SULTAN MAMBA. 



159 



' rogue ' whose villanies had gained for him the 

 royal title of ' Sultan Mamba,' or King Crocodile : 

 now we heard the splashing of the huge beasts, 

 as they scrambled over the shoals; then they 

 struggled with hoarse grunts up the miry slippery 

 banks which led to fields and plantations ; then, 

 again, all was quiet as the grave. After a pro- 

 tracted silence, deep and drear, the near voice of 

 a man startled us as though it had been some 

 ghostly sound. At 2 p.m., reaching a cleared tract 

 on the river-side, the ' ghaut ' or landing-place of 

 Chogwe, we made fast the canoe, looked to our 

 weapons, and covering our faces against the 

 clammy dew and the blinding, paralyzing moon- 

 light, we lay down to snatch an hour's sleep. The 

 total distance rowed was about 13| miles. 



We began the next morning with an inspection 

 of Chogwe, the bazar, to which we were escorted 

 with sundry honorary discharges of match- 

 locks, by the Jemadar, and 20 Bashi Buzuks. 

 It was first occupied some few years ago, when 

 the Church Missionary Intelligencer had pub- 

 lished (Jan. 1850) a ' fact,' namely, that the 

 ' Imam of Zanzibar had not one inch of ground 

 between the Island of Wasin and the Panga-ni 

 river.' The fact proved to be a fiction, and the 

 late Sayyid at once garrisoned Chogwe and 



