THE ARMY. 



265 



horror of being the ruler's guest, yet they some- 

 times escape by the silver key, and, once upon 

 the mainland, they may laugh at justice. I 

 heard of a Banyan who, despite being double- 

 ironed, managed to 'inake tracks.' 



The military force of Zanzibar is not im- 

 posing. In 1846, throughout the African pos- 

 sessions of the Sayyid, the permanent force was 

 only 400 men, namely, about 80 at Zanzibar, 

 250 at Mombasah, 30 at Lamu, 25 at Patta, 6 

 to 10 at Kilwa, and sundry pairs at Makdishu 

 and other places; after that time they were 

 doubled and even trebled. The 'regulars' con- 

 sist of a guard of honour, a 6 guardia nobile ' 

 of a dozen serviles habited in cast-off Sepoy 

 uniforms, collected from different corps of the 

 Bombay army : one musket carries a bayonet, 

 the other a stick. The cost of new equipments 

 was once asked by the late Sayyid; after 

 glancing at the total, he exclaimed that the 

 guard itself would not fetch half that sum. The 

 irregular force is more considerable, and repre- 

 sents the Hayduques of old Eastern Turkey, the 

 Arnauts or Albanians of Egypt, the Bashi- 

 Buzuks of El Hejaz, and the Sayyareh and Zab- 

 tiyyeh of modern Syria. The so-called Baloch are 

 vagrants and freebooters collected from Northern 



