He Thought His Luck Very Bad, After
Escaping So Often, To Be Taken Thus; For His Vessel's Power Of
Sailing Were So Good, That, Had She Had The Wind In Her Favour,
The Brisk, Even With The Assistance Of Steam, Could Not Have Come
Up With Her.
On going on board her, I found the slaves to be
mostly Wahiyow.
A few of them were old women, but all the rest
children. They had been captured during wars in their own
country, and sold to Arabs, who brought them to the coast, and
kept them half-starved until the slaver arrived, when they were
shipped in dhows and brought off to the slaver, where, for nearly
a week, whilst the bargains were in progress, they were kept
entirely without food. It was no wonder then, every man of the
Brisk who first looked upon them did so with a feeling of
loathing and abhorrence of such a trade. All over the vessel,
but more especially below, old women, stark naked, were dying in
the most disgusting "ferret-box" atmosphere; while all those who
had sufficient strength were pulling up the hatches, and tearing
at the salt fish they found below, like dogs in a kennel.
On the 15th the Manuela was sent to the Mauritius, and we, after
passing the Comoro Islands, arrived at our destination, Zanzibar-
- called Lunguja by the aborigines, the Wakhadim - and Unguja by
the present Wasuahili.
On the 17th, after the anchor was cast, without a moment's delay
I went off to the British Consulate to see my old friend Colonel
Rigby. He was delighted to see us; and, in anticipation of our
arrival, had prepared rooms for our reception, that both Captain
Grant and myself might enjoy his hospitality until arrangements
could be made for our final start into the interior. The town,
which I had left in so different a condition sixteen months
before, was in a state of great tranquillity, brought about by
the energy of the Bombay Government on the Muscat side, and
Colonel Rigby's exertions on this side, in preventing an
insurrection Sultan Majid's brothers had created with a view of
usurping his government.
The news of the place was as follows: - In addition to the
formerly constituted consulates - English, French, and American - a
fourth one, representing Hamburg, had been created. Dr Roscher,
who during my absence had made a successful journey to the
N'yinyezi N'yassa, or Star Lake, was afterwards murdered by some
natives in Uhiyow; and Lieutentant-Colonel Baron van der Decken,
another enterprising German, was organising an expedition with a
view to search for the relics of his countryman, and, if
possible, complete the project poor Roscher had commenced.
Slavery had received a severe blow by the sharp measures Colonel
Rigby had taken in giving tickets of emancipation to all those
slaves whom our Indian subjects the Banyans had been secretly
keeping, and by fining the masters and giving the money to the
men to set them up in life.
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