332 



BANYANS. 



interference of the local Government. These 

 Banyans will buy up the entire cargoes of 

 American and Hamburg ships : the ivory from 

 the interior is consigned to them, and they pur- 

 chase the copal from the native diggers. They 

 rise at dawn to perform the semi-religious rite 

 ' Snan ' (bathing), apply to business during the 

 cool of the day, and dine at noon. Avoiding 

 Jowari, the Arabs' staff of life, they eat boiled 

 rice, vegetables, and ghee, or wheaten bread and 

 Mung, or other pulse, flavoured with assafcetida, 

 turmeric, and t warm spices.' They chew to- 

 bacco, though forbidden by caste rule to smoke 

 it, and every meal concludes with betel-nut and 

 pepper-leaf, whose heating qualities alone enable 

 them, they say, to exist at Zanzibar. They work 

 all day, rarely enjoying the siesta unless rich 

 enough to afford such luxury : they bathe in 

 the evening, sup at 9 p.m., chew betel once 

 more, and retire to rest. 



As the Island contains no local Dewta, the 

 Bhattias are careful to keep a Vishnu in the 

 house, and to travel about, if possible, with a 

 cow : in places like Pangani, where the horned 

 god cannot live, they supply its place by a 

 Hanuman (a small monkey, like the Presbyter 

 Entellus of India) trapped in the jungle. 



