American republic, or possibly describe how it covered a tenderloin steak which once galloped over a Texas prairie with a cowboy behind it. If all things about us could talk, we should not need to travel to learn how strange the world is.

L

41.

AMONG THE SAKALAVAS

EAVING Tananarivo, we make our way in filanzanas across the high plains to the western edge of the plateau, and then wind in and out down the hills to the sea. Toward the end of our journey we are able to take boats on the Betsiboka

River, and after a little.

more than a week from

our starting time, we find ourselves in Majunga, the thriving seaport of the northwestern coast.

Our journey has been a hard one, and by no means so pleasant as that through central and eastern Madagascar. On the plateau we had to deal with the Hovas; but here in the west we are among the Sakalavas, a black people with

Sakalava men.

features like negroes, more fierce and less civilized than any of the natives we have yet seen. Some of the men have ornaments on their foreheads. They wear white cloths about their dark forms, and their woolly hair is done up in little braids, so that were it not for their beards we might think them women. The women also have curious ways of dressing their hair, some twisting it so that it stands out in great round tassels on all sides of the head. Both sexes are fond of jewelry, and wear all they can get.

Sakalava woman.

The Sakalava villages are ruder than those of the Hovas. Some of them have walls about them with great fences of cactus outside, and heavy gates which can be closed at night or in times of attack by hostile tribes. Many of the houses are mean huts of mud bricks. There are pigs everywhere, and we are troubled with mosquitoes and all sorts of vermin. On our way we pass large herds of cattle. Many of the Sakalavas are farmers and stock breeders, and a man's wealth is estimated by the number of cattle he owns.

We go through a belt of forest on our way down from the plateau, and at night hear the lemurs howling in the woods. The lemur is found in most parts of Madagascar. It is a sort of half ape with a long tail, enormous hands, and a head not unlike that of a cat. There are tame

lemurs kept as pets in some of the villages. The animals make us think of foxes or monkeys, and they are supposed to belong to the monkey tribe. Some lemurs are white and black, some have white fur rings about their black tails, and some have a fringe of long hair around the face like a ruff. They are a night animal, prowling about through the darkness and often howling in concert like cats. They are rather timid, and will not attack man unless brought to bay.

42. ZANZIBAR AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ISLANDS

OUR

UR trip from Majunga to Zanzibar is made in a French trading vessel bound there for a cargo of ivory. We first sail north, passing the Comoro Islands, belonging to France, noted for their sugar and vanilla plantations, and then turning west go northward not far from the African shore, and skirt the lower side of the island of Zanzibar, finally coming to anchor in front of its capital, Zanzibar City, about midway up the west

coast.

The island of Zanzibar is about fifty miles long, and so narrow that one could walk across it in less than a day. It is just about equally distant from the Suez Canal, India, and the Cape of Good Hope, and it is only thirty miles from Africa, having a favorable situation for a great trading place. Just opposite on the mainland is the town of Bagamoyo, whence caravans start out for different parts of Africa, and where vast quantities of native products,

including ivory, are brought for shipment to Europe by way of Zanzibar. Zanzibar City is about the largest town on the African coast, if we except Alexandria and Tunis on the Mediterranean Sea. It has about one hundred thousand people, and, though ruled by a sultan, it is under the protection of Great Britain, which also governs the rich little island of Pemba just north of it, and Sokotra still farther north.

In the harbor we find numerous ships, and also many native boats which are engaged in carrying goods and passengers between Zanzibar and the mainland. We go ashore and take one of the black-faced guides with us for a stroll through the streets. Many of the buildings are white, made of brick or stone covered with stucco. Some have roofs of galvanized iron. In the suburbs are many thatched huts, the homes of the poor.

The streets are very narrow, and the only ways of getting about are on foot, in chairs carried by men, or on ponies. We go on foot, pushing along in and out of a motley crowd of people from all parts of the world, and especially from Africa. There are black-skinned men from the mainland doing all sorts of work, and black boys who stare at us as we ride by. There are Arabs in turbans and gowns, yellow Parsees with high hats, and brown-skinned Hindus who have come here to trade. Parts of the city given up to the Hindu shops make us think of Ceylon, and the market with its great throng of blacks reminds us of Tananarivo.

We call upon the sultan at his palace, and then spend some time in going from one store to another buying curios from Africa to show to our friends. We take

OF THE

UNIVERSITY
OF

CALIFORNIA

ZANZIBAR AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ISLANDS 291

carriages and drive out into the country under the shadow of sago and cocoanut palms and other tropical trees, stopping now and then to eat oranges and pineapples, or to have a drink of cocoanut milk. We see many clove orchards which look not unlike those of the Moluccas, and bite into one of the flowers to see if the green cloves are as hot as the dried.

Coming back to the city, we find men loading steamers with cloves and also bales and boxes of copra from the islands about. Others are shipping tusks of ivory brought in by the caravans from interior Africa and sent across the channel for export to Europe.

The tusks are just as they were when torn out of the heads of the elephants, only rough, dirty, and battered by their long voyage out to the coast. Some are eight or ten

feet long, and at the root as big around as our heads. They are hollow far up from the roots, but nevertheless are so heavy that we try in vain to lift one. They are sold by weight, and a single tusk will often bring as much as five hundred dollars. Most of the ivory is taken to Antwerp and Liverpool, and thence sent to factories where it is made into knife handles, buttons, and various ornamental articles.

Zanzibar is a regular port of call for steamers going to the Cape of Good Hope from Europe via the Suez Canal. We might take ship for the north, visiting Pemba and Sokotra. They are, however, of but little importance, so we decide to sail south to Cape Town and thence to the islands off the western coast of Africa.

Our steamer calls at Mozambique on the way. This island is close to the African shore, and is important only