The Arabs tell me that one dollar a day is ample for provisions for a
large family at Zanzibar; the food consists of wheat, rice, flesh of
goats or ox, fowls, bananas, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, mangoes, and
potatoes. Ambergris is boiled in milk and sugar, and used by the Hindoos
as a means of increasing blood in their systems; a small quantity is a
dose; it is found along the shore of the sea at Barawa or Brava, and at
Madagascar, as if the sperm whale got rid of it while alive. Lamoo or
Amu is wealthy, and well supplied with everything, as grapes, peaches,
wheat, cattle, camels, &c. The trade is chiefly with Madagascar: the
houses are richly furnished with furniture, dishes from India, &c. At
Garaganza there are hundreds of Arab traders, there too all fruits
abound, and the climate is healthy, from its elevation. Why cannot we
missionaries imitate these Arabs in living on heights?

_24th November, 1870._--Herpes is common at the plantations in Zanzibar,
but the close crowding of the houses in the town they think prevents it;
the lips and mouth are affected, and constipation sets in for three
days, all this is cured by going over to the mainland. Affections of the
lungs are healed by residence at Bariwa or Brava, and also on the
mainland. The Tafori of Halfani took my letters from Ujiji, but who the
person employed is I do not know.

_29th November, 1870._--_Safura_ is the name of the disease of clay or
earth eating, at Zanzibar; it often affects slaves, and the clay is said
to have a pleasant odour to the eaters, but it is not confined to
slaves, nor do slaves eat in order to kill themselves; it is a diseased
appetite, and rich men who have plenty to eat are often subject to it.
The feet swell, flesh is lost, and the face looks haggard; the patient
can scarcely walk for shortness of breath and weakness, and he continues