ACROSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



January, Budin, a gentleman appointed by H.H. tlie Kao of Kutch to 

 ^^'^'^- accompany Sir Bartle Frere to Zanzibar, and to use his infln- 

 ence with the subjects of the Rao in support of the objects of 

 the mission, were our fellow-passengers. 



When I arrived at Zanzibar, I was laid up with fever, which 

 had attacked me a day or two previously ; and as Dr. Kirk's 

 house was fully occupied by those who had already gone ashore 

 from the Enchantress, Dillon and myself took up our abode 

 in the hitherto untenanted English jail. There was plenty of 

 room for our stores, and with native bedsteads, chairs, etc., we 

 were soon comfortably housed. However, some old messmates 

 of mine. Lieutenants Fellowes and Stringer, kindly took me off 

 to the Briton, and looked after me on board until I was tolera- 

 bly well again. 



AVhen sufficiently recovered to go ashore, I rejoined Dillon, 

 who had already laid in some stores, and we at once began to 

 look out for men and donkeys. We also secured the services 

 of Bombay (Mbarak Mombee), the chief of Speke's faithfuls, 

 which at the time we thought of great importance on account 

 of his previous experience. 



But he rather presumed on our ignorance, and we soon learned 

 that, however useful he might have been in days gone by, he 

 was not the best man to consult in fitting out an expedition, 

 not having sufficient readiness and knowledge to advise us as 

 to the most serviceable things with wdiich to supply ourselves. 

 He had, besides, lost much of the energy he displayed in his 

 journeys with our predecessors in African travel, and was much 

 inclined to trade upon his previous reputation ; but the high 

 opinion we had formed of him at first blinded us to his many 

 failings. 



The fact of our having arrived on the scene with Sir Bartle 

 Frere caused us to be inseparably connected by the Arabs, Wa- 

 suahili and Wamerima, with the mission upon which he was 

 engaged, and this occasioned us numerous vexatious troubles 

 and enormous expense, besides being ])rejudicial to the inter- 

 ests of the expedition. 



In the first place, they naturally supposed that we were in 

 the employ of the English Government, and therefore ought to 

 pay twice or three times the ordinary price for men and stores. 



