THE BOMBARDMENT OF ZANZIBAR 



husband," so I was taken up to where Seyyid Ali 

 stood, a slight boyish figure in excellently cut 

 English clothes, with the red tarboush on his head. 

 Of course I had often seen him before, in his carriage, 

 with his outriders clattering along to clear the 

 way ; some of his cavalry always escorted him. 

 Also, when I was driving with a lady outside 

 Zanzibar we came across the Sultan, with his motor- 

 car broken down and standing across our path on 

 a steep hill. While they moved it aside the lady 

 offered him a lift, but our man had already received 

 orders to tell his carriage, which waited for him just 

 outside the town, to come for him. He never now 

 drives through the town in his motor-car. After 

 a little conversation with him, when I was quite 

 pleased with his voice and manner, — his English, 

 of course, is excellent — he said that although he did 

 not know me he always bowed to me in the road 

 when his carriage passed ; so I answered, " Oh, yes, 

 you are always so courteous in bowing to the Eng- 

 lish ladies," and then withdrew. 



There were several sets of native dances going 

 on to amuse the German prince. Their dress and 

 band instruments were as amusing as they were 

 wonderful. They go on in the same monotonous 

 way of dancing for hours. Later in the afternoon 

 a Parsi gentleman, a barrister, introduced to me 

 some other Parsis, a lady and some lawyers, who 

 had come from Bombay in connection with a big 



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