PAXGA-NI TOWN. 



143 



durous wall ' of palms and by its dotting of small 

 dark rocks; by Maziwi Island, a green-capped 

 gem in a bezel of golden sand, bearing S. East, 

 and southwards by the yellow cliffs of Mbweni. 

 Vessels lie snugly in the outer roads, but when 

 making the inner harbour even Hamid, most 

 niggardly of Suris, expended a dollar upon a 

 pilot. At low water in the dry season the bed of 

 this tidal stream is partly exposed, and its pro- 

 duce during the flow is briny as the main : the 

 rains cause it to swell with the hill-freshets, and 

 then it becomes almost potable. The wells pro- 

 duce heavy and brackish drink, but who, ask the 

 people, will take the trouble to fetch sweeter ? 

 The climate is said to be tolerably healthy; 

 throughout the long and severe rainy monsoon, 

 however, the place is rich in dysenteries and in 

 fatal bilious remittents. 



Panga-ni boasts some 19 or 20 stone houses of 

 the usual box style : the rest is a mass of cajan 

 huts, each with its large and mat-encircled patio 

 or courtyard, whose outer lines form the streets, 

 and wherein almost all the business of life is 

 transacted. The settlement is surrounded by 

 a thick thorny jungle, harbouring not a few 

 leopards. One of these felines lately scaled the 

 high terrace of our house, and seized a slave- 



