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In the sequel, when the States of Holland wanted to indemnify such as were unjustly persecuted during the overgrown power of the Stadtholders , they gave Cornelius Grotius a company in the guards; to Peter, a troop of horse; and to Mombas, their brother-in-law, a regiment; with leave to dispose of them, or sell them to the best advantage: which was contrary to custom and law.
Seeing that there was this little excitement on the direct road to Kadiaro and the Kilimandjaro, Captain Burton thought it unadvisable to venture on that line, the more especially so as he judged the Mombas people were not over-well disposed to our travelling into the interior.
The King of Mombas had already received a message from the Sheikh of Mozambique, saying that the Portuguese were Christians and robbers, and came as spies to the countries they visited.
Starting the following morning, we put to sea again, and in three days sailing against a strong southerly current, aggravated by a stiff north-easterly breeze, almost too much for our cranky little vessel, and which frightened the crew and our little timid Sheikh so much that they all lost presence of mind, and with the greatest difficulty were repressed from "'bouting ship," and wrecking themselves, together with us, on the shores of the coast we harboured in the Mombas creek.
Mombas on the north, like Kilua on the south, are the two largest garrison towns belonging to the Sultan on the main shores. They each have a Wali or governor, custom officers, and a Beluch guard; and have certain attractions to the antiquarian in the shape of Portuguese ruins.
Having left Mombas, they steered northward, along the coast as before, until they sighted two zambuks, one of which was captured. She had on board eighty men, and was laden with ivory. The captain had his wife on board, a very pretty woman, richly dressed, with four women to attend on her; he had besides a chest full of jewels and money.
Cornelia, the eldest of Grotius's daughters, who survived her father, married John Barthon, Viscount of Mombas, a Gentleman of Poitou, who was obliged to quit France for having displeased Lewis XIV. He went to Holland, from whence he was also forced to fly, having been involved in the misfortunes wherein the De Wits perished, and which gave Peter Grotius, his brother-in-law, so much uneasiness.
Now, as the Royal Geographical Society had desired us to place ourselves in communication with Mr Rebmann, who was then at his mission-station, Kisuludini, at Rabbai, on a high hill at the back of Mombas, and to try and solicit him to go with us into the interior, where it was thought his experience in the native languages would be useful to the expedition, my companion hired a small beden, or half-decked Arab vessel, by the month, to take us about wherever we pleased; and on the 5th January 1857, having engaged a respectable half-caste Arab Sheikh, named Said, to be our guide and interpreter, we took leave of our host, set sail, and steered northwards, coasting along the shores of this beautiful clove island, until we left it, and shortly afterwards sighted the still more lovely island of Pemba, or "The Emerald Isle" of the Arabs named, doubtless, from the surprising verdure of its trees and plants.
Dr Krapf has already been as far as Kitui, in the country of Ukambani, fourteen marches distant only from Mombas, and there he heard of a snowy mountain called Kenia, lying probably to the northward of and on the same hill-range as Mount Kilimandjaro, which most likely separates the river-systems of the east from those which flow to the westward into the Nile.
Noise and dancing seemed their principal delight, and they indulged in it, blowing horns and firing muskets with a boisterous glee, which showed the strangest contrast to the tame Hindus and other merchant residents of the place. Captain Burton now decided on quitting Mombas; and on the 24th January, after embarking in our little beden, we set sail southwards.
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