Kenya Diary: 1902-1906 PDF
Preview Kenya Diary: 1902-1906
KENYA DIARY 1902-1906 KENYA DIARY 1902-1906 COLONEL R. MEINERTZHAGEN C.B.E., D.S.O. OLIVER AND BOYD EDINBURGH: TWEEDDALE COURT LONDON: 39A WELBECK STREET, W.i Two criticisms may occur to the reader: one, the excessive taking of human life; the other, the slaughter of game. As regards the first, a soldier enters a fight to come out on top in the shortest possible time and lose the fewest possible casualties. In my view, any means to achieve those ends are justified. In the long run, inflicting heavy casualties on an enemy will shorten the duration of a conflict, it will teach a lesson and will result in a more enduring peace than less violent measures. War cannot be carried out without some degree of cruelty and suffering; these curses of war are inevitable, and nobody knows this better than the soldier; but they can to a large extent be reduced by an iron discipline. Cruelty, unnecessary slaughter and suffering after victory are almost always the outcome of bad discipline. The strain of war on the individual will lead to acts of unnecessary suffering if discipline is relaxed. As regards the second criticism, the fighting and hunting activities of man require an outlet; if suppressed, hatred and malice occur. There are outlets which are not harmful. Active sport and competitive games are substitutes; hunting, the joy of adventure and facing danger, discovery and creation are other outlets. We should neither ignore nor regret them. To Gerald Lathbury I tender my very best thanks for a most generous foreword which is quite undeserved. All the sketches and photographs are my own, though several were reproduced in Routledge’s With a Prehistoric People as his own work. I apologise most humbly if I have hurt the relatives or friends of anyone mentioned in these pages; a diary records the opinions of the moment and does not pretend to represent considered criticism. How often have I misjudged people who on better acquaintance have become fast friends! There is no index; the marginal headings with dating and place-names should be sufficient to discover names or events. R. Meinertzhagen 17 Kensington Park Gardens London, W.ii vi FOREWORD by Lieut.-General Sir Gerald Lathbury K.C.B., D.S.O., M.B.E. commanding troops in East Africa T he author, Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, is best known as an ornithologist of international reputation, but he was also a fme soldier, brave and resolute in the field, as is apparent from reading between the lines of these diaries, and with a distinguished record on the intelligence staff in the First World War. I am pleased to have been asked to contribute a foreword to the diaries, although I fear that with my limited knowledge of Kenya and the fact that the events described in these pages took place before I was born I shall be able to do them scant justice. I found the book fascinating and spent New Year’s Day reading it from cover to cover. True, some readers will recoil at the extent of the bloodshed described, and the author himself com¬ ments on this aspect; but life, human and animal, was held cheap in those days, and the white man was a small minority in a country peopled by warlike and potentially hostile tribes. I won¬ der too whether we are always very honest or logical in our approach to the problems of the use of force. It is often kinder to take strong measures in the beginning and so avoid subsequent loss of life: it should not be forgotten that fatal casualties in the Mau Mau rebellion between 1952 and 1956 reached five figures. The diaries—and they are really written as such, without any embellishment—are packed with incident and excitement, and are enlivened throughout by the author’s sense of humour and the pungent criticism in which he excels. Many of the descrip¬ tions of the country in the early days and its people and wild life would alone make good reading. Although the author—Captain vii Meinertzhagen as he was then—deals firmly and even ruthlessly with the many difficult situations with which he is faced, there is at the back of it all a real understanding of the African point of view and rights and an affection for the people themselves. In fact one of the most remarkable aspects of the book is the prescience displayed by this young army officer of twenty-four who argued with the High Commissioner against white settle¬ ment, foreseeing the problems it would raise, who foretold that German East Africa would become part of the British Common¬ wealth ten years before the First World War, and who was one of the first to realise the need for game reserves even in those early days. The latter part of the diaries covers the Nandi rebellion and the killing of the Laibon, for which Meinertzhagen was sent home, despite the fact that he had been exonerated by three courts of enquiry and recommended for a high award. It is good that the facts of this incident are to be published, for they have been distorted by malicious propaganda. I would like to end by telling a little story about Colonel Meinertzhagen which happened while he was staying with us in Nairobi last year, visiting his old haunts and collecting a few birds. He returned before dinner one evening, and a lady who was present and who hates collecting said: “I suppose you have been shooting birds again, Colonel Meinertzhagen.” The Colonel, who is slightly deaf and is suspected of using it on occasions to his advantage, appeared not to have heard. The question was repeated, with no result. They then leaned towards one another and the lady shouted the question, adding by way of explanation: “You know—bang bang!” “No—bang,” he replied very politely; and that was the end of the conversation. Colonel Meinertzhagen has seldom found it necessary to use a second shot, whether killing an enemy, stopping a charging lion or expressing an opinion or contrary point of view. Nairobi January 1957
The list of books you might like
