nuiNS. 



359 



of tlie Xablicini mosque, Avhicli, blackened and 

 decayed, represents the 366 of Kilwa Island in 

 her day of pride : the well-cut gateway, the 

 Mihrab decorated with Persian tiles, and the 

 vestiges of ghaut-steps, and masonry lining the 

 shore, showed a considerable amount of civiliza- 

 tion. Around it lay the tombs of the Sliirazi 

 Shayklis, shaped like those of Zanzibarian Mnazi 

 Moyya, and strewed with small water-washed 

 pebbles. This is an ancient custom of the 

 country : a few days after the decease small 

 stones are washed, perfumed, and sun-dried ; 

 finally, they are strewed with prayers upon the 

 tomb. Some travellers have imagined that they 

 take the place of the defunct's rosary, which in old 

 days was devoted to this purpose : it appears to 

 me simply the perpetuation of a Bedawi practice 

 which dates from the remotest antiquity. As 

 usual, inscriptions, those landmarks of history, 

 were wanting. The large old town beyond was 

 even more ruinous than Changa Kduuii, near 

 Mtangata, and vegetation occupied every dwell- 

 ing : one of the mosques is said to have had 360 

 columns, of which we did not see a vestige — the 

 trees had filled and buried them all. Another 

 Msikiti (Masjid) stood deep in mangroves and was 

 flooded by every high tide : here the islet is sink- 



