The Two
Men Were Very Great Friends Of The Little Sheikh, And As A
Present Was Expected, Which I Should Have To Pay, We All Talked
Cheerfully And Confidentially, Bringing In The Fate Of Maizan For
No Other Reason Than To Satisfy Curiosity.
Hembe, who lives in
the centre of an almost impenetrable thicket, confessed that he
was the murderer, but said the fault did not rest with him, as he
merely carried out the instructions of his father, Mzungera, who,
a Diwan on the coast, sent him a letter directing his actions.
Thus it is proved that the plot against Maizan was concocted on
the coast by the Arab merchants - most likely from the same motive
which has induced one rival merchant to kill another as the best
means of checking rivalry or competition. When Arabs - and they
are the only class of people who would do such a deed - found a
European going into the very middle of their secret trading-
places, where such large profits were to be obtained, they would
never suppose that the scientific Maizan went for any other
purpose than to pry into their ivory stores, bring others into
the field after him, and destroy their monopoly. The Sultan of
Zanzibar, in those days, was our old ally Said Said, commonly
called the Emam of Muscat; and our Consul, Colonel Hamerton, had
been M. Maizan's host as long as he lived upon the coast. Both
the Emam and Consul were desirous of seeing the country surveyed,
and did everything in their power to assist Maizan, the former
even appointing the Indian Musa to conduct him safely as far as
Unyamuezi; but their power was not found sufficient to damp the
raging fire of jealousy in the ivory-trader's heart.
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