10 UGANDA AND TEE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

merchants, and here, book in hand, may be seen their Parsee clerks checking off the bales of goods as they arrive from the steamers. It being now the close of the clove harvest, in every corner of the yard are huge piles of matting bags full of this fragrant spies, filling the air with its aromatic smell, in pleasing contrast to the odours from the beach close by, which are not exactly suggestive of the " isles of the blessed."

Turning our backs on the custom-house, and proceeding along the beach, we pass under the black muzzles of the saluting battery, where a few filthy Balooch soldiers, clad in soiled and tattered uniforms, are lounging about. Along the shore are a few dhows embarking goods and passengers for the mainland. Leaving these we pass the various consulates, the English consul-general's house being the most imposing and having the best situation; then we reach Shangani Point, which is slowly disappearing beneath the waves of the Indian Ocean. Beyond Shangani Point is another harbour, or rather roadstead, where powder-ships lie when discharging their cargoes. Turning into the town at this place, we pass through one of the quarters inhabited by negroes. The houses here are of wattle-and-daub, with sloping thatched roofs, which are very inflammable, and fires are of frequent occurrence among them ; the houses stand close together, with crooked, filthy lanes between.