82 



THE WEST END. 



The city is divided into 18 quarters (Mah- 

 allat), each having its own name; and when 

 travellers inform us that it is called ' Hamnz,' 

 Moafilah, or Baur, they simply take a part for 

 the whole. 1 The west-end boasts the best houses, 

 chiefly those which wealthy natives let to 

 stranger merchants. The Central, or Port quar- 

 ter, is the seat of government and of commerce, 

 whilst few foreigners inhabit the eastern extrem- 

 ities, the hottest and the most unhealthy. The 

 streets are, as they should be under such a sky, 

 deep and winding alleys, hardly 20 feet broad, 

 and travellers compare them with the threads of 

 a tangle tl skein. In the west-end a pavement of 

 Chunam, or tamped lime, is provided with a 

 gutter, which secures dryness and cleanliness — 



1 The quarters, beginning from Cbangani, the most western, 

 are, the Baghani, which contains the English Consulate ; the 

 Mnazi-Moya to the south, with a grave-yard, and a bazar 

 where milk and grain are sold ; the Fuga adjoining it, the Zamba- 

 rani,the Kajifichemi, the Kunazemi, and the Nambo to the south- 

 east ; the Grurayzani, containing the fort ; and the Furdani with 

 the Custom House ; the Kipondah, where the French Consulate 

 is ; the Ziwani (Mitha-pani of the Hindus) further to the south ; 

 the Suk Muhogo, where manure and fish are sold ; the Me- 

 lindi, or Melindini, occupied by Hindus, and boasting a bazar; 

 and lastly the Mnawi, the Kokoni, and the Fungu extend to the 

 easternmost quarter, the Malagash, where the Lagoon, an inlet 

 of the sea, bounds the city. I did not hear any of the three 

 names mentioned in the text ; they are probably now obsolete. 



