Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

240 DHOW-CHASING.
board the ship for protection, and that I refused
to surrender them.
On our return to the port a few weeks
later, a correspondence took place between the
Governor and myself on the subject, in which
I maintained the position I had taken in the
matter.
Two months from the time when these slaves
had escaped from the shore to the ship, we
returned for the second time to Mozambique
by this time, the negroes had become weary
of the life on board, with the uncertainty of
how long they might remain, and we had no
opportunity of landing them at any place where
they would be free, and, moreover, thinking
probably that we intended giving them up to
the Portuo-uese ao;ain, three or four of them
swam to a dhow, with the hope of getting over
to the mainland, or at least to escape somewhere
out of the reach of the Portuguese. On
hearing this, I sent for all
the others, and told
them that they were free to leave the ship if
they liked to do so, when some, with hesitation,
said that they would, being evidently tired of