149 

 The soil was clearly good, and with abundant rain the growth 

 was everywhere luxuriant. I knew there was malaria, dysentery, 

 and hookworm, and other tropical plagues. The houses were not 

 netted in like those of the Portuguese, and the natives were 

 plainly lethargic. The Governor said that this was due not only 

 to climate and disease, but the natural indolence of the natives 

 was much increased by the ever-present cyclones. It was almost 

 impossible to get them to construct decent houses or to carry out 

 long-term planting of palms and trees, when a cyclone could 

 destroy the work of years in a few moments. One result was that 

 whereas fruit in such a clime should be most abundant, the sup- 

 ply was in reality not very good and at times there was little. He 

 indeed spoke prophetically, for only two weeks later a cyclone hit 

 Dzaoudzi and the devastation was terrible. 



On the way up they showed me with pride one of my Coelacanth 

 leaflets (Plate 3), with the write-up in English, Portuguese, and 

 French, and the picture, prominently displayed on the public 

 noticeboard of what looked like the equivalent of a magistrate's 

 office. Hunt proved unexpectedly coy about being photographed 

 in its company. 



We got back to the Residence. This time I saw it properly, 

 a typical French colonial structure, very high for coolness and 

 shade. Apart from the inconvenience of sharing with others, I 

 would not have cared to live in it ; certainly not in the top storey, 

 for anything, for it was all wood and a tinder-box. The furniture 

 was lovely, and there were many antiques and curios. They put 

 us to table, and there were speeches and toasts. A bottle of very 

 precious old brandy of a famous vintage was opened for this 

 occasion, and it was hard to endure their disappointment that I 

 had less than a teaspoonful, while Blaauw's stern eye on his crew 

 reduced them to tasters rather than participants. There was ample 

 wine as well, but no takers on our side. I had coffee. The crew 

 had none of my inner infirmities or restrictions about food, and 

 their inroads on the dainties concealed a good part of my 

 deficiencies, though Madame was concerned at my lack of 

 appetite. Right in front of me was a schoolboy's dream, an 

 enormous cake spread with sticky chocolate icing, the mere sight 

 of which made my liver throb. I had not yet eaten anything that 

 day, but could not risk any upset now, not even for the sake of 



