336 THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



or anything they had, for a few pounds of it. Owing 

 to the friendly relations which George had maintained 

 with them, and doubtless also to the plentiful supply 

 of meat which they had procured from him, the Dait- 

 cho had behaved in the most friendly manner ; and 

 after my arrival I held a levee of the principal men 

 of the tribe, when I met many people who had not 

 theretofore come to our camp. 



The day after my arrival was spent in ease which 

 the men who had accompanied me from Seran ap- 

 preciated as much as I did. They were allowed as 

 much food as they could eat, and of as great variety 

 as the markets of Daitcho afforded. Their camp- 

 fires seemed never to go out. At all times they 

 were thoroughly filled, and they revelled in the great- 

 est pleasure a Zanzibari is capable of experiencing — 

 a gorged stomach. 



During my stay at Daitcho the men who had re- 

 mained behind with George performed their daily 

 labours but indifferently well. Their minds were not 

 upon their work, and all their thoughts were cen- 

 tred upon the moment when the drum should sound, 

 and they should be released from their tasks, to 

 gather around the men who had accompanied me, 

 and from them hear marvellous tales of what had 

 befallen them. 



Most of their tales I never heard, but from a few 

 snatches which reached my ears I gathered the im- 

 pression that Munchausen would have produced a 

 much more interesting work had he been a native 

 of Zanzibar. To impart an idea of the boundless 

 genius of the Zanzibari in the field of imagination. 



