318 



EUROPEAN RESIDENTS. 



unendurable or fatal. Hitherto, however, Eng- 

 lishmen have done little, and, I write it unwill- 

 ingly, Englishwomen have done less, for the 

 honour of the national name at Zanzibar than in 

 most parts of the East. Two girls came out to 

 the Island, married to the usual 6 black princes,' 

 who mostly turn out to be barbers or domestic 

 servants; this proceeding greatly scandalized 

 the white residents, and the Desdemonas gave 

 more trouble to the officials than the whole 

 colony. 



The principal American houses are those of 

 Messrs Bertram & Co., represented by Captain 

 Mansfield, Mr Ropes, and Mr Webb : Messrs 

 Rufus Green & Co., also of Salem, have three 

 agents, Messrs Winn, Spalding, and Wilkins. 

 Lastly, there is Mr Samuel Masury, of Salem, a 

 ' general merchant,' distinguished for probity 

 and commercial sagacity : he left Zanzibar 

 during our exploration of the interior, and he 

 presently came to an untimely end. 



The French houses began with a misconcep- 

 tion, a certain chancellier having reported offici- 

 ally to his Government, that 232 ships annually 

 visited and loaded at Zanzibar. The intelligence 

 caused considerable excitement : it was believed 

 that every vessel left these shores crammed with 



