange, lemon, mango, date, and quince, but I do not know if they will grow from the seed. Bananas grow very easily. There are some very beautiful flowers here. Last week I found a plant which has thick heavy leaves. The flower grows on a single stem and on top branches out, and has about 15 large, very beautiful lilies. I believe it is the finest looking plant I have ever seen. The root is large and a bulb like an onion but very large. I dug up several of the plants and set them in my flower beds. I hope they will grow. Well so much for flowers. Only let me warn you, make the best of your studies in Botany. I regret I did not do better work.

        Well Christmas and New Years is over. I suppose you sort of pitied us. We did however have a great time. My men were just working in the garden. They cut several large trees, and I told them to put all the brush in one pile. It made an immense pile and on Christmas eve we set fire to it. It was one of the grandest bon fires I ever saw. There were about 100 natives around it and they showed us one of their dances. It was very exciting and interesting. Of course as we sat and watched the fire we wondered what the people were doing at home. It was quite late when we got to bed. The next morning I woke up first, and I went out and found an old tin can. I began to beat it with all my might, and sang Santa Claus has come down my new chimney, and brought me a drum. In a few minutes all the rest were out yelling Merry Christmas and I tell you it was merry even if we were in Africa. After a while we all went to the dining room to bring out our presents. The table was fairly loaded. One of the little native girls who is learning to sew made a towel for me. She said it was to wash my feet. After breakfast we had a little service, and then lounged about waiting for dinner. How is this for a Christmas dinner in Africa. In the center of the table was a large bunch of Carnations picked on Christmas morning from Mrs. Hurlburts garden. She is very fond of flowers and has thousands of Carnations. Did you have Carnations at your Christmas dinner. Then there was on the table three large roast chickens, sweet and white potatoes dug on Christmas day. Fresh peas picked on Christmas morning. Fresh cucumbers and tomatoes roasting ears and a large rice pudding also a large Christmas cake. Dont think that you people in America are so much. There’s people living in Africa too. In the aternoon we took a stroll out in the woods getting back just in time to find a big fat mail bag. In the evening we sat around the new fire place reading letters and telling stories. Did you have a better time? On New Years day some goods came from America, and with them an organ. My but wasn’t it fine to hear some music once again. And now while I think of it I want to tell you that you dare not come unless you bring an organ along which is to be all our own. If you get a chance sometime look at the Towner Folding Organ. For $30 or $35 we can get a good one. I shall try to save up enough to pay for it. But in the mean time you be on the look out for some good music. Not only hymns but some other good music which can be played on a small organ. Another thing I want you to watch for is some good classical pictures. Oh how glad I would be to get some to hang on my walls. Its queer I never thought of it while I was home. There is a picture called The Christ. It represents him as a boy. I think you have seen it. Dont I wish I had it. Also be on the look out for good books. There is one set especially I wish you could get. The title is Lectures on the Apocalypse by Joseph Seiss. It is in 3 vol. and new might cost $1.50. Perhaps if you should go to Barkers second hand book store back of the Chicago Central Y.M.C.A. Building you could get it second hand. Mr. Hurlburt has the books and I am reading them. They are simply grand and not only makes Revelations a new book, but the entire Bible. Get them if you can and bring them along and we will read them together. Another thing I want you to look for is seeds. Flower seed and all kinds of Garden seeds. Squash, melons, pumpkin, and anything you can get. I dont know why I didn’t think of these things. Other useful things would be old mats, and old strips of carpet to put on the floors. Now I will tell you one more story and then I must go to bed. Two weeks ago a post office was opened at Kijabe station. We get mail twice a week now. The post master from Nairobi came up to set things in order. He came on Wed. and could not go back till Sunday. His work at the station took two or three hours, and the rest of the time he stayed with us. He is quite a hunter and of course brought his guns along, and now comes my second opportunity for a hunt. We went two days. The first day we went for Colobus monkies. The Colobus is that pretty monkey I wrote you about, and can be shot only with very heavy license which he had. The hills round about us is the only place where they can be found except on Mt. Kilima Njaro. Here they are quite numerous and we never go out without seeing some. They are very shy however and hard to get. We started early in the morning, had a grand time and succeeded in getting three. Several others were shot but escaped. They are very hard to kill. One was shot squarely through the head and then hung ten minutes before it fell to the ground. The skin of the Colobus is worth $50 in London, but only Government officers can get them out of the country. But this is not what I wanted to tell you about. The natives knowing that a hunter had come told us of a rhinoceros that was living in a valley near here. We saw its tracks several times near the house. This set the postmaster wild. Of course I was to go with him, and though I do not claim to be a coward I did not just like the idea. Rhinoceroses are a bit too big game for me. He gave me a good rifle however, and I consented to go with him. We started out for the rhino on Sat. morning, I just a bit trembling. We were off about a half a mile when we came upon fresh buffalo tracks. We followed them some distance and then met an old Kikuyu chief who told us that he saw five buffalo the evening before. This I can assure you was no pleasant news for me since experienced hunters say the African Buffalo is the most dangerous animal on the continent. There is absolutely no escape when one is met unless you can get up a tree. The postmaster I think was a bit bigoted for he said we would go on. But as the tracks became more and more distinct his courage began to fail and we gave up the chase. We were now near Kijabe Peak and I convinced him that we could find no better sport than to climb the mountain since deer was plentiful there. So we bid farewell to rhino and buffalo much to my satisfaction and went for the mountain. Going up, there was no other excitement except a chase after a big baboon which escaped. We reached the top of the peak about 2 oclock in the afternoon. What a beautiful view. Off to one side is Lake Naivasha. To the other is the immense plain upon which we counted about 16 Masai villages, directly in front of us was the immense crater of Mt. Longonot. At the extreme top was a pile of stones. I climbed to the top and fired off my revolver several times, and hooted, and then Mulungit one of my Masai boys, who left us on the way up, and went around to the other side of the mountain came running up yelling “in-yama, in-yama”, which means animals. We ran down a short distance just in time to see a flock of about 30 deer known as reed buck, scampering away. We both fired at them but missed. Then the postmaster and myself went around one way, and the men the other so that we should meet the animals. When we thought it was about time for the animals to come we hid behind a bush. Soon they came skipping along. We fired and succeeded in killing two before they could get away. They weighed about 125 lbs each, and were very handsome. But now it was getting later than we supposed, and there was awaiting us an experience which I shall never forget. We got back to Kijabe station just as it was getting dark and found we could not get a lantern so we started home in the dark. All went well until we got nearly home. The men were all hanging back except Mulungit, he walked ahead of us. He suddenly dived under a bush and said “Tabala Bwana” which means stop Master. I didn’t have time to know what was going to happen for some large beast came tearing through the brush as if he was charging on us. The men yelled “Mbogo, Mbogo”, and I knew it was a buffalo. How he happened to run away from us I did not discover till later. Scared almost out of our wits we hurried on only to meet a worse experience. Suddenly the brush seemed to be alive. I started to run not knowing where to go. During the day I shot off all my cartridges, and had an empty gun in my hand. It was so dark I could not see where the Postmaster went, but finally it quieted down and I called for him. We got together. We decided the best thing to do was to shoot in the air hoping we might scare them off. I fired six shots with my revolver and he fired his rifle. This surprised the beasts and they took to their heels. In a few minutes Mrs. Hurlburt came running with a lantern, and we got home safely but about as scared as I ever care to be. Mr. Hurlburt laughed at us telling us they were only wild pigs but two days after, we saw the five buffalo right near our house, the first I ever saw. They are ugly looking beasts. They seem to be gone now and have not been seen since, but with all the excitement of the story I can hardly keep awake so I will close. Our work is going on rapidly. Some of the natives have already expressed a desire to give themselves to Christ. Pray much for us. And now may Jesus, who ever cares for us, be near and dear to you at all times, is the prayer of

        Most faithfully your John.