46 
CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE. 
Speke's observation of the stars by dimming the 
instruments. The days were often dark and hazy; 
pelting showers beat down from the N.W., but we 
sometimes had a fresh English morning, with a clear 
sky, a N.E. wind, and temperature only 69° at 9 a.m. 
We had no striking or beautiful sunsets like the equa- 
torial at sea, but in the evening the flowering grasses, 
gorgeously lit up by the rays of the setting sun, had 
a singularly fine effect ; and such evenings were often 
followed by a few dry days, and a temperature of 82°. 
This hot weather occurred when, at the short twilight, 
the sun appeared to set in the east, and the whole sky 
was an arched illumination. On an average we had 
rain two-fifths of the time we halted, and the greatest 
fall noted in twenty-four hours was two inches. These 
African rains we did not find followed by the dis- 
agreeable steamy or muggy feeling experienced in 
India ; all was cool and fresh after them. We had 
thunder and lightning, but rain did not always follow. 
This province of Unyanyembe has nearly four 
months of rain, commencing in the end of November, 
and winding up with the greatest fall in February. 
As soon as the soil of sand, or black spongy mould, 
has softened, the seed is dropped, and by the 1st of 
February all is as green as an emerald. The young 
rice has to struggle for fifteen days against the depre- 
dations of a small black caterpillar, green underneath. 
It is a precarious time for the agriculturist ; for if rain 
does not fall the crop is lost, being eaten close by this 
insect. Women walk in the fields, with small hand- 
picks, loosening the soil, clearing it of weeds and 
worms. There is only one crop in the year, and all 
the cereals known in Zanzibar are grown here. Cotton 
