tioned a similar case of tlie Assaye men. Twenty-six
out of sixty who slept inland were attacked with
fever; those who had taken quinine recovered, while
those who had not died. From this it would appear
that risk attaches to certain constitutions from sleeping
inland, away from the sea-breeze; although, on
the heights of the island, where the soil is a rough red
grit or friable clay, I should not anticipate danger.
But on these elevated spots there is this disadvantage,
that no water is procurable; even in a well forty feet
deep I observed there was none.
To one wishing to enjoy good health I would prescribe
this recipe : Beside on the shore ; be in a boat
by sunrise; row to any point on the island, or to the
exquisite living formations of coral; walk home between
the hedgerows, amongst beautiful clove or mango
groves; enjoy the refreshing milk from the cocoa-nut;
observe the industry in the fields, the snug country-
houses of the Arabs; examine the “ diggings” for
copal; look at the men washing the elephant-tusks on
the sea-shore, or at the immense variety of crazy craft
—in short, keep active, and you will find that there
are many worse climates than Zanzibar.
The island has two crops of grain yearly, and four
of manioc, which, with dried shark, is the staple
food of the people. They cook it in every form, making
also flour of it. One has only to walk of a morning
along the roads leading into the town, to see the
productiveness of this beautiful island. Negro men
and women laden with mangoes, oranges, plantain,
sugar-cane, grass, cocoa-nut, manioc, yams, sweet potato,
Indian com, ground-nut, &c., go in streams to
the market. The return of these crowds is, in contrast,
utterly ludicrous. Nothing do they then carry
but a stick over their shoulder with a cut of stale
fish hanging from i t ; and one wonders at the extreme
poverty of the people in the midst of such abundance.
Besides the above products, cloves, cotton, bajra, sorghum,
dall, coffee, tobacco, sessamum, grass, nutmeg,
red pepper, betel-nut, catchoo-nut, jack-fruit, papau,
almond, pomegranate, and the castor-oil plant, were
all seen growing. To remark upon a few :—The
mango-tree, met with everywhere, is splendidly umbrageous,
more lofty than the variety seen in Indian
topes, and not so brittle. It yields two crops yearly
of stringy fruit; but there are better sorts, such as
those from Pemba Island, to be procured. The clove-
tree is planted in rows 20 feet apart, and after it
has grown to the height of 30 feet, it seems to die, as
if from the effects of ants. Cloves have diminished
immensely in value ; what cost 25 dollars twelve years
ago can now be purchased for one dollar; consequently
the agriculturists do not replace the dying trees. The
spice was being gathered by men on tripod ladders on
the 6th September. Cotton we rarely saw. The
cocoa-nut is the most common tree in the country—
the husk, we observed, being used as firewood, and
a capital salad is made from the crown of the trunk.
The Arabs allow their slaves to cultivate the manioc
or “mohogo” gratis, under the cocoa-nut trees, in
payment for gathering the harvests of mango, cloves,
&c. The growth of the ground-nut is very curious,
creeping close to the ground, with a yellow flower and
leaf resembling clover. On the flower withering the
pod goes underground, where it matures. The coffee-
tree grows luxuriantly, and the sugar-cane is very