560 
ZANZIBAR INTEREST. 
stepping in between me and the'supplies sent, be compelled 
to refund the entire expenses of the frustrated expedition, 
and all the high interest — twenty or twenty-five per cent, 
thereon — set down against me in Ludha’s books ; if not 
also the wages of my people and personal expenses for two 
years, the, time during which, by their surreptitious agent, 
Shereef, my servants and self were prevented from exe- 
cuting our regular duty. 
The late Sultan, Seyed Majid, compelled the Arab who 
connived at the plunder of all the Baron Van der Deeken’s 
goods in a vain attempt to reach Lake Nyassa, to refund 
the whole. It is inconceivable that the dragoman and other 
paid servants of the Consulate were ignorant of the fraud 
practised by the Banians on Dr. Kirk and me. 
All the Banians and Banian slaves were perfectly well 
aware of Muhatnod Nassur’s complicity. The villany of 
saddling on me all the expenses of their retail venture of 
soap, brandy, opium, and gunpowder, was perpetrated in 
open day, and could not escape the notice of the paid 
agents of the Consul; but how this matter was concealed 
from him, and also the dishonest characters of Syed bin 
Ali Bnraschid and Shereef, it is difficult to conceive. The 
oft repeated asseveration of Shereef, that he acted through- 
out on the advice of Ludha, may have a ray of truth in it. 
But a little gentle pressure on Syed Burghash the present 
Sultan, will probably insure the punishment of Shereef, 
although it is also highly probable that he will take refuge 
near the Governor of Unyanyembe till the affair blows 
over. If the rich Banian English subjects be compelled to 
refund, this alone will deter them from again plundering 
the servants of a Government which goes to great expense 
for their protection. 
I will now proceed to narrate, in as few words as possi- 
ble, how I have been baffled by the Banian slaves sent by 
Ludha, instead of men. They agreed to go to Ujiji, and 
having there ascertained where I was to be found, were to 
follow me as boatmen, carriers, woodmen, or in every capa- 
