24 
TILE KILIMANJARO EXPEDITION 
accepted term in architecture, Saracenic. Entering 
from the narrow streets an iron gateway, you come 
into the grateful shade of a small garden, planted 
with spreading mimosas, cocoa-nut palms, and man¬ 
goes, and through the interstices of the foliage you 
look up at the high grey-white walls of the house, 
which are scarcely relieved in their monotony by 
the small and shuttered windows. The doorway is 
regularly Eastern, quite a u Sublime Porte 55 in minia¬ 
ture. Broad, shallow steps lead up to it, forming an 
admirably-arranged mise-en-scene for the grouping of 
white-clotlied tfi Sikari ” (consular guards) and Indian 
suppliants in gaudy costumes. The frame of the door, 
which is itself garnished with immense copper nails, is 
delicately and intricately carved in black wood, with 
arabesque designs and letter scrolls. 
Entering here, you come upon a small recess, with 
ogival niches round the wails—a sort of anteroom— 
and from this a winding staircase ascends to the first- 
floor, when you find yourself in the interior gallery 
surrounding the four sides of the patio, or hollow square, 
which is the ground-plan of most Saracenic buildings. 
From the centre of the patio rises a graceful areca-palm, 
which contrasts pleasingly with the formal arches of 
the gallery. The house ascends to several storeys, and 
is surmounted by flat terraces of varying height; but 
round the patio, on the first-floor, the principal dwelling- 
rooms are ranged. These are all Arab in character— 
narrow, high-pitched, lighted with little windows with 
deep embrasures. The walls are dead white, cut into 
by false arches of slightly horse-shoe shape, forming 
alternate recesses wherein shelves of pottery, book¬ 
cases, or cabinets may be placed. Within the arches, 
too, are further niches, cut deeper into the wall, with 
