356 



KILWA ISLAND. 



craft that lay about a mile and a half from 

 the land. The bay is here planted with four 

 or five extensive Wigo, or fish wiers, stockades 

 submerged at high tide, and detaining the fish 

 when the waters ebb. The people of Kilwa 

 are ichthyophagists, and the slaves usually bring 

 the supply at 3 p. m. in their little Xgarawas ; 

 now, however, the fishermen are dead, and the 

 citizens avoid eating what is supposed to prey 

 upon Mizoga, or carrion. 



We hugged the shore to get dead water : 

 here, according to the pilots, during the N. East 

 monsoon there is a current setting to the east, 

 and this trend, during the S. West monsoon, 

 is deflected to the N. West. After expending 

 six hours upon the 12.25 miles south of mainland 

 Kilwa, we reached the Island, and landed on the 

 N. Western side to inspect the Port. An inscrip- 

 tion over the entrance dates it from Muharram 

 23, A. H. 1231, therefore only 44 years old 

 (1857) ; but evidently, like those of Unguja and 

 Chak Chak, it is a Portuguese foundation re- 

 stored. The building is now a mere dickey, with 

 three shells of towers standing, and the fourth 

 clean gone ; the bastions are crenellated in the 

 Arab fashion, and one has a port-hole for cannon. 

 A few long iron carronades, possibly Lusitanian, 



