8 



FORT CHAK-CHAK. 



the tall tower of Fort Chak-cliak, standing 

 boldly out from its dark green background, and 

 apparently commanded by higher land, nowhere, 

 however, exceeding 150 feet, while the spars of 

 an Arab craft peered above the curtained trees. 

 With the distinctest remembrance of Indian 

 rivers, my companion and I could not but 

 wonder at the scene before us. 



Early on the next morning we manned the 

 Louisa, and rowed slowly through a gate, formed 

 on the right by Ra'as Kululu, and on the 

 left by a high plantation Ea'as Banhani. It 

 led to a broad, deep basin, where two or three 

 Sayas, small Arab vessels, not wishing to approach 

 the town, lay at anchor. After a couple of hours, 

 during which progress was of the mildest, we 

 entered a narrow creek, bordered by a luxuriant 

 growth of mangroves. The black and foetid sea- 

 ooze, softer than mud, which supports these 

 forests of the sea, contrasts strangely with the 

 gay green of their folinge, and the place was 

 haunted l)y terns, grey kingfishers, and liawks 

 of black and white rol)e, big as the ' Ak-baba,' 

 and said to be game birds. Here and there a 

 tall man paddled a tiny canoe, and an old slave 

 woman went to catch fish with a body-cloth, 

 used as a net : she sugi^ested the venerable com- 



