THE RACES. 



367 



and thrusting away are the rules. At Lamu and 

 the wilder places swords and daggers are often 

 bared on these occasions, and the Shaykhs have no 

 little trouble to preserve the peace. Contrasting 

 with the full- dressed crowd are the naked children, 

 who seem all afflicted with umbilical hernia. This 

 is the result of careless cutting, but the unsightly 

 protuberance will wear away in after life, and a 

 pot-belly is here, as elsewhere in Africa, looked 

 upon as a good sign. The negro faces and bodies 

 are marked with the tattoo in almost everv 



m 



possible fashion ; some wear straight black lines, 

 others curved ; these have perpendicular, those 

 horizontal marks, and not a few wear painted 

 squares with central spots, like the wafers upon 

 the garment of the old country clown. At 

 length the princes make their appearance, and are 

 received with a file-firing of guns and pistols, 

 whilst shouts and drums disturb the air; the races 

 are formally run, and the crowd disperses through 

 the unclean streets of the city. 



There is still some exploration to be done on 

 the west or landward front of Zanzibar Island. 

 Colonel Hamerton, however, strongly advises us 

 not to risk fever, and to reserve every atom of 

 strength and energy for the Continent. 



