38 



LANDING PLACE. 



modern ford of Mkupa on the west of the Island 

 of Mombasah. 



Said went on shore as the anchor ran out, 

 and presently returned, accompanied by Lakh- 

 midas Tliakurdas, the Banyan Collector of Cus- 

 toms, with a civil 'message from the Jemadar, or 

 Eort Commandant. Other visitors were Hari, a 

 young Bhattia, speaking English learned at 

 Zanzibar, and a certain Basliid bin Salim, a 

 captain's clerk, whose son is commanding a 

 Kisawahili caravan in the Ukamba-ni country. 

 With tliem we landed at a natural jetty in the 

 N. Eastern front of the town, and where the 

 dents of cannon-balls mark the position of a 

 battery. Hence we ascended the cliff by a 

 flight of steps in a dark dwarf tunnel, which is a 

 reminiscence of the English. Eurther to the 

 N. West is the wharf, constructed in 1825 by 

 Lieut. Emery, and near it vessels generally lie. 

 The tunnel opens upon the Mission House, a 

 double-storied box of coarse masonry ; the ground- 

 floor belongs to Sayyid Said, and Shangora, the 

 Msawahili 'care-taker,' duly supplied the key. 

 To the right and left were other similar tene- 

 ments, all more or less dilapidated, and the 

 S. Eastern point was occupied by a small Cus- 

 tom House painfully whitewashed. 



