Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

198 DHOW-CHASING.
required for stations in India, while some will
be withdrawn at times for repairs, it does not
appear, should the naval stations of East Africa
and India remain combined as at present, that
such service can be satisfactorily performed
without a sufficient number of ships there to
allow of seven being kept constantly employed
upon it, which could not be the case with a
squadron of less than ten ships (including the
flag-ship) ; one half of these might be sixtyhorse-power
gun-boats, which could be easily
beached for repairs at Zanzibar, and the rest
of
a larger class, and to each of them should
be attached a steam launch or pinnace, for without
one or the other, seven vessels would be
quite insufficient for the service.
At certain seasons of the year, namely, when
the monsoon sets in fully on the Arabian and Somauli
coasts (and muchearher from the Red Sea,'
on account of the heat), the ships would have to
leave these parts of the coast, but on withdraw-
^
There is an extensive trade in slaves carried on to the
Egyptian ports in the Eed Sea, through and from Abyssinia.
See Dr. W. Schirapfer's letter in the Appendix.