4 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

sparkled on our oars as they rose from the water. On we glided, past curiously-built native craft, which

loomed dim and mysterious through the darkness

till, on rounding a point, a bright light shone out

across the water; in a few minutes more we had

set foot on the sandy shore, and had received a

hearty English welcome from our comrades who were

awaiting us. We were a merry party that night. Those of us who had just arrived had many loving

messages from home for those who had preceded us, and they had many things to tell about the new life

which was before us.

The island of Zanzibar is of coral formation, and

one of a chain of islands which, like a great natural

breakwater, runs down the eastern coast of Africa

about thirty miles from the mainland. It is remark-

able for its fertility, being a perfect garden from end

to end, and few places in the world can rival it in

the variety of fruits and vegetables which it produces.

Limes, lemons, shaddocks, oranges of several sorts,

papaws, custard apples, guavas, jackfruit, grapes,

mangoes, pineapples, dates, cocoanuts, and a number

of other fruits whose names even are unknown to

Europeans, abound ; while cassava, ginger, sugar-

cane, sweet potatoes, ground-nuts, tomatoes, cloves,

nutmegs, and various other plants, are largely cultivated by the natives.

The chief town of the island is also called Zanzi-

bar, this name being a corruption of the Arabic