Dr. Desrioux and the Count de Pommerelle were neither geographers, nor even explorers, strictly speaking. The former had but one idea—to reach Madame de Guéran as soon as possible. He neither saw nor thought of anything but her, and until he found her, he could pay no attention to countries, people or things. He was a traveller for love; he needed no compass; his instinct and the cherished desire of his heart guided him to his single point of attraction.
As for M. de Pommerelle, the drawing-room traveller, the ardent, but latent, explorer, as soon as he commenced to soar, as soon as his yearning, so long restrained, burst forth, he was carried away by his new life. He was like a prisoner just released, or a school-boy in the holidays, a reformed coward, to use his own expression, who had at last made up his mind to fight. Forward! was his continual cry, and he never wanted to stop. He filled his lungs with the novel air which surrounded him; he scanned with all his eyes, and admired with all his heart, the scenes which unfolded themselves before him.
Travellers like MM. Desrioux and de Pommerelle are of no possible use to learned societies. They took no notes, and we have no means of getting at their ideas, or of giving, from their standpoint, even a bird's-eye view of the strange countries through which they passed. But earnest travellers, both before and after them, have followed the same route, and have, fortunately, left behind them records easy of access. To the works of Burton, Speke and Grant, Livingstone and Stanley we must refer our readers for the information withheld by MM. Desrioux and Pommerelle. A persual of these works will give the reader an idea of the interest attaching to this portion of the African continent. We are now going briefly to describe the journey of this pair, and to fill up the gap left by them, as we have already said, from information derived from more reliable sources.
Bent upon joining the de Guéran expedition as soon as possible, and determined to spare neither strength nor money to attain that end, MM. Desrioux and Pommerelle, owing to the assistance rendered them by the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the European Consuls, were enabled in a few days to get together a caravan of considerable size. It consisted of pagazis, or bearers, freed slaves, in number about two hundred, under the leadership of a native guide (kirangozi), and an escort of sixty Belucks, enlisted voluntarily, and of the Bashi-Bazouk, or dare-devil class, commanded by a jemadar (lieutenant), and armed with first-rate rifles, bought by M. de Pommerelle in Paris just before leaving.
These preparations completed, our two friends sailed across to
Bagamoyo, on the mainland, whence they started on the 15th of May.
CHAPTER XXII.
In former days, the name Zanzibar, or Black Country, was applied indiscriminately to the coast, the island, and its capital; now the term is used on the spot for the capital only. The island is called Kisikuja, and the coast rejoices in a variety of appellations, the most common being Zanguebar, M'rima, and Sohouahil.
The population on the coast, composed of a mixture between the Mussulman, the negro and the Arab, is nominally subject to the Sultan of Zanzibar, but is really independent. The men, as a rule, are yellowish brown; they wear round their loins a cloth reaching half-way down the thigh, and, when they appear in public, are invariably armed with a sword, a lance, or, at all events, a stick. To possess an umbrella is the height of their ambition, and, under the shade of this highly prized luxury, they may be seen rolling barrels on the shore.
The women wear a kind of frock, covering them from the shoulder to the ancles, necklaces of sharks teeth, and ornaments of the leaves of the cocoa-nut, wooden discs, or betel nuts in their ears, the lobes of which are abnormally large. The left nostril is pierced by a silver or copper pin, and the hair, covered with sesame oil, is coiled up on each side of the head, like a bear's ears, or in some cases, appears in the guise of "heart-breakers," small and very round twists.
Savage customs are still in vogue amongst this community, more Arab than negro. For example, an uncle has an indisputable right to sell his nephews and nieces; and, if a European ventures to express his astonishment at such a custom, he is met at once with the remark—