Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

APPENDIX. 37
have a better cliance of keeping himself in
health than a man of intemperate habits ?"— " It
used to
be said on the west coast that a stock
of tombstones should be kept at Sierra Leone
for the use of those that died there, and that
one sentence would describe all their deaths,
" brandy and water." That really has a good
deal to do with it, but I must state this, that a
man who lives in an unhealthy place very soon
becomes demoralized in
mind and body, and he
is very likely to take to an unwholesome way of
living. I think it would not be safe for a man
to stay there long; but, in connexion with
your question, I should like to state from information
I have received from Dr. Kirk recently,
that he is decidedly of opinion that a station
might be found on the
mainland near to Zanzibar,
where Europeans could live in perfect
health, and where, if it were necessary, liberated
slaves could be sent to be kept under safe
supervision."
978. Mr. J. TalhoL] "With regard to the depopulated
country between the coast and Lake
Nyassa, which you say is like a desert, you
think it could be again made very productive ?"
— " Of course it must take some time for the
remnants of those tribes which have been
driven north, south, east, and west to come
back to their old country."