620 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Burghash was restrained by his extreme religious scruples from asking any 

 aid of England. 



" Before closing this letter, I should like to ask the reader to accompany 

 me as far as the ridges of Elaysu. The path which we choose lies through 

 cultivated tracts and groves of fruit trees that stretch on either side of it, 

 thickening as they recede, and growing intensely deep and umbrageous, even 

 to the depth and intensity of a forest. We note the sad effects of the hurri- 

 cane in the prostrate and fast-rotting trunks of the cocoa-nut palm, and the 

 vast number of trees which lean from the perpendicular, and threaten before 

 long to fall. We observe these things with a good deal of pity for the 

 country, the people, and the poor unfortunate Prince; and we also think what 

 a beautiful and happy place this Isle of Zanzibar might be made under a wise 

 and cultivated ruler. If such a change as now visible in Mauritius, with all 

 its peaks and mountains, and miles of rugged ground, can be effected, what 

 might not be done with Zanzibar, where there are no mountains nor peaks 

 nor rugged ground, but gentle undulations and low ridges eternally clothed 

 in summer green verdure ! At every point, at every spot, you see something 

 improvable, something that might be made very much better than it now is. 

 And so we ride on with such reflections, which are somewhat assisted, no 

 doubt, by the ever-crooked path that darts towards all points of the compass 

 in sudden and abrupt windings. But the land and the trees are always 

 beautiful and always tropical. Palms and orange groves are everywhere, 

 with a large number of plantains, mangoes, and fruit trees ; the sugar cane, 

 the Indian corn, the cassava, are side by side with the holcus sorghum, and 

 there is a profusion of verdure and fruit and grain wherever we turn our eyes. 

 Shortly we arrive at the most picturesque spot on the Island of Zanzibar — 

 Elaysu, or Ulayzu, as some call it, every inch of which, if the island were in 

 the possession of the white man, would be worth a hundred times more than 

 it is now, for its commanding elevation, for the charming views of sea and 

 land and town its summit presents, for its healthiness, and its neighbourhood 

 to town, whence it is five or six miles distant. What cosy, lovable, pretty 

 cottages, might be built on the ridge of Elaysu, amid palms and never-sere 

 foliage, among flowers and carol of birds, deep in shade of orange and mango 

 trees ! How white men and white women would love to dream on verandahs, 

 with open eyes, of their far-away homes, made far pleasanter by distance 

 and memory, while palms waved and rustled to gentle evening breezes, and 

 the sun descended to the west amid clouds of ajl colours I Yes, Elaysu is 

 beautiful, and the receding ridges, with their precipitous ravines fringed 

 with trees and vegetation, are extremely picturesque — nay, some short bits 

 of scenery which we view across the white glaring bars of sunlight are per- 

 fectly idyllic in their modest beauty." 



How painful to turn away from this beautiful scene, which the writer 



