Up to 1876, Tippu Tib had been the acknowledged leader of the slavers, on account of his marvellous success. His career had been romantic. From a poor coast slaver, involved in debt to the usurers and money-lenders of Zanzibar, he had grown wealthy and famous. By the storming and capture of Nsama’s stronghold (May, 1867) he had become possessed of a fortune in ivory and slaves. He had relieved himself as soon as possible of his embarrassing store by sending his brother Mohammed in charge of his plunder to Unyanyembé, and, with five hundred guns, continued a triumphant and unchecked course from the south of Tanganika through the heart of Rua, to Nyangwé. As he marched, he ravaged to the right and left of his route, gathered ivory, and made slaves by hundreds. Not far from a district called Mtotila he learned from a captive that the king had disappeared mysteriously many years before, and that though frequent search had been made for him, nothing was known of his whereabouts. Tippu Tib artfully conceived the plan of representing himself as his son, and accordingly schooled himself in all the local knowledge necessary for the deception he intended to practise. By the time he approached Mtotila, Tippu Tib could rehearse the long line of the king’s ancestry, the names of his living relatives, and the elders of the land, and was familiar with the events, traditions, and customs of Mtotila. He despatched messengers into the country to announce his arrival, and to tell the wondering people the news of his father’s fate, and of his intention to assume his father’s rights. The people accepted the story without difficulty, as it harmonized so well with their own conceptions and expectations. The elders were deputed to go and meet their prince. They brought rich presents of ivory and abundance of food, and offered to escort him with honor to his father’s land, which Tippu Tib courteously accepted. At every stage of his journey he was welcomed and feasted. On reaching the town of Mtotila he received the chiefs and elders in a grand _barzah_, at which he told the story of his father’s disappearance, with a wealth of fictitious details of love and marriage with a king’s daughter, of honors showered upon his father, and of the reluctance to his departure which the natives manifested; of his own birth and life; of his recollections of his father’s conversations with him respecting Mtotila country, his relatives, and local events--until all were thoroughly persuaded that this able and affable stranger was no other than their lost king’s son. He was at once formally accepted and installed as their king, and to ingratiate himself still more, he distributed liberal largesses of showy beads and copper and brass trinkets. Before many days had passed the people of Mtotila understood that ivory was very acceptable to their king, and as the article was abundant, and of little value to them, the entire country was