356 



THE SUMMER PALACE. 



ing is of coral rag, pierced with square windows, 

 and the wings are united by a verandah- terrace, 

 supported by wooden pillars, and facing Meccah, 

 for convenience of prayer. A few feet above 

 the centre is the peaked roof of the Kiosk, 

 which makes the place remarkable to crews 

 entering the harbour. In front floats from sun- 

 rise to sunset the red flag of the Sayyid : the 

 rear is brought up by a small cemetery, sundry 

 offices, and lowly cajan-thatched hovels tenanted 

 by slaves. The work of man is mean enough, 

 but it is surrounded by the noblest handiwork of 

 Nature, cocoas and mangoes, whilst the borders 

 of the little stream could be beautifully laid out. 



Gum Copal, formerly called in the trade 

 Gum Anime, now Gum Elemi, is washed down 

 by the rains, and is picked up by the slaves 

 about the debouchure of this fiumara. On the 

 Mto-ni road also we passed sundry places where 

 pits, never exceeding five feet deep, had been 

 sunk in the sandy plain, thinly clothed with 

 sedgy grass. Upon the higher grounds, also, to 

 judge by the eye, about 100 feet above sea-level, 

 we found many deserted diggings. The soil is a 

 dark vegetable mould, varying in thickness from 

 a foot to 18 inches, and based upon the raised 

 sea-beach of blue clay. This becomes fat and 



