I MY ARRIVAL AT TSAVO 9 
Mombasa was, however, not without its vicissitudes. 
From March 15, 1696, for example, the town was 
besieged for thirty-three consecutive months by a 
large fleet of Arab dhows, which completely sur- 
rounded the island. In spite of plague, treachery 
and famine, the little garrison held out valiantly in 
Jesus Fort, to which they had been forced to retire, 
until December 12, 1698, when the Arabs made a- 
last determined attack and captured the citadel, 
putting the remnant of the defenders, both men and 
women, to the sword. It is pathetic to read that 
only two days later a large Portuguese fleet appeared 
off the harbour, bringing the long-looked-for rein- 
forcements. After this the Portuguese made several 
attempts to reconquer Mombasa, but were unsuc- 
cessful until 1728, when the town was stormed and 
captured by General Sampayo. The Arabs, how- 
ever, returned the next year in overwhelming 
numbers, and again drove the Portuguese out ; and 
although the latter made one more attempt in 1769 
to regain their lost supremacy, they did not 
succeed. 
The Arabs, as represented by the Sultan of 
Zanzibar, remain in nominal possession of Mombasa 
to the present day ; but in 1887 Seyid Bargash, the 
then Sultan of Zanzibar, gave for an annual rental 
a concession of his mainland territories to the British 
East Africa Association, which in 1888 was formed 
