“ He also directed the efforts, this time successful, to obtain for Britain a portion of the mainland—Bargash in May 1887 granting to Mackinnon a lease of territory which led to the foundation of British East Africa. ”

“ The reputation he gained during this expedition led to his appointment in January 1866 as acting surgeon to the political agency at Zanzibar. In 1868 he became assistant political agent, being raised to the rank of consul-general in 1873 and agent in 1880. He retired from that post in 1887. The twenty-one years spent by Kirk in Zanzibar covered the most critical period of the history of European intervention in East Africa ”