"The palace was a curious combination of magnificence and tawdriness. The reception room, which is about 250 ft. square, was hung with beautiful draperies embroidered in real gold. In many places the walls were inlaid with precious stones curiously and indiscriminately mingled. Next to a valuable uncut sapphire or a ruby one would find a carbuncle or some valueless stone. Many of the chairs in the finer apartments were of gold inlaid with precious stones, and about many of the rooms were inscriptions from the Koran applied in solid gold." Other conspicuous buildings as seen from the water are the Government House, the Custom House, the Signal Tower, and the Mission Cathedral.
The harbor affords a fine anchorage for shipping, and is well worthy to be the central shipping point of the east coast of Africa. The total imports for 1894 were valued at over $6,000,000 and the exports at about $5,500,000. British India controls the greater share of the import trade, sending over large cargoes of grain, rice, and piece goods from Bombay, the yearly value of the trade being $1,675,000. The German trade amounts to $340,000, and a large amount of cotton goods and kerosene oil is imported from America.
The law of succession to the throne of Zanzibar does not recognize the right of the eldest son or the son of the eldest brother deceased. In the eyes of the Mohammedan Council of State Seyyid Khalid, the late usurper, has no stronger claim to the throne than his cousin, the present Sultan Hamid bin Mohammed bin Seyyid. Khalid is spoken of as "a rash and willful young man of twenty-five," and Hamid as "an elderly gentleman, fifty or sixty years of age, respected for his prudent and peaceable conduct, acceptable to the better class of Mussulman townsfolk, and trusted as a ruler likely to preserve the traditional policy of the realm." Immediately upon the interment of the late Sultan, however, which took place two short hours after his suspicious death, Khalid proclaimed himself ruler. He gathered the palace guards together, placed barricades in the palace square, trained the guns upon the British warships, and awaited developments. They came the next morning in the shape of an ultimatum from Admiral Rawson of the St. George, a first class cruiser of 7,700 tons, which, together with four smaller cruisers and gunboats, lay off the city in the harbor, summoning Khalid to surrender, leave the palace, and make his soldiers pile their arms in front of it. If he failed to do this, the palace would be bombarded within two hours after the dispatch of the ultimatum.
As Khalid's reply was to further strengthen his defense, at the appointed time the bombardment began. Meanwhile the loyal Zanzibar troops, with a detachment of British marines and seamen, attacked the barricades. The palace was knocked to pieces and set on fire by the shells, and Khalid, driven from the shelter, fled to the German consulate for safety.
Hamid was proclaimed Sultan by General Matthews, Mr. Cave, the consul, and Admiral Rawson, and order was at once restored to the city.
At the time of the bombardment it was freely predicted that the annexation of Zanzibar would speedily follow; but it now appears that the government considers that no advantages are to be gained by such a step, the cost of a direct administration being much greater than the native administration, which under the present protectorate is working satisfactorily.
We are indebted for our illustrations to the Illustrated London News and to Black and White.