and horns from the far interior impossible. The former are sold with the
animal, and are used for shields, bedding, saddle-bags, awnings,
sandals, and similar minor purposes. Skins, as has been explained, are
in some regions almost the only wear; consequently the spoils of a fine
goat command, even in far Usukuma, a doti of domestics. The principal
wild hides, which, however, rarely find their way to the coast, are
those of the rhinoceros--much prized by the Arabs for targes--the lion
and the leopard, the giraffe and the buffalo, the zebra and the quagga.
Horns are allowed to crumble upon the ground. The island of Zanzibar
exports hides and skins, which are principally those of bullocks and
goats brought from Brava, Marka, Makdishu, and the Somali country. The
korjah or score of the former has risen from 10 to 24 dollars; and the
people have learned to mix them with the spoils of wild animals,
especially the buffalo. When taken from the animal the hides are pinned
down with pegs passed through holes in the edges; thus they dry without
shrinking, and become stiff as boards. When thoroughly sun-parched they
are put in soak and are pickled in sea-water for forty-eight hours; thus
softened, they are again stretched and staked, that they may remain
smooth: as they are carelessly removed by the natives, the meat fat,
flippers, ears, and all the parts likely to be corrupted, or, to prevent
close stowage, are cut off whilst wet. They are again thoroughly
sun-dried, the grease which exudes during the operation is scraped off,
and they are beaten with sticks to expel the dust. The Hamburg merchants
paint their hides with an arsenical mixture, which preserves them during
the long months of magazine-storing and sea-voyage. The French and
American traders omit this operation, and their hides suffer severely
from insects.
Details concerning the growth of cereals in the interior have occurred
in the preceding pages. Grain is never exported from the lands lying
beyond the maritime regions: yet the disforesting of the island of
Zanzibar and the extensive plantations of clove-trees rendering a large
importation of cereals necessary to the Arabs, an active business is
carried on by Arab dows from the whole of the coast between Tanga and
Ngao (Monghou), and during the dear season, after the rains,
considerable profits are realised. The corn measures used by the
Banyans are as follows:--
2 Kubabah (each from 1·25
to 1·50 lbs., in fact,
our “quart”) = 1 Kisaga.
3 Kubabah = 1 Pishi (in Khutu the Pishi = 2 Kubabah).
4 Kubabah = 1 Kayla (equal to 2 Man).
24 Kayla = 1 Frasilah.
60 Kayla = 1 Jizlah, in Kisawahili Mzo.
20 Farasilah = 1 Kandi (candy).
As usual in these lands, the kubabah or unit is made to be arbitrary; it
is divided into two kinds, large and small. The measure is usually a
gourd.
The only timber now utilised in commerce is the mukanda’a or red and
white mangrove, which supplies the well-known bordi or “Zanzibar
rafters.” They are the produce of the fluviatile estuaries and the
marine lagoons, and attain large dimensions under the influence of
potent heat and copious rains. The best is the red variety, which, when
thrown upon the shore, stains the sand; it grows on the soft and slimy
bank, and anchors itself with ligneous shoots to the shifting soil. The
white mangrove, springing from harder ground, dispenses with these
supports; it is called mti wa muytu (“wild wood”), and is quickly
destroyed by worms. Indeed, all the bordi at Zanzibar begin to fail
after the fifth year if exposed to the humid atmosphere; at Maskat it is
said they will last nearly a century. The rafter trade is conducted by
Arab dows: the crews fell the trees, after paying 2 or 3 dollars in
cloth by way of ada or present to the diwan, who permits them to hire
labourers. The korjah or score of cut and trimmed red mangrove rafters
formerly cost at Zanzibar 1 dollar; the price has now risen to 2 and 3
dollars. This timber finds its way to Aden and the woodless lands of
Eastern and Western Arabia; at Jeddah they have been known to fetch 1
dollar each.
The maritime regions also supply a small quantity of the “grenadille
wood,” called by the people, who confound it with real ebony (Diospyros
ebenus), abnus and pingú. It is not so brittle as ebony; it is harder
than lignum-vitæ (G. officinalis), spoiling the common saw, and is
readily recognised by its weight. As it does not absorb water or grease,
it is sent to Europe for the mouth-pieces and flanges of instruments,
and for the finer parts of mills. The people use it in the interior for
pipe-bowls.
The mpira or caoutchouc-tree (Ficus elastica) grows abundantly
throughout the maritime regions. A few lumps of the gum were brought to
Zanzibar at the request of a merchant, who offered a large sum for a
few tons, in the vain hope of stimulating the exploitation of this
valuable article. The specimens were not, however, cast in moulds as by
the South American Indians; they were full of water, and even fouler
than those brought from Madagascar. To develop the trade European
supervision would be absolutely necessary during the season for tapping
the trees.
A tree growing upon the coast and common in Madagascar produces, when an
incision has been made in the bark, a juice inspissating to the
consistency of soft soap, and much resembling the Indian “kokam.” This
“kanya” is eaten by Arabs and Africans, with the idea that it “moistens
the body:” in cases of stiff joints, swellings of the extremities, and
contractions of the sinews, it is melted over the fire and is rubbed
into the skin for a fortnight or three weeks.
The produce and the value of the coco and areca palms have already been
noted. Orchella-weed (Rocilla fuciformis?), a lichen most valuable in
dyeing, is found, according to the late Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton, growing
on trees and rocks throughout the maritime regions. The important
growths of the interior are the frankincense and bdellium, the coffee
and nutmeg--which, however, are still in a wild state--the tamarind, and
the sisam or black wood. The largest planks are made of the mtimbati
(African teak?) and the mvule; they are now exported from the coast to
the island, where they have almost died out. As the art of sawing is
unknown, a fine large tree is invariably sacrificed for a single board.
It was the opinion of the late Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton that a saw-mill
at the mouth of the Pangani River would, if sanctioned by the local
government, be highly remunerative.
Cowries, called by the Arabs kaure, in Kisawahili khete, and in the
interior simbi, are collected from various places in the coast-region
between Ras Hafun and the Mozambique. This trade is in the hands of
Moslem hucksters; the Banyan who has no objection to the valuable ivory
or hippopotamus-tooth, finds his religion averse to the vile spoils of
the Cypræa. Cowries are purchased on the mainland by a curious specimen
of the “round-trade;” money is not taken, so the article is sold measure
for measure of holcus grain. From Zanzibar the cowrie takes two
directions. As it forms the currency of the regions north of the “Land
of the Moon,” and is occasionally demanded as an ornament in Unyamwezi,
the return African porters, whose labour costs them nothing, often
partly load themselves with the article; the Arab, on the other hand,
who seldom visits the northern kingdoms, does not find compensation for
porterage and rations. The second and principal use of cowries is for
exportation to the West African coast, where they are used in
currency--50 strings, each of 40 shells, or a total of 2000,
representing the dollar. This, in former days a most lucrative trade, is
now nearly ruined. Cowries were purchased at 75 cents per jizlah, which
represents from 3 to 3½ sacks, of which much, however, was worthless.
The sacks in which they were shipped cost in Zanzibar 1 dollar 44 cents,
and fetched in West Africa 8 or 9 dollars. The shells sold at the rate
of 80_l._ (60_l._ was the average English price) per ton; thus the
profits were estimated at 500 per cent., and a Hamburg house rose, it is
said, by this traffic, from 1 to 18 ships, of which 7 were annually
engaged in shipping cowries. From 75 cents the price rose to 4 dollars,
it even attained a maximum of 10 dollars, the medium being 6 and 7
dollars per jizlah, and the profits necessarily declined.
Cotton is indigenous to the more fertile regions of Eastern as well as
of Western Africa. The specimens hitherto imported from Port Natal and
from Angola have given satisfaction, as they promise, with careful
cultivation, to rival in fineness, firmness, and weight the
medium-staple cotton of the New World. On the line between Zanzibar and
the Tanganyika Lake the shrub grows almost wild, with the sole exception
of Ugogo and its two flanks of wilderness, where the ground is too hard
and the dry season too prolonged to support it. The partial existence of
the same causes renders it scarce and dear in Unyamwezi. A superior
quality was introduced by the travelling Arabs, but it soon degenerated.
Cotton flourishes luxuriantly in the black earths fat with decayed
vegetation, and on the rich red clays of the coast regions, of Usumbara,
Usagara, and Ujiji, where water underlies the surface. These almost
virgin soils are peculiarly fitted by atmospheric and geologic
conditions for the development of the shrub, and the time may come when
vast tracts, nearly half the superficies of the lands, here grass-grown,
there cumbered by the primæval forest, may be taught to bear crops
equalling the celebrated growths of Egypt and Algeria, Harar and
Abyssinia. At present the cultivation is nowhere encouraged, and it is
limited by the impossibility of exportation to the scanty domestic
requirements of the people. It is grown from seed sown immediately after
the rains, and the only care given to it is the hedging requisite to
preserve the dwarf patches from the depredations of cattle. In some
parts the shrub is said to wither after the third year, in others to be
perennial.
Upon the coast the cotton grown by the Wasawahili and Wamrima is chiefly
used as lamp-wicks and for similar domestic purposes; Zanzibar Island is
supplied from Western India. The price of raw uncleaned cotton in the
mountain regions is about 0·25 dollar per maund of 3 Arab lbs. In
Zanzibar, where the msufi or bombax abounds, its fibrous substance is a
favourite substitute for cotton, and costs about half the price. In
Unyamwezi it fetches fancy prices; it is sold in handfuls for salt,
beads, and similar articles. About 1 maund may be purchased for a
shukkah, and from 1 to 2 oz. of rough home-spun yarn for a fundo of
beads. At Ujiji the people bring it daily to the bazar and spend their
waste time in spinning yarn with the rude implements before described.
This cotton, though superior in quality, as well as quantity, to that of
Unyanyembe, is but little less expensive.
Tobacco grows plentifully in the more fertile regions of East Africa.
Planted at the end of the rains, it gains strength by sun and dew, and
is harvested in October. It is prepared for sale in different forms.
Everywhere, however, a simple sun-drying supplies the place of cocking
and sweating, and the people are not so fastidious as to reject the
lower or coarser leaves and those tainted by the earth. Usumbara
produces what is considered at Zanzibar a superior article: it is
kneaded into little circular cakes four inches in diameter by half an
inch deep: rolls of these cakes are neatly packed in plantain-leaves for
exportation. The next in order of excellence is that grown in Uhiáo: it
is exported in leaf or in the form called kambari, “roll-tobacco,” a
circle of coils each about an inch in diameter. The people of Khutu and
Usagara mould the pounded and wetted material into discs like cheeses, 8
or 9 inches across by 2 or 3 in depth, and weighing about 3 lbs.; they
supply the Wagogo with tobacco, taking in exchange for it salt. The leaf
in Unyamwezi generally is soft and perishable, that of Usukuma being the
worst: it is sold in blunt cones, so shaped by the mortars in which they
are pounded. At Karagwah, according to the Arabs, the tobacco, a
superior variety, tastes like musk in the water-pipe. The produce of
Ujiji is better than that of Unyamwezi; it is sold in leaf, and is
called by the Arabs hamúmí, after a well-known growth in Hazramaut. It
is impossible to assign an average price to tobacco in East Africa; it
varies from 1 khete of coral beads per 6 oz. to 2 lbs.
Tobacco is chewed by the maritime races, the Wasawahili, and especially
the Zanzibar Arabs, who affect a religious scruple about smoking. They
usually insert a pinch of nurah or coral-lime into their quids,--as the
Somal introduces ashes,--to make them bite; in the interior, where
calcareous formations are deficient, they procure the article from
cowries brought from the coast, or from shells found in the lakes and
streams. About Unyamwezi all sexes and ages enjoy the pipe. Farther
eastward snuff is preferred. The liquid article in fashion amongst the
Wajiji has already been described. The dry snuff is made of leaf toasted
till crisp and pounded between two stones, mixed with a little magádí or
saltpetre, sometimes scented with the heart of the plantain-tree and
stored in the tumbakira or gourd-box.
The other articles exported from the coast to Zanzibar are bees’-wax and
honey, tortoiseshell and ambergris, ghee, tobacco, the sugar-cane, the
wild arrowroot, gums, and fibrous substances; of these many have been
noticed, and the remainder are of too trifling a value to deserve
attention.
To conclude the subject of commerce in East Africa. It is rather to the
merchant than to the missionary that we must look for the regeneration
of the country by the development of her resources. The attention of the
civilized world, now turned towards this hitherto neglected region, will
presently cause slavery to cease; man will not risk his all in petty and
passionless feuds undertaken to sell his weaker neighbour; and commerce,
which induces mansuetude of manners, will create wants and interests at
present unknown. As the remote is gradually drawn nigh, and the
difficult becomes accessible, the intercourse of man--strongest
instrument of civilisation in the hand of Providence--will raise Africa
to that place in the great republic of nations from which she has
hitherto been unhappily excluded.
Already a line of steam navigation from the Cape of Good Hope to Aden
and the Red Sea, touching at the various important posts upon the
mainland and the islands of East Africa, has been proposed. This will be
the first step towards material improvement. The preceding pages have,
it is believed, convinced the reader that the construction of a tramroad
through a country abounding in timber and iron, and where only one pass
of any importance presents itself, will be attended with no engineering
difficulties. As the land now lies, trade stagnates, loanable capital
remains idle, produce is depreciated, and new seats of enterprise are
unexplored. The specific for existing evils is to be found in
facilitating intercourse between the interior and the coast, and that
this will in due season be effected we may no longer doubt.
APPENDIX II.
FIRST CORRESPONDENCE.
1.
“East India House, 13th September, 1856.
“Sir,--I am commanded by the Court of Directors of the East India
Company to inform you, that, in compliance with the request of the Royal
Geographical Society, you are permitted to be absent from your duties as
a regimental officer whilst employed with an Expedition, under the
patronage of Her Majesty’s Government, to be despatched into Equatorial
Africa, for the exploration of that country, for a period not exceeding
two years. I am directed to add, that you are permitted to draw the pay
and allowances of your rank during the period of your absence, which
will be calculated from the date of your departure from Bombay.
“I am, Sir,
“Your most obedient humble Servant,
“(Signature illegible.)
“Lieutenant R. BURTON.”
2.
“East India House, 24th October, 1856.
“Sir,--In consequence of a communication from the office of the
Secretary of State for War, intimating that you are required as a
witness on the trial by Court-Martial now pending on Colonel A. Shirley,
I am desired to convey to you the commands of the Court of Directors
that you instantly return to London for that purpose. In obeying this
order, you are required to proceed, not through France, but by the
steamer direct from Alexandria to Southampton. You will report yourself
to the Secretary of State for War immediately on your arrival. The agent
for the East India Company in Egypt has received instructions by this
mail to supply you with the necessary funds for your passage.
“I am, Sir,
“Your most obedient humble Servant,
“(Signed) JAMES MELVILLE.
“Lieutenant BURTON.”
3.
“_The Military Secretary, East India House._
“Aden, 14th November.
“Sir,--I have the honour to acknowledge your official letter of the 24th
October, conveying to me the commands of the Court of Directors to
return instantly to London by the steamer direct from Alexandria to
Southampton.
“The steamer in question left Alexandria on November 6th, at about 10
a.m. I received and acknowledged from the British Consulate your
official letter on the same day at Cairo, about noon. No steamer leaves
Alexandria before the 20th inst.; it is therefore evident that I could
not possibly obey the order within the limits specified.
“No mention was made about my returning to England by the next steamer,
probably because the Court-Martial pending upon Colonel A. Shirley will
before that time have come to a close. I need scarcely say, that should
I, on arrival at Bombay, find an order to that effect, it shall be
instantly and implicitly obeyed.
“Considering, however, that I have already stated all that I know upon
the subject of the Court-Martial in question--that I was not subpœnaed
in England--that I am under directions of the Royal Geographical
Society, and employed with an Expedition under the patronage of the
Foreign Office--that without my proceeding to Bombay, valuable
Government property would most probably have been lost, and the
preparations for the Expedition have suffered from serious delay--and
lastly, that by the loss of a few weeks a whole year’s exploration must
be allowed to pass by--I venture respectfully to hope that I have taken
the proper course, and that should I, on my arrival in India, find no
express and positive order for an immediate return to Europe, I may be
permitted to proceed forthwith to Africa.
“As a servant of the East India Company, in whose interests I have
conscientiously and energetically exerted myself for the space of 14
years, I cannot but request the Court of Directors to use their powerful
influence in my behalf. Private interests cannot be weighed against
public duty. At the same time, I have already embarked a considerable
sum in the materiel of the Expedition, paid passage money, and devoted
time, which might otherwise have been profitably employed, to the
subject of Equatorial Africa. I remained long enough in London to enable
the War Office to call for my presence as a witness, and I ascertained
personally from Major-General Beatson that he had not placed me upon his
list. And finally, I venture to observe, that by returning to Europe
now, I should be compromising the interests of the Royal Geographical
Society, under which I am in fact virtually serving.”
4.
“_To the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, London._
“Sir,--I have the honour to forward, for the information of the
President and members of the Expeditionary Committee, a copy of a
communication to my address from the Military Secretary to the Court of
Directors, together with my reply thereto. On perusal of these
documents, you will perceive that my presence is urgently demanded in
England to give evidence on a Court-Martial, and that the letter
desiring me to proceed forthwith to England arrived too late in Egypt to
admit of my obeying that order. Were I now to proceed directly from
Bombay to England, it is evident that the Expedition which I am
undertaking under your direction, must be deferred to a future and
uncertain date. With a view to obviate this uncalled-for delay, I have
the honour to request that you will use your interest to the effect
that, as an officer virtually in your service, I may be permitted to
carry out the views of your Society; and that my evidence, which can be
of no importance to either prosecutor or defendant in the Court-Martial
in question, may be dispensed with. I start this evening for Bombay, and
will report departure from that place.
“I have, &c.,
“R. F. BURTON.
“Camp, Aden, 14th November, 1856.”
5.
“_To the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, London._
“Sir,--I have the honour to inform you that on the 1st Dec. 1856, I
addressed to you a letter which I hope has been duly received. On the
2nd instant, in company with Lt. Speke, I left Bombay Harbour, on board
the H.E.I.C’s. ship of war ‘_Elphinstone_’ (Capt. Frushard, I.N.,
commanding), _en route_ to East Africa. I have little to report that may
be interesting to geographers; but perhaps some account of political
affairs in the Red Sea may be deemed worthy to be transmitted by you to
the Court of Directors or to the Foreign Office.
“As regards the Expedition, copies of directions and a memorandum on
instruments and observations for our guidance have come to hand. For
observations, Lt. Speke and I must depend upon our own exertions,
neither serjeants nor native students being procurable at the Bombay
Observatory. The case of instruments and the mountain barometer have not
been forwarded, but may still find us at Zanzibar. Meanwhile I have
obtained from the Commanding Engineer, Bombay, one six-inch sextant, one
five and a-half ditto, two prismatic compasses, five thermometers (of
which two are B.P.), a patent log, taper, protractors, stands, &c.; also
two pocket chronometers from the Observatory, duly rated; and Dr. Buist,
Secretary, Bombay Geographical Society, has obliged me with a mountain
barometer and various instructions about points of interest. Lt. Speke
has been recommended by the local government to the Government of India
for duty in East Africa, and the services of Dr. Steinhaeuser, who is
most desirous to join us, have been applied for from the Medical Board,
Bombay. I have strong hopes that both these officers will be allowed to
accompany me, and that the Royal Geographical Society will use their
efforts to that effect.
“By the subjoined detailed account of preliminary expenses at Bombay, it
will be seen that I have expended £70 out of £250, for which I was
permitted to draw.
“Although, as I before mentioned, the survey of Eastern Intertropical
Africa has for the moment been deferred, the necessity still exists.
Even in the latest editions of _Horsburgh_, the mass of matter relative
to Zanzibar is borrowed from the observations of Capt. Bissel, who
navigated the coast in H.M’s. ships ‘_Leopard_’ and ‘_Orestes_’ about
A.D. 1799. Little is known of the great current which, setting
periodically from and to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, sweeps round
the Eastern Horn of Africa. The reefs are still formidable to
navigators; and before these seas can be safely traversed by steamers
from the Cape, as is now proposed, considerable additions must be made
to Capt. Owen’s survey in A.D. 1823-24. Finally, operations on the coast
will form the best introduction to the geographical treasures of the
interior.