EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT. 



317 



obtained possession from the Arabs, by purchase 

 or mortgage, of many landed estates in the Say- 

 yid's dominions. The country can look forward 

 only to a moderate development whilst it con- 

 tinue in the present hands, but the capabilities 

 of the coast are great. Labour only is wanted ; 

 and a European power establishing itself upon 

 the mainland — this object has frequently been 

 proposed, and is steadily kept in view — could in 

 a few years command a territory and a com- 

 merce which w^ould rival Western India. 



The other white residents are commercial, 

 and it is with no little astonishment that the 

 Englishman finds no direct trade with Great 

 Britain, and meets none of his fellow-country- 

 men at Zanzibar. 1 Their absence results not 

 from want of venture or dearth of business, but 

 from supineness on the part of the authorities. 

 No merchant can profitably settle where he can- 

 not freely correspond, receive advices that ships 

 have been despatched, and obtain orders for car- 

 goes and consignments. Moreover, large sums 

 have been wasted by respectable houses in settling * 

 here trustworthy agents and sober men. The few 

 favourable exceptions found the climate either 



1 In 1862-3 a Bombay firm established a branch on the 

 Island, but I have not heard of the results. 



