XI 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



501 



meet with prompt punishment upon their return to 

 the coast at Zanzibar. It is this knowledge alone 

 which has prevented not only the desertion of entire 

 caravans, but in many cases the massacre of the Euro- 

 pean in charge. Up to the time of the arrival of my 

 deserters at the coast, runaways upon reaching Zanzi- 

 bar had invariably been promptly imprisoned and held 

 until the European should arrive and testify against 

 them. As can readily be supposed, negroes who de- 

 sert from a caravan have plenty of time on their way 



CocoANUT-oiL Mill 



to the coast to invent a plausible story explaining 

 their desertion ; but these stories, as the Europeans in 

 Zanzibar well knew the character of the Zanzibari, were 

 never credited until the arrival of the European with 

 his side of the story. 



Upon visiting General Matthews, and demanding 

 the punishment of the men who had ruined my ex- 

 pedition, I was not offered assistance, or even asked 

 to tell my story ; but, on the other hand, was met 

 with a demand on the part of the Government of Zan- 

 zibar for the full amount of the pay due these men 



