DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 617 



out into the country that you may see for yourself. In the midst of the 

 desolation and ruin which had overtaken us we heard that the former Gover- 

 nor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere, was coming out to talk to us about the 

 slave-trade. Now, you white people must understand that all Arabs trade in 

 slaves — that they have done so from the beginning. Our Koran does not say 

 it is a sin ; our priests say nothing against it ; the wise men of Mecca say 

 nothing against it ; our forefathers traded in slaves, and we followed their 

 footsteps and did likewise. But my father, Said Said, and my brothers, 

 Thouweynee, Majid, and Toorkee, were friends with the English, and the 

 English gave them advice and got them to sign treaties not to trade in slaves 

 any more. To the treaty that my brothers signed I gave my consent freely 

 when I came to the throne, for I have always been a friend to the English 

 and to Englishmen. When Sir Bartle Frere came here we were in sore dis- 

 tress, and very poor. He asked me to sign a treaty that no slave-trade should 

 be permitted in my country. When I consulted my chiefs, they held their 

 hands out to me, and said, ' We have nothing, we are poor ; but if the English 

 will give us time — say a year or so — we are quite willing to sign that which 

 they ask us.' I repeated to Sir Bartle what my chiefs were willing to do, and 

 I asked him to give us time, such as they gave the Portuguese ; but Sir Bartle, 

 in his hurry to get us to sign the treaty, overlooked the distress we were in 

 from the hurricane. Time and time again I asked that he would give us but 

 a few months to consider and prepare for this final stroke of misfortune ; but 

 he would not listen ; he was deaf to me. Continually he said to me, ' Sign 

 this treaty.' I was quite willing to sign it, though by signing it I was losing 

 about £4,000 a year revenue ; but my people could not understand this haste 

 of Sir Bartle Frere to get the treaty signed without giving us time to think 

 of it. We all knew that the English could do what they wanted to do in 

 Zanzibar ; if they took the island, we were too poor and weak to resist ; if 

 they destroyed us all, we could not help it. All we could have done would 

 have been to consign our cause to God, and submit. Sir Bartle Frere went 

 away angry. I cannot help it ; but I grieve that he should be angry with me 

 for what I could not help. One of the things he asked me to give my con- 

 sent to was that I should assist the English in putting down the slave-trade. 

 How can I assist the English ? I have no ships as I had formerly, or I would 

 willingly do so. Soon after Sir Bartle Frere went away an English fleet 

 came to our harbour. The English Admiral (Rear- Admiral Arthur Cumming) 

 and Dr. Kirk came to see me about the orders they had received from the 

 Foreign Office to stop the slave-trade. They both advised me, as friends, to 

 sign his treaty. I got my people's consent to do so and I signed it — not 

 because I was afraid of the English ships, for if the English came to Zanzibar, 

 and said, ' We want this island,' I would not resist them, for I know that 

 they are strong and I am weak — but because the English Admiral and Dr. 

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