Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

CRUISE OF THE " CASTOR's " BOATS. 49
tlie ship and struck out most eagerly towards
it, feeling almost certain every moment that
we should become food for the voracious
sharks ; indeed, once or twice I fancied one of
these rascals was touching me with his nose,
taking a preliminary sniff as one does with a
glass of exquisite wine before carrying it to
one's lips, this, however, only made me redouble
my efforts of propulsion towards a boat which
was made fast to the boom of the ship.
Jones,
however, was wiser than I, and had made direct
for the paddle-wheel again, and was safely
arrived there at about the time I had reached
the boat.
I had intended to get on board from
the boom and then to walk along the
deck to
the wheel, but, to my horror, on reaching the
boom I found the deck covered not only with
the crew, but with about a hundred ladies and
gentlemen, who, though all of them as naked
as myself, were black, so it did not signify to
them; but a naked white man would have looked
singular and made a very conspicuous figure
amongst them.
The question was whether to
face them or the sharks again, and of the two
E