298 



SAYYID SAID. 



Ahmad, the Mazru'i Wali or governor, and 

 twenty-six of his kinsmen, enticed by the most 

 solemn oaths, which were accompanied by a 

 sealed Koran — it is wonderful how liar trusts 

 liar ! — embarked on one of the Sayyid' s ships, 

 which carried his son Sayyid Khalid and Sulay- 

 man bin Ahmad. The vessel instantly weighed 

 anchor, stood for Zanzibar, and consigned its 

 cargo to life-long banishment and prison, at Mina 

 and Bandar Abbas. The Mazara' at once sank 

 into utter obscurity. 



Sayyid Said was persuaded (Jan. 6, 1843) to 

 attack that notorious plunderer, Bana M'takha, 

 chief of Sewi, a small territory near Lamu, who 

 had persuaded one Mfumo Bakkari, and after- 

 wards his brother Mohammed bin Shaykh, to de- 

 clare himself Lord of Patta, and independent of 

 the Arab prince. The ruler of Zanzibar here failed 

 to repeat his success at Mombasah, the wily Afri- 

 can shutting his ear to the charmer's voice. The 

 second son, Sayyid Khalid, then disembarked his 

 1200 to 1300 troops, Maskatis and Wasawahili, 

 6 cowardly as Maskatis,' who with the Suri are 

 the proverbial dastards of the race. He served 

 out with Semitic economy five cartridges per head, 

 and he marched them inland without a day's rest, 

 after a ' buggalow '-voyage from Arabia. Short 



