Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

230 DHOW-CHASING.
never had an Englishman residing anywhere in
the Portuguese possessions in the Mozambique
Channel, nor, indeed, in its vicinity, with the
single exception of one at the island of Johanna,
and he possesses slaves himself, and has refused
to give them up. In fact, there have been no
other Europeans there, but the Portuguese
themselves, on that part of the coast, for while
we can venture with comparative safety on any
part of the mainland belonging to the Sultan of
Zanzibar, without much fear of being attacked,
this cannot be said of any part of the coast
south of it.
But there is another reason why the fact of
the Portuguese sharing in this slave-trade does
not come under observation ; it is carried on by
them in Arab dhows, under the Arab flag, and
thus, when these vessels are captured, the
stigma is cast on the sultan. Moreover, they
have recently adopted the title of "free negroes"
for the slaves, and have established a system of
passports in vessels carrying their own flag, in
consequence of which, detection, or, at any
rate, capture and condemnation, are next to