54 AT MOMBASA— A SECOND START part ii 



massacre. For three months the rebel leader, Yusuf bin 

 Ahmed, or, to give him his baptismal name, Don Jeronymo 

 Chingoulia, held his own ; then he dismantled the fortress 

 and fled to Arabia, in a ship that he had captured from his 

 foes. 



In 1660 trouble came from a fresh quarter. The Iman ^ 

 of Oman, more generally known as the Sultan of Muscat, laid 

 siege to Mombasa and, after a struggle of five years, captured 

 the fort. The town, however, held its own, and it was not till 

 1698 that the Portuguese were for the last time expelled from 

 the island. The victory had been gained by the united forces 

 of the Iman and of the Mazrui, the leading clan of Arab 

 settlers on the coast. The latter gained most of the fruits of 

 success ; for though Mombasa was nominally subject to the 

 state of Oman, the Mazrui were practically undisputed masters 

 of the town. This lasted till 1822, when Sayyid Said, the 

 greatest of the long line of I mans, resolved to exercise the 

 powers that he had nominally inherited from his ancestors. 

 His designs were discovered, and the Mazrui appealed to 

 England for protection. This was provisionally granted, 

 but almost immediately withdrawn. A fierce struggle then 

 ensued and lasted for five years, ending only with the capture 

 of the fort by treachery. Mombasa then finally lost its inde- 

 pendence. It was at first ruled by an Arab governor or 

 " Lewali," in the name of the Iman of Oman. After the death 

 of Sayyid Said at sea in 1856, his sons quarrelled. The 

 question was referred to England for arbitration, and the award 

 of Lord Canning made Zanzibar independent of Muscat. The 

 African possessions of the Iman were assigned to Zanzibar, to 

 which town Mombasa has ever since been subject. In 1875 

 the people struck another blow for freedom, and their revolt 

 was only suppressed by British interference. It was probably 

 the strength of the revolutionary party that led Sayyid 

 Barghash, who was then Sultan of Zanzibar, to offer the late 

 Sir William Mackinnon in 1877 a lease of all his possessions 

 on the mainland. The offer was then refused owing to the 

 timidity of the English Foreign Office, and it was not till 

 German competition had roused English fears, that the British 

 East African Association was able, in 1887, to accept a lease of 

 the country. Next year this Association became the Imperial 



