THE HUT. 



97 



rope twisted round a frame of the rudest carpen- 

 ter's work. The better abodes are enlarged boxes 

 of stone, mostly surrounded by deep, projecting 

 eaves, forming a kind of verandah on poles, and 

 shading benches of masonry or tamped earth, 

 where articles are exposed for sale. The win- 

 dows are loop-holes, and the doors are miracles 

 of rudeness. Lastly, there are the wretched 

 shops, which supply the few wants of the popula- 

 tion. 



"We are now at the mouth of the Lagoon, 

 which, at high tides, almost encircles the city. 

 I am told that of late years the natives have 

 built all round this backwater. In 1857 the 

 Eastern or landward side was bush and plant- 

 ation. As the waters retired thev left behind 

 them a rich legacy of fevers and terrible dis- 

 eases ; especially in the inner town, a dead flat, 

 excluded from the sea breeze, and exposed to the 

 pestiferous breath of the maremma. 



Ships anchoring off this inlet soon stock 

 French Islet. The whalers and American and 

 Hamburg vessels, that prefer Changani Point 

 and the west end of the city, often escape with- 

 out a single case of sickness. Similarly at Ha- 

 vannah, crews exposed to breezes from the Man- 

 grove swamps have lost half their numbers by 



VOL. I. 7 



