BAD NEWS. 



But not for such small matter would the 

 H. E. I. C.'s ship-of-war ' Elphinstone ' have the 

 trouble of casting loose and of loading her guns 

 gratis. With the Sayyid's plain blood-red ensign 

 at the main, and with union-jack at the fore, 

 she cast anchor in Eront Bay, and gallantly de- 

 livered her fire of 21. Thereupon a gay bunting 

 flew up to every truck ashore and afloat, whilst 

 the brass carronades of the £ Victoria,' another 

 item of the Maskat navy, roared a response of 

 22, and, curious to say, did not blow off a single 

 gunner's arms. We had arrived on the fortieth 

 or last day of Moslem mourning ; and the mourn- 

 ing was for Sayyid Said, our native friend and 

 ally, who had for so many years been calling for 

 volunteers and explorers, and from whom the 

 East African expedition had been taught to ex- 

 pect every manner of aid except the pecuniary. 



We lost no time in tumbling into a gig and 

 in visiting the British Consulate, a large solid 

 pile, coloured like a twelfth- cake, and shaped 

 like a claret-chest, which lay on its side, com- 

 fortably splashed by the sea. Lieut. -Colonel 

 Atkins Hamerton, of the Indian Army, H.B.M.'s 

 Consul and H.E.I. C.'s agent, to whom I was 

 directed to report arrival, was now our main- 

 stay, but we found him in the poorest state of 



