MOMBASAH. 



21 



bathing in the costume of Camoens' Nereids. 

 And the sable imps, sunning themselves upon 

 the white sand, shouted the free-and-easy Mu- 

 zungu — ' Europeans ! ' 



I was not a little astonished at the first sight 

 of this 'indomitable village,' whose history is 

 that of the whole East African coast. Can this 

 paltry settlement have been the capital of the 

 King of the Zing, concerning whom Arab travel- 

 lers and geographers have written such marvels ? 

 Is this the place whose stubborn patriotism and 

 turbulent valour rendered her for nearly two 

 centuries a thorn in the side of the Portuguese ? 

 that gave them more trouble than all the 2000 

 miles of shore ? that allowed herself to be burnt 

 three times to the ground, and that twice suc- 

 ceeded in massacring an enemy whom she had 

 failed to expel ? Can this miserable village have 

 produced heroes, the Samson-like Ahmad bin Mo- 

 hammed ; the generous and chivalrous Abdullah 

 bin Ahmad, and Mubarak, whose daring valour 

 displayed during the war against Sayyid Said, 

 still lives in popular song ? Of the second 

 named a storv is told, which mi^ht belonsr to the 

 knightly days of Europe. During the siege of 

 Lamu, where, by-the-by, he lent his shoulders as 

 a scaling-ladder to his father's soldiers, the young 



