CHAPTER XVIII 



ZANZIBAR 



First views — boy divers — intelligent guides — houses — drives — 

 Indian bazaar — native quarters — Indian shops — Goanese 

 stores — vegetables and fruit. 



Watching eagerly for the first glimpse of Zanzibar 

 proper, we glided in the big liner along the smooth 

 clear waters, seeing every now and then ruins of 

 picturesque Arab houses, peeping from among the 

 overgrown vegetation. Zanzibar Island from the 

 sea is very pretty, with its rich vegetation and 

 little bays of gloriously coloured water, sometimes a 

 vivid green, other times a dark azure, eating into 

 the land. Tall cocoanut trees stand up high, with 

 their fringe of leaves silhouetted against the sky ; 

 then huge mango trees, dark and dense, throwing 

 underneath a gloomy shade. Beside one with 

 very dark and old foliage may stand another tree 

 of the same sort in all its freshness of light green, 

 leaning against its companion. These trees grow 

 to a huge size ; dense undergrowth and creepers fill 

 up the intervening spaces. 



A first view of the town is one of densely packed 



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