Dr. Seward arranged to have an audience with the Sultan, to carry out his instructions, which were to present me in a formal manner; Captain Bradshaw of the _Wasp_, with Captain Leatham of the _Vigilant_, and Bishop Tozer, were to accompany us in full dress, but the Sultan had a toothache and gumboil, and could not receive us; he, however, placed one of his houses at my disposal, and appointed a man who speaks English to furnish board for my men and me, and also for Captain Brebner, of the _Thule_, and his men. [Illustration: Livingstone's House, Zanzibar.] _6th February, 1866._--The Sultan being still unable to come, partly on account of toothache and partly on account of Ramadan, he sent his commodore, Captain Abdullah, to receive the _Thule_. When the English flag was hauled down in the _Thule_, it went up to the mainmast of the _Iskander Shah_, and was saluted by twenty-one guns; then the _Wasp_ saluted the Arab flag with an equal number, which honour being duly acknowledged by a second royal salute from the _Iskander Shah_, Captain Abdullah's frigate, the ceremony ended. Next day, the 7th, we were received by the Sultan, and through his interpreter, I told him that his friend, the Governor of Bombay, had lately visited the South Mahratta Princes, and had pressed on them the necessity of education; the world was moving on, and those who neglected to acquire knowledge would soon find that power slipped through their fingers, and that the Bombay Government, in presenting his Highness with a portion of steam power, showed its desire to impart one of the greatest improvements of modern times, not desiring to monopolize power, but hoping to lift up others with themselves, and I wished him to live a hundred years and enjoy all happiness. The idea was borrowed partly from Sir Bartle Frere's addresses, because I thought it would have more weight if he heard a little from that source than if it emanated from myself. He was very anxious that Captain Brebner and his men, in returning to India, should take a passage from him in the _Nadir Shah_, one of his men-of-war, and though he had already placed his things aboard the _Vigilant_, to proceed to Seychelles, and thence to Bombay, we persuaded Captain Brebner to accept his Highness's hospitality. He had evidently set his heart on sending them back with suitable honours, and an hour after consent was given to go by the _Nadir Shah_, he signed an order for the money to fit her out.