consulate. I refused, however, to see him, and explained the reason to
Captain Rigby. That gentleman agreed with me at the time that the Arab
had been more than sufficiently rewarded by the sum advanced to him by
Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton: but--perhaps he remembers the cognomen by which
he was known in days of yore amongst his juvenile _confrères_ at
Addiscombe?--he has since thought proper to change his mind. The Jemadar
and the Baloch attended me to the doorway of the prince’s darbar: I
would not introduce them to their master or to the consul, as such
introduction would have argued myself satisfied with their conduct, nor
would I recommend them for promotion or reward. Ladha Damha put in a
faint claim for salary due to the sons of Ramji; but when informed of
the facts of the case he at once withdrew it, and I heard no more of it
at Zanzibar. As regards the propriety of these severe but equitable
measures, my companion was, I believe, at that time of the same opinion
as myself: perhaps Captain Speke’s prospect of a return to East Africa,
and of undertaking a similar exploration, have caused him since that
epoch to think, and to think that he then thought, otherwise.
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.
After piece goods and beads, the principal articles of traffic,
especially on the northern lines and the western portion of the central
route, are masango (in the singular sango), or brass wires, called by
the Arabs hajúlah. Nos. 4 or 5 are preferred. They are purchased in
Zanzibar, when cheap, for 12 dollars, and when dear for 16 dollars per
frasilah. When imported up country the frasilah is divided into three or
four large coils, called by the Arabs daur, and by the Africans khata,
for the convenience of attachment to the banghy-pole. Arrived at
Unyanyembe they are converted by artizans into the kitindi, or
coil-bracelets, described in the preceding pages. Each daur forms two or
three of these bulky ornaments, of which there are about 11 to the
frasilah, and the weight is thus upwards of three pounds. The charge for
the cutting, cleaning, and twisting into shape is about 1 doti of
domestics for 50 kitindis. The value of the kitindi, throughout
Unyamwezi, in 1858, was 1 doti merkani; at Ujiji, where they are in
demand for slaves and ivory, the price was doubled. Thus, the kitindi,
worth one dollar each--when cheap, nine are bought for ten dollars--in
Zanzibar, rises to five dollars in the lake regions. Kitindi were
formerly made of copper wire; it has fallen into disuse on account of
its expense,--at Zanzibar from 15 to 20 dollars per frasilah. Large iron
wires, called senyenge, are confined to Ugogo and the northern countries
inhabited by the Wamasai. The East Africans have learned to draw fine
wire, which they call uzi wa shaba (brass thread); they also import from
the coast Nos. 22 to 25, and employ them for a variety of decorative
purposes, which have already been alluded to. The average price of this
small wire at Zanzibar is 12 dollars per frasilah. As has been
mentioned, sat or zinc, called by the Africans bati (tin), is imported
by the Wajiji.