104 



THE PEOPLE. 



with nasal monotonous voices sentences to be 

 afterwards understood by instinct, others scrap- 

 ing the primitive writing-board with a pointed 

 stick. 



We will now return to the centre of attrac- 

 tion, the Salt Bazar, and prospect the people. 

 The staple material is a double line of black 

 youth and negresses sitting on the ground, with 

 legs outstretched like compasses. At each apex 

 of the angle is a little heap of fruit, salt, sugar, 

 sun-dried manioc, greasy fritters, redolent fish, 

 or square ' fids ' of shark-flesh, 1 the favourite 

 ' kitchen ■ with Wasawahili and slaves ; it brings 

 from Maskat and the Benadir a gout so high 

 that it takes away the breath. These vendors 

 vary the tedium of inaction by mat-making, plait- 

 ing leaves, 'palavers,' and ' pow-wows,' which 

 argue an admirable conformation of the articu- 

 lating organs and a mighty lax morality. Sellers, 

 indeed, seem here to double the number of 

 buyers, and yet somehow buying and selling 

 goes on. 



Motley is the name of the crowd. One officer 

 in the service of His Highness stalks down the 



1 The Arabs here call the shark ' jarjur,' the Wasawahili 

 p'hapa. I do not know why Captain Gruillain (ii. 391) says, 

 ' le requin, norame par les Arabs lebah — ' Lebah is the Somali 

 name for a Hod. 



