368 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xviii. 



having taken fire, of which she had written him, he adds 

 playfully : — 



" You did not mention what you considered most precious on the 

 night of the fire ; so I dreamed that I saw one young lady hugging a 

 German grammar to her bosom ; another with a pair of curling 

 tongs, a tooth-pick and a pinafore ; another with a bunch of used-up 

 postage stamps and autographs in a crinoline turned upside down, 

 and a fourth lifted up Madame Hoe6d6 and insisted on carrying her 

 as her most precious baggage. Her name, which I did not catch, will 

 go down to posterity alongside of the ladies who each carried out her 

 husband from the besieged city, and took care never to let him hear 

 the last on't afterwards. I am so penetrated with admiration of her 

 that I enclose the wing of a flying-fish for her. It lighted among us 

 last night, while we were at dinner, coming right through the sky- 

 light. You will make use of this fact in the high-flying speech which 

 you will deliver to her in French." 



Zanzibar is at length reached on the 28th January, 

 after a voyage of twenty-three days, tedious enough, 

 though but half the length of the cruise in the " Nyassa " 

 two years before. To Agnes : — 



" 29th Jan. — We went to call to-day on the Sultan. His Highness 

 met us at the bottom of the stair, and as he shook hands a brass band, 

 which he got at Bombay, blared forth ' God save the Queen ! ' This 

 was excessively ridiculous, but I maintained sufficient official gravity. 

 After coffee and sherbet we came away, and the wretched band now 

 struck up ' The British Grenadier,' as if the fact of my being only 

 5 feet 8, and Brebner about 2 inches lower, ought not to have 

 suggested ' Wee Willie Winkie ' as more appropriate. I was ready to 

 explode, but got out of sight before giving way." 



Dr. Livingstone brought a very cordial recommenda- 

 tion to the Sultan from Sir Bartle Frere, and experienced 

 much kindness at his hand. Being ill with toothache, 

 the Sultan could not receive the gift of the " Thule " in 

 person, and it was presented through his commodore. 



Livingstone was detained in Zanzibar nearly two 

 months waiting for H.M.S. "Penguin," which was to 

 convey him to the mouth of the Rovuma. Zanzibar life 

 was very monotonous — " It is the old, old way of living 

 — eating, chinking, sleeping; sleeping, drinking, eating. 

 Getting fat ; slaving-dhows coming and slaving-dhows 



