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Notes on Zanguebar. [No. 1 1, new series 



tested rope, it is cut where the hands meet and each crew carries 

 off its lot in triumph, and when on board, they find it is some fa- 

 thoms too short for the object intended. It is the same if a 

 spar or yard is wanted ; a carpenter will without remorse or 

 shame, cut and chip a yard of seventy-five feet long, and out 

 of such a magnificent and costly piece of timber turn out an 

 uncouth and heavy topsaily yard for a ship of six hundred 

 tons measurement : then comes the fight for chains and cables ; 

 here the scene changes the lascars will do wonders to secure the 

 lightest of all in store ; and were it not for the Nakoodah, would, 

 I think, be satisfied with a couple of boat grapplings, and as many 

 sheet chains, knowing that the lighter the cable and anchor the 

 easier they are handed in. 



In 1 849 I had the misfortune to sail on board of His Higness' 

 ship V Artemise ; five days after departure as I have already men- 

 tioned, we lost rudder and masts ; from that day I took the com- 

 mand of the ship and after a very laborious voyage, I had the 

 pleasure of making the harbour of Simon's Bay. It blew a gale 

 from the south east the day of our arrival, and Simon's Bay is 

 anything but safe and comfortable during a south east gale. When 

 I ordered to prepare the chains and anchors, I was told that there 

 were only 45 fathoms of one chain and 40 of another. There was, 

 said the Nakoodah, " a beautiful new coir cable but it was deep 

 in the hold and could not be got at without removing some thou- 

 sand bags of cloves," and that during a gale of wind at the en - 

 trance of False Bay, eight miles (fifty minutes sailing) from the 

 anchorage, and no possibility of laying to with jurymasts and 

 rudder. I went in however, and by a miracle, the anchors stood 

 well until assistance was afforded from shore. I left the ship im- 

 mediately, it was my second Ulyssean voyage on board of His 

 Highness' men-of-war and I had had enough of it. On her return 

 home from London the Artemise was spoken in the Atlantic 

 Ocean, some where about the equator, and since that time she has 

 not been heard of. In 1854 I had the honor of seeing the Imam's 

 eldest son Seyed Kaled, then Governor of Zanguebar during the 

 Imam's voyage to Muscat ; and the Prince told me that he had 

 not yet lost all hopes of seeing the Artemise back ; she might 

 have been driven into some unknown region : there were, said he, 



