complete their cargoes.

The Arabs are said to treat their slaves kindly, and this also may be
said of native masters; the reason is, master and slave partake of the
general indolence, but the lot of the slave does not improve with the
general progress in civilization. While no great disparity of rank
exists, his energies are little tasked, but when society advances,
wants multiply; and to supply these the slave's lot grows harder. The
distance between master and man increases as the lust of gain is
developed, hence we can hope for no improvement in the slave's
condition, unless the master returns to or remains in barbarism.

_6th March, 1866._--Rains have begun now that the sun is overhead. We
expect the _Penguin_ daily to come from Johanna, and take us to the
Rovuma. It is an unwholesome place; six of my men have fever; few
retain health long, and considering the lowness of the island, and the
absence of sanitary regulations in the town, it is not to be wondered
at. The Sultan has little power, being only the successor to the
captain of the horde of Arabs who came down and overran the island and
maritime coasts of the adjacent continent. He is called only Said or
Syed, never Sultan; and they can boast of choosing a new one if he
does not suit them. Some coins were found in digging here which have
Cufic inscriptions, and are about 900 years old. The island is low;
the highest parts may not be more than 150 feet above the sea; it is
of a coral formation, with sandstone conglomerate. Most of the plants
are African, but clove-trees, mangoes, and cocoa-nut groves give a
luxuriant South Sea Island look to the whole scenery.

We visited an old man to-day, the richest in Zanzibar, who is to give
me letters to his friends at Tanganyika, and I am trying to get a