GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



the long string of British officials, so grand in their 

 titles and uniforms, were introduced ; and one finds 

 it is not only the Arab and native vanity that is so 

 susceptible to the gentle tickling of fine feathers. 



General Matthews was made First Minister of 

 the Sultan, then followed Mr. A. S. Rogers, who 

 used to be sub-commissioner at Lamu in the East 

 African Protectorate ; for a few years he acted as 

 regent to the present Sultan, but was recalled, and 

 when I arrived in Zanzibar Brigadier-General A. S. 

 Raikes, the officer commanding the troops (before 

 the King's African Rifles came), had been made 

 First Minister. 



With Seyyid Ali bin Said, instead of taking all 

 the revenues for himself and spending it how he 

 liked with no account. Sir Gerald Portal arranged 

 that he should have a stated sum as income ; the 

 management of affairs passed into the hands of the 

 minister and his Government, who are all under the 

 Foreign Office. The officials of the Sultan's Govern- 

 ment have good pay, good houses, and are well- 

 treated generally ; the uniform they wear, even to 

 men who are practically clerks, is most gorgeous, 

 with gold-mounted swords, and buttons and badges 

 of gold. They all work under most grand titles, 

 and naturally, as they are mostly men who found it 

 difficult to make a living or a good income in Eng- 

 land, they come out to Zanzibar and their heads 

 are turned, and to the other residents they appear 



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