422 LIFE OF DA YID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



known in Zanzibar are grown here. Cotton was considered by an Indian 

 resident to be as fine as that grown in Kutch, but he said they had no 

 use for it, merely burning it as wick. . . . The surrounding country 

 is devoid of game, but within a long day's march a forest was visited, where 

 various antelopes, giraffes, lions, and a few elephants, might be met with along 

 the valley of the Wallah river. The scales of an armadillo were seen worn 

 as a charm, three inches across and striated or lined at one end. One man 

 had a superstition that the person who found a live armadillo would become a 

 king — meaning, I imagine, that it was so rare. However, we came upon a 

 pet one, at 3 ° N. latitude. About the cultivations, near the village, no 

 singing-birds are ever heard; but the plumage of those seen is often very 

 brilliant. Flocks of beautiful little birds, with black bodies, golden-tinted 

 scarlet heads and backs, pecked at the ears of corn; or in the rice-fields, 

 the favourite of the Cape farmers, the " locust bird," black, and looking 

 like a curlew when walking, went tamely about. Crows, with a ring of 

 white round the neck, were seen in two's and three's. The matting in the 

 house was full of bugs, or ticks, which pestered one while seated at night, 

 causing considerable irritation 



" Let me give the reader some idea of our life here. Moosah, an 



Indian, in whose house we resided, was a fine benevolent old man, with an 



establishment of three hundred natives, men and women, round him. His 



abode had, three years ago, taken two months to build, and it was surrounded 



by a circular wall, which enclosed his houses, fruit and vegetable gardens, 



and his stock of cattle. The lady who presided over the whole, was of most 



portly dimensions, and her word was law. Moosah sat from morn till night 



with his ' Foondee,' or chief manager, and other head servants, within sight, 



receiving salutes and compliments from the rich and poor at the front, or 



gentlemen's side of the house, while the lady presided over the domestic 



arrangements of the interior. We had full access to both ; and no house 



could be conducted with greater regularity. At three o'clock in the morning, 



Moosah, who had led a hard life in his day, would call out for his little pill 



of opium, which he never missed for forty years. This would brighten him 



up till noon. He would then transact business, chat, and give you the gossip 



at any hour you might sit by him on his carpet. To us it seemed strange, 



that he never stopped talking when prayers from the Koran were being read 



to him by a ' Birkeen,' or Madagascar man. Perhaps he had little respect 



for the officiating priest, as the same reverend and learned gentleman was 



accustomed to make his shirts. After a mid-day sleep, he would refresh 



himself with a second and larger pill, transact business, and so end the day. 



The harem department presented a more domestic scene. At dawn, women 



in robes of coloured chintz, their hair neatly plaited, gave fresh milk to the 



swarm of black cats, or churned butter in gourds, by rocking it to and fro in 



