I was totally ignorant of the interior, and it was difficult at first to
know, what I needed, in order to take an Expedition into Central Africa.
Time was precious, also, and much of it could not be devoted to inquiry
and investigation. In a case like this, it would have been a godsend, I
thought, had either of the three gentlemen, Captains Burton, Speke,
or Grant, given some information on these points; had they devoted a
chapter upon, "How to get ready an Expedition for Central Africa." The
purpose of this chapter, then, is to relate how I set about it, that
other travellers coming after me may have the benefit of my experience.
These are some of the questions I asked myself, as I tossed on my bed at
night:--
"How much money is required?"
"How many pagazis, or carriers?
"How many soldiers?"
"How much cloth?"
"How many beads?"
"How much wire?"
"What kinds of cloth are required for the different tribes?"
Ever so many questions to myself brought me no clearer the exact point
I wished to arrive at. I scribbled over scores of sheets of paper, made
estimates, drew out lists of material, calculated the cost of keeping
one hundred men for one year, at so many yards of different kinds of
cloth, etc. I studied Burton, Speke, and Grant in vain. A good deal of
geographical, ethnological, and other information appertaining to the
study of Inner Africa was obtainable, but information respecting the
organization of an expedition requisite before proceeding to Africa, was
not in any book. The Europeans at Zanzibar knew as little as possible
about this particular point. There was not one white man at Zanzibar who
could tell how many dotis a day a force of one hundred men required to
buy food for one day on the road. Neither, indeed, was it their business
to know. But what should I do at all, at all? This was a grand question.
I decided it were best to hunt up an Arab merchant who had been engaged
in the ivory trade, or who was fresh from the interior.
Sheikh Hashid was a man of note and of wealth in Zanzibar. He had
himself despatched several caravans into the interior, and was
necessarily acquainted with several prominent traders who came to
his house to gossip about their adventures and gains. He was also the
proprietor of the large house Capt. Webb occupied; besides, he lived
across the narrow street which separated his house from the Consulate.
Of all men Sheikh Hashid was the man to be consulted, and he was
accordingly invited to visit me at the Consulate.
From the grey-bearded and venerable-looking Sheikh, I elicited more
information about African currency, the mode of procedure, the quantity
and quality of stuffs I required, than I had obtained from three months'
study of books upon Central Africa; and from other Arab merchants
to whom the ancient Sheikh introduced me, I received most valuable
suggestions and hints, which enabled me at last to organize an
Expedition.
The reader must bear in mind that a traveller requires only that which
is sufficient for travel and exploration that a superfluity of goods or
means will prove as fatal to him as poverty of supplies. It is on
this question of quality and quantity that the traveller has first to
exercise his judgment and discretion.
My informants gave me to understand that for one hundred men, 10 doti,
or 40 yards of cloth per diem, would suffice for food. The proper course
to pursue, I found, was to purchase 2,000 doti of American sheeting,
1,000 doti of Kaniki, and 650 doti of the coloured cloths, such as
Barsati, a great favourite in Unyamwezi; Sohari, taken in Ugogo;
Ismahili, Taujiri, Joho, Shash, Rehani, Jamdani or Kunguru-Cutch, blue
and pink. These were deemed amply sufficient for the subsistence of
one hundred men for twelve months. Two years at this rate would require
4,000 doti = 16,000 yards of American sheeting; 2,000 doti = 8,000 yards
of Kaniki; 1,300 doti = 5,200 yards of mixed coloured cloths. This was
definite and valuable information to me, and excepting the lack of some
suggestions as to the quality of the sheeting, Kaniki, and coloured
cloths, I had obtained all I desired upon this point.
Second in importance to the amount of cloth required was the quantity
and quality of the beads necessary. Beads, I was told, took the place
of cloth currency among some tribes of the interior. One tribe preferred
white to black beads, brown to yellow, red to green, green to white, and
so on. Thus, in Unyamwezi, red (sami-sami) beads would readily be taken,
where all other kinds would be refused; black (bubu) beads, though
currency in Ugogo, were positively worthless with all other tribes; the
egg (sungomazzi) beads, though valuable in Ujiji and Uguhha, would be
refused in all other countries; the white (Merikani) beads though
good in Ufipa, and some parts of Usagara and Ugogo, would certainly be
despised in Useguhha and Ukonongo. Such being the case, I was obliged to
study closely, and calculate the probable stay of an expedition in the
several countries, so as to be sure to provide a sufficiency of each
kind, and guard against any great overplus. Burton and Speke, for
instance, were obliged to throw away as worthless several hundred fundo
of beads.
For example, supposing the several nations of Europe had each its own
currency, without the means of exchange, and supposing a man was about
to travel through Europe on foot, before starting he would be apt to
calculate how many days it would take him to travel through France; how
many through Prussia, Austria, and Russia, then to reckon the expense
he would be likely to incur per day. If the expense be set down at a
napoleon per day, and his journey through France would occupy thirty
days, the sum required forgoing and returning might be properly set down
at sixty napoleons, in which case, napoleons not being current money
in Prussia, Austria, or Russia, it would be utterly useless for him
to burden himself with the weight of a couple of thousand napoleons in
gold.
My anxiety on this point was most excruciating. Over and over I studied
the hard names and measures, conned again and again the polysyllables;
hoping to be able to arrive some time at an intelligible definition
of the terms. I revolved in my mind the words Mukunguru, Ghulabio,
Sungomazzi, Kadunduguru, Mutunda, Samisami, Bubu, Merikani, Hafde,
Lunghio-Rega, and Lakhio, until I was fairly beside myself. Finally,
however, I came to the conclusion that if I reckoned my requirements at
fifty khete, or five fundo per day, for two years, and if I purchased
only eleven varieties, I might consider myself safe enough. The purchase
was accordingly made, and twenty-two sacks of the best species were
packed and brought to Capt. Webb's house, ready for transportation to
Bagamoyo.
After the beads came the wire question. I discovered, after considerable
trouble, that Nos. 5 and 6--almost of the thickness of telegraph
wire--were considered the best numbers for trading purposes. While beads
stand for copper coins in Africa, cloth measures for silver; wire
is reckoned as gold in the countries beyond the Tan-ga-ni-ka.* Ten
frasilah, or 350 lbs., of brass-wire, my Arab adviser thought, would be
ample.
* It will be seen that I differ from Capt. Burton in the
spelling of this word, as I deem the letter "y" superfluous.
Having purchased the cloth, the beads, and the wire, it was with no
little pride that I surveyed the comely bales and packages lying piled
up, row above row, in Capt. Webb's capacious store-room. Yet my work
was not ended, it was but beginning; there were provisions,
cooking-utensils, boats, rope, twine, tents, donkeys, saddles, bagging,
canvas, tar, needles, tools, ammunition, guns, equipments, hatchets,
medicines, bedding, presents for chiefs--in short, a thousand things not
yet purchased. The ordeal of chaffering and haggling with steel-hearted
Banyans, Hindis, Arabs, and half-castes was most trying. For instance, I
purchased twenty-two donkeys at Zanzibar. $40 and $50 were asked, which
I had to reduce to $15 or $20 by an infinite amount of argument worthy,
I think, of a nobler cause. As was my experience with the ass-dealers so
was it with the petty merchants; even a paper of pins was not purchased
without a five per cent. reduction from the price demanded, involving,
of course, a loss of much time and patience.
After collecting the donkeys, I discovered there were no pack-saddles
to be obtained in Zanzibar. Donkeys without pack-saddles were of no use
whatever. I invented a saddle to be manufactured by myself and my white
man Farquhar, wholly from canvas, rope, and cotton.
Three or four frasilahs of cotton, and ten bolts of canvas were required
for the saddles. A specimen saddle was made by myself in order to test
its efficiency. A donkey was taken and saddled, and a load of 140
lbs. was fastened to it, and though the animal--a wild creature of
Unyamwezi--struggled and reared frantic ally, not a particle gave
way. After this experiment, Farquhar was set to work to manufacture
twenty-one more after the same pattern. Woollen pads were also purchased
to protect the animals from being galled. It ought to be mentioned here,
perhaps, that the idea of such a saddle as I manufactured, was first
derived from the Otago saddle, in use among the transport-trains of the
English army in Abyssinia.
A man named John William Shaw--a native of London, England, lately
third-mate of the American ship 'Nevada'--applied to me for work. Though
his discharge from the 'Nevada' was rather suspicious, yet he possessed
all the requirements of such a man as I needed, and was an experienced
hand with the palm and needle, could cut canvas to fit anything, was
a pretty good navigator, ready and willing, so far as his professions
went.. I saw no reason to refuse his services, and he was accordingly
engaged at $300 per annum, to rank second to William L. Farquhar.
Farquhar was a capital navigator and excellent mathematician; was
strong, energetic, and clever.
The next thing I was engaged upon was to enlist, arm, and equip, a
faithful escort of twenty men for the road. Johari, the chief dragoman
of the American Consulate, informed me that he knew where certain of
Speke's "Faithfuls" were yet to be found. The idea had struck me before,
that if I could obtain the services of a few men acquainted with the
ways of white men, and who could induce other good men to join the
expedition I was organizing, I might consider myself fortunate. More
especially had I thought of Seedy Mbarak Mombay, commonly called
"Bombay," who though his head was "woodeny," and his hands "clumsy," was
considered to be the "faithfulest" of the "Faithfuls."
With the aid of the dragoman Johari, I secured in a few hours the
services of Uledi (Capt. Grant's former valet), Ulimengo, Baruti,
Ambari, Mabruki (Muinyi Mabruki--Bull-headed Mabruki, Capt. Burton's
former unhappy valet)--five of Speke's "Faithfuls." When I asked them if
they were willing to join another white man's expedition to Ujiji,
they replied very readily that they were willing to join any brother
of "Speke's." Dr. John Kirk, Her Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar, who was
present, told them that though I was no brother of "Speke's," I spoke
his language. This distinction mattered little to them: and I heard
them, with great delight, declare their readiness to go anywhere with
me, or do anything I wished.
Mombay, as they called him, or Bombay, as we know him, had gone to
Pemba, an island lying north of Zanzibar. Uledi was sure Mombay
would jump with joy at the prospect of another expedition. Johari was
therefore commissioned to write to him at Pemba, to inform him of the
good fortune in store for him.
On the fourth morning after the letter had been despatched, the famous
Bombay made his appearance, followed in decent order and due rank by
the "Faithfuls" of "Speke." I looked in vain for the "woodeny head" and
"alligator teeth" with which his former master had endowed him. I saw
a slender short man of fifty or thereabouts, with a grizzled head, an
uncommonly high, narrow forehead, with a very large mouth, showing teeth
very irregular, and wide apart. An ugly rent in the upper front row of
Bombay's teeth was made with the clenched fist of Capt. Speke in Uganda
when his master's patience was worn out, and prompt punishment became
necessary. That Capt. Speke had spoiled him with kindness was
evident, from the fact that Bombay had the audacity to stand up for a
boxing-match with him. But these things I only found out, when, months
afterwards, I was called upon to administer punishment to him myself.
But, at his first appearance, I was favourably impressed with Bombay,
though his face was rugged, his mouth large, his eyes small, and his
nose flat.
"Salaam aliekum," were the words he greeted me with. "Aliekum salaam,"
I replied, with all the gravity I could muster. I then informed him I
required him as captain of my soldiers to Ujiji. His reply was that he
was ready to do whatever I told him, go wherever I liked in short, be a
pattern to servants, and a model to soldiers. He hoped I would give him
a uniform, and a good gun, both of which were promised.
Upon inquiring for the rest of the "Faithfuls" who accompanied Speke
into Egypt, I was told that at Zanzibar there were but six. Ferrajji,
Maktub, Sadik, Sunguru, Manyu, Matajari, Mkata, and Almas, were dead;
Uledi and Mtamani were in Unyanyembe; Hassan had gone to Kilwa, and
Ferahan was supposed to be in Ujiji.
Out of the six "Faithfuls," each of whom still retained his medal for
assisting in the "Discovery of the Sources of the Nile," one,
poor Mabruki, had met with a sad misfortune, which I feared would
incapacitate him from active usefulness.
Mabruki the "Bull-headed," owned a shamba (or a house with a garden
attached to it), of which he was very proud. Close to him lived a
neighbour in similar circumstances, who was a soldier of Seyd Majid,
with whom Mabruki, who was of a quarrelsome disposition, had a feud,
which culminated in the soldier inducing two or three of his comrades to
assist him in punishing the malevolent Mabruki, and this was done in a
manner that only the heart of an African could conceive. They tied
the unfortunate fellow by his wrists to a branch of a tree, and after
indulging their brutal appetite for revenge in torturing him, left him
to hang in that position for two days. At the expiration of the second
day, he was accidentally discovered in a most pitiable condition. His
hands had swollen to an immense size, and the veins of one hand having
been ruptured, he had lost its use. It is needless to say that, when the
affair came to Seyd Majid's ears, the miscreants were severely punished.
Dr. Kirk, who attended the poor fellow, succeeded in restoring one hand
to something of a resemblance of its former shape, but the other hand is
sadly marred, and its former usefulness gone for ever.
However, I engaged Mabruki, despite his deformed hands, his ugliness and
vanity, because he was one of Speke's "Faithfuls." For if he but wagged
his tongue in my service, kept his eyes open, and opened his mouth at
the proper time, I assured myself I could make him useful.
Bombay, my captain of escort, succeeded in getting eighteen more free
men to volunteer as "askari" (soldiers), men whom he knew would not
desert, and for whom he declared himself responsible. They were an
exceedingly fine-looking body of men, far more intelligent in appearance
than I could ever have believed African barbarians could be. They hailed
principally from Uhiyow, others from Unyamwezi, some came from Useguhha
and Ugindo.
Their wages were set down at $36 each man per annum, or $3 each per
month. Each soldier was provided with a flintlock musket, powder horn,
bullet-pouch, knife, and hatchet, besides enough powder and ball for 200
rounds.
Bombay, in consideration of his rank, and previous faithful services
to Burton, Speke and Grant, was engaged at $80 a year, half that sum
in advance, a good muzzle-loading rifle, besides, a pistol, knife, and
hatchet were given to him, while the other five "Faithfuls," Ambari,
Mabruki, Ulimengo, Baruti, and Uledi, were engaged at $40 a year, with
proper equipments as soldiers.
Having studied fairly well all the East African travellers' books
regarding Eastern and Central Africa, my mind had conceived the
difficulties which would present themselves during the prosecution of my
search after Dr. Livingstone.
To obviate all of these, as well as human wit could suggest, was my
constant thought and aim.
"Shall I permit myself, while looking from Ujiji over the waters of
the Tanganika Lake to the other side, to be balked on the threshold of
success by the insolence of a King Kannena or the caprice of a Hamed
bin Sulayyam?" was a question I asked myself. To guard against such a
contingency I determined to carry my own boats. "Then," I thought, "if
I hear of Livingstone being on the Tanganika, I can launch my boat and
proceed after him."
I procured one large boat, capable of carrying twenty persons, with
stores and goods sufficient for a cruise, from the American Consul, for
the sum of $80, and a smaller one from another American gentleman for
$40. The latter would hold comfortably six men, with suitable stores.
I did not intend to carry the boats whole or bodily, but to strip them
of their boards, and carry the timbers and thwarts only. As a substitute
for the boards, I proposed to cover each boat with a double canvas skin
well tarred. The work of stripping them and taking them to pieces fell
to me. This little job occupied me five days.
I also packed them up, for the pagazis. Each load was carefully weighed,
and none exceeded 68 lbs. in weight. John Shaw excelled himself in the
workmanship displayed on the canvas boats; when finished, they fitted
their frames admirably. The canvas--six bolts of English hemp, No.
3--was procured from Ludha Damji, who furnished it from the Sultan's
storeroom.
An insuperable obstacle to rapid transit in Africa is the want of
carriers, and as speed was the main object of the Expedition under my
command, my duty was to lessen this difficulty as much as possible.
My carriers could only be engaged after arriving at Bagamoyo, on the
mainland. I had over twenty good donkeys ready, and I thought a
cart adapted for the footpaths of Africa might prove an advantage.
Accordingly I had a cart constructed, eighteen inches wide and five feet
long, supplied with two fore-wheels of a light American wagon, more for
the purpose of conveying the narrow ammunition-boxes. I estimated that
if a donkey could carry to Unyanyembe a load of four frasilahs, or 140
lbs., he ought to be able to draw eight frasilahs on such a cart,
which would be equal to the carrying capacity of four stout pagazis or
carriers. Events will prove, how my theories were borne out by practice.
When my purchases were completed, and I beheld them piled up, tier after
tier, row upon row, here a mass of cooking-utensils, there bundles of
rope, tents, saddles, a pile of portmanteaus and boxes, containing every
imaginable thing, I confess I was rather abashed at my own temerity.
Here were at least six tons of material! "How will it ever be possible,"
I thought, "to move all this inert mass across the wilderness stretching
between the sea, and the great lakes of Africa? Bah, cast all doubts
away, man, and have at them! 'Sufficient for the day is the evil
thereof,' without borrowing from the morrow."
The traveller must needs make his way into the African interior after
a fashion very different from that to which he has been accustomed in
other countries. He requires to take with him just what a ship must have
when about to sail on a long voyage. He must have his slop chest, his
little store of canned dainties, and his medicines, besides which, he
must have enough guns, powder, and ball to be able to make a series of
good fights if necessary. He must have men to convey these miscellaneous
articles; and as a man's maximum load does not exceed 70 lbs., to convey
11,000 lbs. requires nearly 160 men.
Europe and the Orient, even Arabia and Turkestan, have royal ways
of travelling compared to Africa. Specie is received in all those
countries, by which a traveller may carry his means about with him on
his own person. Eastern and Central Africa, however, demand a necklace,
instead of a cent; two yards of American sheeting, instead of half a
dollar, or a florin, and a kitindi of thick brass-wire, in place of a
gold piece.
The African traveller can hire neither wagons nor camels, neither
horses nor mules, to proceed with him into the interior. His means of
conveyance are limited to black and naked men, who demand at least $15 a
head for every 70 lbs. weight carried only as far as Unyanyembe.
One thing amongst others my predecessors omitted to inform men bound for
Africa, which is of importance, and that is, that no traveller should
ever think of coming to Zanzibar with his money in any other shape than
gold coin. Letters of credit, circular notes, and such civilized things
I have found to be a century ahead of Zanzibar people.
Twenty and twenty-five cents deducted out of every dollar I drew on
paper is one of the unpleasant, if not unpleasantest things I have
committed to lasting memory. For Zanzibar is a spot far removed from all
avenues of European commerce, and coin is at a high premium. A man
may talk and entreat, but though he may have drafts, cheques, circular
notes, letters of credit, a carte blanche to get what he wants, out of
every dollar must, be deducted twenty, twenty-five and thirty cents,
so I was told, and so was my experience. What a pity there is no
branch-bank here!
I had intended to have gone into Africa incognito. But the fact that a
white man, even an American, was about to enter Africa was soon known
all over Zanzibar. This fact was repeated a thousand times in the
streets, proclaimed in all shop alcoves, and at the custom-house. The
native bazaar laid hold of it, and agitated it day and night until my
departure. The foreigners, including the Europeans, wished to know the
pros and cons of my coming in and going out.
My answer to all questions, pertinent and impertinent, was, I am going
to Africa. Though my card bore the words
________________________________________
| |
| HENRY M. STANLEY. |
| |
| |
| New York Herald. |
|________________________________________|
very few, I believe, ever coupled the words 'New York Herald' with a
search after "Doctor Livingstone." It was not my fault, was it?
Ah, me! what hard work it is to start an expedition alone! What with
hurrying through the baking heat of the fierce relentless sun from shop
to shop, strengthening myself with far-reaching and enduring patience
far the haggling contest with the livid-faced Hindi, summoning courage
and wit to brow-beat the villainous Goanese, and match the foxy Banyan,
talking volumes throughout the day, correcting estimates, making up
accounts, superintending the delivery of purchased articles, measuring
and weighing them, to see that everything was of full measure and
weight, overseeing the white men Farquhar and Shaw, who were busy on
donkey saddles, sails, tents, and boats for the Expedition, I felt, when
the day was over, as though limbs and brain well deserved their rest.
Such labours were mine unremittingly for a month.
Having bartered drafts on Mr. James Gordon Bennett to the amount of
several thousand dollars for cloth, beads, wire, donkeys, and a thousand
necessaries, having advanced pay to the white men, and black escort
of the Expedition, having fretted Capt. Webb and his family more than
enough with the din of preparation, and filled his house with my goods,
there was nothing further to do but to leave my formal adieus with the
Europeans, and thank the Sultan and those gentlemen who had assisted me,
before embarking for Bagamoyo.
The day before my departure from Zanzibar the American Consul, having
just habited himself in his black coat, and taking with him an extra
black hat, in order to be in state apparel, proceeded with me to the
Sultan's palace. The prince had been generous to me; he had presented me
with an Arab horse, had furnished me with letters of introduction to his
agents, his chief men, and representatives in the interior, and in many
other ways had shown himself well disposed towards me.
The palace is a large, roomy, lofty, square house close to the fort,
built of coral, and plastered thickly with lime mortar. In appearance
it is half Arabic and half Italian. The shutters are Venetian blinds
painted a vivid green, and presenting a striking contrast to the
whitewashed walls. Before the great, lofty, wide door were ranged in
two crescents several Baluch and Persian mercenaries, armed with
curved swords and targes of rhinoceros hide. Their dress consisted of a
muddy-white cotton shirt, reaching to the ancles, girdled with a leather
belt thickly studded with silver bosses.
As we came in sight a signal was passed to some person inside the
entrance. When within twenty yards of the door, the Sultan, who was
standing waiting, came down the steps, and, passing through the ranks,
advanced toward us, with his right hand stretched out, and a genial
smile of welcome on his face. On our side we raised our hats, and shook
hands with him, after which, doing according as he bade us, we passed
forward, and arrived on the highest step near the entrance door. He
pointed forward; we bowed and arrived at the foot of an unpainted
and narrow staircase to turn once more to the Sultan. The Consul, I
perceived, was ascending sideways, a mode of progression which I saw was
intended for a compromise with decency and dignity. At the top of the
stairs we waited, with our faces towards the up-coming Prince. Again we
were waved magnanimously forward, for before us was the reception-hall
and throne-room. I noticed, as I marched forward to the furthest end,
that the room was high, and painted in the Arabic style, that the carpet
was thick and of Persian fabric, that the furniture consisted of a dozen
gilt chairs and a chandelier,
We were seated; Ludha Damji, the Banyan collector of customs, a
venerable-looking old man, with a shrewd intelligent face, sat on the
right of the Sultan; next to him was the great Mohammedan merchant Tarya
Topan who had come to be present at the interview, not only because he
was one of the councillors of His Highness, but because he also took a
lively interest in this American Expedition. Opposite to Ludha sat Capt.
Webb, and next to him I was seated, opposite Tarya Topan. The Sultan sat
in a gilt chair between the Americans and the councillors. Johari
the dragoman stood humbly before the Sultan, expectant and ready to
interpret what we had to communicate to the Prince.
The Sultan, so far as dress goes, might be taken for a Mingrelian
gentleman, excepting, indeed, for the turban, whose ample folds in
alternate colours of red, yellow, brown, and white, encircled his head.
His long robe was of dark cloth, cinctured round the waist with his rich
sword-belt, from which was suspended a gold-hilted scimitar, encased in
a scabbard also enriched with gold: His legs and feet were bare, and had
a ponderous look about them, since he suffered from that strange curse
of Zanzibar--elephantiasis. His feet were slipped into a pair of watta
(Arabic for slippers), with thick soles and a strong leathern band over
the instep. His light complexion and his correct features, which are
intelligent and regular, bespeak the Arab patrician. They indicate,
however, nothing except his high descent and blood; no traits of
character are visible unless there is just a trace of amiability, and
perfect contentment with himself and all around.
Such is Prince, or Seyd Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar and Pemba, and the
East coast of Africa, from Somali Land to the Mozambique, as he appeared
to me.
Coffee was served in cups supported by golden finjans, also some
cocoa-nut milk, and rich sweet sherbet.
The conversation began with the question addressed to the Consul.
"Are you well?"
Consul.--"Yes, thank you. How is His Highness?"
Highness.--"Quite well!"
Highness to me.--"Are you well?"
Answer.--"Quite well, thanks!"
The Consul now introduces business; and questions about my travels
follow from His Highness--
"How do you like Persia?"
"Have you seen Kerbela, Bagdad, Masr, Stamboul?"
"Have the Turks many soldiers?"
"How many has Persia?"
"Is Persia fertile?"
"How do you like Zanzibar?"
Having answered each question to his Highness' satisfaction, he handed
me letters of introduction to his officers at Bagamoyo and Kaole, and a
general introductory letter to all Arab merchants whom I might meet on
the road, and concluded his remarks to me, with the expressed hope, that
on whatever mission I was bound, I should be perfectly successful.
We bowed ourselves out of his presence in much the same manner that we
had bowed ourselves in, he accompanying us to the great entrance door.
Mr. Goodhue of Salem, an American merchant long resident in Zanzibar,
presented me, as I gave him my adieu, with a blooded bay horse, imported
from the Cape of Good Hope, and worth, at least at Zanzibar, $500.
Feb. 4.--By the 4th of February, twenty-eight days from the date of my
arrival at Zanzibar, the organization and equipment of the "'New
York Herald' Expedition" was complete; tents and saddles had been
manufactured, boats and sails were ready. The donkeys brayed, and the
horses neighed impatiently for the road.
Etiquette demanded that I should once more present my card to the
European and American Consuls at Zanzibar, and the word "farewell" was
said to everybody.
On the fifth day, four dhows were anchored before the American
Consulate. Into one were lifted the two horses, into two others the
donkeys, into the fourth, the largest, the black escort, and bulky
moneys of the Expedition.
A little before noon we set sail. The American flag, a present to the
Expedition by that kind-hearted lady, Mrs. Webb, was raised to the
mast-head; the Consul, his lady, and exuberant little children, Mary
and Charley, were on the housetop waving the starry banner, hats, and
handkerchiefs, a token of farewell to me and mine. Happy people, and
good! may their course and ours be prosperous, and may God's blessing
rest on us all!