THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 26

THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR.

Sayyid Barghash bin Saiid, the Prince of Zanzibar, Peinba, and the Zangian Coast, is a man of about forty-five, as far as an Arab's age may be guessed. He is tall, somewhat corpulent, and not unhandsome. Were it not that' his face betrays the traces of a too uxorious life, and that he has for some reason lately cut off his moustache and trimmed his beard to resemble an English tradesman's, he might even be called good-looking. His eyes are large and fine, though faded with excesses, and his teeth white and'perfect. The Sultan's feet are just of that ideal type that Sir Frederick Leighton loves to paint, and which, until I saw them peeping from Sayyid Barghash's sandals, I never believed to exist. The feet and hands of the Sultan of Zanzibar are the most beautifully formed I ever saw in a man, and he is justly proud of them ; but alas ! his symmetry ends at his ankles, for he is afflicted with elephantiasis — a not uncommon disease in Zanzibar, and his limbs are swollen and misshapen. Though he speaks no languages but Arabic and Swahill, he is a better read man than many a contemporary Eastern Sovereign, and even aspires to the honours of an author.

The other day four or five servants of the Sultan arrived at the Consulate, bearing about a dozen volumes of a work in Arabic. This was Part I. of a digest of Mahommeclan Jurisprudence written by the Sultan, and presented with his compliments to the British Agent. In conversation Sayyid Bavghash is often sprightly, and all that he says is marked by intelligence and good sense. He is simple in his diction, for an Arab, and sometimes baffles verbose flatterers byhis curt replies. I may remind you here of a little incident commented on at the time of' the Sayyid's visit to England. At his first meeting with Lord Beaconsfield that statesman thought to set him at his ease by addressing him in somewhat highflown Oriental parlance, and met him with the enigmatic question, " Which does your Highness prefer, flowers or jewels ?" " I fail to see any connection between them," replied Sayyid Barghash in all simplicity.

An interview with the ruler of Zanzibar, then, is not of that/w/e character which characterises a ceremonial visit to most Ox-iental sovereigns. He poses you with many shrewd questions, and when the reception is over, the coffee and rosesherbet drunk, and the Sayyid hands you down the well-like staircase, and you depart with the band playing " Rule Britannia," you feel that you have met a man who, had he received anything like an education, and had been trained by civilised ideas of morality to conceal, if not to bridle, his unruly passions, would have made no mean figure among the world's rulers and statesmen.— H. H. Johnston, in the Graphic.

A Kati-lesvake's Bite.— Tlie quick venom of the rattlesnake has not killed so many people as the more insidious but deadly poisons found in the air of toul rooms. The aeration of the blood by tlic lungs becomes impossible somelimes, find the failing health, growing weakness, and loss of appetite are harbingers ot approaching death. For such eases Hop Bitters are the potent and all-powerful, remedy to drive all fevers out of the system, purifying tne blood, and giving a new andhappy lease of life Get genuine.