XI 



TRAVELS m EASTERN AFRICA 



505 



enable him to bring suit in that court against me. 

 This General Matthews refused to do, alleging that 

 Mr. Allen, the acting Consul, being an American, 

 would be biased in my favour; and said that, on the 

 contrary, I should appear before a British tribunal, 

 and submit my case to it. It struck me not only 

 that this suggestion was childish, but that, should I 

 act upon it, I should by so doing cast a slur upon 

 the consular courts of my own country. 



Through the United States Consul I continued to 

 press my claims for the arrest and punishment of the 

 deserters, but without avail, and the authorities of 

 Zanzibar continued with all the vigour at their dis- 

 posal to press the claim against me on behalf of the 

 porters. 



The native who had been killed while in my em- 

 ploy was the slave of an Arab at Zanzibar. Under 

 Arabic law a slave represents so much money, being 

 considered a chattel ; and although I considered my- 

 self in no way responsible for the man's death, never- 

 theless, as he had been shot while in my service, and 

 by a man in my employ, and as his master was poor, 

 I turned over to him a sum of money supposed to 

 represent the slave's value to him. 



About a week after my arrival at Zanzibar I was 

 prostrated by a severe attack of fever, and was taken 

 to the French hospital to be nursed. This hospital 

 is in the charge of nuns, and I feel that it is entirely 

 owing to their kind and thoughtful nursing that I 

 recovered at all. It may seem incredible to the 

 medical profession, that upon my arrival at the 

 French hospital my temperature was 106.5 Fahrenheit. 



