TIPPOO TIB AND OTHER MATTERS 



to say nothing of my wrists and ankles being double 

 their size from mosquito bites. I began to wonder 

 if I should like Zanzibar ! At last we got a house. 

 We were told it was " unfit for European habita- 

 tion," but we had to have some roof over our 

 heads, and when we suggested taking one of the 

 pretty little bungalows in shambas outside Zanzi- 

 bar we were told we would promptly die, as even 

 Indians cannot live outside the town, only Arabs 

 manage to do so. It took us a good time, and 

 some money, to purify and cleanse our new abode, 

 using whitewash and Jeyes' fluid ; it was also very 

 hot and very stuffy, as we were sheltered from 

 each monsoon. How I grew to hate that house, 

 and what I suffered there ! so did my husband. 



People are very kind and very hospitable in 

 Zanzibar, many entertaining far beyond their means. 

 A lady told me life in Zanzibar was simple enough 

 ten years ago, but now the ladies dress more 

 grandly, and the dinners are no simple affairs ; it is 

 rare to go out to either lunch or dinner without 

 having champagne and other luxuries — every one 

 spends every penny they have. 



Like all small colonial places, the people are 

 extremely punctilious about etiquette, ridiculously 

 so. For instance, nearly all the ladies called on me 

 very quickly and very kindly, but one did not, and 

 she lived but a few doors off; I did not notice it, 

 however, for some time, as I was feeling much too 



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