to live in as any near the equator. But apropos of this, I
remember what Capt. Webb, the American Consul, told me on my
first arrival, when I expressed to him my wonder at the apathy
and inertness of men born with the indomitable energy which
characterises Europeans and Americans, of men imbued with the
progressive and stirring instincts of the white people, who yet
allow themselves to dwindle into pallid phantoms of their kind,
into hypochondriacal invalids, into hopeless believers in the
deadliness of the climate, with hardly a trace of that daring
and invincible spirit which rules the world.

"Oh," said Capt. Webb, "it is all very well for you to talk
about energy and all that kind of thing, but I assure you that a
residence of four or five years on this island, among such people
as are here, would make you feel that it was a hopeless task to
resist the influence of the example by which the most energetic
spirits are subdued, and to which they must submit in time, sooner
or later. We were all terribly energetic when we first came here,
and struggled bravely to make things go on as we were accustomed
to have them at home, but we have found that we were knocking our
heads against granite walls to no purpose whatever. These fellows--
the Arabs, the Banyans, and the Hindis--you can't make them go
faster by ever so much scolding and praying, and in a very short
time you see the folly of fighting against the unconquerable.
Be patient, and don't fret, that is my advice, or you won't live
long here."

There were three or four intensely busy men, though, at Zanzibar,
who were out at all hours of the day. I know one, an American; I
fancy I hear the quick pit-pat of his feet on the pavement beneath