How I Found Livingstone | Page 3

for Bagamoyo. As there was no opportunity of getting, to Zanzibar
direct, I took ship to Seychelles. Three or four days after arriving at
Mahe, one of the Seychelles group, I was fortunate enough to get a
passage for myself, William Lawrence Farquhar, and an Arab boy from
Jerusalem, who was to act as interpreter-- on board an American
whaling vessel, bound for Zanzibar; at which port we arrived on the 6th
of January, 1871.
I have skimmed over my travels thus far, because these do not concern
the reader. They led over many lands, but this book is only a narrative
of my search after Livingstone, the great African traveller. It is an
Icarian flight of journalism, I confess; some even have called it

Quixotic; but this is a word I can now refute, as will be seen before the
reader arrives at the "Finis."
I have used the word "soldiers" in this book. The armed escort a
traveller engages to accompany him into East Africa is composed of
free black men, natives of Zanzibar, or freed slaves from the interior,
who call themselves "askari," an Indian name which, translated, means
"soldiers." They are armed and equipped like soldiers, though they
engage themselves also as servants; but it would be more pretentious in
me to call them servants, than to use the word "soldiers;" and as I have
been more in the habit of calling them soldiers than "my
watuma"--servants--this habit has proved too much to be overcome. I
have therefore allowed the word "soldiers " to appear, accompanied,
however, with this apology.
But it must be remembered that I am writing a narrative of my own
adventures and travels, and that until I meet Livingstone, I presume the
greatest interest is attached to myself, my marches, my troubles, my
thoughts, and my impressions. Yet though I may sometimes write, "my
expedition," or "my caravan," it by no means follows that I arrogate to
myself this right. For it must be distinctly understood that it is the
"`New York Herald' Expedition," and that I am only charged with its
command by Mr. James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the `New
York Herald,' as a salaried employ of that gentleman.
One thing more; I have adopted the narrative form of relating the story
of the search, on account of the greater interest it appears to possess
over the diary form, and I think that in this manner I avoid the great
fault of repetition for which some travellers have been severely
criticised.

CHAPTER II
. ZANZIBAR.
On the morning of the 6th January, 1871, we were sailing through the
channel that separates the fruitful island of Zanzibar from Africa. The
high lands of the continent loomed like a lengthening shadow in the
grey of dawn. The island lay on our left, distant but a mile, coming out
of its shroud of foggy folds bit by bit as the day advanced, until it
finally rose clearly into view, as fair in appearance as the fairest of the

gems of creation. It appeared low, but not flat; there were gentle
elevations cropping hither and yon above the languid but graceful tops
of the cocoa-trees that lined the margin of the island, and there were
depressions visible at agreeable intervals, to indicate where a cool
gloom might be found by those who sought relief from a hot sun. With
the exception of the thin line of sand, over which the sap-green water
rolled itself with a constant murmur and moan, the island seemed
buried under one deep stratum of verdure.
The noble bosom of the strait bore several dhows speeding in and out
of the bay of Zanzibar with bellying sails. Towards the south, above the
sea line of the horizon, there appeared the naked masts of several large
ships, and to the east of these a dense mass of white, flat-topped houses.
This was Zanzibar, the capital of the island;--which soon resolved itself
into a pretty large and compact city, with all the characteristics of Arab
architecture. Above some of the largest houses lining the bay front of
the city streamed the blood-red banner of the Sultan, Seyd Burghash,
and the flags of the American, English, North German Confederation,
and French Consulates. In the harbor were thirteen large ships, four
Zanzibar men-of-war, one English man-of-war--the `Nymphe,' two
American, one French, one Portuguese, two English, and two German
merchantmen, besides numerous dhows hailing from Johanna and
Mayotte of the Comoro Islands, dhows from Muscat and Cutch--traders
between India, the Persian Gulf, and Zanzibar.
It was with the spirit of true hospitality and courtesy that Capt. Francis
R. Webb, United States Consul, (formerly of the United States Navy),
received me. Had this gentleman not rendered me such needful service,
I must have condescended to take