4 



PREPARATIONS IN ZANZIBAR AND ON THE COAST 



unnecessary shouting we were landed dryshod, with the help 

 of some of the crowd of sturdy negroes awaiting us ; after 

 which, with a motley train behind us, we made our way to 

 the Criterion Hotel. 



The island of Zanzibar has been described so often that a 

 ver}^ few words will suffice from me. I felt as if the two 

 palaces of the Sultan, with the fort hard by in case of necessity, 

 were old acquaintances, and I fancied I had watched before the 

 swaying crowds of many varied types of humanity, the eager, 

 noisy traffic in the market-place, the stalls heaped high with 

 tropical fruits, and that I had already threaded my way 

 through the busy East Indian, or Arab quarter, and the 

 Ngambu, or negro quarter, on the other side of the bridge, 

 where walked the oft-described black dandy in his long white 

 shirt, whilst many a dainty bibi 1 flashed by with roguish, 

 laughing eyes — a very dream made real. 



So great was the delight of seeing with my own eyes all the 

 varied beauties, all the complex lights and shades of the capital 

 of East Africa, about which I had read so much, that I would 

 gladly have devoted to their study eveiy minute of leisure for 

 a week ; and even in the hotel at which I had put up there was 

 so much that was novel to me that I wished my stay could 

 have been prolonged. As it was, however, I soon had plenty 

 else to do, for the very next morning I found that my arrival 

 had not been as unnoticed, as I could have wished, but was 

 already being discussed in every quarter of the town. At the 

 time of which I am writing Zanzibar was much quieter than it is 

 now : only one mail steamer put in a month, and as not nearly 

 so many Europeans arrived, the appearance of one was still an 

 event. And when, as in my case, that one was an explorer, the 

 news spread like wildfire in the native quarter. The East 

 Indian and Arab traders at once scented a fresh customer, and 



1 Bibi means woman or girl. 



