HOSPITALITY OF THE ARABS. 



323 



tion and courteously accompanied me for some distance. 

 Amongst them were the principal merchants, Snay bin 

 Amir, Said bin Majid, a young and handsome Omani of 

 noble tribe, Muhinna bin Sulayman, who, despite ele- 

 phantiasis, marched every year into Central Africa, and 

 Said bin Ali el Hinawi, whose short, spare, but well-knit 

 frame, pale face, small features, mowy beard, and bald 

 head, surmounted by a red fez, made him the type of 

 an Arab old man. 



I had directed Said bin Salim to march the caravan 

 to the Tembe kindly placed at my disposal by Isa* bin 

 Hijji, and the Arabs met at Inenge. The Kirangozi 

 and the porters, however, led us on by mistake (?) to the 

 house of "Musa Mzuri" — handsome Moses — an Indian 

 merchant settled at Unyanyembe for whom I bore an in- 

 troductory letter, graciously given by H. H. the Sayyid 

 Majid of Zanzibar. As Musa was then absent on a 

 trading-journey to Karagwah, his agent, Snay bin Amir, 

 a Harisi Arab, came forward to perform the guest-rites, 

 and led me to the vacant house of Abayd bin Sulayman 

 who had lately returned to Zanzibar. 



After allowing me, as is the custom, a day to rest and 

 to dismiss the porters, who at once separated to their 

 homes, all the Arab merchants, then about a dozen, 

 made the first ceremonious call, and to them was offi- 

 cially submitted the circular addressed by the Prince 

 of Zanzibar to his subjects resident in the African 

 interior. Contrary to the predictions of others, nothing 

 could be more encouraging than the reception expe- 

 rienced from the Omani Arabs; striking, indeed, was 

 the contrast between the open-handed hospitality and 

 the hearty good-will of this truly noble race, and the 

 niggardness of the savage and selfish African — it was 

 heart of flesh after heart of stone. A goat and a load 



Y 2 



