vast extinct forests, overthrown in former ages either by some violent
action of the elements, or exuded from the roots of the tree by an
abnormal action which exhausted and destroyed it. The gum, buried at
depths beyond atmospheric influence, has, like amber and similar
gum-resins, been bitumenised in all its purity, the volatile principles
being fixed by moisture and by the exclusion of external air. That it is
the produce of a tree is proved by the discovery of pieces of gum
embedded in a touchwood which crumbles under the fingers; the
“goose-skin,” which is the impress of sand or gravel, shows that it was
buried in a soft state; and the bees, flies, gnats, and other insects
which are sometimes found in it delicately preserved, seem to disprove a
remote geologic antiquity. At the end of the rains it is usually carried
ungarbled to Zanzibar. When garbled upon the coast it acquires an
additional value of 1 dollar per frasilah. The Banyan embarks it on
board his own boat, or pays a freight varying from 2 to 4 annas, and the
ushur or government tax is 6 annas per frasilah with half an anna for
charity. About 8 annas per frasilah are deducted for “tare and tret.” At
Zanzibar, after being sifted and freed from heterogeneous matter, it is
sent by the Banyan retailer to the Indian market or sold to the foreign
merchant. It is then washed in solutions of various strengths: the lye
is supposed to be composed of soda and other agents for softening the
water; its proportions, however, are kept a profound secret. European
technologists have, it is said, vainly proposed theoretical methods for
the delicate part of the operation which is to clear the goose-skin of
dirt. The Americans exported the gum uncleaned, because the operation is
better performed at Salem. Of late years they have begun to prepare it
at Zanzibar, like the Hamburg traders. When taken from the solution, in
which from 20 to 37 per cent. is lost, the gum is washed, sun-dried for
some hours, and cleaned with a hard brush, which must not, however,
injure the goose skin; the dark “eyes,” where the dirt has sunk deep,
are also picked out with an iron tool. It is then carefully garbled with
due regard to colour and size. There are many tints and peculiarities
known only to those whose interests compel them to study and to observe
copal, which, like cotton and Cashmere shawls, requires years of
experience. As a rule, the clear and semi-transparent are the best; then
follow the numerous and almost imperceptible varieties of dull white,
lemon colour, amber yellow, rhubarb yellow, bright red, and dull red.
Some specimens of this vegetable fossil appear by their dirty and
blackened hue to have been subjected to the influence of fire; others
again are remarkable for a tender grass-green colour. According to some
authorities, the gum, when long kept, has been observed to change its
tinge. The sizes are fine, medium, and large, with many subdivisions;
the pieces vary from the dimensions of small pebbles to 2 or 3 ounces;
they have been known to weigh 5 lbs., and, it is said, at Salem a piece
of 35 lbs. is shown. Lastly, the gum is thrown broadcast into boxes and
exported from the island. The Hamburg merchants keep European coopers,
who put together the cases whose material is sent out to them. It is
almost impossible to average the export of copal from Zanzibar.
According to the late Lieutenant-Colonel Hamerton, it varies from
800,000 to 1,200,000 lbs. per annum, of which Hamburg absorbs 150,000
lbs., and Bombay two lacs’ worth. The refuse copal used formerly to
reach India as “packing,” being deemed of no value in commerce; of late
years the scarcity of the supply has rendered merchants more careful.
The price, also, is subject to incessant fluctuations, and during the
last few years it has increased from 4 dol. 50 cents to a maximum of 12
dollars per frasilah.
According to the Arabs, the redder the soil the better is the copal. The
superficies of the copal country is generally a thin coat of white sand,
covering a dark and fertilising humus, the vestiges of decayed
vegetation, which varies from a few inches to a foot and a half in
depth. In the island of Zanzibar, which produces only the chakazi or raw
copal, the subsoil is a stiff blue clay, the raised sea-beach, and the
ancient habitat of the coco. It becomes greasy and adhesive, clogging
the hoe in its lower bed; where it is dotted with blood-coloured
fragments of ochreish earth, proving the presence of oxidising and
chalybeate efficients, and with a fibrous light-red matter, apparently
decayed coco-roots. At a depth of from 2 to 3 feet water oozes from the
greasy walls of the pit. When digging through these formations, the gum
copal occurs in the vegetable soil overlying the clayey subsoil.
A visit to the little port of Saadani afforded different results. After
crossing 3 miles of alluvial and maritime plain, covered with a rank
vegetation of spear grass and low thorns, with occasional mimosas and
tall hyphænas, which have supplanted the coco, the traveller finds a few
scattered specimens of the living tree and pits dotting the ground. The
diggers, however, generally advance another mile to a distinctly formed
sea-beach, marked with lateral bands of quartzose and water-rolled
pebbles, and swelling gradually to 150 feet from the alluvial plain. The
thin but rich vegetable covering supports a luxuriant thicket, the
subsoil is red and sandy, and the colour darkens as the excavation
deepens. After 3 feet, fibrous matter appears, and below this copal,
dusty and comminuted, is blended with the red ochreish earth. The guides
assert that they have never hit upon the subsoil of blue clay, but they
never dig lower than a man’s waist, and the pits are seldom more than 2
feet in depth. Though the soil is red, the copal of Saadani is not
highly prized, being of a dull white colour; it is usually designated as
“chakazi.”
On the line inland from Bagamoyo and Kaole the copal-tree was observed
at rare intervals in the forests, and the pits extended as far as
Muhonyera, about 40 miles in direct distance from the coast. The produce
of this country, though not first-rate, is considered far superior to
that about Saadani.
Good copal is dug in the vicinity of Mbuamaji, and the diggings are said
to extend to 6 marches inland. The Wadenkereko, a wild tribe, mixed with
and stretching southwards of the Wazaramo, at a distance of two days’
journey from the sea, supply a mixed quality, more often white than red.
The best gums are procured from Hunda and its adjacent districts.
Frequent feuds with the citizens deter the wild people from venturing
out of their jungles, and thus the Banyans of Mbuamaji find two small
dows sufficient for the carriage of their stores. At that port the price
of copal varies from 2 dol. 50 cents to 3 dol. per frasilah.
The banks of the Rufiji River, especially the northern district of
Wánde, supply the finest and best of copal; it is dug by the Wawande
tribe, who either carry it to Kikunya and other ports, or sell it to
travelling hucksters. The price in loco is from 1 dol. 50 cents to 2
dollars per frasilah; on the coast it rises to 3 dol. 50 cents. At all
these places the tariff varies with the Bombay market, and in 1858
little was exported owing to the enlistment of “free labourers.”
In the vicinity of Kilwa, for four marches inland, copal is dug up by
the Mandandu and other tribes; owing to the facility of carriage and the
comparative safety of the country it is somewhat dearer than that
purchased on the banks of the Rufiji. The copal of Ngao (Monghou) and
the Lindi creek is much cheaper than at Kilwa; the produce, however, is
variable in quality, being mostly a dull white chakazi.
Like that of East African produce generally, the exploitation of copal
is careless and desultory. The diggers are of the lowest classes, and
hands are much wanted. Near the seaboard it is worked by the fringe of
Moslem negroids called the Wamrima or Coast clans; each gang has its own
mtu mku or akida’ao (mucaddum--headman), who, by distributing the stock,
contrives to gain more and to labour less than the others. In the
interior it is exploited by the Washenzi or heathen, who work
independently of one another. When there is no blood-feud they carry it
down to the coast, otherwise they must await the visits of petty retail
dealers from the ports, who enter the country with ventures of 10 or 12
dollars, and barter for it cloth, beads, and wire. The kosi--south-west
or rainy monsoon--is the only period of work; the kaskazi, or dry
season, is a dead time. The hardness of the ground is too much for the
energies of the people: moreover, “kaskazi copal” gives trouble in
washing on account of the sand adhering to its surface, and the flakes
are liable to break. As a rule, the apathetic Moslem and the futile
heathen will not work whilst a pound of grain remains in their huts. The
more civilised use a little jembe or hoe, an implement about as
efficient as the wooden spade with which an English child makes
dirt-pies.
The people of the interior “crow” a hole about six inches in diameter
with a pointed stick, and scrape out the loosened earth with the hand as
far as the arm will reach. They desert the digging before it is
exhausted; and although the labourers could each, it is calculated,
easily collect from ten to twelve lbs. per diem, they prefer sleeping
through the hours of heat, and content themselves with as many ounces.
Whenever upon the coast there is a blood-feud--and these are uncommonly
frequent--a drought, a famine, or a pestilence, workmen strike work, and
cloth and beads are offered in vain. It is evident that the copal-mine
can never be regularly and efficiently worked as long as it continues in
the hands of such unworthy miners. The energy of Europeans, men of
capital and purpose, settled on the seaboard with gangs of foreign
workmen, would soon remedy existing evils; but they would require not
only the special permission, but also the protection of the local
government. And although the intensity of the competition principle
amongst the Arabs has not yet emulated the ferocious rivalry of
civilisation, the new settlers must expect considerable opposition from
those in possession. Though the copal diggings are mostly situated
beyond the jurisdiction of Zanzibar, the tract labours under all the
disadvantages of a monopoly: the diwans, the heavy merchants, and the
petty traders of the coast derive from it, it is supposed, profits
varying from 80 to 100 per cent. Like other African produce, though
almost dirt-cheap, it becomes dear by passing through many hands, and
the frasilah, worth from 1 to 3 dollars in the interior, acquires a
value of from 8 to 9 dollars at Zanzibar.
Zanzibar is the principal mart for perhaps the finest and largest ivory
in the world. It collects the produce of the lands lying between the
parallels of 2° N. lat. and 10° S. lat., and the area extends from the
coast to the regions lying westward of the Tanganyika Lake. It is almost
the only legitimate article of traffic for which caravans now visit the
interior.
An account of the ivory markets in Inner Africa will remove sundry false
impressions. The Arabs are full of fabulous reports concerning regions
where the article may be purchased for its circumference in beads, and
greed of gain has led many of them to danger and death. Wherever tusks
are used as cattle-pens or to adorn graves, the reason is that they are
valueless on account of the want of conveyance.
The elephant has not wholly disappeared from the maritime regions of
Zanzibar. It is found, especially during the rainy monsoon, a few miles
behind Pangani town: it exists also amongst the Wazegura, as far as
their southern limit, the Gama River. The Wadoe hunt the animal in the
vicinity of Shakini, a peak within sight of Zanzibar. Though killed out
of Uzaramo, and K’hutu, it is found upon the banks of the Kingani and
the Rufiji rivers. The coast people now sell their tusks for 30 to 35
dollars’ worth of cloth, beads, and wire per frasilah.
In Western Usagara the elephant extends from Maroro to Ugogi. The
people, however, being rarely professional hunters, content themselves
with keeping a look-out for the bodies of animals that have died of
thirst or of wounds received elsewhere. As the chiefs are acquainted
with the luxuries of the coast, their demands are fantastic. They will
ask, for instance, for a large tusk--the frasilah is not used in inland
sales--a copper caldron worth 15 dollars; a khesi, or fine cloth,
costing 20 dollars; and a variable quantity of blue and white cottons:
thus, an ivory, weighing perhaps 3 frasilah, may be obtained for 50
dollars.
Ugogo and its encircling deserts are peculiarly rich in elephants. The
people are eminently hunters, and, as has been remarked, they trap the
animals, and in droughty seasons they find many dead in the jungles.
Ivory is somewhat dearer in Ugogo than in Unyamwezi, as caravans rarely
visit the coasts. It is generally bartered to return caravans for slaves
brought from the interior; of these, five or six represent the value of
a large tusk.
The ivory of Unyamwezi is collected from the districts of Mgunda
Mk’hali, Usukuma, Umanda, Usagozi, and other adjacent regions. When the
“Land of the Moon” was first visited by the Arabs, they purchased, it is
said, 10 farasilah of ivory with 1 frasilah of the cheap white or blue
porcelains. The price is now between 30 and 35 dollars per frasilah in
cloth, beads, and wire. The Africans, ignoring the frasilah, estimate
the value of the tusk by its size and quality; and the Arabs ascertain
its exact weight by steelyards. Moreover, they raise the weight of what
they purchase to 48 lbs., and diminish that which they sell to 23·50
lbs., calling both by the same name, frasilah. When the Arab wishes to
raise an outfit at Unyanyembe he can always command three gorahs of
domestics (locally worth 30 dollars) per frasilah of ivory. Merchants
visiting Karagwah, where the ivory is of superior quality, lay in a
stock of white, pink, blue, green, and coral beads, and brass armlets,
which must be made up at Unyanyembe to suit the tastes of the people.
Cloth is little in demand. For one frasilah of beads and brass wire they
purchase about one and a half of ivory. At K’hokoro the price of tusks
has greatly risen; a large specimen can scarcely be procured under 40
doti of domestics, one frasilah of brass wire, and 100 fundo of coloured
beads. The tusks collected in this country are firm, white, and soft,
sometimes running 6 farasilah (210 lbs.) The small quantity collected in
Ubena, Urori, and the regions east of the Tanganyika Lake, resembles
that of K’hokoro.
The ivory of Ujiji is collected from the provinces lying around the
northern third of the lake, especially from Urundi and Uvira. These
tusks have one great defect; though white and smooth when freshly taken
from the animal, they put forth after a time a sepia-coloured or dark
brown spot, extending like a ring over the surface, which gradually
spreads and injures the texture. Such is the “Jendai” or “Gendai” ivory,
well known at Zanzibar: it is apt to flake off outside, and is little
prized on account of its lightness. At Ujiji tusks were cheap but a few
years ago, now they fetch an equal weight of porcelain or glass beads,
in addition to which the owners--they are generally many--demand from 4
to 8 cloths. Competition, which amongst the Arabs is usually somewhat
unscrupulous, has driven the ivory merchant to regions far west of the
Tanganyika, and geography will thrive upon the losses of commerce.
The process of elephant-hunting, the complicated division of the spoils,
and the mode of transporting tusks to the coast, have already been
described. A quantity of ivory, as has appeared, is wasted in bracelets,
armlets, and other ornaments. This would not be the case were the
imports better calculated to suit the tastes of the people. At present
the cloth-stuffs are little prized, and the beads are not sufficiently
varied for barbarians who, eminently fickle, require change by way of
stimulant. The Arabs seek in ivory six qualities: it must be white,
heavy, soft, thick--especially at the point--gently curved--when too
much curved it loses from 10 to 14 per cent.--and it must be marked with
dark surface-lines, like cracks, running longitudinally towards the
point. It is evident from the preceding details that the Arab merchants
gain but little beyond a livelihood in plenty and dignity by their
expeditions to the interior. An investment of 1,000 dollars rarely
yields more than 70 farasilah (2450 lbs.) Assuming the high price of
Zanzibar at an average of 50 dollars per farasilah, the stock would be
worth 3500 dollars--a net profit of 1050 dollars. Against this, however,
must be set off the price of porterage and rations--equal to at least
five dollars per frasilah--the enormous interest upon the capital, the
wastage of outfit, and the risk of loss, which, upon the whole, is
excessive. Though time, toil, and sickness, not being matters of money,
are rarely taken into consideration by the Eastern man, they must be set
down on the loss side of the account. It is therefore plain that
commercial operations on such a scale can be remunerative only to a poor
people, and that they can be rendered lucrative to capitalists only by
an extension and a development which, depending solely upon improved
conveyance, must be brought about by the energy of Europeans. For long
centuries past and for centuries to come the Semite and the Hamite have
been and will be contented with human labour. The first thought which
suggests itself to the sons of Japhet is a tramroad from the coast to
the Lake regions.
The subject of ivory as sold at Zanzibar is as complicated as that of
sugar in Great Britain or of cotton in America. A detailed treatise
would here be out of place, but the following notices may serve to
convey an idea of the trade.
The merchants at Zanzibar recognise in ivory, the produce of these
regions, three several qualities. The best, a white, soft, and large
variety, with small “bamboo,” is that from the Banadir, Brava, Makdishu,
and Marka. A somewhat inferior kind, on account of its hardness, is
brought from the countries of Chaga, Umasai, and Nguru. The Wamasai
often spoil their tusks by cutting them, for the facility of transport;
and, like the people of Nguru and other tribes, they stain the exterior
by sticking the tooth in the sooty rafters of their chimneyless huts,
with the idea that so treated it will not crack or split in the sun.
This red colour, erroneously attributed at Zanzibar to the use of ghee,
is removed by the people with blood, or cowdung mixed with water. Of
these varieties the smaller tusks fetch from 40 to 50 dollars; when they
attain a length of 6 feet, the price would be 12_l._; and some choice
specimens 7½ feet long fetch 60_l._ A lot of 47 tusks was seen to fetch
1500_l._; the average weight of each was 95 lbs., 80 being considered
moderate, and from 70 to 75 lbs. poor.
The second quality is that imported from the regions about the Nyassa
Lake, and carried to Kilwa by the Wabisa, the Wahiao, the Wangindo, the
Wamakua, and other clans. The “Bisha ivory” formerly found its way to
the Mozambique, but the barbarians have now learned to prefer Zanzibar;
and the citizens welcome them, as they sell their stores more cheaply
than the Wahiao, who have become adepts in coast arts. The ivory of the
Wabisa, though white and soft, is generally small, the full length of a
tusk being 7 feet. The price of the “bab kalasi”--scrivellos or small
tusks, under 20 lbs.--is from 24 to 25 dollars; and the value increases
at the rate of somewhat less than 1 dollar per lb. The “bab gujrati or
kashshi,” the bab kashshi, is that intended for the Cutch market. The
tusk must be of middling size, little bent, very bluff at the point as
it is intended for rings and armlets; the girth must be a short span and
three fingers, the bamboo shallow and not longer than a hand. Ivory
fulfilling all these conditions will sell as high as 70 dollars per
frasilah,--medium size of 20 to 45 lbs.--fetches 56 to 60 dollars. The
“bab wilaiti,” or “foreign sort,” is that purchased in European and
American markets. The largest size is preferred, which ranging from 45
to 100 lbs., may be purchased for 52 dollars per frasilah.
The third and least valued quality is the western ivory, the Gendai, and
other varieties imported from Usagara, Uhehe, Urori, Unyamwezi, and its
neighbourhood. The price varies according to size, form, and weight,
from 45 to 56 dollars per frasilah.
The transport of ivory to the coast, and the profits derived by the
maritime settlers, Arab and Indian, have been described. When all fees
have been paid, the tusk, guarded against smuggling by the custom-house
stamp, is sent to Zanzibar. On the island scrivellos under 6 lbs. in
weight are not registered. According to the late Lieutenant-Colonel
Hamerton, the annual average of large tusks is not less than 20,000. The
people of the country make the weight range between 17,000 and 25,000
frasilah. The tusk is larger at Zanzibar than elsewhere. At Mozambique,
for instance, 60 lbs. would be considered a good average for a lot.
Monster tusks are spoken of. Specimens of 5 farasilah are not very rare,
and the people have traditions that these wonderful armatures have
extended to 227 lbs., and even to 280 lbs. each.
Amongst the minor articles of export from the interior, hippopotamus
teeth have been enumerated. Beyond the coast, however, they form but a
slender item in the caravan load. In the inner regions they are bought
in retail; the price ranges between 1 and 2 fundo of beads, and at
times 3 may be procured for a shukkah. On the coast they rise, when
fine, to 25 dollars per frasilah. At Zanzibar a large lot, averaging 6
to 8 lbs. in weight (12 lbs. would be about the largest), will sell for
60 dollars; per frasilah of 5 lbs. from 40 to 45 dollars: whilst the
smallest fetch from 5 to 6 dollars. Of surpassing hardness, they are
still used in Europe for artificial teeth. In America porcelain bids
fair to supplant them.
The gargatan (karkadan?), or small black rhinoceros with a double horn,
is as common as the elephant in the interior. The price of the horn is
regulated by its size; a small specimen is to be bought for 1 jembe or
iron hoe. When large the price is doubled. Upon the coast a lot fetches
from 6 to 9 dollars per frasilah, which at Zanzibar increases to from 8
to 12 dollars. The inner barbarians apply plates of the horn to helcomas
and ulcerations, and they cut it into bits, which are bound with twine
round the limb, like the wooden mpigii or hirizi. Large horns are
imported through Bombay to China and Central Asia, where it is said the
people convert them into drinking-cups, which sweat if poison be
administered in them: thus they act like the Venetian glass of our
ancestors, and are as highly prized as that eccentric fruit the coco de
mer. The Arabs of Maskat and Yemen cut them into sword-hilts,
dagger-hafts, tool-handles, and small boxes for tobacco, and other
articles. They greatly prize, and will pay 12 dollars per frasilah, for
the spoils of the kobaoba, or long-horned white rhinoceros, which,
however, appears no longer to exist in the latitudes westward of
Zanzibar island.
Black cattle are seldom driven down from the interior, on account of the
length and risk of the journey. It is evident, however, that the trade
is capable of extensive development. The price of full-grown bullocks
varies, according to the distance from the coast, between 3 and 5 doti;
whilst that of cows is about double. When imported from the mainland
ports, 1 dollar per head is paid as an octroi to the government, and
about the same sum for passage-money. As Banyans will not allow this
traffic to be conducted by their own craft, it is confined to the Moslem
population. The island of Zanzibar is supplied with black cattle,
chiefly from the Banadir and Madagascar, places beyond the range of this
description. The price of bullocks varies from 5 to 8 dollars, and of
cows from 6 to 9 dollars. Goats and sheep abound throughout Eastern
Africa. The former, which are preferred, cost in the maritime regions
from 8 to 10 shukkah merkani; in Usagara, the most distant province
which exports them to Zanzibar, they may be bought for 4 to 6 shukkah
per head. The Wasawahili conduct a small trade in this live stock, and
sell them upon the island for 4 to 5 dollars per head. From their large
profits, however, must be deducted the risk of transport, the price of
passage, and the octroi, which is 25 cents per head.