s not
maltreated by the last expedition, that the matter would now be
forgotten. The two men were very great friends of the little Sheikh,
and as a present was expected, which I should have to pay, we all talked
cheerfully and confidentially, bringing in the fate of Maizan for no
other reason than to satisfy curiosity. Hembe, who lives in the centre
of an almost impenetrable thicket, confessed that he was the murderer,
but said the fault did not rest with him, as he merely carried out the
instructions of his father, Mzungera, who, a Diwan on the coast, sent
him a letter directing his actions. Thus it is proved that the plot
against Maizan was concocted on the coast by the Arab merchants--most
likely from the same motive which has induced one rival merchant to
kill another as the best means of checking rivalry or competition.
When Arabs--and they are the only class of people who would do such
a deed--found a European going into the very middle of their secret
trading-places, where such large profits were to be obtained, they would
never suppose that the scientific Maizan went for any other purpose than
to pry into their ivory stores, bring others into the field after him,
and destroy their monopoly. The Sultan of Zanzibar, in those days, was
our old ally Said Said, commonly called the Emam of Muscat; and our
Consul, Colonel Hamerton, had been M. Maizan's host as long as he lived
upon the coast. Both the Emam and Consul were desirous of seeing the
country surveyed, and did everything in their power to assist Maizan,
the former even appointing the Indian Musa to conduct him safely as
far as Unyamuezi; but their power was not found sufficient to damp the
raging fire of jealousy in the ivory-trader's heart. Musa commenced the
journey with Maizan, and they travelled together a march or two,
when one of Maizan's domestic establishment fell sick and stopped his
progress. Musa remained with him eight or ten days, to his own loss in
trade and expense in keeping up a large establishment, and then they
parted by mutual consent, Maizan thinking himself quite strong enough
to take care of himself. This separation was, I believe, poor Maizan's
death-blow. His power, on the Emam's side, went with Musa's going, and
left the Arabs free to carry out their wicked wills.

The presents I had to give here were one sahari and eight yards merikani
to Hembe, and the same to Darunga, for which they gave a return in
grain. Still following close to