"The coast of Africa, from the Red Sea to the River Juba, which is as far as the equator, is inhabited by a tribe called Somauli, who are reckoned to be descendants from the aborigines of the country, and were early subjected to the laws of the Koran, by the Arab merchants trading with them. They are a mild people, of pastoral habits, and confined entirely to the coast; the whole of the interior of this portion being occupied by an untamable tribe of savages, called Galla, perhaps the most uncultivated and ferocious people in existence."
EMMA. "We shall cross the equator before we enter another bay; then, in the parallel of 3° south, lies the Bay of Formosa, on the coast of Zanguebar; and 4° nearer south, is the little island of Zanzibar. I am a stranger here."
MRS. WILTON. "Zanzibar is a most valuable possession of the Imaun of Muscat, on account of its abundant produce of grain and sugar. The climate is particularly fatal to Europeans, so that the crews of vessels trading there are never allowed to sleep on shore. But there is perhaps no place, where refreshments are so cheap as in this island: fowls may be had for two shillings the dozen, sugar twopence, and rice one penny a pound; and a large bullock is sold for one sovereign."
CHARLES. "No great advantage to get food cheap in a country so unhealthy that you lack the appetite to eat it."
MR. BARRAUD. "No; we will not go there to victual _our_ ship. Here are the Seychelle Isles almost in the latitude of Formosa Bay; suppose we ''bout ship' and look in upon them. There appear to be fifteen, and navigators say they are composed of granite rocks. Their chief inhabitants are French Roman Catholics, who have very little of either religion or morality, but spend the greater portion of their time in dancing and gambling. All the blacks resident on these isles are unhappy slaves, although their owners live in luxurious indolence."
GEORGE. "They are such small islands, and some of them so close that, if I lived there, I would build bridges to go from one island to another."
MR. BARRAUD. "The inhabitants do that without a bridge. They have numerous canoes, built and fitted with much skill and neatness. In these they pay their visits, and at the close of a party a stranger would be surprised at hearing the announcement--'Madame le Jeune's _canoe_ is waiting!' instead of Madame le Jeune's _carriage_ stops the way.' But that is the fashion in the Seychelle Isles. Torches are at hand; the ladies and gentlemen are lighted to the water, where some stout negroes almost in a state of nudity, await to transport them to their own island."