ZANZEBAR. 
best in our navy, were completely baffled in attempting it. 
(Vide Captain BisselFs Voyage to the Red Sea.) The fleet left 
Johanna on the 11th of November, 1798, and did not get round 
Cape Gardafui until the 8th of April, 1799. It is to be 
hoped,"' Captain Bissell observes^ nobody will ever attempt it 
again ; we were forty weeks on this voyage, and ran 18029 
miles.'* 
I much regretted at the time the above-mentioned deviation 
from our plan ; but, as I collected in the course of my voyage 
many particulars concerning these islands, it compensated in 
some degree for the disappointment of not visiting them, and, as 
they are very little known, I shall venture to lay before the 
reader a short account of their present condition.* 
The Island of Zanzebar is about forty-five miles in length, 
and Mteen in breadth. It has an excellent harbour on the 
western shore abreast of the town, with good anchorage in ten 
fathoms water, which is capable of holding a great number of 
vessels in perfect security throughout the year, owing to an ex- 
tensive range of surrounding shoals, which break the force of the 
sea in every direction. The island is difficult of approach on 
account of a very strong current running in its neighbourhood, 
against which Captain Thomlinson, attempting to beat with a 
leading wind, lost twenty miles per day. The eastern shore is 
bold and woody, and, as the hills seldom rise to any great eleva- 
tion, the sea breeze holds an uninterrupted course over the 
* My information is derived from a paper given me by Lord Caledon, from the jour- 
nals of the Commanders of the Caledon and Racehorse, who visited Zanzebar in this 
same year ; and from the accounts of two Arab traders who had frequented the islands. 
