LIEUT.-COL. HA HER TON. 



477 



• slaves that never prayed.' 1 The Consul's repre- 

 sentations were listened to by Sayyid Said, who, 

 through virtue of certain dry floggings and con- 

 fiscations of property, a la Mohammed Ali, in- 

 stilled into the slave-owners some semblance of 

 humanity. 



Negro insolence was dealt with as summarily. 

 The Arabs had persuaded the Wasawahili, and 

 even the Creoles, that a white man is a being 

 below contempt, and the ' poor African ' eagerly 

 carried out the theory. Only 17 years have 

 elapsed (1857) since a certain trading-consul, 

 Mr — , in consular hat and sword, was horsed 

 upon a servile back, and was solemnly 'bakur'd,' 

 in his own consular house, under his own con- 

 sular flag. This occurrence was afterwards de- 

 nied by the best of all authorities, the gentleman 

 who told the tale : I have, however, every reason 

 to believe it. A Msawahili would at any time 

 enter the merchant's office, dispose his sandaled 

 or bare feet upon the table or the bureau, call 

 for cognac, and, if refused, draw his dagger. 

 Impudent fishermen would anchor their craft 

 below the windows of the British Consulate, 



1 Dr Ruschenberger remarked the skeletons on the beach 

 to the North and to the East of the Island. 



