Chapter XVI: Appendix: I (1)

COMMERCE, IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

Commerce has for ages been a necessity to the East African, who cannot be contented without his clothing and his ornaments, which he receives in barter for the superfluity of his country. Against its development, however, serious obstacles have hitherto interposed. On the seaboard and in the island the Banyans, by monopolizing the import traffic, do injury to the internal trade. In the interior the Wasawahili excite, with all the animosity of competition, the barbarians against Arab interlopers, upon the same sordid and short-sighted principle that the latter display when opposing the ingress of Europeans. Finally, the Arabs, according to their own confession, have by rapacity and imprudence impoverished the people without enriching themselves. Their habit of sending fundi on trading trips is, as has been explained, most prejudicial both to seller and buyer; the prices of provisions as well as of merchandise increase almost visibly; and though the evil might be remedied by a little combination, solidarity of interests being unknown, that little is nowhere found. All, Banyans, Wasawahili, and Arabs, like semi-civilised people generally, abhor and oppose a free trade, which they declare would be as injurious to themselves as doubtless advantageous to the country. Here, as in Europe, the battle of protection has still to be fought; and here, unlike Europe, the first step towards civilisation, namely, the facility of intercourse between the interior and the coast, has yet to be created.

The principal imports into East Africa are domestics and piece goods, plain and unbleached cotton cloths, beads, and brass wire. The minor items for the native population are prints, coloured cloths Indian and Arabian, broadcloth, calicos, caps, ironware, knives and needles, iron and copper wires for ornaments, and in some regions trinkets and ammunition. A small trade, chiefly confined to the Arabs, is done in provisions, spices, drugs, and other luxuries.

The people of East Africa when first visited were satisfied with the worst and flimsiest kaniki or indigo-dyed Indian cotton. This they presently gave up for the “merkani,” American “domestics,” or unbleached shirting and sheeting, which now supplies the markets from Abyssinia to the Mozambique. But the wild men are losing predilection for a stuff which is neither comfortable nor durable, and in many regions the tribes, satisfied with goat-skins and tree-barks, prefer to invest their capital in the more attractive and durable beads and wire. It would evidently be advantageous if England or her Indian colonies would manufacture an article better suited to the wants of the country than that at present in general use; but, under existing circumstances, there is little probability of this being done.

The “domestics” from the mills near Salem, Lawrence, Manchester, and others, called in the island of Zanzibar wilaiti (“foreign”), or khami (the “raw”), is known throughout the inner country as “merkani” or American. These unbleached cottons are of two kinds: the wilaiti mpana (broad) or sheeting, sold in pieces about 30 yards long and 36 to 38 inches broad, and the wilaiti kabibu (narrow) or shirting, of the same length but less in breadth, from 32 to 34 inches. In the different mills the lengths vary, the extremes being 24 and 36 yards. The cloth measures in use throughout the country are the following:--

2½ Fitr (short spans) = 1 Mukono, Ziraá, or cubit.
2 Mikono, or Ziraá (cubits) = 1 Half-Shukkah (_i.e._ 3 feet of
domestics).
2 Half-Shukkah = 1 Shukkah, Mwenda, Upande, or Lupande,
the Portuguese Braça (_i.e._ 6 feet of
domestics).
2 Shukkahs = 1 Tobe (Ar. Saub), Doti, Unguo ya ku
shona (washing cloth), or simply Unguo
(12 ft.)
2 Doti = 1 Takah.
7 to 11 Doti = 1 Jurah or Gorah, the piece.

The fitr or short span is from the extended end of the forefinger to the thumb; the shibr or long span is from the thumb to the little finger; of these, two go to that primitive measure the cubit or elbow length. Two cubits in long measure compose the wár or yard, and two wár the ba’a or fathom.

The price of domestics greatly varies in dear years and cheap years. At Zanzibar it sometimes falls to 2 dols. per gorah or piece, and it often rises to 2·75 dols. When the dollar is alluded to, the Maria Theresa crown is always meant. The price in Bombay is from 213 to 215 Co.’s rs. per cent. At Zanzibar the crown is divided like the rupee into 16 annas, and each anna into 9 or 8 pice; of these the full number is 128 to the dollar, but it is subject to incessant fluctuations. Merchants usually keep accounts in dollars and cents. The Arabs divide the dollar as follows:--

4 Ruba baisah (the “pie”) = Baisah (in the plur. Biyas), the
Indian Paisa.
8 Biyas = 1 Anna.
2 Annas, or 16 Pice = 1 Tumun or eighth.
4 Annas, or 32 Pice, or 25 Cents = 1 Ruba, Rubo or Quarter-dollar, the
Indian Paola.
2 Ruba, or 64 Pice, or 50 Cents = 1 Nusu or Half-dollar.
2 Nusu = 1 Dollar.

The Spanish or pillar dollar is called by the Arabs abu madfa, and by the Wasawahili riyal mazinga (the “cannon dollar”). In the East generally it is worth from 6 to 8 per cent. more than the Maria Theresa, but at Zanzibar, not being a legal tender, the value is unfixed. The only subdivision of this coin generally known is the seringe, pistoline, or “small quarter dollar,” which is worth only 10 pice and 2 pies, whereas the ruba, or quarter of the Maria Theresa, is 32 pice. The French 5-franc piece, raised in value by a somewhat arbitrary process from 114 to 110 per 100 “piastres d’Espagne” by M. Guillain in 1846, has no currency, though the Banyans attempt to pass them off upon strangers at 108 for 100 Maria Theresas. In selling, the price ranges from 15 to 22 shukkahs, each of which, assuming the dollar or German crown to be worth 4_s._ 2_d._, will be worth upon the island from 6_d._ to 8_d._ The shukkah is, as has been said, the shilling and florin of East Africa, and it is assuredly the worst circulating medium ever invented by mankind. The progress of its value as it recedes from the seaboard, and other details concerning it, which may be useful to future travellers, have been treated of in the preceding pages.

First in importance amongst the cloths is the kaniki or kiniki; its names and measures are made to differ by the traders according to the fashion of semi-civilised people, who seek in confusion and intricacy facilities for fraud and chicanery. The popular divisions are--

4 Mikono, Ziraá, or cubits = 1 Shukkah.
2 Shukkah = 1 Doti or Tobe.
2 Doti = 1 Jurah, Gorah, or Takah.
2 Takah = 1 Korjah, Kori, or score.

Of this indigo-dyed cotton there are three kinds: the best, which is close and neatly made, is seldom exported from Zanzibar. The gorah or piece of 16 cubits, 45 inches in breadth, is worth about 1 dollar. The common variety, 40 inches broad, supplied to the markets of the interior, costs about half that sum; and the worst kind, which averages in breadth 36 inches, represents a little less. The value of the korjah or score fluctuates between 8 and 13 dollars. Assuming, therefore, the average at 10 dollars, and the number of shukkahs contained in the gorah at 80, the price of each will represent 6_d._ Thus it is little inferior in price to the merkani or domestics when purchased upon the seaboard: its progress of value in the interior, however, is by no means in proportion, and by some tribes it is wholly rejected.

The lucrative bead trade of Zanzibar is now almost entirely in the hands of the Banyan capitalists, who, by buying up ships’ cargoes, establish their own prices, and produce all the inconveniences of a monopoly. In laying in a stock the traveller must not trust himself to these men, who seize the opportunity of palming off the waste and refuse of their warehouses: he is advised to ascertain from respectable Arab merchants, on their return from the interior, the varieties requisite on the line of march. Any neglect in choosing beads, besides causing daily inconvenience, might arrest an expedition on the very threshold of success: towards the end of these long African journeys, when the real work of exploration commences, want of outfit tells fatally. The bead-monopolisers of Zanzibar supplied the East African expedition with no less than nine men’s loads of the cheapest white and black beads, some of which were thrown away, as no man would accept them at a gift. Finally, the utmost economy must be exercised in beads: apparently exhaustless, a large store goes but a little way: the minor purchases of a European would average 10 strings or necklaces per diem, and thus a man’s load rarely outlasts the fifth week.

Beads, called by the Arabs kharaz, and by the Wasawahili ushanga, are yearly imported into East Africa by the ton--in quantities which excite the traveller’s surprise that so little is seen of them. For centuries there has been a regular supply of these ornaments; load after load has been absorbed; but although they are by no means the most perishable of substances, and though the people, like the Indians, carry their wealth upon their persons, not a third of the population wears any considerable quantity. There are about 400 current varieties, of which each has its peculiar name, value, and place of preference; yet, being fabricated at a distance from the spot, they lack the perpetual change necessary to render them thoroughly attractive. In Urori and Ubena, antiquated marts, now nearly neglected, there are varieties highly prized by the people: these might be imitated with advantage.

For trading purposes a number of different kinds must be laid in,--for travellers, the coral or scarlet, the pink porcelain, and the large blue glass bead, are more useful than other colours. Yet in places even the expensive coral bead has been refused.

Beads are sold in Zanzibar island by the following weights:

16 Wakiyyah (ounces, each = 1 dollar in = 1 Ratl (or pound; in the
weight) plural, Artál).
3 Ratl, or 48 Wakiyyah = 1 Man (Maund).
12 Amnan (Maunds) = 1 Frasilah (35 to 36
pounds).
60 Artál (pounds) = 1 Frasilah.
20 to 22 Farásilah (according to the
article purchased) = 1 Kandi (Candy).

The Zanzibar lb. is the current English avoirdupois. The Arabs use a ratl without standard, except that it should be equal to sixteen Maria Theresa dollars. According to M. Guillain, it is four grammes (each 22·966 grs. avoir.) less than the English lb., and when reduced to seven grammes it is considered under weight. The “man” or maund is the general measure: there are, however, three varieties. The “man” of Zanzibar consists of three ratl, that of Maskat contains nine, and that of Oman generally 0·25 less than the Zanzibar maund. The frasilah (in the plur. farásilah) may roughly be assumed as one-third of the cwt.: the word probably gave rise to the English coffee-weight called a “frail.”

The measures of beads are as complicated and arbitrary as those of cloth. The following are the terms known throughout the interior, but generally unintelligible at Zanzibar, where this merchandise is sold by weight:

4 Bitil (each a single length from
index tip to wrist) = 1 Khete.
10 Khete (each a doubled length round
the throat, or round the thumb, to
the elbow-bone) = 1 Fundo (_i.e._ a “knot.”)
10 Fundo (in the plural, Mafundo) = 1 Ugoyye, or Ugoe.
10 Ugoyye (or 60 Fundo) = 1 Miranga, or Gana.

Of these bead measures there are local complications. In the central regions, for instance, the khete is of half size, and the fundo consists of five, not of ten khete.

Beads are purchased for the monopolisers of Zanzibar unstrung, and before entering the country it is necessary to measure and prepare the lengths for barter. The string, called “ut’hembwe” (in the plural “t’hembwe”), is generally made of palm-fibre, and much depends for successful selling, especially in the larger kinds of beads, upon the regularity and attractiveness of the line. It will be remembered that beads in East Africa represent the copper and smaller silver coins of European countries; it is, however, impossible to reduce the khete, the length most used in purchases, to any average: it varies from a halfpenny to three-pence. The average value of the khete in Zanzibar coin is three pice, and about 100 khete are included in the man or maund. The traveller will find the bitil used as our farthing, the khete is the penny, the shukkah kaniki is the sixpence and shilling, the shukkah merkani and the fundo represent the halfcrown and crown, whilst the Barsati cloth, the kitindi or coil bracelet, and the larger measures of beads, form the gold money. The following varieties are imported in extensive outfits. Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are the expensive kinds; Nos. 4, 5, and 6, are in local demand, cheap in the maritime, and valuable in the central regions, and the rest are the more ordinary sorts. All those that are round and pierced are called indifferently by the Arabs madruji, or the “drilled.”

1. Samsam (Ar.) sámesáme (Kis.), kimara-p’hamba (food-finishers), joho (scarlet cloth), and kifungá-mgi (town-breakers, because the women are mad for them), are the various names for the small coral bead, a scarlet enamelled upon a white ground. They are known at Zanzibar as kharaz-kartasi--paper beads--because they are sent into the country ready strung, and packed in paper parcels, which ought to weigh 4 pounds each, but are generally found to vary from 8 to 10 fundo or knots. Of this bead there are 15 several sizes, and the value of the frasilah is from 13 to 16 dollars at Zanzibar. In Unyamwezi, where the sámesáme is in greatest demand, one fundo is equivalent to 1 shukkah merkani, and 6 khete to the shukkah kaniki.

2. Next in demand to the sámesáme, throughout the country, except at Ujiji, where they lose half their value, are the pink porcelain, called gulabi (the rosy), or máguru lá nzige (locust’s feet). The price in Zanzibar varies from 12 to 15 dollars per frasilah.

3. The blue porcelain, called in Venice ajerino, and in East Africa langiyo or murtutu (blue vitriol) is of three several sizes, and the best is of the lightest colour. The larger variety, called langiyo mkuba, fetches, at Zanzibar, from 6 to 12 dollars per frasilah, and the p’heke, or smaller, from 7 to 9 dollars. In Usagara and Unyamwezi, where from 3 to 4 fundo are equivalent to the shukkah merkani, and 1 to 2 to the shukkah kaniki, it is used for minor purchases, where the sámesáme would be too valuable. It is little prized in other parts, and between Unyamwezi and Ujiji it falls to the low level of the white porcelain.

4. A local variety, current from Msene to the Tanganyika Lake, where, in the heavier dealings, as the purchase of slaves and ivory, a few strings are always required to cap the bargain, is called mzizima, mtunda, balghami, and jelabi, the ringel perle of Germany. It is a large flat bead of glass; the khete contains about 150, and each item acts as a copper coin. The mzizima is of two varieties; the more common is a dark blue, the other is of a whitish and opaline tint. At Zanzibar the frasilah costs from 7 to 9 dollars. In Unyamwezi 3 fundo are equivalent to 1 shukkah merkani, and 1 fundo to 1 shukkah kaniki.

5. Another local variety is the balghami mkuba, popularly called sungomaji, a bead made at Nuremberg (?). It is a porcelain, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, and of two colours, white and light blue. The sungomaji, attached to a thin cord or twine, is worn singly or in numbers as an ornament round the neck, and the people complain that the polish soon wears off. At Zanzibar the price per 1000 is from 15 to 20 dollars, but it is expected to decline to 10 dollars. This bead is useful in purchasing ivory in Ugogo and Unyamwezi, and in hiring boats at Ujiji: its relative value to cloth is 19 per shukkah merkani, and 15 per shukkah kaniki.

6. The sofi, called in Italian cannettone, resembles bits of broken pipe-stems, about two-thirds of an inch in length. It is of various colours, white, brick-red, and black. Each bead is termed masaro, and is used like pice in India: of these the khete contains from 55 to 60. The price varies, at Zanzibar, from 2 to 3 dollars per frasilah; in the interior, however, the value greatly increases, on account of insufficient importation. This bead, in 1858, was in great demand throughout Usagara, Unyamwezi, and the western regions, where it was as valuable as the sámesáme. Having neglected to lay in a store at Zanzibar, the East African Expedition was compelled to exchange cloth for it at Msene and Ujiji, giving 1 shukkah merkani for 30 to 35 khete, and 1 shukkah kaniki for 15 to 25. In Ujiji, however, many of the purchases were rejected because the bits had become small by wear, or had been chipped off by use.

7. The staple of commerce is a coarse porcelain bead, of various colours, known in Zanzibar by the generic name of háfizi. There are three principal kinds. The khanyera or ushanga waupa (white beads) are common throughout the country. The average value, at Zanzibar, is 6 dollars per frasilah: in Unyamwezi, 4 fundo were equivalent to the shukkah merkani, and 2 to 3 to the kaniki; but the people, glutted with this bead (as many as 20,000 strings were supplied to the East African Expedition by the Banyans of Zanzibar), preferred 1 khete of sámesáme to 3 of khanyera. The kidunduguru is a dull brick-red bead, worth at Zanzibar from 5 to 7 dollars per frasilah, but little prized in the interior, where it is derisively termed khanyera ya mk’hundu. Another red variety of háfizi is called merkani: it is finely made to resemble the sámesáme, and costs from 7 to 11 dollars per frasilah. Of this bead there are four several subdivisions. The uzanzawírá or samuli (ghee-coloured) is a bright yellow porcelain worth, at Zanzibar, from 7 to 9 dollars per frasilah. It is in demand throughout Chhaga and the Masai country, but is rarely seen on the central line.

8. The sukoli are orange-coloured or rhubarb-tinted porcelain, which average, at Zanzibar, from 7 to 9 dollars. They are prized in Usagara and Ugogo, but are little worn in other places.

9. The nílí (green), or ukutí wa mnazi (coco-leaves), are little beads of transparent green glass; they are of three sizes, the smallest of which is called kíkítí. The Zanzibar price is from 6 to 11 dollars. In Ujiji they are highly valued, and are readily taken in small quantities throughout the central line.

10. The ghubari (dust-coloured), or nya kifu (?) is a small dove-coloured bead, costing, in Zanzibar, from 7 or 8 dollars. It is used in Uzaramo, but its dulness of aspect prevents it being a favourite.

11. The lungenya or lak’hio is a coarse red porcelain, valued at 5 to 6 dollars in Zanzibar, and now principally exported to Uruwwa and the innermost regions of Central Africa.

12. The bubu (ububu?), also called ukumwi and ushanga ya vipande, are black Venetians, dull dark porcelain, ranging, at Zanzibar, from 5 to 7 dollars. They are of fourteen sizes, large, medium, and small; the latter are the most valued. These beads are taken by the Wazaramo. In East Usagara and Unyamwezi they are called khuni or firewood, nor will they be received in barter except when they excite a temporary caprice.

The other beads, occasionally met with, are the sereketi, ovals of white or garnet-red, prized in Khutu; choroko or mágiyo, dull green porcelains; undriyo maupe (?), mauve-coloured, round or oval; undriyo mausi (?), dark lavender; asmani, sky-coloured glass; and pusange, blue Bohemian glass beads, cut into facets. The people of the coast also patronise a variety of large fancy articles, flowered, shelled, and otherwise ornamented; these, however, rarely find their way into the interior.

After piece goods and beads, the principal articles of traffic, especially on the northern lines and the western portion of the central route, are masango (in the singular sango), or brass wires, called by the Arabs hajúlah. Nos. 4 or 5 are preferred. They are purchased in Zanzibar, when cheap, for 12 dollars, and when dear for 16 dollars per frasilah. When imported up country the frasilah is divided into three or four large coils, called by the Arabs daur, and by the Africans khata, for the convenience of attachment to the banghy-pole. Arrived at Unyanyembe they are converted by artizans into the kitindi, or coil-bracelets, described in the preceding pages. Each daur forms two or three of these bulky ornaments, of which there are about 11 to the frasilah, and the weight is thus upwards of three pounds. The charge for the cutting, cleaning, and twisting into shape is about 1 doti of domestics for 50 kitindis. The value of the kitindi, throughout Unyamwezi, in 1858, was 1 doti merkani; at Ujiji, where they are in demand for slaves and ivory, the price was doubled. Thus, the kitindi, worth one dollar each--when cheap, nine are bought for ten dollars--in Zanzibar, rises to five dollars in the lake regions. Kitindi were formerly made of copper wire; it has fallen into disuse on account of its expense,--at Zanzibar from 15 to 20 dollars per frasilah. Large iron wires, called senyenge, are confined to Ugogo and the northern countries inhabited by the Wamasai. The East Africans have learned to draw fine wire, which they call uzi wa shaba (brass thread); they also import from the coast Nos. 22 to 25, and employ them for a variety of decorative purposes, which have already been alluded to. The average price of this small wire at Zanzibar is 12 dollars per frasilah. As has been mentioned, sat or zinc, called by the Africans bati (tin), is imported by the Wajiji.

The principal of the minor items are coloured cloths, called by the people “cloths with names:” of these, many kinds are imported by every caravan. In some regions, Ugogo for instance, the people will not sell their goats and more valuable provisions for plain piece-goods; their gross and gaudy tastes lead them to despise sober and uniform colours. The sultans invariably demand for themselves and their wives showy goods, and complete their honga or blackmail with domestics and indigo-dyed cottons, which they divide amongst their followers. Often, too, a bit of scarlet broadcloth, thrown in at the end of a lengthened haggle, opens a road and renders impossibilities possible.

The coloured cloths may be divided into three kinds,--woollens, cottons, and silks mixed with cotton. Of the former, the principal varieties now imported are Joho or broadcloth; of the second, beginning with the cheapest, are Barsati, Dabwani, Jamdani, Bandira, Shít (chintz), Khuzarangi, Ukaya, Sohari, Shali, Taujiri, Msutu, Kikoi, and Shazar or Mukunguru; the mixed and most expensive varieties are the Subai, Dewli, Sabuni, Khesi, and Masnafu. Travelling Arabs usually take a piece of baftah or white calico as kafan or shrouds for themselves or their companions in case of accidents. At Zanzibar the value of a piece of 24 yds. is 1 dollar 25 cents. Blankets were at first imported by the Arabs, but being unsuited to the climate and to the habits of the people they soon became a drug in the market.

Joho (a corruption of the Arabic Johh) is a coarse article, either blue or scarlet. As a rule, even Asiatics ignore the value of broadcloth, estimating it, as they do guns and watches, by the shine of the exterior: the African looks only at the length of the pile and the depth of the tint. The Zanzibar valuation of the cheap English article is usually 50 cents (2_s._ 1_d._) per yard; in the interior rising rapidly through double and treble to four times that price, it becomes a present for a prince. At Ujiji and other great ivory-marts there is a demand for this article, blue as well as red; it is worn, like the shukkah merkani, round the loins by men and round the bosom by women, who, therefore, require a tobe or double length. At Unyanyembe there are generally pauper Arabs or Wasawahili artisans who can fashion the merchants’ supplies into the kizbao or waistcoats affected by the African chiefs in imitation of their more civilised visitors.

Of the second division the cheapest is the Barsati, called by the Africans kitambi; it is a blue cotton cloth, with a broad red stripe extending along one quarter of the depth, the other three-quarters being dark blue; the red is either of European or Cutch dye. The former is preferred upon the coast for the purchase of copal. Of this Indian stuff there are three kinds, varying in size, colour, and quality; the cheapest is worth at Zanzibar (where, however, like dabwani, it is usually sold by the gorah of two uzar or loin-cloths) from 5 to 7 dollars per score; the second 10 dollars 50 cents; and the best 14 to 15 dollars. The barsati in the interior represents the doti or tobe of Merkani. On the coast it is a favourite article of wear with the poorer freemen, slaves, and women. Beyond the maritime regions the chiefs will often refuse a barsati, if of small dimensions and flimsy texture. Formerly, the barsati was made of silk, and cost 7 dollars per loin-cloth. Of late years the Wanyamwezi have taken into favour the barsati or kitambi banyani; it is a thin white long cloth, called in Bombay kora (Corah, or cotton piece-goods), with a narrow reddish border of madder or other dye stamped in India or at Zanzibar. The piece of 39 yards, which is divided into 20 shukkah, costs at Bombay 4·50 Co.’s rs.; at Zanzibar 2 dollars 50 cents; and the price of printing the edge is 1 dollar 75 cents.

The dabwani is a kind of small blue and white check made at Maskat; one fourth of its breadth is a red stripe, edged with white and yellow. This stuff, which from its peculiar stiffening of gum appears rather like grass-cloth than cotton, is of three kinds: the cheapest, dyed with Cutch colours, is much used in the far interior; it costs at Zanzibar 12 dols. 50 cents per score of pieces, each two and a half yards long;--the medium quality, employed in the copal trade of the coast, is stained with European dye, and superior in work; the score of pieces, each 3 yards long, costs 30 dols.;--and the best, which is almost confined to the island of Zanzibar, ranges from 40 to 45 dols. per kori. The dabwani is considered in the interior nearly double the value of the barsati, and it is rarely rejected unless stained or injured.

The jamdani is a sprigged or worked muslin imported from India: though much prized for turbans by the dignitaries of the maritime races, it is rarely carried far up the country. At Zanzibar the price of 10 yards is 1 dol., and the piece of 20 lengths, each sufficient for a turban, may be purchased for 15 dols.

The bandira (flag stuff) is a red cotton bunting imported from Bombay. It is prized in the interior by women. At Zanzibar the price of this stuff greatly varies; when cheap the piece of 28 yards may be obtained for 2 dols. 50 cents, when dear it rises to 3 dols. 50 cents. It is sold by gorah of 7½ shukkahs.

Shít, or chintz, is of many different kinds. The common English is a red cotton, striped yellow and dark green; it fetches from 1 dol. 50 cents to 2 dols. per piece of 28 yards, and is little prized in the interior. Those preferred, especially in Unyamwezi and Ujiji, are the French and Hamburg; the former is worth at Zanzibar from 4 dols. 50 cents per piece of 35 yards, to 5 dols. 50 cents per gorah of 10 shukkahs, and the latter from 5 dols. to 5 dols. 50 cents. The most expensive is the “ajemi,” that used by the Persians as lining for their lambswool caps; the price is from 50 cents to 1 dol. per yard, which renders it a scarce article even in Zanzibar island.

The khuzarangi, a European cotton dyed a reddish nankeen, with pomegranate rind and other colouring matters, at Maskat, is almost confined to the Arabs, who make of it their normal garment, the long and sleeved shirt called el dishdashah, or in Kisawahili khanzu. It is the test of foreign respectability and decorum when appearing amongst the half-clad African races, and the poorest of pedlars will always carry with him one of these nightgown-like robes. The price of the ready-made dishdashah ranges from 50 cents to 2 dols. 50 cents, and the uncut piece of 16 yards costs from 2 dols. to 2 dols. 50 cents.

The ukaya somewhat resembles the kaniki, but it is finer and thinner. This jaconnet, manufactured in Europe and dyed in Bombay, is much used by female slaves and concubines as head veils. The price of the piece of 20 yards, when of inferior quality, is 2 dollars 50 cents; it ranges as high as 12 dollars.

The sohari, or ridia, made at Maskat, is a blue and white check with a red border about 5 inches broad, with smaller stripes of red, blue, and yellow; the ends of the piece are checks of a larger pattern, with red introduced. There are many varieties of this cloth, which, considered as superior to the dabwani as the latter is superior to the barsati, forms an acceptable present to a chief. The cheapest kind, much used in Unyamwezi, costs 16 dollars 25 cents per kori, or score. The higher sorts, of which however only 1 to 40 of the inferior is imported into the country, ranges from 22 to 30 dollars.

The shali, a corruption of the Indian shal (shawl), is a common English imitation shawl pattern of the poorest cotton. Bright yellow or red grounds, with the pear pattern and similar ornaments, are much prized by the chiefs of Unyamwezi. The price of the kori, or score, is 25 dollars.

The taujiri (from the Indian taujír burá) is a dark blue cotton stuff, with a gaudy border of madder-red or tumeric-yellow, the former colour preferred by the Wahiao, the latter by the Wanyamwezi. The price per score varies from 8 to 17 dollars.

The msutu is a European cotton dyed at Surat, indigo blue upon a madder-red ground, spotted with white. This print is much worn by Arab and Wasawahili women as a nightdress and morning wrapper; in the interior it becomes a robe of ceremony. At Zanzibar the piece of 20 lengths, each 2·25 yards long and 40 inches broad (two breadths being sown together), costs 19 dollars. The kisutu, an inferior variety, fetches, per kori of pieces 2·50 yards long, 13 dollars.

The kikoi is a white cotton, made at Surat, coarse and thick, with a broad border of parallel stripes, red, yellow, and indigo blue: per kori of pieces 2 yards long, and sewn in double breadths, the price is 5 dollars. A superior variety is made principally for the use of women, with a silk border, which costs from 1 to 4 dollars.

The shazar, called throughout the interior mukunguru, is a Cutch-made cotton plaid, with large or small squares, red and white, or black and blue; this cloth is an especial favourite with the Wamasai tribes. The score of pieces, each 2 yards, costs 6 dollars 25 cents. There is a dearer variety, of which each piece is 3 yards long, costing 16 dollars per kori, and therefore rarely sold.

Of the last division of “cloths with names,” namely those of silk and cotton mixed, the most popular is the subaí. It is a striped stuff, with small checks between the lines, and with a half-breadth of border, a complicated pattern of red, black, and yellow. This cloth is used as an uzar, or loin-cloth, by the middle classes of Arabs; the tambua, taraza, or fringe, is applied to the cloth with a band of gold thread at Zanzibar, by Wasawahili. The subai, made at Maskat of Cutch cotton, varies greatly in price: the cheapest, of cotton only, may be obtained for 2 dollars; the medium, generally preferred for presents to great chiefs, is about 5 dollars 50 cents; whilst the most expensive, inwoven with gold thread, ranges from 8 to 30 dollars.

The dewli is the Indian lungi, a Surat silk, garnished with a border of gold thread and a fringe at Zanzibar. It is a red, yellow, or green ground, striped in various ways, and much prized for uzar. The price of the cheap piece of 3·50 yards is 7 dollars, besides the fringe, which is 2 dollars more; the best, when adorned with gold, rise to 80 dollars.

The sabuni uzar, made in Maskat, is a silk-bordered cotton, a small blue and white check; the red and yellow edging which gives it its value is about one-fifth of its breadth. The score of pieces, each 2·50 yards long, varies from 25 to 50 dollars; the more expensive, however, rarely find their way into the interior.

The khesi is a rare importation from Bombay, a scarlet silk, made at Tannah; the piece sold at Bombay for 10 Co.’s rs. fetches at Zanzibar 5 dols. 50 cents to 6 dollars; this kind is preferred by the Wanyamwezi chiefs; when larger, and adorned with gold stripes, it rises to 35 Co.’s rs., or 19 dollars, and is prized by the Banyans and Hindis of Zanzibar.

The masnafu is rare like the khesi; it is a mixed silk and cotton cloth, of striped pattern, made at Maskat. The cheapest is a piece of 1·75 yards, costing from 2 to 5 dollars, and highly regarded in Unyamwezi; the larger kinds, of 2·50 yards, rise from 5 to 6 dollars, and the Arabs will pay from 20 to 25 dollars for those worked with gold thread.

These notes upon the prices of importations into Central Africa rest upon the authority of the Hindus, and principally of Ladha Damha, the collector of customs at Zanzibar. Specimens of the cloths were deposited with the Royal Geographical Society of London, and were described by the kindness of Mr. Alderman Botterill, F.R.G.S.

Remain for consideration the minor and local items of traffic.

The skull-caps are of two kinds. One is a little fez, locally called kummah. It is made in France, rarely at Bagdad, and sells at Zanzibar for 5 dols. 50 cents to 9 dollars per dozen. The cheaper kind is preferred in Unyamwezi; it is carried up from the coast by Arab slaves and Wasawahili merchants, and is a favourite wear with the sultan and the mtongi. At Unyanyembe the price of the fez rises to 1 dollar. The “alfiyyah” is the common Surat cap, worked with silk upon a cotton ground; it is affected by the Diwans and Shomwis of the coasts. The “vis-gol,” or 20-stitch, preferred for importation, cost 8 dollars per score; the “tris-gol,” or 30-stitch, 13 dollars; and the “chalis-gol,” or 40-stitch, 18 dollars.

Besides these articles, a little hardware finds its way into the country. Knives, razors, fish-hooks, and needles are useful, especially in the transit of Uzaramo. As an investment they are useless; the people, who make for themselves an article which satisfies their wants, will not part with valuables to secure one a little better. They have small axes and sharp spears, consequently they will not buy dear cutlery; they have gourds, and therefore they care little for glass and china. The Birmingham trinkets and knicknacks, of which travellers take large outfits to savage and barbarous countries, would in East Africa be accepted by women and children as presents, but unless in exceptional cases they would not procure a pound of grain; mirrors are cheap and abundant at Zanzibar, yet they are rarely imported into the interior. The people will devise new bijouterie for themselves, but they will not borrow it from strangers. In the maritime regions, where the tribes are more civilised, they will covet such foreign contrivances, as dollars, blankets, snuff-boxes, and tin cylinders which can be converted into tobacco pouches: the Wanyamwezi would not regard them. Similarly in Somaliland, a case of Birmingham goods carried through the country returned to Aden almost full.

Coffee, sugar, and soap may generally be obtained in small quantities from the Arabs of Unyanyembe. At Zanzibar the price of common coffee is 3 dollars 75 cents, and of Mocha 5 dollars 50 cents per frasilah. Sugar is of three kinds: the buluji, or loaf-sugar, imported from America, averages 6 annas; sukkari za mawe, or sugar-candy, fetches upon the island 5 dollars 50 cents per frasilah; and the bungálá, or sukkari za mchanga (brown Bengal sugar), costs 3 dollars 50 cents; gur, or molasses, sells at Zanzibar for 1 dollar 25 cents per frasilah. Soap is brought to Zanzibar island by the Americans, French, and India merchants.

The other articles of importation into Zanzibar, which, however, so rarely find their way into the interior, that they do not merit detailed notice, are--rice and other cereals from Bombay and Western India; shipping materials, canvas, rigging, hempen cord, planks and boards, paint, pitch, turpentine, linseed-oil, bees’-wax, and tar, from America and India; metals from Europe and India; furniture from Europe and America, China and Bombay; carpets and rugs from Turkey and Persia; mats from Madagascar; made-up clothes from Maskat and Yemen; glassware from Europe and America; pottery, paper, and candles from Europe and Bombay; kuzah (water-jars) from the Persian Gulf; woods and timber from Madagascar, the Mozambique, and the coast as far north as Mombasah; skins and hides from the Banadir; salt-fish (shark and others) from Oman, Hazramaut, and the Benadir; brandy, rum, peppermint, eau de Cologne, syrups and pickles, tobacco, cigars, and tea, from Bombay, France, and the Mauritius; rose-water from the Gulf; attar of rose and of sandal from Bombay; dates, almonds, and raisins from Arabia and the Gulf; gums and ambergris from Madagascar, the Mozambique, and the “Sayf-Tawil” (the long low coast extending from Ras Awath, in N. lat. 5° 33′, to Ras el-Khayl, N. lat. 7° 44′); aloes and dragon’s-blood from Socotra; incense, gum Arabic, and myrrh from the Somali country and the Benadir; turmeric, opium, ginger, nutmegs, colombo-root, cardamoms, cinnamon, aniseed, camphor, benzoin, assafœtida, saltpetre, potash, blue vitriol, alum, soda, saffron, garlic, fenugreek, and other drugs and spices from Bombay and Western India.

The staple articles of the internal trade throughout the regions extending from the coast of the Indian Ocean to the lakes of Central Africa are comprised in slaves and cattle, salt, iron, tobacco, mats and strainers, and tree-barks and ropes. Of these, all except salt have been noticed in detail in the preceding pages.

Salt is brought down during the season from East Arabia to Zanzibar by Arab dows, and is heaped up for sale on a strip of clear ground under the eastern face of the gurayza or fort. It is of two kinds: the fine rock salt sells at 6 annas per frasilah, and the inferior, which is dark and sandy, at about half that price. On the coast the principal ports and towns supply themselves with sea-salt evaporated in the rudest way. Pits sunk near the numerous lagoons and backwaters allow the saline particles to infiltrate; the contents, then placed in a pierced earthen pot, are allowed to strain into a second beneath. They are inspissated by boiling, and are finally dried in the sun, when the mass assumes the form of sand. This coarse salt is sold after the rains, when it abounds, for its weight of holcus; when dear, the price is doubled. In the interior there are two great markets, and the regularity of communication enables the people to fare better as regards the luxury than the more civilised races of Abyssinia and Harar, where of a millionnaire it is said, “he eateth salt.” An inferior article is exported from Ugogo, about half-way between the East Coast and the Tanganyika Lake. A superior quality is extracted from the pits near the Rusugi River in Western Uvinza, distant but a few days from Ujiji. For the prices and other conditions of sale the reader is referred to Chapters V. and VII.

The subject of exports will be treated of at some length; it is not only interesting from its intrinsic value, but it is capable of considerable development, and it also offers a ready entrance for civilisation. The African will never allow the roads to be permanently closed--none but the highly refined amongst mankind can contemplate with satisfaction a life of utter savagery. The Arab is too wise to despise “protection,” but he will not refuse to avail himself of assistance offered by foreigners when they appear as capitalists. Hitherto British interests have been neglected in this portion of the African continent, and the name of England is unknown in the interior. Upon the island of Zanzibar, in 1857-8, there was not an English firm; no line of steamers connected it with India or the Cape, and, during the dead season, nine months have elapsed before the answer to a letter has been received from home.

The reader is warned that amongst the East Africans the “bay o shara”--barter or round trade--is an extensive subject, of which only the broad outlines and general indications can be traced. At present, the worthlessness of time enables both buyer and seller to haggle _ad libitum_, and the superior craft of the Arab, the Banyan, the Msawahili, and the more civilised slave, has encumbered with a host of difficulties the simplest transactions. It is easy to be a merchant and to buy wholesale at Zanzibar, but a lengthened period of linguistic study and of conversancy with the habits and customs of the people must be spent by the stranger who would engage in the task of retail-buying in the interior.

The principal article of export from the Zanzibar coast is copal, from the interior ivory. The minor items are hippopotamus teeth, rhinoceros horns, cattle, skins, hides, and horns, the cereals, timbers, and cowries. Concerning the slaves, who in East Africa still form a considerable item of export, details have been given in the preceding pages. The articles which might be exploited, were means of carriage supplied to the people, are wax and honey, orchella-weed, fibrous substances, and a variety of gums.

The copal of Zanzibar, which differs materially from that of the Western Coast of Mexico and the cowaee (Australian dammar?) of New Zealand, is the only article convertible into the fine varnishes now so extensively used throughout the civilised world.

As the attention of the Expedition was particularly directed to the supplies of copal in East Africa by Dr. G. Buist, LL.D., Secretary to the Bombay branch of the R. G. Society, many inquiries and visits to the copal diggings were made. In the early part of 1857 specimens of the soils and subsoils, and of the tree itself, were forwarded to the Society.

The copal-tree is called by the Arabs shajar el sandarús, from the Hindostani chhandarus; by the Wasawahili msandarusi; and by the Wazaramo and other maritime races mnángú. The tree still lingers on the island and the mainland of Zanzibar. It was observed at Mombasah, Saadani, Muhonyera, and Mzegera of Uzaramo; and was heard of at Bagamoyo, Mbuamaji, and Kilwa. It is by no means, as some have supposed, a shrubby thorn; its towering bole has formed canoes 60 feet long, and a single tree has sufficed for the kelson of a brig. The average size, however, is about half that height, with from 3 to 6 feet girth near the ground; the bark is smooth, the lower branches are often within reach of a man’s hand, and the tree frequently emerges from a natural ring-fence of dense vegetation. The trunk is of a yellow-whitish tinge, rendering the tree conspicuous amid the dark African jungle-growths; it is dotted with exudations of raw gum, which is found scattered in bits about the base; and it is infested by ants, especially by a long ginger-coloured and semi-transparent variety, called by the people maji-m’oto, or “boiling water,” from its fiery bite. The copal wood is yellow tinted, and the saw collects from it large flakes; when dried and polished it darkens to a honey-brown, and, being well veined, it is used for the panels of doors. The small and pliable branches, freshly cut, form favourite “bakur,” the kurbaj or bastinadoing instrument of these regions; after long keeping they become brittle. The modern habitat of the tree is the alluvial sea-plain and the anciently raised beach: though extending over the crest of the latter formation, it ceases to be found at any distance beyond the landward counterslope, and it is unknown in the interior.

The gum copal is called by the Arabs and Hindus sandarus, by the Wasawahili sandarusi, and by the Wanyamwezi--who employ it like the people of Mexico and Yucatan as incense in incantations and medicinings--sirokko and mámnángu. This semi-fossil is not “washed out by streams and torrents,” but “crowed” or dug up by the coast clans and the barbarians of the maritime region. In places it is found when sinking piles for huts, and at times it is picked up in spots overflowed by the high tides. The East African seaboard, from Ras Gomani in S. lat. 3° to Ras Delgado in 10° 41′, with a medium depth of 30 miles, may indeed be called the “copal coast;” every part supplies more or less the gum of commerce. Even a section of this line, from the mouth of the Pangani River to Ngao (Monghou), would, if properly exploited, suffice to supply all our present wants.

The Arabs and Africans divide the gum into two different kinds. The raw copal (copal vert of the French market) is called sandarusi za miti, “tree copal,” or chakází, corrupted by the Zanzibar merchant to “jackass” copal. This chakazi is either picked from the tree or is found, as in the island of Zanzibar, shallowly imbedded in the loose soil, where it has not remained long enough to attain the phase of bitumenisation. To the eye it is smoky or clouded inside, it feels soft, it becomes like putty when exposed to the action of alcohol, and it viscidises in the solution used for washing the true copal. Little valued in European technology, it is exported to Bombay, where it is converted into an inferior varnish for carriages and palanquins, and to China, where the people have discovered, it is said, for utilising it, a process which, like the manufacture of rice paper and of Indian ink, they keep secret. The price of chakazi varies from 4 to 9 dollars per frasilah.

The true or ripe copal, properly called sandarusi, is the produce of vast extinct forests, overthrown in former ages either by some violent action of the elements, or exuded from the roots of the tree by an abnormal action which exhausted and destroyed it. The gum, buried at depths beyond atmospheric influence, has, like amber and similar gum-resins, been bitumenised in all its purity, the volatile principles being fixed by moisture and by the exclusion of external air. That it is the produce of a tree is proved by the discovery of pieces of gum embedded in a touchwood which crumbles under the fingers; the “goose-skin,” which is the impress of sand or gravel, shows that it was buried in a soft state; and the bees, flies, gnats, and other insects which are sometimes found in it delicately preserved, seem to disprove a remote geologic antiquity. At the end of the rains it is usually carried ungarbled to Zanzibar. When garbled upon the coast it acquires an additional value of 1 dollar per frasilah. The Banyan embarks it on board his own boat, or pays a freight varying from 2 to 4 annas, and the ushur or government tax is 6 annas per frasilah with half an anna for charity. About 8 annas per frasilah are deducted for “tare and tret.” At Zanzibar, after being sifted and freed from heterogeneous matter, it is sent by the Banyan retailer to the Indian market or sold to the foreign merchant. It is then washed in solutions of various strengths: the lye is supposed to be composed of soda and other agents for softening the water; its proportions, however, are kept a profound secret. European technologists have, it is said, vainly proposed theoretical methods for the delicate part of the operation which is to clear the goose-skin of dirt. The Americans exported the gum uncleaned, because the operation is better performed at Salem. Of late years they have begun to prepare it at Zanzibar, like the Hamburg traders. When taken from the solution, in which from 20 to 37 per cent. is lost, the gum is washed, sun-dried for some hours, and cleaned with a hard brush, which must not, however, injure the goose skin; the dark “eyes,” where the dirt has sunk deep, are also picked out with an iron tool. It is then carefully garbled with due regard to colour and size. There are many tints and peculiarities known only to those whose interests compel them to study and to observe copal, which, like cotton and Cashmere shawls, requires years of experience. As a rule, the clear and semi-transparent are the best; then follow the numerous and almost imperceptible varieties of dull white, lemon colour, amber yellow, rhubarb yellow, bright red, and dull red. Some specimens of this vegetable fossil appear by their dirty and blackened hue to have been subjected to the influence of fire; others again are remarkable for a tender grass-green colour. According to some authorities, the gum, when long kept, has been observed to change its tinge. The sizes are fine, medium, and large, with many subdivisions; the pieces vary from the dimensions of small pebbles to 2 or 3 ounces; they have been known to weigh 5 lbs., and, it is said, at Salem a piece of 35 lbs. is shown. Lastly, the gum is thrown broadcast into boxes and exported from the island. The Hamburg merchants keep European coopers, who put together the cases whose material is sent out to them. It is almost impossible to average the export of copal from Zanzibar. According to the late Lieutenant-Colonel Hamerton, it varies from 800,000 to 1,200,000 lbs. per annum, of which Hamburg absorbs 150,000 lbs., and Bombay two lacs’ worth. The refuse copal used formerly to reach India as “packing,” being deemed of no value in commerce; of late years the scarcity of the supply has rendered merchants more careful. The price, also, is subject to incessant fluctuations, and during the last few years it has increased from 4 dol. 50 cents to a maximum of 12 dollars per frasilah.

According to the Arabs, the redder the soil the better is the copal. The superficies of the copal country is generally a thin coat of white sand, covering a dark and fertilising humus, the vestiges of decayed vegetation, which varies from a few inches to a foot and a half in depth. In the island of Zanzibar, which produces only the chakazi or raw copal, the subsoil is a stiff blue clay, the raised sea-beach, and the ancient habitat of the coco. It becomes greasy and adhesive, clogging the hoe in its lower bed; where it is dotted with blood-coloured fragments of ochreish earth, proving the presence of oxidising and chalybeate efficients, and with a fibrous light-red matter, apparently decayed coco-roots. At a depth of from 2 to 3 feet water oozes from the greasy walls of the pit. When digging through these formations, the gum copal occurs in the vegetable soil overlying the clayey subsoil.

A visit to the little port of Saadani afforded different results. After crossing 3 miles of alluvial and maritime plain, covered with a rank vegetation of spear grass and low thorns, with occasional mimosas and tall hyphænas, which have supplanted the coco, the traveller finds a few scattered specimens of the living tree and pits dotting the ground. The diggers, however, generally advance another mile to a distinctly formed sea-beach, marked with lateral bands of quartzose and water-rolled pebbles, and swelling gradually to 150 feet from the alluvial plain. The thin but rich vegetable covering supports a luxuriant thicket, the subsoil is red and sandy, and the colour darkens as the excavation deepens. After 3 feet, fibrous matter appears, and below this copal, dusty and comminuted, is blended with the red ochreish earth. The guides assert that they have never hit upon the subsoil of blue clay, but they never dig lower than a man’s waist, and the pits are seldom more than 2 feet in depth. Though the soil is red, the copal of Saadani is not highly prized, being of a dull white colour; it is usually designated as “chakazi.”

On the line inland from Bagamoyo and Kaole the copal-tree was observed at rare intervals in the forests, and the pits extended as far as Muhonyera, about 40 miles in direct distance from the coast. The produce of this country, though not first-rate, is considered far superior to that about Saadani.