Part 31

The report of the success of the _Punjaub’s_ mission left me at liberty to depart. With a grateful heart I bade adieu to a prince whose kindness and personal courtesy will long dwell in my memory, and who at the

## parting interview had expressed a hope to see me again, and had offered

me a passage homeward in one of his ships-of-war. At the time, however, a clipper-built barque, the _Dragon of Salem_, Captain M‘Farlane commanding, was discharging cargo in the harbour, preparatory to sailing with the S.W. monsoon for Aden. The captain consented to take us on board: Captain Rigby, however, finding his boat too crowded, was compelled to omit accompanying us--a little mark of civility not unusual in the East. His place, however, was well filled up by Seedy Mubarak Bombay, whose honest face appeared at that moment, by contrast, peculiarly attractive.

On the 22nd March, 1859, the clove-shrubs and the cocoa-trees of Zanzibar again faded from my eyes. After crossing and re-crossing three times the tedious line, we found ourselves anchored, on the 16th April, near the ill-omened black walls of the Aden crater.

The crisis of my African sufferings had taken place during my voyage upon the Tanganyika Lake: the fever, however, still clung to me like the shirt of Nessus. Mr. Apothecary Frost, of Zanzibar, had advised a temporary return to Europe: Dr. Steinhaeuser, the civil surgeon, Aden, also recommended a lengthened period of rest. I bade adieu to the coal-hole of the East on the 28th April, 1859, and in due time greeted with becoming heartiness the shores of my native land.

[Illustration: The Elephant Rock (Ακρωτηριον Ελεφας, Periplus II. ‏راس الفيل‎), seen from fifteen miles at sea, direction S.W.]

FINIS CORONAT OPUS!

[Illustration:

MAP OF THE ROUTES between ZANZIBAR AND THE GREAT LAKES IN =EASTERN AFRICA= in 1857, 1858 & 1859, by R. F. Burton

_London, Longman & Co._

_Engraved by Edwd. Weller, Red Lion Square._]

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX I.

COMMERCE, IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beads are sold in Zanzibar island by the following weights:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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