ZANZIBAR 



Arab houses ; white, with many of their flat roofs 

 covered over with ugly tin, those by the shore be- 

 ing large palatial looking buildings. From the flag- 

 staff* of the Sultan's Palace, and houses of the 

 English and foreign consuls, flags fly, giving a 

 festive appearance. 



Though we anchored some way from the shore 

 many natives swam out to dive for coins (they do 

 not care for copper ones!) thrown by passengers 

 on the ship. They are very quick at diving, and 

 clever at catching them, as the coins drop through 

 the clear water. One boy may be in a small topply 

 canoe, but he is more often hanging on to its side in 

 the water, or else diving underneath it. Later, up 

 the ship's side come numerous Cingalese and 

 Indians with their wares for sale, at passenger 

 prices, i.e. double what a resident would be asked 

 to pay. 



It is the passengers of the liners who make the 

 shops pay, and eventually send their owners to their 

 native land rich and happy. Indian jewellery, 

 shawls and articles of ivory, ebony and rupee silver, 

 to say nothing of the universal post-card, form the 

 chief objects of their trade. 



On landing, one is besieged by dozens of boys, 

 offering in more or less broken English to guide one 

 around ; they are mostly scamps, but clever scamps, 

 and speak a number of Janguages. If you ask them 

 their names, they immediately say some very grand 



213 



