THE HOUSE. 



85 



dwellings. Here the 6 Bar ' is a dirty yard, 

 paved or unpaved, usually encumbered with piles 

 of wood or hides, stored for sale, and tenanted by 

 poultry, dogs, donkeys, and lounging slaves. A 

 steep and narrow, dark and dangerous staircase 

 of rough stone, like a companion-ladder, con- 

 nects it with the first floor, the 6 noble-quarter.' 

 There are galleries for the several storeys, and 

 doors opening upon the court admit light into 

 the rooms. Zanzibarian architecture, as among 

 e Orientals ' generally, is at a low ebb. The 

 masonry shows not a single straight line ; the 

 arches are never similar in form or size ; the 

 floors may have a foot of depression between the 

 middle and the corners of the room ; w hilst no 

 two apartments are on the same level, and they 

 seldom open into each other. Joiner's work and 

 iron-work must both be brought from India. 



The 'azoteas' 1 flat roofs, or rather terraces, 

 are supported by mangrove-trunks, locally called 

 6 Zanzibar rafters,' and the walls, of massive 

 thickness, are copiously 6 chunam'd.' Here the 

 inmates delight to spread their mats, and at 

 suitable seasons to ' smell the air.' Banda or ban- 

 dani, pent-roofed huts of plaited palm-leaf (ma- 



1 The Iberian name (in Arabic El Sat'h) of the flat 



roof-terrace, borrowed from the dry lands of Western Asia. 



