MY ARRIVAL AT TSAVO 



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 



