with some small clumps of pineapples. In every clove
shamba that I had passed, trees were being cut down to admit
more light and air, in some cases one tree, in others two or
three together, and in very thickly-shaded places, whole rows
had been cut down. In marked contrast to what I had seen
in Zanzibar, slave huts appeared very scarce and far between
in the Pemba plantations. In this northern part of the island
I found myself in a regular clove plantation, extending on
every side and as a rule very clean and regular; as on all the
larger shambas, vacancies were very carefully supplied. I also
saw a fairly large clearing of young cloves, the trees being
4 to 5 feet high, with cassava planted thickly amongst them.
The surface soil on the sides of the ridges was everywhere
washed away, and along this valley the very heavy wash had
exposed the roots of the cassava and young clove trees.
Drainage would of course obviate all this, but was practised
nowhere. Except around Arab houses and slave huts, there
were no plantations of coco-nut trees, though a solitary one
might be seen here and there amongst the cloves.
After leaving the shamba succeeding Kisiwani, I passed
into another called “ Utani,” a very weedy and neglected one,
with many vacancies, high grass and bush, and much “ ilook ”
grass growing. The trees were probably seventeen to twenty
years old. Now and again I came upon curious basin-shaped
low and abrupt valleys.
A distant ridge on the right was covered with a thick
coco-nut grove, the first that I had seen for some time. On
the left cloves continued, much neglected, with a great deal of
' “ ilook ” grass and bracken fern. I then emerged once more
into uncultivated country, all bush, which was soon succeeded
by a fertile area of luxuriant groves of coco-nut, cassava-fields,
cloves and mangoes.
The next plantation was called “ Kwale,” and was the most
northern one that I visited. It was a large shamba of fine
old trees, regularly planted at a distance of 29 by 29 feet; the
circumference of one tree at the base was 6 feet, and the
average height was from 40 to 45 feet. The soil was very
rich, dark grey, sandy loam.
This shamba was, on the whole, very clean. From here the
I