The useless, tawdry ‘Prince Regent,’ presented by H. B. Majesty’s Government to the late Sayyid, was by him passed over in 1840 to the Governor-General of India. It was sold at Calcutta, and for many years it was, as a transport, the terror of the eastern soldier. The Sayyid could not pray amongst the ‘idols’ of gilding and carving; he saw pollution in every picture, and his Arabs supposed the royal berth to be the Tábút Hazrat Isa—Our Lord’s coffin. Instead of this article he wished to receive the present of a steamer, but political and other objections prevented.[68] Eastern rulers also will not pay high and regular salaries; and without European engineers every trip would have cost a boiler. Repairs were impossible at Zanzibar; and, as actually happened to Mohammed Ali’s expensive machinery in Egypt, the finest work would have been destroyed by mere neglect. A beautiful model of a steam- engine was once sent out from England: it was allowed to rust unopened in the Sayyid’s ‘godowns.’ Still the main want of the Island was rapid communication. Sometimes nine months elapsed before an answer came from Bombay: letters and parcels—including my manuscript—were often lost; and occasionally, after a long cruise, they returned to their starting- point, much damaged by time and hard usage. The Bombay Post-office clerks thinking, I presume, that Zanzibar is in Arabia, shipped their bags to Bushire and Maskat, some thousand miles N. West instead of S. West of Bombay, and viâ Halifax—half round the world—was often the speediest way of communication with London. No wonder that letters were delayed from 7 to 9 months, causing great loss to the trade, and inconvenience to the authorities. Her Majesty’s proclamation was published in India on November 1, 1858; the Prince of Zanzibar was obliged with a copy only in March, 1859. A line of steamers from the Cape and other places was much talked of; it would certainly obviate many difficulties, but the Zanzibar merchants who had a snug monopoly were dead against free-trade and similar appliances of modern civilization. The French Company then running vessels from Mauritius to Aden, proposed to touch at Zanzibar if permitted to engage on their own terms ‘ouvriers libres.’ The liberal offer was declined with thanks. The Royal Treasury is managed with an extreme simplicity. When the Prince wants goods or cash he writes an order upon his collector of customs; the draft is kept as an authority, and the paper is produced at the general balancing of accounts, which takes place every third or fourth year. I found it impossible to obtain certain information concerning the gross amount of customs, and inquiry seemed only to lead further from the truth. The ruler, the officers under him, and the traders all have several interests in keeping the secret.