May 1861.] Notes on Zanyuclar. 



81 



which have taken water at M'tony, have been visited after leaving 

 Zanguebar with a very severe epidemic form of dysentery. The 

 merchant ships never resort to M'tony for water, rinding it more 

 convenient to bring it from the wells which supply the population 

 of the town. 



During his stay in town, the Imam sits twice a day for some 

 hours in a large room on the ground-flour of his Palace to afford 

 an opportunity to those who may desire an audience ; in this re- 

 ception room he transacts all his private and public business, and 

 decides difficult cases, Judicial and Police. 



I have many times seen the Imam while listening to his Secre- 

 taries, reading important letters relating to political matters, and 

 dictating to some Secretaries in his Durbar letters of no less im- 

 portance, in presence of hundreds of Arabs standing in a double row 

 all round the reception room. I have even heard some of the by- 

 standers volunteer an explanation, when the Imam, being in doubt 

 about some fact, was consulting with his son Seyed Kaled and the 

 titular Governor Said Suliman Ben Hamed ; and the intruder was 

 always kindly heard, and his opinion received or quietly discussed 

 by the Imam, and in spite of such apparent familiarity the Imam 

 is both respected and feared. When some facts are not sufficiently 

 clear or require more investigation, he sends the parties either be- 

 fore his son Seyed Kalid, who presides over the Supreme Court, or 

 before the Governor Said Suliman Ben Hamed, who is Minister of 

 Justice. Said Suliman Ben Hamed — or to speak more correctly 

 Suliman Ben Hamed, because he has no right to the princely title 

 of Said — is of low and poor extraction, and followed during his 

 youth at Muscat, the humble occupation of a tailor ; but he is a 

 man of great ability and knowledge of his countrymen ; as a judge 

 he is harsh and cruel, and will order the most atrocious torture 

 with a gentle smile on his face. He is perhaps the most deficient 

 in courage of all the subjects of the Imam, and I have heard of 

 many instances where he proved in practice the principle that dis- 

 cretion is the better part of valor. He is very liberal-minded to- 

 wards strangers and when he takes a fancy to a European admits 

 him into his full confidence. Said Suliman is the best farmer in 

 Zanguebar, and the cloves of his plantations fetch always the 



