ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA 7 



bound ships to have their innings before the passengers reach 

 Port Said. 



From Suez to Djibouti takes six days. The steamer gene- 

 rally anchors very far from shore, consequently the long journey 

 in an open boat under the broiling sun is too uninviting to tempt 

 many passengers to land, and there is very little to see if one 

 does go. On my last journey most of us remained on board, 

 and we had some mild excitement in watching a monster ray 

 disporting itself round the ship, till two of the sailors went off 

 in a boat and successfully harpooned it. It had a filiform tail 

 several feet long, and two remarkable blue flappers a foot long 

 near its monster jaws. It is on occasions like these that one 

 would like to have a few spare pounds to secure such a curiosity 

 for a museum. I have not seen anything like it in any museum ; 

 and, for all I know to the contrary, it may have been an un- 

 known species. It was soon chopped up, the greater part of 

 its body being thrown overboard as " waste." The flesh was 

 considered too coarse for the passengers' table, and was handed 

 over to the sailors. 



At Djibouti the traveller hears the same familiar cry of 

 " Ever dive ! — Ho ! ho ! — Ever dive ! — Ho ! ho ! " as at Aden. A 

 number of natives come in their tiny dug-outs to the steamer's 

 side, jump into the water, and with hoarse cries invite the idle 

 spectator to chuck them a coin to dive for in the clear trans- 

 lucent water. 



From Djibouti to Zanzibar takes six days. Flying-hsh 

 occasionally drop on to the deck. It is a pretty sight when a 

 shoal of flying-fish skims the surface of the water, clipping 

 through the crests of the waves with the sunbeams glinting 

 from their silvery sides. Sometimes, but not often, one sees 

 the outlines, as if sculptured, of the " sleeping lion " presented 

 by the rock-bound coast of Cape Guardafui. 



Seen from the ocean, as the steamer nears the island, 

 Zanzibar presents a dense growth of cocoa - nut palms 

 and green verdure ; but the town itself is a mass of 

 buildings huddled together anyhow. The narrow tortuous 

 streets, the crowded native bazaar, the Sultan's palace, the 

 British Consulate, have already been described by different 

 travellers. 



Part of the wealth of Zanzibar is derived from its clove 

 plantations, and it would be a mistake not to vi^it one of them 



