I might with ease give evidence of the industry of others, but
they are all my friends, and they are all good. The American,
English, German, and French residents have ever treated me with a
courtesy and kindness I am not disposed to forget. Taken as a
body, it would be hard to find a more generous or hospitable colony
of white men in any part of the world.
CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF THE EXPEDITION.
I was totally ignorant of the interior, and it was difficult at
first to know, what I needed, in order to take an Expedition into
Central Africa. Time was precious, also, and much of it could not
be devoted to inquiry and investigation. In a case like this, it
would have been a godsend, I thought, had either of the three
gentlemen, Captains Burton, Speke, or Grant, given some information
on these points; had they devoted a chapter upon, "How to get
ready an Expedition for Central Africa." The purpose of this
chapter, then, is to relate how I set about it, that other
travellers coming after me may have the benefit of my experience.
These are some of the questions I asked myself, as I tossed on my
bed at night: -
"How much money is required?"
"How many pagazis, or carriers?
"How many soldiers?"
"How much cloth?"
"How many beads?"
"How much wire?"
"What kinds of cloth are required for the different tribes?"
Ever so many questions to myself brought me no clearer the exact
point I wished to arrive at. I scribbled over scores of sheets
of paper, made estimates, drew out lists of material, calculated
the cost of keeping one hundred men for one year, at so many yards
of different kinds of cloth, etc. I studied Burton, Speke, and
Grant in vain. A good deal of geographical, ethnological, and other
information appertaining to the study of Inner Africa was obtainable,
but information respecting the organization of an expedition
requisite before proceeding to Africa, was not in any book.
The Europeans at Zanzibar knew as little as possible about this
particular point. There was not one white man at Zanzibar who
could tell how many dotis a day a force of one hundred men
required to buy food for one day on the road. Neither, indeed,
was it their business to know. But what should I do at all, at
all? This was a grand question.
I decided it were best to hunt up an Arab merchant who had been
engaged in the ivory trade, or who was fresh from the interior.
Sheikh Hashid was a man of note and of wealth in Zanzibar. He had
himself despatched several caravans into the interior, and was
necessarily acquainted with several prominent traders who came to
his house to gossip about their adventures and gains. He was also
the proprietor of the large house Capt. Webb occupied; besides,
he lived across the narrow street which separated his house from
the Consulate.
