ZANZIBAR. 9

lookers who have no intention of buying, but, at-

tracted by the chink of money, must have their say about the bargain to be made. Carpenters, black-

smiths, sandal-makers ; dealers in calico, Manchester

goods, iron, &c., retailers of food, fruit, medicine,

tobacco and various odds and ends, gun-menders,

barbers, tailors, and letter-writers form part of the

motley crowd.

Leaving this Babel we enter the custom-house

yard, where a different, though scarcely less

animated, scene meets the view. Two or three

steamers are lying in the harbour discharging or

embarking cargo, and half a score of dhows left

high and dry by the receding tide are undergoing

the same operations. Heavily-laden lighters are

passing to and fro between the steamers and the

custom-house quay, if we may dignify the primitive

landing-stage in front of the custom-house with that name ; the coolies engaged in loading or emptying these lighters chant a monotonous sort of chorus as

they move the heavy bales. Large tusks of ivory are being unshipped from some dhows which have

just arrived from Dar-es-salaam, Bagamoyo, Sadaani

or some other of the ports on the mainland, and are

taken to one side of the custom-house, where they are weighed and marked by the Banyan clerks who

manage the business of the place. Within the

precincts of the custom-house are sundry sheds

and warehouses belonging to various European