The Sultan did
not seem to mind our openly admiring his treasures, and his
attendants, who stood about him in gorgeous-colored silks heavy with
gold embroideries, were evidently pleased with the deep impression
they made upon the visitors. The Sultan was very gentle and
courteous and human, especially in the pleasure he took over his son
and heir, who then was at school in England, and who, on the death
of his father, succeeded him. He seemed very much gratified when we
suggested that there was no better training-place for a boy than an
English public school; as Americans, he thought our opinion must be
unprejudiced. Before he sent us away, he gave Childs, and each of
us, a photograph of himself, one of which is reproduced in this
book.
Our next port was the German settlement of Tanga. We arrived there
just as a blood-red sun was setting behind great and gloomy
mountains. The place itself was bathed in damp hot vapors, and
surrounded even to the water's edge by a steaming jungle. It was
more like what we expected Africa to be than was any other place we
had visited, and the proper touch of local color was supplied by a
trader, who gave as his reason for leaving us so early in the
evening that he needed sleep, as on the night before at his camp
three lions had kept him awake until morning.
[Illustration: Soudanese Soldiers Under a German Officer Outside of
Tanga.]
The bubonic plague prevented our landing at other ports.
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