18 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

is usually supposed to have, and if a log is given them to cut up into, planks every one of the boards

has to be gone over carefully with the adze before

it becomes of anything approaching a uniform

thickness throughout. In the use of this latter

tool, the adze, the Zanzibar carpenters are wonder-

fully expert, and turn out extremely neat work with

its aid. It is impossible, however, to get anything

like a real day's work out of them under ordinary circumstances. Indeed all negroes seem incapable of

sustained exertion, and require constant watching if

anything is to be done in reasonable time.

Besides the negroes already mentioned there are

the Wahudimu (lit. servants), the original inhabit-

ants of Zanzibar, and who were the possessors of

the island at the time it was conquered by the

Arabs. They are scattered about in small villages in various parts of the island, and speak a dialect

differing considerably from that of the town. There

are a few Goanese who have settled down in the town of Zanzibar, and who are mostly shopkeepers and washermen. A small number of Baluch

soldiers are kept by the Sultan as a sort of body-

guard.

The present Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Burgash,

is a pure Arab, and, for a Mohammedan, wonderfully

liberal in his views ; he seems anxious to improve his dominions and to adopt European inventions

and customs. He has lately organised a small body