CH A P T E R H.
Seyyid Barghash— His prohibition of slavery, character and
reforms— Treaty with British Government by Sir Bartle
Frere— Tramways the need of Africa-—Arabs in the interior
— Arabs in Zanzibar— Mtuma or Mgwana ? -^:The Wangwa-
na, their vices and virtues— A Mgwana’s highest ambition—
The Wanyamwezi “ the coming race.”
(October, 1874.) •
T h e foot-note at the bottom o f this page will
explain all that need be known b y the general
reader in connection with the geo graph y o f the
island o f Zanzibar.* A n y student who wishes
to make the island a special study will find
books dealing most minutely with the subject
at all great libraries. Without venturing, therefore,
into more details than I have already given
in ‘How I Found Livingstone,’ I shall devote
this chapter to the Sultan o f Zanzibar— Barghash
bin Sa yid— the Arabs, the Wangwana, and the
Wanyamwezi, with whose aid the objects o f the
Anglo-American Expedition were attained.
It is impossible not to feel a kindly interest
in Prince Barghash, and to wish him complete
* “ The fort of Zanzibar is in S. lat. 6° g' 36" and E. long.
390 14' 33". ”—East African Pilot.
■success in the reforms he is now striving to
bring about in his country. Here we see an
Arab prince, educated in the strictest school o f
Islam, and accustomed to regard the black
natives o f Africa as the lawful p rey o f conquest
¡or lust, and fair objects o f barter, suddenly
turning round at the request o f European philanthropists
and becoming one o f the most active
opponents o f the slave-trade— and the spectacle
must necessarily create for him many well-wishers
and friends.
Though Prince Barghash has attributed to
myself the visit o f those ships o f war under
¡Admiral Cumming, all who remember that period,
and are able, therefore, to trace events, will
not fail to perceive that the first decided steps
taken b y the British Government for the suppression
o f the slave-trade on the east coast
o f Africa were due to the influence o f Livingstone’s
constant appeals. Some o f his letters,
they will remember, were carried b y me to
England, and the sensation caused by them was
¡such as to compel the British Government to
send Sir Bartle Frere in the Enchantress^ as a
special envoy to Zanzibar, to conclude a treaty
with Prince Barghash. When the Prince’s reluctance
to sign became known, the fleet under
Admiral Cumming made its appearance before
(Zanzibar, and b y a process o f gentle coercion,
or rather quiet demonstration, the signature o f