294 



SAYYID SAID. 



in constant dread of 6 breaking the peace of the 

 Gulf/ preserved it by yielding every point to 

 every man ; and the ignoble attitude which, 

 amongst a warlike race, provoked only contempt, 

 laid the foundation of the last Persian war. It 

 was on a par with the orders which, under pain 

 of dismissal, bound the officers commanding the 

 Honourable East India Company's cruisers in 

 the Persian Gulf not to open fire upon a squadron 

 of pirates unless they began the cannonade ; and 

 which caused the capture by boarding of more 

 than one man-of-war. 



Zanzibar had, since its conquest by Oman, 

 been governed by an officer appointed from 

 Arabia. Sayyid Said found the town a line of 

 cajan huts, with the fort commanding the 

 harbour, which served only for an occasional 

 pirate or slaver. Till a. d. 1822 some 15 or 16 

 Spaniards and Portuguese ranged these seas, 

 committing every kind of atrocity: they were 

 dangerous outside the port, and when at anchor 

 they were guilty of every crime ; as many as three 

 and four have been killed in a single night, and a 

 priest was kept for the purpose of shriving the 

 stabbed and burying the slain. These, however, 

 were the days of large profits. The share of 

 one Arab merchant in a single adventure was 



