Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

CRUISE OF THE "CASTOKs' BOATS. 61
sliip's
papers, ascertain tlie number allowed for
tlie crew, number of passengers, &c., and crossquestion
the negroes themselves, detection is
almost impossible.
When, however, the number reaches, as it
often does in such vessels, to a hundred or
more, it is necessary to adopt some other
plan. Twenty or thirty, perhaps, are told off
to represent part of the crew; the half-dozen
Arabs, who are generally on board and concerned
in the matter, dress up some of the
women slaves, each representing one as his
wife, and sometimes he is fortunate enough
to have two; the remainder of the negroes,
or as many as possible, are dressed up in Arab
costumes, turbans, &c., and called passengers,
and they too sometimes have their wives sitting
by them, if the women are too plentiful to
pass off in any other way. All these are usually
arranged round the ship in dumb silence, which
is sufficient alone to create suspicion in the
experienced ; and it is in this way, by taking in
addition to their cargo as many negroes as they
can possibly have a chance of passing through