12 PREPARATIONS IN ZANZIBAR AND ON THE COAST 



when Count Teleki met him, and he was quite ready to enlist 

 on a new expedition, although he had scarcely had any time 

 for the enjoyment of the society of a charming little wife. 

 With Qualla came six other young Somal, and a seventh joined 

 us later. 



Qualla spoke Arabic, Hindustani, English, and Kiswahili ; 

 and this was by no means his first visit to Zanzibar, so that he 

 soon became most useful to us. But we could not do much 

 with his companions as yet, for we could only communicate 

 with them through an interpreter. 



Our work now went on fast enough — faster than, necessary, 

 in fact, as Jumbe Kimemeta kept us waiting longer than he 

 had said he would or than we approved of ; but punctuality 

 and fidelity to one's word are not among the virtues of the 

 brown and black races of the earth. When he at last arrived, 

 however, he set to work with a zeal we should never have 

 expected from his phlegmatic appearance. 



The next thing to be done was to decide on the kind and 

 amount of merchandise which must be taken with us. And 

 this is always a very difficult matter on the coast, as the infor- 

 mation given on the spot is not to be relied on ; whilst the 

 leaders of caravans who really are experienced are quite in- 

 capable of giving an estimate ; so that many and many a discus- 

 sion had to be gone through before we could get a really definite 

 idea of what was needed. 



The purchase of the goods for barter was entrusted to 

 Jumbe Kimemeta and Issa ben Madi, who had the help of 

 the experienced East Indian staff of the well-known house of 

 Oswald & Co. 



Our list of wares included a grand collection of articles, the 

 most important of which I enumerate below. We had 600 

 pieces {djora) of white cotton goods (merikani) alone, from 30 

 to 40 yards long; 250 djora of dark-blue calico (kaniki), of 



