. The chart showed that she had
reached the twentieth degree of south latitude, and about the
forty-first of east longitude. Away to the west, though far out of
sight, were the mouths of the Zambesi river, whose waters have been
explored from their source to the ocean by the energetic Livingstone,
while to the right was the magnificent island of Madagascar, many of
whose long benighted people have since accepted the Gospel. The ship
glided on over the smooth sea, her sails spread to a gentle southerly
breeze. The heat was great; it had been rapidly increasing. As the hot
sun shone down from a cloudless sky on the deck, the pitch bubbled up as
if a fire were beneath it, and O'Connor declared that he could cook a
beef steak, if he had one, on the capstan head.

"Hot, do you call it?" observed Rhymer, who had before been in those
seas. "Wait until we get under the line; we may roast an ox there by
tricing it up to the fore-yard, and even then should have to lower it
into the sea every now and then to prevent it being done too quickly."

Every shady spot was eagerly sought for by officers and crew, though, as
the air was pure, no one really suffered by the heat. Other smaller
islands were passed, though not seen--among them Johanna and Comoro,
inhabited by dark-skinned races. At last the island of Zanzibar, close
in with the African coast, was sighted, and as the breeze blew off its
undulating plains, Ned and Charley agreed that they could inhale the
perfume of its spice groves and its many fragrant flowers. As the ship
drew nearer the land, on the lower ground could be distinguished large
plantations of sugar-cane, with forests of cocoa-nut trees, just beyond
the line of shining sands separating them from the blue water, while
here and there rose low rocky cliffs of varied tints of red and brown.
On the uplands were seen rows of clove-trees ranged in exact order
between the plantations, groups of palm or dark-leaved mangoes, with
masses of wild jungle, where nature was still allowed to have its own
way. Further on white flat-roofed buildings with numerous windows
appeared in sight; then the harbour opened up, in which floated a crowd
of vessels of all nations, some with red banners floating from their
mast-heads, forming the sultan's navy, others English ships of war,
merchantmen, countless dhows with high sterns and strange rigs; then
more houses and terraces with arches and colonnades came into view, with
seve