CHAPTER II.

BAGAMOYO TO MPWAPWA.

ON July 22nd, all preparations on the island of

Zanzibar being finished, I bid adieu to my various

friends and took my place on board a dhow which

was bound for Bagamoyo and now lay anchored off.

the custom house. The hold of the dhow was nearly

filled with my goods, boxes of clothes, books and

other personal property; bundles of iron rods and

steam piping ; sacks of nails, screws and bolts,

packages of tools, anvils, grindstones, portions of

lathes, cases of ammunition and miscellaneous goods, and last, but not least, a good riding donkey.

The dhow was a clumsy craft of some thirty tons

measurement, with a "

shetri," or small poop, at the

stern, on which a motley group of passengers, Arabs,

Hindus, Banyans, Negroes, half-breeds, and a soli-

tary European (myself) were huddled ; the hold was

covered with a sloping thatched roof, and a small

platform, or deck, in the bows accommodated the two

or three sailors who worked the huge calico sail. The timbers of this singular-looking craft were

sewn together and caulked with a chunani of lime