ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA 9 



where to take out a patent for a pill "wai ranted to draw out 

 the bad blood." 



There are a number of hotels and restaurants at Zanzibar ; 

 but most of them are simply drinking-saloons. The great 

 drawback to all lies in their very unpleasant domestic arrange- 

 ments for meeting certain imperative laws of nature. 



In one of these hotels, in 1894, I met some strange cus- 

 tomers. A troupe of performers, anxious to give an exhibition 

 of a balloon ascent before the late Sultan, had arrived from 

 India. The Sultan, however, declined to pay the sum they 

 asked. Their leader was a powerful young man, but addicted 

 to drink, and the worse for it every night. As the partitions 

 separating the bedrooms were only thin planks, I became the 

 unwilling listener to nightly conjugal altercations between him 

 and his wife. The partner in this show volunteered to me 

 the information that the lady was already the fourth wife, 

 her three predecessors having come to an untimely and un- 

 fortunate end by dropping from the balloon. The fourth wife 

 was then training to perform her balloon ascent and, let us 

 hope, more successful descent. The troupe left Zanzibar within 

 a few days — destination unknown. 



Enjoying Sir Arthur Hardinge's courteous hospitality at the 

 British Consulate, I had an opportunity of being present at a 

 very grand Arab dinner given by him, in honour of the Queen's 

 birthday, to all the Arab nobility and elite. The Sultan was 

 represented by his brother, the heir-apparent to the throne. 

 Etiquette forbids his Highness from eating in public with his 

 subjects. The famous slave-dealer Tippoo-Tib was also present. 

 Though there were but forty guests, over three hundred dishes 

 loaded the table in Arab fashion with Arab delicacies. Roasts, 

 pastry, rice, sweetmeats, fruit, were lavishly jostling each other 

 for elbow-room. For the Europeans knives and forks were laid ; 

 but the Arabs used Adam's fork, helping themselves indiscrimi- 

 nately to anything within reach. They drank sherbet. Arab 

 etiquette demands that the guest should eat very little ; conse- 

 quently all this profusion went to their attendants who rushed 

 in after the guests had left the table, and then the eatables 

 disappeared in a twinkling. 



A very imposing ceremony was the investiture of his High- 

 ness Sevyid Hamud, Sultan of Zanzibar, with the insignia of 

 the Order of Grand Commander of the Star of India. The 



