500 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



General upon the death of Sir Gerald Portal, had 

 been forced to leave Zanzibar on account of illness, 

 and at the time of my arrival in Zanzibar, affairs there 

 were managed by General Matthews and the acting 

 British Agent and Consul-General, a Mr. Cracknell, 

 who for many 3^ears had been the judge of the 

 British Consular Court. Had there been a regularly 

 accredited agent in Zanzibar when I arrived, I feel 

 certain that the difficulties I met with would not 

 have occurred ; but owing to the fact that affairs were 

 in the hands of men who had been for many years 

 inhabitants of the coast of East Africa, and as a 

 natural result of long stays had become in large 

 measure Arabized in character, I found that instead 

 of pursuing the simple and direct road to justice, the 

 treatment of my affairs was made subservient to purely 

 local, and I may also say private, ends. 



When I paid my visit to General Sir Lloyd Mat- 

 thews, I was surprised to find that, without waiting 

 until I had arrived and stated my case, that gentle- 

 man had come to the conclusion that my porters were 

 justified in their desertion, and he had therefore taken 

 it upon himself to order my agent to supply them 

 with means of transport to Zanzibar, and with food 

 after their arrival there. This action of General Mat- 

 thews was another wholly without precedent. 



The difficulties and dangers incident to the man- 

 acjement of a caravan consistinof of a lars^e number of 

 half-savage porters would be so great as to render 

 exploration absolutely impossible, were it not for the 

 fact that the traveller can feel assured that any ill 

 behaviour or desertion on the part of his men will 



