Page:Some account of the town of Zanzibar.djvu/22

 Nothing can exceed the politeness of all classes; especially of the people of Zanzibar itself; I could generally tell people who came from Mombas and other places by a certain roughness of manner though they were far from rude. The Sultan himself comes down into the street to receive his European visitors, and insists upon their preceding him into the house and upstairs into his reception-room, and, after the interview, follows them again into the street to take leave. It is customary for the visitor to ask leave to go, and the reply asks if you have any unsatisfied desire, the most proper answer to which is to say that you only desire your host's prosperity. It is very common to tell you that the house is yours, and that if there is anything in it you desire, a hint will suffice.

For myself, I always experienced the greatest kindness from men of all classes. One of the most learned, when I was leaving, wrote me a sort of valedictory address and sealed it with his own seal, that I might always have an evidence of the respect and esteem in which he held me. Another friend sent me enough green cocoanuts (which furnish a very favorite drink) to last, as he hoped, all the voyage, and they did last till we were off the Cape. Another, a schoolmaster, who happened to be out of town when I was making my farewell visits, heard of it at the last moment, when I was actually embarked, came down to the shore with a friend, borrowed a boat, and rowed himself off to take leave of me. I will mention but one thing more, it shall be a polite speech of the Chief Vizir's when I was taking leave, who said he could only bear the parting in the hope that, in