Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

212 DHOW-CHASING.
persuaded him to accompany us for
change of
air, that of Darra Salaam being cool and refreshing,
as compared with the low, marshy,
fever and dysentery producing isle of Zanzibar,
and he returned with us at the end of a week
quite another man ; not, however, without
the proverbial misfortune of " coming to grief,"
consequent upon having a Bishop on board,
being realized, for as we were entering the harbour
at the mouth of the river Kingani we
touched upon an unknown patch of coral, but
fortunately got off again almost immediately.
And as on his coming on board I had, by way
of a joke, mentioned my anticipation of some
evil in consequence, it added to the circumstance
a more ludicrous aspect.
The harbour of Darra Salaam is the entrance
to the river Kingani, in which large ships can
^
make their way for more than a mile up.
It had just become the Sultan's new abode,
he having built himself a palace here ; another
^ The "Daphne," 1081 tons, drawing seventeen feet of
water, was the largest vessel that had ever entered the river
at that time.