[Illustration: PALACE SQUARE, ZANZIBAR: TROOPS ASSEMBLED IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE; PALACE, WITH THE LATE SULTAN IN THE GALLERY, TO THE RIGHT HAND; HAREM TO THE LEFT.] The island of Zanzibar, together with the neighboring islands of Pemba and Mafia, to the north and south, is generally of coral formation, with here and there hills of a reddish clay, which rise in the south to an elevation of 450 feet and in the north develop into a range of hills which runs parallel to the shore at a height of over 1,000 feet. The dense forests which originally covered the island have been cut down, and the soil, which is of unusual fertility, is under thorough cultivation, yielding heavy crops of corn and manioc, which latter forms the staple food of the people. The soil and climate are specially suited to the clove, which is raised in great quantities, the crop forming four-fifths of the total clove crop of the world. The seaboard lying opposite the island of Zanzibar is level and swampy, and the many rivers which flow from the escarpment of the great inland plateau have brought down a vast deposit of rich alluvial matter, upon which, aided by the moist, warm climate, a dense growth of tropical vegetation flourishes. A native growth of this region is the copal tree, famous as yielding the best gum known to commerce. Rice, maize, millet, the cocoa nut and the oil palm are cultivated, and the whole country is well adapted to the raising of sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and the various spices. Of the original races of the island of Zanzibar only a few representatives survive. These live on the east side, and are known as Wa-Hadimu Bantus. The main population is a strange mixture of "full blood and half-caste Arabs, Indian 'Canarians' (that is, half-caste Portuguese from Kanara on the Malabar coast of India), Swahili of every shade, slaves or freedmen from all parts of East Africa," with a small sprinkling of Americans and Europeans. The city of Zanzibar is, next to Alexandria and Tunis, the largest city on the coast of Africa, and contains a population variously estimated at from 80,000 to 100,000 souls. It is easily separable into two quarters, the trading quarter, which lies along the beach and contains the palace of the Sultan, and the eastern outlying suburb in which live the lower class. The view of Zanzibar from the sea is picturesque, the palace, forts and towers, the Mission Cathedral and the successive white buildings of varied outline, making a pleasing panorama. But when the visitor passes into the heart of the city he loses himself in a tangle of foul and narrow streets, where filth and immorality abound. [Illustration: THE LATE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR AND HIS MINISTERS.]