Zanzibar Vol 1 - Sir Richard Francis Burton

• .ANCIENT TOMB AT TONGO-NI.

ZANZIBAR;CITY, lSI-AND, AND COAST.BYRICHARD F. BURTON.IN TWO VOLUMES.VOL. 1.LONDON:TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CA.THERINE ST., STRA.ND.1872.[All Rights reserve(l.)

JOHN CHILnS AND SON, J'R1NTERB.

TOTHE MEMORY OF MY OLD AND LAMENTED FRIEND,(F.R.C.B., ETC. ETC., STAFll' BURGEON, BOMBAY ARMY),THIS NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY,IN WHICH FATE PREVENTED HIS T.A.KlNG PART,IS INSCRIBEDWITH THE DEEPEST FEELINGS OF AFFECTION AND REGRE1'.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.CHAPTER I.PREPARATORYPAGE1CHAPTER IIARRIVAL AT ZANZIBAR ISLAND16CHAPTER III.HOW THE NILE QUESTION STOOD IN THE YEAR OF GRACE 1856 38CHAPTER IV.A STROLL THROUGH ZANZIBAR CITY ..66CHAPTER V.GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL . . 116SECT. I. AFRICA, EAST AND WEST-'ZANZlilAR' EXl'LAINED-MENOU­THIAS-POSITION AND FORMATION-THE EAST [AFRICAN CUR-RENT-NAVIGATION-ASPECT OF THE ISLAND 116IL METEOROLOGICAL NOTES-THE DOUBLE SEASONS. &c. 150III, CLIMATE CONTINUED-NOTES ON THE NOSOLOGY OFZANZIBAR-EFFECTS ON STRANGERS •. 176IV. NOTES ON THE F..I.UNA OF ZANZIDAR. . 197V. NOTES ON THE FLORA OF ZANZIBAR. . 218VI. THE INDUSTRY OF ZANZIBAR. . 252

VlllCONTENTS.CHAPTER VI.PAG)VISIT TO THE PRINCE SAYYID MAJID.-THE GOVERNMENT OF ZAN-ZIBAR .. 266CH.APTER VII.A CHRONICLE OF ZANZIBAR-THE CAREER OF THE LATE' IMAM:SAITID SAID 276CHAPTER VIII.ETHNOLOGY OF ZANZIBAR.-THE FOREIGN RESIDENTS.. 31iCHAPTER IX.HORSEFLESH AT ZANZIBAR.-THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY, ANDTHE CWVE PLANTATIONS 346CHAPTER X.ETHNOLOGY OF ZANZIBAR.-THE ARABS.. 368CHAPTER XI.ETHNOLOGY OF ZANZIBAR. -THE WASAWAHILI AND THE SLAVE IRACES .. 407PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURECHAPTER XII.APPENDIX.THE UKARA OR UKEREWE LAKE .. 490

xPREFACE.'When searching the strong box belonging to t}leBombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society yesterday Ifound the accompanying parcel, directed.. to the SecretaryRoyal Geographical Society, with a pencil note upon it,requesting that it might be sent to the Secretary of State,Foreign Office. From the signature in the corner, R. F.B., I conclude that it must be the manuscript he sent toColonel Rigby at Zanzibar, and which, from flome fltatementsof Mr Burton (to which I cannot at present refer,but of which I have a clear recollection), never reached itsdestination. 1'I have not been able to discover when or how theparcel was. received, nor how the Bombay Branch ofthe Royal Asiatic Society was to send it to the ForeignOffice, except through Government.I therefore send it toyou, and perhaps you would send it to the Under Secretaryat the India House, with the above explanation, and requestthat it be sent to its direction.I have, &c.,(Signed) C. RAVENSCROFT,Acting Chief Secretary to Government.'It is not a little curious that, as my £Tst report uponthe subject of Zanzibar was diverted from its destination,1 Mr Frere's memory is unusually short. I intrusted the MS. tothe Eurasian apothecary of the Zanzibar Consulate, and I suspected(Lake Regions of Central Africa, vol. i. chap. i.) that it had come to anuntimely end. The white population at Zanzibar had in those daysa great horror of publication, and thus is easily explained how aparcel legibly addressed to the Royal Geographical Society had thehonour of passing eight years in the strong box of the 'BombayBranch of the Royal Asiatic Society.'

PREFACE.Xlso the' Letts' containing my excursions to Sa'adani andto Kilwa also came to temporary grief. Annexed by askipper on the West African coast, appropriated by hiswidow, and exposed at a London bookseller's stall (labelledoutside, 'Burton Original MS. Diary in Africa'), it wasaccidentally left by the buyer, an English Artilleryofficer, in the hall of one of H. M.'s Ministers of State.Here being recognized, it was kindly and courteously returnedto me. The meteorological observations made byme on the East African seaboard and at other places duringthe discovery of the Lakes were also, I would remark,mislaid for y~ars, deep hidden in certain pigeonholesat Whitehall Place. May these three accidents betypical of the fate of my East African Expedition, which,so long the victim of uncontrollable circumstance, appearsnow, after many weary years, likely to emerge from theshadow which overcast it, and to occupy the positionwhich I ever desired to see it conquer.The two old documents are published with theless compunction as Zanzibar, though increasing in importanceand now the head-quarters of an AdmiraltyOourt and of two Mission-Schools, with a printing-pressand other civilized appliances, has not of late been workedout.The best authorities are still thoRe who appearedabout a quarter of a century ago, always excepting, however,the four magnificent volumes, Baron Oarl Clare vondel' Decken's Reisen in Ost-Afrika, in den Jahren 1859bis 1861, which I first saw at Jerusalem: there too I hadthe pleasure of making acquaintance with Dr Otto Kersten,who accompanied the unfortunate traveller during the

xiiPREFACE.earlier portion of his peregrinations, and. who has so ablyand efficiently performed his part as editor. Had a certainpublisher .carried out his expressed intention of introducinga resume of this fine work in English dress to theBritish public, I should have saved myself the troubleof writing these volumes: the Reisen, however, in theoriginal form are hardly likely to become popular. Moreover,the long interval of a decade has borne fruit: it hasgiven me time to work out the subject, and, better still, towrite with calmness and temper upon a theme of the mosttemper-trying nature, - chap. xii. vol.· II. will explainwhat is meant. Finally, I have something important tosay upon the subject of the so-called. Victoria NyanzaLake.I had proposed to enrich the Appendix with extractsfrom Arab and other mediffival authors, who have treatedof Zanzibar, Island and Coast. Such an addition, however,would destroy all proportion between the book and itssubject: I have therefore confined myself to notes on commerceand tariffs of prices in 1857 to 1859, to meteorologicalobservations, and to Capt. Smee's coasting voyage,which dates from January, 1811. The latter will supplyan excellent birds-eye view of those parts of the Zanzibarmainland which were not visited by the East Mrican Expedition.London, Oct. 15,1871.RICHARD F. BURTON.

ZA NZIBA.R.PA.RT 1.THE CITY AN)) THE ISLAND.'Of a territory within a fortnight's sail of us, we scarcoly know more than we do ofmuch of Central Africa, infinitoly less than we do of the shores of the Icy Sea.'­TRANS. BOMBAY GEOG. Soc., voL xiif 81 fueris sapiens, sapientibuB utero factis,Si ignarus mordax, utere dante tuo.'FR. JOAO DE SANT' ANGELO.

ZA. NZI B A. R.CHAPTER I.PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.'We were now landed upon the Continent of Africa, themost desolate, desert, and inhospitable country. in the world,even Greenland and Nova Zembla itself not excepted.'-DE1WE.I COULD not have believed, before Experiencetaught me, how sad and solemn is the momentwhen a man sits down to think over and towrite out the tale of what was before the last Decadebegan. How many thoughts and memoriescrowd upon the mind! How many ghosts andphantoms start up from the brain-the shreds ofhopes destroyed and of aims made futile; ofends accomplished and of prizes won; the failuresand the successes alike half forgotten!How many loves and friendships have waxed coldin the presence of llew ties! How many gravesVOL. I. 1

2 JOIN THE BASHI BUZUKS.have closed over their dead during those shortten years-that epitome of the past !, And when the lesson strikes the head,The weary heart grows cold.'• • * • •The result of a skirmish with the Somal ofBerberah (April 19, 1855) was, in my case, a visit'on sick leave' to England. Arrived there, Ilost no time in recovering health, and in volunteeringfor active Crimean service. The campaign,however, was but too advanced; all, appointments' at head-quarters had been tilledup; and new comers, such as I was, could lookonly to the 'Bashi Buzuks,' or to the 'TurkishContingent.'My choice was readily made. There was,indeed, no comparison between serving underMajor-General W. F. Beatson, an experiencedLight-Cavahy man who had seen rough work inthe saddle from Spain to Eastern Hindustan; andunder an individual, half-civilian~ half-reformedAdjutant-General, whose specialty was, and everhad been, foolscap-literally and metaphorically..In due time I found myself at the Dardanelles,Chief of Staff in that thoroughly wellabusedcorps, the Bashi Buzuks. It were' actumagere' to inflict upon the reader a rechauffe

THE BASHI BUZUKS IN THE CRTMEA. 3of our troubles,-how the military world declaredus to be a band of banditti, an irreclaimablesavagery; how a man, who then calledhimself H. B. M.'s Consul-but who has longsince incurred the just consequences of hismisconduct-packed the press, because GeneralBeatson had refused him a lucrative contract;how we awoke one fine morning to find ourselvesin a famous state of siege and blockade,with Turkish muskets on the land side, andwith British carronades on the water-front; andhow finally we, far more sinned against thansinning, were reported by Mr Consul Calvertto Constantinople as being in a furor of mutiny,intent upon battle and murder and suddendeath.. These things, and many other too personalfor this occasion, will fit better into anautobiography.The way, however, in which I 'came togrief' (permit me the phrase) deserves present, and instant record: it is an admirable commentupon the now universally accepted axiom, 'STIrtout,pas de zele,' and upon the Citizen-king'swarning words, 'Surtout, ne me :faites pas desaffaires.'The Bashi Buzuks, some 3000 sabres, almostall well mounted and better armed, were pe:etin-

4 VULUNTEER FOR KARS.aciously kept pitched on a bare hill-side, farfrom the scene of action and close to the Dardanellescountry town, that gay and lively TurkishCoventry, at the Hellespont-mouth. In anevil hour I proposed, if my General, who wantednothing better, would allow me, to proceed inperson to Constantinople and to volunteer officiallyfor the relief of the doomed city, Kars..A.b, Corydon, Corydon, qum te dementia cepit?And I did proceed to Stamb'ul; and I didvolunteer; and a neat hit, indeed, was that samepublic-spirited proceeding!It would be a lively imagination that couldconceive the scene of storm which resulted from·my brazen-faced procedure. The picture has itscomic side when looked back upon through themellowing medium of three long lustres. Thehopeful eagerness of the volunteer; the 'properpride' in one's corps, that had conie forward foran honourable action; the fluent proof that wecould convoy rations enough for the gallant anddeserted Ottoman garrison, diplomatically leftfor months to slow death by starvation; andtheblank and stunned surprise at the hurricaneof wrath which burst from the high authority towhose ambassadorial ear the project was entrusted.

RENEW EXPLORATION OF AFRICA. 5Reported home as a 'brouillon' and tmbulent,I again turned lovingly towards Africa­Central and Intertropical-and on April 19,1856, I resolved to renew my original design ofreaching the unknown regions, and of strikingthe Nile-sources via the Eastern coast. Forlong ages, I knew, explorers had been working,literally, as well as figuratively, against thestream; and, as the ancients had succeeded by aflank march, so the same might be done by usm.oderns. My Ptolemy told me the tale in veryplain and emphatic terms, and although hisshore-line shows great inaccuracies, his tra­.ditions of the interior, derived from mariners ofTyre and from older writers, appeared far morereliable:--'He (scil. the Tyrian) says that a certain Diogenes,one of those sailing to India, ... havingthe Troglyclitic region on the right, after 25 daysreached the Lakes whence the Nilus flows, andof which the Promontory of the Rhapta is a littlemore to the south.' IAmongst my scanty literary belongings, on1 Georg. lib. i. ix. 'I'he concluding words are Jv fun 'TOTWV 'PU7l"TWV ClICpOTl,pLOV OAL'Y~ vonwnpov. There is no reasonwhy Bilibaldus Pirkimerus f(Bilibaldi Pirckeymher), Lugd.1535, should render it, 'quibus Rltaptum promontor,ium paululumest Australius.'

6 MOTIVES FOR EXPLORING AFRICA.our march to the Tanganyika Lake was a paper(De AzaJiia Africrn littore Orientali, OommentatioPh;ysiologica, Bonvirn, Formis Oaroli Gengii,MDCCCLII.) kindly sent to me by the a,uthor,Mr George F. de Bunsen. It quoted that samepassage which was a frequent solace to meduring our 18 months' wanderings, and I stillpreserve the pamphlet as a memory.Nor had I forgotten Oamoens:-, And there behold the lakes wherein the Nileis born, a truth the ancients never knew;see how he bathes, 'gendering the crocodile,th' Abassian land, where man to Christ is true;behold, how lacking ramparts (novel style!)be fights heroic battle with the foe.see Meroe, island erst of ancient fame,Noba amongst the peoples now its name.' ILusiad, Canto x. 95.1 When the Portuguese counselled the Abyssinians to wantheir settlements against the Gallas, the former replied likeSpartans, ' No; we keep stones to build churches and temples,but we defend our country with our arms and hands! ' TheCoptic' Nob' signifies gold (Ritter Erdknnde, French translation,142), the Camoensian 'Noba' is therefore more correctthan our modern Nubia, which \ve find in the monk Burchard(A.D. 1250), '.,Ethiopia qtU'e hodie Nubia dicitur.' De Barros(1. iii. xii.) prefers' a gente dos Nobis.' I have been temptedto add a stanza which is not translated from Camoens.95 (a)And see the twain from Albion's chalky shorego forth th' Egyptian mystic veil to reud :the farthest funt of Nilus they explore,

THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 7Tbis is happier and truer to antiq"Luty thanthe doubts of Jose Basilio da Gama:-'-the sombre rangeVirginal, ne'er by foot of man profaned,Where rise Nile's fountains, if such fountains be.'o Uruguay, Canto Y.I consulted my excellent friend the late DrBarth, of Timbuktu, about following the footstepsof pilot Diogenes the Fortunate. He repliedin a kind and encouraging letter, hinting,however, that no prudent man would pledgehimself to discover the Nile sources. The RoyalGeographical Society benevolently listened oncemore to my desire of penetrating into the hea,rtof the Dark Oontinent. An Expeditionary Oommitteewas formed by Sir Roderick I. Murchison,the late Rear-admiral Beechey (then' :Presiclentof the Society), Oolonel Sykes, Ohairman of theCourt of Directors of the Hon. East IndianOompany, Mr Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton),MrFrancis Galton, the South African traveller,and Mr John Arrowsmith. I did nothear, strange to say, till many years had passed,those mighty waters whence the rivers trend,then, 0 dii:e Ohance! 0 Fortune hard and sore!of all their fatal labours jview the endthatlies self-victimed in his natl11land,this lives afar 'on friendle8s foreign strand.'

8 DESPATCHED TO EQUATORIAL AFRICA.of the active part which Vice~admiral Sir GeorgeBack, the veteran explorer of the Arctic regions,had taken in urging the expedition, and in proposingme as its head. Had it been otherwise,this recognition of his kindness would not havecome so tardily.The Oommittee obtained from Lord Clarendon,then H. M.'s Secretary of State for ForeignAffairs, the sum of £1000, and it was understoodthat the same amount would be advancedby the then ruling Oourt of Directors. Unfortunatelyit was found wanting. I received, however,on Sept. 13, 1856, formal permission, 'incompliance with the request of the Royal GeographicalSociety, to be absent from duty as aregimental officer under the patronage of H. B.Majesty's Government, to, be despatched intoEquatorial Mrica, for a period not exceeding twoyears, calculated from the date of departure fromBombay, upon the pay and allowances of myrank.' So wrote the Merchant-Sultans.I was anxious again to take Lieut. JohnHanning Speke, because he had suffered with mein purse and person at Berberah, and becausehe, like the rest of the party, could obtain noredress. Our misfortunes came directly fromAden, indirectly from England. I had pro-

DIFFICULTIES AND OBSTACLES. 9posed to build a fort at Berberah, and to buy allthe non-Ottoman ports on the western shores ofthe Red Sea for the trifle of £10,000. In thosedays of fierce outcry against' territorial aggrandisement'the Oourt of Directors looked withhorror at such a firebrand proposal, and theywere lost in wonder that a subaltern officer.should dare to prepare for the Suez Oanal, whichLord Palmerston and Mr Robert Stephensonhad declared to be impracticable. Therefore thelate Dr Buist, editor of the Bombay Times, hadhis orders to write down the' Somali Expedition.'lIe was ably assisted by a certain Reverendgentleman, then chaplain at Aden, who had gainedfor himself the honourable epithet of ShaytanAbyaz, or White Devil, while the apathy of thehighest political authority-the Resident at Aden,Brigadier Ooghlan-and the active jealousy of hisassistant, Oaptain Playfair, also contributed tothwart all my views, and to bring about, more orless directly, the bloody disaster which befell us atBerberah. For this we had no redress. The Ri"ghtHonourable the Governor-General of India/,theIlate Lord Dalhousie, of pernicious memory,thought more of using our injuries to cut off theslave-trade than of doing us justice, althoughjustice might easily have been done. After keep-

10 LIEUT. SPEKE.ing us waiting from April 23, 1855, to June 13,1857, the spoliator of Qude was pleased to informus, laconically and disdaining explanation, thathe ' could not accede to the application.' 1Nothing could persuade the Oourt of Directorsto dispense with the services of Lieut.Speke, who had, like myself, volunteered for theCrimea, and who, at the end of the War, had resolvedto travel for the rest of his leave. I persuadedhim to accompany me as far as Bombay,trusting that the just and generous Governor,the late Lord Elphinstone, who had ever warmlysupported my projects, and that my lamentedfriend James Grant Lumsden, then Member ofCouncil, would enable us, despite official oppositionat home, to tide over all obstacles.I have been prolix upon these points, whichsuggest that the difficulty of reaching the Lunar~1:ountains,or the' Invisos Fontes,' were in London,not in Africa; that the main obstacles were1 The losses of the Somali expedition (not including thoseof the Arab and Somali attendants) were as follows :-Lt. Strayan, I.N. (killed), lost Co.'s Rupees 1750Lt. Speke (wounded) do. 4100Lt. Burton (do.) do. 1950Lt. Herne do. 500Shaykh Ahmed do. 120Total, Company's Rupees 8420

ANGLO-INDIAN MISMANAGEMENT. 11not savages and malaria, but civilized rivalry andvis inertire; and that the requisites for successwere time, means, and freedom from officialtrammels. Hardly had we reached Cairo (Nov.6, 1856), and had inspected an expedition fittedout by H. H. the late Abbas Pasha, and admirablyorganized by the late Marie Joseph HenriLeonie de Lauture, Marquis d'Escayrac (generallyknown as Comte d'Escayar de Lauture),when an order from the Court of Directorssummoned me back to give evidence at some. wretched Court-martial pending on Colonel A.Shirley. The document being so worded that itcould not be obeyed, we-Lieut. Speke and 1­held on our way.And even when outward bound, I againgot into trouble, without being able, as wassaid of Lord Gough, to get out again. A shortstay at Suez, and the voyage down. the RedSea, taught me enough of Anglo-Indian mismanagementand of Arab temper, to foreseesome terrible disaster. Again that zeal! Inste.:'tdof reporting all things couleur de rose, Isent under flying seal, thro:ngh the Royal GeographicalSociety, with whom I directly corresponded,a long memorandum, showing the truestate of affairs, for transmission to the home

12 CENSURED FROM HOME.branch of the Indian Government. This' meddlingin politics' was 'viewed with displeasureby Government,' and reminded me of the oldsaying-, ,Vha mells wi' wbat anitber does,May e'en gang hame and shoe his goose.'The result was a 'wig' received in the heartof Africa, and-curious coincidence !-accompanyingthat sheet of foolscap was a newspapercontaining news of the Jeddah massacre (June15, 1858), and of our farcical revenge for thedeaths of Messrs Page, Eveillard, and some fourteensouls, nearly the whole Ohristian colony.1It neeel hardly be mentioned tbat tbis catastropheshowed the way to others, especially to the threedays' Tausheh' of Damascus in 1860.Fortune had now worked bel' little worst.We had a pleasant passage to Bombay (Nov.23, 1856), where affairs assumed a brighter aspect,as we began preparing for the long exploration.Lord Elphinstone, after an especial requisition,allowed Lieut. Speke to accompany me,He also kindly ordered the Hon. East IndiaCompany's sloop of war Elpbinstone, Captain1 I could not resist the temptation of printing' wig' andnewspaper pamgrapb side by side in the Appendix (ii.428) tomy , Lake Regions of Central Africa.'

DR J. F. STEINHAEUSER. 13Frushard, LN., to convoy us, knowing how muchimportance Orientals attach to appearancesespeciallyto first appearances. My' father'Frushard gained nothing by the voyage but theloss of his pay; therefore is my gratitude to himthe greater. Nor must I forget to record theobliging aid of Mr, now Sir Rem'y L. Anderson,Secretary to the Government of Bombay; heenabled us to borrow from the public stores achronometer, surveying instruments, and othernecessaries.Judging that a medical officer would be useful,not only to the members of the expedition,but would also prove valuable in lands where theart of healing is not held destructive, and whereMedici are not called 'Oaucifici et Sanicidre,'Lord Elphinstone also detached the late Dr J.F. Steinhaeuser, then staff-surgeon, to accompanyus. Unfortunately the order came too late. Nomerchantman happened then to be leaving Adenfor Zanzibar, and during the south-west monsoonnative craft will not attempt the perilouspassage. Nothing daunted, myoId and triedfriend crossed the Straits to Berberah, with thegallant project of marching clown country to joinus in the south; nor did he desist till it lJecameevident, from his slow rate of progress, that he

14 LOSS OF DR STEINHAEUSER.could not make Zanzibar in time. The journeythrough the North-eastern horn of Africa wouldalone have given a title to Fame. Its dangerand difficulty were subsequently provecl (October2, 1865) by the wounding of Baron Theodore vonHeughlin and by the murder of Baron von del'Decken, Dr Link, and others of his party.lThe absence of Dr Steinhaeuser lost the EastAfrican Expedition more than can be succinctlytold. A favourite with 'natives' wherever hewent, a tried traveller, a man of literary tastesand of extensive reading, and better still, a spiritas staunch and determined 3S ever attempteddesperate enterprise,-he would doubtless havematerially furthered our views, and in all humanprobability Lieut. Speke would have escapeddeafness and fever-blight, I paralysis and its consequentinvalidism. We afterwards wanderedtogether over the United States, and it is mycomfort, now that he also is gone, to think thatno unkind thought, much less an unfriendlyword, ever broke our fair companionship. His1 Proceedings Royal Geographical Society, May 5, 1866.The lamented travellers' notes have now (1869-70) being publishedunder the title of ' Baron Carl Claus von del'Decken'sReisen in Ost-Afrika in den J ahren 1859 bis 1861. Bearbeitetvon Otto Kersten (who accompanied the first expedition).London. Asher.'

TESTIlJ[ONIES TO HIS WORTH. 15memory is doubly dear to me. He was one ofthe very few who, through evil as well as throughgood report, disdained to abate an iota of hisfriendship, and whose regarcl was ne-ver warmerthan when all the little world looked its coldest.After long years of service in pestilential Aden,the' Coal-hole of the East,' he died suddenly ofapoplexy at Berne, when crossing Switzerlandto revisit his native land. At that time I waswandering about the Brazil, and I well rememberdreaming, on what proved to be the date ofhis death, that a tooth suddenly fell to theground, followed by a crash of blood. Such afriend, indeed, becomes part of oneself. I stillfeel a pang as my hand traces these lines.NOTE., The Bashi Bazuks, commanded by General Beatson, weredisplaying all the violence and rapacity of their class, little, ifat all, restrained by the presence of their English officers.'Thus writes Mr .John William Kaye in ' Our Indian Heroes'(Good Words, June, 1851), for the greater glorification of acertain General Neill, whose principal act of heroism was t9l'arrest a 'Jack-in-Office Station Master.' ],,11' Kaye is esseI\-tla11yan official writer, but even official inspiratioll should 'n.otbe allowed directly to misstate fact.

CHAPTER II.ARRIVAL ATZANZillAR ISLAND., There is probably no part of the world where the EnglishGovernment has so long had a Resident, where there are alwayssome half~a-dozen merchants aud planters, of which we know solittle as of the capital and part of the kingdom of one of themost fait.hful of our allies, with whom we have for half a century(since 1804) been on terms of intimacy.'-TRANsAcTIONsEOMBAY GROG. Soc., 1856.ON December 2, 1856-fourteen long yearsago!-we bade adieu to the fO"LU harbour ofBombay the Beautiful, with but a single sigh.The warm~heartedMr Lumsden saw us on board,wrung our hands with friendly vigour, and badeus go in and win-deserve success if we couldnot command it. No phantom of the future casta shadow upon our sunny path as we set out,determined either to do or die. I find my journalbrimful of enthusiasm. ' O£ the gladdestmoments in human life, methinks, is the departureupon a distant journey into unknown

A JOURNEYI 17lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fettersof Habit, the leaelen weight of Routine, thecloak of many Oares and the slavery of Home,man feels once more happy. The blood flowswith the fast circulation of childhood. Excitementlends unwonteel vigour to the muscles, andthe sudden sense of freedom adds a cubit to themental stature. Afresh dawns the morn of life ;again the bright world is beautiful to the eye,and the glorious face of nature gladdens thesoul. A journey, in fact, appeals to Imagination,to Memory, to Hope,-the three sister Graces ofour moral being.' 1The 18~ days spent in sailing 2400 directmiles 'far 0'er the reel equator' were short forour occupations. I read all that had beenwritten upon the subject of Zanzibar, fromMesser Marco Miglione to the learned Vincent,who always suspected either the existence or theplace of the absurd' Maravi Lake.' We rubbedup our acquaintance with the sextant and the alti.tude and azimuth; and we registered barometerancl thermometer, so as to have a bn,se for observationsashore. The nearest reference point ofknown pressure to Zanzibar was then Aden, dis-1 Somewhat boisterous, but true. eNate H years afterwards.). .VOL. I. 2

18 'FATHER FRUSHARD.'tant above 1000 miles. Under all circumstancesthe distance was undesirable; moreover, violentsqualls between the Persian Gulf and CapeGuarcbfui sometimes depress the mercury half. an inch. I shan again refer to this point inChapter V.'Father Frushard' was genial, as usual, and'under his command every soul was happy. Wegreatly enjoyed the order, coolness, and cleanli.ness of a ship of war, after the confusion, thecaloric, and the manifold impurities of a Reel Seapassenger-packet. Here were no rattling, heavingthrobs, making you tremulous as a jellyin the Caniculi; no coal-smoke, intrusive ason a German Eisen-bahn; no thirst.maddened(cock-) 'roaches' exploring the entrance to man'sstomach; no cabins rank with sulphuretted hydrogen;no decks whereon pallid and jaundicedl)assengers shake convulsed shoulders as theyrush to and from the bulwarks and the taffrail.Also no 'starboard and larboard exclusiveness' ;of flirting abigails tending portly and majesticdames, who look crooked beyond the salvationpaleof their own very small 'set'; no pepperycivilians rubbing skirts against heedless 'griffins';nor fair lips maltreating the' hapless letterH '; nor officers singing lullabies to their etiol-

OUR LANDFALL. 19ated enfants terribles, and lacking but one littledispensation of nature-concerning which Humboldttreats-to become the best of wet-nurses.The' Elphinstone' belonged not to the category, Shippe of Helle,' one of whose squadron I havedescribed in an olel voyage to a certain 'UnhappyValley.' We would willingly have prolongedour cruise with the jovial captain, andwith the good fellows and gallant gentlemen inthe gun-room, over many and many a league ofwaves.Of course we had no adventures. vVe sawneither pirate nor slaver. The tract seemed desertof human life; in fact, nothing met our eyesbut flying-fish at sea, gulls and gannets nearshore. The stiff N. East trade never quite failedus, even when crossing the Line, and the Doldrumshar(Uy visited us with a tornado or twomereoff-shore squalls. The good old heart ofteak, then aged 33 years, made an average of 150,and an exceptional run of 200 knots, in 24 hours.This was indeed' gay sailing on the bosom of theIndi

20 PEMBA.vegetation then new to us. This was Pemba,one of the three continental islands composingthe Zanzibarian archipelago: the Arabs call itJazirat e1 Khazra (Green Island), and no wonder 1Verdant and fresh enough must t,his huge conservatory,this little and even richer Zanzibar,appear to their half-closed' peepers,' dazed andseared by the steely skies and brazen grounds ofMang{~l (Arabia generally) and Maskat (Muscat),and by the dreadful glare and 'damnalJleblue' of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.Weare soon to visit this emerald isle, thereforeno more of it at present.All had hoped to run in that night, but Fateor our evil deeds in the last life otherwise determined.The wind fell with the sun, and duringthe five minutes of crepuscule we anchored inthe sandy bay-strand under Tumbatu Island,S.W. of Point Nunguwi (Owen's Nangowy), thenorth cape of its big insular brother, Zanzibar.Like the items of this archipelago generally, itis a long cairn-shaped reef of coralline, with itsgreater length disposed N.S. This well-knownnorm of great peninsulas has been explained by1 Literally rock, rocky ground. Hence the Arabs are calledWamanga. Mr Cooley (' Iuner Africa Laid Open,' p. 61)blunders pitiably about this word.

TUMBATU. 21a sudden change in the earth's centre of gravity,which caused the waters to rush furiously fromthe northern hemisphere towards the south pole.As usual, the burning suns, the tepid winds, thesopping dews, and the copious rains clothe thethin soil with an imperviolls coat of verdure,overhanging the salt-waters, and boasting a cultivationthat would make spring in green Erin lookby its side autumn-rusty and yellow-brown.We landed, and curiously inspected thepeople of Tumbatu, for we were now beyondSemitico-Abyssinian centres, and we stood in thepresence of another and a new race. They arecalled by the Omani Arabs Makhadim-helotsor serviles-ancl there is nothing free about themsave their morals. Suspicious and fearful, numerousand prolific, pOOl' and ill-favoured, theyshow all the advantages and the disadvantages ofan almost exclusive ichthyophagism.. Skilful indivination, especially by Bao or geomancy, theyhave retained, despite EI Islam, curious practicespalpably derived from their wild ancestryof the Blackmoor shore. They repair, for the purposeof 'clear-seeing,' to a kind of Trophoniuscave, spend the night in attack of inspiration,and come forth in the morning , Agelasti, mresti,cogitabundi.' Similarly the Nas-Amun (Nasa-

22 SFIRITUALISM.mone) slept, for insight into futurity, upon theirancestral graves. The wild highlanders of theEast African ghauts have an equally useful denin their grim mountains; and on the WestAfrican coast the Krumen consult the 'GreatDebbil,' who lives in a hole amongst the rocks ofGrand Cavalla. The traveller who, pace myfriends of the Anthropological Society, postulatesspiritualism or spiritism (as M. Allan Karc1ec hasit), will save himself much mystification, and hewill soon :find that every race has had, and stillhas, its own Swedenborg.The men of Tumbatu at their half.heathenwakes, layout the corpse, masculine or feminine,and treat it in a way which reminds us of Ham.let's (Act v. 1) 'Where be your gibes now?your gambols, your songs?' A male friend willsay to his departed chum-'0 certain person! but a few days ago Iasked thee for cocoa-nut-water and tobacco,which thou deniedest to me-enh? Where isnow the use of them? ', Fellow l' a woman will address the dead,'dost thou remember making fierce love to meat such and such a time? Much good will thylove do me now that thou art the meat of uglyworms! '

THE WAKE.Their abuse is never worse than when lavishedby a creditor upon a defunct debtor.The idea underlying this custom is probablythat which suggested the Irish wake-a test ifthe clay be really inanimate. :Kor would I despise,especially during prevalence of plague oryellow fever, in lands where you are interred offband,any precaution, bowever barbarous, againstthe horrors and the shudders of burying alive.Certain Madras Hindoos, after filling its mouthwith milk. and rapping its face with a shankh orconch-shell, grossly insult, as only the 'mildHindu' of Bishop Heber can, all its femininerelatives. The practice is also found in the NewWorld. The Aruacas (Arrawaks) of Guiana,opened the eyes of the corpse, and switched themwith thorns; smeared the cheeks and lips withlard, and applied alternately sweet and bitterwords. This was a curious contrast to the customs01 the Brazilian Tupys and the BolivianMoxos, who, according to Yves d'Evreux andAlcide d'Orbigny, met every morning to bewailtheir losses, even of their grandfathers and grC4ttgrandfathers!As darkness came on we saw the sands sparklingwith lights, here stationary like glow-wormsor the corpusant; there flitting about like ignes

THE HERESY. 25sweet element, compelling them to fetch it fromZanzibar-their mainland; hence travellers havedescribed the islet as uninhabited. The peopleare mentioned as Moslems by Yakut (early 13thcentury), and this island of 'Tambat' was madea refuge for the inhabitants of Languja or Zanzibar.We inquired in vain about the fort whichthe Arabs are said to have built there. Theskins of Tumbatu are sooty, the effect, accordingto some, according to others the concomitant, ofhumid heat. The reader must not charge mewith 'trimming' between the rival schools of'race versus climate, the cause of complexion.'Many peoples betray but a modicum of chromatieand typical change. On the other hand, Ihave found an approximation of colour as well asof form between the Anglo-American and theLuso-Brazilian; and I have enlarged upon thischromatic heresy, if heresy it be, in- the Highlandsof the Brazil (VoL i. chap. xxxviii.).Finally, when speaking of the permanence oftype, it is well to bear in mind that our poor qbservationshardly extend over 2500 years.The next morning placed' us at the base of'our operations, and we were on deck withAurora. The stout ship' Elphinstone,' urged bythe cool land breeze, slid down the channel, the

26 THE MPOA-NI.sea-river that separates the low-lying and evergreenZanzibar Island from its reflection, theMpoa-nU We were sensibly affected by thedifference between the Sawahil, this part of theEast African sea-board which begins at the JubaRiver, and the grim physiognomy of Somaliland,Region of Fragrant Gums, with its sandy horrorsof Berberah, and its granitic grandeurs of Gmirdafui,which popular apprehension refers toGarde LL vous, and which Abyssinian Bruce, accordingto Ritter (Erdkunde, 2nd Division, § 8),1 This is the (Poane' of' 0 Muata Cazembe' (p. 323),and there rightly translated, 'Costa de Zanzibar.' Mr Cooley .(p. 14, 'The Memoir on the Lake Regions, &c., reviewed.'London, Stanford, 1864) thus misleads his readers: 'TheCazembe knew the name of only one place on the coast­Mpoillli, near the Querimba Islands.' The word literallymeans' on the coast,' or simply' the coast.' In the Zangiandialects the terminative' -ni' has two senses. Now it is a locative,signifying on, in, by, or near, as, e.g., Nyumba-ni, 'athome'(in the house); Mfu'ua-ni, at the place near the Mfu'utree. Then it is almost pleonastic, as Kisiwa-ni, 'the island,'and Kisima-ni, 'the well.' Thfpoa-ni, a word in general use, isa literal Kisawahili translation of the Arabic Samthil (pluralof SAhiI), 'the shores,' strictly speaking between Mtangata andthe Rufiji River. Hence, possibly, the Greeks drew their name,'A!YWAO~.' The latter is usually identified with the modernArabic Sayf Tawil, the long strand, not' bold or declining shore;as translated by Captain Owen. It extends southwards fromthe Ra'as e1 Khayl to Ra'as Awaz (Cupe of Change) in theBarr el Khazain (Ajun or Azania). Of the latter more in Sect.1, Chapter V.

ZANZIBAR. 27altered to Gardefan, the Straits of Burial.! Wewere in the depths of the 'dries,' as they arecalled in West Africa, in the local midwinter,yet this land was gorgeous in its vestment whenothers would be hybernating in more than seminudity.Truly prepossessing was our first view of thethen mysterious· island of Zanzibar, set off bythe dome of distant hills, like solidified air, that1 De Barros by a slip of the pen writes (Decades i. 5, 9)Guadrafu. I should explain the corrupted 'Guardafui' notas usual by 'Cabo d'Orf'ui,' but as a European version ofJurd Hafun,-highland or crest of Hafun. Jurd, in Arabic,means the mountain-top, opposed to the W usut, shoulders or11alf-way slopes, and to the Sahl, or low lands. The modernArabic name of the ancient Aromata Promontarium is Ra'asAsir, the captive headland, a term especially applied to theprojection of land, some 2000 feet high, which, viewed from thesouth, extends farthest seaward to the north-east, as I saw whensailing from Zanzibar to Aden. Hafun, supposed to be theMosyllum Promontorium of Pliny and the Opone of Ptolemy,the Khakhui of EI Idrisi; the J af'uni of, El Masudi; theCarfuna of other Arab geographers, and the Orfui of themoderns, means the surrounded, i.e. by water, becuuse almostan island. Lieutenant Crittenden, LN. (Aden, April 10,1848. Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society), describesit as a headland of lime and sandstone nearly square,and 600 to 700 feet high. He remarks that after the ElephasMons it is the only point on the coast concerning which therecan be no mistab. The sites are thus-Rns Asir (Gul1rda.fui) North EMtcmmost point of Africa N. lat. 11 0 50' O'~ Rnper(IIQ (1 4-" Norris)RaB Ho.fuu, Easternmost point of Africa N. Int. Ina '26' 48"" (loa 27' 48" " )Di..ff'erenco 1- 2:1' fJ'1."Lieutenant Curless, LN" makes the lUffercnce of meridian I\rc 0° 4' 50"1° la' IG"

28 LAZINESS.form the swelling line of the Zanzibar coast.Earth, sea, and sky, all seemed wrapped in a softand sensuous repose, in the tranquil life of theLotus Eaters, in the swoon-like slumbers of theSeven Sleepers, in the dreams of the Castle ofIndolence. The sea of purest sapphire, whichhad not parted with its blue rays to the atmosphere-afrequent appearance near the equator-lay basking, lazy as the tropical man, under ablaze of sunshine which touched every objectwith a dull burnish of gold. The wave hadhardly energy enough to dandle us, or to creamwith snowy foam the yellow sandstrip whichseparated it from the flower-spangled grass, andfrom the underwood of dark metallic green.The breath of the ocean would hardly take the. trouble to ruffle the fronds of the palm whichsprang, like a living column, graceful and luxuriant,high above its subject growths. The bellshapedconvolvulus (Ipom:::ea Maritima), suppottedby its juicy bed of greenery, had openedits pink eyes to the light of day, but was languicllyclosing them, as though gazing upon theface of heaven were too much of exertion. Theisland itself seemed over-indolent, and unwillingto rise; it showed no trace of mountain or crag,bu.t all was voluptuou.s with gentle swellings,

CLOVE GROUNDS. 29with the rounded contours of the girl-negress,and the brown-red tintage of its warm skinshowed through its gauzy attire of green. Andover all bent lovingly a dome of glO1¥ing azure,reflecting its splendours upon the nether world,whilst every feature was hazy and mellow, as ifviewed through 'woven air,' and not throughvulgar atmosphere. Most of my countrymenfind monotony in these Claude-Lorraine skies,with the pigment and glazing on. I rememberhow in Sind they used to bless the storm-cloud,and stand joyously to be drenched in the rainwhich rarely falls in that leather-coloured land.Zanzibar, however, must be seen on one of herown fine da,ys: like "Fernando Po and Rio deJaneiro, the beauty can look 'ugly' enoughwhen she pleases.As we drew nearer and vision became moredistinct, we found as many questions for thepilot as did Vasco da Gama of old. Those primplantations which, from the offing, resembledItalian avenues of oranges, the tea-gardens ofOhina, the vines of romantic Provence, thecoffee plantations of.the Brazil, or the orangeyardsof Paraguay, were the celebratecl clovegrounds,ancl the largest, streaking the centraluplands, were crown property. We distinctly felt

30 BAYT EL RA'AS.a heavy spicy perfume, as if passing before theshop of an Egyptian' attar,' and the sensoriumwas not the less pleasantly affected, after a harddiet of briny N.B. Trade. Various legends ofhair-oil rubbed upon the bulwarks have mademany a tricked. traveller a shallow infidel in thematter of smelling the land. But we' soonlearned that off Zanzibar, as off 'lfIozambic,'the fragrant vegetation makes old Ocean smile,pleased with the grateful smell, as of yore. Thenight breeze from the island is cool and heavywith clove perfume, and European residentscarefully exclude the land-wind from their sleeping-rooms.For a little while we glided S. by E. alongthe shore, where the usual outlines of a citytook from it the reproach of being a luxuriantwilderness. The first was' Bayt el Ra'as, a largepile, capped with a dingy pent-house of cajar.(cocoa leaves), and backed by swelling groundherebared for cultivation, there sprinkled withdense dark trees, masses of verdure shelteringhut and homestead. Followed at the distance ofa mile, the Royal Oascine and Harem of Mto-ni,the Rivulet. 1 Our ancient ally 'Sayyid Said,1 Yet we read of the' great river Matoney,' and of ' travellerscrossing the great River l\1tony.' JYIto, in the language

J11TO-Nl. 31Imam of Maskat and Sultan of Zanzibar and theSawahil,' had manifestly not attempted Africancopies of his palaces in Arabian Shimlz andBat'hah, pavilions with side-wings and flankingtowers, the buildings half castle half chateau,so much affected by the feudal lords of Oman.He preferred an Arabo-African modification, herevaluable for' sommer-frisch.'The demesne of Mto-ni has a quaint mannerof Gothic look, pauperish and mouldy, like theschloss of some duodecimo Teutonic Prince, orlong-titled, short-pursed, placeless, and pensionlessGerman Serenity in the days now happilygone by, when the long drear night of Germando-nothingnesshas fled before the glorious day-'break of 1866-1870. We can distinguish uponits long rusty front a projecting balcony of dingyplanking, with an extinguisher-shaped roof,dwarfed by the luxuriant trees areal', and bythe magnificent vegetation which 1;011s up to itsvery walls. Mto-ni ta,kes its name from a runofZanzibar, is a river or a rivulet; also a pillow. The QuilimaniRiver signifies simply lrilima-ni, (witer) from themountain. The meaning of Qililimansi (tho/Obi-"\Vebbe­Nile of Makdishu, Webbe Shebayli, of late christened theHaines River, and called Quilimancy by De Barros, from asettlement now unknown) is still under dispute. It cannotgrammatically be made to mean' mountain-stream, or a mountainwith streams,' as Dr Kmpf has it. '

:32 , PASSES OF ZANZIBAR.'nel which, draining the uplands, supplies the'Palace,' and trickles through a conduit into thesea. We shall presently visit it.:Entering the coral reef which defends thisgreat store-bouse of Eastern Intertropical Africa,I remarked that the lucent amethyst of thewaters was streaked and patched with verdigrisgreen; the' light of the waves' being caused byshoals, whose golden sands blended with the blueof' heaven. The 'Passes of' Zanzibar' remindedme in colouration of' the ' Gateways of Jeddah,'and as the coral reefs cut like razors, they mustbe threaded with equal care. So smooth wasthe surface within the walls, that each ship,based upon a thread of light, seemed to hoverover its own reflected image.And now we could distinguish the normalstraight line of Arab town, extending about amile and a half in length, facing north, andstanding out in bold relief, from the varied tintsand the grandeur of forest that lay behind. APuritanical plainness characterized the scenecathedralswithout the graceful minarets of Jed·duh, mosques without the cloisters of Cairo,turrets without the domes and monUments ofSyria; and the straight stiff sky-line was unrelieved.except by a few straggling palms. In

ARRIVAL. 33the centre, and commanding the anchorage, wasa square-curtained artless fort, conspiououswithal, and fronted by a still more contemptiblebattery. To its right and left the Imam's palace,the various Oonsulates, and the large parallelogrammicbuildings of the great, a tabular line offlat roofs, glaring and dazzling like freshly whitewashedsepulchres, detached themselves from themass, and did their best to conceal the dingymatted hovels of the inner town. Zanziba,r city,to become either picturesque or pleasing, mustbe viewed, like Stambul, from afar.We floated past the guard-ship, an old 50-gunfrigate of Dutch form and Bombay build, belongingto 'His Highness the Sayyid;' it wasmodestly named Shah Allum (Alam), or 'Kingof the WorId. ' The few dark faces on boardbawled out information unintelligible to ourpilot, and showed no colours, as is customarywhen a foreign cruizer enters the port. We setthis down to the fact of their being bIacks­'careless Ethiopians.' But flags being absentfrom all the masts, and here, as in West Africaand in the Brazil, every 'house' flies its ownbunting, we decided that there must be somecause for tl'e omission, and we became anxiousaccordingly.VOL. I. 3

34 BAD NEWS.But not for such small matter would theH. E. 1. C.'s ship-of-war 'Elphinstone' have thetrouble of casting loose and of loading her gunsgratis. With the Sayyid's plain blood-red ensignat the' main, and with union-jack at the fore,she cast anchor in Front Bay, and gallantly deliveredher fire of 21. Thereupon a gay buntingflew up to every truck ashore and afloat, whilstthe bTasS carronades of the 'Victoria,' anotheritem of the Maskat navy, roared a l'esponse of22, and, curious to say, did not blow off a singlegunner's arms. We had arrived on the fortiethor last day of Moslem mourning; and the mourningwas for Sayyid Said, our native friend andally, who had for so many years been calling forvolunteers and explorers, and from whom theEast Mrican expedition had been taught to expectevery manner of aid except the pecuniary.We lost no time in tumbling into a gig andin visiting the British Oonsulate, a large solidpile, coloured like a twelfth-cake, and shapedlike a claret-chest, which lay on its side, comfortablysplashed by the sea. Lieut.-ColonelAtkins Hamerton, of the Indian Army, H.B.M.'sConsl.,l.1 and H. E. 1. C.'s agent, to whom I wasdirected to report arrival, was now our mainstay,but we found him in the poorest state of

COLONEL HAMERTON. 35health. He was aroused from lethargy by thepresence of strangers, and after the usual hospitableorders my letters were produced andread. Those entrusted to me by Lord Elphinstone,and by his Eminence the learned and benevolentCardinal Wiseman, for whom he hadthe profoundest respect, pleased him greatly;but he put aside the missive of the Royal GeographicalSociety, declaring that he had beenterribly worried for 'copy' by sundry writingand talking members of that distinguished body.I can even now distinctly see my poor friendsitting before me, a tall, broad-sho"Ludered, andpowerful figure, with square features, dark,fixed eyes, han. and beard prematurely snowwhite,and a complexion once fair and ruddy,but long ago bleached ghastly pale by ennui andsickness. Such had been the effect of the burningheats of Maskat and 'the Gulf,' and thedeadly damp of Zanzibar, Island and Ooast. Theworst symptom in his case-one which I haverarely found other than fatal-was his unwillingnessto quit th~ place which was slowly killinghim. At night he would chat merrily about aremove, about a return to Ireland; he loathedthe subject in the morning. To eSGape seemecl aphysical impossibility, when he had only to order

36 SAYYID MAJID.a few boxes to be packed, and to board the firsthome-returning ship. In this state the invalidrequires the assistance of a friend, of a man whowill order him away, and who will, if he refuses,carry him off by main force.Our small mountain of luggage was soonhoused, and we addressed ourselves seriously tothe difficulties of our position. That night'srest was·not sweet to us.of whom it was written-I became as the man, So coy a dame is Sleep to him,That all the weary courtship of his thoughtsCan't win her to his bed.'After the disaster in Somali-land, I was pledged,at all risks and under all circumstances, to succeed;and now St Julian, host and patron of travellers,had begun to show me the rough side ofhis temper. The Consul was evidently unfit forthe least exertion. He had in his 'godovrns'dozens of chests and cases which he had not theenergy to open. H. H. Sayyid Said had leftaffairs in a most unsatisfactory state. His eldestson, the now murdered Sayyid Suwayni, heir toMaskat, and famous as an anglophobe, had threatenedto attack Zanzibar; a menace which, as willafterwards appear, he attempted to carry out.The cadet Sayyid Majid, installed by his father

TROUBLES. 37chief of the African possessions, was engrossedin preparations for. defence. Moreover, thisamiable young prince having lately recoveredfrom confluent small-pox, an African endemicwhich had during the last few years decimatedthe islanders, was ashamed to display a pockmarkedface to the' public,' ourselves included.The mainland of Northern Zanzibar about Lamuwas, as usual on such occasions, in a state ofanarchy. Every man seized the opportunity ofslaying his enemy, or of refusing to pay histaxes. An exceptionally severe drought hadreduced the southern coast of Zanzibar to astate of famine.Briefly, the gist of the whole was that I hadbetter return to Rnmbay. But rather than returnto Bombay, I would have gone to Hadeson that 20th of December, 1856.NOTE.Since these IJages were penned the BombayGazette of November 11, 1870, announced thedeath of H. H. Sayyid Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar,and the succession of his brother-SayyidBurghush.

OHAPTER III.HOW THE NILE QUESTION STOOD IN THE YEAROF GRACE 1856.,Avr~ (WI #OE riiG 7rEptppvrOv XIJOJlOG.This is the finial of th' encircling earth.SOPR. PHIL.IN this chapter I propose briefly to placebefore the reader the various shiftings of opiniontouching the Nile Sources, and especially toshow what had been done for Zanzibar and hercoast by the theoretical and practical men ofEurope between A.D. 1825 and the time of ourlanding on the Sawahil, or East Mrican shores.The details given to Marinus of Tyre by theArabian merchants, and their verification by theobscure Diogenes, together with the notices ofthe African lakes on the lower part of the UpperNile, brought home about A.D. 60 by Nero'sexploring Oenturions, were never wholly for-

OLD KNOWLEDGE. 39gotten by Europe, which thus unlearned toderive with Herodotus the Nile from WesternMrica. 1 As the pages of Marco Polo show, notto quote the voyage of 'Sinbad the Sailor,'Arabs and Persians still frequented these shores;and the Hindu Banyans, established from timeimmemorial upon the Zanzibar coast, had diffuse~throughout India some information touchingthe wealthy land..The veteran geographerof Africa, Mr James Macqueen, has comment.ed upon the curious fact that the Padmavanof Lieut. Francis Wilford (vol. iii. of the oldAsiatic Researches, 'Oourse of the River Oali,'as supposed to be derived from the Pm'anas) isrepresented by 'the beds of floating water-liliescrossed by Oaptains Speke and Grant, and uponthe resemblance between the Amara, or Lake ofthe Gods, with the Amara people on the N. E. ofthe so-called Nyanza Lake. These, however, appear'to be mere coincidences, or at best the re-.suIts .of tales learned upon the coast by theHindutradel'. Before leaving Bombay I applied,I The' Father of History' evidently held to the theorythat the modern. Bahr el Ghazal (explored of late by MrPetherich and by the unfortunate Tinne family) was thehead reservoir ofthe White Nile. Nor is it. impossible that in;long-past· ages the lakes or waters in question were fed by awatershed whose eastern declivities still.discharge themselvesinto the higher basin.

40 GOOD GEOGRAPHY.to that eminent Sanskritist the Rev. J. Wilson,D.D., for any notices of East Africa whichmight occur in the sacred writings of the Hindus.He replied that there were none; and Ihad long before learned that Col. Wilford himselfhad acknowledged his pandit to have beenan impudent impostor.At the end of the 15th century came thePortuguese explorers, with Strabo, Pliny, andPtolemy, in their hands, and followed by a mul.titude of soldiers, merchants, and missionaries,who invested the intertropical maritime regionsof Africa, east and west. The first enthusiasm,however, soon passed away. The Portuguesewere supplanted by the Dutch, by the English,and by the French; whilst Ptolemy and the Peri.plus were ousted by Pigafetta, Dapper, and otherfalse improvers of their doctrines. The ptolemeianLakeswere marched about and countermarchedin every possible way. The' Mountainof the Moon,' prolonged across Africa under thename Jebel Kumri, really became 'LunaticMountains.' The change from good to badgeography is well illustrated by two charts publishedin 1860, by H. E. the Conde de Lavradio.The first is the fae-simile of a map in the BritishMuseum, by Diogo Homero, in 1558. It makes

GOOD GEOGRAPHY. 41the Nile spring from two great reservoirs. Butthe second, bearing the name of Antonio Sances(1623), already reduces these lakes to one centralCaspian, which sends forth the Nile, theCongo, and the Zambeze, and which, greatlyshrunken, still deforms our maps under the nameof Marave. Similarly, the' Complete System ofGeography,' by Emanuel Bowen (1747), plaeesthe Zambre Lake in S. lat. 4°-11°, the 'centrefrom which proceed all the rivers in this part ofMrica,' including the Nile.How popular the subject continued to bemay be guessed from the fact that Daniel Defoe(1661-'1731), cast his Mrican reading into afavourite form with him, the 'Adventures ofCaptain Singleton.' He lands his hero aboutMarch, 1701, a little south of Cape Delgado,causes him to cross several seas and rivers, thelatter often flowing northwards, and after ayear's wandering, brings him out at the Dutchsettlements on the Gold Coast.Upon the general question of modern Nileliterature the curious reader will consult thewell-studied writings of M. Vivien de Saint.Martin. The valuable paper 'On the Knowledgethe Ancients possessed of the Sources ofthe Nile,' by"my friend W. S. W. Vaux (Trans-

42 MESSRS VAUX AND HOGG.actions of the Royal Society of Literature, vol.viii., New Series), treats of exploration up theriver, beginning from the Ionian colony, establishedin the upper river by Psammetichus (circaA.C. 600), and extending to the present day.The learned article by Mr John Hogg, 'On someold Maps of Africa, in which certain of the Centraland Equatorial Lakes are laid down innearly their true positions,' 1 (Transactions of the1 In 1859 I had written (Journal Royal Geographical,Society, vol. xxix. 272) 'The Nyanza, as regards name, position,and even existence, has hitherto been unknown toEuropean geographers; but descriptions of this "sea" bynative travellers have been unconsciously transferred by ourwriters to the Tanganyika of Ujiji, and even to the Nyassa ofKilwa.' Mr Hogg proposes to show that such was not thecase. But the map by John Senex (1711) throws into onethree or at least two waters. Mercator (Kauffman) lays the, Garava ' lakelet almost parallel with the Zaflan (Zambeze)or Kilwa Lake. Wallrer (1811) and Lizars (1815) fit in theTanganyika correctly, whilst the Nyassa is wholly incorrect.Of the five maps one only, that of John Senex, deservesconsideration. 'This great lake placed here by report ofthe negroes,' alludes, I believe, to legends of the Bahari-ngo(the 'great sea,' vulgarly, Baringo), of which many EastAfrican travellers have heard. One Rumu wa Kikandi, anative of Uemba, described the water to Dr Krapf as lyingfive days' journey from Mount Kenia: in the Introduction tohis last travels (p. xlviii.), however, the enterprising missionaryidentifies it with the so-called Nyanza or Ukerewe Lake. Iwas told of it by the Wakamba at Mombasah in 1857. ThePere Leon d'Avanchers (Bulletin de 1a Societe de Geographie,vol. xvii. 164) also collected, when traveWng on the EastAfrican coast, in August, 1858, information concerning Baha-

ACTUAL EXPLORATION. 43Royal Society of Literature, vol. viii.), suppliesa compendium of old cartography.I proceed now to the practical part of thischapter, namely, the actual visits of inspectionto Zanzibar, and their results. Until the end .ofthe last century, our knowledge was derivedalmost entirely from those 'domini OrientalisMricre/ the Portuguese. The few exceptions\were Sir James Lancaster, who opened to the,English the Orient seas. He wintered at theisland in 1591; Oaptain Alexander Hamilton(new account of the East Indies, 1688-1723,Hakluyt's Oollection, viii. 258); and M. Saulnierde Mondevit, commanding the king's Oorvette,La Prevoyance. The latter, who, in 1786, visitedthe principal points of Zanzibar, published achart with 'Observations sur la cote du Zan-, gueibar' (Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, vol.vi.), and recommended a French establishmentat ' Mongalo.'In February, 1799, Oaptain Bissel, R.N., commandingH. M.'s ship Orestes, with the Leopardringo, ashe writes it. Senex finally disconnects it with 'theNile, and indeed gives it no drainage at all.. I cannot but think that Mr Hogg's learning and researchhave considerably strengthened my position, and that theso-called Nyanza Lake was, curious to say, the least known,and at the same time the nearest, to European geographers.

44 Sil1EE, HARDY, OWEN.carrying Admiral Blankett's flag, touched at theisland for refreshments when beating up againstthe N. E. monsoon towards the Red Sea. Hebriefly but faithfully described its geography,and he laid down sailing directions which tothis day are retained in Horsburgh. Since thenmany coasting voyages have been made by navalofficers and others, who collected from natives,with more or less fidelity, details concerning theinner country. As early as 1811, Oaptain Smeeand Lieutenant Hardy were sent by the Bombaygovernment to gather information on the easternseaboard of Africa, and they brought back sundrynovel details (Transactions Bombay GeographicalSociety, 1844, p. 23, &0.). Between the years1822-1826 the whole coast line was surveyed byOaptain (afterwardsAdmiral) W. F. Owen,and byhis officers, Oaptains Vidal, Boteler, and others.Their charts and plans of the littoral, despitesundry inaccuracies, such as placing ZanzibarIsland five miles west of its proper position, excitedgeneral attention, and were justly termedby a modern author miranda tabularum series.During this Herculean labour, which occupiedthree years, some 300 of the officers and crewfell victims to the climate of the Ooast, to thehardships of boat-work, and to the ferocity of

MORESBY, HART. 45the natives. In 1822 Sir Robert Townsen{lFairfax, Governor and Oommander-in-Chief ofthe Mauritius, after a crusade against the slavetradein the dominions of Radama, King of theHovas: commissioned Oaptain (afterwards Admiral)Fairfax Moresby, of H. M.'s ship Menai,to draft a treaty between England and Maskatfor limiting the traffic. The mission was successful.The sale of Somalis, a free people; wasmade piracy; and the ~ayyid's vessels were subjectto seizure by the Royal, including the Oompany's,cruizers, if detected carrying negroes' tothe east of a line drawn from Oape Delgado,passing south of Socotra and on to Diu, the westpoint of the Gulf of Oambay.l In 182.2, theSayyid's assent having been formally accorded,Oaptain Moresby left the coast.In January, 1834, Captain Hart, of H. M.'sship Imogene, visited Zanzibar, and submittedto the Imperial government brief notes, appendinga list of the Sayyid's squadron then in theharbour, with their age, tonnage, al'mature, andother particulars. Still geographers declaredthat Zanzibar was a more mysterious spot toEngland and India than parts of Oentral Africa1 This' restrictive treaty' was published in No. 24 of theBombay Selection (1856), under the head of' Persian Gulf.'

46 BOLLAERT, RUSCHENBERGER.and the shores of the Icy Sea. 1 During thesame year the energetic Mr W. Bollaert maturedthe plan of an expedition, to be conductedby himself, from Zanzibar across the continent.It was laid before the Geographical Society in1837, but it was not carried out, funds beingdeficient. In 1835 the U. S. frigate Peacockvisited the island during a treaty-making tour,and was supplied with all her wants gratis, theport officials declaring that 'H. H. the Sultanof Muscat had forbidden them to take any remuneration.'The surgeon, Dr Ruschenberger(Narrative of a Voyage round the World in1835-1837), left a realistic description of thecity in those its best days. He acknowledgesthe hospitalities of ' Oaptain Hasan bin Ibrahim,of the Arab Navy,' superintendent of the' PrinceSaid Carlid.' The latter was the late SayyidKhalid, then 16 years old. The book, beingwritten by a 'Dutch-American' in 1835, is ofcourse bitterly hostile to England. Weare toldthat the keel of the Peacock, passing betweenTumbatu Island and Zanzibar, scraped overcoral reefs not in Owen's charts-which may betrue. Followed the American Captains Fisher,1 We must not, however, forget that in 'all.enlightenedEngland' Smollett could complain of the 'people at the otherend of the island knowing as little of Scotland as of Japan.'"

ROSS BROWN, CHRISTOPHER. 47Drinker, Abbott, and Osgood, and Mr RossBrown, then a young traveller in a tradingvessel.He also published a readable accountof the rising settlement.When Admiral Sir Oharles Malcolm, a nameendeai'ed to eastern geographers, was givingenergy and impulse to exploration in WesternAsia, the late Lieut. W. Christopher, I. N., commandingthe H. E. I. O.'s brig-of-war Tigris,was seJ;l.t to Zanzibar; he made a practical surveyof the coast, and he touched at many placesnow famous-Kilwa (Quiloa), Mombasah, Brava,Marka, Gob-wen (or the Jub River), andMakdishu, or Ranir, by the Portuguese calledMagadoxo. He explored the lower waters of alarge stream, the Webbe (Riv~r) Ganana, orShebayli (Leopard), which he injudiciouslynamed the Haines River; and he visited Girediand other settlements till then unknown. Hewrote (May 8, 1843) a highly interesting andcomprehensive account of the seaboard, whichwas published in the Journal of the GeographicalSociety (vol. xiv. of 1844). His plans,. charts, and other valuable memoranda were forwardedto the :Bom.bay Government, and theenterprising traveller died in July, 1848, at theearly age of 36, from the effects of a wound re·ceived before Multan.

48 'MOMBAS MISSION.'The honour of having made the first systematicattempt to explore and to open up the Zanzibarinterior, is due to the establishment popularlyknown as the 'Mambas Mission;' itsenergetic members proved that it was possible topenetrate beyond the coast, and their discoveriesexcited a spirit of inquiry which led to theexploration of the Lake Regions. In 1842 theRev. Dr J. Lewis Krapf, being refused readmittanceto Shoa, received a 'Macedonian call' toEast Africa; in other words,he undertook in1842,with the approbation of the Church J\'1issionarySociety, a coasting voyage to East Africa southof the line. Having visited Zanzibar Island hejourneyednorthwards (March 1844), and met witha kind reception at Mombasah where he accidentallylanded; finally he established his head-quartersamongst the Wanyika tribe at Rabai Mpianear Mombasah, which then became the base ofhis operations. He was joined (June 1846) bythe Rev. J. Rebmann of Gerlingen in Wiirtemberg,and by Messrs Erhardt and Wagner-thelatter a young German mechanic,who died shortlyafter arrivaL In June 2, 1851, came MessrsConrad Diehlmann and Ohristian Pfefferle, whosoon died. They were followed by three mechanics,Hagemann, Kaiser, and Metzler, who

M. REBMANN. 49returned home, and by M. Deimler who retiredto Bombay. M. Rebmann after visiting Kadiaro(Oct. 14, 1847) made in May 11,1843 the first ofthree important journeys into the' Jagga' highlands,and discovered, or rather rediscovered, themuch vexed Kilima-njaro. The existence of thismountain bearing eternal snows in eastern intertropicalAfrica is thus alluded to in the 8uma deGeographia of Fernandez de Enciso (1530) : 'Westofthis port (Mombasah) stands the Mount Olympusof Ethiopia, which is exceedingly high, andbeyond it are the" Mountains of the Moon," inwhich are the sources of the Nile.' The discoverywas confirmed by Dr Krapf, who after visiting(also in 1848) Fuga, the capital of Usumbara,made two journeys (in 1849 and 1851) intoUkambani. During the first he confirmed theposition of Kilima-njaro, and he sighted an.other snowy peak, Kenia, Kegnia, or Kirenia.The assertions of the missionaries were variouslyreceived. M. Vaux was thereby enabledto explain a statement in the Metereologica ofA.l'istotle, where the first or main stream of theN:H.eis supposed to flow out of the mountaineafledSilver. Dr Beke accepted the meridionalsn.owyrange, and here placed his Mountains ofthe Moon, a hypothesis first advanced in 1846.YOLo I. 4

50 1J1R COOLEY.The sceptics were headed by Mr W. D. Oooley,who in 1854 had published his 'Olaudius Ptole.my and the Nile.' He had identified the moun·tain of Selene (a-eA~Y'l)) with the snowy highland•of ' Semenai ' or ' Samien' in northern Abyssinia,and thus by adopting a mere verbal resemblancehe had obtained a system of truly' lunatic mouutaius.'Some years before (Joumal Royal GeographicalSociety, vol. xv. 1845) appeared hispaper entitled, 'The Geography of N'yassi, or thegreat lake of Southern Africa investigated,' acomplicated misnomer. The article was writtenin a clear style and a critical tone, showing amplereading but lacking a solid foundation of fact.It began as usual with Pigafetta and de Barros,and it ended with Gamitto and Monteiro; theperoration, headed' Harmony of Authorities,' wasa self-gratulation, a song of triumph concerningthe greatness of hypothetical discoveries, whichwere soon proved to be·purely fanciful. Not oneman in a million has the instincts of a good comparativegeogra,pher, and the author was assured.ly not that exceptional man. His monographdid good by awaking the scientific mind, but itgreatly injured popular geography. It unhappilyasserted(p. 15) that' in every part of east·ern Africa to which our inquiries have extended,

'N'YASSI.' 51snow is quite unknown.' And the author havinglaid down his law bowed before it, and expectedFact as well as the Public to do the same; heeven attacked the text of Ptolemy, asserting thatthe passages treating of the Nile sources and theLunar Mountains were an interpolation of acomparatively recent date. In June and Novembel'1863 the late Bal'on von del' Decken, accompaniedby Dr Kersten, an accomplished astronomicalobserver, ascended some 1300 feet, saw aclearly defined limit of perpetual snow at aboutJ7,OOO feet, and by a rough triangulation gave,the main peak of Kilima-njaro an elevation of20,065 feet. Still Mr Cooley, with singular wantof cl1ndour, denied existence to the snow. Itwas the same with his' Single Sea,' which under.the meaningless and erroneous name' N'yassi'again supplanted Ptolemy's Lakes, and this want.of :acumen offered the last insult to Africangeography. Thus was revived the day when the.Arab :and 'Portuguese geo~raphers made the three;:t{iles(ofEgypt, Magadoxo, and Nigritia) issueJ'rom one vast reservoir, and thus were the,school maps of the world disfigured during half,a ge,neration.The lake also was painfully dis..torted, simply that it might ( run parallel to the'line of volcanic action drawn through the Isle de

52 DR KRAPF.Bourbon, the north of Madagascar, and theComoro Islands, and to one of the two lines predominatingon the coasts of southern Mricawherever there are no alluvial flats.' It abounded,moreover, inminor but significant errors, suchas confouncling 'Zanganyika,' a town or tribe,with Tanganyika, the name of the Lake. Oflate years Mr Cooley has once more shifted hisposition, and has declared that he did not intendto provide central intertropical Africa between, Monomotapa ' and Angola with a single lake.The whole of his paper on the 'Geography ofN'yassi' means that if it mean anything. He isnot, however, the only Proteus-hard to find andharder to bind-amongst African geographers.To conclude this notice of the ' Mambas Mis~sion,' Dr Krapf again visited Fuga, where he wasfollowed by Mr Erhardt, and finally the two missionariesran down the coast, touched at Kilwa,and extended their course to Oape Delgado. In·August 1855 Dr Krapf, after 18 years' residence. in Africa, bade it farewell; he did not revisit itexcept for a few months in 1867, when he acteddragoman to the Abyssinian Expedition. InJanuary 1856 appeared what has been called the'Mombas Mission Map' (Skizze nach J. Erhardt'sOriginal), the result of expl~ration and of

MM. ERHARDT AND REBMANN. 53notices colleoted from the natives. It was accompanied~y a 'Memoir of the Ohart of Eastand Central Africa, compiled by J. Erhardt andJ. Rebmann.' This production was' remarkedupon' by Mr Cooley (Jan. 8, 1856), and in turn.his remarks were remarked upon by Herr Petermann.The peculiar feature of the chart was a'. monster slug'-like inland Sea' extending fromthe line to S. Lat. 14°,-an impossible Caspiansome 840 miles long X 200 to 300 in breadth. Ihave already explained that this error arose bythe fact that the three chief caravan routes fromthe' Zanzibar coast abut upon three severallakes. which, in the confusion of African vocabulary-Nyassabeing corrupted to N'yassi,andNyanza also signifying water-were naturallythrown into one. It was, however, to ascertainthe existence of this slug-shaped article that theEast African Expedition of 1856-59 was sentOllt.The most valuable results of Dr Krapf'slahoma are his works on the Zanzibarian lang.llltge!'!,and these deserve the gratitude of everytraveller arid student of African philology. ,Theprincipal are,Messrs Krapf's and Isenberg's imperfect out.line of the Galla language (London, 1840).

54 PHILOLOGY.Messrs Krapf and Isenberg, 'Vocabulary ofthe Galla Language,' London, 1840.Tentamen imbecillum Translationis EvangeliiJoannis in linguam Gallorum, London, 1841.Messrs Krapf's, Isenberg's, and Miihleisen­Arnold's Vocabulary of the Somali tongue (1843).(Three chapters of Genesis translated into the'Soahilee' language, with an introduction by W.W. Greenhough: printed in the Journal of theAmerican Oriental Society, 1847, had appearedin the mean time.)Gospel according to St Luke translated intokinika, 12mo, Bombay, 1848.Gospel according to St Mark translated intoKikamba, 8vo, Tiibingen, 1850.GuHine of the elements of the Ki.suahelilanguage, 8vo, Tiibingen, 1850.Vocabulary of 6 East-African languages, smallfolio, Tiibingen, 1850.Mr Erhardt's vocabulary of the EngudukIloigob or Masai tongue, 8vo, J.Judwigburg, 1857.Besides these there are (1860) in MSS., 1. theentire New Testament (Kisawahili). 2. A com~plete Dictionary of Ki-suahili. 3. The Gospelaccording to St Matthew (Kikamba). 4. Matthewand Genesis in Galla, &c., &0., &0.Dr Krapf's last work, a relation historique,

M. Jl1AIZAN. 55appeared in 1860 (Travels, Researches, and MissionaryLabours, &c., &c., with an Appendix byMr P. G. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S. London, Triibnerand 00.). I venture to suggest that he mightreprint with great advantage to African studentshis various journals, scattered through the numbersof the' Church Missionary Intelligencer.'We want them, however, printed textually, withexplanatory notes embodying subsequent information.Meanwhile the difficulties of East Africanexploration were complicated by a terrible disaster.M. Maizan, an Ensigne de Vaisseau, re·solved to explore the inner lake regions via theZanzibar coast, and in 1844 his projects wereapproved of by his government. After the rainsof 1845 he litnded at the little settlement Bagam.oyo,and when barely three days from the.seaboard, he was brutally murdered at the viI.lageofDege la Mhora, by one P'hazi Mazungera,chief of the Wakamba, a sub·tribe of the Wazaramo.The distinguished hydrographer CaptainGuillain was sent in the brig of war De Decouedic,to obtain satisfaction for this murder, andthe 'following sentence concludes his remarksupon the subject (Chap. 1, pp. 17-20); 'Toutce que je veux, tout ce que je dais me rappeler de

56 CAPTAIN GUILLAIN.Maizan, c'est qu'il etait intelligent, instruit, courageux,et qu'il a peri miserablement aIa fleur del'i\ge (ret. 26) au debut d'une enterprise ou ilaurait pu rencontrer Ia gloire.' I have alsodescribed (Lake Regions of Central Africa, 1.Ohap. 3), from information collected on the. spot,the young traveller's untimely end; and it is stillmy opinion that the foul murder was causedmore or less directly by the Ohristian merchantsof Zanzibar. Dr Krapf's account of the catastrophe(Travels, p. 421) abounds in errors. CaptainGuillain was also sent on a kind of bagman'stour, a hawker carrying echantillons of Frenchcloth and other produce offered to the Arab market.Mayotta having been ceded in 1841 by theSakalawa chief, Andrian Souli, to the Frenchgovernment, which occupied it militarily in 1843,the first idea was to make of it a second and amore civilized Zanzibar. The coasting voyagesand afew short inland tripswere thought worthyofbeing published in three bulky volumes (Documentssur l'Histoire, Ia Geographie, et Ia Oommercede l'Afrique Orientale, recuellis et redigespar M. Guillain, &c.; publies par ordre du Gouvernement.Paris, Bertrand). The additions toOaptain Owen's survey are unimportant, but theFrenchoflicer has diligently collected' documents

DR BEKE. 57pour servir,' which will be useful when a historyof the coast shall be written. The worst part ofthe book is the linguistic; a sailor, however,.passing rapidly through or along a country, canhardly be expected to learn much of the language.Meanwhile an important theory concerningthe Nile Sources was published by my friend, DrCharles T. Beke. He had surveyed and explored(Noy. 1840-May 1843) the Abyssinian plateauand the lowlands near the Red Sea, and he had determinedthe water-parting of the streams whichfeed the Nile andtheIndianOcean (Journal RoyalGeographical Society, vol. xii). Whilst Ritter(Erdkunde) and other geographers made theWhiteRiver rise between N.lat. 7° and 8° and evenIP, whilst Messrs Antoine d'Abbadie and Ayrtonwere searching for the Coy Fountains in Enariaand Kaffa (N. lat. 7° 49' and E. long. 36° 2'9"); and whilst Mr James Macg.ueen located' thesources of the chief' branch of the Bahr-el-abiadin about No lat. 3°' (Preface xxiv. GeographicalSurvey ofAfrica, London, Fellowes, 1840), and'atno great distance from the equator' (Ibid. 235),Dr Beke announced at the Swansea meeting ofthe British Association; that he would carry theCaput Nili to S. lat.- 2°_3° and E. long. 34°;moreover that he would place it 'at a compara-

58 DR BIALLOBLOTSKY.tively short distance from the sea coast, withinthe dominions of the Imam of Maskat.' Rightlyjudging the eastern coast to be the easiest roadinto central intertropical Africa, Dr Beke, thensecretary to the Geographical Society of London,collected a subscripion for exploring the NileSources, via Zanzibar, and sent out Dr FriedrichBialloblotsky to attempt the discovery. ThisProfessor of Hebrew and literary man presentedin Eebruary 1849 his credentials to H. M. theSayyid and to Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton. Thelatter, backed by Dr Krapf, sent back the explorerto Egypt, without allowing him even to set footupon the East African shore, and he was justifiedin so doing. The recent murder of M. Maizanhad thrown the coast into confusion, the assassinwas at large, and the motives which promptedthe deed were still actively at work within theIsland of Zanzibar. Dr Bialloblotsky couldspeak no eastern tongue, at least none that wasintelligible in S. Africa; he was completely Ulltrainedto travel, he collected' meteoric' dustduring a common storm at Aden-magna cum risuof the Adenites; he did not know the differencebetween a sextant and a quadrant, and he askedLieut.-Colonel Hamerton what a young cocoanutwas.

DR BEKE. 59Dr Beke, in his character of ' Theoretical Discovererof the Nile Sources,' has published thefollowing studies.'On the Nile and its Tributaries,' a statementof his then novel views (Oct. 28, 1846,and printed in the Journal Royal GeographicalSociety, vols. xvii., xviii. of 1847-8). 'TheSources of the Nile: being a General Survey ofthe Basin of that River, and of its Head-streams,with the History of Nilotic Discovery' (London,Madden~ 1860). The appendix contains a summaryof Dr Bialloblotsky's projected journey.'On the Mountains forming the eastern sideof the Basin of the Nile, and the origin of thed~signation, "Mountains of the Moon," appliedtothem.' This paper, being refused by the,RoyalGeographical Society, was read (August 30,1861)berore the British Association at Manchester.'"Who discovered t,he Sources of the Nile?'A letter to. Sir Roderick I. M'Urchison (Madd~n;,.,,1Ueadenhall-street,1863).'

60 NEW NILE SOURCE.Dr Beke, it appears, doubly deserves thetitle' Theoretical Discoverer of the Nile Sources.'He has lately transferred the Oaput from S. lat.2°_3° to S. lat. 10° 30'-110, and from E. long.34° to E. long. 18°-19°, making the stream passthrough 43° of latitude, and measuring diagonallyone-eighth of the circumference of theglobe. (' Solution of the Nile Problem,' Athenreum,Feb. 5, 1870). The Nile is thus identifiedwith the Kasai, or Kassavi, the Oasais of P. J.Baptista (the Pombeiro), the Oasati of Douville,the Oasasi of M. Oooley, the Oassabe of M. J. R.Gra9a, the Kasaby of Mr Macqueen, and theKasye or Loke of Dr Livingstone. These' NewSources' are in the 'primreval forests of 010­Vihenda and Djikoe or Kibokoe (the Quiboqueof the Hungarian officer Ladislaus Magyar), inthe Mossamba Mountains, about 300 miles fromthe coast of Benguela. 1\rfr Keith Johnston, jun.believes that the Lufira-Luapula river is thelower course of the Kassavi or Kassabi, which isusually made to rise in S. lat. 12°, near theAtlantic seaboard, and after flowing N. E. andN. as far as about S. lat. 8°, to turn eastwardinstead of continuing to the N. W. and W. Hemakes it, however, the true head of the Oongo,not of the Nile.

SIR RODERICK MURCHISON. 61Amongst minor explorations, I may mentionthat of Mr Henry O. Arcangelo, who in 1847ascended the Juba or Govind River. It is,however, doubtful how far his explorations extended.He was followed in 1849 by OaptainShort. In November, 1851, a party of threeMoors or Zanzibar Arabs landed at 'Bocamoio'(the Bagamoyo roadstead village where M.Maizan disembarked), travelled with 40 carriersto the Lake 'Tanganna' (Tanganyika), crossedit in a boat which they built, visited the MuataOazembe, and reached, after six months, the Por-'tuguese Benguela. The late Mr Consul Brandcommunicated, through the Foreign Office, thisremarkable journey, in which Africa had been-crossed, with few difficulties, from sea to sea,and it excited the attention of the Royal GeographicalSociety (Journal, vol. xxiv. of 1854).',In 1852 Sir Roderick 1. Murchison pro­~~~D.ded his theory of the basin-shaped struc-.t'ur .••....' ~.'.•.•.Jo.. f..... the Mrican interior. This was ani,i' .. .:~BoFtant advance upon the great plateau ofilltli¢~pede {IMemoire, etc., dans les Annales duJM!~sgede l'Histoire Nat., vi. 284), and it abol~i~h.E~d,thegardens and terraces of Ritter (Erd­Kll1lcle,lePlateau ou la Haute Afrique). Aboutthe same time 001. Sykes recommended that an

62 COLONEL SYKES.expedition be sent from Mombasah to explore the, Arcanum Magnum,' opining that the discoveryof Kilima~njaro and Kenia had limited the areaof the head-waters between S. lat. 2°_4° and E.long. (G.) 32°-36°, almost exactly the southern~most position of the Nyanza Lake. In March,1855, Lieut.-Oolonel Hamerton forwarded concisebut correct notices, ' On various points con~nected with the H:M. Imam of Muskat,' whichwas published in the Bombay Selections (No.24). In Dec. 10, 1855, followed Mr James Macqueen'spaper on the' Present state of the Geographyof some parts of Africa (read at theRoyal Geographical Society, April 8 and June10, 1850), with 'Notes on the Geography ofCentral Africa,' taken from the researches ofLivingstone, Monteiro, Gra9a, and others (JournalRoyal Geographical Society, vol. xxvi. 109).They show great critical ability. The map accompanyingthe memoir separated the 'Tanganyenka'from the Nyassa Lake; moreover, itdisposed the greater axes of these several watersas they should be, nearly upon a meridian.Maps still suffered from that incubus the N'yassior Single Sea, stretching between S. lat. 7°-12°,and distorted by its 'historien geographe' fromthe N. S. position occupied by the half-dozen lakes

ME MACQUEEN. 63which compose it 1 to aN. W. and S. E. rhumb.,As afterwards appeared, Mr Macqueen had confusedthe Tanganyika and Nyanza waters byplacing the centre of the former in long. (G.)~9°. This, however, was not suspected whenmy,excellent and venerable friend gave me therough proofs of his paper, which travelled withme into Oentral Africa. Mr Macqueen has alsodone good by editing (Journal Royal GeographicalSociety, vol. xxx.) the Journeys of SilvaPorto with the Arabs from Benguela to Ibo andMozambique, and by other labours too numerousto be specified.A pause in East African exploration followedthe departure of Dr Krapf. M. Erhardt, whoseproject of entering' vi& Kilwa was not supported,had joined his brother missionaries in India.M. Rebmann alone remained at Rabai Mpia.~ The'NyaBsi' is, in fact, a general reservoir into whien arethrownthe Lakes Tanganyika, the NyaSB!l, the Shirwa, and thefoUl' smaller waters, the Liemba, the Bangweol.o, the Moero of~he\.greatriver Chambeze, and the Liemba drained by theJ],.t1firatLuaPullLstream. The latter, lying between S. lat.J.Qo:l2.°,have/Jately been reported by Dr Livingstone (Mapgt,t~f)lllialre.J1,egion of Eastern .AIrica, showing the .sources oft~~,!~ili:uecently discovered by Dr Livingstone, with notes,~c,;p>":K:eii;hJohnston, jun. (Jonnston); and we have a Sketch~~gLofDr Livingstone's recent Explorations-Eine Karten­·a]tizze,.&c.From Dr Petermann's Geographische Mittbeilnn~gen,LPart V., for May,1870 (Gotha, Perthes).

64 NOTE.And whilst under H. H. Abbas Pasha a largeand complete Egypto-Eufopean expedition was,after the old fashion, organized to ascend thestream, 'adinvestigandum caput NiH' (Seneca,Nat. Qurest. vi. 8), the new and practicable routefrom the Zanzibar coast seemed to have beenclean forgotten.During this lull we landed,. as the reader hasbeen told in the last chapter, upon the Africanisle ' Menouthias.'NOTE.I may be excused in here alluding to an assertionoften repeated by the 'Geographer ofN'gassi,' in his Memoir on the' Lake Regions ofEast Africa reviewed' (London, Stanford, 1864).He makes me ' the easy dupe of the most transparentpersonal hostility, which wore the respectablemask of the Royal Geographical Society,'and he assures me that I left England 'indoctrinated'as to what lake or lakes I should find.in Central Africa, and so forth.This fretfulness of mortified vanity would nothave been noticed by me had it not been so unfairto the Royal Geographical Society. In thepreface of my Memoir (pp. 4-8, Journal RoyalGeographical Society, vol. xxix.), I was carefulto print all the instructions of the ExpeditionaryOommittee, and I only regretted thatthey were not more detailed. It is 'absurd to as-

P.B. 65sert of a traveller that he 'visited the lake regionswith a confirmed inclination to divide thelake.' What interest can he have in bringinghome any but the fullest and most exact details?The petty differences between himself and theRoyal Geographical Society, which' Mr Cooleyassumes all the world to know, were utterly unknownto me when I left England in 1856; and,greatly despising such things, I have never sinceinquired into the sUbject. Returning home in1859, I learned with surprise that the 'ComparativeGeographer' still stood upon his' SingleSea,' and considered any one who dared to maketwo or three of it his personal enemy. Thatsuch should be the mental state of a gentlemanwho has not, they say, taken leave of his wits,was a phenomenon which justified my wonder;nor could I believe it till the pages of theAthenceum proceeded to give me proof positive.lt is melancholy to see a laborious literary man,whose name might stand so high, thus displaythe caput mortuum of his intellect., .P.S. Another mortuary notice! . My goodold friend Mr Macqueen has also passed awayat a ripe age, leaving behind him the memory ofa, laborious .and useful life, especially devoted tothecatise of Africa and the Africans.VOL. I. 6

CHAPTER IV.A STROLL THROUGH ZANZIJ3AR CITY., E dahi se foi:'t Ilha de Zanzibar, que he aqueID de }l;fombu9avinte leguas e tao pegada aterra firma que as DaOS que passaremper entre ellas, hao de ser vistas.'-DE BARROS, 1, vii. 4.AND first of the Port.Zanzibar harbour is a fine specimen of thetrue Atoll, barrier or fringing reef, built upon asubsiding foundation, probably of sandstone. Theoriginal lagoon, charged with sediment andwashings from the uplands, must have burstduring some greater flood, and split into narrowwater-ways the one continuous coraJline rim.The same influences may account for the gapsin the straight-lined reef whose breach gave aname to Brazilian Pernambuco.The port varies in depth from 9 to 13fathoms, with overfalls, and the rise of the tideis 13 feet. Here the Hormos Episalos (statiofluctuosa, or open roadstead of the Periplus,

ISLETS. 67chap. 8) has been converted into a basin by theindustry of the lithophyte. These ants of theocean have built up an arc of, Sea-girt isles,That, like to rich and various gems, inlayThe unadorned bosom of the deep.'There is a front harbour and a back bay.The latter enables ships landing cargo to avoidthe heavy swell of the N.B. monsoon. The two'are separated by Ras Changani I-Sandy Point.The name, corrupted to Shangany, has attacheditself in our charts to the whole city.These coral-based islet clumps are reuclilymade in these seas. The rough ridges of a'wash,' where currents meet, are soon heapedwith sea-weed, with drift-wood, and with scattersof parasitical testaceffi, which decaying form athin but fruitful soil. Seeds brought by winds,waves, and birds then germinate; and matter,1 Changa (large sands), in the plural Michanga, sands (ofgreat extent). Mchanga (sund generally), at Mombasah andon the coast which preserve the older dialect, becomesMtanga, and means a sandy place. The islanders of Zanzibar,for instance, will say Nti (the land or earth), the continentals,Nchi: these prefer Ku Changanyika (to meet together), thoseKll Tanganyika.. :Foreig~ers often confound chJ{t with jY:1, andpronounce, for instance, Msijyitnlt for Msichyana-a lass. TheArabs, who cannot articulate the ch, convert it into their familiarsh, e. g. Ku Shimba for Ku Chimba (to dig).

68 CHAMPANI.animal as well as vegetable, is ever added till ahumus-bed is formed for thick shrubbery andtrees. Unless deposition and vegetation continueto bind the rock, it is liable to be underminedby the sea, when it forms banks dangerousto navigation.Dr Ruschenberger, repeated by a moderntravellel', informs us that there are' four minorreefs, looking like great arks, whose bows andsterns hang bushing over the waters.' As allthe plans show, there are five. The northernmostlink of the broken chain is Ohampani (not, Ohapany '), the Isle des Fran«ais of Frenchcharts. It became a God's-acre for Europeans,whose infidel corpses here, as at Maskat, and inancient Madeira before the days of OaptainOook, had during less latitudinarian times thechoice of the dunghill of the cove, or of a holein the street. Formerly it was frequented byturtle-fishers and egg-seekers: 'black Muhogo,'lhowever, has been scared away by visions of feverstricken,yellow-raced ghosts rising ghastly fromthe scatter of Ohristian graves. The bit of sandybush, distinguished from its neighbours by absenceof tall trees, is frequented (1857) by navaland commercial Nimrods, with 'shooting irons ;1 Manioc, often erroneol1sly written J\fabogo.

KIBONDIKO. 69and 'smelling dogs,' curs with clipped ears andshorn tails, bought from bumboat men: en boneha8seurs, they shoot the Sayyid's little antelopeswhich troop up expecting food; and sometimesthese sportsmen make targets of certain buffcolouredobjects imperfectly seen through thebushes. The mouldering sepulchres in theirneglected clearings make the prospect of a lasthome here peculiarly unsavoury, almost as bad.as in Brazilian Santos. Yet there are traditionsof French picnics visiting it to eat monkey-aproceeding which might have been interrupteden ville.Westward the line of natural breakwaters isprolonged by Kibondiko, Le Ponton, or the Hulk.A mere mass of jungle, it has never been utilized.The eye, however, rests with pleasure upon thesheet of sparkling foam tumbling white over itscoralline outliers, backed. by dark purple-bluedistance, and fronted by tranquil, leek-greenshoal water. Connected with its neighbour by areef practicable at low tides, it is sepc1,rated fromChangu, or Middle Island, by 'French channel,'deep enough for men-of-war. The shoals aboutit supply a small rock-oyster. The crustacea,however, is uncultivated, and amongst Moslemsit is e8cargot to the typical John Bull.

70 BAWLThe most important is Bawi or Turtle Island,a low, dry bank, slightly undulated, with a beautifullyverdant undergrowth, fringed and tasseledwith tl1e tallest cocoas. The Chelonian (K'hasa)of the East coast, eaten in April and May, by nomeans equals that of Fernando Po or of Ascension;moreover, here no man is master of theart and mystery of developing callipash and callipee.Turtle, cooked by a 'cook-boy,' suggeststhe flesh of small green Saurians (Susmar), whichthe haughty Persians of Firdausi thus objectedto their Semitic neighbours-, Can the Arab's greed thus have grown so great,From his camels' milk and his lizards' meat,That he casts on Kayyanian crowns his eye?Fie on tbee! thou swift-rolling world, 0 fie ! 'The tortoise-shell, so often mentioned in thePeriplus as an export from Menouthias (chap.xv.) and Rhapta (chap. xvii.), has until latelybeen neglected. Like Bombay Calabar, and ourIsle of Dogs in the olden time, the few acres ofTurtle Island were used to 'keep antelopes,goats, and other beasts of delight,' while viciousbaboons were deported to it from the city.Below it is the celebrated' Harpshell Bank,' nowmercilessly spoiled. Southernmost is ChumbiIshmd, alias La Passe, which, mistaken for th.e

CHUMBI. 71Turtle, has caused many'a wreck. These mIShapsare not always accidental. One day Lieut.­Colonel Hamerton saw, through his glass, themaster of a Frenchman deliberately stow himselfand his luggage in the gig, put off, and leave hisship to run her nose upon the nearest reef.These islands form the well-known' Passes,'channels intricate with lithodom-reefs and mollusk-beds.They number four, namely, thenorthern or English Pass, between Champaniand Zanzibar; the N. W. or French Pass, betweenKibondiko and Changu; the great or middle, betweenChangu and Biwi; and the western,south of Bawi. The principal entrance wasbuoyed by the late Sayyid, but these precautionssoon disappeared. Within the line of breakwatersis the anehorage, which may be pronouncedexcellent; ships ride close to shore in7to 8 fathoms, and the area.between the islets andthe island may be set down at 3'S square miles.It presents an animated scene. Mosquito fleetsof 'ngarawa' or monoxyles cut the waveletslike flying proas, under the nice conduct of thesable fishermen, who take advantage of the calmweather. The northerners from about Bravahave retained the broad-brimmed straw hat,big as an average parasol. Like that of Mala-

72 NATIVE CRAFT.bar, Morocco, and ,iVest Africa, it was adoptedby their Portuguese conquerors. The machuaor 'little boats' of the Lusiads, which De Barroscalls'Sambucos,'l are still the same, except thata disproportioned sail of merkani (Americandomestics), based upon a pair of outriggers, nowsupplies the primitive propeller,'d'humas folhas de palma.bem tecidas.'The outrigger is rarely neglected.Here andthere a giant shark shoots up from the depths,and stares at the fishermen with a cruel, fixed,and colourless eye, that makes his blood runcold. Only the poorest of poor devils will ventureinto a 'dug-out,' which is driven beforethe wind or paddled with a broad, curved, spoonlikeblade. These Matumbi, or hollowed logs,form a curious national contrast with thelaunches and lighters that land European merchandise;ponderous and solid squares, theirbuild shows nothing graceful or picturesque.The N. E. monsoon is now (December) doingits duty well, and bringing various native craft1 I have described (Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah)the modern SamMk of the Red Sea, and find the word' Sonbouk'in the French translation of Ibn Batutah. Sir GardnerWilkinson quotes Athenrous, who makes the' Sambuca' (nmusical instrument) 'resemble a ship with a ladder placedover it.'

THE .MTEPE. 73from Madagascar, Mozambique, the minor islandsof the Indian Ocean, Bombay and Guzerat, theSomali coast, the Red Sea, Maskat, and thePersian Gulf. Numbering 60 to 70, they anchorclose in shore-0 Semites and Hamites, wondrouslyapathetic I-where the least sea wouldbump them to bits. About half a mile outsidethe' country shipping,' ride, in 5 to 6 fathoms,half a dozen square-rigged merchantmen­Americans, French, and Hamburgers; Englandis not represented. What with bad water,and worse liquor, the Briton finds it hard tolive at Zanzibar. All are awaiting cargoes ofcopal and ivory, of hides, and of the cowrieswhich we used to call' blackamoor's teeth.'The quaintest ("I.nd freshest local build is tous the Mtepe, which the Arabs call Muntafiyah. 1This lineal descendant of the Ploaria Rhapta(Naviculm Consutffi,. Periplus, chap. 16), thatfloated upon these seas 20 centuries ago, is afavourite from Lamu to Kilwa. The shell hasa beam one-third of its length, and swims thetide buoyantly as a sea-bird. This breadth, combinedwith elasticity, enables it to stand anyI It is written Mutaifiyah in the Arab Chronicle of MombasahHistory, translated and included in Captain Owen's work(Voyages to Africa, vol. i. 416, Arabia, etc., London, Bentley,1833).

74 THE BADAN.amount of grounding and bumping, nor IS itever beached for the S. W. monsoon. It ISpegged together, not nailed, and mostly, as theold traveller says, 'sewn, like clothes, withtwine.' The tapering mast, raking forwards,carries any amount of square matting, by nomeans air-tight, and the stern is long and projecting,as if amphisbmnic. The swan-throat ofthe arched prow is the cheniscus of the classicalgalley"stem. Necklaced with strips of hide andbunches of talismans, it bears a red head; andthe latter, as in the ark of Osiris and in theOhinese junk, has the round eyes painted white,-possibly, in the beginning holes for hawsers.The 'Mtepe' carries from 12 to 20 tons, andcan go to windward of everything propelled bywind.The Badan, from Sur, Sohal', and Maskat, hasa standing plank-covering, and being able tomake 11 knots an hour is preferred by passengers,Arah loafers, and SOI'nors, one being allowedper ton in short trips. Descried fromafar through the haze, her preposterous sail hascaused the Zanzibarites to fly their flags inanticipation of home news; nearer, the long,narrow, quoin-shaped craft, with towering sternpostand powerful rudder, like the caudal fin of

THE DAU. 75some monstrous fish, pres

76 THE 'GRAB.'position of lime and resin of the Tongshu-treeapplied over the oakum of bamboo (Astley,4, 128).The 'Grab' (properly' Ghurab,' meaning araven) is an overgrown Pattimar. A model ofthe latter craft, primitive and Hindu, was submittedto the British public during the GreatExhibition. Rigged barque-like, it is wondrousark-like and uncouth. Baghlahs (she-mules) andGanjas (Ghancheh), from Cutch, are old tubswith low projecting prows and elevated sterns,elaborately carved and painted. Low down in thefore, their lean bows split like giant wedges theopposing waves, which hiss and seethe as they flypast in broad arrow-heads. Dangerous in heavyseas, these coffins are preserved by popular prejudicefor the antique and by the difficulty ofchoosing other models. Add sundry Batelas,with poop-cabinets, closed and roomy, somewith masts struck, others ready to weigh anchor-I am not writing, gentle reader, a report onMoslem naval architecture-and you have anidea of the outlandish fleet, interesting withal,which bethrongs the port of Zanzibar.The much-puffed squadron of the late Sayyid,stationed during his life at Mto-ni, and nowbeing divided amongst the rival heirs, flanks

THE SQUADRON. 77with its single and double tiers of gUllS thesepeaceful traders, of whom, by-the-by, some aredesperate pirates. The number is imposing;Imt the decks have no awnings against theweather, the masts are struck and stripped tosave rigging, the yards lie fore-and-aft upon thebooms, the crews consist of half-a-clozen thievish,servile 'sons of water' (M'ami Maji); rats andcockroaches compose the live stock; the ammunitionis nowhere, and though the quarterand main decks are sometimes swept, everythingbelow is foul with garbage and vermin. The exteriorsare dingy; the interiors are so thoroughlyrotted by fresh water that the ships are ahvaysready to go down at their anchors. 'rhe wholething is a mistake amongst Arabs, who are fittedonly for a ' buggalow,' or at best a 'grab.' Thelate Sayyid once attempted English sailors, whobehaved well as long as they did vvlmt theypleased, especially in the minor matters of 'bclCCYand grog; but when the chLrk-faced skipperbegan loud speaking and tall threats, they incontinentlythrashed him upon his own quarterdeck,and were perforce' dismissed the service.'Every captain in the l~. N. lI1as]mt, besides impudentlyfalsifying the muster-rolls, will stealthe fighting-lanterns, the hammocks, and other

78 II M.'S CONSULATE.articles useful at home; whilst the care-takerssell in the bazar, junk, rope, and line; copperbolts, brass-work, and carpenter's chests bearingthe government mark. When a ship is wantedan Arab Nakhoda (here called Nahoza), a Muallimor sailing-master, and a couple of Sukkanis(pilots), are sent on board with a crewcomposed of a few Arab non-commissionedofficers and' able seamen,' Baloch, Maskatis, andslaves. The commander, who receives some 50dollars per lunar month, kills time with thecogmic bottle; the sailing-master (7 dollars)dozes like a lap-dog in his own arm-chair on thequa,rter-deck; and the seamen do nothing, Jackhelping Bill. One of these vessels sent to Englanda few yeaTs ago lost, by 'want of provisionsand bad water, 86 out of its crew-IOO men;and can we wonder at it? A single small screwsteamer,carrying a heavy gun, and manned andcommanded by Europeans, would have beenmore efficient in warfare, and far more useful inpeace, than the whole squadl'on of hulks. It is,however, vain to assure the Arab brain that merenumber is not might; and, indeed, so it is whenpeople believe in it.'1'he high and glassless windows of H. M.'sConsulate enable us to prospect the city. Zan-

ZANZIBAR CITY. 79zibar, in round numbers 6° south of the line,occupies the western edge and about the midwaylength of the coral reef that forms the island.The latter is separated by a Manche or channelfrom the continent, a raised strip of blue land,broken by tall and remarkable cones all rejoicingin names still mysterious enough to flutter thetraveller's nerves. The inclination of the islandfrom N.N.W. to S.S.E. shelters the harbourfrom the Indian Ocean, whilst the bulge ofthe mainland breaks the force of dangerousHippalus, the S.W. monsoon. The minimumbreadth of the Manche is 16 geographical miles;from the Fort to the opposite coast there are 2 Ḷ 1,and from the bottom of Menai Bay 35. ThePeriplus gives to the Menouthian Channel about300 sta,dia, in round numbers 30 geographicalmiles: 600 common stadia correspond, within afraction of the real meas1Jrement, with a degreeof latitude (10=3:0 of the earth's circumference).Marinus of TJTre and ptolemy, however, undulyreduced the latter to 500 stadia.Zanzibar city is built upon a triangular spit,breaking the line of its wide, irregular, and shallowbay. The peninsula is connected with theisland by an isthmus some 300 yards wide, and itis backed by swamp and lagoon, bush and forest.

soON THE SHORE.Arc-shaped, with the chord formed by the seafrontage,and the segment of the circle facinglandwards, its greatest length is from N.B. toS.W., and it is disposed beachways, like the seaportsof Oman. The front is a mere' dicky,' aclean show concealing uncleanness. Instead,however, of a neat marine parade ancl aT-shapedpier, the foreground is a line of sand fearfullyimpure. Oorpses float at times upon the heavywater; the shore is a cess-pool, and the youngerblacks of both sexes disport themselves in an absenceof costume which would startle even Margate.Round-barrelled bulls, the saints of theBanyans, and therefore called by us ' Brahmani,'push and butt, by way of excitement, the gangs ofserviles w10 carry huge sacks of cowries, and pilehigh their hides and log,Yood. Others wash andscrape ivory, which suggested to a young travellerthe idea that the precious bone, here so plentiful,is swept up by the sea. At night the frontoften flares as if on fire. The cause is lime-burningon the shore, in small, round, built-up heaps.Another evil, arising from want of quay andbreakwater, is that the sea at times finds its wayinto the lower parts of the town. The nuisanceincreases, as this part of the Island appears to beundergoing depression, not an uncommon pro-

POPULATION. 81cess in frctile madrepore formations. Off OhanganiPoint, where in 1823 stood a hut-clump anda mosque, four fathoms of "vater now roll. TheBritish Oonsulate, formerly many yards distantfrom the surf, must be protected by piles and rubble.SOlle of the larger houses howe sunk four,and have sloped nine feet from terrace to g'mund,owing to the instability of their soppy foundations.The' Tree-island' of our earliest chartshas been undermined and carried away bodily bythe waves; whilst to the north the sea has encroachedupon Mto-ni, where the Sayyid's flagstaffhas four times required removal. On theother hand, about 15 years ago, the 'MiddleShoal' of the harbour was awash; now it is highand dry.In 1835 Dr Ruschenberger esti1l12uted thecensus of Zanzibar at 12,000 souls, of whom twothirdswere slaves. In IBM Dr Krapf proposed100,000 as the population of the islnncl, thegreater number living in the capital. CaptainGuillain, in 1846, gave 20,000 to 25,000, slavesincluded. I assumed the number, in 1357, as25,000, which during the N.R monsoon, when alarge floating population flocks in, may rise to40,000, and even to 45,000. The Oonsular reportof 1849 asserts it to be 'about 60,000.'YOLo I. 6

82 THE WEST END.The city is divided into 18 quarters (Mahallat),each having its own name; and whentravellers inform us that it is called 'Hamuz,'Moafilah, or Baur, they simply take a part forthe whole. l The west-end boasts the best houses,chiefly those which wealthy natives let tostranger merchants. The Oentral, or Fort quarter,is the seat of government and of commerce,whilst few foreigners inhabit the eastern extremities;the hottest and the most unhealthy. Thestreets are, as they should be under such a sky,deep and winding alleys, hardly 20 feet broad,and travellers compare them with the threads ofa tangled skein. In the west-end a pavement ofOhunam, or tamped lime, is provided with agutter, which secures dryness and cleanliness-1 The quarters, beginning from Cbangani, the most western,are, the Baghani, which contains the English Consulate j the1VIllazi-Moya to the south, with a grave-yard, and a bazarwhere milk and grain are sold; the Fuga adjoining it, the Zamharani,theKajl:fichemi, the Kunazemi, and the Rambo to the southeastj the Gurayzani, containing the fort; and the Furdaniwith.the Custom House; the Kipondah, where the French Oonsulateis j the Ziwani (Mitha-pani of the Hindus) further to the south;the Suk Muhogo, where manure and :fish are sold j the Melincli,or Melindini, occupied by Hindus, and boasting a bazar;and lastly the Mnawi, the Kokoni, and the Fungu extend to theeasternmost quarter, the Malagash, where the Lagoon, an inletof the sea, bounds the city. I did not hear any of the threellames mentioned in the text; they are probably llOW obsolete.

THE EAST END. 83it is the first that I have seen ill an Africancity. As we go eastward all such signs of civilizationvanish; the sun and wind are the onlyengineers, and the frequent green and blackpuddles, like those of the filthy Ghetto, or Jews'quarter, at Damascus, argue a preponderance ofblack population. Here, as on the odious sands,the festering impurities render strolling a taskthat requires some resolution, and the streetsarl) unfit for a decent (white) woman to walkthrough. I may say the same of almost everycity where the negro element abounds.As in the coast settlements of the RedSea and of Madagascar, the house material iswholly coral rag, a substance at once easilyworked and durnhIe-stone and lime in one.The irregularity of the place is excessive, and itis by no means easy to describe its peculiar physiognomy.The public buildings are poor andmean. The mosques which aelorn Arab townswith light and airy turrets, breaking the monotonyof square white tenements, magnified claretchests,are here in the simplest "V'Tahhabi form.About 30 of these useful, but by no means ornamental,'meeting-houses' are scattered aboutthe city for the use of the 'established church.'They are oblong rooms, with stuccoed walls, and

84 THE MOSQUE.matted floors; the flat roofs are supported bydwarf rows of square piers and polygonalcolumns; whilst Saracenic arches, broad, pointed,and lanceated, and windows low-placed for convenienceofexpectoration, with inner emarginationsin the normal shape of scallops or crescents,divide the interior. Two Shafei mosques,one called after Mohammed Abd el KadiI', theother from Mohammed el Aughan (Afghan),have minarets, dwindled turrets like the steeplesof Brazilian villages; another boasts of a diminutivecone, most like an Egyptian pigeon-tower;and a fourth has a dwarf excrescence, suggestingthe lantern of a light-house. The Shiahs, whoare numerous, meet for prayer in the Kipondahquarter, and the Kojahs have a ruined mosqueoutside the city.The best houses are on the Arab plan familiarto travellers in Ebro-hmd and her colonies. Thetype has extended to France and even to Galway,where we still find it in the oldest buildings. Adark narrow entrance leads from the street, andthe centre of the tenements is a hypmthral quadrangle,the Iberian Patio or Quintal. We miss,however, the shady trees, the sweet flowers, andbright verdure with which the southern Eurol)eanand the Hispano-American beautify their

THE HOUSE. 85dwellings. Here the 'Dar' IS a dirty yard,paved or unpaved, usually encumbered with pilesof wood or hides, stored for sale, and tenanted bypoultry, dogs, donkeys, and lounging slaves. Asteep and narrow, dark and dangerous staircaseof rough stone, like a companion-ladder, connectsit with the first floor, the' noble-quarter.'There are galleries for the several storeys, anddoors opening upon the court admit light intothe rooms. Zanzibarian architecture, as among'Orientals' generally, is at a low ebb. Themasonry shows not a single straight line; thearches are never similar in form or size; thefloors may have a foot of depression between themiddle and the corners of the room; whilst notwo apartments are on the same level, and theyseldom open into each other. Joiner's work andiron-work must both be brought from India.The 'azoteas'l flat roofs, or rather terraces,are supported by mangrove-trunks, locally called'Zanzibar rafters,' and the walls, of massivethickness, a,re copiously' chunam'd.' Here theinmates delight to spread their mats, and atsuitable seasons to ' smell the air.' Banda or bandini,pent-roofed huts of plaited palm-leaf (malThe Iberian name (in Arabic ~\, El Sat'h) of the flatroof-terrace, borrowed from the dry lands of Western Asia.

86 THE DOOR.kuti or cajan) garnish the roofs of the nativetown. Europeans do not patronize these lookouts,fires being frequent and the slaves dangerous.Some foreigners have secured the comfortof a cool night by building upper cabins ofplanking, and have paid for the enjoyment inl'heumatism, ague, and fever.Koranic sentences on slips of paper, fastenedto the entrances, and an inscription cut in thewooden lintel, secure the house from witchcraft,like the crocodile in Egypt; whilst a yard ofship1s cable drives away thieves. The higher thetenement, the bigger the gateway, the heavierthe padlock, and the huger the iron studs whichnail the door of heavy timber, the greater is theowner's dignity. All seems ready for a state ofsiege. Even the little square holes pierced highup in the walls, and doing duty as ventilators,are closely barred. As heat prevents the useof glass in sleeping-rooms, shutters of plain orpainted plank supply its place, and persiennesdeform the best habitations. The northern Europeanwho sleeps for the first time in one of theseblockhouses fairly realizes the first sensationsof a jail. Of course the object is defence, thereforethe form is still common to Egypt and Zanzibar,Syria and Asia Minor.

THE ROOM. 87Arabs here, as elsewhere, prefer long narrowrooms (40 feet x 15 to 20), generally muchhigher than their breadth, open to the seabreeze,which is the health-giver; and they closethe eastern side-walls against the 'fever-wind,'the cool, damp, spicy land-draught. The Salaor reception-hall is mostly on the groundfloor.It contrasts strongly with our Englishapartments, where the comfortless profusion andconfusion of furniture, and where the unduecrowding of ornamental ornaments, spoil theproportions and 'put out' the eye. The protractedlines of walls and rows of arched andshallow niches, which take the place of tablesand consoles, are unbroken save by a fewweapons. Pictures and engravings are almostunknown; chandelier::; and mirrors are confinedto the wealthy; and the result, which in Englandwould be bald and barn-like, here suggeststhe coolness and pleasing simplicity of anItalian villa-in Italy. A bright-tinted carpet,a gorgeous but tasteful Persian rug for the daIs,matting on the lower floor, which is of the usualchunam; a divan in old-fashioned houses; and, inthe best of the modern style, half a dozen stiffchairs of East Indian blackwood or China-work,compose the upholstery of an Arab 'palazzo.'

88 THE FORT.In the rooms of the few who can or will affordsuch trifles, ornaments of porcelain or glassware,and French or Yankee knicknacks fillthe niches. Of course the inner apartments aremore showily dressed, but these we may not explore.About half way down the front of the citywe debouch upon the (Gurayza' or fort. Thematerial is the usual coral-rag, cemented withlime of the same formation, rudely burnt, andthe style as well as the name (Igreja-Ecclesia)recall to mind the Portuguese of the heroicsixteenth century. It is one of those naIve, crenelatedstructures, flanked by polygonal towers,each pierced for one small gun, and connectedby the comparatively low curtains, in which ourancestors put their trust. A narrow open spaceruns round it, and it is faced by a straight-lineddetached battery, commanding the landing, andahout 12 yards long. The embrasures of thiS"outwork are so close that the first broadsidewould blow open the thin wall; and the scoreof guns is so placed that every bullet strikingthe fort must send a billet or two into the menthat serve them. A' place d'armes,' about 50feet wide, divides the two, and represents thenaval and military arsenal-two dozen iron car-

THE FORT.soronades lying piled to the right of the firstentrance, and as much neglected and wormeatenas though they belonged to our happycolony, Oape Ooast Oastle. Amongst the gunsof different calibre we find a few fine old brasspieces, one of which bears the dint of a heavyblow. They are probably the plunder of Hormuzor of Maskat, where the small matter ofa 'piece of ham wrapped up in paper' 1 caused,in the middle of the seventeenth century, ageneral massacre of the Portuguese.'The gateway is the usual intricate barbican.Here in olden times, after the prayers of el Asr(3 P.M.) the governor and three judges, patriarchswith long grey beards, unclean white robes,and sabres in hana, held courts of justice, anddistributed rough -and-ready law to peacefulBanyans, noisy negroes, and groups of fierceArabs. The square bastion projecting from thecurtain now contains upper rooms for the BalochJemaclar (commandant). The ground-flooris a large vestibule, upon ·whose shady masonrybenchesthe soldiery and their armed slaveslounge and chat, laugh and squabble, play andchew betel. On the left of the outer gate is a1 Chap. 7. Captain Hamiltou's ' New Account of the EastIndies.'

90 THE JAIL.Cajan shed, where native artists are setting upcarriages for the guns whose lodging is now thehot ground. The experiment of firing a piecewas lately tried; it reared up and fell backwards,smashing its frail woodwork and killingtwo artillery' chattels.'Travellers have observed that a launch couldeasily dismantle this stronghold. It was once,the legend runs, attacked and taken by a single, Jack,' for the honour of whose birthplaceEurope and America vainly contend. Determinedto liberate two brother-tars from theignoble bilboes, he placed himself at the head ofa party consisting of a Newfoundland dog. Hefell upon the guard sabre au poing, and, leftmaster of the field, he waved his bandanna invinous triumph from the battlements. Sad torelate, this Caucasian hero succumbed to Hamiticfraud. The discomfited slaves rallied. Holdinga long rope, they ran round and round theenemy, till, wound about like a windlass or a·silk cocoon, he was compelled to surrender atdiscretion.The interior of the fort is jammed withsoldiers' huts, and divided into courts by rickettywalls; Here, too, is the only jail in Zanzibar.1'he stocks (Makantarah), the fetters, the iron

THE PRISONER. 91collars, and the heavy waist.chains, do not preventblack man from conversationizing, singingcomic songs, and ga.mbling with pebbles. Thesame was the case with our gruel-houses­'Kanji-Khanah,' vulgo 'Conjee-Connah' - inBritish India. The Sepoys laughed at them anclat our beards. The Bombay Presidency jail isknown to Arabs as El Bistan (EI Bostan, theGarden), because the courts show a few shrubs,and with Ishmaelites a 'Bistan' has ever anarriere pensh of Paradise. But the most mutinouswhite salt that ever floored skipper would, squirm' at the idea of a second night in theblack-hole of Zanzibar. Such is the Orientalbeau-ideal of a prison-a place whose very nameshould develope the goose-skin, and which theChinese significantly call' hell.'In my clay foreigners visited the prison to seeits curio, a poor devil cateran who had beatenthe death-drum whilst his headman was torturingM. lVIaizan. An Arab eXl)edition sentinto the interior returned with this wretch, declaringhim to be the murderer in chief, and fortwo years he lay chained in front of the FrenchConsulate. Since lR47 he was heavily ironed toa gun, under a mat-shed, where he could neitherstand up nor lie down. The fellow looked fat

93 THE SALT MARKET.and well, but he died before our return from theinterior in 1859.Below the eastern bastion of the 'Gurayza'is the most characteristic spot in Zanzibar city,the Salt Market, so called from the heaps ofdingy saline sand offered for sale hy the MaskatiArabs and the Mekranis. Being near the CustomHouse, it is always thronged, and like thebazars of Cairo and Damascus it gives an exaggeratedidea of the population. There are besidesthis three other' Suk.' The Sule Muhogo,or Manioc market, to the south of the city,supplies the local staff of life. It is the sweetvariety of Jatropha, called in the Brazil Aypim,or Macacheira, and known to us as white cassava:it will not make wood-meal, called "(XT'¥~OX"f)1J,farinha, the flour. The poisonous Manioc(Jatropha Manihot) must be soaked in water, orrasped, squeezed, and toasted, to expel its deleteriousjuice, which the Brazilian' Indians,' andthe people of the Antilles, convert by boiling intosugar, vinegar, and cassareep for' pepper-pot'­I heard of this 'black cassava' in inner EastAfrica. The Suk Muhogo sells, besides thenegro's daily bread, cloth and cotton, grain andpaeldy, vegetables, and other provisions. Theshops are the usual holes in the wall, raised a

THE CUSTUM HOUSE. 93foot above the str'eet, and the owners sit orsquat, writing upon a knee by wn,y of desk, vviththe slow, absorbing reed-pen and the clottedclammy fluid called ink. Behind, and hard by,is the fish-market, ~hich is tolern,bly suppliedbetween 4 and 6 p.m.-in the morning you buythe remnants of the last dn,y. Further eastward,in the Melindini quarter, is the Suk Melindi,where the butchers expose their venclibles. Asin most hot countries, the best articles are heresold early, at least before 7 a.m. A scarcity ofrrieat is by no means rare at Zanzibar, and sometimesit has lasted four or five months.In the Furzani qUl1l'tcr, eastwl1rd of l1ud closeto the salt bazar, stands the Custom House.This is an Ar:1b bourse, where millions of dollarsanmll111y change hands under the foulest ofsheds, a long, low mat-roof, supported by twodozen rough tree-stems. Prom the sea it is conspicuousas the centre of circulation, the heartfrom and to which twin streams of blacks :11'eever ebbing and flowing, whilst the beach and thewaters opposite it are crowded with shore-boats,big and small. Inbnd, it is backer1 by sacks andbales, baskets and pl1ckQgos, hillocks of hides,old ship's-tanks, piles of vahmble woods, he:1psof ivories, and a heterogeneous mass of waifs and

94 THE PALACE.strays; there is also a rude lock-up, for warehousingthe more valuable goods. A small adjacentsquare shows an unfinished and dilapidatedrow of arches, the fragments of a newCustom House. It was begun 26 or 27 yearsago (1857), but Jayaram, the benevolent andsuperstitious Hindu who farmed the customs itis said for $150,000 per annum, had waxed fatunder the matting, and was not sure that he""vould thrive as much within stone and lime.This is a general idea throughout the nearerEast. The people are full of saws and instancesconcerning the downfall of great men who haveexposed themselves to the shafts of misfortuneby enlarging their gates or by building for themselvestwo-storeyed abodes. But the hat it seemshas lately got the hetter of the turban, and therewill be a handsome new building, half paid bythe Prince and half by his farmer of Customs.An open space now leads us to the finestbuilding inthe city, the palace of the late Say.yid, which we visit in a future chapter. I mayremark that it is the workhouse style, thoughhardly so ignoble as that of H. Hellenic Majesty;but at Zanzibar the windows are farhigher up, and the jail-like aspect is far mor.epronounced. Beyond it commences the east-end,

M. CaCHET, 111. BERARD. 95and here lives my kind friend M. Oochet, Oonsulde France. lie came, expecting to find civilization,whist in the evening, ladies' society, andthe pianoforte: he had been hoaxed in Parisabout Oolonel Hamerton's daughters. He isthorougWy disgusted. Even the Oonsular residenceis the meanest of its kind. No wonderthat M. Le Oapitaine Guillain was 'froissedans son amour-propre national' when he enteredit.Far better, and more open to the breeze, isthe house of the hospitable M. Berard, agent toMessrs Rabaud Freres, of Marseille. The onedisadvantage of the site is the quantity of Khopd"or cocoa-nut meat, split and sun-dried. Itevolves, especially at night-time, a noxious gas,and the strongest stomaelts cannot long resistthe oily, nausea-breeding odour which tarnishessilver, and which produces fatal dysentery. TheZanzibar trade, with the exception of cloves, isnot generally aromatic. Oopal, being washed inan over-kept solution of soda" smells not, as wasremarked to the' Dragon of "VYantley,' like balsam.And ton upon ton of cowries, strewed inthe sun, or pilecl up in huge heaps till the molluscdecays away, can hardly he deemed Sabmanor even commonly wholesome.

96 (BLACK TOWN.'To our right, in rear of the fronting' dicky,'and at both flanks of the city, is the native town,-a filthy labyrinth, a capricious arabesque ofdisorderly lanes, and alleys, and impasses, herebroad, there narrow; now heaped with offal,then choked with ruins. It would be the workof weeks to learn the threading of this -planlessmaze, and what white man would have the heartto learn it? Curiosity may lead us to it inearliest morning, before the black w-orld returnsto life. During the day sun or rain, mud ordust, with the certain effluvia of carrion andnegro, make it impossible to fianer through thefoul mass of densely crowded dwelling-placeswhere the slaves and the poor 'pig' together.The pauper classes are contented with mere sheds,and only the mildness of the climate keeps themfrom starving. The meanest hovels are of palmmatting,blackened by wind or sun, thatchedwith cajan or grass, and with or without wallsof wattle-and·Q;:;,b. They are hardly less wretchedthan the west Ireland shanty. Internally thehuts are cut up into a 'but' and a 'ben,' andare furnished with pots, gourds, cocoa rasps, lowstools hewn out of a single block, a mortarsimilarly cut, trays, pots, and troughs for food,foul mats, and kitandahs or cartels of palm-fibre

THE HUT. 97rope twisted round a frame of the rudeilt carpenter'swork. The better abodes are enlarged boxesof stone, mostly surrounded by deep, projectingeaves, forming a kind of verandah on poles, andsha,ding benches of masonry or tamped earth,where articles are exposed for sale. The windowsare loop-holes, and the doors are miraclesof rudeness. Lastly, there are the wretchedshops, which supply the few wants of the population.We are now at the mouth of the Lagoon,which, at high tides, almost encircles the city.I am told that of late years the natives havebuilt all round this backwater. In 1857 theEastern or landward side was bush and plantation.As the waters retired they left behindthem a rich legacy of fevers and terrible diseases;especially in the inner town, a dead flat,excluded from the sea breeze, and exposed to thepestiferous breath of the maremma.Ships anchoring off this inlet soon stockFrench Islet. The whalers and American andHamburg vessels, that pref-er Ohang~l,ni Pointand the west end of the city, often escape with.out a single case of sickness. Similarly at Havannah,crews exposed to breezes from the Mangroveswamps have lost half their numbers byVOL. I. 7

98 DRINKING WATER.yellow fever; and the history of our West Indiansettlements proves, if proof be required, howfatal is night exposure.Zanzibar, city and island, is plentifully suppliedwith bad drinking water. Below the oldsea-beach, and near the shore, it is necessary onlyto scrape a hole in the soft ground. Throughoutthe interior the wells, though deep, are dryduring the hot season, and the people flock to thesurface-draining rivulets. West Africans generallywin not drink rain-water for fear of dysentery;and so with us-when showers fell inlarge drops men avoided it, or were careful toconsume it soon lest it should putrefy. Thepurest element is found at Kokotoni, a settlementon the N. W. coast of the island, and in theBububu, a settlement some five miles north ofthe city, where Sayyid Suleyman bin Hamid,once governor of Zanzibar, had a small establishment,and where Hasan bin Ibrahim built a largehouse called Chuweni or Leopard's Place. So atSao Paulo de Loanda the drinking water mustbe brought from the Bengo river. The best nearthe city is from a spring which rises behind theroyal Cascine, Mto-ni. Here the late Sayyidbuilt a stone tank and an aqueduct 2000 yardslong, which, passing through his establishment,

THE WELL. 99came out upon the beach. Casks could then befilled by the hose, but soon the masonry channelgot out of repair, and sailors will not willinglydrink water flowing through a dwelling-house.The produce of the town greatly varies. Somewells are hard with sulphate and carbonate oflime, whilst others are salt as the sea itself; andoften, as in Sind and Outch, of two near togetherone supplies potable and the other undrinkablewater. A few to the south of the cityare tolerably sweet. The pits are numerous,and a square shaft, usually from 12 to 15feet deep, may be found at every 40 or 50 yards.There are no casings; the edges are flush withthe filthy ground about them, and the sites mustfrequently be changed, as the porosity of thecoral rock and the regular seaward slope directthe drainage into them. Similarly, nearer homethe bright sparkling element is not unfrequentlycharged with all the seeds of disease. Whenrain has not fallen for some time the water becomesthick as that of a horseponcl, and whenallowed to stand it readily taints. I couldhardly bear to look at the women as they filleclwith cocoa-shells the jars to be carried off upontheir heads.Formerly Europeans were not allowed, for

100 CASK FILLINCi.religious reasons, to ship water from the wellsnear the town. Also, cask-filling was carriedon at low tide, to prevent the supply of theMto-ni being brackish, and the exhalations of theblack mud were of course extra,.dangerous. Itis no wonder that dysentery and fever resultedfrom the use of such a 'necessary.' The Frenchfrigate Le Berceau, after watering here, wasvisited by the local pest, and lost 90 men on herway home. Even in January, the most wholesomemonth, Lieut. Christopher had 16 deathsamongst his scanty crew. In this case, however,the lancet, so fatal near the Line, and the deadlyZerambo, or toddy-brandy, were partly to blame.As early as 1824 Captain Owen condemned thesupply of Zanzibar, as liable to cause dysentery.It has this effect during and after heavy rains,unless allowed to deposit its animal and vegetablematt"er. During the second visit ofH. M. S. Andromache, in August, 1824, CommanderNourse and several of his officers spentone night in a country house, after which theformer and the greater number of the latterdied. The water, as well as the air, doubtlesstended to cause the catastrophe. In the dryseason the element sometimes produces, accordingto natives and strangers, obstinate costive-

FEVER. 101ness. Between Zanzibar and the Cape, fivebrigs lost collectively 125 men from fever, dysentery,and inflammation of the neck of the vesica;whilst others were compelled to start their casks,and to touch at different 'aguadas' en route.Hence skippers learned to fear and shun Zanzibar.During her 14 months' exploration ofthe island and the coast the Ducouedic lost 16men; and to keep up a crew of 122 to 128~ noless than 226 hands were transferred to herfrom the naval division of Bourbon and Madagascar.Each visit to Unguja was followed byan epidemic attack. Formerly as many as sevenwhalers lay in harbour at one time; now (1857)they prefer to water and refresh at Nossi-beh,:Mayotta, and especially at the Seychelles, a freeport, with a comparatively cool and healthyclimate, where supplies are cheap and plentiful.Besides the lagoon and the water nuisancesthere is yet another. The drainage of the Zanzibarwater-front is good, owing to the slope ofthe site seaward. But at low tides, and afterdark, when the sulphuretted hydrogen is notraised from the sands by solar heat, a veil ofnODous gas overhangs the shore, whose wholelength becomes exceedingly offensive. This iseaused by the shironi (latrinre) opening upon

102 DRAINAGE.the water edge. 'Intermural sepulture' is alsohere common, though not after the fashion ofWest African Yoruba; and the city containssundry unenclosed plots of ground, in which.dwarf lime-plastered walls, four to five feet long,fancifully terminated above, and showing, insteadof epitaph, a china saucer or bits of porcelainset in the stone, denote tombs.Drainage and cleanliness are panaceas forthe evils of malaria where tropical suns shine.Drainage of swamps and lagoons can improveS'a Leone, and can take away the stink fromSouth African barracks. Zanzibar city, I contend,owes much of its fatality to want of drainage,and it might readily be drained into comparativehealthiness. But the East African Arabholds the possibility of pestilence and the probabilityof fever to be less real evils than thoseof cutting a ditch, of digging a drain, or of openinga line for ventilation. The Dollar-huntersfrom Europe 'are a mere floating population, everlooking to the deluge in prospect, and of courseunwilling to do every man's business, that istodrain.Such was Zanzibar, city when I first walkedthrough it. Though dating beyond the days ofArab history, and made, by its insular and cen-

THE MISSIONS. 103tral situation, the depot of the richest trade inEastern Africa, its present buildings are almostall modern. At the beginning of this ournineteenth century it consisted of a fort and aragged line of huts, where the' Suk Muhogo'now stands. Dr Ruschenberger (1835) satisfiedhimself that 'the town of Zanzibar and its inhabitantspossess as few attractions for a Ohristianstranger as any place and people in thewide world.' As late as 1842 this chief emporiumof a most wealthy coast boasted but fivestore-houses of the humblest description, andthe east end was a palm plantation. Since mydeparture the city, as the trade returns show,has, despite unfavourable political circumstances,progressed. A Oatholic mission, sent by France,has established an hospital, and two schools forboys and girls, and the English Oentral AfricanMission has followed suit. These establishmentsmu~t differ strangely from the normal thingthewhite·bearded pedagogue, hugging his bonesor rocking himself before a large chintz-coveredcopy of the Koran, placed upon a stand two feethigh, so as to be above man's girdle, and, whendone with, swathed in cloth and stowed away.A change, too, there must be in the pupils;formerly half a dozen ragged boys, some ~eciting

104 THE PEOPLE.with nasal monotonous voices sentences to beafterwards understood by instinct, others scrapingthe primitive writing-board with a pointedstick.We will now return to the centre of attraction,the Salt Bazar, and prospect the people.The staple material is a double line of blackyouth and negresses sitting on the ground, withlegs outstretched like compasses. At each apexof the angle is a little heap of fruit, salt, sugar,sun-dried manioc, greasy fritters, redolent fish,or square 'flds' of shark-flesh, l the favourite, kitchen' with WasawaMi and slaves; it bringsfrom Maskat and the Benadir a gout so highthat it takes away the breath. These vendorsvary the tedium of inaction by mat-making, plaitingleaves, 'palavers,' and' pow-wows,' whichargue an admirable conformation of the articulatingorgans and a mighty lax morality. Sellers,indeed, seem here to double the number ofbuyers, and yet somehow buying and sellinggoes on.Motley is the name of the crowd. One officerin the service of His Highness stalks down the1 The Arabs here call the shark 'jarjur,' the WasawahHip'hap'O" I do not know why Captain Guillain (ii. 391) says,'Ie requin, nomme par les Arabs lebah-' Lebah is the Somaliname for a lion.

THE ARAB. 105market followed by a Hieland tail, proudly, asif he were lord of the three Arabias. Negroeswho dislike the whip clear out like hawk-frightenedpigeons. A yellow man, with short, thinbeard, and high, meagre, and impassive features,he is well-dressed and gorgeously armed. Observethat he is 'breek-Iess ': trowsers are 'un­Arab,' and unpopular as were the servile braccreamongst the Romans. The legs, which, though'spare, are generally muscular and well-turned,appear beneath the upper coat, which falls to theknee. He adheres to the national sandals, thicksoles of undyed leather, with coloured andspangled straps over the instep, whilst a narrowthong passes between the big toe and its neighbour.The· foot-gear gives him that peculiarstrut which is deemed dignified, and if he has along ~alk before him-a very improbable contingency-hemust remove his chaussure. Inever yet saw a European who could wear thesandal without foot-chafing.Right meek by the side of the Arab's fiercenessappears the Banyan, the local Jew. Thesemen are Bhattias from Cutch in western India;unarmed burghers, with placid, satisfied countenances,and plump, sleek, rounded forms, suggestingthe idea of happy, well-to-do cows. Such

106 THE BANYAN.is the effect of a diet which embraces only bread,rice, and milk, sweetmeats, vegetables, and clarifiedbutter.' Their skins are smoother and theircomplexions are lighter than the Arabs'; theirfeatures are as high though by no means so thin.They wear the long mustachio, not the beard, anda Chinese pig-tail is allowed to spring from thepoll of the carefully shaven head. These top-knotsare folded, when the owners are fun-dressed,under high turbans of spotted purple or crimsonstuff edged with gold. The latter are complicatedaffairs, somewhat suggesting the oldestfashion of a bishop's mitre; bound round in finetransverse plaits, not twisted like the Arabs', andpeaked in the centre above the forehead with amanner of horn. Their snowy cotton coats fitclose to the neck, like collarless shirts; shawl~girt under the arms, they are short-waisted asthe dresses of our grandmothers; the sleevesare tight and profusely wrinkled, being nearlydouble the needful length, and the immaculateloin-cloth displays the lower part of the thigh,leaving the leg bare. Their slippers of redleather are sharp-toed, with points tul.'ning upwardsand backwards, somewhat as in theknightly days of Europe.Another conspicuous type is the Baloch mer·

THE BALOCH. 107cenar: from Mekran or Maskat. A comely,brown man, with regular features, he is distinguishedfrom the Arab by the silkiness andthe superior length of his flowing beard, which iscarefully anointed after being made glossy withhenna and indigo. He adheres to his primitivematchlock, a barrel lengthened out to suit theweak powder in use, damascened with gold andsilver, and fastened to the frail stock by moremetal rings than the old French 'Brown Bess'ever had. The match is about double the thick.ness of our whipcOl'd, and is wound in many acoil round the stalk or stock. A curved iron,about four inches long, and forked in the upperpart to hold the igniter, plays in a groove cutlengthways through the wood and the trigger, aprolongation of the match-holder, guides the fireinto the open priming-pan. When the match isnot immediately wanted it is made fast to a battenunder the breeching. (A parenthesis. WereI again to travel in wet tropical lands, I shouldtake with me two flint-guns, which could, ifnecessary, be converted into matchlocks. Ofcourse they would shoot slow, but they wouldnot want caps, and they would prove serviceablewhen the percussion gun and the breech.loaderwould not.) This mercenary carries also two

HiSISHMAEL.powder-gourds, one containing coarse materialfor loading, the other a finer article, English, ifpossible, for priming. He is never without flint,steel, and tinder; and disposed about his personare spare cartridges in reed cases. His sabre isof the Persian form; his dagger is straighter andhandier than that of the Arab; and altogetherhis tools, like his demeanour, are those of a disciplined,or rather of a disciplinable, man.The wildest and most picturesque figures arethe half-breeds from the western shores of thePersian Gulf-light brown, meagre Ishmaelsand Orsons, who look like bundles of fibrebound up in highly-dried human skin. Theirunkempt elf-locks fall in mighty masses over unclean,saffron-stained shirts, which suggest the, night-gown' of other days, and these are apparentlytheonly articles of wear. Their straight,heavy swords hang ever ready by a strap passingover the left shoulder; their right hands restlovingly upon the dagger-hafts, and their smallround targes of boiled hippopotamus hide-oneof the 'industries' of Zanzibar-apparently awaitimmediate use. Leaning on their long matchlocks,they stand cross-legged, with the left footplanted to the right of the right, or vice versa,and they prowl about like beasts of prey, as they

THE KHOJAHS. 109are, eyeing the peaceful, busy crowd with agreedy cut-throat stare, or with the suspicious,side-long glance of a cat 0' mountain.These barbarian 'Gulf Arabs' differ singularlyfrom the muscular porters of Hazramaut,in whose Semitic blood there is a pallJableMrican mixture. They hobble along in pairs,like the Hammals of Constantinople, carryinghuge bales of goods and packs of hides suspendedfrom a pole, ever chaunting the same monoton.­ous grunt-song, and kicking out of the way thehumped cows that are munching fruit and vegetablesunder the· shadow of their worshippers,the Banyans. Add half a dozen pale-skinned'Khojahs,' tricky-faced men with evil eyes, treacheroussmiles, fit for the descendan.ts of the ' Assassins,'straight, silky beards, forked after thefasmon of ancient Rustam, and armed withChinese umbrellas'. Complete the group by throwingin a European - how ghastly appears hisblanched face, and how frightful his tight garb!-stalking down the streets in the worst of tempers,and using his stick upon the mangy' pariahdogs' and the naked shoulders of the 'niggers'that obstruct him. At times the Arabs, whentheir toes or heels are trampled upon, will turnand fiercely finger their daggers; but a fear

110 THE SLAVE.which is by no means personal prevents theirgoing further.Such is the aristocracy of the land. As in allservile societies, every white man (i.e. non-negro)is his white neighbour's equal; whilst the highestblack man (i.e. servile) ranks below the lowestpale-face.._ Far more novel to us is the slave population,male and female. What first strikes everystrangerls the scrupulous politeness and theceremonious earnestness of -greetings whenfriends meet. The idea of standing in the broilingsun to dialogue as follows is not a little remarkable:A. Yambo (pronounced Dyambo) or Haligana ?-The state!B. Yambo Sana-My state is very (good).A. Siyambo (or amongst the Arabized Wasawahili,Marhaba)-Right welcome!B. Hast thou eaten and slept?A. I have made my reverential bow!B. Yambo?A. Siyambo Sana!B. Like unto gold?A. Like unto gold!B. Like unto coral?A. Like unto corall

POLITENESS.IIIB. Like unto pearl ?A. Like unto pearl !B. The happiness-Kua-heri! (farewell 1).A. In happiness let us meet, if Allah please!B. Hem!A. Hem I (drawn out as long as possible).The fact is they are going about' Ku amkia,'to salute their friends, and to waste time by runningfrom house to house. Even freemen generallybegin their mornings thus, and idle throughthe working hours.The males tie, for only garb, a yard ofcottonround the waist, and let it fall to the knees;bead necklaces and similar trash complete thecostume. Like all negroes they will wear, ifpossible; the shock-head of wool, which is notpierceable by power of any sun; and they graduallyunclothe down to the feet, which, requiringmost defence, are the least defended-' Fashion'must account for the anomaly. To the initiatedeye the tattoo distinguishes the vast confusion ofraces. The variety of national and tribal marks,the stars, raised lumps and scars, the beautyslashesand carved patterns, further diversifiedby the effects of pelagra, psoris, and small-pox,is a Ohinese puzzle to the new-comer. Domesticslaves, bearing their burdens on the head, not on

112 THE SLAVE GIRL.the shoulder, are known by a comparativelycivilized aspect. They copy their masters, andstrangers remark that the countenance is cheerfuland not destitute of intelligence. The Bozals,or freshly-trapped chattels, are far more originaland interesting. See those Nyassa-men, withtheir teeth filed to represent the cat or the crocodile,chaffing some old Shylock, an Arab dealer inhuman flesh and blood; or t,hose wild Uzeguramen,with patterned skins and lower incisorsknocked out, like the Shilluks to the west of theNile, scowling evilly, and muttering curses atthe Nakhuda (skipper) from Sur, the professionalkidnapper of their kind.The 'fairer' half of black world is not lessnote-worthy. There is the tall and sooty-skinnedwoman from Uhiao, distinguished by the shapeof her upper lip. 4- thorn-pierced hole is enlargedwith stalks of green reed till it can admit·a disk of white-painted wood nearly as big as adollar. The same is the system of the Dol'S, thetribe dwelling north of the equator and west ofthe Nile; their lip-plates equal the thick end ofa cheroot; and the ' pelele ' of the southern regionsis a similar disk of bamboo, ivory, or tin,which causes the upper lip to project some twoinches beyond the nose-tip, giving it an anserine

THE 'SPOONBILL.' 113proportion. In the elder women the ornament isespecially hideous. As a rule, the South American' Indians' pierce for their labrets the lowerlip, evidently the more unclean fashion - nowonder that kissing (should I say osculation ?) isunknown. Yet even amongst the Somal, if youattempt to salute a woman-supposing that youhave the right-she will draw back in horror fromthe act of incipient cannibalism. Often the lipdiskis absent, and then till~ough the unsightlygap a pearly tooth is seen to gleam, set off by theouter darkness of'Spoonbill's' skin. This woman,broad-shouldered· and thick-waisted, is almost asstalwart as her Mhias, whose tattoo (chale) is asingle line forked at both ends: 1 in others thecuticle and cutis are branded, worked, and raisedin an intricate embroidery over all the musculartrunk. An abnormal equality of strength andstature between the sexes prevails amongst many1 Uhi3.o is the lao of Mr Cooley, who calls the peopleM'yau (Mbiao) and Miyao (Wahiiw). They are the' lVIonjou'of Salt, and the Mujao of the Portuguese. M. Macqueen (Onthe Geography of Central Africa) says, 'The inhabitants on thewest side of the Lake are called Yoah, and are Mohammedans.'They are still pagans. Capt. Guillain (1, 390) remarks, 'Leshistoriens Portuguais nous paraissent avoir donne au pays Ienom que les indigenes donnent a ses habitants. Moudjaou,ou plut6t Moni~o et, par contraction, M'iao signifie un hommedu pays de Hw.' Uhiao would be the country j Mhiao andWabiao (singular and plural), its people.VOL. J. 8

114 THE HALF-CASTE.African tribes, especially the agricultural, wherewomen are the workers. The same may be observedin parts of North Britain and of northernEurope. The difference in this matter betweenthe Teutonic and the Latin races never struckl'~e so strongly as when seeing German familiesland at Rio de Janeiro.The half-caste Zanzibar girl enviously eyesthe Arab woman, a heap of unwashed cottons oninvisible feet, with the Maskat masque exposingonly her unrecognizable eyeballs. The formerwears a single loose piece of red silk or chequeredcotton. Her frizzly hair is twisted intopigtails; her eyelids are stained black; her eyebrowsare lengthened with paint; her ear-rimsare riddled with a dozen holes to admit rings,wooden buttons, or metal studs, whilst the slitlobes, distended by elastic twists of colouredpalm-leaf, whose continual expam~ion prodigiouslyenlarges the aperture, are fitted with apainted disk, an inch and a half in diameter.The same device was practised (according to themissi,mary Gumilla) by the Aberne tribe of theOrinoco. If pretty, and therefore wealthy, shewears heavy silver earrings run through the shellof the ear; her thumbs have similar decorations,and massive bangles of white metal adorn, like

'SMALL FRY.' 115manacles and fetters, her wrists and aneles. One"wing of her nose is bored to admit a stud-eventhe patches of Europe were not more barbarous.The Zanzibarian slave girl shaves her headsmooth, till it shows brown and shiny like awell-polished cocoa-nut; and she drags alongher 'hopeful'-she has seldom more than oneasmall black imp, wholly innocent of clothing.The thing already carries on its head a waterjarbigger than its own' pot-belly,' and it screamsNa-kuja (I come!) to other small fry disportingitself more amusingly.

OHAPTER V.GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL., To my surprise, the information concerning Zanzibar and the N. E.coast of Africa scarcely contains meagre phrases destitute ofprecision.'-(Col. Sykes' Journal, R. G. S., vol. xxiii. 1853.) He f01'·gets that entering from the coast is like jumping from the street intothe window.-(R. F. ]3,)SECTION 1.Africa, East and West- t , Zanzibar' explained-Menoutbias-Positionand Formation-The East Mrican Current­Navigation-Aspect of the Island.IT is an old remark that Africa, the continentwhich became an island by the union ofthe twin seas in the year of grace 1869, despiteher exuberant wealth and her wonderful powersof reproduction, is badly made-a trunk withoutlimbs, a monotonous mass of painful symmetry,wanting opposition and contrast, like the uniformdark complexion of her sons and of herfauna-a solid body, like her own cocoa-nut,

INTERTROPICL AFRICA. 117hard to penetrate from without, and soft within;an 'individual of the earth,' self-isolatecl by itssavagery from the rest of the world. This isespecially true of intertropical Africa.The western coast was, until the last fourcenturies, cut off from intercourse with mankindby the storm-lashed waters of the nortl1ern approach;and to the present day the unbrokenseaboard, so scanty in good harbours, and thedangerous bars and bores which defend thedeadly river mouths, render it the least progressivepart of the old world.The more fortunate north-eastern and subtropicalshores were enabled by their vast crevasse,the Red and riverless Sea, to communicatewith Western Asia, whilst the rich productions,gold and ivory, tortoise-shell and ambergris, thehot sensuous climate-which even now inducesthe northern sailor to ship in the fatal WestAfrican squadron-and the amene scenery of theequatorial regions, invited, during pre-historicages, merchants, and even immigrants, fromrugged Persia and sterile Arabia.Between the two upper coasts,'eastern andwestern, there is, as might be expected, greatsimilarity of grim aspect. The northern seaboardsoffer, for the space of a thousand miles,

118 THE DESERTS.the same horrid aspect; deceitful roadsteads anddangerous anchorages, forbidding lines of chalkycliff and barren brown sandstone bluff; flatstrands and white downs, hazed over by thespray of desert sand; and lowlands backed bymaritime sub-ranges, masses of bald hill andnaked mountains, streaked with dry wadis andwater-courses, that bear scatters of dates andthorns, and which support miserable villages oftents or huts. The fierce and wandering tribes,Berber, Arab, and Arabo-African-an especially, crooked and perverse generation/-ate equallydangerous to the land traveller and to the shipwreckedmariner.As sterile and unlovely for the same causethcabsence of tropical rains-are the southernregions of the great Nineteenth Oentury Island.Good harbours are even rarer than in the north,and the seas about the Oape of Hope, sweepingup unbroken from the South Pole, are yetmore perilous. The highlands fringing the southernand eastern coasts arrest the humid winds,and are capable of sll1]porting an extensive population;but the interior and the western coast,being lowlands, are wild and barren. The SouthAfrican or Kafir family, which has overrun thissoil, is still for the most part in the nomade

EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 119state, and its' evident destiny' is to disappearbefore the European colonist.The central and equatmial land, 34° deep,including and bordering upon the zone of almostconstant rain, is distinguished by the oppressiveexuberance of its vegetation and by the consequentinsalubrity of its climate. The drainageof the interior, pouring with discolouredefIiux to the ocean, in large and often navigablechannels, subject to violent freshes, taints thewater-lines with deadly malaria. The false coastsof coralline or of alluvial deposits-a modernformation, and still forming-fringed with greencappedislets, and broken by sandy bays and byprojecting capes, are exposed to~swells and rollers,to surf and surge, to numbing torrents andchilling tornadoes, whilst muddy backwaters andstagnant islets disclose lagoon-valves or vistasthrough tangled morass, jungle, and hardlypenetrable mangrove-swamp. This maremma,'the home of fever, is also the seat of trade, butthe tribes which occupy it soon die out.The true coast has already risen high enoughabove the waters to maintain its level; and thevegetation-calabashes, palms, and tamarindsoffersa contrast to the swampy growth below.Inland of the raised seaboard are high and

120 EAST AND WEST COAST.jungly mountains and coast-range or ghaut, inmany parts yet unvisited by Europeans. Beyondthese sierras begins the basin-shaped plateau ofCentral Equatorial Africa. The inhabitants aremostly inland tribes, ever gravitatulg towardsthe coast. 'fhey occupy stockaded and barricadedclumps of pent-houses or circular tents,smothered by thicket and veiled, especially afterthe heavy annual rains, with the 'smokes,' adense white vapour, moisture made visible bythe earth being cooler than the saturated air. 1I have elsewhere remarked (The L::tke Regionsof Central Intedropical Africa; Abeokutaand the Camaroons Mountains, &c.) the strikinggeological contrast between the two equatorialcoasts, eastern and western. The former, southof the Guardafui granites, offers to one proceedinginland from the ocean a succession of corallines,of sandstone and of calcaires, which appearto be an offset from the section of that greatzone forming the Somali country. The westerncoasts, after quitting the basalts and lavasI Dr Livingstone (Zambezi Expedition, x. 213) confoundsthese Mrican 'smokes' with the blue hazy atmosphere of the, Indian summers' in America, often the result of grass-burningand prairie fires. During an August on the Syrian coastand a December in the Erazil, I have seen the African' smokes'as well developed as at Fernando Po.

PRODUCTIONS. 121of tIle Oamaroons, are composed chiefly of thegranites and syenites with their degradationsof schiste, gneiss, and sanclstone. Similarly,in the great Austro-American continent, oneshore, that of the Brazil, is granitic, whilst theother, Ohili, mainly consists of the various porphyries.The negroes and negroids of both these inhospitablecoasts, an undeveloped and not to bedeveloped race-in this point agreeing with thefauna and fiora around them-are the chief ob-.stacles to exploration, and remarkably resembleeach other. The productions of the east amlwest a,re similar. The voracious shark swimsthe seas, turtles bask upon the strands andislets, and the crocodile and hippopotamus hauntthe rivers. The forests abound in apes and monkeys,and the open plains support the giraffe, theantelope, and the zebra, hog and wild kine (BosOaffir and B. Brachyceros), herds of elephants andscatters of rhinoceros. The villagers breed goatsand poultry,. In the healthier regions they haveblack cattle and sheep, whilst one tribe hasacclimatized the ass. The exceeding fertility ofthe rain-drenched plains gives an amazing luxurianceto cassava and rice, maize, and holcus,cotton, sugar-cane, and wild indi.go, banana,

122 COAL.lime and orange, ground-nuts and coffee. Thehills and torrent-beds yield gold and copper,antimony, and abundance of iron. On bothsides of the continent there are rich depositsof the semi-mineral copal. Coal was found bythe Portuguese at Tete and in the Zambeze Valley,as related in Dr Livingstone's First Expedition(Missionary Travels, &c., xxxi. 633-4).His second prolonged the coal-field to beyondthe Valley of the Rufuma (Rovuma) river (xxi.440), and it will probably be found to extendstill further.Dr Krapf declares (Travels, &c., p. 465) thathe discovered coal, 'the use of which is stillunknown to the Abessinians,' on the banks ofthe Kuang, a river said to rise in the DembeaProvince, near Lake Tsana (Coloe Palus).Finally, to judge from the analogy of the SouthAmerican continent, the valuable mineral willyet be struck near the western coast, south ofthe equator.From time immemorial, on both sides ofAfrica, the continental Islands, like Aradus andSidon, Tyre and Alexandria, have been favouriteplaces with stranger settlers. They have provedequally useful as forts, impregnable to the wildaborigines, and as dep6ts for exports and imports.

'ZANZIBAR.' 123Second to none in importance is Zanzibar, andthe future promises it a still higher destiny.And first, of the name, which does not occurin Strabo, Pliny, or the Periplus. The log-bookattributed toArrian, of Nicomedia, calls the wholeshore, 'Continent of Azania;' probably an adaptation,like Azan, and even Ajan, ofthe Arabic, Barrel Khazain, or the Land of Tanks/ the coastbetween Ra'as Hafun and Ra'as el Khayl. SoPliny (vi. 28 and 34) speaks of the 'Azanian Sea'as communicating with the 'Arabian Gulf.'Ptolemy, however (1. 17, sec. iv. 7), has the followingimportantpassage: 'immediately followingthis mart (Opone) is another bay, where Azania begins.At its beginning are the promontory Zingis(styyIS, Zingina promontorium), and the treetoppedMount Phalangis.' The name may haveextended from the promontory to the coast, andfrom the coast to the island. Dr Krapf speaksof a tribe of the ~ Zendj' near the Rufiji river,but I could not hear of it. It is easy to showthat the Pelusian geographer's Opone is the baysouth of Ra'as, or JurdHafun. Like Pomponius1 Dr Krapf (112, Missionary Travels) tells us 'the Somalicoast, from Cape Guardafui southwards, is designated by theArabs "Dar Ajam," not "Ajan" or "Azan," as the mapswrongly have it, because no Arabic is spoken in it.' Dar Ajamis, I believe, a modern and incorrect phrase.

124 'ZANZIBAR.'Mela, Ptolemy evidently made his great point dedepart the Aromata Promontorium et emporiumin Barbarico sinu (Oape Guardafui), and he placedit N. lat. 6° 0' 0", instead of N. lat. 110 50'.This error threw the whole coast 6° (in roundnumbers, more exactly 5° 50') too far south,and made the world doubt the accurate positionof the Nile lakes. Thus, to his latitude of OponeN. 4° add 5° 50', and we have N. lat. go 50', thetrue parallel of Hafun being N. lat. 10° 26'.Amongst late authors we find the word Zanzibarcreeping into use. The Adulis inscription(4th century) gives 'Zingabene'; and itscopier, the.Greek monk Oosmas Indicopleustes,who proved the globe flat (6th century), calls the, unnavigable' ocean beyond Berheria, the' Seaof Zenj,' and the lands which it bathes' Zingiurn.'. It is found in Abu Zayd Hasan, generallyknown as Hunayn bin Ishak (died A.D. 873) ; inEl Mas'udi, who describes it at some length(died A.D. 957); in El Bayruni (11th century),and in the learned 'Nubian Geographer,' theSherif "£1 Idrisi (A.D. 1153). Marco Polo (A.D.1290), who evidently wrote his 37th chapterfrom hearsay, makes Zanzibar a land of blacks;and, confounding insula with peninsula (inArabic both being Jezireh), supplies it with a

'ZANJ.' 125circumference of 2000 miles, and vast numbersof elephants. '1'he India Minor, India Major,and India Tertia of the mediffival Latin travellersare the Sind, Rind, and Zinj of the Arabs. IbnBatuta (A.D. 1330,1331), the first Arab travellerwho wrote a realistic description of his voyage,has accurately placed Kilwa, which he calls'Kulua,' in the 'land of the Zunllj.' Finally,we meet with it in El Nowayri, and in Abulfeda,the 'Prince of Arab Geographers,' who both diedin the same year, A.D. 1331.The word Zanj (t:-))' corrupted to Zinj,whence the plural' Zunuj,' is evidently the PersianZang or Zangi (~), a black, altered bythe Arabs, who ignore the hard Aryan 'Gaf' (d),the 'G' in our gulf. In: the same tongue barmeans land or region-not sea or sea-coast-andthe compounded term would signify Nigritiaor Blackland. In modern Persian Zangi still. means a negro, and D' Herbelot says of the, Zenghis' that 'they are properly those calledZingari,l and, by some, Egyptians and Bohe-1 My learned and accomplished friend, Dr R. S. Charnoch(The Peoples of Transylvania: London, Triibner, 1870, p. 28),agrees with D'Herbelot, and from Zangi derives the racialgipsy names Czigany, It. Zingari, Val'. Cingani, Zingara, Cingari,Port. Ciganos, G. Zigeuner. But the Zangi were and are negroes,WasRwabili, whereas the gypsies never were.

126 PERSIAN NA VIGATORS.mians.' Scholars have not yet shown why theArab, so rich in nomenclature, borrowed thepurely Persian word from his complement the'Ajam.' They have forgotten that the Persians,who of late years bave been credited with the"llllconquerable aversion to the sea which belongsto the Gallas and the Kafirs, were once a maritimepeople. ' The indifference or rather the aversionof Persians to navigation' (M. Guillain, i. 34,35) must not be charged to the ancient' Fill'S.'Between A.D. 531-579, when Sayf bin DhuYezin, one of the latest Himyarite rulers, wantedaid against the Christian Abyssinians, who hadheld southern Arabia for 72 years, he applied toKhusrau I., better known a,s Anushirawan, the23rd king of the Sassanian dynasty, whichbegan. with Ardashir Babegall (A..D. 226), andwhich ended with Yezdegird III. (A.D. 641),thus lasting 415 years. The 'Just Monarch'sent his fleet to the Roman Port' (Aden), andslew Masruk. In his day the Persians engrossed,by means of Rita, Obollah, and Sohar, the richtracts of Yemen and Hindostan; while Basrah(Bassorah) was founded by the Caliph Omar, inorder to divert the stream of wealth from theRed Sea, a diversion which will probably soon berepeated. In A..n. 758 the :Persians, together

, EMOZAYDIS.' 127with the Arabs, mastered, pillaged, and burntOanton. Much later (17th century) Shah Abbasclaimed Zanzibar Island and coast as an appanageof the suzerainty of Oman.East Mrica still preserves traditions of twodistinct colonizations from Persia. The first isthat of the 'Emozayctiys,' or ' Emozeides '(Amm Zayd), who conquered and colonized thesea-board of East Africa, from Berberah of theSomal to Cornaro and Madagascar, both included.A second and later emigration (aboutA.D. 1000) occupied the south Zanzibarian coast,and ruins built by the 'Shirazian dynastywhich still lingers, are shown on various parts ofthe sea-board. Of these Persian occupationsmore will be found in the following pages. (Part1, Ohap.l, and Part 2, Ohap. 2.)Persia has left nothing of her widely extendedAfric~n conquests but a name. In moderndays she has become more and more anon-maritime power. She has wholly retiredfrom the coast; and Time, who in these landsworks with a will, presently obliterated almostevery trace of the stranger. A few ruins atAden and Berberah, and the white and IJlacksheep of Ormania (Galla-land) and of Somali land,are almost the only vestiges of Persian presence

128 PERSIAN REMAINS.north of the Equator. On the Zangian mainlandwells sunk in the rock, monuments of aform now obsolete; mosques with elaborateminarets and pillars of well-cut ,coralline; forti·fied positions, loopholed enclosures, and ruinedcities whose names have almost been forgotten,are the results of the civilization which theybrought with them southwards.The limits assigned by the Arab geographersto the 'Land of the Zinj' are elastic. Whilesome, as Yakut, make it extend from the mouthsof the Jub River (S.lat. 0° 14' 30") to Cape Corrientes(S. lat. 24° 7' 5") and thus include Sofala ;others, with El Idrisi, separate from it the latterdistrict, and unjustly make its southern limitthe Rufiji River (S. lat. 7° 38'), thus excludingKilwa. It should evidently extend to MozambiqueIsland (S. lat. 15° 2 12"), where the Wasawahilimeet the 'Kafir' races. The lengthwould thus be, in round numbers, 15°=900 geographicalmiles,whilst the breadth,which is everywhereinsignificant, can hardly be estimated.The Arabs, who love to mingle etymologywith legend and fable, derive the word' Zanzibar'from the exclamation of its pleased, explorers,'Zayn za'l barr!' (fair is this land I).Similar stories concerning Brazilian Olinda and

SAWAHIL. 129Argentine Buenos Aires are well known. ' EISawahil,' the shores, evidently the plural of Sahil,is still applied to the 600 mil~s of maritimeregion whose geographical limits are the J ubRiver and Cape Delgado (S. lat. 10° 41' 2", andwhose ethnographic boundaries are the Somaland the 'Kafir' tribes. Others derive it fromEl Suhayl, the beautiful Canopus which, surroundedby a halo of Arab myth, ever attractsthe eye of the southing mariner. The' Wasawahili;'1 or slave tribes, are fancifully explained byI Foreigners-Arab, Persian, and Jndian,-call them Sawahili.They call themselves Msawahili in the singular, andWasawahili in the plural, always accenting the penultimatesyllable. In the Zangian tongues a prefixed :M. is evidently anabbreviation of lVIti, a tree, e. g. Nazi, a cocoa-nut, Mn(Lzi, acocoa-nnt tree, or of Mtu, a man. Before it vowel it is euphoniouslyexchanged to Mu, e. g. Muaribu, un Arab. Theplural form is Wa, a contraction of YlTatu, men. 'vVi' also isthe sign of the personal, or ratber of the rational animate pluralopposed to 'Ma,' and must not be confounded with the possessivepronoun' Wa,' of l\i[r Cooley (Memoir of the Lake Regions,&c., Reviewed, .Stanford, 186'1,), asserts tbat 'Wa rutu,''of a man,' becomes by rejection of the ,~ingular prefix, 'vVatu,'men (des hommes):' consequently it is an error to call thecoast people vVamrima and the mountaineers Wakilim:l.If so, it is an error made by every Kisawahili-speaking man.There are, however, tribes, for instance tbe Rabai and the Doruma,that do not prefix the normal' Wa,' to: form a plural. Aprefixed' Ki,' possibly contracted from' kitu,' a thing, denotesthe language, e. g. Kisawahili: it also acts diminutive, e. g.Kigito, a little mto, or river; and it appears to have at times anadjectival sense. Opposed to it is ' Ji,' an augmentative form,VOL. 1. 9

130 THE ISLAND.'Sawwa h11ah,' he 'played tricks,'-rascals all.The coast races who, like their neighbours theSomal, have their own African names for places,call Zanzibar Island by the generic term Kisiwa,--insula. It is thus opposed to Mpoa-ni, thecoast, and to Mrima, the mainland. l The latter,e. g. Jito, a big mto. U, possibly derived from an obsoleteroot which survives ill the Killyika ' Vatu' (a place), denotesthe country, e. g. Uzaramo, Usagara, and Uzungu-Europe theland of the Wazungu. Some names arbitrarily refuse thislocative, for instance, Khutu, Karagwah, Sanga, Bondei, andothers: we never hear Ukhutu, and so forth. ' U' is also asign of abstract words, e. g. :Th1:zuri, a handsome man; Uzuri,beauty; Mtajiri, a merchant; Utajiri, merchandise; Refu,long; Urefu, length. I may here remark that Captain Speke'sanalysis of Uzaramo and Usagara into U-za-ramo and U-sagara,the country of Ramo and Gara, making them 'obviouslytriple words,' is wholly inadmissible. The root of national andtribal names, whatever it may be, is used only exceptionallyamongst the Zal1gian races. Upon this point I shall presentlyoffer tt few observations.1 Captain Guillain (vol. iii. p. 107, et passim) is correctupon the subject of the word 'Mrima.' Mr Cooley (Memoiron the Lake Regions, &c., p. S) informs us that ',Vamrima'(the mainland people) signifies 'of the mainland;for it is a mistake to suppose that Mrima is but a dialecticvariation of Mlima (read, MHma) hill, in its primary sense,cultivable ground; it is, in truth, a corruption of theArabic word Marft'irn, signifying the land to the west, orunder the setting sun. vVhen the early Portuguese navigatorstold us that the Querimba Islands were peopled bythe Morimos, we must understand by this name the people ofthe mainland.'This is an excellent illustration of how dangerous a thing ispo smattering of philology. The' 4-rabic word Maril'im' isabsolutely unknown to the Arabs of Zanzibar. It is evidently

THE'1I1RIJ11A.' 131however, js properly speaking limited to themaritime uplands 'between Tanga and the Pan.coined out of the dictionary from '~;observavit occidenternsolem.' I would also ask how' Comazinghi is Arabic?'(Geography, art. 15). Similarly, we find (Journal Ropl GeographicalSociety, xix. 190) the Somali' Abel" (error for Habl')derived from the Arabic (Hebrew?) Bar, and explained by Benll(SallS), when it really signifies mother or old woman.It may be noted that in the Kisawahili of Zanzibar, Mrimais applied to the coast generally, especially between Mtangataand the Rufiji River, and it is mostly synonymons with theArabs' , Bar el Mali,' whereas Mllma means a mountain. Fromthe latter comes the diminutive Kilima, a hillock, also synonymousin composition with the French mont. It enters intomany East African proper names, e. g. Kilima-njaro, Kilil11a-ni,&c.I cannot agree with Messrs Norris and Beke, despitetheir authority as linguists, in stripping the national and racialnames of their inflections, e. g. Sagara for Usaganl, Zaramofor Uzaramo. Mr Oooley is equally wrong in stating that the, Sawi1hily and the Arabs write Nilm, Zeramu, and Gogo. TheArabs may, the Wasawablli do not, thus blunder. Captain Guilbin,I have remarked, is no authority. He confounds (vol. i.p. 231) the land of vVak-wak (the Semitic Gallas) with the SouthAfrican Wamakua j and, worse still, with the 'Vatouahs.' And(vol. i. p. 281) he writes the well-known 'Abbau' of the Somal,'Hebban.' He also unduly neglects the peculiar initial quiescentconsonant M, e. g. (i. p. 456) , Foul11o ' for' Mfumo.' The bareroot-word, I repeat, is never used by the people, who allvaysqualify it by a prepositive. 'l'his, in our language Brit orBrut may be the monosyllab~e upon which Briton andBritish are built, but it is evidently barbarous to employit without suffix. In the Zangian tongues the prefixes areclearly primitive words; nouns, not as the l{,ev. J. L. DoelmBexplains them in his Zulu-Kafir Dictionary (Cape Town, 1857),, pronouns, in the present state of the language, usecl as nominalforms compounded with other words.

132 MENO UTHIAS.gam rIver. Zanzibar city is Unguja (pronouncedUngudya, not Anggouya). The word appears inan ancient settlement on the eastern coast of theisland, and the place is still called Unguja Mku,Old Unguja. Some still call it Lunguja, apparentlyan older form. We find 'Lenc1gouya'in the Commercial Traveller Yakut (earlythirteenth century); but 'Bandgouia' (Abd elRashid bin Salih el Bakui, A.D. 1403) is clearlya corruption.Finally, Zanzibar has been identified by paheogeographerswith the Ptolemean MEl/QuBld.S' orMEl/Qu8Eo-IUS' (iv. 9), and with the MEl/QuBld.S' of thePeriplus (Geog. Grreci Minores of R. Muller,Paris, 1855), in some copies of which Menouthesiasalso occurs. Its rivals, however, for thishonour are Pemba, Mafiyah (the Monfia of ourmaps) and Bukini, the northern and northwesternparts of Malagash or Madagascar. 1ptolemy, it may he observed, places the two im.pOl·tant sites, Menouthias and Prasum (or Prassum)in a separate chapter (iv. 9), whereas hisIJrincipallist of stations is in Book iv. chapter 7.He lays down the site of Menouthias in S. lat.1, What Booken (Bukini) means I do not know.' Wakeon the Madecasses. J oumal, Anthrop. Soc. No. 28, xxxi., DrKrapf (Kisuiiheli Grammar, p. 106) uses Bukini as l\fadagascargenerally.

jJ;IENOUTHIAS. 13312°, and nearly opposite the Lunar Mountain,and the Lakes whence the Nile arises (S. lat. 12°30'). The mouth of the Rhapta river and Rhapta,the metropolis of Barbaria, are in S. lat. 7°, theRhapta promontory is in S. lat. 8° 20' 5", andthe Prasum promontory in S. lat. 15°. By applyingthe correction as before, we have for MenOllthiasS. lat. 6° (the capital of Zanzibar beingin S. lat. 6° 9' 6"); for the Lakes, 6° 30', whichwould nearly bisect Tanganyika; for Rhaptariver and city, S. lat. P (or more exactly, S. lat.P 10'); the mouth of the Jub river being in S.lat. 0° 14° 30'; the Rhapta promontory in S.lat. 2° 30', corresponding with the coast aboutPatta; and finally, for Prasum S. lat. 9° 10'-­Cape Delgado being in S. lat. 10° 41' 12./1The account given of Menouthias in tlle Peri.plus (written between A.D. 6~, Vincent, and A.D.210, Letronn( 1 ) is that of an eyewitness: 'Aftertwo nychthemeral days (each of 100 miles)towards the west [bere the text is evidentlycorrupt] comes Menouthias, altogether insulated,distant from the land about 300 stadia (30 geo-1 Captab;l GuUlam (vol. i. 121-139, et passim) contends,and with much show of reason, that the Periplus was writtenafter the days of Ptolemy (A.D. 139 and A.D. 161). 'Tant delacunes dans l'ceuvre du grand geographe grec; ne Be~blent·ellespas assigner a son travail .une place toute naturelle entre lesecrits de Marin de Tyr et 1e Periple ? '

134 RHAPTA.graphical miles), low and tree-clad. In it aremany kinds of birds and IDO uutain tortoises(land turtle?). It has no other wild beastshut crocodiles (iguanas), and these do not injureman. There are in it sewn boats and monoxyles. (canoes), which they use for salt-pans [here thetext is defective] and for catching turtle. Inthis island they trap them after a peculiarfashion with baskets (the modern wigo) insteadof nets, letting them down at the mouth of stonyinlets' (chap. i. 15).The next chapter informs us: 'From which(island) after two runs (each 50 miles) 1 lies thelast emporium of the continent of Azania, calledTa Rhapta, thus named from the before-mentionedsewn-together vessels. In it are muchivory and tortoise-shell. The men, who in thiscountry are of the largest size, live scattered (in1 The daily run (\~) of native craft varies from 40 toJ.50· knots per diem, and 50 may be assumed as an average.Oaptain Guillain estimates it higher, from 48 tu 60. Abulfedagiyes the Majra or ZpOflOt; J'vXB'1fdpor, 100 Hashemi miles =170 of our geographical miles, here too high a rate unless aidedby currents. Other Arab authors propose 100,000 paces = 100 .Roman or Arab miles = 80 geographical miles. The pilotTheophilus (Ptol. i. 9) rated the day and night run in theseseas at 1000 stadia= 100 miles, or two Ptolemeian degrees;the Pelusian geographer buying, I have said, reduced thedegree to 500 instead of 600 stadia.

RHAPTA. 135the mountains ?), and each tribe in its own placeis subject to tyrants' (' tyranneaulx' or pettychiefs).Here, then, we have Rhapta 33 leagues (100miles = 10 40') beyond Menouthias. CaptainGuillai.n (Prem. Partie, p. 115) would make theformer correspond with the clebouchure of theOuficlji river (Rufiji or Lufiji), in S. lat. 7°50'. But the Periplus, unlike Ptolemy, alludesonly to a port, not to a river mouth, nordoes the coast-line here show any promontory.Others have proposed Point Puna (S. lat. 7° 2'42"), the south-western portal of the Zanzibarmanche, near the modern trading port of Mbuamaji,which in former ages may have beenmore important. D'Anville, Vincent, and DeFroberville boldly prefer Kilwa (in round numbersS.lat. gO), which is distant 157 geographicalmiles from the southernmost point of Zanzibar, .and I think they are right. It is safer in suchmatters to suspect an error of figures and ofdistances than of topography, especially wherethe geographical features are so well markedand cannot be found in other places. Computationsof ancient courses and log-books can havelittle value except when they serve to COWllrmcommonly topographical positions. Kilwa has

136 GEOGRAPHY OF ZANZIBAR.ever been a central station on the Zanzibar coast,and the slaves brought from the interior are stillremarkable for size. Moreover, as Dr Beke wellobserves (Sources of the Nile, p. 69), 'In attemptingto fix in the map of Africa the true positionof Ptolemy's lakes and sources of the Nile, wemust discard all notions of their having beendetermined absolutely by means of astronomicalobservations, special maps of particular localities,or otherwise, and regard them simply as derivedfl'Om oral information, and as laid down relativelyto some well-known point or points on thecoast.' 1Zanzibar, the principal link in the chain ofislets which extends from Makdishu (Magaeloxo),in the Barr· el Benadir or Haven-lanel, to CapeCorrientes, is a long narrow reef, with the majoraxis disposed from N. N. W. to S. S. E., andsubtending a deep bight or bend in the coast,justly enough called the Barbaric Gulf. Thelength is 48'25 geographical miles from Ra'asNunguwi, the northern (S. lat. 5° 42' 8" Raper),to Ra'as Kizimkaz, the southern, extremity (S.lat. 6° 27' 7" Raper). The breadth is 18 milesfrom the Fort in E. long. 39° 14' 5" Raper's correction,to the continental coast in E. long. (G.)1 See Part II. chap. 11.

THE FORJ1;IATION OF ZANZIBAR. 13739° 32' 5'. French travellers assume a max.length of 83 kilometres, and a max. breadth of33. The capital (S. lat. 6° 9' 6") correspondsin parallel with the :Pernambucan province tothe west and with Java and central New Guineato the east. The corrected longitude (laid downby Oaptain Smee in 1811 as E. lat. 39° 15') givesa difference of Greenwich time 2 h . 36 m . and 56 5 .•From Southampton round the Oape the runis usually laid down at 8500 miles, vifL Suez6200. The Lesseps Oanal has shortened the distancefrom Marseille by 2000 leagues, and thushas placed Zanzibar within 1600 leagues of thegreat port - in fact, about the distance of theGaboon ex-colony.The formation of the island is madrepore,resting upon a core or base of stratified sandstonegrit, disposed in beds varying from 1'5 to3 feet thick..· The surface gently inclines towardsthe sea, and the lines of fracture run parallelwith the shores. Three distinct formations occurto one crossing the breadth. 1 The first is a1 Dr Ruschenberger, I know not on what authority, saysthat the island is undulated and cro88ed by tbree principalridges, whose most elevated points are 500 feet high. My information,derived from hearsay, however, not from actualinspection, assures me tbat tbe waves of ground are disposednorth and soutb.

138 FORMATION.,band of grit-based coralline, which runs meridionally,and is most remarkable on the eastern side.This portion, featureless and thinly inhabited, isprotected from the dangerous swell and the furyof the Indian Ocean by a broad reef and scatteredrocks of polypidoms. The band thins outto the north and south: in the centre, where itis widest, the breadth may be three to four miles,and the greatest height 400 feet. The coral-ragis mostly white and of many shapes, like fans,plants, and trees: the most usual form is themushro'om, with a broad domed head rising froma narrow stem. The texture is exceedingly reticulatedand elastic; solid masses, however,occur where neighbouring rocks meet and bindhencethe labyrinth of caverns, raised by secularupgrowth and preserving the original formation.The ground echoes, as in volcanic countries, hollowand vault-like to the tread; the tunnels arefrequently without issue for drainage, and whenthe rain drips in, the usual calcareous phenomena,stalactites and stalagmites, appear. Manyof these caves are found on the coast as well ason the island. 'rhe carbonate of lime is very pure,.and contains brown or yellow-white crystals.A stony valley, sunk below the level of bothflanks, is said to bisect the island from north

FORlvIATION. 139to south. Iuto this basin fall sundry smallstreams, the Mohayra and others, which are lostthrough the crevices and caverns, and in thecracks and fissures of the grit. There areother drains, forming, after heavy downfalls,swamps and marshes, whence partly the greatinsalubrity of tlle interior. The western part ofZanzibar, with its wealth of evergreen vegetation,appears by far the most fertile. It is a meridionalband of red clay and sandy hills, runningparallel with the coraHines of the eastern coast.Here are the most elevated grounds. I foundthe royal plantation 8ebM or Izimbane, 400 feet(B.P.) above sea-level, or a little higher than theBermudas. The least productive parts are thosecovered with dark clay. Heavy rains depositarenaceous matter upon the surface, and theblack humus disappears. On this side of theisland also many streamlets discharge into thesea, bearing at their mouths mangrove beds,whose miasmas cause agues, dysenteries, (liarrhceas,and deadly fevers.The rule established by Dampier and quotedby Humboldt directs us to expect great depthnear a coast formed by high perpendicular moun·tains. Here, as in the rest of the Zanzibarianarchipelago, the maritime line, unlike the west

140 THE WINDWARD COAST.Atlantic islands Tenerife and Madeira, is composedof gently rolling hills. Yet seven fathomsare often found within a stone-throw of theland, whilst the encircling ledges are steep-to,marked in the charts Jk and Ii.. Evidently, then,the corallines are perched upon the summits of asubmarine range which rises sharp and abruptfrom abysmal hollows and depressions. As usualtoo in such formations, the leeward shore line ofthe island, where occur the lagoon entrances, ismore varied and aGcidented than the eastern.At Pemba this feature will be even more remarkable.The windward coast, in common with manyparts of the continental seaboard, suffers especiallyfrom June to August from the Ras deMaree (Manuel de la Navig;ation et la Cote occidentalede l'Afrique), a tide race, supposed toresult from the meeting of currents. It is a lineof rollers' neither far from nor very near theshore. The hurling and sagging surf is describedto resemble the surge of a submarine earthquake;and the strongest craft, OIice entangled~n the send, cannot escape. It would be usefulto note, as at West African Lagos, the greater orless atmospheriG pressure accompanying the phenomenon,and to seek a connection between it

THE CURRENT. 141and the paroxysms of the neighbouring cycloneregion. At all times sailors remark the 'shortness'of the 'waves and the scanty intervals betweentheir succession. This peculiarity cannotbe explained in the usual way by shoals andshallow water causing a ground-swell.With respect to the great East African oceancurrent,which has given rise to so many fablesgravely recorded by the Amb geographers/ thebest authorities at Zanzibar are convinced, andtheir log-books prove, that both its set and drift,like the Brazilian coast-stream, are in the presentstate of our knowledge subject to the extremesof variation. The charts and Horsburgh lay it·down as a regular S.W. current; ancl so it is inthe southern, whilst in the northern part it ishardly perceptible. Between Capes Guarc1afuiand Delgado it' flows now up then down thecoast; here it trends inland, there it sets out tosea. Dr Ruschenberger relates that on Sept. 1,1 The Bahr e1 Kharab, or Bad Sea, the mountains El Mulattam(the lashed or beaten), El Nidameh (of repentance), andElAjrad (the noisy) ; the Mountains of Magnet, and the' BlindBillows' and 'Enchanted: Breakers' which, says E1 Masucli,make the Omani sailor of the tribe of Azd sing-, 0 Berberah and J afuni (Ra'as Hafun), and thy warlock waves!Jafuni and Berberah and their waves are these which thouseest ! l

42THE CURRENT.1835, his ship, when south of Zanzibar, wascarried 50 miles in 15 hours, and was obliged todouble the northern cape. The same happenedto Captain Guillain in August 1846, when helost five days. This resulted from the superiorforce of the S.W. monsoon, which often drivesvessels to the north 30 to 40 miles during theday and night. Lieut. Christopher (Journal,Jan. 5, 1843) reported it to be variable and violent,especially close in shore, and observed thatit frequently trends against the wind. It isusually made to run to the S.W. between Decemberand April, at the rate of 1'3 miles perhour, from Ra'as Hafun to Ra'as Aswad, andtwo to three miles per hour between CapesAswad and Delgado. Shipmasters at Zanzibarhave assured me that when this coastal currentcovers three knots an hour there is a strongbackwater or counter-flow, which, like theGulf-stream, trends to the north, and againstwhich, with light winds, native vessels cannotmake way. This counter-current has extensivelimits; usually it is considered strongest betweenMafiyah and Pomba. The ship St Abbs, concerningwhich so much has been said and writtenof late years, was wrecked in 1855 off StJuan de Nova of the Comoro grouF.(S, .lat.

NA VIGATION. 14317° 3' 5"), and pieces of it were swept up toBrava (N. lat. P 6' 8"), upwards of 1000 miles.The crew is supposed still to be in captivityamongst the Abghal tribe; and in 1865 an Arabmerchant brought to Zanzibar a hide markeclwith letters which resembled N F B N. A writerin the Pall 111all opined the letters to be 'V\Tasm 'or tribal brands, justly observing that 'all the. Bedawin have these distinguishing marks,' butforgetting that he was speaking of the analphabeticSomal, to whom such knowledge does notextend. As we might expect, the Mozambiquestream, south of Cape Delgado, always flowssoutherly with more or less westing. The rate issaid to vary from 20 to 80 miles a day.Our hydrographical charts are correct enoughto guide safely into and out of port any shipmasterwho will sound, and can take an angle.As, however, the navigation is easy, so accidentsare commol'l. Any land~lubber could steer aship from Bombay to Karachi (Kurrachee), and. yet how many have been lost 1 Often, too, it isin seamanship as in horsemanship, when the bestreceive the most and the heaviest falls. In l\fay1857 the Jonas, belonging to l\'1essrs Vidal, wassunk by mistaking Chumbi Island for its neighbourBawi. Three at. four days afterwards the

144 NA VIGATION.Storm King' of Salem, Messrs Bertram, ranaground whilst hugging Ohumbi in order to distancea rival. The number of reefs and shoalsrender it always unadvisable to enter the port atnight, and in the heaviest weather safe ridinggroundis found between Zanzibar Island andthe continent.Vessels from the south making Zanzibar inthe N.E. monsoon, the trade-wind of Decemberto March, leave Europa Island to the west, andthe Oomoro group and S. Juan de Nova on theeast. Keeping well in mid-channel, they headstraight for Mafiyah. They hug Point Puna,avoiding Latham's Bank,! and they work up byKwale and the Ohumbi Island. Ships from thenorth have only to run down the mid-channel,between Pemba and the continent, and theu topass west of Tumbatu. Those sailing southwardfrom Zanzibar at this season pass along-shore,down the Mozambique Channel. Vessels fromthe south making Zanzibar in May to September,the height of the S.W. monsoon-the anti-N.Rtrade-sail up the same passage. They must bewareof falling to leeward; and those tha,t neg-I At Latham's Isle was found guano, which Captain Cogan,I.N., obtained permission to export. In 1847, however, it waswashed away by a 'Ras de Maree.'

ASPECT OF ZANZIBAR. 145lect 'lead and look-out' are ever liable to becarried northwards to Pemba by the countercurrentbefore mentioned, which may, howevel.·,now be a wind-current. At this season ship-mastersmissing the mark ~ave sometimes made 3° to4° of easting, and have preferred beating clown toMafiyah and l'unning up again, rather than facethe ridicule of appearing via the northern l)assage.Those leaving the Island in the S.W.monsoon stand north up channel, well out inE. Ion. go 42' to 43', beat south of Cape Del., gado, pass between the Comoro group and themainland, and thus catch the Mozambique gulfstream.The brises solaires blow strongest offMadagascar in June and July. They fall lightin August and September. .The aspect of Zanzibar from the sea is thatof coralline islands generally-a graceful, wavyoutline of softly rounded ground, and a surfaceof ochre-coloured soil, thickly clothed with foliagealternating between the liveliest leek-greenand the sombrest laurel, the only variety thatvegetation knows in this land of eternal verdure.Everywhere the scenery is similar; each mile ofit is a copy of its neighbour; and the "want ofvariety, of irregularity, of excitement, so tospeak, soon makes itself felt. Zanzibar ignoresVOL. 1. 10

146 ASPECT.the exhilaration of pure desert air, and the exaltationproduced by the stern aspect of mountainregions or by a boundless expanse of Pampa andSahara. Without a single element of sublimity,soft and smiling, its sensuous and sequesteredscenery has no power to spur the thought, tobreed an idea within the brain. The oppressiveluxuriance of its growth combined with the excessof damp heat, and possibly the abnormalproportion of ozone, are the most unfavourableconditions for the masculine. The same is thecase in Mazanderan, Malabar, Egypt, Phcenicia,Oalifornia, and other Phre-kah-lands of the sun.And the aspect of that everlasting, beginningless,endless verdure tends, as on the sea-boardof the Brazil, to produce sensations of melancholyand depression. We learn at last to loathe thee,'gay green,Thou smiling Nature's universal robe! 'Landing upon the island, you find a thinstrip of bright yellow sand separating the seafrom a curtain of vegetation, which forms a continuouswall. In some parts madrepore rock,looped and caverned by the tide, and coveredwith weeds and testaceoo, whose congeners arefossilized in the stone, rises abruptly a few feetabove the wave. At other places a dense growth

ASPECT. 147of tangled mangrove jungle exposes during theebb a sheet of black and sticky mire, into whichman sinks knee-deep. The regularity of the outlineis broken by low projecting spits and bylagoons and backwaters, which bite deep into theland. Their pestilential, fatal exhalations veilthe low grounds with a perpetual haze, and theexcess of carbon is favourable to vegetable as itis deleterious to animal life.Passing over the modern sea-beac1j, with itscoarse grasses, creepers, and wild flowers-mostlythe Ipomffia-and backed by towering trees,cocoas, mangos, and figs, we often observe inthe interior distinct traces of an old elevation~marked by lines of water-worn pebbles and bycoarse gravels overlying' greasy blue clay. Thisis the home of the copal. Beyond it the land risesimperceptibly, and breaks into curves, swells,and small ravines, rain-cut and bush-gro'wn,sometimes 40 feet deep. The soil is now a retentivered or yellow argile, based upon a detritusof coralline, hardened, where pressed, into thesemblance of limestone, or upon a friable sandstone-gritof quartz and silex. The humusof the richest vegetable substanoe, and excitedby the excess of humidity and heat, produces inabundance maize, millet, and various panicums ;

148 VEGETATION.tomatoes and naturalized vegetables, muhogo(the cassava), and Palma Ohristi; coffee, cotton,and sugar-cane; clove, nutmeg, and cinnamontrees; foreign fruits, like the BrazilianOaju, the passion-flower and the pine-apple; theOhinese Leechi; bananas and guavas, the Raphiaand the cocoa, twin queens of the palms;limes and lemons, oranges and shaddocks, thetall tamarind, the graceful Areca, the grotesquecalabash and Jack-tree, colossal sycamores andmangos, whose domes of densest verdure, often60 feet high and bending, fruit-laden, to theearth, make our chesnuts, when in fullest dress,look half-naked and in rags.The uplands, especially in the western part ofthe island, are laid out in Mashamba or plantations,whose regular lines of untrimmed clovetreesare divided by broad sunny avenues. Hereand there are depressions in the soil, where heavyrains slowly sinking have nursed a tangled growthof reeds and rushes, sedge and water-grass.About the Mohayra and the Buhtibu-the principalof the 7fOTa{J-ol 7fAElrTTOI of the Periplusmeresurface-drains, choked with fat juncacereand with sugar-cane growing ",vild, there is ablack soil of prodigious fertility, whose proclucemay, so to speak, be seen to grow. This sounds

'MANGROVE HEAVINESS.' 149like exaggeration; but I well remem.ber, atHyderabad, in Sind, that during the inundationof the Indus we could perceive in the morningthat the maize had lengthened during the night,and the same is the case with certain 'toadstools'and fungi in the Brazil.Upon this waste of rank vegetation the sundarts an oppressive and malignant beam. Inthe driest season the 'mangrove heaviness' ofthe western coast and the cadaverous fcetorannounce miasma; after the rains the landscapeis redolent of disease and death.The cottages of small proprietors and slavesstrew the farms. They are huts of wattle andrufous loamy dab, to which large unbaked bricksof red clay are sometimes preferred. The usualcajan· pent-roof forms deep dark eaves, proppedby untrimmed palm-boles. These dwellings areunwholesome; because none boast of a secondstorey; they are not even built upon piles, andthus their sale defence against the surroundingmalaria is the shrubbery planted by nature'shand. Sickness seems generally, both in theisland and on the continent, to follow turningup fresh soil,·and the highlands are often moresubject to miasma than the lowlands.The lines of communication consist of mere

150 VEGETATION.footpaths, instead of the broad roads requiredfor the ventilation of the country. When theproduce of the land is valuable the lanes arelined with cactus, milk-bush (euphorbia), andsucculent plants; whose foliage shines with metalliclustre. Set in little ridges, the hedge-rowsof pine-apple, with its large pink and crimsonfruit, passing, when ripe, into a reddish-yellow,form a picturesque and pleasant fence. At adistance from the town the paths become roughand solitary. Nearer, they are well beaten bynegroes of both sexes and all ages, carrying fuelor baskets of fruit upon their heads, or bringingwater from the wells, or loitering under shadytrees to cheapen the cocoa-nut, manioc, andbroiled fish, offered by squatting negresses fortheir l'efection.SECTION 2.Meteorological Notes-The Double Seasons, &c.THE characteristic of meteorology at Zanzibar,as generally the case in the narrow equa-

.lI£ETEOROLOGY. 151torial zone, is the extreme irregularity of itsphenomena. Here weather seems to be all· inconfusion; hardly two consequent years resembleeach other. In1853-4, for instance, the seasons,if they may so be called, were apparently inverted;heavy showers fell during the dries, and adrought occupied the place of the wet monsoon.Sometimes the rains will begin with, this year(1857) they ended with, a heavy burst. NowApril is a fine month, then the downfall will lastthrough June.r may also remark one great difference ofclimate between the eastern and western coastsof intertropical Africa. Whilst Zanzibar is supersaturedwith moisture, Angola, Oll the same. parallel, is a comparatively dry, sandy, and sunburntregion. Kilwa, upon the eastern coast, andin S. lat. 8° 57', is damp and steamy. S. Paulo deLoanda, upon the opposite shore (S. lat. SO 48'),suffers from want of water. We find the Bamecontrast in the South American continent. Themiddle Brazil is emphatically a land of rains,whilst Peru and Ohili require artificial irrigationsupplied by melted snow. Evidently the windscharged with moisture, the N. E. and S. E.trades and their modifications, discharge themselvesupon the windward sides of continents'

152 THE THERMOMETER.especially when these are fringed with cold.sierras, which condense the vapour and renderthe interior a lee land.In 1847 the Geographical Society of Bombaysent a barometer to Zanzibar, and requested thata meteorological register might be kept. Theirwishes were not immediately carried into effect;but after a time the Eurasian apothecary incharge of the Consulate filled up in a rude wayduring nine months a weather-book, with observationsof the barometer, of two thermometersattached and unattached, of wet and dry bulbs,of evaporation and of rainfall. In the Journalof the Royal Geographical Society (xxiii. of1853), Colonel Sykes published a 'record, keptduring eleven months in 1850, of the indicationsof several intertropical instruments at Zanzibar,'unhappily without those of pressure. 1The result of nine months' observations is that1 The temperature of the island as observed by Frenchtravellers is-Max. (April 6 A.M, 2 morn.) 89 0 (F.)-Colonel Syke1l-88 0 (F. in shade)Min. (October, midnight and 6 A,M,) 73 0 ditto 73 0Mean temperature of the ye",. 790 15 ditto 79'90 (extreme range 180.190)The following are the results of the evaporating dish;-January, 1857 ....February 11MarchAprilTot!l.lofmon~h.1nchea.2'362'192'49176Greatest in onedlly ofmonth.Jnches.0'090'100'090'10Lgnstinonp dny.jncllf'8.0'04o-O~0-060'03

THE BAROMETER. 153the thermometer shows a remarkably limitedrange of temperature and an extreme variationof only 18°-19°. A storm, however, will makethe mercury fall rapidly through 6°_7°. Theclimate is far more temperate than the inexperiencedexpect to find so near the equator.It is within the limits of the true Trades.The land and sea breezes laden with cool moistureblow regularly, and the excessive humidityspreads a heat-absorbing steam-cloud· betweensun and earth. The medium temperatureof J anuu,ry is 83° 30'; of February, the hottestmonth, 85 0 86' (according to Colonel Sykes 83 040'); and of March, 82 0 50'. This high and littlevaryingmean then gradually declines till July,the coolest month (77° 10'). The mean averageof the year is 79 0 15'-90'. In September andOctober the climate has been compared withthat of southern Europe. On the other hand,the atmosphere supports an amount of moistureunknown to the dampest parts of India.The barometer, so near the equator, is almostuniformly sluggish and quiescent. Its rangediurnal and annual is here at a min. It seldom,except under varying pressure of storms or tornadoes,rises or falls above or below 30 inchesat sea level, and a few tenths represent the max.

154 VARIATIONvariation. It must be observed, however, on bothcoasts of Africa, within ()0_7° of the Line, thisinstrument requires especial study for nauticalpurposes. Here it is an imperfect indicator,because, affected from great distances, it riseswithout fine weather and it falls without foul.At Zanzibar the case of a whaling captain isquoted for wasting in vain precautions nearlytwo months. Moreover, sufficient observationshave not yet been accumulated in the southernhemisphere. Where there is so little expansionin the mercurial column the convexityand concavity of the column-head must be carefullyexamined with a magnifying-glass, and bya reflecting instrument the smallest changecould be correctly measured. T11e trembling ofthe aneroid needle, sometimes ranging througha whole inch during the gusts of the highly electricaltornado, also calls for observation. Thesympiesometer is held to be even mOre sensitivethan the mercurial barometer, especially beforestorms, and ignorance of its peculiarity has often'frightened a reef in' at unseasonable times.The same was found to be the case, in high lati·tudes, by Lieut. Robertson, R.N., when sailingunder Captain Ross (1818), between N. lat. 51039' and 76° 50'.

Jl£ETEORS. 155Observations with the altitude and azimuthdetermined the variation of the needle in 1857to be between 9°-10° (W.). If this be correct,it is gradually easting. In 1823 Oaptain Owenfound it to be IP 7' (W.).l So, upon the oppositecoast, the variation laid down in our chartsof 1846 as 20° (W.) has gradually declined to. between 18° 30' and 19° (W.).Of exceptional meteoric phenomena I canspeak only from hearsay, no written records existingupon the island. A single earthquake isremembered. In the early rains of 1846, atabout 4 P.M., a shock, accompanied by a loudrumbling sound, ran along the city sea-front,splitting the Sayyid's palace, the adjacent mosque,and the side-walls of the British Oonsulate, in adirection perpendicular to the town. It ·wnsprobably the result of igneous disturbance belowthe coralline, andit tends to prove that the islal1 (1.was originally an atoll: some, however, haveexplained it by a land-slip. Three meteors areknown since 1843. In December of that yeara ball of fire was visible from windows facingthe north; it. disappeared without a report.The most remarkable was a balis, wbich, about1 The Consular report of 1859 gives Captain Owen's variation.

156 STORMS.6 P.M. on October 25, 1855, took a N.W. by W.path, burned during ten or eleven minutes, andfrightened the superstitious burghers into fits.Water-spouts commonly appear during the monthof April, and in the direction of the mainland:the people disperse them by firing guns.Frost and snow are of course unheard of atZanzibar, and hail, not uncommon in the interior,never (?) falls upon the island or the coast.During the wet season generally, especially whenthe heats are greatest, the hills of Terrafirma areveiled with clouds, and sheet-lightning playsover the horizon. The islanders assure thestranger that storms of thunder and lightningare rare, and that few accidents happen from theelectric fluid. M. Alfred May, for instance, de.clare's that thunder is heard only three or fourtimes a year. The same is said in West AfricanYoruba, in parts of the Brazil, and even inNorthern Syria-Damasc1J.s, for instance. Itwould be curious to inquire what produces thisuniform immunity under climatic conditions sodifferent. At Zanzibar, however, the phenomenonis irregular as the seasons. I was told ofseveral deaths by the 'thunderbolt,' and in theyear 1857 the S.W. monsoon was ushered inalmost daily by a tempest. Lieutenant·Colonel

TORNADOS. 157Hamerton, when sailing about the island, lost bylightning his Baloch Sarhang (boatswain); hehimself felt a blow upon the shoulder like thatof a falling block. Na blood appeared upon theside, but it was livid to the hip, and for somedays the patient was decidedly' shaky.' Someexplained his escape by his wearing flannel;others by his standing near the davits of a longboat,which were twisted like wax by the electricfluid.The mainlands of Zanzibar and of Mozambiqueare subject, as might be expected, totornados, which much resemble those of theWest African coast. Accompanying the formationand the dispersion of the nimbus, they areoften violent enough to wreck small craft.Oaught in a fine specimen, I was able to observeall the normal phEmomena,-the building up ofthe warning arcil, the white eye or gleam underthe soffit, the wind blowing off shore, the apparentperiodicity of throbs, and the frantic rage ofthe short-lived squall. The cyclones and hurricanesof the East :J,:ndian Islands rarely extend toZanzibar. During 14 years there "vas but onetourbillon strong enough to uproot a cocoa-tree.It passed over the city. about midnight, overthrowingthe Mabandani or roof-sheds, and it was

158 DEW.followed by a burst of rain. Colonel Sykes (lococit.) remarks, philosophically explaining thewhy, 'Another peculiar feature in the climatologyof Zanzibar is that there is seldom any dewexperienced.' The reverse is the case, as mightbe known by the strength of the nightly radiation.Captain Guillain (i. 2, 72) declares thatthe rosees which accompany the rains are sufficientfor watering the ground, and observes (p.94), I presume concerning those who remain inthe open air, 'Rester it terre entre huit heurs dusoil' et Ie lever du soleil c'est s'exposer a unemort tres probable, sinon certaine.' The sunset,never followed by twilight, is accompanied by asudden coolness which, as in equatorial, andeven sub-tropical regions generally, causes a rapidprecipitation of vapour. The dews are cold andclammy, and the morning shows large beads inhorizontal streaks of moisture on perpendicularsurfaces. I often remarked the deposition ofdew when light winds were blowing; of courseit did not stand in drops, but it wetted the clothing.This I believe is an exception to thegeneral rule. At sunset the old stager will notsit or walk in the open air, although, as in Syria,he will expose himself to it at nine or ten p. m.,when the night has acquired its normal t.emper-

DOUBLE SEASONS. 159ature. As in the west coast squadron, so here,there is an order that all men on deck after sunsetmust wear their blanket-coats and trowsers,and many an unfortunate sailor has lost his lifeby sleeping in the streets, thus allowing the dewto condense upon his body while under the influenceof liquor. Experienced travellers havetaught themselves, even in the hottest seasons ofthe hottest equinoctial regions, to air the hutwith a 'bit of fire' before sundown and sunrise,and it is doubtless an excellent premtutionagainst' chills.'Zanzibar Island, lying in S. lat. 6°, has thesun in zenith twice a year; the epochs beingearlyMarch and October; more exactly, March4 and October 9. Hence it has two distinctsummers; the first in February, the second inSeptember. It -has double rains; the 'GreatMasika' in April to June, and the' Little Masika'in October to November. It has two- winters; the shorter in December, and in Julythe longer, which is much more marked than the'former. There are only three months of N.E.trade (Azyab)l to nine of S.E. and S.W. (Kausi).I Azyab is the classical Arab term for Cfficias (Kaikias) theN.R wind-according to Firuzabadi it is the S.E.; Sciron, theN.W., is the kab' ShUrsh' ; Lips, the S.W., is 'Labash'; andBuros, the S.B., 'Sh'luk' (scirocco, which is in many places a

160 THE TRADE WINDS.The regularity of these seasons is broken by avariety of local causes, and there is ever, I repeat,the normal instability of equinoctial climates.Theory appears often at fault upon thesematters. A fair instance is Mr Cooley's assertion,that about Kilima-njaro the 'rainy season is alsothe hot season.' Theoretically, of course, theperiod of the sun's northing and of the greatrains should be, north of the equator, the hotseason; but where tropical downfalls are heavy,the excessive humidity intercepting the solarrays, and the valleys and swamps refrigerated bythe torrents, make the rainy season the coldweather. From June to September the nativesof Fernando Po (N. lat. 4°) die, like those ofeastern intertropical Mrica, of catarrh, quinsey,and rheumatism. Even in India the Goanese callthe rains' 0 inverno,' and Abba Gregorius makesthe wet weather the winter of Abyssinia. AboutKilima-njaro the hot and dry season opens withthe end and closes with the beginning of the hotmonsoon.The natives of Zanzibar distribute the yeardue east wind). The N.R is still commonly called' Barrani ';in vulgar Arabic, however, men would say, Bayn el Shimalw'el Gharb. A.t Zanzibar the east wmd is called by the WashawahiliZaju.-of above, and the west Phepo Mimde or Umaude-ofdew or mist.

THE KASKAZI. 161into five seasons. A far simpler division hereapplicable, as in Western India, is made by thoselocal trades the monsoons, between whose twounequal lengths are long intervals of calms andof variable winds. These are the Mausim orN.R monsoon, and the Hippalus or S.W.1. The Kaskazi or Kazkazi (vulgarly Kizkazi),to which the Arabs limit the term EIMausim (Monsoon) ,is the season during which theAzyab (~J\) or N.E. trade blows. The windbegins about mid-November; from mid.Decembel'to mid

162 GREATER RAINS.does not stand high, but the frequent flashes ofsheet-lightning playing over the northern andwestern sky show a surcharge of electricity. Thepublic health would suffer severely but for thefrequent cooling showers which, especially at theend of the Kaskazi, are succeeded by severaldays of pleasant weather. This is the agriculturist'sspring. Sesamum, holcus, rice, and othercereals, are sown upon lands previously burnedfor manure. It is the traveller's opportunityfor visiting the interior of the island and theworst parts of the coast, but-' bad is the best.'2. The Msika (or Masika) Mku, Greater rainor rains. About the end of March the change ofmonsoon is ushered in by heavy squalls from theS.B. and by tornados blowing off land. Presentlythe Hippalus breaks, and extends from earlyMay into October. In May native craft makeIndia after a run of 20 to 25 days; after the enelof August they rarely attempt the voyage. ThisKausi or Hippalus is usually called S.W. monsoon,but it has mostly an eastern. deflection,possibly modified by the westerly lanel-breezes.The Arabs diviele it, as will be seen, into threeportions. :B'irst, the Kaus proper,! in Kisawa-1 I can only suggest that this term is borrowed from thezodiacal sign Sagittarius.

THE RAINS. 163hili Kausi (..5"':;')' from mid-April to early August,the period of the greatest strength. Second, Ki.pupwe or first winter-July and early August;and third, the Dayman, which ends the Kausi.Presently appear the rains which'have followedthe northing sun. The same observationwas made by the Austrian mission on the WhiteRiver in N. lat. 4° 30'. On the coast we can distinctlytrace their progress. In 1857 the down­'fall began in Feb. 15, at Usumbara (S. lat. 5°),where the clouds are massed and condensed bya high plateau, leading to lofty, snow-cappedmountains. In 1854 I found that the rainyseason opened at Berberah of the Somal (N. lat.10° 25') on April 15; and in early June theyreach Bombay (N. lat. 18° 53'). Concerning themovement of the wet season in inner intertropi-. cal Africa I have already written in the Journalof the Royal Geographical Society (xxix. 207).The heaviest rains at Zanzibar Island beginthe wet season about mid-April, and last 30 to40' days; they do not end, however, till eDJrlyJune. Some observers remark thDJt the fall isgreate£t at low water and during the ebb-tidesof the Syzygies. It is, however, rare to have aweek of uninterrupted rain, as in eastern Indiaand sometimes in the Brazil. The discharge is

164 RAINFALL.exceedingly uncertain. Some years number 85inches, others 108. During the first eight monthsof 1857 and the last four months of 1858, we finda total of 120'21 inches. In 1859 it reached 167,doubling the aV!=lrage of Bombay (76'55), andnearly trebling that of Oalcutta (56'83). Wemay compare these figures with those of Europeand the United States. England has 31'97inches; France, 25'00; Central Germany, 20'00;Hungary, 16'93; Boston, 38'19 (about thesame at Beyrut in Syria); Philadelphia, 45'00;and St Louis, Mo., 31'97.. Of these 167 inches(1859), 104'25 fell during the Msika Mku. Thenumber of wet days ranges from 100 to 130 perannum. According to the people, rain hasdiminished of late years; perhaps it is the resultof felling cocoas, and of disforesting the land forcloves. In 1857, the Great Msika was precededby a few days of oppressive heat, which ended(March 24) in a highly electrical storm, likethose which usher in the rains of western India,and suddenly the cool S.W. began to blow. Forsome time we had daily showers, now from theN.B., then from the S.W., with high winds andloud thunderings; the rains, however, did notshow in earnest before April 10.The islanders like the Msika to open with

IRREGULARITIES. 165showers strong enough to bind the land, butnot so violent as to carry off the manure depositedby the year's decayed vegetation. Afterthis the water should fall in heavy ropy torrents,with occasional breaks of sunshine andfine weather; when this lasts thirty days, andis succeeded by fi.'equent showers, good cropsare expected. The downfall is heavier in the.interior of the island than about the city, which,situated upon a point, escapes many a drenching.It must, however, be borne in mind thatthe phenomena of the rains, like those of thesea and air, are essentially D.·regular. III someseasons there will be only half-a-dozen rainyafternoons; in others as many rainy mornings.There are.years of great drought, and there areseasons when the sun does not appear for sixweeks in succession. Usually heavy rain is notexpected afte:ll A..M.., and showers are rare~fter 2 P.M. As I subsequently remarked in theeast African interior-the Fluminenses of tl},¥Brazil still preserve the tradition-there is acurious regularity and periodicity in the hours ofdownfall, often extending over many days. Thisphenomenon may have done much towards creatingthe 'rain-doctor.'During the Msika the horizon is obscured,

166 , S1I10KES.'dangerously indeed for shilJs: the wind veersround to every point of the compass; the skyis murky and overcast; huge pm'ple nimbi, likemoving mountains, float majestically against thewind, showing strong counter-currents in theupper aerial regions. From afar the island ap.:.pears smothered in blue mist, and often the cloudrocksplits into two portions, one of which makesfor the coast. Even during the rare days ofsunshine the distances, owing to the continuoushumidity, are rarely clear, and the exhalationsmake refraction extensive. A hightension of vapour is the rule. For the first threehours after sunrise the land is often obscured by, smokes,' a white misty fog, often deepening toa drizzling rain; this lasts until 10 A.M., aboutwhich time the sea-breeze begins to blow.The Msika is much feared by the nativepopulation, and the interior of ~he island becomesa hot-bed of disease. The animal creationseems to breathe as much water as air. Thewant of atmospheric weight, and consequently ofpressure upon the surface of the body, rendersthe circulation sluggish, robs man of energy, andmakes him feel'how much better is sleep thanwaking. Europeans, speaking from effect, complainthat the' heavy' air produces an unnatural

DAMPNESS. 167drowsiness-it is curious to see how many ofour popular books make humidity increase theweight of the atmospheric column. During thisseason the dews of sunset are deemed especiallyfatal to foreigners. At times the body feelscold an.d clammy when the thermometer suggeststhat it should be perspiring: super-saturationis drawing off the vital heat. The lungs areimperfectly oxygenized, and, in general belief,positive is exchanged for negative electricity.The hair and skin are dank and sodden; indeed,a dry cutis ·is an unattainable luxury. Ironoxydizes with astonishing rapidity; shoes exposedto the air soon fall to pieces; mirrors areclouded with steam; paper. runs and furnituresweats; the houses leak; books and papers arepasted together; ink is covered with green fur;linens and cottons grow mouldy, and broadclothsstiffen and become boardy.This excess of damp is occasionally varied bythe extreme of dryness. The hot wind representsthe Khamasin of Egypt, the Sharki (orSh'luk) of Syria, the Harmattan of west Africa,and the Norte of the southern Brazil, Paraguay,and the Argentine Oonfederation. At suchtimes the air apparently abol\,nds in oxygen andin ozone. Ootton cloth feels hard and crisp; even

168 THE SEASONS.the water is cooled by the prodigious evaporation.Books and papers curl up and crack, andstrangers are apt to suffer from nausea andfainting fits.3. The Kipupwe, first winter or cold season-July and early August. The bright azure ofthe sky, the surpassing clearness of the water,and the lively green colours of the land, arenot what we associate with the idea of the'disease of the year.' The Kausi or S.W. mon­.soon still blows, but in this second or postpluvialphase its strength is diminished. Ason the western coast the mornings are misty,the effect of condensation and of excessiveevaporation, the sun pumping up vapour fromthe rapidly desiccating ground; but about fourhours after sunrise a strong sea-breeze sets in,giving a little life and elasticity to the exhaustedframe. When the 'doctor' fails theheat is oppressive, and the sunsets are oftenaccompanied by an unpleasant closeness. Thebeginning of the Kipupwe is held to be universallysickly. The Hindus, who declare that allcold coming from the south is bad, suffer fromattacks of rheumatism and pneumonia. Thecharms of the season induce Europeans to despisethe insidious attacks of malaria: they

THE LITTLE RAINS. 169commit imprudences and pay for them in severefevers. The rare but heavy showers that now fallare termed 'Mcho;' they separate the greaterfrom the lesser Msika.4. Dayman (in Kisawahili Daymani) endsthe Kausi or S. W. monsoon, and extendsthrough August and part of October. Thoughthe sun is nearly perpendicular the air is cooledby strong south-westerly breezes. At this timeyams, manioc, and sweet potatoes grow, makingit a second spring, whilst the harvest of rice andhol:cus assimilates it to the temperate autumn.5. The Vuli (Fuli) 1 or Msika Mdogo, secondrains Of Little Msika. This season lasts hutthree weeks, beginning shortly after the sunhas crossed the zenith of Zanzibar in the southerndeclination, and embracing part of Octoberand November. It is not considered a healthytime by the isianders. The autumnal rains are,sometimes wanting upon the continent, and theland then suffers as severely from drought asnorthern Syria does when the' former rain' fails.After the Vuli recommences the Kaskazi, and the1 V and F are often interchanged, as'Mpumbafu (a fool),and Mfulana (a youth), for Mpumbavu and Mvulana. Generallythe Arabs of Oman and other incorrect .speakers preferthe latter, lilld the Wssawshili the former,a sound which doesnot exist in Arabic.

170 UNHEALTHY TIMES.N. E. trade again blows. The sun is distant, thethermometer does not range high, yet the temperatureof houses sheltered from the breezebecomes overpowering, and without the' doctor'the city would hardly be habitable. At timesthe Tra~e freshens to a gale that blows throughthe day. The Hindus suffer severely from this, Baora' (blast), and declare that it brings onfits of 'Mridi' (refroidissement), here held dangerous.During the whole of the Azyab mon·soon the people preferhot sun and a clear, whichis always a slightly hazy-blue, sky. They dislikethe clouds and heavy showers called Mvua 1ya ku pandia, or harvest rains, which are broughtup at times by the N. N. West wind. On theother hand, when the Kau.si or S. West monsoonblows, they hold an overcast sky the best forhealth, and they dread greatly the 'rain-sun.'The peasants take advantage of the dryness, andprepare, by burning, the land for maize, sesamum,and rice.The Wasawahili, like the Somal and manyother races, have attempted to conform thelunar with the solar year, a practice which may1 Or Mbua, the B and V being confounded, like F and V.Similarly, in the Prakrit dialects of Indra, vikh becomeil bikh(poison).

THE MONTHS. 171date from the days when the Persians were rulersof tho Zanzibar coast. They also give their ownnames to the lunar months of the Moslem; and,curiously enough, they begin the year, not withMuharram, bu t with the ninth month (Shawwal), which they call' Mfunguo Mosi,' or FirstMonth. The next, Zu'l Ka'adeh, is l\ffunguoMbili, Second Month, and so on till Rajab, Shaa'­ban (or MUsho) l ~nd Ramaza.n, which retaintheir Arab names. 1 Amollg'st the Somal, fivemonths, namely, from the second to the fifth, areknown by the old Semitic terms. The month, asamongst all savage and semi-civilized tribes, beginswith sighting the moon; and the Wasawahilireckon like the Jews, the modern Moslems, andthe Ohinese, 12 of 29 and 30 days alternately. 'Thecomplete number of months with God' being,says the Koran, 'twelve months,' good followersof the Prophet Ignore the Ve-adar, second or embolicalAdar, which the Hebrews inserted afterevery third year, and retain their silly cycle of354 days. The Wasawahili add 10 to 12 daysto the Moslem year, and thus preserve the orderlyrecurrence of the seasons. The sage in1 This is ignored by Oaptain Guillain (Appendix, vol. iii.),who makes the Wasawahili retain all the names of the Arabmonths.

172 NEW YEAR'S DAY.charge of the local almanac is said to live atTumbatu: he finds his New Year's Day by look.ing at the sun, by tracing figures upon theground, and by comparing the results with Arab.ic calendars. Their weeks begin, as usual withMoslems, on Friday (Ejuma for Juma), the SaturdaybeingJuma Mosi, or one day after Friday,and so forth. Thursday, however, is Khamisi.This subdivision of time, though suggested by thequarters of the earth's satellite, is known only tosocieties which have advanced toward civilization.Thus in Dahome we find a week of four days;and even Ohina ignores the seven-day week.'The universal festivals,' says the late ProfessorH. H. Wilson (Essays on the Religion ofthe Hindus, ii. 155), 'are manifestly astronom­.ical, and are intended to commemorate the -revo·lutions of the planets, the alternations of theseasons, and the recurrence of cyclical intervalsof longer or shorter duration.' The Nau-rozC).J~) or New Year's Day, here, as in Syria,locally pronounced Nay-roz, wa·s established inancient Ariana, according to Persian tradition, byJamshid, King of Kings, in order to fix thevernal equinox. 1 It is the Holi of the Hindus,1 In 1870, for instance, it was kept in Syria on the 11th of, Adar' (March), old style, and on Adar 23rd, new style.

THE E1I1BOLISMAL DAYS. 173and after the East has kept this most venerablefestival for 3000 years, we still unconsciouslycelebrate the death and resurrection of theeternal sun-god. The Beal-tinne is not yet forgottenin Leinster, nor is the maypole whollyobsolete in England. As early as the days ofthe Kuraysh, there was an attempt to reconcilethe lunar with the solar year, and the Nau-roz,though palpably ,of Pagan origin, has been. ,adopted by all the maritime peoples professingEI Islam. Even the heathen-hating Arab borrowedit for his convenience from the Dualistsand Trinitarians of Fars and Hindustan. Hencethe reras called Kadmi and Jelali. In thissecond solar rera the Nau-roz was transferred bythe new calendar from the vernal equinox toSept. 14, A.D. 1079, and was called Nau-roz iMizan c.,~...J-,)j)' Amongst the Wasawahili itis known as Siku Khu ya Mwak

174 SUPERSTITIONS.11'7 sees. Thus the contrivance is itself rude;moreover the Wasawahili often miscalculate it.Between A..D. 1829 and A..D. 1879, it would fallon 28-29 August. In 1844 they made it commenceat 6 p. m., August 28, immecliately afterfull moon: in 1850-2 they began it on August27, and in 1856 in August 26. 1Sundry quasi superstitious uses are made ofthe 10 embolismal days following the Nau-1'Oz.Should rains-locally called Miongo-fall on thefirst day, showers are prognosticatedfor the tenth;if on the second, the twentieth will be wet; andso forth till the·tenth, which if rainy suggeststhat the Kausi or S.W. monsoon will set inearly. The seasons of navigation are thus recleoned.The Vuli rains are supposed to begin30 days~ counting from the twentieth, after Nau-I According to Captain Guillain, in 184G-7 it correspondedwith August 29 (the New Year's Day of Abyssinia andEgypt in 1844); in 1848 with August 28; and in 1850, 51,52 with August 27. He was also informed that the Vulibegan 20 days after the Nau-roz, and lasted ::;0 (Sept. 20 toOct. 20), that the Msika (which he writes Mouaka) begins 90days after the HOth (Dec. 20 to March 20), and that theMcho'o commences 20 days after the 280 (.June 10 to July 1).That author, moreover, remarks that as the new Persian calendaradds to every century 22 days, instead of our 24 days, theNau-roz thus falls behind ours 48 hours in each hundredyears. Thus between 1829 and 1879, the New Year's Dayshould occur between the 28th and 29th August.

PROVERBS. 175roz. On the eightieth (some say the ninetieth)day are expected thunder, lightning, and heavyrains at the meeting of the monsoons (mid­November), and so forth. Possibly this may bea reflection of the Hindu idea which representsthe Garbhas to be the fetuses of the clouds, andborn 195 days after conception. With us thepeople mark the periods by saints' clays. TheBernais say-Apres Ie jour de Ia Sainte Luce,Les jours s'allollgellt Ie saut d'une puce.The Escuara proverb declares-Sanet Seimon etu J uda,Negua eldu da.C' At St Simon and St J nde, water may be viewed.')The basis of the following calculation ISthoroughly Kisawahili-S' eI pleut Ie jour de Saint 'Mec1ard, (Jnne S)11 pleut quarante JOUl's plus tard.Nor is our popular doggrel less so-Saint Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain,For forty days it will remain.Saint Swithin's Day, if thou be fair,For forty days 'twill rain nae mail'.The Wasawahili also calculate their agriculturalseasons fl'om the stars called Kilimia, aname probably derived from Ku lima, to l)lough.

176 MORTALITY.I believe them to be Pleiades, but my sudden departurefrom the coast prevented my makingespecial inquiries. When this constellation is inthe west at night the peasants say, 'Kilimia, ifitsets during the rains, rises in fair weather,' andvice versll. Also Kilimia appearing in the east isa signal for the agriculturist to prepare his land.SECTION 3.Climate continued--Notes on the Nosology of Zanzibar­Effects on Strangers.THE climate of Zanzibar Island IS betterthan that of the adjacent continent. Here manywhite residents have escaped severe fever; butupon the coast the disastrous fate of CaptainOwen's surveyors, the loss of life on board ourcruisers, and the many deaths of the 'MambasMission,' even though, finding the sea-boarddangerous, they built houses on the hills whichlead to the mountain region of Usumbara, provethat malaria is as active in eastern as in westernAfrica. Colonel Hamerton once visited the

MORTALITY. 177Pangani river during the month of August: ofhis 19 men, three died, and all but one sufferedseverely. Perhaps we should not find a similarmortality in the present day, when the lancet hasbeen laid aside for the preventive treatment byquinine and tonics. It has, however, been asserteclthat the prophylactic use of the alkaloid,which was such· a success in western Africa, didnot prove equally valuable on the eastern coast.Yet ZanzibaT, with its double seasons and itsuniformly heated and humid atmosphere, accordsill, even where healthiest, with the irritable temperamentof northern races. Here, contrary tothe rule of Madagascar, the lowlands over whichthe fresh sea-breeze plays are the only partswhere the white stranger can land and live; theinterior is non habitabilis mstu. Lieut.-ColonelHamerton, called upon in March, 1844, by SirGeorge Arthur, governor of Bombay, to repOTtupon the island, wrote in September of the sameyear, 'The climate of the [insular] coast is notunhealthy for Europeans, but it is impossible forwhite men to live in the interior of the island,the vegetation being rank and appearing alwaysto be going on;· and generally fever contractedin the interior is fatal to Europeans.' ColonelSykes (loco cit.) questions this assertion as beingVOL. I. 12

178 HEALTH AT ZANZIBAR.'contrary to all other testimony.' Every traveller,however, knows it to be correct. As inthe lovely climates of the Congo River and theSouth Sea Islands, corporal lassitude leads to indolence,languor, and decline of mental energy,which can be recovered only by the bracinginfluence of the northern winter. Many newarrivals complain of depressing insomnia, withalternations of lethargic sleep: I never enjoyedat Zanzibar the light refreshing rest of the desert.Yet the island is a favourable place forthe young African traveller to undergo the inevitable'seasoning fever, which upon the coastor in the interior might prove fatal. The highlands,or the borders of the great central basin,are tolerably healthy, but an invalid would findno comforts there-haTdly a waterproof roof.He should not, however, risk after recovery asecond attack, but at once push on to his goal;otherwise he will expend in preparation thestrength and bottom required to carry out hisexplorations. With a fresh, sound constitution,he may work hard for three years, and evenif driven home by ill health he may return incomparative safety within a reasonable time.No European, unless' thoroughly free fromorganic disease, should venture to remain longer

HEALTH AT ZANZIBAR. 179than three or four years at Zanzibar: the samehas been observed of Baghdad, and of the Euphratesvalley generally. Lurking maladies willbe brought to a erisis, and severe functional derangementsare liable to return. The stranger iscompelled to take troublesome precautions. Hemay bathe in cold water, sweet or salt, but hemust eschew the refreshment of the morningwalk: during the rains, when noxious mistsoverhang the land, the unpleasant afternoon isthe only safe time for exercise. Flannel mustalways be worn despite the irritability of theever-perspiring skin: even in the hottest weatherthe white cotton jackets and overalls of BritishIndia are discardec1 for tweeds, and for anAmerican stuff of mi~ecl cotton and wool.Extra warm clothing is considered. necessar3T aslong as the 'mugginess' of 'msika-weather'lasts. Sudden exposure to the SUll is conside.reddangerous, and the carotid, jugular, and temporalarteries must be carefully protected fromcold as well as from heat. Hard work, either ofmind or body, is said to produce fever as surelyas sitting in draughts or as wearing insufficientclothing. The charming half-hour followingsunset is held dangerous, especially in hotweather'; yet most tantalizing is the cool deli-

180 DIET.cious interval between the burning day and thebreathless night. Natives of the country rarelyventure out after dark: a man found in thestreets may safely be determined to be either aslave or a thief-probably both.Directions for diet are minute and vexatious.The stranger is popularly condemned to 'lodging-househours '-breakfast at 9 A.M., dinner at3 P.M., tea at 8 P.M., bed at 10 P.M. He is toldalso to Jive temperately but not abstemiously,and never to leave the stomach too long empty.I should prescribe for him, contrary to the usualplan, an abnormal amount of stimulants, portand porter, not claret nor Rhine-wine. It isevident that where appetite is wanting, andwhere nourishing food, is not to be obtained, the, patient' must imbibe as much nutril:nent as hesafely can. In these lands a drunkard outlivesa water-drinker, despite Theodoret, 'vinum biberenon est malum, sed intemperanter bibere perniciosumest'; and here Bacchus, even' Bacchusuncivil,' is still 'Bacchus the healer.' As usualold stagers will advise a stranger recoveringfrom fever to strengthen himself with sundrybottles of port, and yet they do not adopt it as apreventive-' expsrto crede Ricardo.' The saidport may be Lisbon wine fortified with cheap

BACCHUS THE HEALER. 181spirits, liquorice, and logwood-in fact, what isregimentally called' strong military ditto;' yetI have seen wonders worked by the much-debasedmixture. Again, Europeans are told touse purgatives, especially after sudden and strongexercise, when the' bile is stirred up.' As anamateur chronothermalist-thanks to my kindold master, the late Dr Dickson-I should suggesttonics and bitters, which often bring reliefwhen the nauseous salts and senna aggravate theevil. Also, in all debilitating countries, when theblood is 'thin,' laxatives must be mild, otherwisethey cause instead of curing fever; in fact,double tonics and half purgatives should be therule. Above all things convalescents should beaided by change of air, if only from the house ofsickness to that of a neighbour, or to a ship inport. The most long-lived of white races arethe citizens of the United States: they aresuperior to others in mental (or cerebral) energy;they are men of spare, compact fibre, and ofregular habits; they also rarely reside more thantwo or three years at a time on the island. Onthe other band, the small French colony has lostin 15 years 26 men: they lived imprudently,they drank sour' Bordeaux, and when attackedwith fever they killed themselves by the abuse of

182 AGUE AND FEVER.quinine. Swallowing large doses upon an emptystomach, they irritated the digestive organs, andthey brought on cerebral congestion by 'heroicpractice' when constipated.According to the Arabs and Hindus of Zanzibar,ague and fever are to be avoided only byperspiring during sleep under a blanket in aclosed room-a purgatory for a healthy hotbloodedman in this damp tepid region. I foundthe cure-almost-as-bad-as-the-disease precautionadopted by the Spanish colonists at my salubriousresidence-Fernando Po, West Mrica.Only two officers escaped' chills,' and they bothcourageously carried out the preventive system:all the other hand, it was remarked that theylooked more aged, and they appeared to havesuffered more from the climate, than those whoshook once a month with 'rigors.' There iscertainly no better prescription for catching aguethan a coolth of skin during sle~p: havingpurchased experience at a heavy price, it is myinvariable practice when awaking with a chillyepiderm to drink a glass of water 'cold without,'and to bury myself for an hour under a pileof blankets. Every slave-hut has a cartel orcot, and the savages of the coast, like those ofthe Upper Nile, carry about wooden stools for

EUROPEAN WOJIEN. 183fear of dysentery. I have mentioned how oursailors dig their graves.So much for the male sex. Europeanwomen here, as in the Gulf of Guinea, rarelyresist the melancholy isolation, the want ofsociety, and the Nostalgia-Reimweh or Homesickness-socommon, yet so little regarded intropical countries. Under normal circumstancesEquatorial Africa is certain death to the Englanderin.I am surprised at the combinedfolly and brutality of civilized husbands who,anxious to be widowers, poison, cut the throats,or smash the skulls of their better-halves. Thething can be as neatly and quietly, safely andrespectably, effected by a few months of Africanair at Zanzibar or Fernando Po, as by theclimate of the Maremma to which the enlightenedItalian noble condemned his spouse.The nosology of Zanzibar is remarkable forthe prevalence of urinary and genital diseases;these have been roughly estimated at 75 percent. Syphilis sl)reads wide, and where promiscuousintercourse is permitted to the slaves itpresents formidable symptoms. The' blacklion,' as it is_popUlarly called-in Arabic El Tayror El Faranj; in Kisawahili, BUbeh, Kiswendi,or T'hego-will destroy the part affected in three

184 DISEASES.weeks: secondaries are to be feared; noses disappear,the hair falls off, and rheumatism andspreading ulcers result. Gonorrhma is so commonthat it is hardly considered a disease. :Fewstrangers live long here without suffering fromirritation of the bladder, the result, it is said, ofhard lime-water: and the common effect of acold or of stricture is severe vesical catarrh.Sarcocele and hydrocele, especially of the lefttestis, according to the Arabs, attack, all classes,and are attributed to the relaxing climate, tounrestrained sexual indulgence, and sometimesto external injury. These diseases do not alwaysinducE,j impotence or impede procreation. Thetunica vaginalis is believed to fill three times:as in elephantiasis the member is but a mass offlesh, a small meatus only remaining. Thedeposition of serum is enormous; I have heardof six quarts being drawn off. The nativespunctuate with a heated copper needle, andsometimes thus induce tetanus: Europeans addinjections of red wine and iodine. The latter isalso applied with benefit in the early stage tosarcocele; and both complaints have yielded, itis said, to the galvanic current. Strangers areadvised at all times to wear suspensory bandages.

ELEPHANTIASIS. 185Elephantiasis of the legs and arms, andespecially of the scrotum, affiicts, it is calculated,20 per cent. of the inhabitants: Arabsand Hindus, Indian Moslems and Africans, howeverdissimilar in their habits and diet, all sufferalike. It is remarked that the malady has neverattacked a pure white, European or American:perhaps the short residence of the small numberaccounts for the apparent immunity. Similarly,in the Brazil I have never seen a Europeanstrangm~ subject to the leprosy, or to the goitre,so prevalent in the great pl'ovinces of Sao Pauloand Minas Geraes. The Banyans declare that ajourney home removes the incipient disease, orat least retards its progress: it recurs, however,on return to Zanzibar. The scrotum will oftenreach the knees; I heard of one case measuringin circumference 41 inches, more than thepatient's body, whilst its length (33 inches)touched the ground. There is no cure, and thecause is unknown. The people attribute it tothe water, and possibly it may spring from thesame source which produces goitre and bronchocele.Syphilitic and scorbutic taints appear inulcers and abscesses. The helcoma resemblesthat of Aden: it generally attacks the legs and

186 ULCERS.feet, the parts most distant from the centre ofcirculation; the toes fall of, and the limb becomesdistorted. Phagmdenic sores are mostcommon amongst the poor and the slaves, wholive on manioc, fruit, and salt shark often putrid.Large andpainfulphlegemonous abscesses, attackingthe muscular tissue, occasion great constitution.aldisturbance: they heal, however, readilyafter suppuration. Scabies, yaws (Frambmsia),psoriasis, and 'craw-craw: inveterate as that ofMalabar or the Congo River, commonly resultfrom personal uncleanliness, unwholesome food,and insufficient shelter and clothing. Thatfrightful malady Lupus presents pitiable objects.The indigenous diseases which require mentionare fevers, bowel-complaints, and pulmonaryaffections.Fevers at Zanzibar have been compared withAaron's rod; at times they seem to swallow upevery other disease, and generally they cause thegreatest amount of mortality. As at Muhamre11,and on the swampy margins of the Shat elArab (Persian Gulf), the constitution worn out,and the equilibrium of the functions derangedby moist heat and sleeplessness, especially duringand after the heavy rains of the S. West mono

FEVER.1S7so 011, thus relieve themselves. Persians anelnorthern Asiatics are even more liable to attacksthan Europeans; and, as in Egypt, rude healthIS rare. Some Indian Moslems have fled thecountry, belie~ing themselves bewitched. Arabsborn on the island, and the Banyans, who seldomsuffer much from the fever, greatly dread itssecondary symptoms. The' hummeh,' or intermittenttype, is remarkable for the virulence andpersistency of the sequelre, which the Arabs call, Nazlah' (metastasis), or defluxion of humours-' dropping into the hoofs' as the grooms say.Cerebral and visceral complications, vvith derangementsof the liver and spleen, produceobstinate diarrhCBas, dysenteries, and a long direcohort of diseases. Men of strong nervousdiathesis escape with slight consequences in theshape of white hail', boils, bacl toothaches,neuralgias, and sore tongues. The weak losememory, or virility, or the use of a limb, thefinger-joints especially being liable to stiffen ;many become deaf or dim-sighted, not a few aresubject to paralysis in its various forms, whilstothers, tormented by hepatitis, constipation, anddisorders of the bowels and of the digestiveorgans, never completely recover health. Inthis country all attribute to the moon at the

188 FEVER., springs' what we explain by coincidence andby the periodicity of disease. For months, andpossibly for years, the symptoms recur so regularlythat even Europeans will use evacuantsand quinine two or three days be'fore the newand full moons. In such cases, I repeat, changeof climate is the best aid to natura curatrix.The malignant typhus is rare at Zanzibar: itraged, however, amongst the crew of a Frenchship wrecked on the northern end of the island,when the men were long exposed to privationsand over-fatigue. Intermittents (ague andfever) are common as colds in England. Theyare mild and easily treated; 1 but they leave behindduring convalescence a dejection and adebility wholly incommensurate with the apparentinsignificance of the attack, and often a1 In some cases an emetic will cut short the enemy. Theallopathic remedies are evacuants, cooling lotions applied tothe head, and sulphate of guinine (4 to 12 grains three or fourtimes per diem), with appropriate treatment for complications.Calomel and tartar emetic must be avoided on account of theirdepressing effects. Liquor arsenicalis and the TincturaWarburgii (Warburg's Drops), which is said to have failed inyellow fever, have cured malig1lant, inveterate, and chroniccases. The Persians at one time in Zanzibar besieged ColonelHamerton's door for this' Ab.j.hayyat '-water of life. Theinvaluable wet sheet and the Turkish bath were uulmo\\"n atZanzibar in 1857.

FEVER. 189periodical neuralgia, which must be treated withtonics, quinine, and chiretta.The bilious remittent is, par excellence, thefever of the country, and every stranger mustexpect a 'seasoning' attack. It was inordinatelyfatal in the days when, the lancet beingu~ed to combat inflammation, the action of theheart was never restored. Our grandfathers,however, bled everyone for everything, andfor nothing: there were old ladies who showedgreat skill in 'blooding' cats. In 1857 men hadescaped this scientific form of sudden death, butthe preventive treatment so ably used on thevVest coast of Africa had not been tried. rrhecure at Zanzibar was an aperient of calomeland jalap. Castor oil was avoided as aptto causenausea. Quinine "fas administered, but often inquantities not sufficient to induce the necessarychinchonization, and the inexperienced awaitedtoo long the period of· remission, administeringthe drug only during the intervals. Dial)horeticsof nitrate of l)otash, camphor mixture, andthe liquor acet. ammon. were used to reducethe temperature of the skin. The most distressingsymptom, ejection of bile, was opposed bysaline drinks, effervescing draughts, dilutedprussic acid, a mustard plaister, or a blister.

190 FEVER.The hair was shaved or closely cut, and evaporatinglotions were applied to the head. Theextreme restlessness of the patient often calledfor a timid narcotic; in these days, however, theinvaluable hydrate of chloral, Sumbul and chlorodynewere unknown, and soporifics were used,as it were under protest, being believed to causeconstipation. Extreme exhaustion was not -vigorouslyattacked with medical and other stimulants;and thus many sank under the want ofammonia and wine. I have since remarked thesame errors of treatment in the West Africancoast; the patient was often restricted to theacidity-breeding rice water, arrowroot, and similar'slops.' When he pined for brandy andbeef-tea, the safe plan of consulting his instinctswas carefully ignored.In strong constitutions the initiatory attackof remittents is followed after a time by thenormal intermittent, and the traveller may thenconsider himself tolerably safe. In son1.e Indiancases ague and fever have recurred regularly fora whole year after the bilious remittent.The'bilious remittent of Zanzibar is precededby general languor and listlessness, with lassitudeof limbs and heaviness of head, with chillsand dull pains in the body and extremities, and

FEVER. 191with a frigid sensation creeping up the spine.Then comes a mild cold fit, succeeded by flushedface, full veins, an extensive thirst, dry, burningheat of skin,. a splitting headache, and nausea,and by unusual restlessness, or by remarkabletorpor and drowsiness. '1'he patient is unable tostand; the pulse is generally full and frequent,sometimes thready, small, and quick; the bowelsare constipated, and the tongue is furred and discoloured;appetite is wholly wanting. Duringmy first attack, I ate nothing for seven days;and despite the perpetual craving thirst, noliquid will remain upon the stomach. Throughoutthe day extreme weakness causes anxiety anddepression; the nights are worse, for restlessnessis aggravated by want of sleep. Delirium iscommon in the nervous-bilious temperament.These symptoms are sometimes present severaldays before the attack, which is in fact theirexacerbation. A slight but distinctly markedremission often occurs after the 4th or 5th hour~in my own case they recurred regularly between2 and 3 A..M. ancl. p.M.-followed by a correspondingreaction. When an unfavourablephase sets in, all the evils are aggravated; greatanxiety, restlessness, and delirium wear out thepatient; the niincl. wancl.ers, the body loses all

192 ~F'.EV.ER.power, the ejecta become offensive; the pulse isalmost imperceptible; the skin changes its dryheat for a clammy cold; the respiration growsloaded, the evacuations pass involuntarily; andafter perhaps a short apparent improvement,stupor, insensibility, and sinking usher in death.On the other hand, if the fever intends yielding totreatment, it presents after the 7th day markedsigns of abatement; the tongue is clearer, painleaves the head and eyes, the face. is no longerflushed; nausea ceases after profuse emesis ofbile, and a faint appetite returns.After the mildest attacks of the Zanzibar remittent,the liver acts with excessive energy:sudden exercise eauses a·gush or overflow of bile,which is sufficient to bring on a second attack.The debility, which is inordinate, may last formonths. It is often increased by boils, whichfollow one another in rapid succession, and whichsometimes may be eounted by scores. Besidesthe wet cloth, the usual remedy to cause granulation,and to prevent the sore leaving a head, isto stuff it with camphor and Peruvian bark.When boils appear behind the head, the brain issometimes affected by them, and patients haveeven sunk uncleI' their sufferings. The recovery,indeed, as in the case of the intermittent type,

FEVER. 193is always slow and dubious, relapses are feared,and for six weeks there js little change for thebetter; the stomach is liable to severe indigestion;the body is emaciated, and the appetite isexcessive, or sickly and uncertain. The patientsuffers from toothaches and swelled face, catarrh,hepatitis, emesis, and vertigo, with alternations ofcostiveness and the reverse. As I have alreadysaid, change of air and scene is at this stagemore beneficial than all the tonics and preventivesin the pharmacopCBia. Often a patientlying apparently on his death-bed recovers onhearing that a ship has arrived, and after a fewdays on board he feels well.DiarrhCBa and dysentery are mostly sporadic;the former, however, has at times attackedsimultaneously almost every European on theIsland. It is generally the result of drinkingbad water or sour wine, of eating acescent orunripe fruit, and of imprudent expotmre. Dysenteryis especially fatal during the damp andrainy weather. It was often imprudently treatedwith mere astringents, a,nel without dae regardto the periods of remission, and to the low formwhich inevitably accompanies it. As in remittellts,the patient was weakened, and his stomachwas deranged, with 'slops,' when essence ofVOL. 1, 13

194 BOWEL COMPLAINTS.meat was required. The anti-cliarrhCBu or anticholerapill of opium, chalk, and catechu hasbeen fatal wherever English medicine has extended;witness the Crimean campaign, wherethe bolus killed many more than did the bullet.A complication, rarely sufficiently considered, isthe hepatic derangement, from which almost anstrangers must suffer after a long residence inthe Tropics. At Zanzibar some Europeans werecompelled to give up breakfasting, to the manifestloss of bulk, stamina, and muscular strength-vomiting after the early meal, especially wheneaten with a good appetite, was the cause. Yetit was a mere momentary nausea, and when themouth had been washed no inconvenience wasfelt.Catarrh and bronchitis are common in Februaryand in the colder months of July andAugust. Of endemic pulmonary diseases, pneumonia,asthma, and consumption - the latteraggravated by the humid atmosphere-are frequentamongst the higher classes, especially theArab women debilitated by over-seclusion. Theincidental maladies are tropical rheumatisms,colics, hffimorrhoids, and rare attacks of ophthalmia,simple, acute, and purulent. Hffimorrhoidsare very common both on the Island and the

SMALL-POX. 185coast; the people suffer as much as the Turksin Egypt without wearing the enormous bagtrowserswhich have been so severely blamed.Of the epidemics, the small-pox, a gift of'Inner Mrica to the world, is fatal as at Goa orMadagascar. A.pparently IJropagated withoutcontact or fomites, it disfigures half the population,and it is especially dangerous to full-bloodedAfricans. About three years ago (1857) a JY.[a,skatvessel imported a more virulent type. Shortlybefore my arrival, numbers had dieel of the confluentand common forms, and isolated caseswere reported till we left the Island. All classeswere equally prejudiced against vaccination.rfhe lymph sent from A.den and the Mauritiuswas so deteriorated by the journey that it probablynever produced a single vesicle (1857).Until 1859 cholera "vas unknown even byname. Col. Hamerton, however, declared thatin 1835 hundreds were swept off by an epidemic,whose principal symptoms were giddiness, vomitingand purging, the peculiar anxious look,collapse, and death. It did not re-appear forsome years; but in a future chapter I shall no-.tice the frightful ravn,ges which it made on theEast African coast at the time of my return fromthe interior.

196 OHOLERA.Hard water charged with lime and varioussalts, combined. with want of vegetables, rendersconstipation a common ailment at Zanzibar.Amongst the rich it mostly arises from indolence,and from the fact that all are greatly addictedto aphrodisiacs. The favourite is a pill composedof 3 grains of ambergris, and 1 grain ofopium, the latter ingredient in the case of an'Afimi' (opium-eater) must be proportioned tohis wants., Doctors' in my day were unknown at Zanzibar.Formerly, two Indians practised; sincetheir departure the people killed and curedthemselves. Amongst Arabs, and indeed Moslemsgenerally, every educated man has a smat.tering of the healing art. H. H. the late Sayyidwas a 'hakim' of great celebrity. A physicianis valuable on the Island; throughout the Africaninterior he is valueless in a pecuniary sense, asevery patient expects to be kept and fed. Themidwives are usually from Gutch; Arabs, however,rarely consent to professional assistance.The Prince kept in his establishment two sagesfemmes from Maskat.

FAUNA Olf ZANZIBAR.197SECTION 4.Notes on the Fauna of Zanzibar.THE list of Zanzibarian Fauna and Flora isnot extensive. In the plantations the Komba orGalago abounds, and there is a small and prettylong-tailed monke;y (cercopithecus griseo-viridis)with black face, green back, and grey belly:it is playful and easily tamed. This, as well asa large species of bat, is pronounced delicious bycurious gourmands. The French' tigre' andtheEnglish 'panther' (Felis Serval) is a leopardabout 18 inches high, and of disproportionate.length, with a strong large arm; the upper partof the skull vanishes as in the cheeta, and thethroat is s,o thick that no collar will keep itsplace. This felis is destructive in the interior ofthe Island; and in parts of the Continent thepeople fear it more than they do the lion: it istrapped in the normal cage, and is speared withoutmercy. Two kinds of civets (Viverra civetta,and V. genetta). one small, the other bigger

198 FAUNA.than a Persian (Angora) cat, are kept confined,and are scraped once a week for their produce.As in all Arab towns, the common cat abounds;it has a long tail and ears, a wild look, and asavage temper. ~.rhis Asiatic importation isnever thoroughly domesticated in Africa, andseems always aspiring to become a ' cat 0' mountain':on the West coast it is difficult to keepcats in the house after kittening. The felinepreserves its fur in Zanzibar Island: at Mombasahthere is or was a breed more grotesquethan the Manx, and completely bald like theChinese dog. The so-called 'Indian badger'(Arctonyx collaris, Cuv.) digs into the graves anddevours the dead. The rodents are grey squirrels,small rabbits (?), large rats, some of peculiarbut not of unknown species, and mice, probablJimported by the shipping. The' wild boars' arepigs left by the Portuguese: strangers mistakingthe tusks often describe them as 'horned'(chceropotamus). The Saltiana antelope is common:it smells strongly of musk, and its fleshresemhles the rat's.A fine large fish-hawk, with gold-fringed eJeand yellow legs, hluish-black plume, and greyneck-feathers, haunts the Island and the coast:the other raptores are the brown kites (F.

FAUNA. 199chilla), the scavengers of Asia and Africa. Asat Aden, so here, there are no common crows orsparrows; the place of the former is taken by theAfrican species (corvus scapulatus), with whitewaistcQat, popularly called the 'parson crow,'and the latter appears in the shape of the Javavariety, which, introduced about thirty years ago(1857) by Cal)tain Ward, a Salem shil)-captain,has multiplied prodigiously. Green birds, likeAmedavats, muscicap

200 FAUNA.a bird which everywhere preserves its fine gameflavour, is found on the Island and in the centralContinent. Sandpipers (charadrius hiaticula) runon the beach, and the waters support variouskinds of cranes, gulls, and terns.When fewer ships visited the port, the sandspitprojecting from 'Frenchman's Island' wascovered with bay-turtle 1 (chelone esculenta orMidas), which the negroes were too indolent orignorant to catch. The iguanas or harmlesscrocodiles .( ouo~lIa o~ all$ptlYl'W1/ aOI"ouo-l1/) of thePeripIus, have not yet been killed out of Zanzibar-andthere are several species. 2 Untillatelythe true crocodile was found in a small sweetstream about eight miles south of the town, andthe monsters swarm in every river ofthemainland.Snakes are neither numerous nor deadfy:possibly the climate, as in Ireland and Bermuda,is too damp for them. I heard of apython 3 resembling that of Madagascar and1 The XE~l.lf)v'l OpE"'n, or mountain-tortoise of the Periplus(chap. i. 15), may have been a turtle or terrapin. A smallquantity of tortoise-shell is sold on the island by Malagashes(Madagascarians) and Comoro men.2 The iguana abounds on the West Coast of Africa, and inthe Bonny River, where the huge hideous lizard is J u-Ju-obnoxiousto tbe honours of divinity.3 So Dr Roschenberger mentions at Zanzibar a coluberculled boa-constrictor, and peculiar to America.

FAUNA. 201India; it is 13 feet long, and thick as a man'sthigh. Its favourite habitat is in sugar-canepatches near water, and it is occasionally fatal toa dog. There are water-snakes in the harbour,like those once supposed to be peculiar to WesternIndia. The people speak of a green' whipsnake'-vaguestof terms-whose vertebr::e appearthrough the skin, and there are the usuallegends of a venomous tree-serpent which canshoot itself like an arrow. The pagan Mgangaor Medicine-man ties above the snake-wound acircle of wire with two small bits of woodstrung upon it. This, he says, prevents thevenom ascending; and doubtless the ligature isfor half· an hour or so effective. The peoplehave' Fiss' or serpent-stones, which suggest theIrish murrain-stones. Englishmen of undoubtedcharacter have recounted cures effected by thisremedy, which was so mysterious before capillaryattraction robbed it of its marvel.There is a variety of small tiliqme, and oflarge black earth.lizards. One species, withmelancholy chirrup and unpleasant aspect, suppliesthe people with Herodotean tales. It is,they say, a hermaphrodite, and its flanks aretorn by its young during parturition. Thechameleon also suffers from the. popular belief

202 FAUNA.that it kills men with its breath. Scorpions aresmall, and not so common as in the interior:the animal is mashed and applied as a poulticeto its own wound, which may derive some benefitfrom the moisture. Oentipedes haunt housesthat are not cleaned and whitewashed, and millipedesabound in every plantation.The fish supply is variable I as the climate.Sometimes it is excellent; at other times nonebut the poorest will eat it, and there are manyspecies considered always poisonous. 2 It is mostabundant in the S. West monsoon, when smallfry may be caught in the still waters of the harbour.Sharks are large and numerous, especiallynear Ohumbi (La Passe) Island, where all thebest fish is netted; but these tigers of the sea donot injure the bathers on the beach. Tho'ughthe shark is easily hooked in the very harbour,many cargoes of its salted meat are annuallyimported from Oman. The liver-oil is used toanoint the body: and when Eutope requires a1 I have not seen the' Fishes of Zanzibar,' published in1867 by Lieut.-Col. Playfair, H.M.'s Consul, and Dr Giinther(Van Voorst, 1, Paternoster Row).2 The eel-shaped fishes with green bones have the reputationof causing stomach-pains and vomiting. I may observethat the Oriental mind readily connects venom and verdantcolours.

WHALING. 203succadeneum for huile de morue, I shall recom~mend to her this shark-oil as an article of superiornauseousness.The whale fishery reminds us of what it wason the Brazilian coast a century ago. The mammalsare sometimes found in soundings, and awounded sperm-whale lately entered Zanzibarharbour. In May, June, and July, ships of 200to 600 tons visit the waters south of MafiyahIsland; if the capricious leviathan be not foundthere and then, it is waste time to cruise about.In July, and at the beginning of the N. Eastmonsoon, schools migrate up the coast in searchof food as far as the Red Sea. Prom 30 to60 Ibs. of ambergris have been brought in oneyear to the island, and a little of it is exportedto Europe. This high-priced article (1 lb. =£14) is taken from the rectum of the spermacetiwhale: it seems to have caused constipation anddisease, and the oil drawn from these fish isyellow and bad. rrhe Arabs burn it in pastiles,and use it not only internally but externally likemusk. Old travellers report that the Somaltaught camels to hunt for it by the scent, in thesame way as pigs learn to find truffies; and thetale has been told to modern travellers. The mainvirtue of ambergris is probably its heavy price.

204 FISH.The celebrated' Sir' (Seer) fish, a corruptionfrom Shir Mahi Cs~l. -,~), or 'tiger fish,; socalled' on account of its armature, known to theArabs as Kunad (..,\:..5') and in parts of Indiatp,rmed 'Surma,' appears, for about a fortnight,at Zanzibar during its period of migration northwardsin May and June. There are also 'pomfrets,'scates, soles which are small and notprized, and red and grey mullet, excellent inJuly, August, and September. The remora andthe flying-:fish enter the harbour; the hippocampusis known; there are mangrove-oysters,'oysters growing on trees'-a favourite subjectwith all old and with many new African travellers-anda small well-flavoured, rock oyster, afavourite relish with Europeans, caught aboutChumbi Island. I saw no lobsters, so common inthe Camaroons river of Western Africa. Thesands abound in Medusre, or jelly-fish, and in alarge cray-fish, which the Arabs consider wholesomefor invalids: it makes a rather insipidsalad, but it is excellent when dressed after thefashion of the Slave Coast. The receipt isworth giving, and may be found useful inEngland. The meat, taken out after boiling,is pounded and mixed with peppers ancIseasoning. It is then restored to the shell, the

ICHTHYOLOGICAL MARVELS. 205whole is baked in the oven, and, served uppiping hot, it forms an admirable 'whet.' Anotherkind of shell-fish is indeed a 'soft crab; ,when cooked it seems to melt away, no meatremaining within: a third, also soft, is red evenbefore heing boiled. On every unfrequentedstrip of sand or weed small crabs gather in thousands;most of them have only one large claw,and their colours are a brilliant pink, pearlywhite, violet, and tender red.The seas are little explored (1857), and thereare legends of ichthyological marvels which remindus of European romantic zoology. Iwas told by Lieut.-Colonel Hamertonofa fish, possiblyone of the Muramic1re, measuring nine feetlong by three in diameter: the shape was somewhatlike a leech, both extremities being similar;the ribs resembled, but were rather flatter than,those of a bullock, and the flesh had the appearanceof beef. A specimen, he said, had latelybeen brought from Kipombui, a small harbouropposite Zanzibar; the prey, however, is alwayscut up as soon as caught. This reminds us ofthe 'full-sized devil-fish' of the West Indianseas. The Arabs describe a monstrous polypus,with huge eyes and arms 10 .feet long: they declarethat it has entangled bathers and pulled

206 ICHTHYOLOGICAL MARVELS.them down close to shore. It is, in fact, the'piuvre,' so famed of late; and since I left Zanzibara French illustrated newspaper showed oneof these horrors grappling with a man of war'sgig. Thus Oppian described a :fish that smotheredmariners with its monstrous wings, and drewthem under water wrapped in a lethal embrace.Nieuhoff (Brazil, 1640) mentions a 'lamprey' atPernambuco that' snatched all that fell in thisway (both men and dogs that swam sometimesafter the boat) into the water.' Finally, CarstenNiebuhr (Arabia, chap. i. p. 140. 1762) declaresthat 'the cuttle-:fish is dangerous to swimmersand divers, of whom it lays hold with its longclaws; these do not wound, but produce swelling,internal pains, and often an incipient paralysis.'Sponge is found in abundance, but when dryit decays. Fine concllological collections werechiefly made in former years. The merchantsspoiled the market by supplying whole cargos forwatch-dials and for polishing porcelain. Slavesstill fasten their canoes to the several banks inthe roadstead, and find in the transparent watersthe murex and other prized specimens. Theharp-shell and' double-harp' are found upon thesofter sands enveloped in the folds of their owners;t,hus parasites cannot ruin their beautiful and

COWRIES. 207brilliant hues. The' Kheti,' or common cowrie,is picked up when the tide is out in vast quantitiesby the coast people, from Ra'as Hafan to1Ylozambique. Lieut.·Colonel ITamerton wasfortunate enough in .those early days to obtaintwo specimens of the Cyprrna Brocleripii, ororange-cowrie, with a stripe down the dorsum.Exaggerated ideas of its value had been spread,and it was reported that £500 had been offeredfor a sing-Ie shell. The cowrie trade of Zanzibarwas begun by M. E. P. Herz, of Hamburg. Hemade a daring speculation, and supplanted inWestern Africa the Tare and expensive Hinc1ostanshell by the coarse, cheap Cyprffia of thiscoast. During the last century the Portugueseused to export cowries for Angola from the Riodas Caravelhas, in Brazilian Porto Segura. Thesuccess of M. lierz's investment opened a milleof wealth. M. Oswald (senior), afterwards PrussianConsul-general at Hamburg, commenced ashalf-owner of a small vessel which shippedcowries at Zanzibar, and traded with them. forpalm-oil at Appi Vista, Whydah, PortaNova,ancllastly Lagos, on the Slave Coast. As the sackwas bought for $0.50 to $1.44, and solel for $8to $9, the trip cleared $24,000 (£4800), paicl halfin coin, half in ' oil;' and the single vessel soon

208 COWRIES.increased to three. The owner was an excellentship-master, who carefully supplied his employeeswith maps, charts, and sailing directions. Hedied in 1859, leaving a self-insuring fleet of 18sail. In 1863 his sons had raised the numberto 24, and they kept up large establishments atLagos and Zanzibar.The retail cowrie trade was solely in the handsof Moslems; the Banyans would not sanctionthe murder of their possible grandmothers. Onthe Oontinent, as on the Island, the shells aresunned till the fish dies and decays, spreading anoxious fcetor through the villages. The collectionis then stored in holes till exported to Zanzibar.There the European wholesale merchantgarbles, washes, and stows away the shells in bagsfor shipment. They are sold by the' Jizleh,' aweight varying according to the size of the shell:from 3 to 3.50 sacks would be the average. Theprice of the Jizleh presently rose to $7, to $8,and in 1859 it was about $9. Seven vessels werethen annually engaged in carrying cargoes fromZanzibar to Lagos and its vicinity. This rudemoney finds its way to Tinbuktu (Timbuctoo)and throughout Oentral Africa, extending fromthe East to places as yet unvisited by Europeans.Of late years, however, the increased metallic

~MULTITUDE OF PESTS. 209currency has cH,used the cowrie tracle to full oft~and the steady rate of decrease shows thc),t shellmoney is doomed.Here, as in vVestern India, the rains. bringforth a multitude of pests. The rooms whenlighted at night are visited by cockroaches andflying ants; scarabrei and various mantidre ;moths and 'death's heads' of marvellous hideousness.Giant snails (achatime), millepedes, andbeetles crawl over the country, and the fireflyglances through the shade. Mosquitos are saidnot to be troublesome, but in an inner' room Ifound curtains necessary; the house-fly is a tormentto irritable skins. Fleas, ancl the rest ofthe 'piquante population,' are most numerousduring the north-east monsoon. The bug, whichwas held to be an importation, is now thoroughlynaturalized upon the Island; in the interior it isas common as in the cities of Egypt and of Syria,where a broken rafter will discharge a livingshower. I could not, however, hear anything ofthe 'Pasi bug,' which, according to Dr Krapf,causes burnings, chills, and fever. He made itto rival the celebrated Meeanee (Muganaj) bug,the Acarus Persicus, whose exceedingly poisonousbite was supposed to be fatal. In the LakeRegions of Central Africa (1.371) I hcwe con-VOL. I.

210 ANTS.jectured that the word is a corruption for Papazi,a carrapato, or tick. So Dr Krapf writes in theGerman way' Sansibar ' for Zanzibar.The ants in Zanzibar, as in the Brazil, requireespecial study, and almost every kind of tree appearsto have its peculiar tenantry. Upon the clovethere is a huge black pismire whose nip burns likefire; as it has a peculiarly evil savour, taintingeven the unaromatic 'bush,' it is mashed andstuffed up the nostrils as a cure for snake-bites.The Copal is colonized by a semi-transparent ginger-colo1.uedformica, whose every bite drawsblood, and the mango-leaf is doubled up by asmaller variety into the semblance ofa bird's nest.The horrible odour in parts of the bush, whichyoung African travellers attribute to malaria andwhich often leads them to suspect the presence ofcarrion, generally proceeds from ants: I remarkedthis especially vvhen visiting Abeokuta and otherplaces in \iVest Africa. Throughout the interior'drivers,' as they are sensibly termed on theGuinea Coast, visit the huts in armies, and soonclear them of all offal. A small black ant attacksmea~, and the best way to procure a clean skeletonis to expose the body near its haunt; beware,however, of cats and dogs. As in Africa generally,the termite is a plague; this small animal

TSETSE. 211greatly obstructs civilization by the ravageswhich it commits upon books and manuscripts.Few, if any, domestic animals are aboriginesof the Island, and of those iml)orted none thrivesave Bozalnegroes and asses. Cattle brought toZanzibar die after the first fortnight, unless protectedfrom sun, rain, and dew, and feel with dryfodder. The fatality resulting from the use ofgreen meat leads here, as in the Concml and atCape Coast Castle, to t11e impression that thegrass is poisonous. At some places in the mainland,Pangani for instance, cattle will not livethisis certainly the.effect of tsetse. At CapeCoast Castle horses always die; at Accra theysurvive, if not taken away from the sea-boarel:in 1863, during a short march through thecountry, I founel an abundance of the tsetse, or'spear-fly.' The specimens sent by me to Englandwere lost with other collections in the illfated'Cleopatra.' As has lately been shown, thetsaltsal of Bruce is mentioned in Deut. xxviii.42, in Isa. xviii. 5, and in Job xli. 7. The wordis translated fisll-spear, harpoon, locust; but itis not proved that tsaltsal and tsetse are the samefly, and the similarity of the two words may hethe merest coincidence. The Banyans of Zanzibar,who, having no lo.cal deity like their more

212 SHEEP.favoured brethren of Aden and Maskat, keepcattle for religious purposes, never sell theirbeasts, and energetically oppose their beingslaughtered. Bullocks cost from $8 to $16,and are generally to be bought.Sheep are principally the black.faced Somali,with short round knotted tails, which lose fatfrom rich grazing: in their own desert countrythey thrive upon an occasional blade of grassgrowing between the stones. The excessivepurity of the air doubtless favours assimilationand digestion, and as the diet of the desert Arabsproves, life under such ciroumstances can be supportedby a minimum of food. I believe that inearly times the Persians introduced this animalinto Somali and Galla-land. The Wakwafi, whoare rich in black cattle, contemptuously calltheir Galla neighbours 'Esikirieshi,' or 'short.tailed sheep,' from the article forming their onlywealth. The Somali muttons are the cheapest,averaging from $1 to $3. There is also a'Mrima' race, with rufous ginger - coloured,hairy coats, and lank tails like dogs: others,again, have a long, massive ?audal appendagelike Syrian or Cape wethers. These cost $2 to$5, and are considered a superior article. Themost expensive are from the Island of Angazijah,

GOATS. 213or Great Oomaro, and they are often worth from$8 to $9. As a rule, Zanzibar mutton, like thatof the Brazil, is much inferior to beef, and presentsa great contrast with the celebrated' gramfeds' of India.Oaponized goats in these l'egions are larger,fatter, and cent. per cent. dearer than sheep: Ihave heard of $15 to $16 being paid for theOomaro animal. The meat is preferred tomutton: my objection to it is the want of dis.tinct flavour. Yet goats are always offered aspresents in the interior. Some o~ the bucksbrought from the Oontinent have a peculiarlyungoatly appearance, with black points and darkcrosses upon their tan - coloured backs andshoulders, and with long flowing jetty maneslike the breast hair of a Bukhti or Bactriancamel. They must be kept out of the SUll, andfed on vetches as well as grass, otherwise theywill die during the rains from an incurablenasal running.A stunted Pariah dog is found upon theIsland and the Oontinent: here, as invVesternAfrica, it is held, when fattened, to be a dish fitfor a (Negro) king. Some missionaries havetasted puppy stew - perhaps puppy pie - andhave pronounced the flesh to be sweet, glutinous,

214 DOGS.and palatable. The horse is now a recognizedarticle of consumption in Europe; the cat haslong served its turn, as civet de lapin, withoutthe honours of pUblicity; and the day may comewhen ' dog-meat' will appear regularly in themarket. I have often marvelled at the prejudicesand squeamishness of those races who willeat the uncleanesf. things, such as pigs, ducks,and fowls, to which they are accustomed, andyet who feel disgust at the idea of touching thepurest feeders, simply because the food is new.It is indeed time to enlarge the antiquateddietary attributed to the Hebrew lawgiver, andpr::wtically to recognize the fact that, in thetemperates at leallt, almost all flesh is wholesomemeat for man.European dogs at Zanzibar require as muchattention as white babies, but thelle die whilstthose live. They must be guarded from heatand cold, sun and rain, dew and wind. Theirmeals must be light and regular, soup takingthe place of meat. They must be bathed inwarm water, their coats should be carefullydried, they are sent to bed early, and theirsmallest ailments require the promptest treatmentwith sulphur, 'oil,' and other specifics,otherwise they will never live to enjoy the hon-

DOGS. 215ourable status of peres et meres de familles.The great object is' to breed from them as soonas possible, and the Creoles thrive far betterthan even the acclimatized strangers. Arabshave been known to pay $50 for a good foreignwatch-dog, hoping thus to escape the nightlydepreclations of the half-starved slaves. They11re kind masters, great contrasts to the brutallycruel Negro, vvhose approximation to the loweranimals causes him to tyrannize over them. Onthe West Coast of Africa the black chiefs oftenoffer considerable sums for English dogs; butnone save the lowest 'palm-oil rough' wouldcondemn the ' friend of man' to this life of vileAfrican slavery. It is really pathetic to meetone of these unfortunate exiles in· the interior,where a white face is rarely seen: the franticdisplay of joy, and the evic1ent horror at beingleft behind, have more than once made me adog-stealer.At Zanzibar, as upon the Continent, fowlsmay be bought in every village, the rate beingGto 12 for the dollar, which a few years ago procured36. They are lean, for want of properfood; ill flavoured, from pecking fish; and miserablysmall, the result of breeding in-'the eggsare like those of l)igeons. Yet they might be

216 FOVVLS.greatly improved; the central regions of Africashow splendid birds, with huge bodies and theshortest possible legs. This variety is found inthe Brazil; and at Zanzibar the mixture of bloodhas produced a kind of bantam with a largefoot. The black-boned variety of poultry, andtbat with the upright feathers-the 'frizzlyfowl' of the United States-are also bred here.Capons are manufactured by the blacks of Mayotteand Nosi.beh (Great Island). How is itthat the modern English will eat hens, whentheir great grandfathers knew how to combinethe flavour of the male with the tenderness ofthe female bird?Peacocks are brought, as in the days of theOphir trade, from Cutch. Madagascar sendshard, tasteless geese and common ducks, andMozambique supplies turkeys which are hereeaten by Arabs. A local superstition preventspigeon-breeding in the house: the birds arefound wild on the opposite coast, but Moslemswill not use them as food. The Muscovy duck,an- aborigine of the :Platine Valley, has of lateyears been naturalized-it is a favourite withAfricans, who delight in food which gives theirteeth and masticatory apparatus the hardest andthe longest labour. The only gallinaceous bird

FOWLS. 217which Africa has contributed to civilization, theGuinea-hen, here called the 'Abyssinian cock,'is trapped by slaves upon the mainland, and isbrought to the Island for sale. As might be expectedso near their mother-country, there areseven or eight varieties of this valuable fowl,and until late years some of the rarest and themost curious have been unwittingly used for thetable. In every part of the Arab world theGuinea-fowl has a different name: in Syria, forinstance, it is called Dik el Rumi (not Dik elHabash) or Roman (Greek) cock, a term generallygiven to the turkey. It is curious on a coastof estuaries and great river-mouths that theflamingo was not seen by us.

218 FLORA OF ZANZIBAR.SECTION 5.Notes au the Flora of Zanzibar.THE prosperity of Zanzibar, the Island, hashitherto depended upon the cocoa and the clovetree.Th~ former grows in a broad band aroundthe shore: on the Oontinent it follows the streamsas far as 60 miles inland. In Zanzibar theArab saying that 'cocoa and date cannot coexist,'is literally correct; near Mombasahtown, however, there is a fruit-bearing phCBnix,and on the promontory, fronting the fort, thereis a plantation of small stunted trees. Everywhereon the Pangani river we found the, 'brab,' a wild phcenix, as the word derivedfrom the Portuguese 'brabo,' corrupted from'bravo,' or rather in the feminine (palma)'brava,' suggests; and it would appear that thecultivated variety might be induced to thrive.The country was almost denuded of the cocoa tomake room for cloves, when the late Sayyidthreatened confiscation to those who did not

THE COCOA. 219pbnt in proportion of one to three. There arenow (1857) extensive nurseries in the Mash(unM,(plantations), and as this palm bears after six orseven years, it soon recovered its normal status.Many trees are prostrated by gusts and tornados:the Hindus replant them by digging a hole,and hauling up the bole with ropes made fast tothe neighbouring stems-this simple contrivanceis here unknown.The vVasawahili have many different namesfor the nut, viz. Kidlika, too green when it fallsto the ground for any use but fuel; DMll,or Kitlile, when the milk is drinkabl:, thehusk is burned, and the shell is made into aladle (maghraf); the Kor6ma, when the meatis fit to eat, and N{tzi,1 the full-grown nutready fmoil-making. This most useful of plantssupplies, besides 'neat, wine and spirits, syrupand vinegar, cords, mats, strainers, tinder, firewood,houses and palings, boats and sailsbriefly,all the wants of barbarous life. Everypart of it may be pressed into man's service,from the sheath of the first or lowest leaf, usedas a sieve, to the stalk of the young fruit, which,I NazI, in Ki~awahili,is the fruit, Mmizi the tree: in thiscase the initial Jetter is evidently a contraction of Mti, a tree.1'I1e name for the sun-dried meat, 'kobra,' is borrowed fromthe Hindustani' khopra.'

220 THE COCOA.divested of the outer coat, is somewhat like ourchestnut. During the hot N. East monsoon therefrigerating, diuretic milk is a favourite withstrangers, and much feared by natives. A respectableman is derided if seen eating a bit ofripe cocoa-nut, a food for slav.es and savages fromthe far west, but he greedily consumes the blancmange-likepulp of the Dafn, which is supposed,probably from its appearance, to secrete virility.Rasped, the ripe kernel enters into many dishes;the cream squeezed from it is mixed with boiledrice, and the meat, kneaded with wheat-flour andclarified butter, is made, as at Goa, into sconelikecakes. No palm-wine is so delicious asthat of the cocoa-tree, and the vinegar is proportionallygood. The Zerambo, or distillation from'toddy,' is adulterated with lime, sugar, andother ingredients, which render it unpalatableas it is pernicious.Formerly there were many cocoa-nut oil-millsin the town; now (1857) they are transferred tothe plantations where Sesamum (Simsim) is alsocrushed. The' Engenho' is ruder than in theBrazil. A camel, blind-folded to prevent it eatingthe oil-cake or striking work, paces slowly roundthe 'horse-walk,' moving a heavy beam; thisrolls a pestle of 6 inches in diameter in a conical

THE COCOA. 221wooden mortar, flat-rimmed above, and 4 feetdeep, by 3 wide. Form.erly as man;y as70,000 lbs. were exported in a single vessel.Now the people save trouble by selling the driednut, and when oil is wanted for home use theypress and bruise it in water, which is thenboiled; consequently, though the tree again beginsto cover the Island Coast, the oil is threetimEls dearer than at Bombay. It is calcultttedthat 12,000,000 nuts were exported last year(1856) for the soap and candle trades, and a singleFrench house has an establishment capable ofcuring 50,000 per diem. Demand has prodigiouslyraised the price of this article. In 181.2 thethousand cost from $2 to $2.50; in 1857 it was$12.50. Though the coil' of Zanzibar is remarkablyfine and ',vas much admired at Calcutta,little use is made of it: some years ago certainIndian Moslems tried to obtain a contract fromthe local Government, and did not succeed, prepaymentbeing the first thing insisted upon. lThe constitutional indolence of the people,their dislike to settled and regular work, andtheir Semitic unwillingness to venture money,have, despite cheap labour and low ground-rents,prevented the Island from taking to its most aptI shall speak of the clore in a subsequent chapter.

222 SUGAR.propriate industry - sugar-growing. Refinersare agreed that the cane in Zanzibar and Pembais equal to that in any part of Asia. About threeyears ago (1857) the late Sayyid establisneda factory at his estate of Mohayra under aFrenchman, M. Classun, an assistant, and 32supervisors. Compelled to live in the interior,they sickened, and died off, and thus Mauritiuslost another dangerous rival. A superior articlewas also made by the Persians, but they allcaught fever, and either perished or disappeared.The sugar now grown is consumed on the Island,and there is only one steam-mill belongingto the Si1yyid.Cotton is said to thrive upon the Island, butthe irregular rains must often damage the crop.At present a small quantity for domestic use isbrought from the coast, where there ,are plots ofthe shrub growing almost wild. In the drierparts of the Benadir, however, the material forhand-made cloth must be brought from India,mostly from Surat.The virgin soils of Zanzibar, in fact, labourunder only one disadvantage,-the faineantise ofthe people, but that one is all in all, hencecomplaints concerning the expense. In theWest India plantations 1 head was allowed per

COFFEE. 223acre of cane, per 2 acres of cotton, and pel'3 acres of coffee. Here 4 head would hardlydo the work; slave labour is bad, and freelabour is worse.Coffee was once tried in the Island, but theclove soon killed it; now not a parcel is raisedfor sale. The berry, which was large and £.aV0111'­less, was not found to keep well. The OV81'­rich soil produces an undue luxuriance of leafage,and the shrub lacks its necessary wintering.In the Brazil the richest lands are given tocoffee, the next best to sugar, and the worstto cotton and cereals. The Zanzibar coast frOIl1.Mombasah to Mozambique produces small ql,lantitiesof coffee. Here great care is given toit; the berry bas a peculiarly dry and bitter flavour,pleasant wlYm familiar, and IJToducing \yhen. first taken wakefulness and nei'vous excitement.At present the Island imports her supplies from:Malabar and Yemen. '1'he consumption is notgreat; the Arabs, who hold it a necessary of lifeat borne, here find it bilious, and end by changingit for betel-nut. The coast growth sells insmall lots, at various prices, and may become anarticle of export. In the African interior theshrub is indigenous between North81'n Unyamwezi(S. Lat. 1 00' ) and Southern Abyssinia (N.

Z24COFFEE.Lat. 10°); and, as it is found on the Western Coastgrowing wild about the Rivers Nunez and Pongo(N. Lat. 10° 1'), i~ probably extends in a brokenband across the Continent. There appear to bemany varieties of the shrub. In Karagwahthe wild bean is little bigger than a pin's head.Harar exports a peculiarly large species, whichsells as Mocha, and the Mozambique coffee doesnot at all resemble in flavour that of WestAfrica. Dr Livingstone (Missionary Travels,chap. x.) tells us that coffee brought from SouthernArabia to Angola by the Jesuits was spreadprobably by agency of birds to 300 leaguesfrom the coast. It has long been 'monkeys'food,' but it is now worked by the ex-slavers.Indigo here, as well as in most parts of intertropicalMrica, grows wild. The great expenseof establishments, with the time and trouble, theskill and attention required for the manufacture,will leave it in the hands of Nature for manyyears to come.Tobacco might be raised: the plant extendsthoughout Eastern and Central Africa, whereverthe equinoctial rains fall. Usumbara exports toZanzibar stiff, thin, round cakes which have beenpounded in wooden mortars, and neatly packedin plantain leaves. It is dark and well-flavoured:

OILS. 225sailors pronounce it to be very' chavvable.' Hereit sells at two pice,l or id., per cake; at UBumbarait commands about one-fifth of that price,paid in cloth and food.The oil palm (Elrnis Guineensis), whose producehas done so much for the Guinea Coastand the fatal Bight of Biafra, is found, I am told,on the Island of Pemba, and at other places nearZanzibar. About the Lake r:ranganyika it growsin abundance; the fruit, however, is a raceme, likethe date's, not a spike, as in the Bonny river.The 'Mchikichi' is, therefore, a different andprobably an unknown species. Like that of WestAfrica, it supplies wine as well as oil (The LakeRegions 6f Central Africa, vol. ii. p. 59). Thepalm-oil might easily be introcluced into Zanzibar,and would doubtless thrive; but the peoplehave enough to do vvithout it.The Mbono or Palma Christi springs upspontaneously, as in most tropical reg-ions,tlll~oughout Zanzibar Island and on the coast.The Hindus say of a man with more vanitythan merit, 'The castor shrub grows whereother plants ca,n't.' The seed is toasted in ironpots, pounded, and boiled to float the oil. After1 The Hindu anna, which contains four pice, is here reckonedat eight.VOL. I. 15

226 CAOUTCHOUC.aloes it is the pop·ular ca,thartic, and it is Tubbedupon the skin to soften the muscles, with aneffect which I leave to the nasal imagination.Cinnamon and nutmeg trees were planted bythe late Sayyid, and flourished well on somesoils. The latter takes nine years, it is said,before bearing fruit, and gives trouble-twofatal objections in Arabs' eyes. The spice isnow imported from India. When at Kazah ofUnyamwezi I saw specimens brought, it is said,from the Highlands of Karagwah, but the plentifulsupply from the farther East would preventthis trade being here developed. The cacaoshrub·(chocolate), whichthrives so well at Prince'sIsland and Fernando Po in the Biafl'an Bight,has never, I believe, been tried in Zanzibar.The :ThtIpira, or caoutchouc tree, flourishes inthe Island, and on the adjacent Continent. Thepeople of Eastern Madagascar tap it in the coldseason, and have sent large cargoes to America.Mr Macmillan, U. S. Consul, Zanzibar, offered$1000 for good specimens, but the Wasawahiliwould not take the trouble to l1.1.ake a few incisions.I heard of two varieties, a ficus and a lliana;there are probably many more: about theGaboon river the valuable gum is the produceof a vine or climber, with an edible fruit, and

CAOUTCHOUC, ETC. 227the people have learned to extract a coarsearticle, and to adulterate it till it IS hardlytradeable. Here they use the thinner branches,well oiled for suppleness, as 'bakurs'-the policeman'stnillcheon, the cat-o'-nine-tails, the'Ohob,' and the 'Palmatorio' ofE. Africa. Imay here remark that our gourd-shaped articlesresist the climate of Zanzibar, whilst the squaresand the vulcanized preparations become stickyand useless. The London-made blankets ofsmooth and glazed caoutchouc are so valua,blethat no traveller should be without them: thosethat are not polished, however, cannot be calledwaterproof; becoming wet inside, they are unpleasantlycold. For exposure to the sun whiteimpermeables must be preferred to black, and afirst-rate article is required; our cheap bootsand cloaks soon opened, and when exposecl togreat heat they were converted into a viscidmass.r:I.'he tamarind, as in India, is 3, splendid hee,but the fruit, though used for acidulated drinks, isnot prepared for exportation. A smooth-rootedsarsaparilla, of lighter colour than the growth ofthe Brazil and Jamaica, is found wild upon theIsland and the coast. The orchilla, which givesits name to the Insulre Purpurarire, has been

228 FRUITS.tried, and, resembling that of the Somali country,it gives good colour. This lichen chooses theforks of trees in every lagoon. In the Consularreport by Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair on thetrade of Zanzibar for the year 1863, I find­, Orchilla is obtained from the more arid parts ofthe coast to.the north: none grows on theIsland.'The people of Zanzibar are fond of fruits,especially the mango, the orange, the banana,and the pine-apple. All of these, however, exceptthe plantain-the bread-fruit of Africaareseedlings, and engrafting is not practised.Wall-fruit is of course unknown.The mango, originally imported from India,and as yet unplanted in the central regions, is ofmany varieties, which lack, however, distinguishingnames. Two kinds are common-a largegreen fruit like the Alphonse (Affonso) of WesternIndia, and a longer pome, with bright redyellowskin, resembling the Goanese 'Kola.'These, with care, might rival the famous produceof Bombay: even in their half-wild state theflavour of turpentine is hardly perceptible.The fruit is said to be heating, and to causeboils. The Arabs spoil its taste by using steelknives: with the unripe fruit they make, how-

ORANGES. 229ever, excellent jams, and pickles 1 eate~ in brothsof fowl or meat. The pounded kernels are administeredin dysenteries, but the relish or sauce ofwhich the Gaboon people are RO fond is unknownhere and even in India. The fruit is most plentifulduring the N. East monsoon.There are many varieties of the orange, all,however, inferior to the produce of the Azores andthe Brazil, of Malta and the Mozambique. The'native' fruit, supposed to be indigenous, isgreen, not so sweet as the kinds grown by thePortuguese, and the coat must be loosened bytwo days' exposure to the sun or it can hardlybe removed. It seldom ripens before the beginningof July, and it is best in August. ThePersian variety, from about BandaI' Abbas,comes to market in early May; it has growncommon since 1842, and it has excelled itsoriginal stock. The peel is loose and green, andthe meat, when cleared of pips, tastes somewhatlike currants. The small brick-red Mandarin isgood, and resembles the African and BrazilianTangerine. The trees' want care, they run towood, the fruit is often covered with a hard,rough, thick, and almost inseparable rind, and1 The mango pickles of Makdishu are described by IbuBatutab in A.D. 1331.

230 ORANGES.the inside is full of bitter seeds, pithy placenta,and fluffy' skins. The wild oranges upon theIsland and the Continent resemble those whichwe call Seville. As a rule the 'golden apple'abounds from May to October. It is consideredcooling, antibilious, and antiseptic, especiallywhen eaten before other food in the early morning.Thus it was a saying in the Brazil thatthe physician does not enter that house whereorange-peel is strewed about. In West Africathe Rev. Mr Brown 1 of Texas judged the fruitharshly, and predicted the death of a brothermissionary who was too fond of it. Many boxesand bags of oranges are carried as presents fromZanzibar to the northern l)orts (Banadir), Aden,and even Bombay; 'Gulf-Arabs,' who havenot such luxuries at home, will here devour abasket-full at a sitting. The sweet limes ofZanzibar are considered inferior to none by thosewho enjoy the sickly 'mawkish' flavour: theacid limes are cheap, plentiful, and aromatic;they are second only to those grown aboutMaskat, the ne plus ultra of perfume and flavour.1 Mis~ionary of the Southern Baptist Connexion. Hepublished a book of Travels in Western Africa, and a Grammarand Dictionary of the Yaruba language, printed by theSmithsonian Institution (May, 1858).

FRUITS. 231The Pi1mplemouse or Shaddock, the Pummalo ofBombay (Citrus Decumana), has been plantedupon the Island, but the people declare that itwill not ripen: the same is said of the citron,and the Zan'zibarians ignore the Persian art ofpreserving it.Bananas at Zanzibar are of two varieties, redand yellow: they are not remarkable for delicacyof taste. In the highlands of the interior,as Usumbara and Karagwah, the' musa' may becalled the staff of life. The plantain, in Indiatermed' horse-plantain,' is a coarse kind, sometimesa foot long, and full of hard black seeds:Europeans fry it in butter, and the people holdit to be a fine 'strong' fruit. The musa bearsduring all the year in Zanzibar, but it is notcommon in May and June.The pine-apple of the New World growsalmost wild in every hedgerow and bush: cultivationand planting near running water wouldgl'eatly improve it. At present the crown isstuck in the earth, and is left to its fate whereverthe place may be. Strangers are advised toremove the thick outer rind, including all the'eyes,' which, adhering to the coats of thestomach, have caused inflammation, dysentery,and death. The ananas ripens in the cold

232 FRUITS.se~son: when it is found throughout the twelvemonths the people predict that next year it willfail. It is, in fact, a biennial, like the olive inPalestine.The especial fruits of the· poor are the Panasor 'Jack' of India, and an even more fetidvariety, the 'Doriyan,' which certain writerscall the' Aphrodisiac dorion.' Some Europeanshave learned to relish the evil savour, and alldeclare the Jack to be very wholesome. Hindusrefuse to touch it, because it is 'heatingfood:' they say the same, however, of all fruitswith saccharine juices. The nuts are roasted,and eaten with salt, as in India, and the villagersfatten their poultry with 'the rind and therotten.'The bread-fruit, and the curious growth(Ravenala) known as the' Travellers' Tree,' wereintroduced from the ~eychelles Islands: theyoung plants, however, were soon uprooted andstrewed about the fields. Grapes, both whiteand red, look well, but, as in the Tropical Brazil,the hunches never ripen thoroughly; in fact,the same cluster will contain berries of everyage, from the smallest green to the oldest purple.This is a great disadvantage when making wine,and requires to be corrected by syrup. The

GRAPES. 233grape can·hardly be expected to thrive wherethe hot season, as in parts of the New ,Vodd, isalso the rainy season. Like the produce of theGold Ooast, the stones are large and bitter, andthe skin is tart, thick, and leathery. Bacchus,though he conquered India and founded Nysa,seems to disdain the equinoctial regions. Accordingto the French another variety should beintroduced, and perhaps the ground-grape of theOape might succeed better. There are many:varieties of the vine in the Oentral Oontinent,but the people have hardly learned to eat thefruit: at Zanzibar certain Arabs tried it withsugar and rose-water, and suffered in consequencefrom violent colics. We read in 'El Bakui'(A,D. 1403) that some vines bear three cropsper annum.The water-melon, most wholesome of fruitsin warm climates, is found in Zanzibar and in. the Lake Regions of the interior: the best aresaid to grow, about Lamu and Brava. It is apoor flavourless article, white-yellow (not whiteand pink) inside, dry, and wanting the refreshingjuice; it is fit only for boiling, and its edibleseed is the best part. The growth of the papaw'is truly tropical; a single year suffices to hangthe tree with golden fruit, which is eaten raw

234 FRUITS.and boiled. Hindus, as usual, object to its, heat; , the Arabs make from the pips, whichtaste like celery, a sherbet, which is said to havepeculiar effects. 1The 'Khwemwe' tree bears a nut with ahard reticulated skin: this is roasted like thechestnut, and it affords a small quantity of oil.The Sita-phal (Annona squamosa) and its congener,the Jam-phal, or sour-sop (A. reticulata),grow wild over the Island and the Coast; as inthe Brazil, little attention is paid to them; this, custard-apple' is here considered to be a wholesomefruit. The guava is popularly called Zaytun,which means 'olive,' a quasi-sacred fruit, possiblyon the principle that in England manygrowths become palms about Easter-time. Itruns wild around Mombasah, and spreads overmuch ground by a peculiar provision of natu.re : 2the guavas are said not to ripen well; yet onthe West coast they are excellent. The J amli, awell-known Indian tree (Eugenia Jambu), whosesomewhat austere, subacid fruit resembles thedamson or bullace, is everywhere common. In1 The 'hot amourist' pronounces this drink to be ut.v.w.~\p.S .~ The seeds cannot easily be digested. Thus the lowerregions of Fernando Po are a thicket of guava, suggesting theJackal·coffee of the N eilgherries.

FRUITS. 235A.D. 1331 the traveller Ibn Batutah found ElJmnmun C.;)'~\) at Mombasah.The interior of the Island produces the'Fursad,' a small stunted variety of the Persianred mulberry; the' Tut,' or white species, growsin every jungle from the shore of the Mainlandto Fuga, in Usumbara, and suggests the possibilityof rearing silk-worms. The pomegranatehere, as on the Ooast, gives a fruit which is hardlyeatable: during the season Omani ships bring asupply of the very best description from the Jebelel Akhzar (the Green Mountain), near Maskat,and apples from the Persian Gulf. The Badam,locally called Bidam (the Persian almond), ishere barren; the broad polished leaves are usedas platters by the vegetarian Hindus. The ChineseRambotang or Leechee is neglected, and the fruitis poor. The Bei' (jujube) is unusually wellflavoured;according to Moslem custom, theArab dead are washed with an infusion of theleaves. That South American growth theMbibo or Oashew (Caju) tree abounds here andon the continental sea-board: the nuts areroasted, the pulp is eaten, though its astringentquince-like flavour is by no means pleasant, andthe juice is distilled, as at Goa. After pressure,the yield, exposed two or three days for ferment-

236 TREES.ation, produces the celebrated 'Oamm' (Oaju-ig)of the Brazilian Tupy-Guarani race, a wine hereunknown. The still yields at first a watery spirit,which by cohobation becomes as fiery and dan:...gerous as new rum. The lower orders like it ;the effects, they say, last out the week.The principal wild trees are the following.The fan palm, a native of the Island and the Oontinent,supplies the chief African industry-matmaking.The' Toddy palm' is found everywhere;the fruit is eaten, but no one cares todraw off the beverage. The Dam, or Theban palm(Hyphene Thebaica), is a rare variety, and thewood is used chiefly for ladder rungs. GiganticRaphias, called by the Arabs Nakhl el Shaytan,'the Devil's palm,' throw over the streams fronds30 and 40 feet long: these, cut, stripped, anclbound into rafts, are floated down and exportedfrom the Mainland to the Island; the material issoft and good for hut-making. The gl'acefulAreca palm flourishes everywhere, especinJlyupon the banks of the Pangani river: at themouth of this stream a saw-mill might be set upfor a few dollars, and I have no doubt that itwould yield large profits, and extend its businessas far as the Red Sea.The Bombax, or silk-cotton tree (Erioden-

TREES. 237drum anfractuosum), the Arab Dib{tj and theKisawahili Msufi, common in East as inWest Africa, affords a fibre usually consideredtoo short and brittle for weaving, but I haveseen Surat cotton very nearly as bad. The contentsof the pericarp have been used for pillowstuffings: the only result (dicunt) was a remarkableplague of pediculi. The Kewra, or frankincensetree of India, abounds. The red beans ofthe Abrus Precatorius are used by the poor andby the wild people as ornaments; even the mixedLuso-African race of Annobom will wear hugestrings of this fruit, our original' carat.' The softwoodedBaobab, Mbuyu or calabash tree (Adansoniacligitata), grows rapidly to a large size uponthe Island as upon the Eastern and \tVesterncoasts. It is a tree of many uses. The trunk,often girthing 40 feet, forms the water-tank, thetrough, the fisherman's Monox;yle; the fibrousbark is converted into cloth, whose tough networkis valued by the natives; the fruit pUlp iseaten, and the dried shells serve as Buyu, orgourds. I have repeatedly alluded to this tree inthe Lake Regions of Central Africa, and I shalloffer other notices ofit inthe following pages. Oflate the Mbuyu or Baobab has brought itself intonotice as affording a material more valuable for

238 TREES.paper than straw, esparto or wood pulp, and itssuperiority to other African basts, has been acknowledgedin England. 1 The Mpingo (DalbergiaMelanoxylum) gives a purple timber, not a littlelike rosewood. The' African oak,' a species ofteak, is reported to exist; but this tree doesnot extend far north of Mozambique. The 'P'hun'is a stately growth, whose noble shaft, often 80feet high, springs without knot or branch, tillits head expands into a mighty parachute. Itis more ornamental than useflll,-the wood is soft,full of sap, like our summer timher, andsuhjeetto white ants. In these hot, wet, and windytropical regions some trees, especially thosewithout gum or resinous sap, grow too fast, andare liable to rot, whilst others take manyyears to mature, and are almost unmanageablyhard and heavy. Hence we have had timbercuttingestablishments set up by our Governmentat a large expense in the Brazil and inWest Africa, but the produce never paid thevoyage to England.1 According to my friend Mr P. L. Simmonds (The Journalof Applied Science) this bastfetches readily £14 to £15 per ton,and' although the paper makers will buy any quantity broughtto market, it is to be regretted·that they will offer no combinedassistance to facilitate the obtaining larger supplies of this importantproduct.'

WOODS. 239The woods known to commerce are tl18, Liw{t,' a white-veined, faintly-perfumed, bastardsandal from Madagascar: it is used for thesacred :fire by the poorer Parsees. Granadiilewood is exported from the Mainland to Europe,where it is worked for the bearings of mills andfor the mouth-pieces and flanges of instruments.The Arabs call it 'Ablllls,' and the Sawahili'Mpingo,' both signifying ebony, which it resemblesin appearance, though not in qualities.Less brittle than ebony, and harder than lignumvitte, it spoils the saw; and being very heavy, itrefuses to absorb grease or ""vater. It makesgood ram-rods, and the Usumbara people havecut it into pipe-bowls long before our briar-rootwas dreamed of.The sweet-smelling 'Kalambak' (Vulg. Columbo),once common upon the Island, is nowbrought from Madagascar. There are two kinds,-one poor and yellow, like our box, the otherhard, heavy, and dark red. Its fine grain t::tkesthe high polish of mahogany, and it would makegood desks and work-boxes. Oomaro men andIndian carpenters turn out rude furniture ofthis wood, which is wilfully wasted: in fellingand shaping it the plantation-slaves, who ignorethe saw, chip away at least half. The smoke is

240 PLANKS.said to keep off mosquitos. The mango, thejack, the copal tree, and many others, give finehard woods for cabinet work.Planks and scantling, cross-beams and doorpanels,are made of two fine trees, the' MtimbaH'and the' MvUle.' 1 The negro carpentersalways sacrifice, I have said, a tree to make aplank, and the latter is so heavy that for all lighterections, such as upper rooms, boards must beimported from Europe. The Mtimbati is themore venous; rungs of ladders, well kept andpainted, will last 15 years. The enduring Myule,a close-grained yellow wood, is rare upon theIsland, but common in the Ooast jungles. As isthe case with the Kalambak, there is no tariff forthese trees: what to-day is sold at a bazar auctionfor $I may in a week fetch $8. A goodpractical account of the medicinal plants andtimbers of Madagascar and Mozambique, Zanzibarand the Seychelles, will be found in appendicesA. B. vol. ii. of ]\tIl' Lyons McLeod's' Travels inEastern Africa, with a Narrative of a Residencein Mozambique.' Oaptain Guillain may also beconsulted, vol. i. p. 23-25.The Bordi or Zanzibar rafters are felled by1 The Inzimbati (a leguminosa) and Invouli of Capt. Guillain.

},£ANGROVES. 241slaves on the Mainland, and are brought over byArabs and other vessels. The material is theuseful mangrove, of which we here find thenormal two species; the Arabs call both 'Gururn,'and prefer the Makanda, or red kind. AtZanzibar the posts ""vhich become worm-eaten,and are reduced to powder by white ants, mustbe changed every five years. In arid Maskatthey will last out the cent,ury, and they findtheir way to Aden, to J eddah, and even toMeccah. The usual price in the Island is $2 to$3 per' Korjah,' or score.The Mti wa Muytu (wild wood), or whitemangrove, is found growing not in brackish water,and upon the mud, like the reel variety, butchiefly upon the higher sandy levels, The woodis small, it shrinks when dried, it splits easily,and snaps; it is -worm-eaten at once, and itsporous nature causes it easily to absorb water.In Zanzibar it is used for fuel in lime-burning,mid it makes a hot and lasting fire; the peoplealso turn it into caulking mallets, which do notcrack or spread out. The usual price (1857) ishalf a German crown per Korjah.Vegetables are little prized at Zanzibar: thelist is rather of what might be than of whatexists. A local difficulty is the half-starvedVOL. 1. 16

242 VEGETABLES.slave who plunders every garden; nothing lessthan a guard of Baloch would preserve edibleproperty from his necessities and from his trulyAfrican wantonness of destruction.Almost all European vegetables will grow inthe Island; they require, however, shade, andthey should be planted, as at Bourbon and thoMauritius, between rows of cool bananas. Thebest soil is the dark vegetable mould near thestreams. Here lettuces, beet-root, carrots, potatoes,and yams would flourish-cabbages andcauliflowers have never, I believe, been tried.The 'Jezar,' an excellent sweet potato fromCornaro and Madagascar, has been neglectedalmost to extinction. Thirty barrels of manysorted beans were sent from the Cape and grewwell: they are good and abundant in the Africaninterior, but the Island has allowed them to dieout. The' egg-plant' is remarkably fine, and thewild species thrives everywhere on the sea-boardbetween Somali land and Zanzibar. The Continentsends sundry kinds of pumpkins and gourds.Cucumbers ofmany varieties grow almost withoutsowing,-the people declare that they becomebitter if touched by the hand whilst being peeled.The Arabs make from the seed an oil of mostdelicate flavour, far superior for salads than the

THE CEREALS. 24,3best Lucchese olive. In London I have vainlyasked for' cucumber-oil:' the vegetable is probablytoo expensive, and the seeds are too smallto be thus used at home. About Lagos on theSlave Ooast, however, there is a cucumber nearlya foot long, with large pips, which might be sentnorthwards, and I commend the experiment tothe civilized lover of oil. All kinds of 'Ohilis,'from the small wild' bird-pepper' to the largevariety of which the Spa,niarc1s are so fond, thrivein Zanzibar, which appears to be their home.There are extensive plantations of betel-pepperOli the Eastern coast of the Island.Wheat, barley, and oats here rUll to straw.Rice is the favourite cereal. The humid low-landsare cleared of weeds by burning, and the seeel issown when the first showers fall. To judge fromthe bazar-price, the home-grown article is of asuperior quality; but nowhere in East Africa didI find the grain so nutritious as that of theWestern Ooast. The hardest working of allAfrican tribes, the Kru-men, live almost entirelyupon red rice and palm-oil. The clove mania hascaused the cereal to be neglected; formerly an export,it is now imported, and, in 1860 it cost theIsland £38,000. J owari (Holcus Sorghum), herecaJleel by the Arabs Ta'am (food), and by the vVas-

244 CEREALS.awahili Mtama,-an evident corruption,-is sownin January and February, and ripens 6 monthsaftenmrds. The wheat of the poorer Arabs, andthe oats of horses, it grows 18 feet high, butthe islanders have little leisure, except in thepoorest parts, to cultivate. Banyans, Arabs, andWasawahili buy it in the Brava country, thegranary of Southern Arabia, on the sea-boardfrom Tanga to Mangao, and in some districts ofthe near interior; they retail it in Zanzibar atlarge profits. Sesamum (the Hindustani Til orGingil, the Arabic Simsim), the commonest of theoleaginous grains, of late demanded by theFrench market, where the oil becomes huiled' olives, is also brought from the Mainland,especially from the northern ports, Lamu and itsneighbours, the Balllldir or Haven-land. In1859 the Island of Zanzibar exported 8,388,360lhs, = £20,000. Besides this, the coast portsshipped several cargos direct:. formerly, EastAfrica used to supply the Red Sea with thisarticle.Maize (Muhindi) is a favourite article ofconsumption, and a little is grown on the Island.Bajrf (M{\,wele, Panicum spicatum, Roxb.), thesmall millet, a thin grain, inferior to that ofCutch and Western India, is little cultivated.

CEREALS. 245The gram 1 of Hindustan (in Arabic, Hummus;in Persian, Nukhud; and in Kisawahili, Dengu,Oicer Arietinum) is of several varieties, whiteand red. The Llibiya pulse is also of manysizes and colours; the black flourishes everywhere,the red is common, and the white, whichthe Portuguese of Goa import from the Mozambiqueregions, is rare: The best and largestcomes from Pemba Island; it IS also grown onthe Oontinent. The leguminous 'l1'hur (theArabic Turiyan, and the Kisawahili Buridi,Oajanus Indicus) is almost wild: the Banyansmix it with rice, and make with it the wellknown'Dall' and 'Kichri.' The small greenpea, known in India as Mung (the PersianMash, and the Kisawahili Ohiroko, or Toka,Phaseohis Mungo, Roxb.), is boiled and eatenwith clarified butter (Ghi) like T'hur. Thepeople also use the little black grain resemblingpoppy-seed, known in India as Urat; in Outch,Papri; and here, P'hiwi (Phaseolus radiatus).·The Muhogo, in the plural' Mihogo,' or WhiteOassava (Manihot Aypim), resembles in appearancethe sweet Manioc of the Brazil (Aypim orMacaxeira). The knotted stem, about six feet1 Palpably corruption of the Portuguese Grao-graingenerally.

246 MANIOC.long, IS crowned with broad digitated leaves;the conical root, however, has a distinct longitudinalfibre the size of small whipcord, whichis not found in the 'black, or poisonous,Manioc' (Jatropha Manihot, or Manihot utilissima).The people have not attempted tomasticate it into a means of intoxication, theCaysuma of the ~razilian Tupy.l '1 1 he Muhogogrows everywhere in Zanzibar Island.: it isplanted in cuttings during the rains, and itripens six or eight months afterwards. In theConsular reports for iS60 we are told that 'theManioc or Cassava, which forms the chief foodof the slaves and poorer classes, yields four cropsa year.' This is not probable: the longer allJatropha is kept in the ground, within certainlimits, the larger and better is the root. Maniocis carried as an acceptable present by travellers" going into the interior.At Zanzibar the traveller should train hisstomach to this food, and take care not to call it'Manioc.' When raw it resembles a poor chest.nut, but in this state none save a servile stomachcan eat it without injury. Europeans compare1 I have read in some book that the 'Pywaree' of Guianais made from the masticated and fermented juice of the cassava­'flower '-probably for-' flour.'

Jl1ANIOC. 247it with parsnips and wet potatoes: the Hindusdeclare it to be heavy as lead, and so ' cold' thatit always generates rheumatism. The \;Vasawahilihave some fifty different ways of preparingit. Boiled, and served up with a sauce ofground-nut cream, it is palatable: in everybttzar sun-dried lengths, split by the women,and looking like pipe-clay and flour, are tobe bought; a paste, kneaded ,vith eold water,is cooked to scones over the fire: others wrapthe raw root in a plantain-leaf ancl bakeit, like greeshen, in the hot asbes. The poorerclasses pound, boil, stir, and swallow the thickgruel till their stomachs stand out in bolcl relief.Full of gluten, this food is by no meansnutritious; and after a short tirne it producesthat inol'dinate craving for meat, even the meatof white ants, which has a name in most Africanlanguages.The Bhang (Cannabis Sativa), which growsplentifully, though not wild, in the interior ofthe Continent, is mostly brought to Zanzibarfrom India. In Mozambique the Portuguesecall it Bange or Canhamo de Portugal (Portugalhemp), and in the Brazil it is also known asBange, evidently the Hindustani' Bhang.' Thenegroes smoke it for intoxication, but ignore the

248 ARROW-ROOT, ETC.other luxurious preparations familiar to Hindustan,Egypt, and Turkey.Wanga or arrow-root, globular like a varietyfound in the Ooncan, is much less nutritious thanthe long kind. Here the best is brought fromMombasah, and after the rains the southerncoast could supply large quantities. The peoplelevigate the root, wash, and sun-dryit: the whitepowder is then kneaded with Tembu (palm-wine)into small balls, which are boiled in the sameliquid. It is 'cold' and astringent: the Arabsuse it as a remedy for dysentery, and the Hindusdeclare that it produces nothing but costiveness.Ginger thrives in the similar formation ofPemba, and yet it will not, I am assured, growat Zanzibar, where it is imported from WesternIndia, the tea being in tbis climate a goodstomachic. The Oalumba or Oolombo root islargely exported to adulterate beers and bitters." Ourious to say, the ground-nut, which extendsfrom Unyamwezi to the Gambia, is mre at Zanzibar.The corallines of the coast are of coursedestitute of metals. A story is told of an ingeniousFrenchman who, wi~hing to becomeDirector of Mines in the service of H. R. theSayyid, melted do-w-n a few dollars, and ran a

GOLD. 249vein of silver, most unfortunately, into a mass ofmadrepore: the curious' gangue' was shownto Lieutenant-Oolonel Hamerton, and thus the'cute experiment failed. The African interiorbeyond the mountains is rich in copper andiron. I have described the copper of theTaganyika Lake Region: it is said to be collectedin small nuggets from torrent-beds, andthe bars have evidently been cast in sand. Theiron of the Umasai country makes the finest steel.Gold has undoubtedly been brought from themountains of Ohaga; and the eastern plateaupromises to rival in auriferous wealth the GoldOoast. The great fields north of and near theZambeze, and N . West of Natal, beyond theTransvaal Republic, discovered in 1866-7 by theGerman explorer, M. Mauch, a country consistingof metamorphic rocks and auriferous quartz,will probably be found extending high up in. East Africa throughout the rocks lying inlandof the maritime and sub-maritime corallines.It is also likely that the vast coal-beds, explored. by the Portuguese, and visited by DrLivingstone, in the vicinity of Tete on the Zambeze,and afterwards prolonged by him to theRufuma river, a formation quite unknown toour popUlar works, will be extended to the Zau-

250 COAL.zibar coast. The valleys of rivers falling intothe Indian Ocean should be carefully examined.The similarity of climate and geographical positionwhich the province of Sao Paulo, and indeedthe maritime regions of the Brazil generally,present with Eastern Africa, first drew myattention to its vast and various carboniferousdeposits, and they are found to correspond withthose of the Dark Oontinent. Messrs Rebmannand Pollock visited a spot near the ' Water ofDoruma,' in the Rabai Range, near Mombasah,where antimony 1 is dug. They found no excavations,but the people told them to return afterthe rains, when the ground would be soft. Theholes, they say, were rarely deeper than a footand a half. Oaptain Guillain (iii. 277) was toldthat near the village 'M'tcIDokara' 'i1 existe,presque a fleur de terre, des amas d'une substancemetallifere, qui semblerait etre un antimoniured'argent, autant qu'il a ete petmis d'enjuger par les echantillons donnes a nos voyageurs.'The valuable corals are not found at Zanzibar,hut the l'leople sell a thin and white-stem-1 I heard also of antimony on the :Brazilian coast, oppositethe Island of S. Sebastiao, in the Province of S. Paulo,but I have not seen any specimens of it.

CORALLINE. 251mea madrepore, with brocoli-shaped heaels of theliveliest reel (Tubipora:M:usica?). Gypsumaboundsat Pemba and other places. Ships bring fromMaskat a fine hydraulic mortar called Saraj, theresult of burning shells in small kilns (Tandlirfor Tannlir). The material is then stored in bags,pounded, and made into paste when required:it sets to stony consistency like the Pozzolanaused by the Romans for under-"'water buildings.I presume that they mix with this calca.ire acertain proportion of sand. The natives do notuse shell-lime when che'wing betel-nut and leaf:they spoil their teeth with the common stuff.The disadvantage of coralline as building'material is that it retains for a long time its'quarry-water.' The Arabs dry it involuntarily,and humour their indolence by expending adozen years in constructing a honse-the home,as at Damascus, being rarely finished during theowner's life. The remedy is to expel tIle saltsof lime and the animal gelatine by baking thestone, as is practised in the South Sea Islands.Kilns would make good lime at Zanzibar: allthe island and coast the people now burn thegypsum and polypidoms in heaps piled upon acircle of billets, and the smoke, which fills halfthe town, is considered wholesome. Instead of

252 'INDUSTRY.'being kept unslaked in sacks, it is wetted withsea-water, which prevents it drying, and it isthen heaped up in the moist open air. Moreover,it is mixed with sea-sand, which is washedin fresh water, but· its salt 'sweats out' formany a long year. Thus the best houses areliable to cuticular eruptions during the wetseason: the mortar cracks, and is patched witha leprosy of blue, yellow, and green mould.The flat roofs are protected from the rain vviththick coatings of this material, pounded to th0desired consistency by rows of slave-women andboys, armed with long flat tamps and rude mallets.During the last 15 years the price of limeat Zanzibar has increased five~fold, $11 beingnow (1857) paid for a small heap; and, as usual,when Europeans are the purchasers, it rises 50per cent.SEOTION 6.The Industry of Zanzibar.THE industry of Zanzibar is closely akin tonil; the same may be said of tIle coast-both

, INDUSTRY.' 253are essentially exportihg, and cannot becomemanufacturing centres, at least as long as thepresent race endures.The principal supply is of matting and bagsfor merchandise: the labourers are mostlywomen, who thus spend the time not occupiedin domestic toil. The best mats are those sentby Madagascar: the 'native' Simim (in Kisawahilitermed Mkeka), an article upon whichnone but Diwans may sit, is neatly made ofrush and palm-fronds from the river-side andfrom the low grounds of the coast; it is dyed inred patterns with madder, and the root of theMudaa-tree boiled in water gives it a dark purplevariegation. The housewives also make a rudefan, imitating that of Maskat. Materials forcommon mats and grain-bags are founel instrips of palmatecl and f~\'n-shaped leaves, cut inthe jungles of the mainland, sun-dried, carefullyscraped with knives, and plaited by men,women, and children. The lVlaskat traders buy'these lengths, and sew them together with Khus,or thread made from the cocoa-leaf. The largeJa,mbi (mat), varying from 8 to 10 cubits long,costs about a quarter of a dollar: this is employedin bagging (in Arabic, Kafa'at, and inKisawahili, Makanda) to defend from rain the

254 ,INDUSTRY.'cottons, beads, aJ?-d other articles which are carriedby traders into the far interior.Cloth is fringed by Wasawahili and slaves.Many tribes, those of Ohaga for instance, willnot take a 'Tobe' without its 'Taraz{t,' andgenerally when a piece of stuff is given to awild man, he sits down and first unravels theedge. The selvage also constitutes a highlyprizedornament.Bill-hooks (munda), coarse sword-blades(upanga), and knives (kesu); hatchets (skoka),and hoes (jembe)-the latter two diminutive,and more like playthings than working-toolsaremade of imported iron, and form a staple oftrade with the mainland. The European spadeand the American broad axe still await introduction.Those who would explore E. Africa shouldsupply themselves vyith a large stock of suchhardware, and be careful not to waste them-tosavages and semi-barbarians they are everywheremore precious than gold.Split bamboo forms the brooms, and the hardmaterial tears the plaster from the walls. Acoarse pottery, which the saltness of the clayrenders peculiarly brittle, is fabricated by theWasawahili at Ohangani Point, and supplants

, INDUSTRY.' 255the original lagenarias. Some Kumars, orHindustani potters, came to Zanzibar a fewyears ago; they suffered so seyerely from feyerthat, fancying themselves bewitched, all ranaway.

CHAPTER VI.VISIT TO THE PRINCE SAYYID MAJID.-THE GO­VERNMENTOF ZANZI:BAR.'Zanzibar is an islarid of Africa, on the coast of Zanzibar,governed by a king who is a tributary t~ the Portuguese.'REECE'S CYCLOP.iEDIA..WE now proceed to wait upon H. H. the, Sayyid of Zanzibar and the Sawahil,' who wouldbe somewhat surprised to hear that he is 'tributaryto the Portuguese.'The palace lies east of, and close to, the fort.It is fronted by a wharf, and defended by a stuccoedplatform mounting eight or nine brassguns en barbette, intended more for show thanuse. The building is a kind of double-storied,white-washed barrack, about 140 feet long,roofed with dingy green-red tiles, and piercedwith a few windows jealously raised high fromthe ground; shutters painted tender-green temper

THE PALACE. 257the sun-glare, and a few stunted, wind-wrungtrees beautify the base. Seaward there is a verandah,in which levees are held, and behind itare stables ancl sundry outhouses, an oratoryand a graveyard, where runaway slaves, chainedtogether by the neck, lie in the shade. In thisoratory, as in other mosques, are pe1~formed theprayers of the two Great Festivals which, duringthe late prince's life, were recited at the Mto-ni'Oascine.' Here, too, is the large, gable-el1.cledhouse commenced in his elder age by the enterprisingSayyid Said, and built, it is said, after themodel of the Dutch factory at Bander Abbas. Itwas intended for levees, and for a hall of pleasure.Unhappily, a large chandelier droppedfrom the ceiling, seventy masons were crushedby a falling wall ; and other inauspicious omensmade men predict that the prince would neverenter the ' Akhir el Zaman' (End of Time). Ithas since been shut up, like one of our ghost.haunted houses, which it not a little resembles.In the centre of the square, opposite thepalace, stands the Sayyid's flag-staff, where the'Blihu" is administered, where executions takeplace, and where, according to an American traveller/distinguished criminals are fastened to a1 Recollections of Majunga, Zanzibar, Muscat, Aden,VOL. I. 17

258 , CRAMS.'pole, and are tied from the ankles to the throat,'till the soul of the dying man is literallysqueezed out of its earthly tenement.' Theauthor, who visited Zanzibar in 'the mercanteel,'was grievously hoaxed by some kind friend.Under Sayyid Said torture was unknown, deathwas inflicted according to Koranic law, and. onlyone mutilation is recorded. I may remark, enpassant, that in this part of the world the twomaster romancers, Ignorance and Interest, havebeen busily at work; and that many a slanderrests upon the slenderest foundation of fact.Adventurers have circulated the most ridiculoustales. We hear, or rather we have heard, of300,000 Arab cavalry, and hordes of steel-cladnegroes, possibly a tradition of the ' Zeng' (Zanzibarians),who, in the days of the Oaliphs, plunderedBasrah. We read of brilliant troops ofhorse artillery, whose only existence was in thebrain of some unprincipled speculator; and yetthis report sent a battery from Woolwich as apresent for the late Sayyid. To the same categorybelong the Amazons bestriding war-bullocks, doubtless a revival of EI Masudi, who inour tenth century reported that the 'King ofZeng' commanded, Dahoman-like, an army ofMokha, Aden, and other Eastern Ports. Salem; GeorgeCreamer, 1854.

Durbars, or levees, are held three times aday, after dawn-prayers, in the afternoon, and atnight. The ceremonial is simple. The lieges,passing the two Sepoys on guard at the gate,enter with the usual Moslem salutation, andafter kissing hands take their appointed places.There is no lord of the basin, lorel of the towel, orlord of the pelisse, deemed indispensable by everypetty Persian governor. The ruler is addressed,Ya Sidi, my lord, and is spoken of by his sub-as Sayyidna, our prince. Coffee is served,but only at night; and all forms of intoxicantsare jealously banished. The long, bare reception-hall,ceilinged with heavy polished beams,and paved with alternate slabs of white and blackmarble brought from Marseille, boasts only afew dingy chandeliers, and three rows of commonwooden-bottomed chairs. It is, however, un-o jectsVISIT TO THE PALACE. 259soldieresses, mounted, as are the Kafirs, upon oxen-the Portuguese' boi-cavallos.' Some travellershave asserted that the Cape tribes learned cattleridingfrom Europeans: but Camoens, makinghis hero land at the Aguada de S. Braz, aftersailing from the Angra de Santa Elena, expresslystates-, Embrown'd the women by the burning clime,On slow-paced oxen riding came along.'-Canto V. 63.

260 ViSIT TO THE PALACE.encumbered with the usual mean knicknacks,French clocks and bureaux, cheap prints, gaudychina, and pots of neglected artificial flowers,supposed to adorn the window-sills; nor, afterthe fashion of Zanzibarian grandees, are thesides lined with seamen's chests, stuffet 1 . full ofarms, watches, trinkets, cashmere shawls, medicines,and other such 'chow chow.'The Prince received us at the Sadr, or top ofthe room, with the usual courtesy. He was thena young man, whose pleasing features and verylight complexion generally resembled those ofhis father. This is said to have been the casewith the whole family. We found the 'divan'of Egypt and Turkey unaccountably absent,banished by the comfortless black-wood' Kursi 'of Bombay. After a few minutes' conversationtwo chairs were placed before us, bearing a trayof sweetmeats, biscuits, and glasses of sherbet;of these we ate and drank a mouthful in acceptanceof hospitality, and we were duly pressed toeat. Lemonade and confitures take the place ofstrong waters amongst Europeans, and of thecocoa-nut milk, the mangoes, and the oranges ofhumbler establishments. Pipes, however, thoughoffered by the late Sayyid to distinguished Europeanguests, are never introduced, in deference

SLA VE THIEVES. 261to Wahhabi prejudice; nor did we suffer fromthe rose-water ablutions of which M. Guillaincomplains. Feminine eyes did not peep at usfrom the inner apartments; but we were frontedby well-dressed slaves who, as we pass throughthe crowded outer hall, will steal, if they can,the gilt tassels from OUI' sword-knots, and whohave picked the pockets of guests, even whendining with their Prince. H. H. the SayyidMajid took considerable interest in our projectedjourney, and suggested that a field-piece mightbe useful to frighten the Washenzi (wild men).We left the palace much pleased with the kin_dnessand cordiality of its owner, into whose ear,moreover, evil tongues had whispered the veryworst reports.The Government of Zanzibar is a royal magistracy,the only form of rule to which the primitiveand undisciplinable EasternArab will submit.Whenever a new measure is brought forwardby the Sayyid it is invariably opposed by thechiefs of clans, who assemble and address himmore like an equal than a superior. One of theprinces of Maskat corrected this turbulent feudalityafter the fashion of Mohammed Ali Pashaand his Mamhik Beys; even now a few summaryexamples might be made to good purpose. In

262 THE 'MINISTERS.'the days of the late Sayyid's highest fortunes themost tattered of Suris would address him, '0Said!' and proceed to sit unbidden in his presence.Similarly, Ibn Batutah, when describingthe Sultan of Oman, Abu Mohammed bin Nebhan,tells us, 'he has the habit of sitting, whenhe would give audience, in a place outside hispalace; he has neither chamberlain nor wazir,and every man, stranger or subject, is free to approachhim.' Sometimes a noble, "When orderedinto arrest at Zanzibar, has collected his friends,armed his slaves, and fortified his house. OneSalim bin Abdallah, who had a gang of 2000 musketeernegroes, used to wage a petty war withthe Sayyid's servile hosts. It is, perhaps, theresult of climate that these disturbances havenever developed into revolutions.The 'ministers' spoken of by strangers arethe Nakhodas of the fleet: by virtue of a fewFrench or English sentences, they are summonedwhen business is to be transacted wlth Europeanswho are not linguists. The late Sayyid'sonly secretary and chief interpreter was Ahmadbin Aman of Basrah (Bussorah), a half-cast Arab,popularly called by the lieges 'Wajhayn' or'two faces.' According to some he was aSabi or Sabman, commonly known as a Ohristian

JUSTICE. 263of Saint John; and men declare that he beganlife as a cabin-boy and rose by his~unusual astuteness.When any question of unusual gravityoccurs the Sayyid summons the Ulema, theShaykhs, and especially the two Kazis, ShaykhMuhiyy el Din, a Lamu doctor of the Sunnischool, and Shaykh Mohammed, an Abazi. Causestried by ecclesiastics generally depend upon theextent of bribery; but there is always an appealto the Prince, or in his absence to the Governor.The Kazis punish by imprisonment more or lesssevere. The stocks are set up in every plantation;the fetters are heavy, and there is, ifwanted, a ponderous iron ring with long spikes,significantly termed in Persian the 'Tauk iTa'at,' collar of obedience. Instant justice is theorder of the day, and the crooked stick (baklu)plays a goodly and necessary part; how necessarywe see in the present state of Syria, whencethe 'Tanzimat' constitution has banished theonly penalty that ruffians fear. From ten tofifty blows are usually inflicted: in the Gulf,when the bastinado is to be administered withthe Nihayet el Azab (extreme rigour), half-adozenmen work upon the culprit's back, belly,and sides, and a hundred strokes suffice to killhim. Severe examples are sometimes necessary,

264 PRISONS.though chastisement is on the whole wild andunfrequent. Zanzibar town is subject to fires,originating with the slaves, often in drunkenness,more often for plunder; and this induced thelate Sayyid to forbid the building of cajan'tabernacles' (Makuti or Banda-ni) upon thehouse-tops. His orders were obeyed for fourmonths, an unusually long time; and at lastEuropeans, in consequence of the danger whichthreatened them, were compelled personally tointerfere with the severest preventive treatment.The Prince alone has the power of pronouncinga capital sentence; and, as usual in Moslemcountries, where murder is a private, not a public,offence, the criminal is despatched by therelatives of the slain. Death may be inflictedby the master of· the house upon a violator ofdomicile, gallant, or thief; the sword is drawn,and the intruder is at once cut down. Finesand confiscations, which have taken the placeof the Koranic mutilation, are somewhat common,especially when impudent frauds are practisedupon the Prince's property. Oonfinementin the fort, I have said, is severe, but not somuch feared as at Maskat, whose rock dungeonis an Aceldama; I saw something of the kind atFernando Po. Oriminals have a wholesome

THE ARMY. 265horror of being the ruler's guest, yet they sometimesescape by the silver key, and, once uponthe mainland, they may laugh at justice. Iheard of a Banyan who, despite being doubleironed,managed to 'make tracks.'The military force of Zanzibar is not imposmg.In 1846, throughout the African possessionsof the Sayyid, the permanent force wasonly 400 men, namely, about 80 at Zanzibar,250 at Mombasah, 30 at Lamu, 25 at Patta, 6to 10 at Kilwa, and sundry pairs at Makdishuand other places; after that time they weredoubled and even trebled. The' regulars' consistof a guard of honour, a 'guardia nobile'of a dozen serviles habited in cast-off Sepoyuniforms, collected from different corps of theBombay army: one musket carl'ies a bayonet,the other a stick. The cost of new equipmentswas once asked by the late Sayyid; afterglancing at the total, he exclaimed that theguard itself would not fetch half that sum. Theirregular force is more considerable, and representsthe Hayduques of old Eastern Turkey, theArnauts or Albanians of Egypt, the Bashi­Buzuks of EI Hejaz, and the Sayyareh and Zabtiyyehof modern Syria. The so-called Baloch arevagrants and freebooters collected from Northern

266 POLICE.Arabia and from the southern seaboard of Persia,Meln'an, and Kilat: when the Prince requiredextra levies he rigged out a vessel and recruitedat Guadel or at Makallah. He preferredthe Aryan, l as being more amenable to disciplinethan the Semite; moreover, the Arab clansman,like the Highlander of old, though feudallybound to follow his suzerain, requires the orderof his immediate chief, and the latter, when mostwanted, is uncommonly likely to rat or torevolt. The mercenaries of Zanzibar nominallyreceive $2 to $3 per mensem, with rations:practically, the money finds its way more orless into the pocket of the Jemadar or O. O·The fort is here garrisoned by some 80 of thesemen and their negro slaves: the former areequal to double the number of Arabs ill thefield, and behind walls they are a match for anation of savages. Police by day and nightpatrols are much wanted at Zanzibar, whereevery man must be his own' Robert.' Theslaves are unruly subjects; even those of thefort will commit an occasional murder, and thesuburbs are still far from safe during the dark1 It is bardlynecessary to correct in these days the errol' ofCarsten Niebuhr, who made the 'Belludges' (Saloch) a tribe ofArabs. The Baloch mercenaries will be found further noticedin Part II. chap. vi.

THE FLEET. 267hours. The garrison is securely locked up, andin case of most urgent need no aid is procurablebefore morning.I may now offer a catalogue raisonne of thelate Sayyid's fleet, which was intended to keepup the maritime prestige of his predecessors, theYu'rabi Imams. The Shah Alam, a doublebankedfrigate of 1100 tons, carrying 50 guns(45, says M. Guillain, i. 584), was built at Mazagonin 1820, and now acts guardship, moored offMto-ni. The' Caroline' (40 guns), the best of thesquadron, and built at Bombay, was degraded tobe a merchantman, in which category she visiteclMarseille (1849): she has, however, againopened her ports after returning from Maskat.The strong and handsome 'Sultana' waswrecked near Wasin when returning fromIndia. The' Salihi' was lost in the PersianGulf; the' Sulayman Shah' and the' HumayunShah,' in the Gulf of Bengal. The' Piedmontese,'36 guns, built at Oochin in 1836, might be repairedat an expense of £10,000. The' Victoria'frigate (40), teak-built in the Mazagon dockyard,is still sea-worthy. The' Rahmani' corvette(24 guns), is a fast-sailing craft with greatbreadth of beam, hailing from Cochin: she waslately fitted out for a recruiting vessel to Hazra-

268 THE FLEET.maut. The' Artemise' corvette, formerly of 18guns, now a jackass frigate with 10 guns en barbette,was built at Bombay of fine Daman teak,and was lately repaired there, at an expense of22,000 Co.'s Rs. Called Colonel Hamerton'syacht, because always placed at his disposal bythe late Sayyid, she will carry him on his lastvoyage, accompanying us to Bagamoyo upon themainland. She is commanded by the sailingmasterof the fleet, Mohammed bin Khamis, whohas studied navigation and modern languages inLondon-.of him more anon. The lighter craftare the'Salihi' barque (300 tons), built in Americaabout 1840, condemned and repaired in Bombay;and the' Taj , brig (125 tons), launched atCochin in 1829, and originally intended for ayacht. Besides there is a mosquito squadroncomposed of some 20 'batelas,' each armed with2 to 6 guns, which serve equally for cabotageand for campaigning.The useless, tawdry 'Prince Regent,' presentedby H. B. Majesty's Government to thelate Sayyid, was by him passed over. in 1840 tothe Governor-General of India. It was sold atCalcutta, and for many years it was, as a transport,the terror of the eastern soldier. The Sayyidcould not pray amongst the 'idols' of gild-

THE FLEET. 269ing and carving; he saw pollution in every picture,and his Arabs supposed the royal berth tobe the Tabllt Hazrat Isa-Our Lord's coffin.Instead of this article he wished to receive thepresent of a steamer, but political and other objectionsprevented.~ Eastern rulers also will notpay high and regular salaries; and withoutEuropean engineers every trip would have costa boiler. Repairs were impossible at Zanzibar;and, as actually happened to Mohammed Ali'sexpensive machinery in Egypt, the finest workwould have been destroyed by mere neglect. Abeautiful model of a steam-engine was once sentout from England: it was allowed to rust unopenedin the Sayyid's 'godowns.' Still themain want of the Island was rapid communication.Sometimesnine months elapsed before ananswer came from Bombay: letters and parcels-including my manuscript-were often lost;. and occasionally, after a long cruise, they returnedto their starting-point, much damaged bytime and hard usage. The Bombay Post-officeclerks thinking, I presume, that Zanzibar is inArabia, shipped their bags to Bushire and Mas-1 Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 403. This authorexposes, without seeming to know that he was doing so, theselfish and short-sighted policy of the H. E. T. Companywhich wanted a squadron subsidiary to its own.

270 THE TREASURY.kat, some thousand miles N .West instead ofS.West of Bombay, and via Halifax-half roundthe world-was often the speediest way of communicationwith London. No wonder that letterswere delayed from 7 to 9 months, causing greatloss to the trade, and inconvenience to theauthorities. Her Majesty's proclamation waspublished in India on November 1, 1858; thePrince of Zanzibar was obliged with a copy onlyin March, 1859. A line of steamers from theCape and other places was much talked of; itwould certainly obviate many difficulties, but theZanzibar merchants who had a snug monopolywere dead against free-trade and similar appliancesof modern civilization. The French Companythen running vessels from Mauritius toAden, proposed to touch at Zanzibar if permittedto engage on their own terms' ouvriers libres.'The liberal offer was declined with thanks.The Royal Treasury is managed with an extremesimplicity. When the Prince wants goodsor cash he writes an order upon his collector ofcustoms; the draft is kept as an authority, andthe paper is produced at the general balancingof accou.nts, which takes place every third orfourth year. I found it impossible to obtaincertain information concerning the gross amount

THE TREASURY. 271of customs, and inquiry seemed only to leadfurther from the truth. The ruler, the officersunder him, and the traders all have several interestsin keeping the secret.The Custom House is in an inchoate condition;it makes no returnsI and exports being free,it requires neither manifest nor port clearingsfrom ships about to sail. The customs are farmedout by the Sayyid, and 10 years ago their valuewas $142,000, or 38 per cent. less than is nowpaid. The last contractor was a Outch Banyannamed J ayaram Sewji. The' ijareh' or leasewas generally for five years, and the annualamount was variously stated at $70,000 to$150,000, in 1859 it had risen to $196,000 to$220,000. 1 He had left the Island before SayyidSaid's death, and though summoned by thePrince Majid, there was little chance of his committingthe folly of obedience. His successor was.one Ladha Damha, also a Bhattia Hindu, and aman of the highest respectability. These rentersdeclared that they did not collect the amountwhich they paid for the privilege: on the otherhand, they could privately direct their caste fel-1 The consular report of 1860 gives an aggregate value ofthe port trade at £1,667,577, viz.: imports £908,911, andexports (information furnished by the mercantile community,and evidently much understated) £758,666.

272 THE TREASURY.lows, do what they pleased with all unprotectedby treaty, and having a monopoly as tradesmenbetween the wholesale white merchants and thepetty dealers of the coast, they soon becamewealthy.Land cess and port dues were unknown atZanzibar. The principal source of revenue wastheOustom House,where American and Europeangoods, bullion excepted, paid the 5 per cent. advalorem provided by commercial treaties. Oargofrom India paid 5'25, the fractions serving tosalary Oustom House officials. The import waslevied on all articles transshipped in any ports ofthe Zanzibar dominions, unless the cargo waslanded only till the vessel could be repaired. Ofcourse the tariff was complicated in the extreme,, custom' amongst orientals being the 'rule ofthumb' further west. The farmers appointedall subordinate officials, and as these received insufficientsalaries, smuggling, especially in thematters of ivory and slaves, came to their assistance.The Wasawahili Makhadim, or serviles,contributed an annual pOll-tax of $1 per head,and this may have amounted to 10,000 to 14,000crowns per annum. The maximum total of thelate Sayyid's revenue was generally stated asfollows-

THE TREASURY.273Maskat (customs) German crownsMattra (Matrab) ""Maskat and Mattra (octroi from the interior)Average receipts from other parts of Africa 2and ArabiaSZanzibar (customs and poll-tax) ...$180,00060,00020,00020,000160,000Total in German crowns$440,000In 1811 Oaptain Smee computes the revenueof Zanzibar at $60,000 per annum, adding, however,that he considers it to be much more. In1846 M. Guillain gives the revenue arising fromcustoms on coffee and cloves, Indian rice andmelted butter, and divers taxes on shops, indigo,dyes, thread-makers, silk-spinners,and so forth, asfollows-Total of OmanAfrican dominions"Grand total$136,600349,000$485,600 = 2,500,000 francs.The author} who appears to have been ablyassisted in his inquiries by l\tf. Loarer, also statesthat in the days of Sayyid Said's father the farm-. ingofthe customs atZanzibar represented$25,000,from which it gradually rose to $50,000; $60,000;$80,000; $100,000; $105,000; $120,000;$147,000; $157,000; and $175,000 in 1846. Wemay safely fix the revenue in 1857 at a maximumof £90,000 per annum. The expenses of navy,army, and' civil service,' and the personal expelldi-VOL. I. 18

274 THE TREASURY.ture of the Prince were easily defrayed out of thissum, whilst the surplus must have been considerable.The income might easily have been increased,and the outlay have been diminished byimproving the administration; but the Sayyidhad 'some time before his death reached thatepoch of life when age and weariness determinemen to consider the status quo as the supremewisdom.'Under the new regime affairs did not improve.An Indian firm farmed the customsthroughout the Zanzibar dominions for the annualsum of $190,000, and the following is theofficial statement of the revenues derived by 'HisHighness the Sultan,' 1 in 1863-4.Customs duesPemba dues ...Poll-tax of Makbadim ...Private clove plantations$190,0006,00010,00015,000Total $221,000Deduct subsidy paid to Maskat 40,000Balance $181,000The income, thus sadly fallen off, was hardlyenough for the necessal'ies of the mler, and left1 Commercial Reports, received at the Foreign Office fromH. M.'s Consuls, between July 1, 1863, and June 30, 1864.London, Harrison and Co. In 1862 the revenue of Maskat wascomputed to reach the very respectab~e cipher of £1,065,640per annum.

THE TREASURY. 275no margin available for improvements or publicworks. At last the government, which by treatyis unjustly debarred from imposing export orharbour dues, or even from increasing the importduties, devised a modified system of landtax,charging 5 per cent. per annum on cloves,and 2 pice (= id.) on mature cocoa-trees whoseestimated average value is $1. This, if levied,would produce about $40,000 per annum.Since that time prosperity has returned tothe Island. The return of imports by the OustomHouse rose from £245,981 in 1861-2 to£433,693 in 1867-8. 1 One half of the trade wasin the hands of English subjects, and the Oommitteeremarks that Zanzibar is the chief marketof the world for ivory and copal; that the tradein hides, oils, seeds, and dyes is on the increase,whilst cotton, sugar, and indigo, to which maybe added cocoa, loom in the distance.1 Report of Select Oommittee appointed to inquire intothe whole question of the slave trade on the East coast of Africa.

OHAPTER VII.A CHRONICLE OF ZANZIBAR.-THE CAREER OF THELATE 'IMAM,' SAYYID SAID.'Mais, comme Ie livre n'est point une ceuvre de fantaisie,comme il traite de questions serieuses, et qu'il s'addresse a desinterets durables, je me resigne, pour lui, it l'inattention dumoment, et j'attendrai patiemment pour que 1'avenir lui rameneBon heure, lui refl1sse, pour ainsi dire, une nouvelle opportunite.'-M.GUILLAIN.THERE is little of interest in the annals ofOman and of her colonies. Fond of genealogy,the modern Arabs are perhaps the most incuriousof Orientals in the matter of history:they ignore the past, they disregard the present,and they have a superstitious aversion to speakof the future. Lawless and fanatical, treacherous,blood-thirsty and eternally restless, theOmani races, whose hand is ~till against everyman, have converted their chronicles into a kind

HISTORY. 277of Newgate Oalendar, whilst the multitude ofpersonages that appear upon the scene, and theperpetual rising and falling ofImams,princes, andgrandees, offer to the reader a mere string ofproper names. Ample details concerning Maskatwill be found in the pages of Capt. Hamilton,Oarsten Niebuhr, Wellsted, and Salil ibn Razik,lto mention no others. Zanzibar has ever been,since historic times, connected with Oman,whose fortunes she has reflected; the account ofthe distant dependency given by travellers is,therefore, as might be expected, scanty andobscure.At an early period the merchants and tradersof Yemen frequented the Island, and exchanged,as we read in the Periplus and Ptolemy,their homes of barren rock and sand for theluxuriant wastes of Eastern Africa. If traditionbe credible, their primitive settlements werePatta (Bette), Lamu, and the Mrima frontingthese islets; and here to the present day thedialect of their descendants has remained thepurest. Themselves pagans, they lived amongstthe heathenry, borrowed their language, as the1 History of the Imams and Sayyids of Oman, from A..D.661 to 1856, by Salil'ibn Razik. Trauslated, &c., by the Rev.G. P. Badger. Printed for the Hakluyt Society.

278 THE PORTUaUESE.Arabs and the Baloch still do, intermarried withthem, and begotthe half-casteWasawahili, or coastpopulation. In proof that these were the lordsof the land, the late Sultan Ahmad, chief of theShirazi, or free tribe of the mulattoes, receivedannual presents from the Arab Sayyid of Zanzibar.When the former died Muigni Mku, hiswazir, or brother-here all fellow-countrymenare brothers-succeeded, in default of other heirs,to the position of monarch retired from business.He is a common-looking negroid, who livesupon the proceeds of a plantation and periodicalpresents: he is not permitted to appear as anequal at the Sayyid's Darbar, and it is highly improbablethat he will ever come to his own again.The Sawahil or Azania continued to acknowledgeArab and Persian supremacy till theappearance of the Portuguese upon the coast.D. Vasco da Gama passed Zanzibar Islandwithout sighting it when first bound Indiawards,and authors differ upon the subject of his returllvoyage. The historian Toao de Barros (i. 4, 11)relates that the expedition made its land-fallfrom India below Magadoxo (Makdishu orMaka'ad el Shaat, 'the sitting-place of thesheep'),! beat off a boat attack from' Pat6'1 So called from some silly vision of an illuminated sheep

THE PORTUGUESE. 279(Patta), visited Melinde, Mozambique, and theAguada de S. Braz, and doubled the Cape ofStorms on March 20, 1499. Goes 1 declaresthat da Gama, after touching at Makdishu andMelinde, arrived at Zanzibar on February 28,and was supplied by its ruler with provisions,presents, and specimens of country produce. Theisland is described as large and fertile, withgroves of fine trees, producing good fruit, twoothers, 'Pomba' (Pemba) and' Mofia' (our Montiaand the Arab Mafiyah), lying in its vicinity.These settlements were governed by Moorishprinces'of the same caste as the King of Melin de'-doubtless hereditary Moslem Shaykhs andSayyids. The population is represented as beingin 'no great force, but carrying on a good tradewith Mombassa for Guzerat calicoes and withSofala for gold.' The' King of Melinde' madea name in Europe. Rabelais· commemoratesHans Oarvel, the King of Melinda's jeweller, and(in Book I. chap. v.) we read,' thus did Bacchusappearing to one of the Shaykhs. The city is supposed tohave been founded in A.D. 295, about 70 years before Kilwa.The three voyages of Vasco da Gama, &c., as from theLendas da India of Gaspar Correa, translated by the Han.Henry C. J. Stanley, London, Haltluyt Society, lSG9, chap.xxi., note to page 261. 1\'1. Guillain (i. 319) makes the expeditionreach Zanzibar on April 29, 1499.

280 THE 'KINGS.'conquer Ind; thus philosophy, Melinde,'-meaningthat the Portuguese taught their Africanfriends more drinking than wisdom. J oaode Barros (ii. 4. 2) informs us that the Ohiefof Zanzibar was 'dn, linhagem dos Reys deMomba9a, nossos imigos.' The inhabitants were'white Moors' (Arabs from Arabia) and blackMoors or Wasawahili; the former are portrayedas a slight people, scantily armed, but clothed infine cottons bought at Mombasah from merchantsof Oambaya. Their women were adornedwith jewels, with Sofabn gold, and with silverobtained in exchange for provisions, from thepeople of St Lawrence's Island (Madagascar).And here we may remark that the Arab settlementsin East Africa, visited by the Portugueseat the end of the 15th century, showed generallya civilization and a refinement fully equal to, ifnot higher than, the social state of the Europeanvoyagers. The latter, expecting to find savageslike the naked Kafirs of the South, must nothave been a little surprised to receive visitsfrom the chiefs of Mozambique and Melinde,men clad in gold, embroidered silks, velvets, and'crimson damask, lined with green satin;'armed with rich daggers and swords sheathedin silver scabbards, seated on arm-chairs, and

THE PORTUGUESE. 281attended by a suite of some 20 richly-dressedArabs. The modest presents offered by theEuropeans to these wealthy lwincelets, whosewomen adorned themselves with pearls and otherprecious stones, must have given a mean idea ofPortuguese civilization. And even in the presentday the dominions of the 'barbarous Arab'are sLlperior in every way to the miserablecolonies on the West African coast, which representChristian and civilized Europe.Foul' years afterwards (1503) Ruy Louren90Ravasco, a Cavalleiro da Casa cl' £1 Rey, sailingwith D. Antonio de Saldanha, cruized off 'Zemzibar,'as his countrymen called Zanzibar, and intwo months captured twenty rich ships, ladenwith ambergris, ivory, tortoiseshell, wax, honey,rice~ coil', and silk and cotton stuffs. 'rhis captainappears, like most of his fellows, to havebeen a manner of pirate: he did not restore themtill ransom was paid. 'El Rey,' still friendly tothe Portuguese, sent a spirited remonstrance,when the insolence of the reply forced him totake hostile measures. The Arabs manned theircanoes with some 4000 men; but two launches,well-armed with cannon, killed at the first discharge34 men and put the rest to flight. Thus the1falik or Regulus was compelled by Ravasco topay

282 THE PORTUGUESE.an annual tribute of 100 gold miskals in token ofsubmission to the greedy and unprincipled DomManuel. ' The conquered pays the conquest! 'exclaims with Ohristian emphasis the venerableOsorio. Portugal now began to gather gold fromSofala to Makdishu; 'Wagerage,' the chief ofMelinde, contributed every year 1500 wedges(ingots) of the precious metal, and the insolenceof the victors must have made the good old mandeeply regret the welcome and the Godspeedwhich he had bestowed upon the exploratoryexpedition.The Portuguese having wrested Kilwa andMombasah from its Arab chiefs, D. Duarte deLemos, appointed (A.D. 1508) by the KingGovernor of the 'Provinces of lEthiopia andArabia,' attacked successively Mafiyah, Zanzibar,and Pemba, for failing in the paramountduty of paying tribute. Mafiyah submitted, thepeople of Pemba escaped to Mombasah, leavingnothing in their houses, and Zanzibar resisted,but the town was taken and plundered. TheShaykh retired northwards, and his subjectsfled to the bush, ' depois de bern esfarrapados nacarne con a ponta da lan9a, e espada dos nossos'-after being. well pierced in the flesh by thelanee-points and the sword-blades of our men-

THE PORTUGUESE. 283says the chronicler. From this time probablywe may date the pointed arches that still remainupon the Island, and the foundation of the fort,which is popularly attributed to the' Faranj.'Mombasah and Pemba were presently occupiedby the Portuguese; and the ruins of their extensivebarracoons, citadels, and churches stillargue ancient splendour. In other places uponthe seaboard I found deep and carefully sunkwells, stone enclosures, ancl coralline temples,whilst vestiges of European hllildings may betraced, it is said, contrary to popular opinion,many da,ys' journey inland.We read little about Lusitanianizecl Zanzibar'where the insalubrity of the climate musthave defended the interior, and even parts of thecoast, from the spoiler. In A.D. 1519 the Moorsmassacred certain shipwrecked sailors belongingto the expedition of D. Jorje de Albuquerque.Three years afterwards the Shaykh, or, as hestyled himself, the Sultan 1 of Zanzibar, who,after sUbmitting to Ravasco, had acknowledgedhimself a vassal of D. l1anuel, fitted out, withthe aid of the factors J oao de Mata and Pedro1 The only Shaykhs who took the name of Sultan' werethose of Kilwa and Zanzibar: he of Morribasah was tributaryto the latter.

284 THE PORTUGUESE.de Oastro, a small expedition against the QuiI'­imba islandry, who had allied themselves withthe hostile tribes about Mombasah. The attackwas successful, the chief town was pillaged andburnt, and terror of the invader brought all theneighbouring islets to terms. In 1528-9 theViceroy of India, Nuno da Ounha, being aboutto attack Mombasah, was supplied with provisionsby the Ohief, and the Portuguese presentlyreduced the coast to a single rule whose centreswere successively Kilwa, Sofala, and Mozambique.East Africa then became one of the fourgreat governments depending upon the viceroyaltyof India; the three others being Malacca,Hormuz, and Oeylon.In this state Zanzibar remained till the closeof the next century. When, however, PedroBarratode Rezende, Secretary to the Viceroy,Oount of Linhares, wrote his ' Breve Tratado' onthe Portuguese colonies of India and East Africa(1635), the Island had ceased to be vassal andtributary, but the Sultan remained friendly toEuropeans. Many of the latter occupied withtheir families rich plantations; Oatholic worshipwas protected, and there was a church in whichofficiated a brother of the order of St 4,.ustin.There was the usual massacre of the Portu-

THE YU'RABI ARABS. 285guese, and expulsion of the survivors in imitationof :M:ombasah, about 1660; and the Islanders,doubting their power to procure independence,applied for assistance to the Arabs.The reign of the Yu'rabi of Oman, a clanof the great Ghafiri tribe, began as follows.The Imam, Sultan bin Sayf bin Malik el Yu'­rabi, the second of the family, having recoveredMaskat (April 23, 1659), and Matrah, createda navy which added Kang, Khishm, Hormuz,Bahrayn, and Mombasah (1660) to the Arabianpossessions left by his ancestors. After investingBombay this doughty chief died in A.D. 1668 orin 1669. His son, Sayf bin Sultan, after defeatingan elder brother, Belarab, became thethird Imam of the house of Yu'rabi, and summonedto submission the petty chiefs on theeastern mainland of Africa. Between A.D. 1680and 1698, the powerful squadron of the warlikeMoor' drove the Portuguese from Zanzibar,Kilwa, Pemba, and Mombasah, where he establishedas Governor Nasir bin Abdillah elMazru'i, the first of the great family of thatname. He failed only at Mozambique. Arabsstill relate the legend how having closely investedthe fort they were undermining the wall,when a Banyan gave traitOTous warning to the

286 THE YU'RABI ARABS.besieged. Pans of water ranged upon the groundshowed by the trembling fluid the direction ofthe tunnel; a countermine was sprung withfatal effect, and the assailants, retreating in confusionto their shipping, raised the siege. 1 Thesquadron, however, pursued its course as farsouth as the Comoros and Bukini (Madagascar,or rather the northern portion of the Island),whence, hearing of the ruler's death, it returnedhome. When the Island became Arab propertythe Wasawahili fled to the 'bush': they p'eesentlyconsented to render personal service, or to purchaseexemption by annually paying $2 per head.Sayf bin Sultan was succeeded, in A.D. 1711,by his eldest son, Sultan bin Sayf, who defeatedwith his fleet of 24 to 28 ships, carrying 80guns, the soldiers of Abbas III. and of NadirShah. After his decease the chieftainship ofOman was seized by a distant relative, Mohammedbin Nasir, Lord of Jabrin, who accordingto some, first assumed, according to others, resumed,the title of 'Imam,' making himselfpriest as well as prince, like him of Sana'a inYemen. It has ever been a Khariji, and especiallya Bayazi tenet, that any pious man, notonly those belonging to the Kuraysh or the Pro-1 M. Guillain (i. 522) had vaguely heard of this tradition.

THE YU'RABI ARABS. 287phet's tribe, might rise -to the rank of Pontiff.In A.D. 751 they were powerful enough to electJulandah ben Mas'tl-d, but the succeeding dynastyrejected the term. The usurped rule was recoveredafter his decease (A.D. 1728) by Sayf elAsdi, a younger son of Sultan bin Sayf: this indolentdebauchee being shut up in Maskat by acousin, Sultan bin Murshid-some corrupt hisfa,ther's name to Khurshid-applied for assistanceto that Nadir Shah, whom his more patrioticfather had successfully resisted. In 1746 thePersians, aided by intestine Arab divisions, soonconquered Oman: Sultan bin Murshid slew himselfin despair, and Sayf el Asdi, duped by hisallies, died of grief in his dungeon at Rustak.The latter city was in those days the ordinaryresidence of the Imams; in fact, a kind ofcathedral town as well a,s capital.The power now fell from the hands of theYu'rabis (Ghafiris) into the grasp of their rivals,the Bu Saidi (Rinawis). These ancient lords ofOman claim direct descent from Kahtan (Joetan),great-grandfather of Rimyar, founder ofthe Southern Arabs, ancI brother to Saba, whobuilt in Yemen the city that bore his name: thestock is held to be noble as any in the Peninsula.Oman remained under foreign dominion, paying

288 THE BU SAIDI ARABS.tribute to, and owning the rule of, Nadir Shah,till the Chief of Sohal', Said bin Ahmad el BuSaidi, struck the blow for freedom. Five yearsafterwards (A.D. 1744) his son, Ahmad bin Said,artfully recovering Maskat from Mirza TakyKhan, the Governor of Fars, who had revoltedagainst Nadir Shah, expelled the Persians fromOman. When laying the foundation of thepresent dynasty he assumed the title of' Sayyid'(temporal ruler); persuaded the Mufti to electhim 'Imam' (prince-priest), and was confirmedin his dignities by the Sherif of Meccah. 001­onel Pelly (p. 184, Journal Royal GeographicalSociety, 18(5) gives a somewhat different account- ,It appears that the family of theImams of Muskat were originally Sayeds of avillage, named Rowtheh, in the Sedair immediatelybelow the Towaij hills. The founder ofthe family was Saeed. His son's name wasAhmed. They came to Oman, and took serviceunder the dominant tribe called Yarebeh. Subsequentlythey obtained possession of the stronghill-fort called Hazro, in the neighbourhood ofRostak. Eventually they became the rulers ofOman, and changed their sect from that of Sunneeto Beyathee.' Ahmad allied himself with theex-royal Yu'rabis, by marrying a daughter of

THE BU SAIDI ARABS. 289Sayf el Asdi. After crushing sundry rebellions,he plundered Diu (A.D. 1760), and massacred thepopulation, a disaster from wIDch the great portand fort never recovered. He then sent anarmy of 12,000 men against the Ghafiri of Ra'asel Khaymah, who had assisted the Persians toattack the Kawasim, and against the Nuaymi, apowerful clan dwelling south of Sharjah on thePirate Coast. His success was complete; Khurfakan,Khasab, Ramsah, Ra'as el Khaymah,Jezil'at el Hamrah, Sharjah, and Fasht, all inturn submitted to him. In A.D. 1785 he personallyvisited Mombasah, and by his lion-likedemeanour he secured its submission.Dying shortly afterwards, Ahmad bin SaIdleft the government to his son, Said bin Ahmad,who was declared Imam, but was confined tillthe date of his c1eath,in 1802, to Rustak and itsterritory by his younger brother, the ambitiousand warlike Sultan bin Ahmad. This princeoccupied the islands of Khishm, Hormuz, andBahrayn; he attempted to protect his commercefrom the pirates of J ulfar and Ra'as el Khaymah,especially the Kawasim, in our books calledJ owasmee :1 these AlgGrines of the East had now1 The Western as well as the Eastern Arabs turn the hardKif into a Jim, e. g. Jibleh for Kibleh. The Kawasim deriveVOL. I. 19

290 SAYFID SAID.become Wahhabis, and were backed by all theinfluence of Salld, Lord of Daraiyyah. Aftervainly attempting to obtain aid from the Pashaof Baghdad? Sultan bin Ahmad was attackedwhilst sailing to BandaI' Abbas by five ships ofthe Kawasim, and was shot in the melee on Nov.18,1804.This decea,se brought to power the lateSayyid Said/ the second son horn to Sayyicl Sultanbin Ahmad in A.D. 1790. His maternaluncle, Sayyicl Bedr bin Sayf, and the WahhabiChief, Salld, enabled him to defeat Sultan Kayabin Ahmad of Sohal', another uncle who aimet1at usurpation; but the danger was shifted, notdestroyed. At length, in A.D. 1806, SayyidSaid's aunt, the Bibi Mauza, daughter of theImam Ahmad, and popularly known as the Binte1 Imam, determined that Sayyid Bedr must beslain at a Dm·bar. Sayyid Said, a youth of 16,was unwilling, but the strong-minded womaninevery noble Arab family there is at least one-prevailed, and on July 31 the dangerous protheirnnme from a local Wali, or Santon, the Shaykh IGsim.1 A detailed account of this Prince's early life is given intIle 'History of Syed Said, Sultan of Muscat' . . . translatedfrom the Italian. London, 1819 (written by his physician,Shaykh Mansur, alias Yincenzo). Buckingham, Fraser,and Sir John Malcolm have also supplied notices of his event­'ful career.

SAYYID SAID. 291tector whilst descending the stairs, was struckin the back by his nephew's dagger. SayyidBedr sprang from the window, and mounted astirruIJless horse which stood helow, when hewas wounded with a spear; the' Imam's daughter,'with a blood-thirstiness truly feminine,cheering on the assassins, till after ricling half amile on the highway from Birkat to Sohal', hefell from his animal and was speedily despatched.The young prince was, they say, so stronglyaffected by the scene, that through life he couldhardly be per:maded to order a death. lThus Said became, with the consent of hiselder brother, Sayyid Salim, an independentruler, and the fourth of his dynasty, the Btl8a1c11. His proper title was 'Sayyic1,' which inOman and amongst the Eastern Arabs meallS achief or temporal ruler, whereas 'Sherif' is adescendant of the Prophet. Many Anglo-Indianwriters ignore this distinction. ' Imam' isan ecclesiastical title, signifying properly the manwho takes the lead in public prayer, and it demauclsboth study and c.onfirmation: in sectariantheology it is the hereditary head of EI1 I give this account as it was told to me by· Lieut.-Col.Hamerton. M. GuiJlain (pa,rt II. chap. iii.) ma.y be consultedfor another and a more diplomatic version.

292 SAYYID SAID.Islam. The'Imam of Mascftt,' 1 therefore, neverfollowed the practice of his predecessors. Hisacclamation took place on Sept. 14, 1806. Hewas immediately involved in troubles with Mombasah,Makdishu, and the unruly Arab settlementsof the East African Ooast. His possessionsin Oman also were invaded and overrun bythe ~Tahhabis, under Saud who died in 1814,rund afterwards under his son Abdullah: theseenergetic Puritans converted, by much fightingand more intrigue, several tribes to 'Unitarianism'; the land was at once fettered with afive per cent. Zakat (annual tribute), of whichMaskat paid 12,000 German crowns, ancl Sohal'$8000. Yet his valour and conduct graduallyraised Sayyid Said to wealth and importance,and the warlike operations of Mohammed AliPasha against the Wahhabis gave him power tothrow oft' the yoke. His personal gallantry inthe disastrous affair with the Benu Btl 'Ali(1820-21), won him the praise of India, andthe gift of a sword of honour from the Governor­General. His tolerance, so unusual in Arabia,the patriarchal character of his rule, and his1 I cannot but express my a~tonishmellt to see a geographerJike Ritter, and a veteran from the East like Colonel Sykes(loco cit.), confound' Imam' with' 1muuu' (1111:1n), whichsignifies faith or creed.

SAYYID SAID. 293love of progress, as sho'wn by his concessions toEuropean and Hindu traders, and by a squadronof three frigates, four corvettes, two slnops, sevenbrigs, and twenty armed merchant .vessels, entitledhim to a l)lace amongst civilized powers.With England he became an especial favourite,after he had entered into the Palmerstonia~lviews upon the subject of slave exportation.He began by sacrificing, it is said, 100,000crowns annually, and he declined the variousequivalents, £2000 for three years, and otherpaltry sums offered in A.I.l. 1822, as a compensationby Oaptain Moresby, R.N. His friendshipwith us, indeed, cost him dear: more than oncehe threatened that if other concessions were demandedby the unconscionable abolitionist hewould escape the incessant worry by abdicatingand retiring to Meccah.Sa,yyid Said first left Maskat for Zanzibar in1828, and finally in 1832, justly offended by ourrefusing to assist him, according to treaty,against Sayyid Hamnd bin Azrall bin Rays,the rebel chief of Sohal'. Our policy on thisoccasion is generally supposed to have beenprompted by Captain, afterwards Colonel, Sam.Hennell, British Resident at Bushire. Thisofficial, acting doubtless under orders, and living

294 SA1TID SAID.in constant dread of 'breaking the peace of theGulf,' preserved it by yielding every point toevery man; and the ignoble attitude which,amongst a warlike race, provoked only contempt,laid the foundation of the last Persian war. Itwas on a pa,l' with the orders which, lmder painof dismissal, bound the officers commanding theHonourable East India Oompany's cruisers inthe Persian Gulf not to open fire upon a squadronof pirates unless they began the cannonade; andwhich caused the capture by boarding of morethan one man-of-war.Zanzibar .had, since its conquest by Oman,been governed by an officer appointed fromArabia. Sayvid .. Said found the town a line ofcajan huts, with the fort commanding theharbour, which served only for an occasionalpirate or slaver. Till A. D. 1822 some 15 or 16Spaniards and Portuguese ranged these seas,committing every kind of atrocity: they weredangerous outside the port, and when at anchorthey were guilty of every crime; as many as threeand four have been killed in a single night, and apriest was kept for the purpose of shriving thestabbed and burying the slain. These, however,were the days of large profits. The share ofone Arab merchant in a single adventure was

8.'1 YYID SAID. 205worth $218,000-he now (1857) begs his bn~ac1.Sayyid Said at once began to encourageforeign residents. With a remarkable liberalityhe at once broke up the monopoly of tradewhich the Wasawahili ha,d preserved for eightcenturies, including the 200 years when it wasperpetu.ated by the avidity and the fanaticismof the Portuguese. The United States, whobeing first in the market for ivory, copal, andhides, had dispersed their cottons and harclwaresthroughout Eastern Africa, concluded with him,in Sept. 1835, ~in advantageous treaty, and established,a,bout the end of 1837, a trading consulateat his court. Four years aJterwards (December,1841) Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton wasdirected to make Zanzibar his head-quarters as'H. B. Majesty's Consul, and H. E. 1. Company'sAgent in the dominions of H. H. the Imaum.'Captain Romain Desfosses, the Mentor of thePrince de J oinville, and commanding the navaldivision of Bourbon and Madagascar, escorted bya squadron, signed a treaty on November, 1844.He was accompanied by a consul without a chancellier,and the former at 011ce l'ecei,ring his exequatur,began residence.The Sayyid was unfortumtte in sundry attemptsto subjugate the Zetllzibar Coast: his

296 SAYYID SAID.conduct of war argued scant skill as a general, buthe never forfeited his well-earned favour for personalgallantry. With the true Arab mania forterritorial conquest, he eventually succeeded inflying his flag at all the ports that belonged tothe Yu'rabi Imams, and which had descended,by the irregular right of succession, to his ancestor,Ahmad bin Said the Rinawi. The Mazara'(Mazrui) clan, alias the Arabo-Mombasahprinces, a turbulent and hot-tempered feudality,who, after the massacre of the Portuguese, hadbeen allowed, by Sayf bin Sultan, to retain thecity on condition of sending occasional presentsand of doing certain baronialservices, refused (A. D.1822) allegiance to the Ayyal Bll Said. OaptainVidal, R.N., finding this important place threatenedbyZanzibar, accepted an application from thecitizens, who had hoisted the British flag; advisedthat they should be received as proteges, and persuadedthe claimant to withdraw. The Sayyidremonstrated against these measures with theBombay Government; and the ministers of theOrown to whom the question was referred, eventuallyremoved our establishment.Sayyid Said, early in 1828, sailed with asquadron carrying 1200 men, to attack the town,but after taking and garrisoning the fort, he was

SA YYID SAID. 297compelled to make Zanzibar, and eventuallyMaskat. The retreat was in consequence of thetroubles excited by Saud bin Ali bin Sayf, thenephew of Sayyid Bedr, supported by the sisterof Sayyid Hilal, chief of Survayk, who had heentreacherously imprisoned. •ge was enabled, bythe aiel of Isa bin Tarif and his dependents, toinvest, with a squadron carrying a force of 4000to 5000 men, about the end of December, 1829,Mombasah Fort, from which his garrison hadheen repulsed. The Mazru'is, numbering a totalof some 1500, gallantly held their ground: theSayyid's soldiers, suffering severely from fever,refuseel to fight: briefly two campaigns had littleeffect upon. the besieged, and the Sayyid wasobliged to accept the semblance of submission, inorder to return triumphant to Zanzibar. Aftervisiting Maskat, and putting down Hn,mud binAzran, who had taken Rustak, and was threateningthe capital, he broke the treaty with Momhasah,and blockaded it throughout the N. East monsoonfrom November, 1831, to April, 1832. Duringthe next year he attacked the place for the thirdtime; but, after a week's campaign, he returnedonce more with Oriental triumph to Zanzibar inFebruary, 1833. Then treachery was called into do the perfect work. Rashid bin Salim bin

298 SA YYID SAID.Ahmad, the Mazru'i Wali or governor, andtwenty-six of his kinsmen, enticed by the mostsolemn oaths, which were accompanied by asealed Koran-it is wonderful how liar trustsliar I-embarked on one of the Sayyid's ships,which ct1,rried his son Sayyid Khalid and Sulaymanbin Ahmad. The vessel instantly weighedanchor, stood for Zanzibar, and consigned itscargo to life-long banishment and prison, at Minaand BandaI' Abbas. The Mazara' at once sankinto utter obscurity.Sayyid Said was persuaded (Jan. 6, 1843) toattack that notorious plunderer, Bana M'takha,chief of Sem, a small territory near Lamu, whohad persuaded one Mfumo Bakkari, and afterwardshis brother Mohammed bin Shaykh, to declarehimself Lord of Patta, and independent ofthe Arab prince. The ruler of Zanzibar here failedto repeat his success at Momba::mh, the wily Africanshutting his ear to the charmer's voice. Thesecond son, Sayyid Khalid, then disembarked his1200 to 1300 troops, Maskatis and Wasawahili,, cowardly as lVIaskatis,' who with the Suri arethe proverbial dastards of the race. He servedout with Semitic economy five cartridges per head,and he marched them inland without a day's rest,after a ' buggalow '-voyage from Arabia. Short

SA ITID SAID. 299of ammunition, and worn out by fatigue, theysoon yielded to the violent onslaught of the enemy.The W igunya, or as some write the word Bajlllli,warriors, described to be a fierce race of savages,descended from the Wasawahili, the Somal, andthe Arab colonists, charged in firm line, brandishingspear-heads like those of the Wamasai, a cubitlong, and shouting as they waved their standards,wooden hoops hung round with the dried a,ndstuffed spoils of men.! The Arabs fled with suchprecipitation, that some 300 were drowned, anindiscriminate massacre and mutilation tookplace, the ' England' and the ' Prince of Wales'opened an effectual fire upon their own boatsand friends; the guns which had been landed wereall captured, and the Sayyicl Khalid saved himselfonly by the speed of his horse. The operationwas repeated with equal unsuccess nextyear, Say,Yid Said himself embarking on boardthe 'Victoria:' the general, Hammad bin Ahmad,fell into an ambuscade, and again the artillerywas lost. After a blockade of the Ooast, whichlasted till the end of 1866, the Ka,zi of Zanzibar,Muhi'y'y e1 Din of Lamu, landing upon his1 'rhe trophies are drawu out with a lauyard, and cut offwhen the patient is still alive-after death they are not 80ll1uch valued '; finally they are dried so as to resemble isinglass.

300 SAYYJD SAID.native island, talked over the insurgents. Bana1f'takha afterwards sent back the Arab cannon,saying that he could not afford to keep weaponswhich ate such vast meals of powder, and acknowledgedfor a consideration the supremacy of Zanzibar,retaining his power, and promising butnever intending to pay an annual tribute of$5000. Hence the Baloch mercenaries speak oftheir late employer as a king who bought andsold, and who was more distinguished for thearts of peace than for the nice conduct of war.Even his own subjects complained on this occasionof his folly in commencing, and of his ""vantof energy in carrying on, the campaign.The Sayyid's matrimonial eng::tgements werenumerous. In 1827 he married the daughterof the Farm{m-farma (Governor) of Fars, and agrand-daughter of Fath 'Ali Shah, under anagreement in the marriage contract that thebride might spend every summer with herown family at BandaI' Abbas or Shiraz. Disgustedwith Arab homelines's, and with SL""\: yearsof monotonously hot life at Maskat, she obtainedleave, and once in a place of safety she wroteback a strong epistle. It began, 'Ya Dayyus!ya Mal'un, alluding to the report that SayyidKhalid had violated the harem of his father, as

SA YYID SAID. 301the latter was also said to have done in hisyounger days. The Arab prince had loweredhimself in the eyes of his sUbjects by repreAentinghimself to be a 8hiah. She ealled him a,clog-Sunni, and upon this ground she demandedinstant divorce. 'rhe Sayyicl despatched twoconfidential elders with orders to represent thathis spouse could not legally claim such indulgence:a singular bastinado upon the soles oftheir feet soon made the venerable learned discoverthat divine right was upon the lady's side.Her next exploit was to bowstring, in jealousy, aKatirchi (muleteer) with whom she had intrigued;and, driven from. Shiraz by the fttme ofthis exploit, she died at Kazimayn, in child-bed,her lover being this time a Hammamchi, orbath-servant.In A.D. 1833, four years after the death ofRadama 1., the Sayyid formed matrimonial designsupon the person of Ranavola Manjaka,Queen of the Hovas, and a personage somewhatmore redoubtable than our good Queen Bess.Amongst his envoys on this occasion was oneKhamisi wa T~ni, who, under the Arabizecl nameKhamis bin Osman, presently played somenotable tricks upon the credulous', comparativegeographer,' Mr W. D. Cooley. The envoys

302 SAYYID SAID.were kept upon the frontier till the' Tangi-man 'arrived, bringing the Tangina. This nut, scrapedin water, is administered as an ordeal, like thebitter water of the ancient Israelites and thepoison nut of modern GabbaI'. The patient isordered to walk about; after some 20 minuteshe feels atrocious bowel-pains, prolapsus takesl)lace, and he dies; if wealthy enough to paythe priest, another kind of nut is at once administered,and it may cure by emesis. As soon asthis potion, which alw~~ys destroys traitors withfrightful torments, in fact, with the worst symptomsof Asiatic cholera, was proposed to the ambassadors,in order to prove the purity of theirintentions, and their affection for the royal family,all fled precipitately, as may he imag>inecl, fromthe ' Great Britain' of Africa. Sayyid Said wasalso unlucky in the choice of another Persianbride, the daughter of Irich Mirza, a supposititiousson of Mohammed Shah, and hardly asecond-class noble. She came to Zanzibar inA.D. 1849, accompanied by atrain of attendants,including her Parrashas (carpet-spreaders), herJilaudar (groom), and her private Jellad (executioner).She astonished the Arabs by her free useof the dagger, whilst her intense relish of seeingher people ricle men down in the bazar, and of

SA YYID SAID.superintending bastinadoes administered withPersian apparatus, made the Banyans crouch intheir shops with veiled faces, and the Arabsthank Allah that their women were not likethose of the A'ajam. In a short time the ladymade herself so disagreeable, that her husbandsent her back divorced to her own country.The Sayyid kept a company of60 or 70 concubines,and he always avoided those that bore himchildren. Though a man of strong frame andvigorous constitution, he exhausted his powersby excesses in the harem, he suffered fromSarcocele (sinistral) during later life, and analarming emaciation argued consumption. Theheat of Maskat, which he last visited whenhostilities between England and Persia werereported, brought him to his grave. In October,.1856, he died at sea off the Seychelles Islands, onhoard his own frigate, the' Victoria.' Aged 67,the' Second Omar,' as his subjects were fond ofcalling him before his face, seems to have hada presentiment of death; before embarking heprepared, contrary to Arab custom, a 'Sandlikel Mayyit,, or coffin, and when dying he gaveorders that his remains should be thrown overboard.The corpse, however, was carried to Zanzibarand interred in the city.

304 SAYYID SAID.Sayyid Said was probably as shrewd, liberal,and enlightened a prince as Arabia ever pro.duced, yet :Europe overrated his powers. LikeOrientals generally, he was ever surrounded byan odious entourage, whom he consulted, trusted,and apparently preferred to his friends and wellwishers.He firmly believed in the AfricanFetish and in the Arab Sahir's power of metamorphosis; 1 he would never flog a MgangaI I have alluded to this subject in my exploration of Rarar(chap. ii.), and a few more details may not be uninteresting.Strong-headed Pliny (viii. 32) believes metamorphosis to be a'fabulous opinion,' and remarks, 'there is no falsehood, boweverimpudent, that wants its testimony among them' (theGreeks), yet at Tusdrita be saw L. Coisiliu8, who bad beE'nchanged from a woman into a man. Curious to say, the learnedAnatomist of Melancholy (Part 1. sect. 1) charges him withbelieving in the versipellis, and explains the belief by lycanthropy,cucubuth or Lupina Insftnia. Petronius gives anaccount of the' fact.' Pomponiu8 Mela accuses the Druidessesof assuming bestial shapes. Suidas mentions a city wheremen changed their forms. Simon Magus coulc} produce adouble of himself. Saxo Grammaticus declared that tbt' priestsof Odin took various appeara,nces. John of Salisbury assertsthat Mercury taught mankind the damuable art of fascinatingthe eyes. Joseph Acosta instances fellow-countrymen in theWest Indies who were shot during transformation. Ourancestry had their were-wolf (homo-lupus), and the Britonstheir Bisclavaret. Coffin, the Abyssinian traveller, all but sawhis Buda change himself into a hyena. Mr Mansfield Parkynsheard of a human horse. In Shoa and Boruou men becomeleopards; in Persia, bears; in Somali-land eyn-hyenas; inWest African Kru-land elephants and sharks; in Namaqualand,according to the late Mr Andersson, lions. At Maskat

SAYYID SAID. 305(medicine-man), nor cut down a 'devil's tree.'He sent for a Shaykh whose characts werefamous, and with a silver nail he attached -thetransformation is fearfully frequent; and illiterate Shiahs believethe good Oaliph Abubekr, whom they call Pir i Kaftar(old hyena), to be trotting about the deserts of Oman in thesemblance of a she-hyena, pursued by many amorous males.At Bushire the strange tale of Haji Ismail, popularly called'Shuturi,' the' Oamel'd,' is believed by everyone, and wasattested with oaths by his friends and relations: this respectablemerchant whilst engaged in pilgrimage was transformedby an Arab into a she-camel, and became the mother of severalfoals, till restored to human shape by another enchanter.Even in Europe, after an age of scepticism, the old naturalsuperstition is returning, despite the pitch-fork, under anothershape. The learned authoress of the Night-side of Natureobjects to 'illusionists,' argues lycantbropy to be the effect ofmagico.magnetic influence, and instances certain hysterical andnervous phenomena of eyes paralyzed by their own weakness.For many years I have carefully sifted ,every case reportedto me in Asia and Africa, and I have come to the conclusionwith which most men commence. No amount of evidence canjustify belief in impossibilities, in bona fide miracles. More­.over, such evidence mostly comes from the duper and the dupe.Finally, all objective marvels diminish in inverse ratio to theincrease of knowledge, whilst preternaturalisms and supernaturalismsgradually dwindle down to the natural badly understood.Of course this disclaimer of belief in the vulgar miracledoes not imply that human nature has no mysterious powerswhich, if highly developed and displayed in a dark age, wouldbe treated as a miracle or as an act of magic. It has latelybeen proved that the will exercises positive and measurableforce upon inert matter; such' glimpses of natural actions,not yet reduced to law,'-as Mr Faraday said-open up awonderful vista in the days to come.VOL. I. 20

306 SAYYID SAID.paper to the doorway of Lieut.-Oolonel Hamerton'ssick-room, thereby excluding evil spiritsand the ghost of Mr Napier, who had died atthe Oonsulate. He refused to sit for his portrait-evenOolonel Smyth's History of Knighterrantryand Chivalrous Characters failed totempt him, for the European peasants' reason,-it would take away part of his life. When(chivalry' was explained to him, he pithily remarkedthat only the ( Sifiah' (low fellows) interferebetween man and wife, master and man.His pet axiom-a fair test of mental bias-was(Mullahs, women, and horses never can becalled good till death,' in this resembling Pulci-Casean Ie rose, e restan poi Ie spine;Non giudieate nulla innanzi al fine.The Societe Royale des Antiquaires clu Nordsent him their diploma: he declared that he wouldnot belong to a body of grave-robbers and corpsesnatchers.The census of Zanzibar having beenproposed to htm, unlike King David, he took refugewith Allah from the sin of numbering hispeople. When tide-gauges were supplied by theGeographical Society of Bombay, he observedthat the Oreator had bidden the ocean to ebb andto fiow-'what else elid man want to know aboutit? ' Such was his incapacity for understanding

SAYYID SAID. 807Buropean affairs, that until death's-day he believedLouis Philippe to have ca,rried into exile,as he himself would have done, all the fleet andthe public treasure of the realm. And he nevercould comprehend a Republic-' who administersthe stick? 'Of this enterprising man, the Mohammed AliPasha of the further Bast, I may say, Extinctusamabitur idem. Shrewd and sensible, highly religiousthough untainted by fanaticism; affableand courteous, he "vas as dignified in sentimentsas distinguished in presence and demeanour. Heis accused of grasping covetousness and treachery-butwhat Arab ruler is not covetous andtreacherous? He was a prince after the heart ofhis subjects; prouder of his lineage than fond ofostentation or display, an amateur conqueror on asmall scale, mild in punishment, and principallyremarkable as the chief merchant, cultivator,and ship-builder in his dominions. An epitaphmay be borrowed for· him from a man of verydifferent character-first in war, first in peace,and first in the hearts of his fellow-countr,ymen.Peace be to his manes!Sayyid Said's territory at the time of hisdeath extended in Oman from the Ra'as e1 Jel)el(Cape Musseldom) to Sohal'. In Mekran the

. 308 SAYYID SAID.seaboard between Ra'as Jask and Guadel belongedto him: in the Persian Gulf he hadKhishm, Larak, and Hormuz, and he farmedfrom the Shah, BandaI' Abbas and its dependency,Mina. His African possessions were farthe most extensive and important. He ruled, tospeak roughly, the whole Eastern Coast from N.lat. 5°, and even from Cape Guardafui, wherethe maritime Somal were to a certain extent hisdependents, to Cape Delgado (S. lat. 110), wherethe Arab met the Portuguese rule-an extent of16° = 960 geographical miles. The small republicsof Makdishu (Magadoxo, in N. lat. 2°l' 4"), of Brava (N. lat. 1° 6 148"), of Patta orBette (S. lat. 2° 9' 12"), and of Lamu (S. lat.2° 15' 42"), owned his protectorate, and in April,1865, Marka received from him a garrison. Thewhole Zanzibarian Archipelago was his, and heclaimed Bahrayn, Zayla, Aden, and Berberah,the first-mentioned with, the last three without,a shadow of right. His Arab subjects declaredthat they, and not the Portuguese, ceded BolUbayto the British: the foundation of the storyis a mosque built in ancient times by theOmanis, somewhat near the present Boree BandaI'.Sayyid Said left a single widow, the lady

SAYYID SAID. 309Azza bint Musa, of the Bli Khariban, a granddaughterof the Imam Ahmad, and consequentlya cousin. She is now (1857) in years, but herancient lineage and her noble manners retainfor her the public respect. She had but onechild, which died young: all the male issue ofthe Prince are by slave-girls, a degradation inthe eyes of free-born Omani Arabs. As usualamongst the wealthy and noble of the polygamousEast, the daughters are the more numerous,l and many are old maids, the pride ofbirth not allowing them, like the Sherifehs ofthe Hejaz, to wed with any but equals. Theeldest of the fourteen sons, Sayyid Hilal, who,in 1845, had visited England, it is said, afteran escapade, died at Aden en route to Meccahin 1851. He was followed, after an interval ofa few months, by his next brother, Sayyid Khalid,called the Banyan. The eldest surviving1 In the Journal of Anthropology eNo. ii. Oct. 1870, Art.ix.), James Oampbell, Surgeon, R.N., produces a paper upon, Polygamy; its influence on Sex and Population,' showing,by 17 cases drawn from Siam, exceptions to the commontheory that in the patriarchal family more female than malechildren are born. But the evidence is too superficial toshake the belief of men who have passed their lives in polygamouscountries; moreover, in the families cited the maleproducingpowers may either have been unusual, or they mayhave been peculiarly stimulated.

310 SA YYID SAID.heir (Sayyid Suwayni), the son of a Georgian orCircassian slave, born about 1822, became by hisfather's will, successor to and lord of the northernprovinces. To Sayyid Majid, the fourth son,now (1857) aged 22, a prince of mild dispositionand amiable manners, contrasting strongly withthe vigorous ruffianism of his elder brother, wasleft the Government of Zanzibar and of theEast African Coast. There is, as usual amongstArabs, a turbulent tribe of cousins: of these themost influential is Sayyid Mohammed, a son ofSayyid Salim bin S'l1ltan, younger brother to thelate Prince, who some years ago died of consumption.Hitherto he has used his powersloyally-ruling, but not openly ruling. SayyidSaid's valuable prol)erty, including his plantations,was sold, as his will directed, and themoney was divided according to a fixed scale,even the youngest princes claiming shares. Nobetter inducement to permanent dissension couldhave been devised. But Eastern monarchs apparentlydesire that their dy~sties should diewith them. Path Ali Shah of Persia, whenasked upon his death-bed to name a successor,drew a sword and showed what made and unmademonarchs: scarcely had the breath left hisbody than the chamber was dyed with the blood

SAYYID SAID. 311of his sons, each hastening to stab some hatedrival brother.These lines were penned in 185'7. Since1859 the hapless and turbulent family has beenin a state of fratricidal strife, and the provinceof Oman has reverted to its normal state of intrigue,treachery, and assassination. SayyidSuwayni, a negligent and wasteful though notan unpopular man, to whom the English wereespecially obnoxious, threatened in 1859 an attackupon Sayyid Majid, and was prevented byBritish cruisers; in due time he was murderedby his son, Sayyicl Salim, who usurped theGovernment. This Sayyicl Salim was dethronedby his uncle, Sayyid Turki, who surprised ~i[askat,and made himself master of the situation.The European would· imagine that the stakeswere hardly worth such reckless play: Arabs,however, judge otherwise.

CHAPTER VIII.ETHNOLOGY OF ZANZIBAR.RESIDENTS.THE FOREIGN, Quiconque ne yoit gnereN'a guere adire anssi. 1\1on voyage depeintVous sera d'Ull plaisir extreme.Je dirai; j'etais la; telle chose m'avint,Vons y croirez etre vons-meme.'-LA FONTAINE.THE 300,000 souls 1 now (1857-9) composingthe residents on, and the population of, the ZanzibarIsland, are a heterogeneous body. Theformer consist of Americans and Europeans,I The extremes mentioned to me were 100,000 and1,000,000. Captain Smee (1811) gave 200,000. Dr Rnschenberger(1835) made the population of the Island 150,000souls, of whom 17,000 were free negroes. M. Guillain(1846) places the extremes mentioned to him at 60,000 to200,000: when he asked the Sayyid, the latter replied like averitable Arab, , How can I know when I cannot tell you howmany there are in my own house? '

THE CONSULAR CORPS. 31;iabout 14,000 Banyans (including those of theCoast), a few Parsees and Portuguese from Goa,and sundry castes of Hindustani Moslems, Khojahs,Mehmans, and Borahs, nnmbering some1200. There are also trifling numbers of freeblacks from the Comaro Islands, Madagascar,Unyamwezi, and the Somali country. To thisaccidental division I will devote the presentchapter.The Consular corps is represented by threemembers, who, as usual in these remote Orientalspots, assume, and are allowed to assume, theposition of plenipos. The first American officialwas M1' Richard Palmer, who was succeeded bysundry acting men: the second was Mr Waters,who left in 1844: then came ]\1:1' C. vVard, MrWebb, and Mr Macmullan. Captain Mansfieldnow (1859) holding office, is agent to MessrsJohn Bertram and 00. of Salem. This gentleman,who took a great interest in the EastAfrican Expedition, has had a more extensiveexperience of the East than his predecessors; hehas also the advantage of being respectable andrespected.On the part of the French Government thefirst Consul was M. Broquant: he died of feverand dysentery at Zanzibar, and was succeeded by

3ltTHE CONSULAR CORPS.}/I. de "Beligny, a "French Oreole from SantoDomingo, afterwards transferred to Manilla andto Oharleston, South Oarolina. M. Vignard, ayoung man of amiable manners, and distinguishedin Algeria as an Arabic scholar, fellvictim to a sunstroke when voyaging from Aden,~where I met him en route for his post. The preseutOonsul is M. Ladislas Oochet: the 011ancellicl'and Dragoman is M. Jablonski, Poleand poet.Lieut.-Oolonel Atkins IIamerton is, and hasbeen, I have said, H. B. :JYlajesty's Consul, andH. E. 1. Oompany's Agent at the Court of H. H.Sayyicl Said,since December, 1841, when we firstestablished relations with Zanzibar. Attachedto his establishment is a passed apothecary, anEurasian, the only attempt at a medico on theIsland. Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton had been onterms of intimacy with Sayyid Said during aquarter of a century; and their friendship, ashappens, began with a 'little aversion.' TheBl'itisher proposed to travel in the interior fromMaslmt, in those days a favourite explorationwith the more adventurous; and the Arab, suspiciousas all Arabs, thinking it safest to put theintruder out of the way, imprudently wrote aletter to that effect. This missive fell into the

LIEUT.-COLONEL HAlIfERTON. 315---_.. _----------~.hands of the l)e1'son whom it most concerned: heboldly carried it to the Prince, and reproachedhim in no measured terms with his perfidy.Sayyicl Said found himself overmatched, submittedto Kisl1'lat, and, aclmiring the haveller'sspirit and openness, determined to win his attachment.The two became firm friends; theConsul was the inHuential adviser of the ruler,and the latter intrusted him with secrets jealouslyhidden from his own. The reason whythe trade of Zanzibar was surprisingly developedunder the primitive rule of an Arab Princeis not only the immense wealth of EasternAfrica, it results mainly from the wise measuresof a man who for the greater pa,rt of his lifedevoted himself to the task. It was an unworthyfeeling which made lVI. Gumain write ofmy late friend (ii. 23), 'Bref, sa reputation estde placer fort bien, et it, beaux benefices, l'argentque lui clonnent In reine et Ie gouvernment de lacompagnie'-his generosity to his family leftlittle after his decease. Not the least of SayyidSaid's anxieties upon his death-l)ed was to reachZanzibar alive, and even when half-unconscioushe continually called for Oolonel Hamerton. Itis suspected that he wished to communicate theplace of his concealed treasures, which, despite

31GLIEUT.-COLONEL HAMERTON.the most careful search, were never found. Whenhiding their hoards it is not unusual for Arabsto put to death the slaves who assist in the labour,and thus to prevent negro indiscretion. Thefamily, I may here say, firmly believes thatColonel Hamerton knows where the hoards lay,and yet refuses to divulge the secret.It will not be easy properly to fill this appointment.Without taking into considerationthe climate, it is evident that few Englishmenare prepared to settle for long years at remoteZanzibar, and Arabs do not care to trust newmen. Yet it would be the acme of short-sightednessto neglect this part of East Africa. OurAnglo-Indian subjects, numbering about 4000 1in the dominions of Zanzibar, some of themwealthy men, are entitled to protection from theArab, a,nd more especially from the Christianmerchants. Almost the whole foreign trade, orat least four-fifths of it, passes through theirhands; they are the principal shopkeepers andartisans, and they extend as far South as Mozambique,Madagascar, and the Comoro Islands.During the last few years the number of Indiansettlers has greatly increased, and they have1 The extremes of the guess-work census are 2600 and5000.

EUROPEAN SETTLE.MENT. 317obtained possession from the Arabs, by purchaseor mortgage, of many landed estates in the Sayyid'sdominions. The country can look forwardonly to a moderate development whilst it continuein the present hands, but the capabilitiesof tlle coast are great. Labour only is wanted;and a European power establishing itself uponthe mainland-this object has frequently beenproposed, and is st~adily kept in view-could ina few years command a territory and a commercewhich would rival \iVestem India.The other white residents are· commercial,and it is with no little astonishment t11at theEnglishman finds no direct trade with GreatBritain, and meets none of his fellow-countrymenat Zanzibar. 1 Their absence results notfrom want of venture or dearth of business, butfrom supineness on the part of the authorities.No merchant can profitably settIe where he cannotfreely correspond, receive advices that shipshave been despatched, and obtain orders for cargoesand consignments. Moreover, large sumshave bcen w3,sted by respectable houses in settlinghere trustwortlty agents and sober men. The fewfavourable exceptions found the climate either1 In 1862-3 a Bombay firm esta,blished a branch on theIsland, but I have not heard of the results.

318 EUROPEAN RESIDENTS.unendurable or fatal. Hitherto, however, Englishmenhave clone little, and, I write it unwillingly,Englishwomen have done less, for thehonour of the national name at Zanzibar than inmost parts of the East. Two girls came out tothe Island, married to the usual 'black princes,'who mostly turn out to be barbers or domesticservants; this proceeding greatly scandalizedthe white residents, and the Desclemonas gavemore trouble to the officials than the wholecolony.The principal American houses ~Lrethose ofiVlessrs Bertram & Co., represented by Cal}tainMansfield, Mr Ropes, and Mr Webb: MessrsItufus Green & Co., also of Salem, have threeagents, :M.:essrs Winn, Spalding, and Wilkins.Lastly, there is Mr Samuel Masury, of Salem, a, geneml merch

FRENCHMEN. 319copal, ivory, and gold dust, and the Frenchmerchants resolved by concurrence to drive theAmericans out of the field. Messrs Vidal frercsof Marseille despatched accordingly to ZanzibarMessrs Bauzal1, ",Vellesley, and Peronnet,and apIJointed :M. l1:ass their second agent atLamu. They were 0PIJosed by Messrs Rabaudfferes, also of Marseilles, a house from whom wereceived especial kindness: their Zanzibar mall-, -agel' was M. Hannibal Berard, and M. Terassinwas sent to the 'bone of contention,' Lamu.These firms choose their employes amongst theircaptains, who act supercargoes as well as commandel's;they are estimable men, sober andskilful, but painfully lax in dealing with 'lesnegres.' Their Consul publicly declared that itwas his duty to cllrb the merchants, as well asto protect the commerce of France.rrhe specialty of the French houses is oil.They export the cocoa-nut in various forms,sesamum and other .oleaginous grains, whichProvence converts with such energy and successinto huile el'olives. The sesamUl1l is a comparativelynew article of comnlerce, yet the Periplus(chap. xiv.) numbers Elmon Sesamillon (oil ofsesamum) amongst the imports from India..Now it is supplied chiefly by Lamu. Vast

320 FRENCHMEN.quantities could be grown there, but the natives,though large advances have been offered to them,will not extend their cultivation for fear of loweringthe price, which has lately doubled.:B"lrench ships now visit the West Ooast of Indiaas far North as Kurrachee, in search of sesamum,and last year (1856) 27 vessels took cargo fromBombay.At length the Marseille houses found outthat Zanzibar is overstocked with buyers; thatclemand in these regions does not readily, atleast, create supply; that it is far easier to disposeof than to collect a cargo; that the Africanman will not work as long as he can remain idle,and that sure profits are commanded only by theBanyan system; briefly, the two French housesare eating up each other. The Messrs Vidal arenamed for a loss of $400,000, which it will beimpossible to recoup. It is also reported thattoo sanguine M. Ie Ohancellier was threatenedwith a proces-verbal; of his 232 ships 70 werewhalers, many namcs had been twice registered,and only 32 (232 minus 200) took in cargo.The houses from Hamburg, that' Oarthage ofthe Northcrn Seas,' conclude the list of Europeans.The brothers Horn and M' Quas, agentsfor Messrs Herz ancl 00., are the most successful

GERMANS. 321copal cleaners; they find it more economical tokeep a European cooper than to depend uponthe bazar. Messrs William and Albert Oswald,British lJroteges, represent their father; they areassisted by M. Witt, an intelligent young man,who having graduated in Oalifornian gold-fields,proposes to prospect the Ooast. M. Koll actsfor Messrs Hansing and 00., and, lastly, l\LReich, lately returned to the Island, is ,the representativeof Messrs Mii.ller and 00.Europeans are, as a rule, courteously treatedby the upper classes, and civilly by the Arabs atZanzibar ; this, however, is not always the caseon the Ooast. They are allowed to fly flags;every merchant has his staff upon l1is roof, andthere is a display of bunting motley as in theBrazil. Even a Outch boat will carry the Sayyid'splain red colours, with the Union Jack inthe corner, and the Turkish crescent and star inthe centre.Oomposed of patch-work material, the Europeansdo not unite, and their disputes, especiallybetween compatriots, are exasperated by commercialrivalries, which have led to serious violationsof ft"tith. All is wearisome monotony: thereis no society, no pleasure, no excitement; sportingis forbidden by the treacherous climate, and,VOL. T. 21

322 FOOD.as in vVest Africa and the Brazil, strangers soonlose the habit of riding and walking. Moreover,the merchants, instead of establishing the businesshours of Bombay, make themselves at hometo their work throughout the day; this is thecustom of the Bonny River, where supercargoesare treated like shopkeepers by the negroes.Emopean women, I repeat, seldom survive theisolation and the solitary confinement to whichnot only the place but also the foul customs ofthe people condenm them.The necessaries of' life at Zanzibar are plentiful,if not good. Bread of imported wheat isusually' eooked ' in the house, and the yeast ofsour toddy renders it nauseous and unwholesome.There have been two bakers upon the Island:one served at the Oonsulate, the other, a Persian,was in the employment of the Prince. ]\ifeat ispoor; a good preserved article would here makecent. per cent. Poultry is abundant, tastelessc:md ulmutritious; fish is also common, hut it ishawUy eatable, except at certain seasons. Cows'Tnilk is generally to be 11a(l, but the butter iswhite, and resembles grease; fruit must bebought at the different bazars eaTIy in themorning. All such articles as tea, wine, andspirits, cigars, tobacco, and sweetmeats, are im-

EXPENSE. 323ported from America or from Europe,-the townsupplies nothing so civilized. l~etail dealing iswanted, and the nearest approach to a shop isthe store of a Khojah, who will buy and selleverything, from a bead to a hale of cloth.All articles but money are expensive ~Lt Zanzibar,where the dollar represents our shilling. lThis is the result of the large sums accumuhtteclby trade and of the necessity of importing provisions;'we see the same process at work tllToughoutthe tropical Brazil. Moreover, in all semibarbarouslands a stranger living like a native,may live upon' half-nothing; , if he would, howeyer,preserve the comforts of home, and especiallyif he would see society, he must consent to animmoderate expenditure. Finally, where theextremes of wealth and poverty meet, and wheresemi-civilization has not discovered thG'"t prudenceis a virtue and improvidence a blunder,the more man spends the m.ore he is honoured.1 I have 1Jeen much amused by the comments of the pressllrOn the expenses of minor officials living abroad, as elicitedfrom Ministers and Charges d'Affaires by the Diplomatic COIllinitteeof 1870. There seems to be a deeply-rooted idea ill theBritish brain that, because heavily taxed, our native island isthe most expensive of residences. On the contrary, I haveeven found Engbnd the cheapest country, and London thecheapest capital in Europe. At Fernando Po my outlay wasnever less than £1800; at Santos (Brazil) it was £1500; atDamascus, from £1200 to £2000, and so forth.

324 EXPENSE.The humblest dwelling at Zanzibar lets unfurnishedfor £80 to £100 per annum. Furnitmeof all kinds, porcelain, china, plate, andlinen, no matter how old, fetch more than primecost, and $1 will be paid for a patched andrickety chair worth in London a shilling. Clothingmust be brought from Europe: broad clothis soon spoiled by sun and damp, and shoes mustnot be exposed to the air-it is well to have thelatter one or two sizes larger than at home. Theluxuries of life are of course enormously dear,when they are to be purchased. During theSayyid's absenee the women of his harem have,through the eunuchs, sold for a song the valuablepresents sent from Europe; and after thereturn of the royal vessels from Bourbon andthe Mauritius, watches and chronometers, sextantsand spy-glasses, have been exceedinglycheap. In both cases the stranger-purchaserwould have done well to remember that he wasbuying stolen goods.Another. cause of expense at Zanzibar is thepresent state of the currency. The rouble ofRussia is the franc of France, and here thestandard of value is the Maria Theresa or Germancrown, averaging 48. 2cl. Bearing the die of1780, and still coined at the mint of Vienna for

EXPENSE. 325the Arab and the E. African trade, it is perferredby the people simply because they know it. Thepopular names are Riyal (i.e. real, royal) or Gi1'8h(groschen, 'broad' pieces). Spanish dollars (bilhlkeh, 'father of window,' whence our' patak'),elsewhere 8 per cent. more valuable, are here onlyequal to Maria Theresas. In 1846 a FrenchMission failed to :fix the agio of the 5 francpiece at 10 per cent. below the Spanish dollar,which still remained 12.50 to 14 per cent. morevaluable. The Oompany's rupee, better metalthml both the above, being still a comparativestranger, loses nearly a quarter of its value. Othersilver pieces are the 'Robo' (Spanish quarterdollar) of 25 cents, and the pistoline (20 cents);these, however, are subject to heavy agio. Smallchange is always rare, another sure sign ofthriftlessness, and it is strange how scarce isbullion in a land so wealthy: I can only accountfor the fact by the Oriental practice of buryingtreasure. 1Where men reside solely for gain and sorelyagainst the grain, little can be expected fromsociety. Every merchant hopes and expects toleave Zanzibar for ever, as soon as he can realize acertain sum; every agent would persuade his em-. 1 For other details concerning the currency see the Appendix.

326 SERVANTS.~------------~ployerto recall him. Of late years, also, foreignerscomplain of a falling off in ivory, copal, cloves,and other articles which the natives, it might besupposed, could most easily supply; thus profitsare cmtailed, and a l)euny saved is a.pennygained. Most residents are contented with anAbyssinian or Somali girl, or perhaps an :M:sawahili;with a Portuguese cook, ,vho consents toserve till he also can get away; and. with a fewhired slaves or free blacks, the dirtiest, the leasthonest, and the most disorderly of domestics.The British Consulate is the only establishmentwhich employs Indian Moslems, perhaps the bestof Eastern attendants. This luxury costs, however,at least £25 per mens., each man receivingfrom ~no to ~n2, about double the wages paidin India, and all are ever anxious to returnhome, the mal de pays making them discontentedand unhappy. The bumboat-men andthe beach-combers are Comaro rascals, who sometimesgain considerable sums; there are alsosome half-a-dozen negroes, speaking a little bad:Prench, and worse English, who offer themselvesto every stranger, and who fleece him till turnedaway for making the quail squeak. Workmenare hired by the day. Carpenters demand $0.50,three times the Indian wage, and the day's

MECHANICS. 327work is at most 5 hours; of these men 4barely did in 43 what 2 ship-carpenters managedin 5 days. The blacksmith and tin-man receivofrom $0.50 to ;H per diem; the goldsmith ispaid according to the value of what he takes inhand-so much per dollar-weight.Tho merchants, par excellence of Zanzibar, arethe enterprising Bhattias or Cutch Banyans.The Periplus (chap. xiv.) mentions au extensiveimport trade for AriAke and Barugaze, the lattergenerally identified with Baroch. 1 Vasco ciaGama found' Indians,' especially Calicut mon, atMozambiquo, Kilwa, Mombasah, ancl Melinde,and by their information he reached their nativecity. From the beginning of the pTeSCl1t centurythe monopoly fell into the hands of the Bhattiacaste. At first they were obliged to make Zanzibar,vi;} Maskat, in a certain ship which sailedonce a year: they were exposed to many hardshipsand perils: several of them were murdered,and when a Hindu died the Arabs, like theTurks of Masawah, claimed the droit d'::Hlbaine.They rose in mercantile repute by commercialintegrity, frugality, and perseverance, vvhilst theinability of' the Moslem SarraJ to manage ac-1 Pliny, however (vi. 85), calls Baricazu a 'town oflEthiopia.'

328 BANYANS.counts or banking put great power into theirhands. At Maskat and the neighbourhood theynumber nearly 500, and here about 4.00. 1 Theyextend southwards to Angosh (Angoxa) andMozambique, where they make fortunes by thesale of Oasimir nair, and where they are now aswell treated as they were formerly tyrannizedover by the Portuguese. Thus, though neverleaving the seaboard, they command the inlandtrade, sending, where they themselves do not careto travel,' Arabs and 1\:asawahili to conducttheir caravans of savages and slaves. For thisreason they have ever been hostile to Europeanexploration, and report affirms that they haveshown no scruples in compassing their ends.They are equally powerful to forward the discoverer;they can cash drafts upon Zanzibar,Mandavi, and Bombay; provide outfits, supplyguards and procure the Pagazi, or porters, whoare mostly their employes. Ladha Uamhafarms the customs at Zanzibar, at Pemba Islandhis nephew Pisu has the same charge: Mombasahis in the hands of Lakhmidas, and some40 of his co-religionists; Pangani is directed byTrikanclas and contains 20 Bhattias, includingI In 1844 there were 500 Banyans on the Coast and Island,-the number has now nearly trebled.

BANYANS, 329those of Mbweni; even the pauper Sa'adani hasits Banyan; Ramji, an active and intelligenttrader, presides at Bagamoyo, and the customsof Kilwa are collected by Kishindas. I needhardly say that almost all of them are connectedby blood as well as by trade.The Bhattia at Zanzibar is a visitor, not acolonist; he begins life before his teens, and,after an expatriation of 9 to 12 years, he goeshome to become a householder. The greatchange of life effected, he curtails the time ofresidence to half, and furloughs become morefrequent as transport waxes easier. Not a Hinduwoman is found upon the Island; all the Banyansleave their wives at home, and the consequencesare certain peccadilloes, for which theymust pay liberally. Arab women prefer thenibecause they have light complexions; they aregenerous in giving jewels, and they do not indulgein four wives. Most of them, hovvever,especially those settled on the Coast, keephandsome slave-girls, and, as might be expectedwhere illegitimates cannot be acknowledged, theylabour under the imputation of habitual infanticide.On the other hand, their widows may notremarry, and they inherit the husband's propertyif not embezzled by relatives and caste-fellows,

330 BANYANS.The Bhattias are forbidden by their Dharma(' caste-cluty ') to sell animals, yet, with the usualcontradiction of their creed, all are inveterateslave-dealers. rrhey may not traffic in cowries,that cause the death of a mollusc; local usage,however, permits them to buy hippopotamustusks,rhinoceros-horn, and ivory, their staple ofcommerce. We cannot wonder if, through theirlonging to shorten a weary expatriation, theyhave sinned in the matter of hides. This, togetherwith servile cohabitation, caused a scandalsome years ago, when the Maluiraj, their highpriest, sent from Malwa a Chela, or disciple, toinvestigate their conduct. Covered with ashesand carrying an English umbrella; the holy manarrived in a severe mood; he rejected all civilities,and he acknowledged every address with11 peculiar bellowing grunt, made when ' Arti ' isoffered to the Dewta or deity. The result wasa nne of $20,000 imposed upon the rich andwretched J ayaram. The SlIm was raised amidstthe fiercest and most tumultuous of generalsubscriptions, and since that day the spoils ofthe cow have been farmed to a Khojah employe.All oppose with might and main the slaughter ofcattle, especially in public, and they attempt toquit the town during the Moslem sacrificial days.

BANYANS. 331(rhe long limp black hair, the smooth yellowskin, and the reguhtr features of the Bhattia,are conspicuous near the woolly mops, thegrinning complexions, and the flat faces of theViTasawahili. His large-peaked Cntch turban,white cotton coat or shoulder cloth, and showyIndian dhoti around the .loins, contrasts favourablywith the Arabs' unclean garb. (1'heJaneo, or thread of the twice-born, passes over hisshoulder, and, in memory of home, he encircleshis necle with a string of dry Tulsi stalks(Ocimum canum, a species of herb Basil), whichhe now grows at Za,nzibar. His manners as wellas his outer man are rendered pleasant andcourteous by comparison with the rest of thepopulation, and he is a kind master to his serviles,who would love him if they possibly couldlove anything but themselves.These Hindus lead a simple life, active onlyin pursuit of gain. On the Coast, where profitsare immense - Trikandas of Pang::mi, for instance,claims $26,000 of debt-they have substantialstone houses, large plantations, andgoodly gangs of male and female slaves. Thoseresident at Zanzibar are less anxious to displaytheir wealth; all, however, are now entitled bytreaty to manage their own affairs without the

332 BANYANS.interference of the local Government. ,:rheseBanyans will buy up the entire cargoes ofAmerican and Hamburg ships: the ivory fromthe interior is consigned to them, and they purchasethe copal from the native diggers. Theyrise at dawn to perform the semi-religious rite, Swin' (bathing), apply to business' during thecool of the day, and dine at noon. AvoidingJowari, the Arabs' staff of life, they eat boiledrice, vegetables, and ghee, or wheaten bread andl\1ung, or other pulse, flavoured with assafcetida,turmeric, and 'warm spices.' They chew tobacco,though forbidden by caste rule to smokeit, and every meal concludes with betel-nut andpepper-leaf, whose heating qualities alone enablethem, they say, to exist at Zanzibar. They workall clay, rarely enjoying the siesta unless richenough to afford such luxury: they bathe inthe evening, sup at 9 P.M., chew betel oncemore, and retire to rest.As the Island contains no local Dewta, theBhattias are careful to keep a Vishnu in thehouse, and to travel about, if possible, with acow: in places like Pangani, where the hornedgod cannot live, they supply its place by aHanuman (a small monkey, like the PresbyterEntellus of India) trapped in the jungle.

BANYANS. 333Pagodas not being permitted, they meet forpublic devotions at a house in the southernquarter of the city, where most of them live,and lately they have been allowed to build akind of fane at Mnazi Moyya. As usual withBanyans, the Bhattias have no daily prayers; onsuch festivals as the Pitri-paksha-the ' Manes­Fortnight,' from the 13th to the 18th of themonth Bhadrapad-they call in, and fee a Brahmanto assist them. Theil' proper priests arethe Pokarna, who, more scrupulous than others,refuse to cross the sea: the Sarsat Brahmans, socommon in Sind and Cutch, are the only highcastedrones who to collect money will visitZanzibar and Maskat. With a characteristictenderness, these Banyans cook grain at thelanding-places for the wild slaves, half-starvedl1Y the' middle-passage,' and inclination as wellas policy everywhere induces them to give almslargely. Apostasy is exceedingly rare: noneIslamize, except those who have been pervertedby Moslems in their youth, or who form connectionswith strange women. The Comoro men,here the only energetic proselytizers, have, however,sometimes succeeded: a short time agotwo Bhattias became Mohammedans, an cl theirfellow caste-men declared that the Great Destruc-

BANYAN/3.tiOll was drawing nigh. Yet Vishnu slept, andstill sleeps the sleep of the j~lst.vVhcn a :Bhattia's affairs become hopelesslyinvolved he generally , levants ': sometimes,however, he will goo through the TIiwali or bankruptcy,a far more troublesome process than tho'Gazette.' The unfortunate places in his storefronta lighted lamp, whence the name of theceremony, and with head enveloped in a sheet,he silently occupies the furthest corner. Presentlya crowd of jeering Moslems collects to seethe furious creditors ranting, scolding, and beatingthe bankrupt, 'who weeps, wails, calls uponhis god, and swears to be good for all futuretime. 'rhese degrading scenes, however, are nowbecoming Tare. They remind us of the Tuscalls::mc1 the Bocotiau8 of old, 'who hrought theirbankrupts into the market-place in a bier, withan empty pmse carried before them, all the boysfollowing, where they sat all day, circu?nstanteplebe, to be infamous and ridiculous.'All Hindus are careful when returning homefrom foreign travel to purge away its pollutionhy performing a Tirth or Yatra to some holyspring, and by large payments to Brahmans.Moslems declare that when the death-rattle isheard, one of those present' eases off' the mori-

BANYANS. 335bund by squeezing his throat. Banyan corpsesare burnt at a place about two miles behind thetown, and the procession is accompanied by aguard to keep off naughty boys. When

336 PARSEES.zibar ; two were carpenters, and the third was awatchmaker, dishonest as his craft usually is.rl'o the general consternation of Europeans, twoParsee agents lately landed on the Island, sent bysome Bombay house whose name they concealed.These will probably be followed by others, and ifthat most energetic of commercial races oncemakes good a footing at Zanzibar, it will pre-.sently change the condition of trade. They areviewed without prejudice by the Arabs and thevVasawahili. The late Sayyid was so anxious toattract Parsees, who might free him from theurroganceand the annoyance of 'white merch~tnts,'that he would willingly have allowedthem to build a ,rrower of Silence,' and to perform,uninterrupted, all the rites of their reoligion.The Indian Moslems on the Island and theOoast were numbered in 1844 at 600 to 700.Besides a few Borahs and Mehmans, Zanzibarcontains about 100 Khojahs, who are held to bea 'generation of vipers, even of Satan's ownbrood.' Here, as in Bombay, they are calledIsmailiyyahs, heterodox Shiahs, who take a namefrom their seventh Imam Ismail, son of Ja'afarel S{tdik, while orthodox Shiahs believe theseventh revealed Imam to have been Musa el

SHIAHS. 337Kazim, another son of J a'afar e1 S~1,dik; and thefounder of the Sophy (Safawi) dynasty, in thetenth century of the Hijrah (A.D. 1501). Theyhave derived from the Batinis and Karmatis certainmystic and subversive tenets; and they areconnected in history with Hasan Sabah (or Sayyah,the travelling Darwaysh), our Vetulus demontanis, or Old Man (Shaykh, i.e. chief) of theMountains, and with modern Freemasonry,which begins to appear when the Orusaders hadsettled in that home of heresies, Syria and Palestine.Hence the tradition that the First GrandLodge was transferred" to Lake rriberias, afterthe destruction of Jerusalem. They practisethe usual profound Takiyyah (concealment oftenets), call themselves Sunnis, or Shiahs, as thecase may require, and assume Hindu as well asMoslem names. The Imam to whom they nowpay annual tribute is one Agha Khan Mahallati,a Persian rebel, formerly Governor of Kirman,and afterwards notorious upon the Bombay turf.This incarnation of the Deity is not intrusted,vith any of the secrets of his sect.The Khojahshave at Matrah, near Maskat, an enclosedhouse, which the Arabs call Bayt el Lliti:Theydeclare that both sexes meet in it, and that whenon a certain occasion it was broken open,YOLo I. 22a

338 KHOJAHS.large calf of gilt silver was found to be theobject of worship. Other incredible tales arealso told about the sect: they remind us of thelegends of the Libanus, which make the Druzes,apparently another offshoot of the Batini, worshipEl Ijl (the calf) when the figure is placedin their Khilwahs, or lodges, in memory of thedetested Nishtakin Darazi, and in contra-distinctionto El AId, Hamzeh, their greater, prophet.' I No Agapomenical establishmentsexist at Zanzibar: the cbief of the heretic sectis one Haymah, who has, however, but littleauthority, and who commands even less respect.The Khojahs at times repair to a tumbledownmosque on the sea-shore south of the city, in thequarter ca.lled Mnazi Moyya.By no means deficient in intelligence, thoughunscrupulous and one-idea'd in pursuit of gain,the Khojahs are the principal shop-keepers inZanzibar. They are popularly accused of usingfalse weights and measures; they opposed the introductionof a metallic currency, and they haveever advocated, with the Prince, a return to thebad old state of barbarism. Many have applied1 Such is the general view. There may, however, be asection of the .Druze creed that retains the calf-image inhonour.

HANDS011;fE MOSES. 339themselves to slave-dealing, and lately one wasdeported for selling poison to negroes; they arereceivers of stolen goods, and hy the readinesswith which they huy whatever is brought forsale, they encourage the pilfering propensities ofthe slaves. They travel far and wide; severalof them have visited the Lake Regions, and weafterwards met, at Kazeh of Unyanyemhe/ oneof their best men, Musa Mzuri. At Zanzibar allnot in trade are rude artisans, who can patch alantern and tin a pot; one of them, who hadlearned to mend a watch, repaired the brokenwheel of my pocket pedometer.Of the free hlacks who visit and who sometimesreside in Zanzibar, I have mentioned tl1eMalagash: these Madagascar Islanders occupythe easternmost suhurb of the town. In earlyages the Arab and Wasawahili settlers on thewestern coast of the Great Island traded withthe Mozambique, the Sawahil, and even Arabia,and since 1829 the persecutions of the QueenRanavola-Mal1jaka, and the heavy yoke of theHova conquerors, caused many to le~we theirhomes. The rare Somal need hardly be no-1 , Handsome Mose:> , \:> ment\Olled in 'The Lake lleglol1j1of Central Africa' (i. 323, et passim). III' and his' brother,'Sayyan, entered the country about 1830.

340 , aOl110RO-i1tIEN.'ticed. During the season a few run down fromMakdishu and Brava, to trade and barter hidesand cattle. There are almost 2000 men fromAngazijeh (Great Comaro), Mayotta, Hinzuwanor Anjuan (Johanna), and Muhayli. The wordCamara is evidently corrupted Arabic, meaning1.1:oon-Island. The natives of the Archipelagohere preserve their own language, which seemsto be a superstruction of Javanese and Bali,Arabic, and Sanskrit erected upon a primitiveinsular dialect, meagre and un-Aryan. Othershave detected in it a resemblance to that of thePhilippine Islands/ and hold the people to beof Malay origin. The blood was Persianized andArabized in the 12th century, and the Sultan andchiefs have ever since retained the Semitic physiognomy;but the extensive negro innervationhas so tainted the blood that no difference canbe perceived in the characteristic efl:l.uviumbetween them and the Wasawahili. It is curiousto hear them, withal, boast of their Koraysh descent,and pride themselves upon the glories ofthe ancient race that produced the' Rasul Ullah.'In A.D. 1774 they hospitably entertained theI I state this upon the authority of Lieut.-Colonel Hamerto:].Capt. GuilJain (iii. 414) appeal's to think the languageZangiun much mixed with Arabic.

JOHANNA-MEN. 341crew of an East Indiaman wrecked whilst enroute to Bombay. The Sultan of Johanna receivedin return a magnificent present from the H. E.I. Company, and the Cornaro Islanders gainedfor themselves a permanent good name. A Considerableemigration was caused in the early partof the present century by intestine divisions andby piratical attacks from Madagascar, whHstthe slave emancipation' by the French in 1847set a large class free to travel. Of late they havedisplayed a savage and mutinous spirit, andtwo men were put to death for attempting withpeculiar aUdacity the life of the young chief,Abdullah.Amongst Eastern impostors the Oomaro,especially the Johanna men, are facile principes :the singular scoundrels have completely masteredthe knack of cajoling Europeans - no SyrianDragoman can do it better. Once or twice a yearthey tell-off begging-parties, who. visit Mauritiusand Aden, Bombay and Calcutta, and who invariablyrepresent themselves as being on ' Churchbijness,'i.e. pilgrimage..Linguists, after the fashionof Egyptian donkey-boys, they also have thehabit, like the petty 8hay1\:hs and Emirs in theLibanus, of calling themselves 'princes.' Morethan one scion of Comoro loyalty, after obtain-

312 JOHANNA·kIElY.ing a passage on board our cruisers, insistingupon the guard being turned ant, and claimingfrom OUI' gullible countrymen all the honours ofkinghood, has proved to be a cook or a bumboatman.Unscrupulons as bigoted, they have inducedhalf-starved Europeans to apostatize byIJromises of making them chiefs and of marryingthem to princesses; after circumcision, thewretches were left to starve. The Comoro mensettled a,t Zanzibar are mostly servants inEuropean hou.'ses, where they recommend themselvesby exceeding impUdence and by beinghandy at any fraud. Others are rude artisans,and the rcstare Mercuries, beach.combers, andbumboat-men, who supply sailors with Venusallll Bacchus, both execral)ly bad. When expectinginvasion, Sayyid Majid equipped about 130 ofthese fellows as a garde de corps: they hadflint muskets, two spears apiece, and lozengeshapedhat~, whereas the common troops wore'woollon night-caps. Finally, they are cowardly asthey are dishonest: it was not without astonishmentthat I heard of TIl' Livingstone cngaging aparty of them for exploration in the Africaninterior, and the trick which they played him isnow a matter of history.The Diwans or chiefs of the mainland ports

A BLACK JUGURTHA.and towns occasionally visit the Island on publicand private business.' Twice a year, in our midsummerand midwinter, a crowd of the vVanyamweziand other races of the inner intertropicalregions flock, via the Ooast, into Zanzibar, wherethey engage themselves as IJorters, and undertakecarqing packs for the native traders to the LakeRegions and other meeting-phwes of commerce.They are so wild, that they cannot be induced toenter a house; and the terror of one who wasbrought to the consular residence was describedas grotesquely comical: even the more civilizedlook' upon a stolle abode as a cavern or a dungeon.These half-naked miserables may be seendevouring, like birds of prey, carrion and putridfish in the outskirts of the city; they have alsoa ' Devil's tree,' whose trunk bristles with nails,and whose branches are robed in foull'ags.Some ye~trs ago one of the chiefs of the interior,I was told, was brought to Zanzibar aprisoner of war. lIe is described as a man ofkingly presence, 6 feet 2 inches tall, handsomein face, and well-formed in head; his skin wascovered with scar and tattoo in patterns, amongstwhich the crescent shape predominated. l WhenlOne of my informa,nts suggested that from this peculiartattoo, , Unyaunvezi,' the Land of the Moon, might have taken

344 A BLACK JUGURTHA.struck by his Arab owner he spat upon him, anddeclared that if bUTnt alive he would not cryout. Being carried before the late Sayyid, heboldly told him that'God exalts men and bringsthem. lo-w, that both were kings, and that thesame misfortune which had made one a captivemight a.lso happen to the other.' As he walkedthrough the streets all the slaves, wild and do-.mestic, prostrated themselves, to be touched bythe point of his staff; they served him with foodupon their knees; they remained in that positionwhile he ate, and all wailed when he was l)lacedin the Fort. The same story is told of an old, Congo king,' who is still remembered at Rio de.Janeiro. The prisoner of Zanzibar invariablyplaced his foot upon presents, and when theSayyid restored him to liberty he departed emptyhanded.M. Broquin, the French Consul, andother Europeans made inquiries about this black.Jugurtha: an they could discover was that hiscountry lay somewhere about the great CentralLakes.A few Wazegura, Wasegejo, and "radigo,heathen from the mainland, visit Zanzibar to buyand sell, or to fly from foes and famine. Thethe IJame which the Greeks after their fashion literally translated' Mountain-range of the Moon.'

FLYING POPULATION. 345greater portion settle permanently upon the Island,the savage for the most part unwillinglyexchanges the comforts and pleasures of semicivilizationfor the wildness and freedom of'Nature,' so dear to the man of refinement,These Africans live by fishing and work in theplantations: they easily obtain from the largelanded proprietors bits of ground, paying as ayearly quit-rent half a dollar and upwards accordingto crop, manioc, bananas, and sweetpotatoes.

OHA.PTER IX.IIORSE:FLBSli Nf ZANZIBAlt.-'l'ilE OUTSKIRT~ OF'l'llE CI'l'Y, AND TilE CLOVE PLAN'l'ATIONS.'Peregrination charms our senses with such unspeahableand sweet variety, that some count him unhappy that nevertravelled, and pity his case, that from his cradle to his old agebeholds the same still; still, still the same, the same.'':':­, ANA.'fOMY OF MELA.NCHOLY,' Part II. sect. ii. memo 3.~Ios'f Europeans at Zanzibar keep horseswhich they seldom ride. The Sayyid, however,had, after hospitable A.rab clistOlu, placed a largestud at the disposal of Lieut.-Colonel Haluertonand his guests. I had heard luuch of the Omanblood, so before excursioning to the outskirts ofZan~ibar Oity we proceeded to the Prince'sstables.rrhe late ruler had rarely less than 200 luares,whose value ranged between $1500 and $2000:

ARAB IIORSES. 347at present, however, the number is greatly reduced.They require as much nursing as Elll"Opeandogs: in the morning they lUUst be picketedin the courtyard to. 'smell the air'; duringthe day they nlust take shelter from the sununder a long cajan-roofed shed; they 'lllust atall times be defended from rain. and devv; andthey must be fed with dry fodder-here, as inParaguay, the belief is that the indigenousgreen 11leat beco1nes fatal to inlported beasts. ,Ye. found the treatlnent very rough. The animalswere ungroo1ned, and mostly they had puffedlegs, the result of being kept standing night andday upon a ~lope of hard boarding. A.rnongstthem I was sho\vn a curious Nejdi, which remindedlue of Lady Hester Stanhope's pamperedbeasts; the coat was silver-white, theshoulders were pinkish, and the sadc11e-backanlounted almost to a defofluity. The favouritecharger of th~ late Sayyid is a littlo bay withblack points, standing about 14 hands 2 inches:its straight fetlocks are well fitted for stOll,)'ground, it "woars the Inane ahnost upon the"withers, and the shoulder is 'well thrown back,barely leaving room for the saddle. Tho' hindquarter,that vveak· point in the Arab, is firmlyand strongly made, and the tail is thin, switch-

348 OTIlER IlORSES.like, carried nearly straight, as usual with thebest blood, and remarkably high. The beauidealof a Nej di is a,n animal all shoulder andquarter, connected by a bit of barrel; and tothis pitch of excellence we are gradually breedingup our English horses. 'fhe charger inquestion is of the ancient Oman race, once cele-"brated for endurance: the late Sayyid, however,iDjured his stud by crossing foal and danl,"brother and sister, till the animals fined downand dwindled to mere dwarfs. I remarked that,here as elsewrhere, the Arabs have learned fromEuropeans to trace.the genealogy of their horsesthrough the sire, a practice unknown to thesons of the desert.All the best horses in Zanzibar come fromOman: an inferior strain is exported by Brava(Barawa), and the Somali ~ountry. The lattersends good little beasts somewhat like those ofthe Pernambucan Province; but worn out bylong marches and scant feeding, they usually dieduring the first rains. Upon the mainland theywill live for years. Here, however, the new importationsat first" fatten; then they get foul;the sweat becOlnes fetid; they lose breath andbecome unfit for work, till fatal disease manifestsitself by foam from the mouth. As in

J1IULES A1VD ASSES.34H, l\ialabar and ,lVlauritius, where.the field-officershave often been dismounted, it is next to impossible"to keep horses in health and condition:they are also costly, $150 ,to $200, 'Germancrowns, being asked for Kadishs or garrons.The Government stables at Zanzibar ,alsocontain a few mules brought from the Pers'ianGulf. They become liable to inveterate drowsiness;they start when approached, refuse foodand drink, and soon succulnb to the climate.The ass, on the contrary, here as in the EastAfrican interior, thrives even upon hard food,and consequently it is prized by the j~rabs.There are ma;ny breeds. During the season fineanimals are brought from Onlan; iron-greymares with white legs being preferred; Bahl'aynand the Persian Gulf send a large light-colouredbeast, resembling that of Baghdad; it is not, however,considered lasting. Asses iIllported fromBrava and the Somali country are held fit onlyfor carryipg burdens, and the Unyamwezi breed,known by its lopped ears, though strong andserviceable, is always but half tamed, and isoften vicious. The most useful and,lasting arethe'lVluta\vallid or ~1:uwallid, the progeny ofl\1:askat beasts, Oreoles born ul)on the Island-·.these we were advised to buy before leaving for

350 ASSES AND CA1l1ELS.the intorior. I subsequently purchased thirty·,and the last died within six Inonths of landing:·we then Inountec!' Unyam"\vezi aniInals, and hadnothing to complain of. Asses are ridden,as they always shouldbo, upon the crupper;the 'hullls' are rather pads than saddles, coveredwith thick cloths and black sheepskins; noone uses stirrups, and the bridle is the rudest ofcontrivances. The price of donkeys ranges froln$15 to $100: I bought a tolerable riding animalf or $ 60, and I heard of one costing $350.Finally, the Sayyid keeps for the use of hisplantation-mills a fevv n1iserable mangy canlelsfron1 Brava and Makdishu: they 11lay be worth$10 to $12 a-head.Mounted on the Prince's best vve passedthrough tho town, where the long sharp polesprojecting fronl the lo"\v house-eaves are notpleasant to those riding spirited nags. Thisis the labour hour, and all are not inactive.fJ.'he weaver on his raised clay bench, and shadedby his dwarf verandah, is engaged upon a turbq,l1,whilst his neighbour converts copal, reddened bycinnabar, into ear-rings and other ornanlents.rrhe tinsmith and the Comoro blacksmith, withthe usual African bellows, are also at "\vork hammeringat pots and pans, fashioning the normal

l.10RNING WORK, 351.weapons, arrow and spear heads, and repairingold guns.' The leather-worker is moulding atarge 'of rhinoceros-hide, apparently all luubo,and the vendors of oil and .grain, spices anddrugs, glass and' potions,' are on the alert. Bythe ",yay vve vvalked into the partiaUy-waUe,d compoundor court representing the slave-market,a bonEvfide affair, not like the carava,nserai whichused to be fitted up and furnished by the CaireneDragoman for the inspection of curious tourists.In 1835 a ",vooclen cage some 20 feet square oftoncontained some 150 men, women, and children,who every day· were 'knocked. down' to thehighest bidder in the public 'place.' In thosetinles the yeal~ly iluportation was 6000 to 7000.The bazar was subsequently held in the ChanganiQuarter, near the Western Point; the lateSayyid, however, having forbidden, by way ofsop to the British Cerberus, the sale of nlen inthe streets of Zanzibar as of n1:askat, it wasshifted to a plantation called Kirungani. listhis was found, inconveniently distant, it migratedto its present site. Lines of n~gl'oesstood like beasts, the broker calling out 'bazarkhush! '-the least hideous of the black faces,some of which appeared hardly human, weresurmounted by scarlet night-caps. All were

352 'TIlE SLAVE AIARKET.horridly thin, with ribs protruding like thecircles of a cask, and not a few squatted'sick onthe ground. The most interesting were thesmall boys, who grinned as if somevvhat pleasedby the degrading and hardly decent inspection towhich both sexes and all ages were subjected.'rhe woman-show appeared poor and miserable;there was only one decent-looking girl, withcarefully blacked eye-brows. She seemed 111odest,and had probably been eXI)osed for sale in con- .sequence of some inexcusable offence againstdecorum. As a rule, no one ,bUYS adult domesticslaves, male or female, for the sufficient reasonthat the masters never part with them till theyare found incorrigible. These, however, are1110stly Bozals, or wild serviles ne,vly driven fr.omthe interior, and they are not numerous, thetransactions of the year being now concluded.'fhe dealers smiled at us, and were in goodhUlnour.It would be easy to adorn this subject withmany a Hower of description; the atrocities ofthe c.apture, the brutalities of the purchase, theterrors of' the middle-passage, and the horrors towhich the wTetches' are exposed when enteringhalf-civilized lands. It was usual to throw theslaves overboard when the fatal symptom, eopro-

SLA VE DRIVERS. 353, phagism, appeared amongst thmu. A. single Dau(Dow) belonging to the late Prince Khalid lostvvhen 'running a course 500 slaves by sickness,and by the falling of the pont-fiottant or flyingdeck-manya desperate naval action could notshow such a butcher's bill. A, certain' CharlesL--, a kiln-dried Mauritius man, crucified'seven negroes in terrorem: two were fastenedoutside the ship, the others were nailed by thefeet to the deck, and by the hands to capstanbars, lashed across the luasts. With a lightedtar-barrel in an empty boat he nearly caused theloss of an English cruiser, and 'when she vvas\yell on the reef he let off rockets and salutedher. Another man, a Spaniard, finding his ventureslikely to die of dysentery, sewed them upbefore he sent them to the bazar; this slavermade an act of contrition before he died, andseverely blamed his bowie-knife. Sensationalparagraphs, however, are not 'wanted by those tovvhom the subject is familiar, and they are likelyto mislead the many who are not. I shall returnto the subject of slavery in another chapter.Thence we entered the Malagash Quarter,where the land belongs chiefly to Sayyid Sulaymanbin Hamed, a former Governor of Zanzibar;he is said to be so wealthy that heVOL. I. 23

354 TIlE ' RED BAZAR.'ignores the extent of his lueans. Here is theLal Bazar, the very centre of prostitution, anAgapemone of some twenty Oyprians: all areWasawahili-the Indian ""Yornen, ViTho appearalmost European in conlplexion and features,having now' left. Their faees like skinned apes,and lean legs encased in red silk tights, nlaketheir appearance revolting as their society is dangerous.. SOlue of them cool the orbits of theeyes by a kind of loup of perfunled tunueric,"whose golden tint causes the outer darkn0ss togloOlu extra sooty; others apply curry-coloureddabs to the ,voolly hair. Sundry of these patchesare frontlets or nledicines applied to the t01uples:In forluer days we used, for instance, 'rose­,vater and vinegar, viTith a little ViToman's mnk,and nutnlegs grated upon a ro.se cake,' and theJews are said to have snleared thml1selves w'ithOhristian blood.The Malagash Quarter is at the far east ofthe city, leading to two tUluble-do"i-n bridgeswhich span a lagoon luore deadly than that ofBritish Accra. These ruins might easily be convertedinto dykes, and in process of tiIue themouth would be .sanded or silted up; they arehowever, fated to luake way for iron improvements.In my day the lagoon ,vas connected by

THE FETID LAGOOJ."Y. 355fresh water .vvith the sea, and becalne nOIY aluuddy p'ool at the ebb tides of the Syzygies,then ~ sheet of festering luud which nearly encircledthe settlement, and ,vhich converted thesite of Zanzibar city into a quasi-islancl. Everyevening a pestilent sepulchral nlias111a :,1;rosefrolu it, covering the skin with a.clamnlY sI1 i eat,and exhaling a fetor which caused candles toburn dinl, and which changed the sound of thehuman voice. Lazy skippers anchoring here forfacility of "watering, thus exposing their luento the breath of the fetid lagoon, have lost in afew days half the ere,,,; and although the ,vatera,ppeared to be of the l)urest, it becalne so offensivethat ofte'n the casks had to be started.We then passed over a sandy flat, thinlypovvc1ered with black vegetable hU111US. To theleft,vas a creek upon whose sandy beach vesselsare hauled up, and ,vhere ships of 300 to 400tons can be safely careened: in a few yea,rs there'yill here be a dock. A mile of neat footpathplaced us at the late Sayyicl's SUInluer Palace,lfto-ni, which is distant about three direct nlilesfron1. the Consulate. AJter escaping the unpleasantattentions bestol1 ecl ul)on us by thertame ostriche~J who are al)t to use beak and"wing, we dismounted for inspection. The build-

356 TIlE SUA1],fER PALACE.~ng is of coral rag, pierced with square windows,and the wings are united by a verandah-terrace,·supported by wooden pillars, and facing l\1:eccah,fOl~ convenience of prayer. A few feet abovethe centre is the peaked roof of the Kiosk,which makes the place remarkable to· crewsentering the harbour. In front floats from sunriseto sunset the red flag of the Sayyid: therear is brought up by a small cemetery, sundryoffices, and lo·wly cajan-thatched hovels tenantedby slaves. 'fhe work of man is mean enough,but it is surrounded by the nohlest handiwork ofNature, coe-oas and mangoes, vvhilst the bordersof the little strealll could be beautifully laid out.GUIll Copal, formerly called in the tra9-eGUIll Anime, now Gum Elmlli, is washed downby the rains, and is picked up by the slavesabout the debouchure of this fiulnara.. On theMto-ni road also we passed sundry ,places wherepits, never exceeding five feet deep, had beensunk in the sandy plain, thinly clothed witlfsedgy grass. Upon the higher grounds, also, tojudge by the eye, about 100 feet above· sea-level,we found many deserted diggings. The soil is adark vegetable mOilld, varying in thickness froma foot to 18 inches, and based upon the raisedsea-beach of blue clay. This becomes fat and

, JACKASS-COPAL.' 357. adhesive, clogging the hoe as it descends: thehalf-decayed blood-red fibre vvith which it ismixed throughout ,vas recognized by the negroesas cocoa-roots. Bits of sc~rlet-coloured earthalso variegated the faint blue n1arl, and at adepth of 2~ feet water began to. exude from thegreasy vvalls of the pit. These places supplyonly the raw or unripe copal, locally calledOhakazi, l and by us corrupted to Jackass: thetl~ue vegetable fossil must· be brought frolll thecoast. The tree w"as probably once common onthe Island, but it has been cut down for nlastsand similar uses. Oopal does not appear underthat name iJ? the list of eX1)orts from Zanzibargiven by Captain Smee in 1811: possibly thatofficer alludes to it "when speaking of 'Dammer.'In early days' gum-anime' was held a preciousmedicine for rheums and heaviness of the head.It was imported via the Levant' from the l)lacewhere incense is found, and that lande or soyle iscalled Animitim, and therefore the thing is called,A.nime,' says Dr Nlonardes, treating of the obj.ectsthat are brought from the West Indies. He addsthat American A.nime ,vas vvhiter, brighter, .andsaid to be a ' spice of Olzarabe or Buccino, ,vhich is1 Tchl1kazi, espece de gomme-resine, dont j'ignore l'origine(lY1. Guillain, Part II. p. 87). .

358 CLOVE-ORO/JARDE.called alnber congealed.' In 1769 Portugalforbade the iUlportation of true copal, in order toprotect the J atayeica or gum of the Jatoba(hyulenma)~ of which 14 Arrobas had been sentfrom rl'uriassu in the Brazil.Leaving !fto-ni, after half a mile of beach, weturned towards the interior, and ascended thegentlyrising ground, beautifluly unchuated, whichleads to the royal estates called Rauzah and Taif"fonnerly }uzimba-ni or 8ebbe. For ,two or three]uilcs a narro",~ path, 'which cOlllpellcd us to ridein Indian file, wound through cocoa-groves andpatches of highly-cultivated ground, 'with hereand there a hut buried under fruit-laden mangos.The track, then 254 feet above sea-level, 'widenedinto a broad avenue of dark conical clove-trees,varying in height from 6 to 16 feet according toage; feathered almost to the ground, and extending,like tho well-berried coffee-shrub, its branchesat right angles to the trunk. .All, however, borethe impress of neglect, where Dr Ruschenbergerfound a 'picture of industry and of admirableneatness and beauty' that employed from 500 to700 slaves.We saw little to admire in the 'palace,' a singlestoriedlodge of coral rag, and ample porches lookingupon sundry courts and yards, negro quarters

SERVILE DESTRUCTIVEiVESS. 359. and (hying-grounds. There is here a \vell saiclto be 100 fathoms deep, which gives \vater onlyin the rainy seasons; most of the upland plantationsmust draw the elen1.ent from the littlestreams. The Arab care-takers, after refreshingus ·with cocoa-nut milk, led us out to inspect thegrounds. These Semites, satiated \vith verdure,despise the idea of assisting nature, and yot at:lllaskat they 'will gaze delighted upon a dusty,ragged plot of sand-veiled rock, dotted ""vitl consumptivetrees, and dignified by the name of agarden. Some years ago Lieut.-Oolonel Hamortontaught the late Sa,yyid to plant roso-trees; wmch. gave a crop as abundant as those of ancient Syria:during their' owners' absence the slaves uprootedthe young growth in very 'wantonness. The nutmegfared as bacUy. The Oonsul also succeeded inproducing wall-flowers, lavender, and the applescentedas ""vell as the common geranium: importedfrom Europe 1vith abundant trouble, theymet the fate of all the roses. The Ravenala, orTravellers' tree, was brought :hom the Seychellesby the Sayyid with the same unsuccess. Severalkinds of jasmines were transported from Cutchto. Zanzibar: the Arabs objected to them, thatthe see: t depresses the male sex and undulyexcitesthe feminine. lVIany fto\vers-for instance,

360 TJ-IE OLO VE.the Narcissus and certain Acacias-labour underthe same ill-fame.Hero, after admiring the delicious view of thetree-crown:ed uplands, the low grounds buried inthe richest forest, the cocoa-fringed shore of purest"white, and the sea blue as a slab of lapis lazuli, wehad an, opportunity of inspecting the celebratedclove plantations of Zanzibar. According toCastanheda, when Vasco da Ganla first touched atMombasah and Melinde, their Reguli sent hinl,amongst other presents, cloves, and declared.thattheir countries grew' the spice. Other travellersmention.the clove being found at various parts ofEast Africa, and Andrea Corsali in Ramusio describesthe produce as 'not like'those of India, butshaped more like our acorns.' The Dutch, however,since their conquest of the Moluccas or SpiceIslands in 1607, monopolized the clove like thenutmeg; and by destroying the former and enslavingthe cultivators, they confined it, lest the priceshould fall" to the single Island of Amboyna.The naturalist traveller, M. Poivre, 1vhen governorof the Isle of France, brought from the leastfrequented of the Moluccas, in June 27, 1770,some 450 nutmeg stallcs. and 10,000 nutmegs inblossom or about to blossom, together with 70clove trees and a box of plants, many of them

THE OLOVE. 361well above the earth. In 1772 a further supplywas procurecl; the greater part was kept in the'Isle of France, the rest were dispersed amongstthe Seychelles, BOlu-bon, and Cayenne.. All thespecimens given to private individuals died:skilful botanists, however, succeeded in preserving58 nutmegs and 38 clove trees. Of the lattertwo bore blossoms in 1775, and .the fnut "vas'gathered in the following year; the produce,however, 'was small, light, and dry', and all deemedthat the Dutch had been unnecessarily alarmec1. 1The project, however, proved completely successful.In 1818 the clove-tree (CaryophJrllus aromaticus)was introduced from l\lauritius and Bourboninto Zanzibar;, J;~9.u~11ng little care, itspeedily became a favourite, and in 1835 thearistocratic foreigner almost supplanted thevulgar valuable cocoa-nut, and the homely ricenecessary for local consumption. The Banyans,Americans, and Europeans shared amongst thenlthe principal profits of other commerce, and thecloves enriched the squirearchy, the landed proprietors.Yet it 'was early predicted that thisprosperity would end in ruin; and presently theman who first introcluced the spice became a1 Establicimientos Ultramarinos, vol. iii. JHadrid, 1768.

3G2'TIlE CLOVE.beggar. After a few years extensive plantations,SOlnc containing 15,000 to 20,000 feet, were laidout in the richest parts of the Island. The trees,however, set at intervals of 14 to 40, and now 20feet, occupied large tracts of ground, and theywere so rarely trimnled, that degeneracy soonensued. Similarly the Brn,zilian planter, thoughvvell aware of his loss, cannot prune his coffeeshrub: his hands are all negroes, and if allowedto use cutting instruluents, they would hackeven the stem. Now the Zanzibar article cannotconlpete with the produce of Bourbon; and theDutch having thrown into the market the valuableand long-withheld produce of the Moluccas,it threatens to become a drug. The people vvoulddo well to follow the example of I\1auritius,'whence the clove has long departed in favour ofsugar. For the latter Zanzibar is admirablyadapted: when factories shall everywhere beestablished, the Island will have then found herproper profession, and will soon attain the heightof her prosperity.The clove (Karanful), planted in picturesquebands, streaking the red argillaceous hills, isallowed to run to wood, and to die, withered atthe top, in the shape of a bushy thick-foliagedtree 35· feet tall, and somewhat resembling a

THE CLOVE.3G3laluel. Grown from seed, it bea.rs in the fifthyear, and'the fruit, the unexpa.nded flower-bud,is uSllally ripe in October. In rainy years theharvest beginning "with early. September is continueduninterruptedly: when the season, however,is elry the picking ceases in November.andDecember, to be resumed in January. Hence thetales of two yields per annum. The crop, whichlasts even till :M~arch, and which appears to bevery uncertain, is hand-picked by "Vasa,vahiliand slaves-gathered, in fact, like coffee, exceptthat, requiring ladders and more labour, it is avery slow 1Jrocess. Under favourable circum­'stances the tree should produce a luaxiluulll of6 lbs; here,' however, the ground is neithercleared nor manureel, and the consequence is,that 30 h'ees rarely yield lllore than 35 lbs perannUlll. The fruit is sun-dried upon luatting forthree days: the workluen forget to turn it, andallow it to be broken and injured; luoreover, they'will not smoke it, and thus prevent over-shrinkingand wrinkling. 80111.e years ago ~1r Wilson,an English engineer who died at Zanzibar, produced,by attending to the tree, and by properlydesiccating his cloves upon iron hurdles, a superiorarticle, with red shanks and large full heads. .M. 8ausse~ a Creole from Bourbon or lvLauritius,

364 TI-IE OLD VE.also succeeded in e"xtracting an excellent"oil,the clove 'oil of commerce being generally made·by distilling cinnamon leaves. This novelty be-.calne a urnversal favourite with the ZaIlzibarpublic,who held it to be highly medicinal, andused it especially for inflammations. LocaJly thespice is employed as a condiment and infused asa medicine and a tonic: women OT the poorerclasses luake necklaces and ear-rings or the corns.;they also pound them to a paste, and mould theminto different shapes.The Asakif, or stalks pulled off ,vllCn the fruitis dry, are exported to Europe under the nanleof ' clove stems,' and are used as a. mordant fordyeing silks. An English house onceprovidecltin canisters to preserve its purchases, whereasthey are mostly sent home in. bulle Certainother merchants, 'born ,ivith the pencil behi:p.dtheir ears,' open the hatches,' and to nlake thecargo 'weigh out' hea-ye in sea-water, 'which,they say, does not mucn affect the HaVOlU' ofpepper and cloves. The _stems fetch from oneeighthto half of a German crown per Farsilah,or frail of 35 Ibs. The price of cloves, origin~lly$5 to $6 per Farsilah, has now fallen to $2 and. e-even to $1. In 1856, the Island exportedfive millions of Ib8; the next year, however, was, '\

J.1INAZI 1l10YYA.3U[)u~favourable-the trees had been injured bydrought; the over-supply had sunk the price70 pe~~' cent., and many Arab proprietors talkedof returning to rice and cocoa-nuts. Yet, in '1859, the crop rose to some 200,000 Farasilah= 7,000,000 Ibs, valued at about £85,000;' whereas10 years before the total produce of Zanzibar,including Pemba, was 120,000 to 150,000 Far{tsilah,and in 1839-40 it barely numbered 9000. .::~,We returned via the bush to the south ofthe city, passing through a luxuriant growth ofthe hardest woods. After a stiff ride over theworst of paths, a mere 'picada,' as the Brazilianssay, we skirted the fetid lagoon which subtenclsthe eastern cit'y from north to south, and reachedJYlnazi Moyya, 'One Cocoa-nut Tree.' T~s bitof open ground is the Bois de Boulogne orZanzibar, the single place for exercise, and wodid not wonder that so many prefer to stay athome.During the 'ld Sagh~' or Kuchuk Bayranl,here called Siku-khu za tel:(, ' One Cocoa-nut Tree'is a lively place. Wbilst the boy-s sing andd,ance about the streets, and the garrison blacks,armed with sabres, engage near. the fort in aZUllO or Pyrrhic, 'wildly waving their tremnlol~sblades, and theWahiao or'Bozalsfrom about Kilwa

366 TI-IE RAOES.execute their saltations near the bridge,' and theother slaves carouse and junket in their o,vnquarter of the to,vn, oach clan from the mainlandkeeping itself distinct, the grandees,fingering theirrosaries and supported by long staves, proceed toMnn,zi Moyya, "There gallops, called races, £orn1the attr:1ction. About halI-a-dozen garrons,rushing,vildly about, represent the pOlTlormers, andthe perforu1ance is nothing nC\y to the Anglo­Indian. The groups are nlotley if not picturesque.Here and there, surrounded by rings ofsLLble adnurcrs, arc ,vomen boisterously singingand clapping hands, danqing and acting liannes,vith all their might. Tremendous are theVijelejele, the KiI, Zagluirit, or trilling of thespectatresses. Men also stamp and ,vriggle in arude 'inlproper' style to the succedanclUll lor adrum, a hollow ,vooden cylinder one foot indiameter, ,vith the open end' applied to the breast,and the dried and stretched snake-skin patted,upon with finger and pahn. Most of these l)eoplo,regardless of fever or cholera, are prill1ed withfermented cocoa juice. The heavily-clad Shaykhs,bestriding their asses, are preceded by outrunners,"Tho mercilessly push a~.ide and 'bakur' thecrowd; and the latter tlli·u viciously as bullterriers.'1'he1'e is not much striking, but jostling

TIlE RACES.3G7and thrusting away are the rules. .At Lamu andthe wilder places s,vords and daggers are oftenbared' on these occasions, and the Shaykhs have nolittle trouble to preserve the peace. Oontrastingwith the full-dressed cro,vd are the naked children,"who seem all afflicted withumbilical hernia. ,Thisis the result of careless cutting, but the unsightl J Tprotuberance "rill ,veal' away in after life, and apot-belly is here, as else"where in Africa, lookedupon as a good sign. The negro faces and bodiesare marked with the tattoo in almost OYCT~Ypossible fashion; some "wear straight black lines,others curved; these have perpendicular, those'horizontal marks, and not a few wear paintedsquares with' central spots, like the "wafers uponthe garment of the old country clown. Atlength the lWllces make their al)pearance, and arcreceived with a file-firing of guns and pistols,,vhilst shouts and drums clistlub the air; the racesare formally run, and the cro"wd disperses throughthe unclean streets of the city.There is still some explorati?n to be done onthe west or landward front of Zanzibar Island.Colonel Hanlerton, however, strongly advises usnot to risk fever, and to reserve every atom ofstrength and energy for the Continent.

CHAPTER X.COMPARATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY (ETHNOLOGY) OFZANZIBAR.THE ARA.:BS., Les Arabes ne sont maintenant, dans l'Afrique Orientale,que des parasites, comme 1'est tout peuple exclusivement commer

ARAB GENEALOGY. 369called BenuYemin, sons of the right hand, becausethey dwelt to the south or on the right hand of theKa'abah. Their migration is attributed to thebursting of the dyke of Arim, near Mareb, theMariaba of ptolemy, which is the Babel-tower ofArabian history in the Days of Ignorance. Thelearned Dr Wetzstein (p. 104, Reisebericht tiberHauran, &c. Berlin, 1860) believes this event tohave taken place about the beginning of our era;most authors, however, place it at the end of the1st or the beginning of our 2nd century. It wasprobably the over-populating of the land whichsent forth the two great Sabrean tribes of Azudand Himyar to Bahrayn and N. Eastern Arabia;they united, and were known as the Tanukh orConfederates. The former, also called from a chief, Nasri,' settled upon the Euphrates, and foundedthe East Tanukhkingdom, whose.capital was afterwardsHira. The Himyar or Kudai originated, intho Hauran and the Belka, the West Tanukh kingdom,also termed from achief 'Salih.' These men,converted to Christianity, were probably thebuilders of the 'Giant cities' of Bashan, mereprovincial towns of the Greco-Roman Empire.Ta'alab (Thalaba), one of the sons of Malik binFakhm, is mentioned as the first ruler of EastTanukh. The extinct family of the DruzeVOL. T. 24

370 ARAB GENEALOGY.Tanukhs claimed descent from the western kingdom.The Ya'rubah considered themselves to be ofthe Arab el Aribah (Joctanites), through theirancestor Yarub el Azud (0 ;~\ ~!t») bin Faligh./ . :; ..(Peleg, the brother of KaMan or Joctan),bin Abir(Eber), bin Salih, bin Arfakhshad, bin Sham(Shem), and to the present day their descendantsboast of this ancient lineage. Malik bin Fakhmrouted 40,000 horsemen supported by elephants,slew Mirzban (the Marz-ban or warden of t'heMarches) the Satrap-lieutenant of the King ofKings, whose head-quarters were at Sohal', andconquered the country from Sharjah to the Ra'asel Hadd (Rasalgat), the eastern Land's-end of theArabian shore. Reinforced by fresh drafts ofthe Benu Yemin, he showed his gratitude byincorporating them with his own tribe. Theword Hinawi, meaning a patrician or 'one havinga founder,' arose from Malik bin Fakhm, proposinghimself as th~ Hanu (,.:Jb) or originatorof the emigrants: certain Arabs derive it fromHina, a fanciful ancestor, and even call themselvesBenu Hina. According to some authorities, Omantook its name from a place in the neighbourhoodof the dyke of Mareb; others derive it froma valley which, like the Wac1y el Arab, gave its

ARAB GENEALOGY. 371name to the whole country; the Arab geographersmake it the ancient term for Sohal', and theclassical geographer holds that the OmmanumEmporium of Ptolemy was applied to Maskat.When Malik bin Fakhm had been slain byhis son Selima, and another son, Zayd, ruledOman in his stead, a thousand of the Benu Nezarcame to him from the town of Ubar, and weresettled upon a tract of low open ground (_..i.i) ,C'''whence they took the name of Ghafiri. Theseimmigrants were Arab el Musta'arabah, which, inOmanic usage, denotes the insititious or Ismailiticclans derived rrom Adnan, son of Ishmael; andthe girt or land had made them clients of Zayc1 andof his tribe, the Hinawi. Intermarriage, however,soon amalgamated the races. When El Islambrought the sword to mankind, and when therival prophet Musaylimah, generally known asthe Liar, paved the way ror the Karmati (Carmathians)and for a copious crop of heresies, theGhifiri, cleaving to the faith of Meccah, ""yere prererredby the Caliph Abubekr to their rormerpatrons, ror the chieftainship or Oman. In histurn, the Caliph Ali restored precedence to theHiniwi who had espoused his cause. Hence aninveterate feud, a flame of wrath, which riversof blood have not quenched. Throughout Oman

372 ARAB TRIBES.the rival tribes still occupy separate quarters;they will not connect themselves by marriage,and they seldom meet without a 'faction fight.'Even at Zanzibar, where the climate has softenedthem, they rarely preserve that decency of hatewhich is due by Arabs of noble strain to hereditaryandnatmal enemies.Here the pl'incipal clan of the Himtwi tribeis the Harisi (plural Hms), under Abdullah binSalim and Husayn bin Mahommed: onceflourishing in Oman, it now barely numbers15,000 sabres, and in the Island it may amountto 300, mostly merchants and wealthy planters.The other divisions are the Bli (or Ayyal) Sa'id;the ruling race which forms one large familythatof the Sayyid. There are also about a dozenof the Benu Laml

ARAB TRIBES. 373these are Ammari, Adwani, Kuruni, Khuzuri,Salahameh, and Nayyayareh; most of them frequentZanzibar during the trading season.The pure Ghafiri stock is still, they say, to befound in Nejd. Throughout Oman they are awild unruly race, hostile to strangers, and inclinedto Wahhabi-ism. They possess at several placeslittle cagtles armed with guns which are mererobbers' dens; near Mina the Chief ~i[llsalimrefused allegiance to Sayyid Said, and south ofthe J ebe1 e1 Akhzar, m ' Green ~M~ountain,' theymade themselves the terror' of the country-sideabout Buraymah. The worst of the Ghafiri are theKawasim pirates (the Anglo-Arabic'J owasmees')of Ras el Khaymah and our olel enemies the Benubu Ali of Ra'as el Hadel. To them also belongthe Shaksi or Benu Ruwayhah, popularly calledAhl Rustak, from the settlement founded by thePersian AnushiTawan on the eastern slope ofJ ebe1 el Akhzar, the mountainous district ofOman. It is about 70 miles west of Maskat,which, now the capital, began life as its harbour.The present representative of the Rustak chiefs,Sayyiel Kays bin Azan, receives an annual indemnificationof $3000 from Sayyid Said, whohad dispossessed him of Sohal' and its dependencies.Sth also belongs to the Ghafiri, of whom'

374 THE ARAB.in these places, little good is spoken; they aresaid to be at once cruel and cowardly, to fear noshame, and to respect no oath. We shall soon becompelled to chastise these petty sea~thieves andkidnappers.At Zanzibar the GhaJiri is represented chieflyby the Masakirah or Maskari clan, which under itschief, Sayf bin Khalfan, may number 2000 sabres.The Mazru'i of Mombasah, so well known in Sa~wahil history, were also GhaJiri: they are nowscattered about Gasi and other small Bandars,retaining nothing of their political consequence.The Yu'rabi clan, which gave to Oman its old patrioticImams, is of scant account. The other sections,who are for the most part visitors duringthe commercial season, comprise the Jenabah,the Bimani, the Benn Katlib, the Benu bn Ali,and the Benn Riyam of Nezwah in the Jebel elAkhzar.The Arab holds, and, according to old Moslemtravellers, has long held in these regions the posi~tion of an Osmanli in Arabia; he is a 'superiorperson.' As the Omani chiefs, however, like theSherifs of EI Hejaz, did not disdain servile con~cubines, many of their issue are negroids: ofthese hybrids some are exceedingly fair, showingAfrican pollution only by tufty and wiry hair,

THE ARAB. 375--~-----------------whilst others, 'falling upon their mothers,' as thenative phrase is, have been refused inheritance atMaskat, and have narrowly escaped the slavemarket.The grandsons of purest Arabs whohave settled in Africa, though there has been nomixture of blood, already show important physicalmodifications worked by the 'mixture of air,'as the Portuguese phrase is. The skin· is fail',but yellow-tinted by over-development of gall;whilst the nose is high, the lips are loose,everted, or otherwise ill-formed; and the beard,rarely of the amplest, shrinks, under the hothouseair, to four straggling tufts upon the ramiof the jaws and the condyles of the chin. Whilstthe extremities preserve the fineness of Arabblood, the body is weak and effeminate; and thedegenerate aspect is acconlpanied by the no lessdegraded mind, morals, and manners of the coastpeople.rrhe nervous or nervoso-bilious temperamentof the Sons of the Desert here runs intotwo extremes: many Arabs are bilious-lymphatic,like Banyans; a rew, lapsing into the extreme ofleanness, are fair specimens of the' Living Skeleton.'This has been remarked even of Omanisborn and bred upon the Island. Those who inclineto the nervous diathesis have weakly droopingocciputs and narrow skull-bases, arguing a

376 THE ARAB.deficiency of physical force, and they exagger~tethe flat-sided unconstructive Arab skull-here anIndian may almost always be recognized by thecomparative roundness of his calvaria. And asthe Zanzibar Arab is mostly of burgher race in hisown land, the forehead rarely displays that highdevelopment ofthe perceptive organs which characterizesthe Bedawin.rrhe Arab 110ble is still, li1m those or Meccah inMohammed's day, a merchant, and here wealth hasdone much to degenerate the breed, climate more,and slavery most. The·' Californian fever'-indolence-becomesendemic in the second ~enera-'-'tion, rendering the race hopeless, whilst industryis supplied by the gross, transparent cunning ofthe Wasawahili and of the African generally.Honesty is all but unknown; several Europeanmerchants will not have an Arab's name in theirbooks. A Nakhoda (Captain, Maskat R.N.) inthe Prince's service, commissioned to bring awatch or other valuables from Bombay, will delayto deliver it until threatened with the bakur, andthe terrors of being blown from a gun do not defendthe ruler from the most shallow and impudentfrauds. Like their kinsmen of Oman, theydespise truth, without versatility enough to employit when required, and rew rise to the height of

THE ARAB. 377Bacon's model, 'who hath openness in fame andopinion, secrecy in habit, dissimulation in reasonableuse, and a power to feign, if there be noremedy.' Haughty in the highest degree, andboasting descent from the kings of Yemen, theyhold themselves to be the salt of the earth.Man's nature everywhere objects to restraint,these people cannot endure it: nothing afflictsthem so much as the necessity of regular occupation,as the recurrence of 'duty,' as the weightof any subject upon the mind. Oonstant only inprocrastination, as they are hebetous in body sothey are mentally torpid and apparently incapableof active exertion, especially of immediate action.Like their congeners of Maskat and Sur, they'have distinguished themselves on all occasionswhen opposed to any but Arabs, by excessivepoltroonery. They seldom mix with strangers,for whom they have generally an aversion, andthey will refuse a dollar to a wretch who haschanged his faith to save his life. They are neverworse than in youth, when excessive polygamyand debauchery have enslaved them: as withthe Arabs of the Peninsula, a people of violentand unruly passions, and seldom ripe for usetill their beards are grey, these Zanzabaris unproveby age, and body and mind seem to grow

378 THE ARAB.better, to a certain point, as they grow old.To this sweeping evil account there are ofcourse exceptions. I have rarely met with amore honest, trustworthy man than Said binSalim, the half-caste Arab, who was sent with usas Ra'as Kafilah, or guide. Such hitherto has beenhis character; but man varies in these regions:he may grievously disappoint me in the end. 1The poorer Arabs who flock to Zanzibar duringthe season are Hazramis, and they work andlive hard as the Hammals of Stamboul. These menclub and mess together in gangs under an .A.kidah(head man), who supplies them with rice, ghi, andscones, and who keeps the accounts so skilfully,that the labourer receives annually about $35,though he may gain four times that sum. PauperArabs settled upon the Island refuse' niggerwork,' the West Indian synonym'for manuallabour, and, as a rule, the Mashamba 01' plantationssupply them, like Irish estates of old, witheverything but money. At first many wereruined by the abolition of slave export: at presentmost of them confess that the measure hasadded materially to the development and theprosperity of the Island. There are now Arabmerchants who own 80,000 clove-trees, $100,000I I have the words as they were written early in 1857.

THE ARAB. 379floating capital, a ship or two, and from 1000 to2000 slaves.rfhe results of wealth and general aisancehave been luxury and urrbridled licentiousness.As usual in damp-hot climates, for instance, Sind,Egypt, the lowlands of Syria, Mazendel'an, ~1:alabar,and California, the sexual requirements of thepassive exceed those of the active sex; and theusual result is a dissolute social state, contrastingwith mountain countries, dry-cold or damp-cold,where the conditions are either equally balancedor are reversed. Arab women have been describedas respectable in the Island, because,fearing scandal and its consequences, they denythemselves to Europeans. Yet many of themprefer Banyans to those of the True Faith, whilstthe warmest passions abandon themselves toAfrican slaves: 1 these dark men are such pearlsin beauteous ladies' eyes, and their fascinations atZanzibar are so great, that a respectable lIindostaniMoslem will not trust his daughter to live there,even in her husband's house. A correspondingperversion and brutality of taste make the menneglect their wives for negresses; the same has1 It is easy to explain the preference of Arab women forslaves, and the predilection of the husbands for negro women:the subject, however, is somewhat too physiological for thegenerall'eader.

380 THE ARAB.been remarked of our countrymen III Guianaand the West Indies, and it notably prevailsin the Brazil, where the negress and the:M:ulatta are preferred to the Creole. Consideringthe effect of the African skin when excited byjoy, rage, fear, or other mental emotion, of coursea cogent reason for the preference exists.Public prostitutes are here few, and the professionranks low where the classes upon whichit depends can always afford to gratify their propensitiesin the slave-market. I have alludedto the Wasawahili women of the MadagascarQuarter; a few also live scattered about thetown, but all are equally undesirable-there isnot a pretty face amongst them. The honorariumvaries from $0.25 to $1, and the proceeds areexpended upon gaudy dresses and paltry orna·ments. Retired Corinthians who have not prospered,live by fishing upon the sands, or makerude pottery at Changani Point: those who canafford it buy a slave or two, and give the rest oftheir days to farming. Girls who work for hireare always procurable, but such amours are likelyto end badly: the same may be said of the prostitutes;consequently mos,t white residents keepAbyssinian or Galla concubines. The' Liwat' ishere considered a mere peccadillo: the late Say-

THE ARAB.3S1yid, however, denied Moslem burial to a nephewwho built the British Oonsular residence. This'Maf'ul' died in agony after the bunglingperformanceof an operation which his debaucheries renderednecessary, and the body was cast nakedinto the sea.Both sexes and all ages delight in drinking.The rich use bad but expensive French andAmerican liqueurs, gin, brandy, and rum, fromMarseille, India, and the Mauritius. Some eatopium, others prefer Bhang in its several forms:the material is imported from Bombay andOutch. We found it near the continental seaboard,and therefore the Indian shrub is also probablygrown upon the Island. A distillation, Ihave said, is made from the Cashew-nut and frompalm-wine; this alcohol is called Zerambo, anda free-born Arab is disgraced by touching it;preserved in foul old pots, it has the effect ofpoison; a drunken sailor will fall down insensible,breathe with stertorous loudness, and graduallypass from insensibility to death. Tembo or toddyis of two kinds-Tamu, the sweet andunintoxieating,and Khali, sour or fermented. The liquoris drawn from the trees by the Wasawahili and theslaves insular and continental. The Pombe, likethe Buzah of Egypt and Berberia, Adel, and

382 THE ARAB.Abyssinia, is a simple hopless beer, made frommaize or holcus. Drunkenness amongst the pooris very properly punished only when it leads tocrIme. It is singular that the late Sayyid, whonever touched an intoxicating drink, should havebeen so tender to an offence with which Moslemsusually deal so barbarously.The Arab's head-dress is a KummehorKofiyyah(red fez), a Sm'at calotte (Alfiyyah), or a whiteskull-cap worn under a turban (Kilemha) ofOman silk and cotton religiously mixed. Usuallyit is of fine blue and white cotton check, embroid.ered and fringed with a broad red border, withthe ends hanging in unequal lengths over oneshoulder. The coiffure is highly picturesque.The ruling family and grandees, however, havemodified its vulgar folds, wearing it peaked infront, and somewhat resembling a tiara. Theessential body-clothing and the succedaneumfor trowsers is an Izar (Nguo ya 1m chini), orloin-cloth tucked in at the waist, ,,6 to 7 feet longby 2 to 3 broad. The colours are brick-dust andwhite or blue and white, with a silk borderstriped red, black, and yellow. The vety poorwear a dirty bit of cotton girdled by a Hakab orKund{wi, a rope of plaited thongs; the rich prefera fine embroidered stuff from Oman, supported

THE ARAB. 383at the waist by a silver chain. None but thewestern Arabs admit the innovation of drawers(Suruwali). The' J ama',' or upper garment, is acollaTless coat ofthe best broadcloth, leek-green orsome tender colour being preferred. It is securedover the left breast 1 by a silken loop, and thestraight wide sleeves are gaily lined. The Kizbaois a kind of waistcoat, covering only the bust:some wear it with sleeves, others without. TheDishdasheh (in Kisawahili Khanzu), a narrowsleevedshirt, buttoned at the throat and extendingto mid-shin, is made of calico (baftah),American drill, and other stuffs called Doriyah,Tarabuzun, and J amdani. Sailors are kn01vll byKhuzerangi, a coarse cotton, stained dingy redyellowwith henna or pomegranate rind, and rankwith -Wars (bastard saffron) and sharks' oil.Respectable men guard the stomach with a'Hizam,' generally a Cashmere or Bombay shawl;others wear sashes of the dust-coloured raw silkmanufactured in Oman. The outer garment forchilly weather is the long, tight-sleeved PersianJubbeh, Jokhah, or Caftan, of European broadcloth.The Na'alayn, Viatu, or sandals of peculiarshape, made at Zanzibar, have already been described.Most men shave their heads, and the Sha-1 In Moslem countries Christians prefer the right breast.

384 THE ARAB.f'eis trim or entirely remove the moustaches. Thepalms are reddened with henna, which is eitherbrought from El Rejaz or gathered in the plantations.The only ring is a plain carnelian seal,and the sale other ornament is a talisman (Rirzin Kisawahili Ririzi). The eyes are blackenedwith Kohl or antimony of EI Sham-here notSyria, but the region about Meccah-and themouth, crimsoned bybetel, looks as if a tooth hadjust been knocked out.None but women and slaves leave the houseunarmed. The lowest Arab sticks an old daggerin his belt, h;:mclles a rusty spear, or shoulders acheap firelock. Gulf men are generally known by .their round targes (Tursi) made of carved and spangledrhinoceros or addax hide, toys with high centralumbo, and at the utmost a foot in diameter;others have fish-skin shields, and the Baloch affectthe Cutch 'Dhal,' or buckler. The sword is ofthree forms, of which the Sayf Faranji (Frankishsword, in Kisawahili Upanga) has long been thefavourite. It is a straight, broad, two-edged,guardless, double-handed weapon, about 4 ft 3 in.long, sheathed in a scabbard of red morocco: thethin and well-worn blade vibrates in the grip, andby the side of its razor-like keenness our weaponsresemble iron bars. The price varies from $10 to

THE ARAB. 385$100, and, as at modern Damascus, cheap Germanimitations abound. The usual handle is woodbound with thread-like plaits of black leather andsilver wire forming patterns; the pommel is aniron knob, and the general aspect of the articlesuggests that it is derived from the Crusadingages. The' Kittareh' is a curved Europeansabre: the young princes and those about thecoast carry in hand expensive specimens withivory hilts and gold mountings. Thirdly, the, Imani,' as they call it, is a short straight blademade in Europe, Oman, or Hazramaut. TheArab knows but two cuts,-one the' Rahm,'across the ankles, and the other our No.7, directedat the head or preferably at the shoulder:the former is evaded by leaping or breakingground, the latter is parried with the shield.Jambiyahs, Khanjars, or daggers, worn strappedand buckled round the waist, are curved till thepoint forms almost a right angle with the hilt.It is a silly construction; but anything will serveto stab the enemy's back above the shoulders.Thedudgeon of black orwhite rhinoceros or buffalohorn is adorned with a profusion of filagree-work,and silver or gold knobs; the blade, sharp onboth sides, is nearly three inches broad at thebase. The sheath ('Ala) is similarly ornamentedVOL. I. 25

386 THE ARAB.upon a ground of leather, cloth, or brocade, darkor scaTlet, with the usual metal rings and 'fixings.'The Khanjar often costs $200, and a handsomedagger is a sign of rank.Not having seen at home the higher classes ofArab women, who are said to be sometimes remarkablyhandsome,I can describe them only from hearsay.In the house they wear tight Mezar, SarwaI,or pantaloons of Oman silk or cotton fastened atthe waist with rich tasselled ties brought fromMaskat, the Hejaz, and BandaI' Abbas: the bodydress is a long chemise of Bengal or Surat stuff,worn over a Mkaja or loin-cloth. The hair isplaited into Masulul (pig-tails) or Nyule (curls),and here, as elsewhere, the back of the head beingthe most sacred part of the feminine person,adults hind round the forehead a kerchief (Nguo1m jitanda) or dastmal of bright-coloured silk,which depends behind to the waist. Abroad theyappear masqued with the hideous black' Burka'­veil of Oman, whilst a Rida, Kitambi, or sheet ofwhite calico or black silk, conceals even the dressfrom prying eyes. A Mavuli or umbrella showsdignity; some wear sandals (Vyatu), like the men,others Egyptian Papushes.The favourite feminine ornaments are Banajiroh,or Khalkl111l, bracelets or bangles, gold,

ARAB WOMEN. 387silver, or copper rings, solid or hollow, plain or embossed,with or without hinges. A Yekdani (singlegem, or 'union '), a cordiform or oval brooch andpcndents of precious stones or stained glass, massivelyset in gold, hangs round the neck by astring of bullet-sized gold-foiled beads. TheMatale (anklets) are of silver worth, that is tosay weighing, from $10 to $20. A Kirt, Kupini,p'hete ya Pua, or flower-shaped ornament of gold,silver, or base metal, is worn in the wing of theleft nostril. Earrings are of many varieties: therim is pierced sometimes all round for silver Halkehor rings, whose place is supplied amongst thepoor with leaden' Kipini (in the plural' Vipini ').The lobe is bored and trained to encircle a disk ofsilver or ivory; the slaves use a bright-colouredroll of palm leaf, and when that is not procurable,a betel-nut: the result is unnatural distension,and in age the ear, as among the Moplahs ofMalabar, hangs down, a mere strip of skin, tothe collar bone. They have also the Kengele,copper balls for the neck; the Mpogo, or ivoryring; the Kikomo, a copper or brass bracelet; theMkhufu, or silver necklace chain; the Mchuhu,or coarse Oassolette, and a variety of Talismans orGrigris (Hirizi) round the wrists and ankles.These women, like most Easterns-, prefer strong

388 ARAB WOMEN.and heady peI'fumes of musk, ambergTis, attar ofroses, and the la,rge Indian jasmine; their cosmeticsa,re on, henna, Kohl, or Collyrium (Wanja) ,and saffron applied to the head and eyebrows;and they are cunning in the matter of fumigation,'which might with benefit be introduced intoEurope.1'11e Zanziba]~ Arab's day is regular, varied onlyby a journey, a family festival, a debauch, or theyear13T Ramazan fast. He rises at dawn forablution and prayer, eats 'Suwayk,' a kind ofvermicelli, wheaten bread, or even a little meat,drinks a cup of coffee, and chewing betel, repairsto the hazar for business or calls upon his friends.Men shake hands when meeting, wish good-morning,and ask, 'How is thy state?' to which thereply is, 'And how art thou?' They then sitdown and renew queries, interspersed with manyMarlmbas, Sana-B'anas and Na shikamaus, 'Allahpreserve thee! ' and 'Thanks be to Allah, we arewell! ' If one sneeze, the others exclaim, 'MayAllah have mercy upon thee!' which he acknowledges,with'Allahguide you! '-this is anold Arabsuperstition. Sneezing being an omen of impendingevil to the patient, an ejaculation was madeto the gods: 'Homer mentions the custom;Aristotle fruitlessly attempts to explain its exist-

TIfE ARAB. 389ence; Apuleius refers to it; and Pliny has aproblem on it: "Our sternutantes salutantur ;" ,Asia still practises it, and the older Brazilians havenot forgotten it. Here the convulsion is consideredunsonsy : many a deputation waiting upon the lateSaYSid has been prematurely dismissed because theill-omened sternutation happened. As in Turkeyand the Moslem East generally, the visitor's placeof honour is on the host's left hand. 'Wherecoffee is offered on ceremonious occasions, all riseand take the little J!-'injan or thimble-cup from thehouse-master, who does not allow the servant tohand it; they then sit down, and they drink, contraryto usual Arab custom, more than one cupful.The hospitality cOJ;lcludes with a glass of sherbet.Amongst the wealthier classes at Zanzibar andMombasah, tea is becoming a favourite beverage;not only" fashionable,' but held to be hygienicbecause less heating than coffee.At 5 o'clock, our 11 A.M., the Arab, like the.Syrian, eats the 'Ghada' of fish and meat" ofwheaten bread and vegetables, and of rice boiledwith the cream of rasped cocoa-nut, ending withhalf-a-dozen Finjans of coffee and with betel.Some then repair to the Mosque; most men praythe noon-day at home, and sleep like the citizens. of Andine 1\1:endoza till the Asr or after 3 1'.1'.f.

390 THE ARAB.ffhey again perform ablution and devotions, afterw 11ic11 they dress for out-of-door business andfor home visits. The evening pra;Y-el's are generallyrecited in public. Some eat the ISha-supperbefore sunset; usually it is deferred till afterworship. The climate effectively prevents thoselast pleasant rambles by moonlight and open airseances-the Makamat so much enjoyed in thehot-dry sub-tropical regions. Here the eveningis spent sometimes in society, oftener in theharem, and all apply to sleep between10 P.JIiI. andmidnight.The yearly fast begins with the new moon ofRamazan; crowds assemble in the open places andupon the terrace roofs till the popping of pistolsand matchlocks and salvos from the squadronwarn the faithful that the crescent has appeared.In the days of Sayyid Said the strict Arab saluteof three guns (OUT 21) was kept up; five denoteda victory, and seven the decease of some eminentperson. A1'abs observe ihe dietetic law strictly;their women are expected to fast, and boys of 13and 14 take a pride in imitating their parents.Many, especially those with weak digestion,cannot eat the dawn meal general throughoutEgypt, Syria, and Persia. The Shafei ordeal endswhen the sun has wholl;y- sunk below the horizon; .

THE FAST. 391the Baycizi waits till daylight has ahnost fadedfrom the east, and he prays before breaking bread.Most men begin hygienically with somethingeasily digested, as dates and sour m.ilk,-a moresubstantial meal follows after an hour. The richpass much of the fasting time in sleep, and theburden here, as elsewhere, falls far more heavilyupon the poor. At Zanzibar, however, the inflictionis lightened by the dam}) climate and by theequinoctial day, short compared with the terrible16 hours which must sometimes be endured in subtropicallatitudes. Yet the servants and slavesare useless during Ramazan : idle at all times,they then assert a right to do nothing: as I beforeobserved, the fast is one-twelfth of the yearthoroughly wasted. On the other hand, it maybe remarked that El Islam has wisely limited itsfestivals to six days in the year, a great contrastto the profuse waste of time which still characterizesthe faith of Southern Europe.As at the beginning of the. month, crowdsassemble to sight the new moon which ends thefast, and every fellow who has a matchlock wastespowder and ball, without much regarding wherethe latter flies. Here, as in the Brazil, nothingcan be done without wasting gunpowder: atZanzibar the matchlock is })er£o1'ce preferred, in

392 THE FESTIVAL.Rio de Janeiro the rocket and the squib have takenits place. This year (1857) a storm of rain on theevening of May 24th concealed the crescent, and itwas not till half-past five P.J'.L on the 25th, that asalute from the shipping announced, despite thethick drifting scud which hid every inch of sky,that the weary 'l)lessed month' was no more.Then the men gathered about the palace, thewonten flocked to the house-tops, and the city,usually so sadly silent, rang with shouting, singing,the braying of trumpets, and irregular dischargesof small arms. After sunset again allwas still as the grave.The 'Id el Saghir, or lesser festival, that concludesthe Ramazan, began at dawn on May 26th;the usual public prayers were recited in themosques, and at 8.30 A.J'.L the squadron, dressedwith flags, fired whilst the townsmen followedsuit. The servants and slaves gathered in theirnew clothing to kiss the master's hand and to"wish him a happy festival. The Princes rode outin state. In t11e bazars an endimancbe mobassembled despite the heavy rains, and beforesunset they trooped through the miry lanes towitness the races at Mnazi Moyya, which take ..place only when the tide is out. These festivities-they have already been described-continued

CERElf:fONIES. 393to a late hour, and thus 11assed away the eaTliestand the noisiest day of the 'ld.The second and the third days are dilutedcopies of the first; visits are exchanged betweenall acquaintances, and the Prince holds levees infull Darbar. Here the sons of Sayyid Said andtheir blood relations occupy one side of the longbare hall, opposite them are the high officials andinterpreters, whilst the honoured guests sit bythe ruler at the Sadr, or top of the room, andfronting them, near the door, stand the eunuchsand the slaves. On leaving, as on entering, thestranger shakes hands with the whole familyaccording to seniority, and he is accompanied l)ythe Prince either a few paces or to the cloorH:ay,the steps, in fact, being carefully proportioned tohis rank.There is little peculiarity in the religious ceremoniesof the Zanzibar Arab. An Azan (call toprayer) is repeated in the ear of the new-bornbabe, and on the Arba'in (40th day) the motherand infant are bathed, and become pure-untilthen the husband will not sit by his wife's side.On this occasion the head of the male chilel isshaved, as usual amongst Moslems. Marriage isexpensive, seldom costing the respectable manless than $500; all the food provided for he

394 CEREMONIES.occasion must be eaten, even if guests be soughtin the streets; this indeed is the rule of Arabfe~tsts. Half the Mahr, or settlement-money, shouldbe paid before the Fatihah is recited; the, remainderis claimed upon separation or after thehusband's death. A woman cannot demand di.vorce except for the usual legal reasons, and the, Iddeh,' or interval before re-marriage, is threemonths and ten days. After a Khitmah or per~laotian of the Koran, the relict, who has hithertobeen confined to the house, is bathed by her femininefriends, in token of readiness for engagement.Man;y widows refuse to change their condition, andapply themselves to money-making by commerce,l)lantations, or slave-dealing. I heard of one jovial, Armalah' who invited Europeans to petit soupersand parties jines, in which merriment takes precedenceof modesty. The Arab women of Zanzibarappear unusually spirited, especially when comparedwith their lords; in every great house someenergetic petticoat or rather trowsers takes orforces her husband orher brother to taketheleadperhaps,as nearer home, they are the more courageousand venturous in braving danger becausethe risk and the brunt do not fall upon theirheads. Men of pure fam~ly will not give theirdaughters to any but fellow-clansmen. They

BURIALS. 395themselves do not object to Waswahili, and negrogirls,but the single Arab wife-there is rarelymore than one-rules the concubines with a rodof iron.Men, women, and children weep at funerals,but it is not the cnstom to hire 'keeners.' Thefeminine mourning dress is black, and the period,as general among Moslems, lasts 40 days. Oontraryto Arab custom, the graves are lined withboarding. The exterior is a wall of coralline ragand lime from a foot to a foot and a half high,with little raised steps at the head and feet; here aporcelain saucer or an encaustic tile is sometimesmortared in by way of ornament. Old cemeteriesabound throughout the city and the suburbs,sometimes showing offensive sights. A simpleslab sufficed for the late Sayyid's ancestors; onthe spot, however, where he and his son Khalidlie, they are building a dwarf truncated pyramidof stone and cement, an unusual memorial to aBayazi or a \V"ahhabi. Of late years the Arabshave begun to inter their slaves. Formerly thecorpses were thrown to the beasts or tossed intothe sea, and from the windows of H.M.'s OonsulateI have seen more than one body bleachedsnow-white by sea-water, and stranded upon thebeach where no one cared to bury it.

396 THE BA YAZI.During the reign of the last ruler, El Islamat Zanzibar was tolerant by compulsion; theShiahs were allowed an Imambara at which theybewailed the death of Hasan and Husayn-fewSunni countries would have tolerated the abomination.'But as these 'sectarians' almost worshipwhilst others absolutely adore Ali and hisdescendants; and as the 'Khariji' schism slewthe former and well-nigh damns all the rest, theyjoin issue and agree to differ. This indeed is arecognized rule in religions, where the mostminute distinctions cause and perpetuate thedeadliest feuels, and the family quarrel will notbe reconciled, because love perverted becomes notindifference but hate.The Arabs are here all Shafei or Bayazi. Asthe latter schism is now rare under that name inthe Moslem world, some notice of it may be consideredadvisable. I have seen. the Bayazi confoundedwith the Mutazali (Motazilites whosupport Free-will versus Predestination), butthere is an important difference: the latter holdAli in high esteem and object only to the CaliphMuawiyah.The Bayazi, also called Abazi,l Ibaz and1 Niebuhr terms them Beoiasi and Abadhi (Travels inArabia, chap. cxiv.)o SaIll ibn Razik makes Abdullah the SOll,not the grandson, of Abaz.

THE BAYAZI. 397Ibaziyyeh derive their name from Abdullah binYahya bin Abaz (in our dictionaries 'Ib{tz ').Some authors have corrupted this name to Bey·dan, that of a Persian sectarian; others translateit the' Whites,' as opposed to the green of theFatimites, and the black of the Abhasides. Thisarch-heretic, according to the Jehan-Numa, beganto preach under the reign of El Merwan, the lastOmmiade Kh~tlifeh, between A.IT. 127-132 (A,D.744 and 749), and was shortly afterwards conqueredand put to death. His tenets spread farand wide amongst the Khaw{trij of Nezwah, extendedto the littoral, and filled the land withbattle and murder.The Bayazi, who through their Imams governedOman for 163 years, beginning fromA.D. 751, are thus one of the many Khariji (inthe plural Khawarij) sects whose origin may betraced in the rival faiths of Sabeism and Kurayshidolatry; in the contest of the' Prophets' Mohammedand Musaylimeh, and in the political interferenceof the first Oaliphs between the turbulenttribes of Oman. ITnder the names of Shurah(~~), Haruriyah (~,))r)' and lVIuhakkimah(l~(~), these 'Seceders' were 011ce numerousin northern Africa, Spain, and Arabia; in A.D.1350 Ibn Batuta found them at Timbucktu.

398 THE BAYAZI.They are now mostly confined to a few cities inMorocco, and to the parts about Maskat. Sometheological wdters derive these Kharijites fromthe malcontents who declared that both Ali andMuawiyah had forfeited their right to the Caliphateby appealing from Allah's judgment. tohuman decisions, amI who carried out their objectionby murdering Ali and by attempting themurder of MuawiJTah and Amru. Their descendantsare held to have formed 20 schools like theShiahs (or Rawafiz) and the Mutazali; whilstthe Marjiyyeh number six; the Mujbirah orSunnites four,and, together with the Batiniyah,the Hululiyah, and the Zaydi, make up the 73divisions into which the first Moslem declaredEl Islam would split. The principal Kharijiteschools (DsuI el Firak) have, however, been reducedto the following five. The first four arenow common only in books.1. r:I.~he Azarikah, or followers of Abu RashidNafi' ibn el Azrak. They permit, in religiouswarfare, the massacre of women and children;they do not lapidate adulterers, Koranic commandbeing absent, and they severely punish the male,not the female, slanderer of the Faithful.2. The Najelat, disciples of Najclat bin Amir,formerly abounded in Mekran, Kerman, Mos1.u,

THE BAYAZI. 399Mesopotamia, Seistan, and Oman. They holdpersistency in the minor sins (Sughair) equivalentto polytheism (Shirk); whereas mortal sinsare not damnable unless accompanied by persistency(Israr).3. '1'he Baghghasiyyeh, Banhasiyyeh, or Bayhasiyyeh,followers of Abu Baghghas, Banhas, orBayhas. I have found no account of their' doctrinalquiddities.'4. The Safar, so called from their founderZiyad ibn el Asfar, believe concealment of tenets(' Takiyyeh ') permissible in word not in deed, andthey extend infidelity (Kufr) even to such offencesas neglecting prayer.5. The Abazi or Bayazi, who form the massof Arab population at Zanzibar, and who arealso numerous in Oman. They are Karmati andanti-Moslem in the matter of Freewill, a vitaldistinction from the Sunnis; like the Ismailiyyehand sundry mystic schools, they believe the Imamshipto he a supreme pontificate, but not thesuccession, by grace, of the prophethood and thecaliphate. They are opposed to the Mutazali byrespecting the Shaykhayn (Abubekr and Omar),their exoteric reason being that El Islam thenthrove under a single head. Therefore they deemit lawful and right to abuse Usman and Ali (damn-

400 TIlE BAYAZI.ing the Shiahs for venerating the latter), Muawiyahand Yczid, Talhah, Zubayr/ and others,who· brought calamities upon the Faithful, andwho caused the spilling of Moslem blood. Tn thisage of decaying zeal they do not 'Sal)b ' or blasphemeanyone publicly by name, and by orderof the late Sayyid they bless, during the Fridayscrmon (Khutbah), the two first Caliphs, andthen generally the Sahabah (Companions of theProphet), the 1\Iuhajirin (Meccans who accompLmiedthe Flight), and the AnsaI' (Mediniteswho received Mohammed). As are all Moslemsthey may not use the word' La'anat,' or curse,except to Satan-so Christians are forbidden tocall others fools, and with equal success. Moravittn-likethey pride themselves upon preservingpme and undefiled the tenets and the ritualhanded down to them from the Prophet's day,and, with the rest of the Moslem Ulema, who intIlis point are the most conservative and antiprogressiveof men, they would model all moderncivilization upon that of barbarous Arabia in the7th century. One of their favourite sayings is,1 These two Ashab or ' Companions of the Apostle' arepopularly suppoRed to have peen buried under a now ruineddome in a garden lying East of the Dahdah cemetery, Da:nas­CllS. It is, however, a mistake; they were interred near Basrehwhere they feU in battle..

THE BAYAZI. 401, All innovation (Bida'ah, i.e. a practice unknownto Mohammed's day) is error, and all error is inhell-fire.' Possibly, however, this may be theeffect of Wahhabi neighbourhood.The faith of the Bayazi is narrow and exclusive,a monopoly of righteousness, a moral study of theinfinitely little. Amongst Christians I can comparehim only with the ~hard.-grit' style of Baptists,who aspire alone to people a Heaven in which theletter H is of no account. All who do not professhis tenets are Kafirs, and, as it is a standing beliefthat whoso calls a Moslem Kafir becomes aKafir himself, they are replied to in kind. Eachof the 73 schools naturally considers itself the, Najiyah,' or Saving Faith; but it is not justifiedin consigning to Jehannum those that do notagree with it. The Bayazi condemn all theSunnis, and especially the Shafeis, who expectactually to see the Deity (el Ru'uyah) during thenext life. Quoting the debated passage of theKoran 'Sight shall not see Him' (}a~~\ ~.J.... ,",j'~),the Kharijis agree that if .the Lord be visible, Hemust be material and personal, consequentlycreated and. unessential. In these matters they gobeyond their depth; but who, it may be asked,attempts the subject and. does not? The idea ofthe Godhead varies with every race, of which it isVOL. 1. 26

402 THE BAYAZI.the highest mental and moral expression; thehigher the conception the higher will bethe intellectualstatus, and vice versa; even the samerace constantly modifies its hold for better orfor worse. I do not believe that the sages ofGreece and Rome were polytheists or idolaters,although they may have sacrificed cocks to Esculapius.Under almost all mythologies, even theHindu, there is an underlying faith in monotheism.But the God of the Jews, of the Christians,and of the lV[oslems, differs in kind as well as indegree, even as the God of Calvin would not bethe God of Channing. A late writer has publishedseveral pages or very good writing and verybad reasoning, upon the contrast of the Deity, asworshipped by Christianity and by El Islam. Hiserror has been to assume Wahhabiism for thetypical form of the latter. I might as well workout the theory that the Anabaptist Protestant isthe Christian pa7· excellence. Like the article onthe Talmud which lately created so muchattention,it is an able bit of special pleading and no more.Amongst Moslems, Paradise is supposed to embracethe extent or the earth and firmament, andthe late Sayyicl used quaintly to remark, thathis scanty orthodox SUbjects would people it butpoorly. The Baya,zi, unlike others of the Saving

THE BAYAZI. 403Faith, which we may better translate 'Ie Salut,'hold hell-fire to be the eternal portion of even theirown sinners; thus literally interpreting the text,'ever, to all eternity (dwelling) in it (he11),'­I:\:\ \€~ i:J'?~~' They have no prayer-station roundthe Ka'abah, and they relieve their chagrin byproving these oratories to be 'novelties,' unknownto the Prophet's day.The ritual differences between the Bayazi andother schools are small; in prayer the arms andhands are extended down the thighs, -instead ofbeing folded over the waist. Oontrary to thepractice of Sunnis and Smahs, they may weargold or silver rings of indefinite weight, and silksand satins, provided that the latter be removedduring prayer. rrhese sectarians cannot marrywomen with whom they have cohabited; divorceis imperative from wives whom they have visitedat a forbidden season, and they allow legitimacyto children born within two years after the father'sdeath. Amongst the Shafei the poriod extendsto four years: physiological ignorance of ovariandropsy fixed the time; and mistaken charity hasrefused to shorten it. In general the Bayazi, likethe Druze, al)pears unwilling to explain his tenets,a remarkable contrast with the self-assertion andthe controversial readiness of other Moslems.

404 TIlE BAYAZI.When betrayed into argument they quarrel abouttheir belief-a sign of weakness; the calmly andthoroughly convinced, for instance an honestScotch country minister, only s:miles with pityupon the man who dares to differ from him. Thestudied simplicity and literalness of the sect andits fierce intolerance, combined with its crass semi.barbarism and isolation from the great family ofnations, have favoured the progress of Wahhabipuritanism, and accordingly many Bayazi haveranged themselves under the uncompromisingbanner of puritanical 'Unitarianism '-literalismand Koranolatry.Of old the Kharijis were the flowers of theIslamitic garden; and history will ever dwellupon the literary glories of Seville and Oordova.n was this heresy that produced the Allamat(doctissimus) El Ghazali, and the celebratedPersian grammarian and poet, the Imam Ahll'lKasim Mohammed bin Omar, :El Zamal{hshari.His wife attacked his vile belief in man's Free-willwith an argumentum ad hominem more demonstrativethan purely logical. It caused bim,however, to recant the error and to express hispenitence in that glorious ode beginning-

THE BAYAZI.405, 0 Thou who seest the midge extend her wingAthwart the gathered glooms of gloomiest night,'and to end life in the firm conviction of fate andpredestination. His commentary (the KashshM'an Hikaik el Tanzi!) displayed a logical reasoning,a profundity of learning, and purity of stylewhich made it popular throughout El Islam, andit cleared the way for a long procession of similarproductions.In modern degenerate days the Bayazis ofZanzibar have little education and no learning:they must even borrow from the Sunnis commentaries(Taisir) and other religious works,whence they can extract food for their own cravingsof belief. Of these the most popular are Elllokhari, the JeIalayn, and El llaghawi; theabstruse Bayzawi is seldom troubled. Logic isneglected: history, philosophy, and the exactsciences are unknown. Being Arabs, they do notrequire El Sarf (accidence or the changes of theverb), and the Alfiyyeh of Ibn Malik is the onlypopular treatise upon the subject of El Nahw(syntax, and the changes of non-verbal parts ofspeech). The Kazis of the Bayazi and the Sunnischools lecture in their own houses upon thereligious 'sciences, and the elementary establishmentsmay number on the Island 15 or 16. Here

406 THE BAYAZI.boys lea,rn to read the Koran, and to write thecrabbed angular hand which distinguishes these'Moslems. Nakhodas master a little arithmetic andnavigation at Bombay and Calcutta. Some fewhave been sent to England and ]1rance, wherethey showed no want of attention or capacity:on their return to semi-barbarism, however, almostall went to the bad; they robbed and plotted,an,cl most of them died of drunkenness and debauchery.'rIle best education to be had at Zanzibar canonly exercise the memory; it does little to cultivatethe understanding or to improve the mind.Yet the people, averse to literary labour anddespising learning in the presence of business,pleasure, or idleness, are shrewd and plodding'thinkers,' and probably for the reason that theirwits are not btunted by books and lectures, theyare a match for Europeans in the everyday businessof life. It is evident that wherethe profoundestignorance of our elementary knowledge co-existswith practical wisdom, there is a large field forthe labours of civilization, and that the westernschool, if kept strictly secular and pure of proselytizing,would be a blessing to the children ofboth sexes at Zanzibar.

CHAPTER XI.COMPARATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY (ETHNOLOGY) OFZANZIBAR-'fHE WASAWAlIILI A:N'DRAOES.THE SLAVE'Venti anni sono, il eommercio di Zanzibar era nullo; orail commercio Ii sllpera 50 milioni di franchi. Per alcllniarticoli, per esempio, pel garofano, per la gomma copale, eper l'avorio, il mercato di Zanzibar edivenuto il principaledel lYIondo.'-P. 17, La grandezza Italiana, by the learnedgeographer Oavagliere Oristofaro Negri. Torino, 1864.THE Wasawahili, bounded north bythe Somaland the Gallas, south by the so.called Kafirtribes, extend along the Indian Ocean fromMakdishu to Mozambique, a coastal distance ofsome 1050 miles; they also occupy the Zangian.A1·chipelago, and the islets that fringe the shore.They call themselves Wazumba, ignoring theterm Jabarti or Ghiberti (Gibberti), still ap-

408 THE WABAWAHILI.plied to them by the northern Moslems. It isgiven by EI 1VIakrizi to Zayla in Somaliland,and by other writers to the Abyssinian 'Moors; ,vacatur quoqueJabarta, i. e. Regia Ardens. Thisinsititious race might be called Hamito-Semiticif anywhere we could discern that the mythicalHam, or his progeny, ever became negroes.'rhey are, as they confess themselves to be,mulattos, descended from Asiatic settlers andcolonists, Arabs, and Persians of the Days ofIgnorance, who intermarried with the Wakafuior infidels. The author of the Natural History ofMan is correct in asserting their African origin,but he under-estimates the amount of Asiaticinnervation. The traveller still witnesses theprocess of breeding half-castes: Maskatis andBaloch still trade to the coast harbours, and settleas agriculturists in the maritime regions, whilstthe African element is maintained in the Islandby a steady importation of slave girls. TheWasawahili differ in one essential point fromtheir congeners of mixed blood, Egyptian, Nubian,Abyssinian, Galla, Dankali, Somal, and thenorthern negroids; these have not, those like theComoro men distinctly have, the negro efRuvium,they are the 'foumarts, not the civets,' of thehuman race.

RACIAL EFFL UVIUM. 409I am compelled by its high racial significanceto offer a few words upon this unpleasant topic.The odour of the Wasawahili, like that of thenegro, is a rank fcetor, sui generz's, which faintlyreminded me of the ammoniacal smell exhaledby low-caste Hindus, popularly called Pariahs.These, however, owe it to external applications,aided by the want of cleanliness. All agree thatit is most offensive in the yellow-skinned, andthe darkest negroids are therefore preferred fordomestic slaves and concubines. It does notdepend upon diet. In the Anglo-AmericanStates, where blacks live like whites, no diminutionof it has been remarked; nor upon want ofwashing,-those who bathe are not less nauseousthan those who do not. After hard bodilyexercise, or during mental emotion, the epidermexudes a fcetid perspiration, oily as that of orangepeel: a negro's feet will stain a mat, an oarmust be scraped after he has handled it, and awoman has left upon a polished oaken gun-casea hemispherical mark that no scrubbing couldremove. This' Catinga,' as the Brazilians callit, taints the room, infects every part of the bodywith which it comes in contact, and exerts acurious effect on the white races. A missionary'swife in Zanzibar owned to me that it caused her

410 THE TWO FAMiLIES.almost to faint. I have seen an Englishmanturn pale when he felt that a crowded slave-craftwas passing under his windows, and the lateSayyid could not eat or drink for hours after hehad been exposed to the infliction.The Virasawahili may be roughly estimated athalf a million of souls. In 1850 Dr Krapf(Vocabulary of six East African Languages) proposed350,000 to 400,000. In Zanzibar Islandthey are divided into two great families, a distinctionhithel'to disregarded by travellers. TheShirazi, or nobles, derive themselves from theShangaya settlement, also called Shiraz, on thecoast north of Lamu in about S. lat. 2°; thencethey extended to Tungi, four days' sail south ofthe Rufuma river. Asserting themselves to beAlawi Sayyids (descended from the KhalifahAli) they take the title of Muigni, 'lord,' equivalentto the Arab 'Sherif,' whereas the otherchiefs are addressed as B'ana-master. The lastMsawahili Sultan in the days of the Arabconqueror, Ahmed bin Said, was Ahmed binSultan bill Hasan el Alawi. The actual headof the family is entitled Muigni ·:M.ku by hispeople; by the Europeans, ' King of the Sawahili.'His name is mentioned in the Khutbah or FridaySermon; he (lollects the poll-tax, and receives a

ORIGIN OF THE WASA WAHILI. 411percentage, some say one haH, others only $2000,when paying it into the Say~rid'sJreasury. Hewas never, however, admitted to any equality bythe Arab riller. '1 1 he Shirazi clan does not nowcontain more than a hundred families.The Wasawahili race appears, from the ' KilwaChronicle' (Huma Ohronica dos Reys de Quiloa)mentioned by De Barros (1st Decade of Asia, viii.4, 5), to have been derived from the' Emozayclis'(Amm Zayd) or followers of their Imam, Zayd binAli Zayn el Abidin bin Husayn, the grandsonof the Prophet. He was proclaimed Khalifah atKufa in A. H. 122 CA. D. 739), under the Khalifatof EI Hesham bin Abd el Melek, the Ommiade,by whom he was conquered and slain. The pretender'sson; Yahya, fled to Khorasan, where theAbbasides were already making head againstthe Ommiades, and the tenets of his followers,the Zayclis, spread throughout Yemen, wherethey formed, and they still form, a numerous andinfluential class. Other' Shiah' partisans tookrefuge from persecution in East Africa, fortifiedthemselves upon the littoral about Shangaya, and,extending southwards, became lords of the land.Some generations afterwards an emigration ofSunni Arabs from El Hasa, in three ships,commanded by seven brothers flying from the

412 THE' EMOZAYDIS.'tyranny of their chief, visited the coast, foundedMakdishu and Brava, and extended to Sobla.The 'Emozaydis,' unwilling to accept orthodoxrule; retired into the interior, intermingled withthe Kafir race, and became the Bedawin of thecountry. The second Persian emigration" tookplace early in our eleventh century. A certain Ali,son of a 'Moorish' Sultan Hasan, who governedShiraz, by an Abyssinian slave, finding himselfdesl)ised by his six brethren, fled with wife andfamily in two ships from Hormuz to East Africa.At :M:akdishu and Brava, finding Arabs of anotherfaith (Sunnis), he went to Kilwa Island, boughtland with cloth, took the title of Sultan, andfortified himself against the Kafirs and againstthe Moslems of Songo-Songo and Ohanga, whosedominion extended to Mompana (Mafiyeh). Thelatter, together with other islets, was conqueredby his son, Sultan 'Ali Bumale,' and thedynasty lasted a grand total of 541 lunar yearsbefore the arrival of Oabral at Kilwa in July,A. D. 1500. These Shirazis originated the noblefamily of the Wasawahili, who do not claimdescent from the older' Emozaydis.'lThe Mahadimu, or serviles, a word derivedfrom the Arabic Makhadim, the 'Mohaydin' of1 Further details will be given in Part II. chap xi.

SERVILE WASAWAHILI. 413Europeans, compose the mass of the Wasawahilirace. They are popularly d~rived from the slavesleft upon the Island by the Portuguese. Itmust, however, be observed that most of thegreat families in Eastern and Southern Africahave congener clients, or rather outcastes, who areprobably, like the Spartan Helots, remnants ofsubjugated rivals. Thus, to quote but a few,there are the Midgans amongst the Somal, theWalang1110 or Ariangulo and Dahalo amongst theSouthern Gallas,! andthe Wandurobo amongst theWakwafi. The Wasumbara have their Washenzi;the Hottentots their Bushmen, and the Kafirstheir Fingos. In a former volume I have shownthat even the Arabs of Oman and Yemen aremixed with Khadims, a system of race within race,as contrary to the spirit of El Islam as of Christianity.These .servile castes are distinguishedby swarthier skins, weaker frames, and other signs1 A highly interesting account is given of this almostunknown race by the Rev. Thomas Wakefield in his ':Footprintsin Eastern Africa, or Notes of a Visit to the Southern Gallas'(London, Reed. 1866, pp. 76-79). We are told that 'theGalas never stab a Mlangulo, but removing the blades of theirspears, they tbrash him to death with the shafts or IJlllldles: 'moreover, that 'the VValangulo approach a Gala on theirknees, crying, "tiririsho! tiririsho! tiririsho!" until theirgreeting is acknowledged by a grunt from their lord or bythe latter spitting out a little saliva!'

414 THE WABAWAHILI.of inferior development. The Mahadimu of Zanzibarare evidently the.ancient lords of the Island,l'educed to a manner of servitude by northernconquerors. Though now free, and often slaveowners,these Helots are subject, at the Prince'sorder, to an occasional corvee, and to a poll-tax.The amount of the latter affords a rude census; theadult males range between 10,000 and 12,000,and the women, it is said, are proportionally morenumerous.The Wasawahili of the Island appear physicallyinferior to those of the seaboard: as in the daysof Marco Polo, they are emphatically an uglyrace. If the,girls in early youth show tracesof prettiness,it is a grotesque order of the beaute dudiable. Some of the men have fine, large, strong,and muscular figures, without being able to usetheir strength, and as amongst uncivilized peoplegenerally, the reality falls short of the promise.The national peculiarity is the division of theface into two distinct types, and the contrastappears not a little singular. 'rhe upper, orintellectual l)art, though capped by woolly hair,is distinctly Semitic-with the suspicion of acaricature-as far as the nose-bridge, and themore ancient the family the more evident is themixture. The lower, or animal half, especially

THE WASA WAHILI. 415the nostrils, lip, jaws, and chin is unmistakablyAfrican. There are a few Albinos with silk-cocooncolouredhair, and tender-red eyes, their pinkish.skins are cobwebbed by darker reticulations andrough from pellagrous disease. Leucosis, however,is rare; we saw only two cases, one on the Island,the other a youth near Tanga.The Wasawahili are by no means a jet-blackpeople, as Pritchard, misled by Dr Bird, has assumed;nor, indeed, is this the distinction of theZanzibarian races generally. The skin is a chocolate-brown,varying in shades, as amongst ourselves,but usually not. darker than the complexionof Southern Arabia. About Lamu and Patta thecolour is yellow-brown; at Mombasah and Zanzibardark-brown; and south of Kilwa, I am. told,black-brown. Mostly the hair is jetty, unlesssunburnt; crisp, and curling short; it splits aftergrowing a few inches long, and often it is plantedlike the body pile, in distinct 'pepper-corns.' Thebarbule is a degeneracy from the Arab goatee, andthe mustachios are short and scanty. The ovalskull, too dolichocephalous to be purely Caucasi.an, is much flattened at the walls, and sometimesthe upper brow (the reflective region of Gall) istoo highly developed for the lower. The eyes,with dark-brown pupils and cornea stained du.'ty

416 THE WASA WAHILI.bilious-yellow, are straight and well-opened, butthe nose is flat and patulous, the mouth is coarse,and ill-cut; the lips, often everted, project unduly;the teeth are obliquely set, and the jaw isprognathous. The figure is loose and pulpy, andeven in early manhood the waist is seldom finelyformed; in many men I have seen the nipplesplaced unusually low down, whilst the womenhave the flaccid pendulous breasts of negresses.Both sexes fail in point of hips, which are lankand angular, whereas those of the inner savagesare finely rounded. The shanks are bowed forwards,the calf is high raised and bunchy, theheel is long, and the extremities are coarse andlarge. There is another proof of African bloodwhich can hardly be quoted here: many overlandtravellers have remarked it amongst the boatmenof Egypt. 1Veritable half-castes, the VVasawahili have inheritedthe characters of both parents. From theArab they derive shrewd thinking and practicein concealing thought: they will welcome a manwith the determination to murder him; they haveunusual confidence, self-esteem, and complacency;1 The curious reader will find it in the Travels of MarcoPolo (chap. xxxvii. note 1, p. 432, of 13ohn's AntiquarianLibrary).

THE WASA WAHILI. 417fondness for praise, honours, and distinctions.;keenness together with short-sightedness inmatters of business, and a nameless horror of responsibilityand regular occupation. AfTica hasgifted them with comparative freedom frombigotry - they are not. admodum dediti re-­ligionibus. UsuaIly the Moslem combines com·merce with proselytizing, opposed to our system,which divides by a wide gulf the merchant'scareer from that of the Missionary, and whichunites them only upon the subscription sheet.These people care little to make converts:their African languor upon doctrinal points preventstheir becoming fanatics or proselytizers.African also is their eternal, restless suspicion, thewisdom of serf and slave compensating for theirsluggish imagination and small powers of concentration.They excel in negro duplicity; they areinfinitely great in the 'Small wares and pettypoints of cunning,' and they will boast of tbisvile eminence, saying, 'Are we not Vl,rasawahili?'men who obtain their ends by foxship? Natummendacio genus, truth is unknown to it; honestyand candonr are ignored even by name. Whenthey assert they probably lie, when they swearthey certainly lie. The favourite oath is 'Mi miwad (or M'amt) harami-I am a 1Jastard if,' &c.,VOL. I. 27

418 THE WABA WAHIL!.&c., and it is never respected. The language isvery foul, and such expressions as Komanyoko arenever out of the mouth. The Msawahili will notask a thing openly : he waits, fidgeting withal,till the subject edge itself in, and then he willrather hint than speak out. At the same time heis an inveterate beggar, and the outstretching ofhands seems to relieve his brain. When his mindis set upon an acquisition, he becomes a monomaniac,like that child-man the savage. Hisnonchalance, carelessness, and improvidence passall bounds. He will light his pipe under a dozenleaky kegs of gunpowder; 'he will set a house on:lhe, as it were, to roast his eggs;' he will wreckhis ship because anchoring her to the beach savestrouble in loading; he might make his coast amine of wealth, but he will not work till hungercompels him, and his pure insouciance has allowedhis valuable commerce to be wrested fromhim by Europeans, Hindus, and Arabs. His dislikeof direct action exceeds that of the Bedawi,and yet he quotes a proverb touching procrastination,'Leo kabli ya kesho,'-to-day is before tomorrow- better than our 'To-morrow nevercomes.'In disposition the Msawahili is at once cowardlyand destructive: his quarrelsome temper leads

THE WASAWAHIL!. 419him into trouble, but he fights only by beingbrought to bay. Sensual and degraded, his sel£indulgenceis that of the brutes. He drinks, andalways drinks to excess. He would stake andlose his mother at play. Chastity is unknown inthis land of hot temperaments---the man placesparadise in the pleasures of the sixth sense, andthe woman yields herself to the first advances.Upon the coast, when an adulterer is openly detected,he is fined according to the 'injuredhusband's' rank; mostly, however, such peccadillosare little noticed. Unnatural criInes areheld conducive to health. '* * '*The manners of 'the -perverse race of Kush'are rough and free, especially compared with thoseof India, yet dashed with a queer African cere·moniousness. Their conversation huns whollyupon the subjects of women and money. Withthese optimists all that is is good, or, at least, itis not worth the trouble of a change for thebetter. They' make a stand upon the ancientway,' and they hold that old custom, because it isold, must be fit for all tiIne. This savage conservatism,combined with their traditional andnow instinctive dread of the white face, andperhaps with a not unreasonable fear of presentand future loss, has made them close the interior

420 THE W ASAWAHILI.to Europeans. 'l'hey have no especial dislike to,at the same time no fondness for, foreigners,wbo in mind as well as llOdyare separated fromthem longo intervalIo.The characteristic good points of the coastrace are careless merriment, an abundance ofanimal spil'its; strong attachments and devotedfamily affection. There is amongst men anartificial fraternity which reminds us of the'fostering' of Ireland and the' Lambmas brotherand sister' ofthe local Kermess, St alIa's Fair: asimilar brotherhood is found at Madagascar.Amongst the negro races generally each sucks orexchanges blood from an arm vein, and the twothen swear relationship. The operation is called Kucbanjana and the oath Sare or Sogu,-the Arabs,by whose law it is forbidden, name it Musha,tibeh.Girls, even though their parents be living,adopt a Kungwf or stead-mother, who mayor whomay not be of the family: the latter attends her':M:wari' (adopted child) when the first ablutionfor puberty is performed, and at the wedding sitsupon the couch till decency forbids. The connectionreminds us of the Persian proverb, ' Thenurse is kinder than tbe mother.' Like Orientalsand certain peoples of Southern Europe, they'make little distinction between near and distant

THE WABA WAHILI. 421relationship: a man's son may come from thesame city and his brother perhaps from the sameprovince. So in West Africa 'brother' has anextensive signification.The Wasawahili from Makdishu to Mozambique(Mussumbeg) are all Moslems and Shafei,as they were in the 14th century when IbnBatuta reported them chaste and honest, peacefuland religious. Possibly under the orthodoxdenomination they may still preserve the hereticalZaydi tenets of their ancestors; but of thispoint I was not familiar enough with them tojudge. If Persians, they must date from thedays before the universal prevalence of Tashayyu(Shiitism), or they have abandoned their ancientfaith. Feuds with the late Sayyid Said spreadthe school along the coast, and his Bayazi subjectsbecame SUllllis in spite, even as Irishmenand Romans sometimes turn Protestants. ElIslam, however, only fringes the Continent. Withtheir savage- irreverence for holy things, theWasawahili calling themselves Moslems knowlittle beyond the Kalmah, or profession of faith,rarely pray, and fast only by compulsion. LikeHindostanis, Persians, and Egyptians, nations professingEl Islam at a distance from the fountainhead,amongst whom local usage has been largely

422 THE WASA WAHILI.incorporated with the pure practice of the Faith,they have retained a mass of superstitions andidolatr:ies belonging to their pagan forefathers.They have a terror of the sorcerers, with whomMaskat is said to swarm, and they tell frightfulstories of mcn transformed into hyrenas,dogs, sheep, camels, and other animals. Theydefend themselves and their huts against evilspirits (Jann) and bad men by Koranic vel'sets,greegrees, and various talismans, mostly boughtfrom the pagan Mganga or Medicine-man. Theybelieve in alchemy and in Rimbwata, or lovephilters,the latter, as usual in the East, containin$"various abominations. The slave girls from aboutMangao, a small port near Kilwa, are famous Torconcocting draughts which, after bringing on apossibly fatal sickness, subjugate for ever theaffcctions of the patient. Similarly in India,Sind, Egypt, and Persia, no man will touchsherbet under the rooT of his betrothed and preparedby her mother, unless his future father-inlawset him the example. Some of the Rimbwataor philters are peculiar: a few grains ofJ owari are'forced' in an exceptional way till theysprout; they are then pounded and mixed withthe food. This harmless adhibition causes, saythe people, either death by violent disease or

SUPERSTITIONS. 423intense affection. It is a superstition common tothe Western East, and I have found it in Indiaand Sind, in Peru and Egypt. Ghosts and larvrehaunt the houses in which men have died, aFetish belief which does not properly belong to ElIslam or to Christianity: the British Consulatehas a bad name on account of the terrible fate ofits owner, the late Sayyid's nephew. Descendedfrom 'devil-worshippers,' the vYasawahili ratherfear the 'Shaytani' than love Allah, and to themalignant powers of preternatural beings theyattribute sickness and all the evils of human life.A Zanzibar negroid will not even fetch a leechfrom the marsh, for fear of offending him towhom the animal is ' Ju-,ju,' 01' sacred.Generally, the Msawahili Alim or literato,though capable of reading the Koran, cannot writea common Arabic letter. Some, however, attainhigh proficiency: I may quote as an instance theKazi Muhiyy el Din. These negroids begin arithmeticearly, a practice which, perhaps, they havelearned from the Banyans. They excel in memoryand in quickness or apprehension from early childhoodto the age of puberty: the same has beenremarked about the Arabs, and Anglo-Indiansobserve it in the natives of Hindostan. Whetherat the virile epoch there is an tLrrest of develop~

424 NAMES.ment, or the brain suffers from exclusive, excessiveobedience to the natural law, 'increase andmultiply' and its consequent affections, is aquestion still to be settled. Boys are sent toschool when aged seven, and finish theirKhitmah (perlection of the Koran) in one to,three years; after this they are usually removedto assist their fathers in the business of life.Upon the Island the Msawahili child receivessome corrupted Moslem name, as Taufiki (Taufik)Muamadi (Mohammed), Tani (Usman), Shibu(Nasib), Muhina (Muhinna), Usy (Ali), orRadi. Upon the coast the appellations aremostly heathen: I may quote the followingfrom the Benu Kendi] tribe-Bori, Chumi,Kambi, Kangaya, Kirwasha, Mareka, Mkame,Mkhokho, Mombe, or Mwambe, Mwere, Nungu,Shangora, Shenkambi, Zingaji. The wilderWasawahili communities adopt very characteristiccompounds: such are Machuzi waShimba (fish-soup), Mrima.khonde (mountainplantation),! Mkata-Moyyo (cutter-out of heart),K'hiro-kota (treasure trove), Mchupio wa Keti1 l\tIr Cooley (Geog. 37) tells us that' Conda, in Congoeseand also in Sawahili, means hill.' It certainly does not inZanzibar, where Konda is an adjective, lean or thin. Kondemeans the fist (in Arabic ~;», lllid Khonde is applied to aL .Shamba or plantation.F

NAMES. 425'(leaper upon a chair), Mshindo-Mamba (conquerorof crocodile), Khombe la Simba (lion'sclaw), :M:guru Mfupi (short-legs), Mui' Mvua(Mister rain), Mkia ya Nyani (monkey's tail),Masimbi (cowries), and Ugali (stirabout).Girls take Arabic names, as Mamai Khamisi(Mother Thursday), Fatimah, and Arusi, or theyborrow from the pagans Magonera, Zawadia;nd Apewai (a gift), Timeh, Siti, Bahati, Tinisi,and Machoyao (their eyes). The ceremonialaddress to men is Bwana (pronounced B'ana)master, possibly a corruption of the Arabic, Abuna:' it is prefixed to proper names, especiallyArabic, as B'ana Muamadi. The diminutiveKib'ami is the Italian 'Signorino.'The feminineform Mwana (M'aw1) has equal claimsof descent from the Arabic Ummana, ourmother. It means, however, 'child' generi.cally in the proverb M'ana uwwa Mze, Mzehawwa M'ana-child slays parent, parent slaysnot child-the equivalent of the Italian Amor descendenon ascende, and the Arab's'My heart is onmy son, my son's is on a stone.' Amongst certaininterior tribes it is still prefixed to the names ofchiefs; hence probably the' Emperor' Monomotapa(M'am't Mt~ipa) which J. de Barros writesBenomotapa: the latter may not be a misprint,

426 MARRIAGES.but represent' B'ana Mtapa.' MUigni, contractedto Mui', is applied to Sayyids, Sherifs, and temporalrulers, and Shehe is the equivalent ofShaykh. !fkambi belongs to the sultan orchief, and the Anglo-Arab 'Seedy' (8fdi = mylord) is unknown.The marriages (Maowano) of the Wasawahiliare operose, as might be expected amongst arace whose family festivals are, as in the far northof Europe, their only public amusements. Imay, perhaps, here remark that in matching, aswell as in despatching, even civilization has notthrown off all traces of the old barbarism, andthat the visit to M. Ie Maire and the weddingbreakfast, to mention no other troubles anddisagreeables, should make us uncommonlylenient to those less advanced than ourselves.The relatives of the bridegroom, as soon as hereaches the mature age of 15, having found forhim a fit and proper mate, repair to the parents;propose a Mallr, or settlement, varying accordingto means from $15 to $25, and obtain the replyancipital. The women then visit one another;the answer emerges into distinctness, and all fallto cooking. In due time Ccelebs receives, as atoken of acceptance, a large Siniyyah, a tray ofrice, meat, and confectionery, a 'treat' for his

MARRIAGES. 427friends, forwarded by the future father-in-law.The fcast concludes the betrothal;l either of the.twain most concerned is still at liberty to jilt;but in such a case, as usual throughout theMoslem East, enmity between the families inevit.ably results.The wedding festivities outlast the month:there are great' affinities of gossips;' tympanum ettripudium; hard eating and harder wetting ofthe driest clay with the longest draughts ofTembo K'hali (sour toddy), of Pombe beer (theKafir Chuala), and of the maddening Zerambo.Processions of free women and slave girls, precededby chattels performing on various utensilsof music, perambulate the streets, singing anddancing in every court. At length the Kazi,or any other man of letters, recites the Fatiheh,and the two become one, either at the bridegroom'sor at the bride's house. The women are presentwhen the happy man enters the nuptial chamber,and they always require to be ejected by mainforce. Unlike the Arabs, they retain the Jewishpractice of inspection: if the process be satisfactory,the bridegroom presents $10 to $50to his new connections, while the exemplary1 M. Guillain (Part II. 108) calls the preliminary ceremony'Outouroba,' and I cannot help thinking that he was grossly, sold' by some exceedingly impudent interpreter.

428 1f£ARRIAGES.young person is blessed, congratulated, andpetted with small gifts by papa and mamma.She often owes, it is whispered, her blushinghonours to the simple process of cutting apigeon's throat. In case of a disappointment,there is a violent scene of abuse and recrimination; but when lungs and wrath are exhausted,the storm is lulled without blows or even divorce.The first 'Mfungato,' i. e. seven (days) afterconsummation, is devoted to the wildest revelry,the '\ValImeh,' or wedding feast, concludingonly with the materials for feasting.The Msawahili is allowed to breathe his lastupon a couch, and the corpse, after being washedby an Alim or by some kinsman, is hastilywrapped in a perfumed winding-sheet. Womenof the highest rank sit at home in solitary grief.The middle-classes stain their faces, assume darkor dingy-coloured dresses, and repair to the seashorefor the purpose of washing the dead man'sclothes before dividing them amongst his relationsor distributing them to the poor. Theslave girls shave their heads like Hindus, bathe,and go about the streets singing NcIDre, andmourning aloud. Meanwhile a collection, tech­IDcally known as Sanda (the winding-sheet), ismade amongst the people, who are almoBt all

DEATHS. 429connected by a near or distant tie. One or theblood-kinsmen acts Mumidi, or crier. As eachone appears with his quotum, he shouts 'lo!such a person (naming him) has l)ought suchand such articles for his brother's funeral feast.'This publicity tends of course to make menliberal. The corpse is buried, as is cllstomaryamongst Moslems, on the day, generally theevening, of decease, and there is a popular belief,in which some Europeans join, that deaths takeplace mostly when the tide ebbs, at the full andchange of the moon. The cllstom of abusingthe corpse, accompanied with the greatest indecencies,is confined to the least civilizedsettlements. After the funeral all apply themselvesto eating, drinking, and what we shouldcall merriment; whilst music and dancing arekept up as long as weak human nature permits.The object is not that of the Yorkshire Arvills, torefreshthose who attended from afar-it is confessedlyto ' take the sorrow out of the heart.' So theVelorio of Yucatan is para djvertise--to distractkin-grief. As in the matter of marriage, however,so in funerals, we can hardly deride barbarous raceswhilst we keep up our pomp and expense of ridi­CUIOllS trappings, taxing even the poor for mutesand carriages, for' gloves, scarves, and hatbands.'

430 MUSIC.The Wasawahili have all the African passionfor the dance and song: they may be said toexist upon manioc and betel, palm-wine andspirits, music and dancing. The Ngoma Khu,or huge drum~ a hollowecl cocoa-stem bound withleather braces, and thumped with fists, palms,or large stiCKS, plays an important and complexpart in the business of life: it sounds whena man falls sick, when he revives, or when hedies; at births and at marriages; at funerals andat festivals; when a stranger arrives or departs;when a fight begins or ends, and generally wheneverthere is nothing else to do. It is accompaniedby the' Siwa,' a huge pipe of black woodor ebony, and by the' Zumari,' a more handy-variety of the same instrument. On occasionswhich justify full orchestras, an ' Dpatu,' or brasspan, is placed upon the ground in a wooden tray,and is tapped with two bits of palm-frond. Somewealthy men possess gongs, from which thecudgel draws lugubrious sounds. The otherimplements are 'Tabl,' or tomtoms of gourd,provided with goatskin;. the Tambire, or ArabBarbut, a kind of lute; the Malagash 'Zeze,' aCalabash-banjo, whose single string is scrapedwith a bow; and finally horns of the cow, of theAddax, and the Oryx antelopes. These people are

DANCING. 431excellent timeists, but theirmusic, being all in theminor key, and the song being a mere recitativewithout change of words, both are monotonousto the last degree. The dancing resembles thatof the Somal, and, as amongst the slaves, bothsexes prance together. The Diwans, or chiefs,caper with drawn swords, whilst the women moveinl'egular time, shaking skirts with the right hand.The 'figures' are, unlike the music, complicatedand difficult: they seem to vary in almost everyvillage. The only constant characteristic appearsto be that tremulous motion from the waistdownwards, and that lively pantomime of lovewhich was so fiercely satirized by the eminentlymoral J uvenal. It is, indeed, the groundworkof all 'Oriental' dancing from Morocco toJapan.The principal occupation of the Wasawahiliis agriculture; they form the farmer class of theIsland, and everywhere in the interior we findtheir little settlements of cajan-thatched huts ofwattle and dab, with flying roofs, acting chimneyas well as ventilator-a right sensible contrivance,worthy of imitation. The furniture consists ofa few mats; of low stools, mostly cut out of asingle block; of chairs, a skin being stretchedon a wooden frame; and invariably of a Kitanda,

432 DISHONESTY.or cartel of coir. and sticks; even the beggarwill not sleep or sit upon the damp face of hismother earth. The dwelling is divided intoseveral rooms, or rather closets, by partitionwalls the height of a man; as usual in tropicallands, the interior is kept dark. Sometimes thehovel boasts the convenience of a Cho'oni orShironi (latrina), but in no case is there a window.Gossips meet under the shade of huge Calabashesand other trees.Like the Somal, the Wasawahili are essentiallya trading race, a crumenimulga natio, and theydo business with the characteristic dishonesty ofAfricans. They defraud and even offer violenceto Banyans, and acting as trade-men to Europeanmerchants, they never allow a purchase withoutdeducting their percentage. At the same timetheir plausibility, like that of the travellingDragoman, so impresses upon the :civilized dupe,whom they hedge round with an entourage oftheir own, and whom it is their life-businessto cozen, that nothing can convince him oftheir rascality. Some of them make considerablefortunes: I heard of one who lately purchasedan estate for $14,000. They are also commercialtravellers of no mean order. Upon the Zanzibarcoast they cut rafters and firewood; they dig

DRESS. 433for copal, and they act as middlemen; theywander far into the interior, buying hides,slaves, and ivory, and they have thus becomefamiliar with the Lake Regions, which are nowattracting our attention. The poorest classesemploy themselves in fishing, and many maybe seen by day plying about the harbour inlittle 'Monoxyles,' which they manage withadmirable dexterity. Others have learned tomake the rude hardwares with which themainland is supplied: there are also roughmasons, boat-builders, and carpenters of peculiarawkwardness.Respectable Wasawahili dress like Arabs in, Kofiyya,' here meaning red caps, and the longDisdashah, or night-gown; the loins are girtwith a 'Kamarband'-shawl, and sandals protectthe feet. Others are contented with the Hammam-toilette,waist-cloth (Shukkah or Tanga)and shoulder-sheets (Iz{tr), always adorned withthe favourite fringe (Tambua or Taraza). Thisis at once the simplest and one of the most. ancient of attires; the plate from Montfaucon'sCosmas Indicopleustes (1706, f110pographia Christiana)reproduced byVincent (Periplus, Appendix,part 1.) shows the kilt to have been the generaldress of the ancient lEthiopians, as the spear wasVOL. I. 28

434 WOMEN'S DRESS.their weapon. Before superiors they bare theshaven poll, an un-Oriental custom probablylearned from the Portuguese. As amongst theArab Bedawin, the Syrian Rayahs, and the PersianIliyat, the women mostly go abroad unveiled.The'Murungawanah,' or freeborn, however, isdistinguished out-of-doors by her rude mantilla,and 'ladies' affect an Ukaya, or fillet of indigodyedcotton, or muslin, somewhat like that ofthe Somal and the Syrians. The feminine garbis a Kisitu, or length of stained cotton, blueand red being the pet colours. It resemblesthe Kitambi of the Malagash, and it is the nearestapproach to the primitive African kilt of skin ortree bark. Wrapped tightly round the unsupportedbosom, and extending from the armpits tothe heels, this ungraceful garb depresses thebreast, spoils the figure, and conceals'nothing ofits deficiencies. The hair, like the body, dripswith unfragrant cocoa-nut oil; and though thereis not much material to work upon, it is workedin va,rious fanciful styles. Many shave clean;some wear a half-crop, like a skull-cap of Astracanwool; others a full-grown bush covering thewhole head. These part it down the middle,with an asinine cross over the regions of veneration;those draw longitudinal lines above the

ORNAMENTS. 435ears, making a threefold parting; there are alsogarnishings and outworks of stunted pigtails,forming stiff and savage accroche-cceurs. Twopeculiar coiffures at once attract the stranger'seye. One makes the head look as if split intoa pair of peaks, the side hair being raised fromsinciput to occiput in tall double unpadded rolls,parted by a deep central hollow; this style isnowhere so pronounced as near the Gaboonriver, where the heads of the Mpongwe girlsappear short.horned. The other consists offrizzly twists trained lengthwise from nape tobrow, and the whitish etiolated scalp showingitself between the lines as though the razor hadbeen used: the stripes suggest the sections of amusk-melon or the meridians of a map.The favourite feminine necklace is a row ofsharks' teeth; some use beads, others bits ofcopal, but the amber so highly valued in theSomali country is here not prized. I have alludedbefore to the artificial deformity of ear-lobes distendedby means of the Mpogo, a mixture of rawOopal (Ohakazi) and Oinnabar. The left nostril isusually honoured with some simple decmationastud or rose-shaped button of wood or bone, ofivory or of precious metal, and at times its place istaken by a clove or a pin of Oassava. The tattoo

436 TOBACCO.is not so common on the Island as upon the Continent.These 'women are said to be prolific, butapparently they have small families: the child iscarried in a cloth called Mbereko, and, curious tosay, they do not bind up its head immediatelyafter bu,th. They are hard-worked; and, like thedames of Harar, they buy and sell with men inthe bazar. Their food is manioc, holcus, rice, andsometimes fish; a fowl is the extent of luxury,flesh being mostly beyond their means. Fewsmoke, but almost all chew tobacco as lustily astheir husbands, and their mouths are horridchasms full of 'Tambul'-quids of betel-nut andareca leaf peppered with coarse shell-lime. 1 Thisastringent, like the Kola-nut of the GuineaRegions, acts preventive against the effect of dampheat, and it is a stomachic, consequently a tonic.The habit of 'chawing' it becomes inveterate:Hinclostanis visiting Portugal, and unable toprocure the favourite' Pan-Supari,' have imitatedit with cuttings of cypress-apples and ivy leaves.Ibn Batuta declares the betel to be highlyaphrodisiac, and hence partly the high esteem inwhieh this masticatory is held.1 The areca-nut is caUed in Arabic Fofal, and in Kisa·wahili Popo: the betel-nut, Tambul and Tambuli, and the limeN urah and Choka.

THE KISAWAHILI TONGUE. 437The Wasawahili are not an honoured race;even the savage Somal call them'Abid, or serviles,and bitterly deride their peculiarities. The unerringinstinct of mankind has pointed them out forslaves, and they have readily accepted the position.As Moslems they should be free, and the ]'aithforbids them to trade in Moslems. Yet by localusage, as the children become the property not ofthe parents, but of the mother's brother, the lattercan sell any or all of his nephews and nieces; indeed,he would be subject to popular contempt if,when poor, he did not thus' raise the wind.'The most interesting point connected withthese coast negroids is their language, the Kisawahili.It was anciently called Kingozi, fromUngozi or the region lying about the Dana, orrather Zana, the river known to its Galla accolreas 'Maro,' and' Pokomoni' from the heathenPokomo who, living near its course, form thesouthern boundary of Galla-lanel proper. Thedialect is still spoken with the greatest purityabout Patta and the other ancient settlements betweenLamu and Mombasah. Oral tongues areessentially fluctuating; having no standard, theroots of words soon wither and die, whilst terms,idioms, and expressions once popular speedily fallinto oblivion, and are supplanted by neologisms.

438 THE ]{ISA TVAHILI.Thus the origin of words must often be sought bycollation with the wilder kindred dialects of thecoast tribes; for instance, the root of ' Mbua' (rain),which has died out of Kisawahili, still visits inKinyika-ku bUll, to rain. In Zanzibar IslandKisawahili is most corrupted; the vocabulary,varying with every generation, has become amere conglomerate which combines SouthAfrican,Arabic, Persian, Hindi, and even Portuguese,an epitome of local history. On the coast it greatlyvaries, being constantly modified by the migrationand mixture of tribes. Like the Malayof the Indian Islands, it has become the LinguaFranca, the Lingoa Geral of commerce from Ra'asIIafun to the Mozambique and throughout OentralIntertropical Africa. r:rlris Urdu Zahan, orHindostani of East Africa, is indispensable to theexplorer, who disdains mere' geography;' almostevery inland tribe has some vagrant man whocan speak it. My principle being never to travelwhere the language is unknown to me, I wascareful to study it at once on arriving at Zanzibar; and though sometimes in the interiorquestion and answer had to pass through threeand even four media, immense advantage hasderived from the modicum of direct intercourse.:_ The base of Kisawahili is distinctly African;

THE K!SA WAHILI. 439and, totally unlike its limitrophe the Galla, itgrammaticallr ignores the Semitic element. Itis now time for writers to unlearn that, 'all thelanguages over the face of the earth, howeverremotely different and however widely spread,appear to be all reducible to the one or the otherof three radically distinct tongues' (Dr Beke, p.352, Appendix to Jacob's Flight. London,I,ongmans,1865).1 It is only, I believe, the monogenistpure and simple who in these daJTs wouldassert 'there exist three linguistic types, as thereare three physical types, the black, the yellow,and the white' (M. de Quatrefages, p. 31, AnthropologicalReview, No. xxviii.). To the old andobsolete triad of Turanian, Semitic, and Aryan, or'l\uanian, Semitic, and Iranian, we must nowadd at least another pair-without noticing theAsianesian-namely, the American or Sentencelanguage, and the prefixitive South African family.1 This is repeated by my friend (p. 59, The Idol in Horeb:Evidence that the golden image at "Mount Sinai was a cone,and not a calf. London: Tinsleys, 1871), who, however,informs us that in 1846 Major, now Sir Henry, Rawlinsonagreed with him in saying that, 'the class of languages towhich the designation Semitic or Semitish is properly applicableis that comprising the whole of the aboriginal languages ofAsia, Polynesia, and America.' This latter continent, however,should not have been included without proofs, and hitherto wehave failed to find them.

440 THE KISA WAHILI.These two great tongues, one extending over halfa world, the other through half a continent, are, Ibelieve with Lichtenstein and Marsden, unborrowed,indigenous, and marked with all th.e peculiaritieswhich distinguish their inventors. Bothare idioms which seem to indicate nice linguisticperceptions and high intellectual development;history, however, supplies many cases of civilizationsimplifying and curtailing the complicatedtongues of barbarians, thus making language themeans, not the end, of instruction.'rhe limits of the South African family may beroughly laid down as extending from the Equatorto the Cape of Good Hope. The EquatorialGaboon on the Western Coast 1 evidently belongsto it; and upon the Congo river I found thatwhole sentences of Kisawahili were easily madeintelligible to the people. 2 Though the languageis evidently one in point of construction throughoutthis immense area, isolation ancl hostilities betweentribes have split it into a multitude of1 Grammar of the RaHle language, &c., by the Missionariesof the A. 13. C. F. M. Gaboon Station, Western Africa. NewYork: Pratt, 1854. Also Grammar of the Mpongwe language,&c., by the same. New York: Snowdon and Pratt, 1847.2 A Vocabulary of the Malemba and Embomma Languages.(Appendix I. Tuckey's Expedition to the Ri\'er Zaire. London:Murray, 1818.) Also Fr. B. M. de Cannecatim's Diccional'iocia LiDgua Bunda. Lisboa, 1804.

THE KISA WAHILI. ·441dialects. Almost every people, at the distance of30 to 50 miles, has its peculiar speech, and in theseregions it would not be difficult to collect' Specimensof a hundred Airican Languages.' The oldertravellers' remarked that the Tower of Babelmust have been near the Gulf of Guinea; theywould have found the same throughout the interiorand Eastern Coast.My experience 1 of the tongues spoken to thewest of the Zanzibar coast proper is that theiramount of difference greatly varies: some averagethat of the English counties, others of thethree great Neo-Latin languages, whilst in somethe degree amounts to that between English, German,and Dutch. And generally, I may remark,the East-West extremities of the lingual area aremore closely connected than the North-South;the language of Angola, for instance, is more likeKisawahili than the Sichuana. I am at pain tounderstand why Dr Krapf should have namedthis linguistic family, Orphno- (dark-brown)Hamitic, Orphno-Cushite, Nilo-Hamitic, and Nilotic,2when it is far more intimately connected1 When travelling in East Africa I took as a base thevocabulary of Catherine of Russia, and filled it up with fivedialects, viz., those of the Sawahil, Uzaramo, Khutu, Usagara,and Unyamwezi.~ In these days, however, we cannot say, with the Opener

442 THE K]SAWAHILI.with the Kafir regions, the Oongo and the Zambezerivers, than with 1Ethiopia or the Nile Valleyproper. }ill' Oooley's term' Zangian' or 'Zingian'also unduly limits the area to that of amere sub-family.rrhe crux grammaticorum of the great SouthAfrican language is its highly artificial system ofprincipiatives or preformatives. 1 In the threerecognized lingual types of the old world thework of inflexion, the business of grammar, andthe mechanism of speech disclose themselves atthe ends of vocables. In this prefixitive tonguethe changes of mood, tense, case, and number,are effected at the beginning of words by prepositivemodifying particles, which are evidently contractionsof significant terms, and whose apparatussupplies the total want of inflexion. This development,arrested in other languages-theOoptic, for instance-here obtains a significancewhich isolates it from all linguistic society. Thepractised student at once discovers that he isdealing with a completely new family by theunusual difficulty which unvaried terminationsof Inner Africa (p. 123), , The Nilotic family of languages nowhereex.tends into the basin of the Nile.'1 I have sketched the distinguishing points of the Hamitictongues in my Preface (p. xxii.) to' Wit and Wisdom fromWest Africa' (London: Tinsleys, 1865).

THE ]USAWAHILl. 443and initial changes present to one accustomedonly to the terminal.The minor characteristics of the Kisawahiliare the peculiarities of the negative system in substantivesand adjectives, pronouns, adnouns, andverbs; for instance, Asic, he or she who is not,Isie, it which is not. Secondly, are the broadlines of distinction drawn between words denotingthe rational and the irrational, and ina minor degree the rational-animate (as man),and the rational-inanimate (as ass). In mostcases the rational-animate affixes Wa as a pluralsign: the irrational-animate Ma. Umbu, asister, properly makes Waumbu, sisters: theignorant, however, and the Islanders often sayMaumbu (sisters) like Map'hunda (asses). Thuspersonality supplies the place of gender, a phenomenonthat already dawns in the Persian andin other Indo-European tongues. Next is theartful and intricated system of irregular plurals,and last, not least, the characteristic alliteration,an assonance apparently the debris of many ancientdialects based upon an euphonious concordnot always appreciable by us, and therefore notyet subjected by our writers to rule. We understand,for instance, that an alliterative speakershould say Mta merna (a good man), and Watu

444 THE KISAWAHILI.wema (good men); but why is the regularityaltered to lVH,hali pango (my place), p'hundazanga (my donkey), and Mtu wa Rashidi (Rashid'sman), instead of mango, pango, and maP Thesedistinctions appear far too empi.rical, arbitrary,and artificial for the wants of primitive speech.The Kisawahili is an oral tongue - an illiteratelanguage in the sense assigned to theterm by Professor Lepsius. The people, likethe Somal and the Gallas, never invented asyllabarium. This absence of alphabet is a curiousproof of ·deficient constructiveness in a racethat cultivates rude eloquence, and that speaksdialects which express even delicate shades ofmeaning: it contrasts wonderfully with theArabs and Hindus, who adapt to each language,some form of Phoenician or Dewanagari. Thecoast races use the modern Arabic alphabet,which, admirable for its proper purpose, representsAfrican sounds imperfectly, as those ofSindi ancI Turkish, and is condemned to emulatethe anomalous orthography or cacography ofour English. The character is large, square,and old-fashioned, resembling later Kufic evenmore than that of Rarar, and he must be afirst-rate scholar who can read at sight all theletter of a man to his friend. Literature is

THE KISA WAHILI. 445confined to a few sheets upon the subject ofBao or Uganga (RamI or geomancy), to proverbsand proverbial sayings, mostly quatrains; toriddles and rabbit tales, which here represent thehare legends of the Namaquas and the spiderstories of the Gold Coast; to Mashai.ri, or songsrhymeless, measureless, and unmusical, and to'Utenzi,' religious poems, and eulogies of thebrave.In Zanzibar Island Arabic is ever makinginroads upon the African tongue, and the studentwho knows the former will soon master thelatter. The first short vocabulary, by Mr Salt,was published in 1814, and was presently followedby others, especially the 'Soahili vocabulary'of the late Mr Samuel K. Masury, of Zanzibar(Memoirs of the American Academy, Oambridge,May, 1845), and Mr J. Ross Browne's' Specimenof the Sowhelian Language' (Etchings ofa Whaling Cruise. New York, 1846).1 Strangeto say, the 'Mombas Mission' translated theGospels into the obscure local Kinyika, whenonly three chapters of Genesis and a version ofthe English Prayer Book (Tubingen, 1850-54)"1 Mr Ross Browne has lately been engaged in writing avoluminous report to the Government at 'vVashington uponthe mineral resources of the Western States of the Union.

4-46 THE ]aSA WAHILI.were published 'in the one language, by theinstrumentality of which the missionary andthe merchant can master in a short time allthe dialects spoken from the Line down to theOape of Good Hope.' Dr Krapf's 'Outlineof the Elements of the Kisauaheli Language'Crubingen, 1850) requires great alterations andadditions, especially in the alliterative and othercharacteristic parts of the tongue. MessrsRebmann and Erhardt, who both were capableof writing a scholar-like book, or of pe:rfectingthe 'Outline,' turned their attention to thelanguages of the Nyassa, Usumbara, and theWakwafi. In 1857 M. Guillain published, asan Appendix to his third volume, a short grammarand vocabulary of the' langue Souahheli: 'they are mere bald sketches, and they conveybut the scantiest idea of what they attempt toillustrate. A good study of Kisawahili wouldfacilitate the acquisition of the whole sub-family.For my own use I commenced a grammar intendedto illustrate the intricate and difficultcombinations and the peculiar euphony whichhere seems to be the first object of speech:unfortunately my transfer to West Africa leftit, like my vocabularies, in a state of MS. :&1:yfriend Mr Triibner has lately advertised a

THE !aSA WAHILI. 441volume called 'East African folk-lore, SwahiliTales, as told by the natives of Zanzibar,' withan English translation by Edward Steere, L.L.D.,Rector of Little Steeping, Lincolnshire, andChaplain to Bishop Tozer (London: Bell andDaldy, 1870); 1 and Dr Krapf has proposed topublish the Juo JTa Herkal (Book of Heraclius),'an account of the wars of ~![ohammed withAskaf, Governor of Syria, to the Greek EmperorHeraclius, in rhyme; a MS. in ancient Ki-Suahiliwritten in Arabic charaeters.' Also' Juo jaUtenzi, Poems and Mottoes in rhyme,' thedialect being that formerly spoken in the Islandsof Patta and Lamu.. Both the 'linguistie treasures'were presented to the Oriental Societyof Halle. The last publications which I haveseen are 'Specimens of the Swahili Language'(Zanzibar, 1866); 'Collections for a Handbookof the Swahili Language, as spoken at Zanzibar,'by Bishop Tozer and Rev. E. Steere (Zanzihar,1865), aud the Rev. E. Steere's' Collections fora Handbook of the Shambala Language' (Zanzi-I Messrs Monteiro and Gamitto (0 Muata Cazembel,Appendix, 470) doubt whether the Tete grammar can bereduced to an intelligible system of verbs. I see no difficulty.Capt. Boteler, R. N. (A'Ppendix, vol. i. Voyage to Africa.,Bentley, 1885) easily collected a' Delagoa Vocabulary' fromGeorge, his interpreter.

448 THE KISA WAHILI.bar, 1857), the 'tongue spoken in the countrycalled in our maps Usumbara, which is a mountainousdistrict on the mainland· of Africa,lying opposite to the Island of Pemba, andvisible in clear weather from the town ofZanzibar.'Kisawahili is at once rich and poor. It maycontain 20,000 words, of which, perhaps, 3000are generally used, and 10,000 have been published.Copious to cumbrousness in concrete,collective, and ideal words, it abounds in namesof sensuous objects; there is a term for everytree, shrub, plant, grass, and bulb, and I haveshown that the several ages of the cocoa-nutare differently called. It wants compounds,abstract and metaphysical expressions: thesemust be borrowed from the Arabic, fitted withterminal and internal vowels, to suit the tongue,and modified according to the organs of thepeople, harsh and guttural consonants beingexchanged for easy cognates. Even the numeralsbeyond twenty are mere Semitic corruptions.All new ideas, that of servant, for instance, mustbe expressed by a short description. In themore advanced South African dialects, as inthe Mpongwe of the Gaboon, a compound or aderivative would be found to include all require-

THE KISA WAIIILI. 449ments. The sound would be soft and harmoniouswere it not for the double initial consonants,aspirated or not; for the perpetual reduplications(the Arabic Radif)/ a savage and childish contrivanceto intensify the word, and for the unduerecurrence of the coarse letter K. Possibly thefondness of the people for tautology may havetended to develop their tautophony and euphony.Abounding in vowels and liquids, the languageadmits of vast volubility of utterance; in angeror excitement the words flow like a torrent, andeach dovetails into its neighbour till the wholespeech becomes one vocable. Withal, every vowelhas its distinct and equal articulation. It ",,'antsthe short and obscure sound of the English andother European languages (e. g. a liar, her, f£rst,actor, and hztrled) called by us the original vowelsound. Like the Chinese and Maori languages,and the other South African tongues, it confoundsthe so often convertible letters, the L and the R. 2The slaves, the V\Tasawahili, and the wild nativesmostly prefer the former, e. g. Mabeluki forMabruki, and the Arabs and civilized speakers1 In Kisawahili reduplication sometimes seriously modifiesthe root meaning, e, g. Mbhali meaus' far' or' distant;' JYIbhalilVlbbaliis different or 'several,' meaning' distinct.'2 The Tupys of the Brazil, according to the Portuguese,ignored both sounds-I presume initiative.VOL. I. 29

450 THE KISA WAHILI.the latter, although NIr Oooley (Geogra11hy ofN'yassi, p. 20) asserts the contrary. The metastasis,however, appears to me often arbitrary,occasioning trouble, e. g. when' ku ria, (to eat)becomes ku lia (to weep). Dr I.Jivingstone,(chap. xxx. First Expedition) complains ofLoangoa, Luenya, and Bazizulu being transformedinto Arroangoa, Huanha, and Morusurus,but he also similarly errs when he converts Karagwahinto Kalagwe, and when (p, 266) he usesindifferently Marmo and Maloli. The H is ofteninserted pleonastically, to prevent hiatus, as Kupotera for Ku potea, to lose; Ku pakira for Kupalcia, to pack. Sometimes, again, it is omitted,as U'ongo for Uranga, a lie. In pronouncing itthe tongue tip must be more vibrated than inour language, which loves to slur over thesound. Aspirated consonants are found, as inS~mskrit, especially B'h, P'h, D'h, T'h, K'h, andG'h. Quiescent consonants are rare in the midtUeof words; thus the Arabic Mismar (a nail) ischanged to Misumari, and treble arc unknown.rrhere are only five peculiar sounds 1 which are1 These are1. B-an emphatic and explosive perfect-mute, formed by,compressing the lips apparently to the observer's eye.2. D--which is half T, formed somewhat like the ArabicTa (l::) by touching the lower part of the central upper incisors

THE KISA WAHILI TONGUE. 451generally mispronounced by the Arabs, and theseare mostly of little importance. The dialect iseasily learned: many foreigners who cannotspeak understand, after a short residence, whatis spoken to them. It may be said to have noaccent, but a sinking or dropping of thevoice at the. terminal syllable-possibly thecase with Latin hexameters and pentametersseemsto place the ictus upon the pel1ultiwiththe thickened tongue-tip. Strangers write indifferentlyDoruma and Toruma, Taita and Daida.3. G-harder and more guttural than ours, the tongueroot being applied thickened to the soft palate. Au instanceis Gombe, a large cow (Gnombe), which Arabs and Europeanspronounce Gombe, meaning a shelL Incrementation is alsoeffected by simplifying the initial sound, as Gu, a large foot,from Mgn j Dege, a large bird, from Kdege.4. J-a semi-liquid: the J is expressed by applyingthe fore part of the tongue to the palate, above the incisorsclosely followed by a half-articulated Y. It is often confoundedwith D and Y, e. g. Ungnja, Unguya, and Ungudya, forUngujya (not Ugttya, as M1' Cooley believes), and Yambehoor Jambeho for J yambeho. The sound is not 'peculiarlyAfrican j' it exists in Sindi and other tongues, and a likenessto it occurs at the junction of English ,vords, as 'pledge you.'Even the Arabs distinguish it from their common Jim, andit is well worth the conscientious student's attention.5. K-half G, a hardened sound whilst the mid tongueis still appli.ed to the palate. It might be taken for a corruptionof the Arabic Kaf (J).At Mombasah we shali~en~ark other sounds mostly peculiarto the coast Kisawahili. As a rule, however, the strallger will beunderstood even before his tougue bas mastered these minutia;.

452 IUSA WA HILI.mate, as Wasawahili for WasawahIli. 1 Hencewhen first writing proper nouns I preferred~.ftony and Pangany to Mto-ni and Pangaill.Similarly the VV when placed between aconsonant and a vowel is often so slurred overas hardly to be detected. For instance, BW~1ll{L,master, becomes B'ana, and Unyamwezi mightbe both written Unyam'ezi were it not liableto confuse the reader. There is also a SpanishIi (Nina), as in Nika, the bush, and Nendo,the P. N. of a district, which I express byNy, e. g. Nyika and Nyendo. Finally, being alazy language, which well suits the depressingclimate, it takes as little trouble to articulateas Italian: hence, even in the first generation,Arabs and Baloch exchange for it their ownguttural and laborious tongues, and their offspringwill learn nothing else. This is more curiousthan the children of the Scandinavians abandoningthe father-tongue for Norman and Anglo-1 Nothing can be more erroneous than the followingsentence: 'But tht) Mohammedan natives of the EasternCoasts of Africa, who are comprehended uncleI' the nameof I::lawahili, do not pronounce the hard It of the Arabs;the vowels, therefore, between which it stands in their name,unite to form a diphthong, like the Italiall ai 01' the English iin wile; and Sa,,:ihili is pronounced Sawlli' (Inner AfrieaLaid Open, p. 88). The vVasawahil merely change the hardArabic h (.c) into the softer guttural (~).

THE SLAVE RACES. 453Scandinavian, vulgarly called Anglo-Saxon. InEast Africa adult settlers forget their mothertongue.And now of the slave races proper.The treaty of 1845, which modified Oapt.Moresby's, of 1822, and Oapt. Oogan's, of 1839,forbade exportation. from the Zanzibarian portsnorth of Lamu and its dependencies (S. lat. 1 057')and south of Kilwa (S. lat. go 2'): thus the uppermarkets were cut off, and the traffic was confinedto the African dominions of the late Sayyid.rrhe object of these provisions was, of course, toavoid interference with the status of domesticslavcry, in the dominions of a foreign and friendlypower. It actually, however, led to what it wasintended to prevent. The vig~lance and the summarymeasures of our Cape cruisers, especiallywhen commanded by men like Admiral OhristophervVyvill, inflicted severe injuries upon, andin some places almost abolished, the contraband.I have said that the diminution of eXl)ort hasmaterially benefited the Island and its population.But at Zanzibar, as in the Guinea regionsand the African interior, prredial slavery appearsstill an evil necessity: upon it hinges not onlythe prosperity but the very existence of thepresent race. An abolition act passed in this

4MTHE SLA VE RAGES.Island would soon restore it to the Iguana andthe Turtle, its old inhabitants.rrhe slave, all the other hand, has lost by notbeing exported.It is the same in the Oil riversof 'Vest Africa, where in 1838 Sir T. Fowell Buxtonproposed to substitute for illegal and injurious,harmless and profitable trade leading to 'Christianity,which would call forth the capabilities ofthe soul, and elevate the savage mind.' It wasexpected t.hat at Benin, for instance, man wouldbecome too valuable as a labourer to be sold as achattel. Unhappily the reverse took place; manhecame so cheap, that to work and to starve himto death paid better than to feed him. A freshgang could be purchased for a few shillings, andthe price of provisions was of far more importancethan the value of life. The Buxtonian ideawas founded upon simple ignorance of Africa,and upon the ill-judged assertion that slavery wascaused l)y foreigners. The internal wars, whosemain object is capturing serviles, are the normalstate of Blackland society; they continued andthey will continue, whether slavers touch thecoast or not. Briefly, the results to the captive arenavY not sale, but slaughter or sacrifice in the interior,and death by starvation upon the coast.vVhen I visited Zanzibar, in 1857, the English

'PHE SLA VE RACEE. 455public, periodically stimulated by the J--liberalpress, had split up, on the subject of the Africanslave trade, into two sets of opinions, bothhonestly believed in, both diametrically opposedto each other, and both somewhat in extremes.The one sanguinely represented it as crushed,and congratulatecl the nation upon having dealtits death-blow to a system which was rotting theroots of prosperity and progress. The others despondentlydeclared that, although in some placesthe snake was scotched, ;yet that it was nowherekilled; they proved that whilst slavery had increasedin horrors, the result of our interference,yet the avemge quantity of the wretched 111erchanclisehad not been diminishecl; they opinedthat nothing save the special interposition ofProvidence could end that which had so longba:ffied many best efforts; and being well acquaintedwith details, they maintained that theaverage opinion was a mere pandering to pOlmlarityat the expense of truth. And, when wearyof the self-glorifying theme whose novelty hadengrossed the attention of their fathers, the publicreadily attributed selfish motives to those who""vould enliven their.r;eal.Fact, as usual, lay between the two assertions,but the inner working of the slave-abolition

456 THE SLA VE SUPPLY.measures was known only to few, and those fewhardly cared to speak out. England, ripe for freelabour, had resolved to throw off the African; shekicked away, to use a popular phrase, the ladderby which she had risen, and she made slavery, forwhich she had shed her best blood in the days ofQueen Anne, the sum of all villanies in the reignof King George. This was natural. The stepsby which nations attain to the summit of civilizationappear, as they are beheld from above, gradationsof mere barbarism: to revert to them wouldbe as possible as to enjoy the nursery tales whichenlivened our childhood.Other EUfOlJean peoples were not in the conditionof England to dispense with slave labour,but the termination of a long continental war wasmade the inducement to sign abolition treaties.All were so much waste-paper, not being baseduIJon public opinion. As long as Cuba and theslave-inlpOl'ters of the Western worlel required(A.D. 1830-57) an annual supply of 100,000 men,their demands were supplied. Neither the wordpiracy, nor the prospect of hanging from theyarel-arm-a remedy more virulent than the disease-coulddeter adventurers from engaging ina trade where a 'pretty girl' was to be' bought fora few rolls of tobacco, fathoms of flannel, and

THE SLAVE SUPPLY. 457pieces of calico,' and whose profits were estimatedat 200 per cent. As long as sugal, tobacco, ancldollars increase, so long will the desire for moresupport the means by which the supply may beincreased. Of old one cargo run home out ofthree paid: presently one in four was found sufficient.The losses, however, added greatly to themisery of the slave; ships were built with 18inches between decks, one pint 01 water aheadwas served out per diem, and five wretches werestowed away instead of two. With curious contradictionand' wrong-headedness,' these evils,caused by an abolitionary squadron, were quotedagainst the slaver, as if the diabolical malignityof the latter could be gratified only by destroyinghis own property.It was soon discovered that the slaves, beingoften condemnedcriminals, 1 could not be returnedunder pain of death to their homes. The naturalresult was to disembark them free upon Englishgl'Ound, and thus certain British colonies "yereamply supplied with the hands of which theirI I regret to read such statements as the following in theJournal of the Anthropological Society: 'It runy be asserted,without fear of exaggeration, that it is to this demand for slavesthat are to be attributedtJ10 desultory and bloody wars whichare waged in Central Africa.' (On the Negro Slaves in Turkey,No. 29, April,1870.)

458 THE SLA VE SUPPLY.government was depriving foreign powers. Thisproceeding added jealousy to the ill-will withwhich our 'meddling and muddling' philanthrol)Ywas regarded. But both those chieflyconcerned-the slaver ancl anti-slaver-gained ;for the former the price of his wares was kept up,whilst the latter made not a little political capitalout of his position. Slave exportation might atonce have been crushed at head-quarters: Madrid.could have ended it in Cuba; Lisbon, and Puio de,Janeiro, in Africa and in the Brazil; it was,however, judged best to let it die quietly, and tomake as much use as possible of its dying throes.Some five years ago, after uefying for a generationthe squctdrons of civilized Europe and theUnited States, it perished of itself, and to-morrowit would revive if the old conditions of its existencecould be restored.The Zanzibar slave-depot is so situated that itsmarket \vas limited only by the extent of WesternAsia. From Ra'as Hafun to the Kilirna-ni riverwas gathered the supply for the Red Sea, for thePersian Gulf, lor the "Peninsula of llindostan,and for the extensive regions to the East. Aspirited trade was carried on, and few obstacleswere placed in its way. The Anglo-India Governmenteliel not in this matter rival the zeal of the

THE SLAVE SUPPLY. 459Home Authorities. It lacked earnestness, judgingslavery leniently, and finding the practiceconducive to the well-being of its subjects. Asquadron of at least four steamers was required:the work was left to a sloop and a corvette stationedin the Persian Gulf, with orders, amongstother things, to arrest slavers. The Oape squadron,whose beat extended to the Equator, rarelyvisited these seas, and the French ships of warwere popularly said to do more harm than good.Even in after years, when a consi(~~rable impulsewas given to our cruisers, they could capture only6.6 per cent.: thus, from Zanzibar and Kilwa,in 1867-9 were taken 116 daus carr~ring 2645slaves, lea"ving 37,000 to escape. There wereneither special agents nor approvers; steamlaunchesand crews sufficientlynumerons for arduousboat-service were wanting. An infinite deal ofnothing in the shape of bescribbled foolscap wascollected, by way of sop for the Oourt of Directorsand Tor Exeter Hall; but the counsels of suchauthorities as Lieut.-Oolonel Hamerton and Oapt.Felix Jones, I. N., were passed over with thescant attention of a compliment. The fact is, inBritish India, as to a .. certain extent in France, nopolitical capital could be made out of Abolition.Few men retain, after long residence in the East,

460 THE SLAVE SUPPLY.that lively horror of the institution which distinguishesthe home-bred Englishman, and whichhas arisen partly from his crass ignorance ofnegro nature and from the misrepresentations ofvery earnest but also deluded anti-slavers. TheAnglo-Indian has seen many a chattel happy andcontented, enjoying an enviable lot comparedwith the poor at home free to starve or to die inthe workhouse: possibly he has dined with someemancipated slave: certainly he has heard ofMamlnk Beys and purchased Pashas; and, whilsthe owns in the abstract that one man has noright to buy another, in practice he is lenient tothe' patriarchal system.'The apathy of the Anglo-Indian Governmentgave the cue to its executive. When it wasproposed that the Cntch 'Nakhodas' (skippers)should be compelled to keep crew-lists for inspection,some 'collector' objecte~ that suchmen cannot write-surely he must have knownthat every vessel carries its own' Kirani,' or accountant.That imperium in imperio the SupremeCourt, was enough to paralyze the energies of afleet; the captured slave-dau was carried toBombay, whence, after a year's detention by theclaws of the law, it was probably restored to itsowner. The officers of the Indian Navy would

THE SLA VE SUPPLY.4Glnot exercise increased vigilance, necessitatingexposure of their men and neglect of other moreimportant duties, when their labours were solikely to be made futile. And as very little prizemoney was followed by a very large amount ofcorrespondence, slaver-hunting appeared as undesirableto them as to the officers of the Frenchsquadron on the West Coast of Africa.At Zanzibar, where the French Consul, or inhis absence the first 'Drogman' (like all consulshere, their office is rather political than commercial),could fine and imprison an offender, and evenship off a merchant skipper to the nearest port, theEnglish functionary was a magistrate absolutelywithout magisterial or criminal jurisdiction. Hecould not deport an Indian convicted of slave-dealing.Whilst the Arab Courts were not allowedjurisdiction over British subjects, the latter, Uillessmerchant seamen ashore, were not liable tobe arrested for felony. All this might easilyhave been remedied by extending eastward theBritish Order in Council for the exercise of powerand jurisdictionoy English functionaries (e.g. Consulsfor the Levant), in the Ottoman Dominions(June 19, 1844), and by adding power ashore toArticle 124 of Consuhr Instructions, making offenceson the high seas cognizable by the Consul.

462 THE SLAVE SUPPLY.Thus, despite Order upon Ordinance, Asia wassupplied by the whole slave-coast of EasternAfrica, without hardly the decency of concealment.Boys and girls might be seen on boardevery native craft freshly trapped in the innerwilds, unable to speak a word of any languagehut the Zangian, and bearing upon their headsthe trade-marks of the Hindu Banyan. 'fhecommerce was openly carried on by aliens sailingunder British protection. Kidnapping was commonand daring, as about Lagos and Baclagry.Scarcely a vessel manned by crews from Sllror Ra'as el Khaymah, the greatest ruffians ofthese pirate seas, left Zanzibar city or mainlandwithout stealing a few negros or negrets. Bythe temptations of a bottle of rum or of somedecoy girl, they were enticed into the house oron boa,rd, and they suddenly found themselvessafe uncleI' hatches: even Arabs, men and women,have been carried off in mistake by theseinveterate thieves. A child here worth from£1 58. to £3 would fetch in Persia £14 to £20 ;hence the practice. And the anti-slave exportationtreaties became exactly worth their weightin words, because the sword was lmown to besheathed.The slaves on 'Zanzibar Island are roundly

THE SLAVE SUPPLY. 463estimated at two-thirds of the population; sometravellers increase the number to three-fourths.The annual loss of males by death, export, anddesertion, amounted, I was told, to 30 11er cent.,thus within every fourth year the whole gangupon a plantation required to be renewed. Theactual supply necessary for the Island is nowestimated at a total varying from 1700 to 6000,and leaving 12,000 to 16,000 for the export slavemarket.As usualin Moslem lands, they may bedivided into two distinct classes: first, the Muwallidor Mutawallicl, the JYIazaJiya of the vVasawahili,the famulus or slave born in the family,or rather on the Island; secondly, the captive oeimported chattel.The Muwallid belongs solely to his mother'sowner, who sells him or gives him away at pleasure.Under· no circumstances can he claimmanumission-one born a slave is a slave forever, even in the next world, amongst thosenations which, like the Dahomans, have a nextworld. If notoriously ill-treated, however, hemay compel his proprietor to dispose of him.Few Arabs behave cruelly to their' sons;' theyfear desertion, which here is always easy, andthe master, besides being dependent for comfortupon his household, is also held responsible for

464 THE SLAVE SUPPLY.the misdeeds of his property. He is also probablyliving in concubinage with the sisters of hisslaves, and in this case the latter can take greatliberties- they are the most unruly of theirkind. I need hardly remark that the issue of aslave-girl by an Arab or by any other 'Hun'(free-born man) has been legitimate in El Islamsince the days of Ishmael, inheriting like the sonof a lawful wife, and that neither mother norchild can be sold. It is to be regretted that inthis matter the Christian did not take exampleof the Mohammedan.The domestic slave-girl rarely has issue.This results partly from the malignant unchastityof the race, the women being so to speak in comman;and on the same principle we witness thedecline and extinction of wild tribes that comein contact with civilized nations. The chiefsocial cause is that the' captive' has no interestin becoming a mother; she will tell you so inthe Brazil as in Zanzibar; her progeny byanother slave may be sold away from her at anymoment, and she obviates the pains and penaltiesof maternity by the easy process of procuringabortion.rrhe wild slaves are brought over in dauswhich carry from 10 to 500 head. Most of those

THE SLAVE SUPPLY. 465intended for the Island market are comparativelyyoung: the Portuguese settlements at Mozambiquegive higher prices for able-bodied adults.Since the last treaty the value has more thantrebled; what then cost $10 has novY risen to$30 'to $35. A small boy fresh from the main·land commands from $7 to $15; a girl under7 or 8 years old, from $10 to $18. The livecargo pays duty to the Zanzibar and Kilwacustom-houses, as at Zayla, Tajurrah, ancl theSlave-exporting harbours of the Reel Sea: thesick and the refuse, however, enter free. About1835 the import duty varied from $0.50 to $4,according to the port whence the' black ivory'was shipped: some races had such an ill famethat only excessive cheapness founel purchasers.Presently $2 and at last $1 were levied upon all,good or bad. Of late years (1857) the annualmaximum collected was $23,000: this enables usto rate the import at an average of 14,000 to15,000 per annum, the extreme being 9000 or18,000. In 1860-61 it rose to 19,000, in 1861.62it fell to 14,000, and in 1862·63 there was a furtherdeclension. 1~'he impudence and audacity of the wildslaves almost passes belief. Such is their habit1 Concerning Kilwa further details will be found in VoL n.VOL. I. 30

466 THE WILD SLA VE.of walking into any open clwelling ancl carryingoff whatever is handy, that no questions areasked about a negro shot or cut clown in the actof simple trespass. At night they employ themselvesin robbing or smuggling, and at times infiring a bouse, when they join the crowd andspread the flames for the purpose of plunder.They are armed burglars, and not a few mmdersare laid at their door. In the plantation theygratify their savage, qua,nelsome, and ungovernabletempers, by waging desultory servilewars with neighbouring gangs; hundreds willturn out with knobsticks, stones, and a fewmuskets, and blaze wildly in the direction of oneanother: at the first casualty all will run. Someproprietors have had as many as 2000 blacksnothalf the number often ovYl1ed in the SouthernUnited States, and in the Brazil-but at thosetimes the negro was worth only from $3 to $10.They were allowed two days out of the week tofish for themselves, and to work at their ownpatches of ground.Of late years the Zanzibar serviles haveattempted to compete with the honest and hardworkingporters of Hazramaut; but they cannotkeep their hands from picking and stealing, andthus they have ruined several of their' Akidahs,'

SERVILE RACES. 467or headmen, who rendered themselves responsibleto the merchant. Being capable of considerablealthough desultory exertion, they get a living byday~work on board Europ8an ships, and theyprefer this employment because they receiverations of riee and treacle, with occasionally abit of beef or pork. When there is no work uponthe plantation its slaves are jobbed at the rate of8 to 10 pice per diem, and of this sum they receive2, about the wage of an Indian' biggaree:Of course they do their best to defraud theirmasters of the hire.The following are the distant races of whoma few serviles find their way to Zanzibar.Oircassians and white slave girls being exceedinglyrare, are confined to the harems of therulers. They are brought from Persia, and areas extravagant in tastes as they are expensive inprime cost. A' J ariyeh bayza ' soon renders thehouse of a moderately rich man unendurable.Abyssinians, or rather Mricans from Gumgue,Amhara, and the continent north of theparallei of Oape Guardafui, are mostly importedfrom EI IIejaz. Boys and lads range from $50to $100: girls, from $60 to $150. The formerare circumcised, and having a good reputationfor honesty, intelligence, and amiability, they are

468 SERVILE RACES.educated as stewards, superintendents, and supercargos.The latter, though exceedingly addicteclto intrigue, are favourites with men, and, it issaid, with Arab women.Galla captives of many tribes, especially ofthe Arisha and a few of the southern Somal, areshipped from Hafun, Brava, and RaniI' or Maledishu.They fetch low prices, and are littleIwized, being considerecl roguish and treacherous.In appearance they are savage likenesses of theAbyssinians.The coast of Zanzibar, which before the daysof the Periplus supplied the eastern world withslaves, has of late years been exhausted by overdriving.It may be divided into two sections:the northern country, which exports from Mombasahand the little adjacent harbours as farsouth as the Pangani river; and the southernregions between Pangani and Kilwa. Detailsconcerning all these servile races will be gIvenwhen we visit their respective ports.

OHAPTER XII.PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.'The port of Zanzibarhas little or no trade; that to Bombayconsists of a little gum and ivory, brought from the mainland,with a few cloves, the only produce of the island; and theimport trade is chiefly dates, and cloth from Muscat, to maketurbans. These things are sent in small country vessels, whichmake only one voyage a year. The trade is consequently verytrifling.'-CAl'T. HART, Commanding II. M. S. Imogene, 1834.THE dry season-and uncommonly dry it hadbeen-was judged by all old hands unfit for travel,and I was strongly advised to defer explorationof the interior till after learning something ofthe coast. .. The Rev. :Mr Erhardt's :Memoir onthe Ohart of Eastern and Central Africa, whichthrew into a huge uninterrupted Oaspian half-adozencentral lakes, and called it in the southNiandsha (Nyassa), in the north Ukerewe, andon the coast Niasa and Bahari ya Uniamesi,

470 LAKE ROUTES.had proposed a choice of three several routes.The first was through Dshaga (Chaga), and thelands of the Wamasai. It numbered 59 days,over level land, though studded with manyisolated hills and mountains, and it traded to theWanyamwezi;' of the race of Wazambiro,' probablythe 1¥afioma of the Usamhiro district,near Karagwah, The middle caravan was reportedto start 'from Bagamoyo and Mboamajito Uniamesi.' The general features of the country,the distances, and even the position of Ujiji,were remarkably well laid down. '1 1 he' StadtUjiji,' inhabited partly by Arabians, partly byWahas (Wahhas), of course, did not exist: thesaline stream or the Wapogo,l and the people,whose teeth became yellow by drinking ofanother water, were evidently the creations ofsome lively negro's fancy. The' third or southernCU1'avan line,' set out from Kilwa, and after200 miles struck the' Niasa or Niandsha' Lake.1 This salt stream might have been some confusion withthe salt Lake Naivasha or BaJibali, in allOut S. lat. 1° 40', firstlaid down by the Rev. Thomas Wakefield, 'Routes of NativeCaravans from the Coast to the Interior of Ellstern Africa,chiefly from information given by Sidi bin Ahedl, a native of11 district Dear G{lzi (Gasi ?), in Udigo, a little north of Zanzibar'(pp. 303-339, Joumal of the Royal GeographicalSociety, vol. xl. 1870). Of this very valuable paper I shalllllwe more to say in Vol. II.

M. ERHARDT. 471In this section the distances were misca,lculated,and except the Wafipa and the Wabembe, thetribes were incorrectly named and placed.In his plan for exploring the Great L~Lke, andlaicl before the Royal Geographical Society in1854, :lVI. Erhardt proposed to land at Kilwa,where he had touched with. Dr Krapf; to collecta party of Wasawahili, and with an outfit of$300 to march into the continent. This mighthave been feasi1)le in 1854; it vvas impossible in1856. The sum mentioned was inadequate; themissionaries had spent as much upon a fortnight'smarch from Pangul1i to Fuga. Slavesare the only porters of the land, and the death ofSayyid Said had then made the coast Arabs andthe lVIrima people about Kilwa almost independentof Zanzibar. My directions from homewere to follow, if possible, this line; Lieut.Christopher, T. N., however, who visited thecoast in 1843, more wisely advised explorers toavoid the neighbourhood of Kilwa. Lieut.­Colonel Hamerton, 111oreover, strongly ohjectedto ou)' landing anywhere but under the guns ofZanzibar, as it were. He informed me that theWangindo, a tribe settled behind Kilwa, hadlately murdered a native trader, at the instiga~tion of those settled on the coast; and that no-

472 INTRIGUES.thing> less than a ship of war stationed at theport would open the road to a. ' Muzungu' (whiteman).The Consul had also warned me that my inquiriesinto the country trade, and the practice ofwriting down answers-without which, however,no report could have been compiled-were excitingill will. The short-sighted traders dreaded,like Orientals, that competition might resultfrom our discoveries, and their brains were toodull to perceive that the development of the resourcesof the interior would benefit all thoseconnected with the coast. Houses that hadamassed in a few years large fortunes by t~leZanzibar trade, were exceedingly anxious to 'letsleeping dogs lie.' As far as dinners and similarhospitality, the white merchants resident on theIsland received us with the usual African profuseness.There were, of course, honourable exceptions:I have especially mentioned CaptainMansfield, Mr Masury, and M. Berard; but nota few-exempla sunt odiosa - spreacl reportsamongst the natives, Banyans, Arabs, and Wasawahili,which were very likely to secure for us thedisastrous fate of M. Maizan. Captain Speke,who subsequently ignored this fact, threatened tothrow aile of the' first houses' out of the win-

INTRIGUES. 473dow; and Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton declared thatunless more discretion in spreading evil reportswere shown he would withdraw British protec- .tion from another well-known firm. The son of aHamburg merchant had written to his father forleave to supply us with sums to be recovered fromthe Royal Geographical Society. When informedof this peculiar kindness I inquired the object,and the answer was that, intending himself tovisit India, he wished to prepare his father forthe expense of travel in the East. Certainlyknowing all these intrigues, I see no reason whythey shquld not be published.The Arabs were as much alarmed at theprospect of opening up the African interior aswere the foreign merchants; they knew thatEuropeans had long coveted a settlement uponthe sea-board, and they had 110 wish to lose themonopoly of the copal coast and the ivory-lands.Nothing indeed would be easier, I repeat, for aEuropean power than to establish itself upon themainland; and if it followed the wise exampleof the·.early Portuguese, who limited their possessionsto the principal ports and to the greatcentres of trade, it would soon monopolize anemiching traffic. With respect to copal, and tothe articles most in demand, our commercial

474 CHANGES REQUIRED.._---------------------relations with Zanzibar might be altered for thebenefit of both contracting parties. It is at presentan unnatural, exclusive system, a monopolyclaiming advantages of which it will not, orcannot, avail itself. But all steps in these mattersmust be taken by the Home Governments;the petty jealousies of rival powers here renderall local interference unadvisable.At length the Kazi Muhiyy e1 Din, tlle 'celestialdoctor' of the Wa,sawahili, was detailedby the curious to investigate the subject, and torepresent the terrors of the public. He retired,satisfied that our plans vvere not of conquest.The Arab chiefs pressed Lieut.-Colonel Hamertonto swear upon the' Kalmat Ul1ah' that theexpeclition was to be conducted only by Englishofficers, upon' whose good-wm they could rely;that it was not a proselytizing movement of theWanajuoni (sons of the book, missionaries), andthat it would not be accompanied by 'Dutchmcn,'as certain gentleman from Germany werecalled by the Zanzibaris. 1 Had the Consul hesi-1 I leave these worus all they were written in 1857, a timewhen German nationality diu not exist, and when the llame ofGerman had perhaps reached its lowest appreciation. Throughoutthe history of the nineteenth century there is nothingmore striking than the change which the last decade hasworked in Europe, than the rise of the mighty power, which inII month crushed the armies of France, and which tore from

THE 'SEA OF .MILK.' 475tated to satisfy them, the course of events isclear to all who know the Eastern man. Thesurface of Arab civility would have run Ullruffled,but the undertow would have carriedus off our legs.Persuaded at last by the earnestness of ourenergetic supporter, the Sayyid Sulayman binHamid bin Said-a noble Omani never neglectsthe name of his grandsire-came forward in ourfavour. This aged chief, a cousin of the lateSayyid, rejoiced in the nickname of BahariMaziwa (Sea of Milk), the Ethiopic equivalent for'soft-sawder.' He had governed Zanzibar duringthe minority of Sayyid Khalid, who died in1854, and his influence was strong upon thesea-board. He gave us his good word in sundrycirculars, to which the Prince Majid addedothers, addressee1 to Kimwere, Sultan of Usumbara;to the Diwans or Wasawahili head-men,her side the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. By an Englishmanwho loves his country, nothing can be more enthusiasticallywelcomed than this accession to power of a kindredpeople, cOI1.,Pected with us by language, by religion, and by allthe ties which bind nation to nation. .It proves that theNorth is still the fecund mother of heroes, and it justifies usin hoping that our Anglo-Teutonic blood, with its Scandinavian'baptism,' will gain new strength by the example, and willapply itself to rival our Oontinental cousins in the course ofprogress, and in the mighty struggle for national life andprosperity.

476 LIEUT-COL. HAMERTON[md to the Baloch J emadars, commanding theseveral garrisons. On the other hand, LadhaDamha of Mandavie, the Banyan Collector ofCustoms, l)rovided me with orders ul)on theHindu coast-merchants, to raise the requisitemoneys, without which our reception wouldhave been of the coolest. The horizon nowbegan to clear, and even to look bright, as itgenerally will when the explorer has time andpatience to await the change of weather.If "ve travellers in transit had reason to heproud of our countryman's influence at Zanzibar,the resident foreigners should have been trulythankful for it. "Vhen Lieut-Colonel Hamertonfirst made this Island his head-quarters (1841),he found that for nine years it had not beenvisited by a British cruiser, and that interestedreports had been spread, representing us to be nolonger masters of the Indian Seas. Slavery wasever'ywhere rampant. Bozals, green or wild slaves,here called Baghams (~!), were thrown overboardwhen sick, to avoid paying duty; and thesea-beach of the city, which acts Marine Parade,as well as the plantations, presented horrible spectac~esof dogs and birds of prey devouring swollenand spotted human carcases-the remnants of

LIEUT.-COL. HAMERTON. 477'slaves that never prayed.' 1 The Consul's representationswere listened to by Sayyicl Said, who,through virtue of certain dry floggings and confiscationsof property, a la Mohammed Ali, instilledinto the slave-owners some semblance ofhumanity.Negro insolence was dealt with as summarily.The Arabs· had persuaded the Wasawahili, andeven the Creoles, that a white man is a beingbelow contempt, and the ' poor African' eagerlycarried out the theory. Only 17 years haveelapsed (1857) since a certain trading-consul,]ill' W--, in consular h~1;t and sword, was horsedupon a servile back, and was solemnly' bakul"d,'in his own consular house, under his own consularflag. This occurrence was afterwards deniedby the best of all authorities, the gentlemanwho told the tale: I have, however, every reasonto believe it. A :M:sawahili would at a,ny timeenter the merchant's office, dispose his sandaledor bare feet upon the table or the bureau, callfor cognac, and, if refused, draw his dagger.Impudent fishermen would anchor their craftbelow the windows of the British Consulate,I Dr Ruschenberger remarked the skeletons on the beachto the North and to the East of the Island.

478 LIEUT.-COL. HAMERTON.and, clinging to the mast-top, enjoy with derisionthe spectacle of feeding Kafirs. TheArabs jostled strangers in the streets, drovethem from the centre, and compelled them topass by the wall. At night no one daTed tocarry a lantern, which would inevitably havebeen knocked out of his hand; and a promenadein the clark usually caused insults, sometimes abastinado. To such a pitch rose contempt forthe' Faranj,' that even the' mild Hindus,'-our'fellow-subjects' from Cutch and other partsof vVestern India,-could not preserve with aEuropean the semblance of civility.Time was required to uproot an evil madeinveterate, as in Japan, by mercantile tameness,and by the precept quocunque modo rem. PatimlCe,the Sayyid's increasing good-will, and attimes a rough measure which brought the negroman to a' sense of his duty,' were at last successful,and the result now is that the Englishmanis better received here than at any of our Presidencies.The change is wholly the work ofLieut.-Colonel Hamerton, who, in the strenuousand unremitting discharge of his duties, has lostyouth, strength, and health. The iron constitutionof this valuable public sei'vant-I havequoted merely one specimen of his worth-has

THE CARA VAN-LEADER. 479been undermined by the terrible fever, and atfifty his head bears the' blossoms of the grave,'as though it had seen its seventieth summer.Before we could set out a guide, a Mahmalldar,a Cafilah-bashf or Kirangozi, was requisite,and this necessary was soon provided by the'Sea of Milk.' Said bin Salim el Lamld, thecompanion of our way for many a weary league,must not depart this life unsketched. He is ahalf-caste Arab, as is shown by the wiry, woollyhair, which he generally, however, removes withcare; by his dead yellow skin; by scanty mustachios,and by a bearel which no pulling willlengthen. Short, thin, and delicate; a kind ofman for' the pocket; with weak and prominenteyes, the long protruding beak of a young bird,loose lips, and regular teeth dyed by betel to thecrimson of chess-men, he owns to 40, and heshows 45. Of noble family 011 the father's side,the Benu Lamk of the Hinawi, he was bornwhen his progenitor governed Kilwa, hence hisAfrican blood; and he has himself commandedat the little port Sa'adani. Xet has not dignityinvested him with the outer show of authority.He says'Karrib,'-draw near I-to all, simple andgentle. He cannot beat his naughty bondsmen,though he perpetually quotes Ali the Khalifeh-

480 SAID BIN SALIM., Buy not the slave but with staff and sword;Or the lord will slave, and the slave williard.'I have heard him address, with' rotund mouth,'his small boy Faraj, a demon of impudence;yet he is mostly ashamed to scold. This resultsfrom his extreme timidity and nervousness. Henever appears abroad without the longest ofdaggers and a two-handed blade fit for Richardof England. He will sleep in an oven ratherthan open the door when a leopard has beentalked of: on board ship he groans like acolicky patient at every' lop,' and a shipped seabrings from his lips the involuntary squeak ofmortal agony. In the hour of perfect safety hehas a certain quietness of manner and mildlyvalorous talk which are exceedingly likely toimpose. He cannot bear hunger or thirst, fatigueor want of sleep, and until Fate threw him inour WD,y he probably never walked a single consecutivemile. Though owner of a wife, and ofthree quasi wives, he had been refused by Allahthe gift of issue and increase. Possibly the glaeltidings that a slave girl was likely to make hima father-he swore that, if a boy, Abdullah shouldbe his name-suddenly communicated to him onhis return from our first cruise, caused him to

SAID BIN SALIM. 481judge my companionship canny, and once moreto link his destiny with ours.Said bin Salim is a Bayazi of the Khariji schism.He prays regularly; fasts uncompromisingly;he chews but will not smoke tobacco; he nevercasts away a date-stone; and he 'sips water' but, swills milk' as the Moslem saying directs. Hismother tongue is the Kisawahili: he speaks,however, the grotesque Arabic of Oman, ancIsometimes, to display his mastery of the humanities,he mixes hashed Koran and terminatingvowels with Maskat 'baragouinage,' ParadiseLost and Thieves' Latin. He has read syntax; hewrites a pretty hand; he is great at epistles, andhe loves to garnish discourse with saw and song.When in the ' doldrums' he will excIaim-

482 SAID BIN SALIM.She leant over me, casting a glance of love,But from Meccab I sped, saying, " Farewell, sweet! " ,(Three Kafir clicks, diminuendo, signifying' No go.')The reader will ask what induced me to takea guide appa,rently so little fit for rough andI'eady work? In the first place, the presenceof Said bin Salim e1 Lamki, e1 Hina-wi, was apledge of Ollr utter 'respectability,' and as acourt spy, he could report that we were notmalignants. MoreoveI', he was well known uponthe coast, and he had a knowledge-box filledwith local details, which he imparted withoutchurlishness. During the first trip I foundhim full of excellent gifts; courteous, thoroughlygooel-tempered, and apparently truthful, honest,and honourable-a bright exception to the ruleof his unconscientious race. When I offeredhim the task he replied, 'Verily, whoso benefiteththe beneficent becometh his lord; but thevile, when well treated, will turn and rendthee.' I almost hoped that he would not disappointme in the end; but the delays, thedangers, and the hardships of the second journeyproved too much for Said bin Salim. The thinouter varnish disappeared from the man, and thematcI'ial below was not inviting. The MaskatArab, especially the half-caste, easily becomes

SAID BIN SALIM. 483the Bedawi, the Ishmael, the Orson. Thesepeople have rarely any 'stay' in them; theyare charming only as long as things run smooth,and after once showing true colours, they carenot to eonceal them. Arabs, however, are notthe only handsome shoes that badly pinch. Howoften would fellow-travellers have avoided oneanother like fire, had they been able to see atrifle below the surface! Said bin Salim, offen dedby certain remarks in my Lake Regions of CentralAfrica (passim), and wishing to 'prove hischaracter for honour and honesty,' persuadedCapt. Speke to give him another chance, andbegan by telling a gross falsehood, which Capt.Speke at once believed. He accompanied thesecond East African expedition: he played hisusual slavish tricks, and he had to be ' dropped,'utterly useless, at Kazeh, with the Arabs.I had engaged at Bombay two Portugueseboys, Valentino Rodrigues and Caetano Andrade,who resolved that what Sahib Log could endure,that same could they. Having described themonce there is no object in saying further of them,except that they were, despite all deficiencies, agreat comfort to us; and that they proved them.:selYes, in the long run, better men than theArab. Taking no interest in 'African explora-

484 OUTFIT.tion,' and desirous of seeing only the end of theexpedition, they must, poor fellows, have yearnedsadly for home, even Goa; and I am rejoiced tothink that they both reached it alive.The outfit and expenses of an African journeyare always interesting to travellers. For thepersonnel, we expended in two months a total of$172 ($50 to Said, and $20 per mens. to the twoGoanese), including $32 for ship hire. and theinevitable 'Bakhshish' which accompanies it. Aspresents to the native chiefs who might entertainus, we took 20 J amdanis, or sprigged muslin forturbans ($15); a score of embroidered Surat caps(Alfiyyah=$17.50); a broad-cloth coat and aMaskat Sabai., or loin-cloth of silk, cotton, andgold thread ($20.50) for the Sultan Kimwere; twogaudy cotton shawls, yellow and scarlet ($2.50),and 35lbs. of smallwhite-and·pink Venetian beads($14). This item amounted to $69.50. I madethe mistake ofignorance by notlaying in an amplestore of American domestics (Merkani), the silverof the country, and a greater quantity of beads,which are the small change. About $250 representedthe expenses of living and travelling ($94in January., and in February $84): this includedthe expenditure of the whole paTty. The provisionswere, rice (three bags), maize flour (one

OUTFIT. 485barrel), dates (one bag), sugar and coffee (each20 lbs.), salt, pepper, onions, and curry stuff, oiland clarified butter, snuff and tobacco. Ofcourse soap and candles were not forgotten, andwe· had a small but necessary supply of cordsfor baggage-these, however, soon followed theway of our knives. The several items form agrand total of $480, equal to about £50 permensem. I must observe, however, that we travelledin humble guise, hired poor vessels, walkedthe whole way, and otherwise practised a somewhatrigid economy.Ladha Damha,who had provided us with thesenecessaries, also hired for the coasting cruise anold .Arab .Beden, or '.Awaysiyeh' (foyst) calledthe Riami. She was a fine specimen of her class;old and rotten, the boards and timbers of the deckwere breaking up; the tanks were represented bya few Girbahs, or empty skins; the sails were inrags; the ropes and cables broke every half-hour,and the awning leaked like a cheap waterproof,despite bits of cotton rudely .caulked in. .Antseffected lodgment in our instrument cases, cockroachesdropped upon us all day, and the rats mademarriage, as Said said, during the live-long night.The crew was picked up out of the bazar: onewas a tailor, a second stuttered unintelligibly, a

486 OUR BOAT.third was maimed and purblind, a fourthwas sick, and a fifth, the Ohelehi (fop) of theparty, was a malingerer, who could do nothinghut shave, pluck his eyebrows, and contemplatea flat face in the glass. The only man on hoardwas old Rtlshid, a scion of that S{ul race, theself-styled descendants ofthe Syrians, well-knownfor beggary and niggardness, for kidnapping andsafe piracy. They are the most uncourteous ofthe Arabs; and while ever demanding Hishmah(respect) for themselves, they forget their ownproverb, 'Politeness has two heads,' and they willon no occasion accord it to others. Rashid, however,proved a hero and a treasure, by the side of'our Nakhoda Hamid, a Saudawi or melancholistof the most approved type-never was brain ofgoose or hea,rt of hen-partridge hidden by browso broad and intellectual; never did liver ofmilk wear so Herculean a beard! He squats uponthe deck screaming and abusing his men; nowsilent and surly, then answering every questionwith EI 'ilm 'ind Allah (God knows!), and indanger he weeps bitterly. With such fellows theonly system is to be as distant as possible: theleast familiarity ends badly; they will hate you.more for Ol1e cross word than love you for athousand favours. The civility of a pipe or a

OUR CREW. 487glass of sherbet infallibly spoils them: they respectonly the man who tells them once a daythat they are unworthy to eat with a Walad AmiI'(gentleman). They will call you proud; but thatmatters little, and if you pay them well they willspeak of you accordingly.On the evening of Sunday, Jan. 4, 1857, webade a temporary farewell to our kind friend andhost, Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton, and transferredourselves on board the Riami, expecting to setout. Simple souls that we were! 'rhere wasneither wood nor water on board, and our gallantcaptain lost no time in eclipsing himself. Thenorth-east wind coursing through the clear skywas dead against us, but he pretended that thesailors had remained in the bazar. He came onboard next morning, when we made sail and randown to Mto-ni, there filling our skins with badsaltish water. Hamid again went ashore, promisingto return in half an hour, and leaving us tospend the day in vain expectation. Said binSalim solaced himself by wishing thatthe Shaytanmight appear to Hamid on his death-bed and say,'0 friend of my soul, welcome home!' Butwhen the truant came off, he was welcomed by thehalf-caste Arab with a cup of coffee and a proverbimporting that out of woe cometh weal; this con-

488 THE THREE STARTS.siderably diminished the effect of my flea in theear and threat of the' bakur.' Finally, after theloss of two nights and a day, we fished up ourground-tackle and began our journey. I afterwardslearned that in this part of East Mrica thetraveller must ever be prepared for three distinctdepartures-the little start, the big start, and thestart.Amongst our belongings was a life-boat whichwe determined to tow, and the trouble which itgave was endless. In consequence of a lecturedelivered at the United' Service Institution (May2,1856), by Major, now Sir Vincent, Eyre, of theBengal Artillery, I wrote through him to MrJoseph Francis, of New York, whose applicationof iron had taken the place of the old copperarticle in which Lieut. Lynch, of the UnitedStates navy, descended the Jordan rapids. Thetotal length, 20 feet, was divided into seven sections,each weighing under 40 Ibs. The pieceswere so numbered that experienced men couldput the thing together in one hour, and it wasprovided with rivets, bolts, nuts, and japannedwaterproof awning. A flat keel and a corkfender were proposed by Major Eyre to themanufacturers, Messrs Marshall, Lefferts, andCo., and were rejected: the former would have

THE' LOUISA' LIFE-BOAT. 489offered greater hindrance to the joints, and thelatter would have been only additional weight.This life-boat, after being set up with somedifficulty at Zanzibar, accompanied us on our tripnorthwards. T,he galvanized and corrugatediron, in longitudial furrows, like the roofing ofrailway stations, but only sixpence-thick, provedfar superior to the softer copper formerly used.1. 1 he Arabs, who could not sufficiently admire hergraceful form, the facility with which she washandled, and above all things, her speed, calledher the Sharradeh, or runaway (mare). The, Louisa' was indeed sadly given to breaking herhalter and to bolting. We lost her during a stormnear Mombasah, but an article so remarkable andso useless to any but ourselves was of courseeasily recovered. Compelled by want of carriageon the coast to reduce my material, I left hermost unwillingly at Zanzibar. Buoyant as graceful,fireproof, wormproof, and waterproof, incapableof becoming nail-sick or water-logged, shewould indeed have been a Godsend upon theTanganyika lake, sparing us long delay, great expense,and a host of difficulties and hardships.

APPENDIX.THE UKARA OR UKEREWE LAKE.A DEDUCTION ];'ROM THE REV. J'lIR WAKEFIEfJD'S 'ROUTES.'THE following paper was read out on December 11, 1871,before a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Major­General Sir Henry Rawlinson, President of the Society,being in the chair.MUCH light bad been lately thrown upon the darkpoints of Eastern Afriea, especially those whieh gatherround the much-Y8xcd Ethiopic Olympus, Kilima-njaro,by the labours of the Rev. Thomas Wakefield. Thisgentleman, we are informed (Preface by lVIr Samuel S.Barton, General Mission Seeretary, to' Footprints in EasternAfrica.' London: Reed, 1866), was one of four missionariessent out to 1Yrombasah in 1861 by the United Methodist FreeChurches under charge of Dr Krapf, who first establishedthe now world-renowne(l 'lVlombas Mission.' After aresidenee of five years he published the interesting seriesof ' Notes on a Visit to the Southern Galas' above alludedto; amI in 1866-7, accompanied by the Rev. O. New,he marched from nfombasah to Upokomo, on the Danariver. lie is therefore an African traveller of some experiencc;and as he has evidently mastered the Kisawahilitongue, he is unusually well qualified to supervise and to

APPENDIX.4Qlcorrect the ' Routes of Native Caravans from the Coast tothe Interior of Eastern Africa, chiefly from informationgiven by Sadi bin Ahedi, a native of a district near Gazi(Gasi Bandar?) in Udogo, a little north of Zanzibar.'Especially advocated by myoId and tried friend :NIl' Alexander:F'indlay, F.R.G.S., this valuable paper was publishedin the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (pp. 303­339, No. xi. Vol. xl. of 1870), and I felt somewhat surprisedthat the extent of its :importance has not attracted moreattention in Bngland.I will consider this addition to our scanty knowledgeof one of the most interesting regions in tropical Africaunder two heads-the philological and the geographical.Firstly, :Mr vVakefield, like Doctors Livingstone anciKirk, all being practical linguists, invariably uses thesystem of Zangian orthography, adopted by the' MambasMission,' and by myselfsince 1859. He speaks, for instance,of Kilillla-njaro and Unyamwezi, not the :NIonollloezi of:NIl' Cooley or 'the authentic word Mueni Muezi,' translatedlandlord, or petty chief country (p. 11, The:NIemoir on the Lake Regions of East Africa reviewed, &e;.&c., by W. D. Cooley. London: Stanford, 1864:). ",Vefind in :lYIr vVakefield's Notes (p. 316) 'Lima, a term denotingextraordinary size-Mllma being the general termfor mountain,' whilst (p. 321) Ki-Mrima is justly appliedto the dialect spoken on the :lYIrima or maiulanci facingZanzibar Island. vVe read also (323) 'J\'Itanganyiko, 1Kisawahili, meaning the place of mingl£ng or mi;duJ'e (rendezvous).'This is precisely the meaning attached by me1 Possibly a clerical error for M(,angan.yika: similarly in the N o(,es(p. 313) we find Risimani, evidently a misprint for Kisima-ni. I shalwrite (,0 1'11' Wakefield upon the subject.

492 APPENDIX.t.o the Lake's name, yet I was assured in the Memoir abovealluded to (p. 7) that nothing can be 'more ridiculous'than my explanation of Tanganyika. Even in philologicaldetails of the Kisawahili dialect Mr 1,Vakefield agreeswith me. He writes, for instance, Udogo (Notes, p. 313),Ugala (Footprints, p. 67, 68), and Ulangulo (Ibid. p. 63).I was assured in the Memoir (p. 9) that U is prefixed tothe names of countries only by Dr Krapf and OaptainBurton-this, too, after I had for years been talking of.Europe as Uzungu, literally, Land of white men. MrWakefield speaks of Wasamba, of Wasawahili (or ,Va­SawaJlili), and of 1,Vanyamwezi, thus sanctioning the use ofvVamrima, continental men, and Wakilima, hill-men. Headopts Kisawahili, Kikwavi, Kimasai, and so forth, prefixingan adjectival particle' Ki' to the root, and denotingchiefly dialect, yet I was assured by Mr Cooley (Memoir,p. 9) that' Ki' has never an adjectival form. I may nowinvite the author of Inner Africa Laid Open to revise theverdict (Memoir, p. 7) which pronounces me ' totally ignorant'of the language of which I affect to be master.It may be deemed trivial to dwell upon these philologicalminutiaJ, but, firstly, nothing is unimportant when itaffects the accuracy of a traveller, especially of an explorer,in the smallest matters of detaiL Secondly, without anexact nomenclature all topographical literature must beimperfect and of scant value. And, finally, as Mr Cooleyand I have been differing upon these points for the last tenyears, it is well that the portion of the public which takesan interest in the subject should see who is right and whois not. I have no personal feeling in the matter; and ifthe' Geographer ofN'yassi ' will bring, as I have done, independenttestimony to bear upon the points in question, and

APPENDIX. 493not evolve his learning out of the depths of his self~consciousness,I am at all times ready and willing to own myselfwrong.Far more important and generally interesting, however,is the geographical knowledge brought home ormther confirmed to us by 1\'[1' Wakefield's' Routes.' vVenow know that the block whose apices are MountsKilima-njaro and Kenia (alias Doenyo Ebor, Mont Blanc)to be a great upland, bounded on the South by thePanga-ni river in S. lat. 5°, and on the N. vVest by alacustrine region in S. lat. 6°; whilst it may possiblyanastomose to the North, as was suggested by my friendDr Beke, with the Highlands of Rarar and of MoslemAbyssinia, lying upon the same meridian. The breadthbetween N. West and S. East will be included betweenEast long. (G.) 37° and 39°. Assuming, therefore, roughlythe bounding)ines to measure 240 by 120 direct geographicalmiles·-we obtain a superficies of 28,800 square geographicalmiles, more than a fourth of the area assigneel tothe British Islands. We can now

APPENDIX.existence before appeared so problematical. And now thetwo mighty summits, Kilima-njaro, explored by the latelamentecl Baron von del' Decken and Doenyo Ebor, reportedto Dr Krapf under the alias Kenia or Kirenia, and unexpectedlyconfirmed by fresh evidence, have obtained localhabitations as well as names.But the interest of Mr Wakefield's Routes culminatesin the fact that they show even to a certainty the existenceof a lake before unknown, and they lead to the conclusionthat the area of 29,900 squDTe geographical miles,assigned to the so-called Victoria Nyanza, contains atleast foul' and probably a greater number of separatewateTs ; that it is, in fact, not a Lake, but a Lake Region.:NIl' Reith Johnston observes (p. 333), 'It is remarkablethat not one single name of a distTict, people, or plaee(with the exeeption of that of the Wamasai, a generalname fOT the people of the white region west of the LakeYgiven ill these llew routes has any sueh remote resemblanceto names reported by Speke and Burtoll as to warrant anyillentification with anyone of them.' The reason willpresently appear in the fact that we are speaking ofwell-considered remarks to the' Routes,' observes (p. 337) that' theNjcmsi volcano in this region has a special interest, since, if the reportbe true, it is the only one which is known to present any signs of activityin the African Continent.' I cannot at present place my hand upon aprivate note addressed to me by ]\'[1' Frank 'Wilson of Fernando Po, anddescribing how the Camarones Peak was seen to be in eruption shortlyafter my departure from the West African coast (1864). I had foundit in one place still smoking.I The routes as well as the information given by me in the LakeRegions of Central Africa, and in my fort.hcoming work upon Zanzihar,City, Island, and CoaBt, prove t.he Wamasai to be a special tribe. M.11ichard Brenner (Mittheilungen, 1868, p. 175, &c., and map facingp.:3S'b) shows that this fierce pastoral people has approached the coastand seized the right or southern bank of thc SaMki or Melinde river.

APPENDIX, 495different waters. The annotator further observes (p. 333)that 'the arguments which Oaptain Burton used in recommendinga division of the Nyanza had not a sufficientbasis of proof to give them moment, as is shown by theacceptance of the Lake as one sheet by the whole geographicalworld.'The mapper will readily understand that it is muchmore sightly and convenient to have a basin neatly outlined,and margined sky-blue, like the Damascus swamps,than to split it into fragments as I did. A volumepublished by the late Mr Macqueen and myself (TheNile Basin. London: Tinsleys, 1864), offered a sketch ofwhat was actually seen by the second expedition, andthe aspect of disjecta membra 'was not inviting. Afterwards,however (p. 334), lVIr Johnston remarks, , OaptainBurton's recommendation would seem to receive someslight support from the new information obtained by MrWakefield.' To this I would add that his language mighthave been less hesitating, as these' Routes,' so importantto the g'eography of Eastern Africa, "L once establish theexistence of two lakes wholly independent of the so-caller1lrictoria Nyanza.The first is that which We named from hearsay Bahariya Ngo, contracted to Bahari Ngo, sea or water ofNgoe-land). In the atlas of .il1"ercator (Gerhard Kauffmann)we find it written Barcena for Barenca or Barenga. :NIl'Wakefield prefers (324) Baringo, meaning a 'canoe,' and, possibly so called from its form.' I shall follow his example,at the same time observing that African negroes rarelyadopt snch general and comprehensive views of largerfeatures or venture upon such comparisons unless they eancommand a birds-eye glance at the prospect. Route No.

496 APPENDIX.5, from' Lake Nyanza' to Lake Baringo, conclusivelyproves that the latter is not' a sort of backwater' connectedwith the former' by a strait, at the same distance from theEast of Ripon Falls as the Katenga river is to the West.'Nor is it a 'vast salt marsh' without effluent: the salinewater has evidently been confused with the lately reportedLake Nai'rvasha or Balibali lying S. West of Doenyo Ebor.Native description supplies the Baringo with the NorthernNyarus-the southern effluent of the same namebeing clearly an influent. Nyarus thus corresponds withthe old Thumbiri, Tubirih, and nIeri, afterwards calledAchua, Usua, and Asua, words probably corrupted fromNyarus.The map of 1864, printed by Mr now Sir Samuel Bakerin the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,affirms the Asua to have been a dry channel 160 yards widewhen he crossed it, in Jan. g, 1864, but rolling 16 feet deepin the wet season. He ca.n ha.rdly be speaking of the drainfrom the Baringo Lake, which must be large and perennial,ancl which therefore must be sought farther north, unless itanast.omoses with some other stream. M. d'Arnaud, theFrench engineer sent in 1840-1841 by Mohammed AliPaslla to explore the Upper Nile, reported (Jollmal RoyalGeographical Society, vol. xviii. p. 73) that about 30 leaguessouth ofwhere the expedition was stopped by shallow waterin N. lat. 4° 42' 42", and therefore in N. lat. 3° 12', theseveral branches unite, the chief one flowing from the east.The Baringo Palus mustact reservoir to the whole N.vVestern declivities of Doenyo Ebor, whose snows have givenit a name. Ptolemy (iv. 8) distinctly mentions the x{ovas,or (melted) snows which feed the Nile; and though heplaces them in S. lat. l2~) 3D', he is correct as to the exist-

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APPENDIX. 497ence of snowy feeders. Some years ago a Swiss travellerdrew my attention to the fact that glacier-water would ex­Illain the term "Vhite river as opposecl to Blue river.The quantity of melted snow or glacier-water which findsits way to the true Nile may be comparatively inconsiderable,but that little may perhaps modify the colourlesscomplexion of rain-water when its suspended matter hasbeen deposited, and distinguish it from the pure azure ofa stream issuing from a Lake Geneva. In 1857 OaptainSpeke, an experienced Himalayan, easily eletectec1, whendrinking from the Pangar-lli or RUfu river, the roughflavour of snow water.1\'1ore important, however, than BariYlgo is the newLake announceel to us by 1\'11' lYakefield's African Pandit,Sieli bin Ahecli. The latter ignOl'ing Nyanza, calls it Nyanja,possibly a dialectic variety, and t11erefore a differenceneither to be dwelt upon too much nor wholly to be neglected.Of greater value is the name Bahari ya Pili, orSecond Sea, 110t called so, we are expressly informecl, becauseinland of the First Sea-Indian Ocean-but evidentlybecause leading to a neighbouring water on thewest. l\fost suggestive of all, and therefore adoptecl byme, is the term' Bahari ya Ukara,' or Sea of Ulmra, thelatter being the region on the Eastern shore. Here wedetect the true origin of the ancient Garava, and of OaptainSpeke's Ukewere, which he applied to a peninsulaprojecting from the Eastern shore, and which the 1¥anyamwezi,translating 'island water,' gave to the Orientalportion of the so-called Victoria Nyanza.Respecting the length of the Ukara Lake, SiLdi wasinformed that it could be crossed by canoes in 6 full days,l)aclilling from sunrise to sunset; but if the men went onYOLo I. 32

4!l8 APPENDIX.night and clay, the voyage if; to be accomplished in threeaLLyS. Now the llative craft usc)(l upon these dangerousplateau-waters never dare to cross them: the voyagermay rUiJh ovor the narrow parts of the Tanganyika Lake,but of course he would not attompt the physical impossibilityof navigating without chart or compass beyond. sightof land. It is impossible to believe in a canoe-cruise of 6d,qs across the bke: it is evident that a constillg-cruiseis meant. The tobl of hours, allowing the cby to be 12,and without halts, woulcl be n. UpOll the 'l'tmganyikaI estinntccl the r

APPENDIX.the very faint outline of a mountain summit, far, far awayon the horizon.' This passage is again suggestive. ,Thesandy and level Eastern shore of the Nyanja (i. e. water) orUkara Lake ahout Bahari-ni, whence Sli,di sighted, it is lJrobab1yin E.10ng. (G.) 35° 15'. The east0l'llInOst, that is, thenearest, point ofthe Karagwah, or, as Oaptain Speke writesit, the Karague Highlands, is in E. long. (G.) 32° 30'.Thus the minimum width is 165 miles, whilst man's visionunder such circumstances woulel harcUy cover a dozen.Here, again, we have rOom for a First as well as for tt SeconelSoa. Mr Johnston suggests that the mountain-summit inquestion might be an island rising high in the midst of theLake; but, he adds, such a feature could not well have beenmissed entirely by Oaptain Speko. Here I join issue withhim for. reasons which can be deduced from these }lagesmycompanion and second in command never saw or hoardof the Ukara Lake. But it is highly improbablo thatthose who coulc1 tell Su"di the number of clays required tocross or to coast along the Lake would not have knownwhether the summit was that of a mountain on terra firmaor of a lacustrine islet. '1'he latter feature is not unfamiliarto Mr vVakeueld's informant: he does not fail tomention (p.324) the small conical hill in the southernwaters of the Baringo Lake.'When Sac1i declared that (he travelled 60 clays(marches?) along the shore vvithout perceiving any signs ofits termination,' he evidently spoke wildly, as Africans will.His assertion that the natives with whom he conversedwere unable to give him any information about its nOTthernor southern limit, simply means that in this part of theAfrican interior neither caravans nor individuals trustthemselves in strange lands, especially with the prospect

5UOAPPENDIX.of meeting such dangerous plunderers as the vVasulm.Similarly a 'two months' joul'lley' and' going to Egypt,'asserteel by , all authorities without exception, African andArab,' signify nothing but the total ignorance of the informantconcerning the country a few leagues beyond hishome. A h.ke 120 miles in length, that is to say, even alittle smaller than the Baringo is supposed to be, will amplysatisfy all Tequirements in this matter.Finally, we have SMi's Teport that 8 or 9 years ago(before 1867 P) the Ukara Lake was navigated by Europeans.Certain very white men, we are told, who bought only shortivorIes (Scrivellos), refusing long tush, anel WllO purchasecilarge quantities of eggs-Africans have learnt by somecurious process to connect Europeans with oophagy-cameup in a brge vessel, carrying three masts and another infront (bowsprit ?), with many white cloths (sails). Theevent took place only a month and a half before hereached the Lake, and it is described with an exactness ofdetail which seems to vouch for its truth. If this be a fact,it is clear that the Nyanja cannot be Captain Speke'sNyanza, and that the visitors could not have made it viahis' 'White Nile,' with its immense anci manifold obstructions.But it may be that of which he heard (Journal) p.330) from the' Kicli officers,' who reporteel a high mountai.nto rise behind the Asua (NyaTus?) river, anel a lakenavigateel by the Gallas in very large vessels. ,Ve nowunderstand why the' King' Mtesa (Ibid. p. 294) offered tosenel the traveller home (to Zanzibar) in one month by afrequented Toute, doubtless through tho vraroasai and othertribes living between the Nyanja and the Nyanza. ThusIrUl1gu of Uganda (Ibid. I'. 187) eXlwcssed his surprise thatCaptain Speke had como all the way round. to that country,

APPENDIX. 501when he could have taken the short and safe direct routeup the mid-length of his own lake-viaUmasai l:Ulcl Usog;t,by which an Arab caravan had travelled.The Ukara Lake will be found laid down (A.D. 1712) inthe Africa of John Senex, F.R.S. (quotecl by the late .M:rJohn Hogg, F.R.S., 'On some old maps of Africa, inwhich the central equatorial lakes are laid down nearly intheir true positions '). It is evidently the Garava of lrlercator(A.D. 1623), whose atlas supplies it with a northern effluentdraining to the Nile. The' Oouir ' of D'Anville'sfolio atlas (A.D. 1749), and placed where the Lake No am1the Bahr el Ghazal actually exist, may be a confusion withthe equatorial Lake Kura KawaI', given by Jlt'afar :Mohammedbin 1\fusa el Khwarazmi (A.D. 833) in the Rasl11el Arzi, published in Lelawel's GeographiB c1u ])foycnAge (Brussels, 1850), and, like Garava, both may be derivedfrom Ukara.The third water is evidently the Nyanza of which Ifirst heard at Kazah of Unyamwezi, whence Oaptain Spekewas despatched on a reconnoitre between July 29 anclAugust 25, 1858. After returning, he reported that thislake being nearly flush with the surface of the level countryto the south, bears signs of overflowing for some 13 milesduring the rains. The second expedition found no tracesof flood on the marshy lands to the North and the N. ,Vestof the so-called' Victoria Nyanza.' This fact, combinedwith a difference of level amounting to 400 feet in thesurface of the two waters, speaks for itself. ,Ve are justifiedin suspecting a fourth lake, or broadening of a riveralong whose banks Oaptain Speke and Grant travellednorthward to Uganda, and there must be more than one, ifall his effluents be correctly laid down.

302 APPENDIX,Briefly to l'f:1Sume: JYIr vVakefield's very valuable, Routes' teach us these novelties:1. That the Baringo is a Lake distinct from the socalledVictoria Nyanza; that it has a northern effluent,tl18 Nyarus, and consequently that its waters are sweet.2. That the Nyanja, Ukara, Ukerewe, Garava or 13ahariya Pili, is a long narrow formation like the Baringo, perhaps20 miles broad, with 240 of circumference, andl)08sibly drained to the \Vhite River or true Nile by anavigable channel.And I have long ago come to the following conclusions:1. That the 30,000 square miles representing upon ourmaps the area of the so-called Victoria Nyanza representnot a lake, but a Lake Region.2. 'l'hat the Victmia Nyanza Proper is a water-posf::io1ya swamp-distinct from the two mentioned above,flooding' the lands to the south, sllOwing no sign of depthand swelling' during the hot season of the Nile, and viceAversa.3. That the Northern awl N. vVestern portions of theso -called ' VietOI'i~t Nyanza' must be elivided into sundryindependent broads or lakes, one of them marshy, reedmargined,and probably shallow, in order to aocountfor three large effluents within a little more than 60'1111ues.I cannot finish these lines without expressing my gratitmIeto Mr Wakefield for the interesting informationwith which he supplied us. He has returned to his laboursat 1YIombasah, amongst the vVasawahili and the 'Vanyika,and as he has, I am assured by my friend Captain George,

APPEl'lDIX. 50:3R. N., qualified himself to take astronomical observations,we may rest assllI'ecl that with his aiel the' Mombas Mission'\villlose nothing of its well-woIl fame faT linguistic studyand African exploration.El\'D OF VOL. 1.