SOME EAST AFRICAN PETS 



" You must take care not to touch him when he 

 have his meal, sir, for he soon turn his temper 

 round." The speaker was Moya, a Zanzibari ; 

 the person spoken to was the present writer, and 

 the creature spoken of was a somewhat mangy 

 specimen of the banded mongoose, which I had 

 just purchased at Moya's recommendation, and 

 which formed my first introduction to African 

 pets. That is to say, as far as keeping them 

 myself went ; for I had not been long in Zanzibar 

 before seeing many evidences of a love for tame 

 animals among the population. Grey parrots 

 were everywhere, perched on pegs or confined 

 in cages deftly fashioned, apparently out of old 

 kerosene tins, by Indian tinsmiths, and outside 

 many a Swahili hut hung a wooden cage contain- 

 ing a species of turtle-dove ( Turtur damarensis), 

 which looked like a grey variety of the familiar 

 domestic bird at home. The chiriko, or native 

 canary, was also in favour, and now and then one 

 came across a monkey ; while the streets were 

 enlivened by picturesque-looking goats, bright- 

 coloured hairy sheep, raw-boned Malay fowls, 



and ruffling, swaggering Muscovy ducks ; all 



241 Q 



