from the older urban area are the Sidis or Musulmans of African descent,
who supply the steamship companies with stokers, firemen and engine-room
assistants, and the dockyards and workshops with fitters and mechanics. A
hardy race they are, with their muscular frames, thick lips and crisp black
hair--the very last men you would wish to meet in a rough-and-tumble, and
yet withal a jovial people, well-disposed and hospitable to anyone whom
they regard as a friend. If they trust you fully they will give you
_carte blanche_ to witness one of their periodical dances, in which
both sexes participate and, which commencing about 10-30 p.m., usually last
until 3 or 4 o'clock the following morning. They are worth seeing once, if
only for the sake of learning how the Sidis amuse themselves when the
spirit moves them.

* * * * *


Imagine a bare white-washed room, opening directly upon the street, the
walls of which boast of no ornament save a row of tom-toms, and the sides
and window ledges of which are lined with an expectant crowd of Sidis of
varying age, from the small boy of eight years to the elderly headman or
patel, who is responsible for the good behaviour of the community and is
the general arbiter of their internal disputes. This is the Sidi Jamatkhana
or caste-hall: and long before you reach the door threading your way
through a crowd of squatting hawkers, your ears are assailed by the most
deafening noise, reminding you forcibly of the coppersmith's bazaar with an
accompaniment of rythmic drumming. The cause is not far to seek. In the
centre of the room two Sidis are sitting, in cock-horse fashion, astride
what appear to be wooden imitations of a cannon and beating the parchment-
covered mouths of their pseudo-steeds with their hands; at their feet a
third Sidi is playing a kind of _reveille_ upon a flattened kerosine