402 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



van marching required. We made for him a capital 

 swinging hammock from the midribs of a palm, which 

 grew on the banks of the stream near Daitcho. 

 These we split into lathe-like strips, and wove to- 

 gether with rope, and then we stiffened this b)^ cross- 

 pieces. This hammock was suspended from a pole 

 which was carried on the shoulders of two men. 



Before Lieutenant von Hohnel's departure a trading- 

 caravan arrived from the coast, bringing news of the 

 death of Seyd Ali, who had been the reigning Sultan 

 of Zanzibar at the time our caravan set out. This 

 news seemed to excite much interest among my men ; 

 they gathered in groups, and I could overhear them 

 discussing the probabilities of the successor attempting 

 to free the Sultanate of Zanzibar from British influ- 

 ence. One and all they seemed to think the time 

 had come when the natives of Zanzibar should rise, 

 and, throwing off the European yoke, make Arab 

 influence paramount along the coast. Had I been a 

 stranger in Africa, it might have seemed odd to me 

 that these men, for the most part slaves, should feel 

 that their interests were in far greater degree with 

 their masters than on the side of the British, who 

 were ostensibly their friends and anxious to free 

 them from servitude ; but I had associated sufficiently 

 with these people to feel that their sympathies w-ere 

 firmly attached to Arab rule. They were willing to 

 accept any benefits wdiich the European might bestow 

 upon them, but not for a moment did they wish to 

 adopt European habits and customs. For most of 

 them Arab rule meant a condition of servitude ; at 

 the same time it also meant a condition of affairs 



