CHAPTER I.

Arrival at Zanzibar. Hearty reception by Said Majid, the Sultan.
Murder of Baron van der Decken. The slave-market. Preparations
for starting to the interior. Embarkation in H.M.S. _Penguin_
and dhow. Rovuma Bay impracticable. Disembarks at Mikindany. Joy
at travelling once more. Trouble with sepoys. Camels attacked by
tsetse fly, and by sepoys. Jungle sappers. Meets old enemies.
The Makondé. Lake Nangandi. Gum-copal diggings.


ZANZIBAR, _28th January, 1866._--After a passage of twenty-three days
from Bombay we arrived at this island in the _Thule_, which was one of
Captain Sherard Osborne's late Chinese fleet, and now a present from
the Bombay Government to the Sultan of Zanzibar. I was honoured with
the commission to make the formal presentation, and this was intended
by H.E. the Governor-in-Council to show in how much estimation I was
held, and thereby induce the Sultan to forward my enterprise. The
letter to his Highness was a commendatory epistle in my favour, for
which consideration on the part of Sir Bartle Frere I feel deeply
grateful. It runs as follows:--

TO HIS HIGHNESS SEJUEL MAJID, SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR.

(_Copy._)

"YOUR HIGHNESS,--I trust that this will find you in the
enjoyment of health and happiness.