DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 611 



the thought that the ' fever may not be so bad as people say it is.' Proceed- 

 ing southward through the channel that separates Zanzibar from the continent, 

 and hugging the shore of the island, you will many times be gratified by 

 most pleasant tropical scenes, and by a strange fragrance which is borne from 

 the leaf-clad island — a fragrance which may remind you of ' Ceylon's spicy 

 isle.' With a good glass you will be able to make out first the cocoa palm and 

 the deep dark green orb of foliage which the mango raises above when the tree 

 is in its prime, the graceful bombax, and the tall taramind, while numbers of 

 gigantic trees of some kind loom over masses of umbrageous shrubbery. Bits 

 of cultivated land, clusters of huts, solitary temies, gardens, and large square 

 white houses, succeed each other quickly, until your attention is attracted by 

 the sight of shipping in the distance ; and near by, growing larger and larger 

 every moment, is the city of Zanzibar, the greatest commercial mart on the 

 East Coast of Africa. Arrived in the harbour, you will find the vessel anchors 

 about four hundred yards from the town, close to a few more European ships, 

 and perhaps a British man-of-war or two ; while a number of queer-looking 

 craft, which you will style c native,' lie huddled between your own vessel 

 and the shore. These native boats are of various tonnage and size, from the 

 unwieldy Arab trading dhow, with two masts leaning inelegantly and un- 

 trimly towards the bows, while the towering after-part reminds you of the 

 pictures of ships in the Spanish Armada, to the lengthy, low, and swift-look- 

 ing mpete, which when seen going before the wind, seems to be skimming the 

 sea like a huge white seagull. 



" Beyond the native fleet of trading Muscat dhows, Kilwa slavers, 

 Pangani wood-carriers, and those vessels which carry passengers to the main- 

 land, the town of Zanzibar rises from the beach in a nearly crescent form, white, 

 glaring and unsymmetrical. The narrow, tall, white-washed house of the 

 reigning Prince, Burghash bin Said, towers almost in the centre of the first line 

 of buildings ; close to it on the right, as you stand looking at the town from 

 shipboard, is the saluting battery, which numbers some thirty guns or there- 

 abouts ; and behind rises a mere shell of a dingy old Portuguese fort, which 

 might almost be knocked into pieces by a few rounds from Snider muskets. 

 Hard by the water battery is the German Consul's house, as neat as clean 

 white-wash can make an Arab building, and next to this edifice rises the 

 double residence and offices of her Britannic Majesty's Assistant Political 

 Resident, surmounted by the most ambitious of flagstaff's. Next comes an 

 English merchant's house, and then the buildings occupied by Mr. Augustus 

 Sparhawk, the agent of the great house of John Bertram and Co., of Salem, 

 Massachusetts ; while between the English merchant's house and the Bertram 

 agency, in neighbourly proximity, is seen the snow-white house of Mr. 

 Frederick M. Cheney, agent of Arnold, Hines, & Co., of New York; and 

 beyond all, at the extreme right, on the far end of the crescent, at Shangani 



