CHAPTER IV. 



A STROLL THROUGH ZANZIBAR CITY. 



' E dahi se foi a Ilha de Zanzibar, que lie aquem de Mombaca 

 vinte leguas e tao pegada a terra firma que as naos que passa- 

 rem per entre ellas, hao de ser vistas.' — De Baiuios, 1, vii. 4. 



And first of the Port . 



Zanzibar harbour is a fine specimen of the 

 true Atoll, barrier or fringing reef, built upon a 

 subsiding foundation, probably of sandstone. The 

 original lagoon, charged* with sediment and 

 washings from the uplands, must hare burst 

 during some greater flood, and split into narrow- 

 water-ways the one continuous coralline rim. 

 The same influences may account for the gaps 

 in the straight-lined reef whose breach gave a 

 name to Brazilian Pernambuco. 



The port varies in depth from 9 to 18 

 fathoms, with overfalls, and the rise of the tide 

 is 13 feet. Here the llormos Episalos (statio 

 fluctuosa, or open roadstead of the Periplus, 



