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 remarkable 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, sugarcane, 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 Zanzibar, this name being a corruption of the Arabic