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f^7 




HC^ wiiR INSTITUTION 

,; .Var, Revolution, and Peace 



FOUNDED BY HtRUtRT HOOVER \^{9 



yL AjJ- 






ZANZIBAR IN 
CONTEMPORARY TIMES 




I 




H.H. Seyyid AH bin Ilamoud hin Mohammed bin Said, Sultan of Zanzilmr. 

{^Frontispiece, 



ZANZIBAR 

IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES 



A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN EAST IN 
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



BY 



ROBERT imNEZ LYNE, 



Zanzibi 




ILLUSTRATED 



LONDON 

HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED 

182, HIGH HOLBORN, W.C. 
1905 

All rij^ts rgserved 



\U, 



Z3 L^s 




Dedicated to tbe Aemon? ot 

SIR LLOYD WILLIAM MATHEWS, K.C.M.G., 

First Minister of the Zanzibar Government, 

and other Englishmen, 

Pioneers of Progress and Freedom, 

who sacrificed their lives in the cause of 

the Arab and the Slave, 

and helped to bring to the Coast-Lands of East Africa 

THE PAX BRITANNICA. 



Go, stranger ! track the deep. 

Free, free the white sail spread 1 
Wave may not foam, nor wild wind sweep, 

Where rest not England's dead. 

England 5 Dead. 

MRS. HEMANS. 




PREFA 



It has been my endeavour in the following chapters to 
describe briefly the most interesting persons and events 
that are connected with the history of the Rulers of Zanzibar 
and their Dominions on the East Coast of Africa during 
the nineteenth century, and to give some account of this 
Island of the Southern East, its people and industries. 
The story is that of an Arab potentate from the Persian 
Gulf founding a nation in a land which from time imme- 
morial had been colonized by his countrymen ; of a small 
and unnoticed, almost unknown island, advancing to 
wealth and fame, enslaving half a continent and afterwards 
at death grips with the Powers of Christendom ; of those 
Powers, like vultures upon the prey, dividing the spoils 
of their exhausted victim ; and of an island, still perhaps 
to some extent in the trough, yet buoyant and of fair 
promise. 

Zanzibar is looked upon as an obscure comer of the 
earth. Few people know where it is ; fewer still what 
it is. Yet it has a history, and a tragic one. This history 
has been moulded by our countrymen, whose achievements 
are recorded in the archives of the Foreign Office, the 
India Office, and the Admiralty. For faciUties of research 
in those archives I am indebted to the kindness of Sir 
Clement Hill, K.C.M.G., C.B., and to other officials of those 
Departments, whose help and whose courtesy I here most 
gratefully acknowledge. I am also indebted to Sir John 
Kirk, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., etc., England's greatest 



viii PREFACE. 

pro-consul in East Africa, for many corrections and much 
assistance in the work ; to Mr. Frank Adams, M.A., who 
kindly read through the manuscript ; to Dr. A. H. Spurrier, 
His Honour Judge Lindsey Smith of Zanzibar, and the 
Rev. Dr. Palmer, of Kirton Vicarage, Lincolnshire ; to Mrs. 
George Cave and Mrs. Laurence for the record of circum- 
stances connected with the life of their brother, the late Sir 
Lloyd Mathews ; and to many friends, in the old country 
and in Zanzibar, for advice and sympathy, as well as for 
actual help. 

But though my object has been to describe rather than 
criticise, I do not on that account expect to escape criticism 
myself. I would only ask indulgence of my readers for 
the story ; for the manner of telling it I must plead guilty 
to many imperfections. Still it has been a labour of 
love, for I will confess to being among those upon whom 
the spell of Africa has fallen. 

R. N. Lyne. 



Zanzibar, 

March, 1903. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. — First Appearance of the English — Ancient 
Records — The Portuguese — The Imaums of 

Oman i 

II. — Seyyid Said Bin Sultan ii 

III. — Seyyid Said— Subjugation of Mombasa 19 

IV. — Seyyid Said — Rise of Zanzibar — The Slave 

Traffic Across the Western Ocean 32 
v.— Seyyid Majid — Rebeluon in Zanzibar — Separa- 
tion FROM Oman 45 

VI. — Seyyid Majid — The Slave Trade of Zanzibar 

and Arabia 60 

VII.— Zanzibar under Seyyid Majid ... 68 

VIII. — Seyyid Barghash — Frere's Mission . • • 73 
IX. — Seyyid Barghash — Visit to England — Revival 

OF the Slave Trade — Lieutenant Mathews . 90 
X. — Seyyid Barghash — The Death of Captain 

Brownrigg and its Results . . . .107 
XI. — Seyyid Barghash — The German Surprise of 

1885 127 

XII.— Seyyid Barghash — Deumitation — Portuguese 

Aggression 134 

XIII. — Seyyid Khalifa — Risings in the German Sphere 

— ^The Blockade 145 



viii <z t- U K, 

pro-consul in F.ast Ani .. 

assistance in the work; lo Wr Ft*p:- A.^ir...-. t^itl 

kindly read Ihrougli llu- ii:. .* 

His Honour Judgt: Liiid.-j'-y 

Rev. Dr. Palmer, of Kiriui. v^^al*^ ...urmum 

George Cave and Mr^. Lu-i. 

stances connected witli th- ]■. 

Lloyd Mathews; and to ii;.. 

and in Zanzibar, for advice' 

actual help. 

But though my object lus- ■ " 
criticise, I do not on that ac(•<»1tlT^ .r™--' 
myself. I would only ask ind«»te'-' 
the story ; for the manner ox tc:.: ?^^ 

to many imperfections. SUli ii -'-" 

love, for I will confess to bciii<i U';«>j ;=y 

the spell of Africa has falkii. ;:o 

3»3 



Zanzibar^ 

March, 1905. 



'04 



50^ 



■ i 



X, CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 
XIV. — WiTU AND THE BRITISH COAST — MbaRUK RsBEL- 

UONS i6o 

XV. — ^The End of Slavery 174 

XVI. — Organisation of Zanzibar Government 190 

XVII. — The Bombardment 196 

XVIII. — Missions 209 

XIX.— The People 215 

XX. — The Plantations 245 

XXI. — The Cumate 273 

Appendix I. — Rulers of Zanzibar 293 

„ II. — Meteorology 294 

„ III. — Finance. 305 

„ IV. — Commerce 307 

„ V. — Customs Duties .... 309 

„ VI. — Shipping 310 

„ VII. — Soils 312 

Bibliography 313 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



H.H. Seyyid Ali bin Hamoud bin Mohammed 

bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar Frontispiece 

Corner of harbour, Zanzibar .... Facing page 8 

The Ferry „ ,. 8 

A dhow „ „ 34 

Zanzibar town, from harbour .•.,,,, 34 

Seyyid Majid „ „ 46 

Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., &c. . „ „ 70 
Sir H. Bartle E. Frere and Suite. Cairo, 

Dec. 22, 1873 ,, „ 74 

Seyyid Barghash bin Said „ „ 76 

Sir Lloyd Mathews, K.C.M.G „ „ 100 

The creek, Weti „ „ 112 

Sir John and Lady Key and Miss Taylor at Weti. „ „ 112 

Troops parading in front of Palace . . „ „ 130 

Seyyid Hamed bin Thuwaini . . . . „ „ 168 

Seyyid Hamoud bin Mohammed. . „ „ 168 

Seyyid Ali bin Said „ „ 168 

Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain visits Seyyid Ali 

bin Hamoud. Dec, 1902 . „ „ 194 

British warships after the bombardment • . „ „ 198 

Funeral of Sir Lloyd Mathews, Oct. 12, 190 1 „ „ 206 

Mr. A. S. Rogers, Regent of Zanzibar . . . „ „ 208 



Xll 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The British Agency, Zanzibar 

Livingston's house, Zanzibar 

Swahili girls 

Boy drinking 

The Mnazi Mmoja at Sikukun 

War drums 

Malindi, Zanzibar 



Facing page 


212 


»> n 


212 


»> >» 


220 


}» >f 


220 


i> » 


226 


i> i> 


226 


1} }} 


288 



MAPS. 

Section of Map of East Africa, showing Zanzibar 

Island Facing page 6 

Map of Zanzibar Town and surrounding country . », „ 6 




ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

CHAPTER I. 

FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE ENGLISH — ANCIENT RECORDS — 
THE PORTUGUESE — THE IMAUMS OF OMAN. 

Towards the close of the eighteenth century a British 
Squadron, under Commodore Blankett, was despatched 
to* the Red Sea "to counteract the operations of Bona- 
parte, who, it was supposed, would attempt to get to 
India by way of the Red Sea or Persian Gulf." The 
squadron worked round the Cape of Good Hope, and in 
December, 1798, it was threshing up the east coast of 
Africa against the north-east monsoon and a strong current ; 
but making no headway it was ultimately obliged to turn 
and bear up for the Island of Zanzibar to look for " re- 
freshments." On December 24, it put in at " Rogues 
River or Juba Town " to water, and Lieutenant Mears 
of the Commodore's ship, the Leopard, 50 guns, was sent 
ashore to interview the natives. He and his men were 
lured from the boat, stripped of their clothes and then set 
upon by the natives with spears. Mears and his whole 
boat's crew, with the exception of two, who were rescued 
on the return of the ship, being killed. 
Lieutenant Bissel of the Dadalus was transferred to the 



2 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Leopard, in the place of Meaxs, and the Dadalus being 
sent back to the Cape, the Leopard and the Orestes, sloop- 
of-war, trimmed their course for Zanzibar. 

On February 17, 1799, they saw three remarkable 
himimocks on the land, which turned out to be the town 
of " Mombaze," and the next morning they observed 
" Moorish Colours " on the Fort. " The Town was ob- 
scured by trees but we saw the Entrance to the Harbour 
plain." In the course of that day they made Pemba, "a 
low Island, about 14 leagues long, having many openings, 
like smsdl Bays, for Boats to go in. This Island is every- 
where very woody." On the i8th they sighted the Island 
of Zanzibar and a small island to the northward of it, 
off which they anchored till the next day, when they made 
sail and ran down along the island in gradual soundings 
from 29 to 10 fathoms, anchoring that night somewhere 
off Mtoni in 10 fathoms, mud. 

This is the first record of English ships having visited 
Zanzibar, and in his account of what took place there, 
Lieutenant Bissel, who kept the journal of the voyage, 
has revealed to us something of the condition of Zanzibar 
at the close of the eighteenth century. His journal is 
freely adorned with italics and capitals : in the following 
extracts the italics have not been retained. 

" At 2 P.M.," he wrote, " I was sent by the Commodore 
with 2 boats, well-armed (having an Interpreter), to en- 
deavour to form an intercourse with the inhabitants. 
Half past 3 landed the Interpreter, close to the Town, 
among the immense croud on the Beach, keeping the boats 
at (anchor). The Interpreter soon returned to the Boat 
with the chief of the Island, and informed us we could 
obtain sdl kinds of Refreshments at this Place. I went 
to look at the Watering Place, and then returned on board : 
when I found that some Country Boats had been alongside, 
with Presents for the Commodore, and inviting him to 
come on shoar. We got a Pilot the next morning, and ran 



ENGLISH SAILORS AT ZANZIBAR. 3 

close into the Inner Harbour at low Water, through a 
very narrow channel, scarce J mile wide and (anchored) 
about 1^ or I mile from the Town. The Fort saluted us 
with 3 guns, as did a ship lying there under Moorish colours 
and bound to Muscat. Several of the Natives came on 
board with Refreshments for the people. The Commodore 
went on shoar, two days after, to return the visit of the 
Chief of this Place, whom we saluted at his coming on board, 
and going on shoar. Here we got wood, water, bullocks 
and every kind of Refreshment." 

While they were lying here, they received information 
by a vessel that had come from Patta, that some English- 
men were still living at the Juba, whom they took to be 
some of their men " who had escaped the fury of the savages 
on the 24th December last." 

The people of Zanzibar made every profession of serving 
the visitors, but they were so slow and indolent that they 
gave but little assistance by boats and the sailors were 
compelled to use the ships' boats to water. " You roll 
your casks some distance from the Beach, and bale out 
of the stream ; but at High Water it is rather brackish ; 
it is therefore advisable to fill with the falling Tide, and 
take them off on the Flood." There were several wells 
in and about the town, but " they would not allow the 
water to be taken from some of the Wells from Religious 
Motives." 

Provisions were plentiful : " Here you can obtain many 
kinds of Refreshments but as the Governor or chief made 
a monopoly of the sale of all kinds of articles, we paid 
exorbitantly dear for them. The inhabitants sell their 
things much cheaper. We got very fine Bullocks, Goats, 
Poultry, Rice, Dholl, Coco Nut Oil, etc. Their Fruits are 
very delicious, and they are of all kinds." 

At that time apparently there was little trade with the 
south : " The small Trading Vessels, from Muscat, and the 
Red Sea, after discharging their Cargoes, which is chiefly 

I* 



4 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

dates, always dismantle, and move into the Inner Harbour, 
at the back of the Town, and wait the return of the mon- 
soon. The Island is tributary to the Imaum of Muscat, 
and the Governor or Chief is appointed by him. They 
have a great deal of trade with the French for Slaves and 
Coffee ; and many of them talk that language in conse- 
quence. The Orestes captured a smsdl French Lugger off 
the N.W. Point of the Island ; but (on) the account he 
gave of himself, of his having come from the Isle of Mah£, 
one of the Seychelles, in search of some of his countrymen, 
who were supposed to be wrecked off the coast of 
Mozambique, the Commodore suffered him to depart. 
This Island has a most beautiful appearance in sailing 
along it, and everywhere very woody. The Town is com- 
posed of some few houses, and the rest are Huts of Straw 
mat, which are very neat.*' 

The visitors were at Zanzibar during the month of 
Ramathan when " they eat nothing from Sunrise to Sunset ; 
when they begin to feast and pass the Night in Dancing, 
Shouting and all kinds of revelling till Day-break." The 
inhabitants always went about armed and were expert 
with the matchlock. " In their Modes of Traffic, they are 
singular. A Guinea is of no value ; but an Anchor Button, 
or a Button of any kind, is a Gem in the Eyes of their 
Lower Class of People. An instance occurred on board the 
Leopard where they refused a Guinea, which was offered 
in change for some Fowls ; and a marine's button put an 
end to the bargain. Some of the higher Order of tiie In- 
habitants chose their favourites among the Officers ; to 
whom they were very kind, taking them near their houses 
(for they never admit them inside), and seating them in a 
little recess, entertained them with fruits, and every nicety 
possible, while some of their slaves were employed in loading 
a boat with coco nuts, poultry, eggs, and everything 
that was to be had ; this was repeated by many of them, 
and they would not receive a remuneration for it. The 



CAPTAIN SMEE, 5 

natives are very timid in themselves, but when they are in 
throngs they appear not so ; most of them, even the 
peasantry, carry side arms ; but it is an invariable rule 
among them, when one friend visits another, he lays down 
his arms outside the door, and then goes in ; otherwise it is 
considered a signal of hostility." 

During their stay they had light variable winds and 
calms, with at first a land breeze at night and a sea breeze 
in the day. The thermometer stood at 81° to 83°. "There 
had not been an EngUsh ship in Zanzibar within the memory 
of the oldest inhabitant." 

On Tuesday, March 5, 1799, " The chief came on board 
and received the payment for our supplies at this place, 
being about 2,500 dollars." The Commodore then made 
the signal to prepare to sail and at daylight the next morning 
they got under weigh with a fresh south-west wind, passing 
the north end of Zanzibar at noon, Pemba on the 6th, 
Mombasa on the 7th, being " favoured with a northerly 
current of 30 miles a day." 

The ubiquitous interpreter had made his appearance 
even in those early days. It is interesting to observe 
that, after the tragedy at the Juba, they took the pre- 
caution of first unloading the interpreter among the 
" immense croud " on the beach, keeping the boats mean- 
while anchored off at a safe distance. 

Lieutenant Bissel's description of the town, in which 
he states that " the rest are htUs or straw mat, which are very 
neat," seems to show that the wattle and daub style of 
architecture, now common, had not then been introduced 
into Zanzibar. 

We next hear of Zanzibar from Captain Smee, of the 
Honourable East India Company's ship Ternato who, 
with Lieutenant Hardy of H.C. Sylph, visited the island 
in February, 181 1, and in some observations he made 
gives us an idea of its condition at that time. The Hakim 
or Governor was one Yakuti, a eunuch, and a slave of 



6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Seyyid Said, ruler of Muscat, whose representative he was. 
Yakuti was an extortioner and a tjn-ant though he served 
his master well. He built part of the fort and, in the 
absence of regular troops, maintained a garrison of 400 
or 500 armed slaves, and sent to Seyyid Said the revenue 
of the island, which amounted to 60,000 crowns, derived 
principally from a 5 per cent, ad valorem import duty, 
and a land tax, imposed when occasion required. Slaves 
and ivory were the principal items of trade, the French 
taking large numbers of slaves for Mauritius and paying 
a premium of 10 dollars for each slave. Pemba in those 
days supplied her sister island with nearly all the rice 
and cattle she consumed ; the old inhabitants still recall 
the time when the valleys of Pemba, now alas ! almost 
empty, pastured fat herds of cattle which were subse- 
quently killed off by the "sickness.*' Some seasons 
"upwards of 100 large dhows, etc., have been known to 
arrive at this port (Zanzibar) from Arabia and India." 
Captain Smee observed two ships, presumably French. 
" Previous to our arrival," he wrote, " only one EngUsh 
vessel had touched at the island since Admiral Blankett's 
squadron was there in 1799, on his passage up the coast 
to the Red Sea." 

The Island of Zanzibar is very much like the Isle of 
Man in shape, though nearly three times the size. It 
is approximately 54 miles long, 23 broad, at the widest 
part, and has an area of 625 square miles. It lies across 
the 6th degree of south latitude. The longitude of the 
town is about 39° 11' E. of Greenwich, and the island 
is separated from the mainland by a channel 22i miles 
across at its narrowest part. To the north-east, at a 
distance of 27^ miles from land to land, across what is 
known as the Pemba Channel, lies the Island of Pemba, 
in 5*^ S. latitude. Pemba is much smaller than Zanzibar, 
being but 43 miles long, with an extreme width of 14 miles 
and an area of 369 square niiles. The dimensions given. 



SecLion uf Map of lliasl Africa STiowiag Za.nzibar Island 




Lj>^lish Hiiefi 



Loudon :^Qr«t & B\juiiuett-^\A. 



Stf^jxih^y^-:, Om^^ 



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^^^^' "■ 1 ^-.;. t' r.Jb^LuTXf. 



::ziSAR :;• ■: :TrMPORARY :'imee. 

.iiiints :ri.'_i • '=*-5«'is jii M.iTiiier. 'ut t"ie rriapie rmde of 

-.^iia .= .. -:•. LuitiiiL? i ■ nu, \ inch are ^•en• lijundant : 

.. \ ^- ..-'. r ;i! '.',:: i.-iucrtfrK. ..s \^iiaies ire pienti- 

'-t...w.ji ■- A '' .iLvr r : Marco .^oio> vrirings. 

c :nicu, maiKS .nai .'ani^bar, 

. ,■ i. . .1 KK?. -IS f.ativvn "J rhe LnLitaits .is 

. - . ^i....i. at, Lfjoinji • :> Albuifcda. rhe 

. ^i-- .^.'Ot I. Momiraba. Iveiemng ro me 

' . . . ,x.in.-rs a:.>oui i:iiiia, viih :heir vp^arer 

.1 iT 'iia i' Hiii, . ule ^ays ; ' .inii the 

:m.a», ...lu u- u:CiUiaiJLOii ii piace »ne n zhe 

: .L. . ■■ iiiiv ii\\x\ i.-ivi:: iii>u»aied A'ltii die 
..f. ,.1 .:iu /:«/.. The tapauesf^ En- 

. ' - ....iL i;: i::t i »uiiLry •i '.he Aen^^w. in 

■-Le ir« u oiru c.ulou 'f'ke*iii^ wiuch. m its 

Mc? . .-.Lii. : ^Lui rvvdjlow -I \uuei« -ind its 
. .. -lLli ..\i>f^. riuij was probably .y:oc 

..i.>. . : .'^5^ c^vtiiii L..' bo ^'tn/ T jCaniibar 

- . .»Mi^iUi»»-ca si'v:iii2» ■ = > ::a\c ":>trn /iun^bar 

liLL .Vrauic aiiiicU luio g'.annbar, whence 

' '■ . ...^... -^ ni^ijur. ' 

iL v.iaL .Marco i*oiu's * Island * was an 

. j.^. :- ■.iLuiuiaLioii l.ieui^ ruaiiiiy :^et:ond- 

'■\..^.. ::•' -i'-uoL lie' li.id sc'L'ii liie iitv<rc»c5i he describes 

.ivl. ..::"-i;asL. ' 'nicsa wc .iic to -.uiiciude that 

.iLUiij^i^Le . ouMdcrabii: :uudilicaiion >uice h£> 

i. \ :i..-. .:.uc ix'tu :i.LHVi:> "i suiuc uher part ot 

■- ■!> ..!• >^iipLiuii 01 liieia, >.tvc lU '.'vx inucter of 

.:.i ;-.^L> ,\\M ^.wLrcspuiiu i'> ihe ry^w now luund in 

\nu.t. riif A^aiiia .'I Ptoiciuy .iud the author 

It- i't-u|niis. The Jmj ••i liie .-iKieiiL Arabs, iSianjibar 

u- 'iiMi •riudoiu .Vr^usi, /aii^aibki oi Marco Polo, 

■ .ijii;i» '1 i.iu- |.ip.ait>c, .ill rru-r :o :he East Africa 

! lu- !'i)iuiguLi>c >Lc;m :o ';:avc ::^ca die arst to 

:i*|Miid iliL- naiiii: to liic :>Luid. ■i.uu *o have called 




Corner of harbour, Zanzil)ar. 




The Ferry. 



yfo face page 8. 



MARCO POLO. 7 

especially the areas, are only approximate. On its western 
side Pemba is cut up by a multitude of small bays and 
inlets protected from the open sea by a fringe of islands, 
behind which, in the old days, the slave traders concealed 
themselves from our boats' crews till, under the shelter 
of night, they were able to steal into the remote and shallow 
recesses of the mangrove creeks. Pemba is about 35 miles 
from the mainland. Its two principal towns are Weti 
and Chaki Chaki, both on the west side. It was known 
to the Arabs as Jezira El Khathra, or the Green Island. 
The writer of the Periplus describes how, in his run down 
from Guardaf ui, he coasted along Azania, and it is supposed 
by some that from this word we obtained Zanguebar and 
subsequently Zanzibar ; land of the Zans or Zangs, meaning 
blacks. Bar is the Swahili word bara signifying coast ; .it 
is used to indicate the continental coast opposite Zanzibar 
Island. 

Marco Polo, who^ flourished about A.D. 1260, wrote : 
" Zanghibar is a great and noble Island with a compass 
of 2,000 miles. The people are all idolators and have a 
King and a language of their own and pay tribute to nobody. 
They are both tall and stout, but not tall in proportion 
to their stoutness, for if they were, being so stout and brawny 
they would be absolutely like giants ; and they are so strong 
they will carry for four men and eat for five. 

"They are all black and go stark naked, with only a 
little covering for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, 
and so frizzly that even with water you can scarcely 
straighten it. And their mouths are so large, their noses 
so turned up, their lips so thick, their eyes so big and blood- 
shot, that they look like very devils ; they are, in fact, 
so hideously ugly that the world has nothing to show more 
horrible 

" The people live on rice and flesh and milk and dates, 
and they make wine of dates and of rice and of good spices 
and sugar. There is a good deal of trade, and many 



8 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

merchants and vessels go thither. But the staple trade of 
the Island is in elephants* teeth, which are very abundant ; 
and they ako have much ambergris, as whales are plenti- 
ful.** 

Yule, translator and editor of Marco Polo's writings, 
from whom I have quoted, remarks that Zanghibar, 
the Region of the Blacks, was known to the ancients as 
Zingis and Zingium. That, according to Albulfeda, the 
King of the Zingis dwelt at Mombasa. Referring to the 
confusion of the old writers about India, with their greater 
and lesser India, and India Tertia, Yule says : " and the 
three-fold division, with its inclination to place one of the 
Indies in Africa, I think may have originated with the 
Arab Hind, Sind and Zinj The Japanese En- 
cyclopaedia states that in the country of the Tsengu, in 
the S.W. ocean, there is a bird called pheng, which, in its 
flight eclipses the sun. It can swallow a camel, and its 
quills are used for water casks. This was probably got 

from the Arabs, Tsengu seems to be Zinj or Zanjibar 

The name as pronounced seems to have been Zangibar 
(hard g), which polite Arabic turned into Zanjibar, whence 
the Portuguese Zanzibar ^ 

Yule points out that Marco Polo's " Island ** was an 
error simply, his information being certainly second- 
hand, though no doubt he had seen the negroes he describes 
with so much disgust. Unless we are to conclude that 
they have imdergone considerable modification since his 
day, they must have been natives of some other part of 
Africa, as his description of them, save in the matter of 
appetite, does not correspond to the type now foimd in 
East Africa. The Azania of Ptolemy and the author 
of the Periplus, the Zinj of the ancient Arabs, Zanjibar 
of the more modem Arabs, Zanghibar of Marco Polo, 
and Tsengu of the Japanese, all refer to the East Africa 
Coast. The Portuguese seem to have been the first to 
have applied the name to the inland, and to have called 




Corner of harbour, Zan/ilwr. 




The Ferry. 



[ To fare pa^: K. 



THE PORTUGUESE, g 

it Zanzibar. The English adopted this word, but the French 
and Germans called it Sansibar. 

Natives in East Africa call Zanzibar Island Unguja, 
and the town mgine or tnjine ; tnji meaning town or village : 
mjini, in the town. In Pemba the town of Chaki Chaki 
is mgine to those in the south of that island, Weti mgine 
to those in the north. 

The old capital of Zanzibar Island was Unguja Ukuu 
(ukuu -- great), about 15 miles to the south of the present 
capital, at the mouth of Kiwani Bay. The site of the 
modem town was much too exposed and accessible to suit 
the ideas of the early inhabitants. Unguja Ukuu is pro- 
tected by a flat foreshore which at low tide is half a mile 
or more wide, while the mangrove swamps behind Uzi 
Island provided the people with; a secure retreat from 
the raids and attacks to whicl>'' they were continually 
exposed, especially ^durin^-/j^b€ period of Portuguese 
ascendency. ,...;^- ' 

The Portuguese, known to the people of Zanzibar as 
Wareno, first made those regions known to Europe in 
A.D. 1498. In that year Vasco da Gama doubled the 
Cape of Good Hope, and, sailing up the East coast of 
Africa, visited Mozambique, Mombasa and Malindi. The 
Portuguese, after several expeditions and n^verscs, estab- 
lished a dominion over the east coast, and in I5()(j appointed 
Duarte da Lemos Governor of the Provinces of Acithiopia 
and Arabia. Their rule, which was one of tyranny, op- 
pression and extortion, continued down to if)()8. In that 
year Seif bin Sultan, Imaum of Muscat, at the invitation 
of the inhabitants, sent a naval force, one of the ships of 
which carried 80 guns, " each gun measuring three spans 
at the breech," to deliver Mombasa from the hands of 
their tyrants. This he succeeded in doing, capturing from 
the Portuguese not only Mombasa, but Zanzibar, Pemba 
and Kilwa. These reverses caused the Portuguese to 
abandon the whole coast north of Cape Delgado, though in 



lo ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

the y€|ar 1727 they succeeded, after many attempts, in 
temporarily restoring their power in Mombasa and some 
of the coast towns. 

The sovereignty of the Portuguese was succeeded by 
that of Imaums of Oman, whose dominion extended from 
Mogadishu to Cape Delgado, about 250 miles south of 
Zanzibar. But this sovereignty became merely nominal, 
and in 1746, during the reign of the Imaum Ahmed bin 
Said, Mombasa, under Ali bin Athman, chief of the Mazrui, 
the hereditary ruling tribe of Mombasa, declared its inde- 
pendence of Muscat, an independence which it maintained 
till 1837, when it finally submitted to Seyyid Said. 
Zanzibar was subdued in 1784 during the Regency of Hamed 
bin Said, grandson of Ahmed bin Said, and thereafter 
remained in the possession of the rulers of Muscat. 

The Imaum Ahmed bin Said, referred to above, was the 
47th Imaum of Oman, though the first of the tribe of 
Albusaidi to ascend the throne at Muscat. A man of no 
pedigree, he hewed his way to power after the approved 
manner of the times, through deeds of treachery and 
murder, and was elected Imaum in 1741. At his death 
he left his sons and other claimants to quarrel for the 
succession to the throne, which at first falling to his 
indolent and tyrannical son. Said, who was superseded by 
his son Ahmed as Regent, subsequently passed to Ahmed's 
son, Sultan, who proved to be the craftiest among them. . 
He died in 1804, and the accession of his famous successor, 
Seyyid Said, gives us an insight into Oriental ethics and 
practices. 



]I 



CHAPTER II. 

SEYYID SAID BIN SULTAN. 

In the succession to the throne of Muscat the law of pro- 
mogeniture carried no weight unless the heir could support 
his cause by cunning or the sword, as well as the suffrages 
of the people. The tools were to him who could use them, 
and this is why, in Zanzibar, till quite recently, the suc- 
cession could never pass without a struggle and an outbreak 
of lawlessness among the people. 

On the death of Sultan bin Ahmed, in 1804, his two sons, 
Salim and Said, jointly ascended the throne, the former 
being a weak and gentle prince who soon sank into ob- 
scurity. During their minority the management of affairs 
was entrusted to Bedr bin Seif, their first cousin. Bedr 
was a man of abiUty and enterprise, and rendered the 
young rulers valuable aid against their uncle, Kais, who 
disputed the succession with them. Indeed, Bedr per- 
formed his part so well that he excited the suspicion of 
Said, who, encouraged, it is said, by his mother, resolved 
to compass his cousin's destruction. 

With this object he invited Bedr to join him in an attack 
upon his uncle at El Khaburah. The tribes selected for 
the enterprise assembled at Huaman, and the two cousins, 
with several chiefs, entered the fort presumably to discuss 
the plan of attack. The conversation was led round to the 
subject of swords and daggers, whereupon one of those 



12 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

present drew the dagger of Bedr from its sheath. This 
was done for the purpose of disarming him. Seyyid Said 
immediately drew his sword and struck Bedr in the arm, 
breaking it. Bedr leapt, howling, from the window, and 
fled on horseback. Overcome by loss of blood he soon fell 
from his horse and was despatched by Said and his horse- 
men, who had followed in pursuit. This treacherous 
murder by the youth, only fifteen years of age, was con- 
sidered by his uncle, Kais, to be so meritorious a deed 
that a reconciliation forthwith took place between them. 

In 1820 a British expedition was despatched from Bombay 
to punish the Beni Bu Ali Arabs, a fierce and piratical tribe 
of Jaalin, a province belonging to Seyyid Said, whose 
authority they had lately thrown off. It consisted of six 
'companies of Sepoys, with eight pieces of artillery. On 
arriving at Muscat it was joined by 2,000 men belonging 
to the Seyyid, and the combined forces proceeded to Bulad 
Beni Bu Ali, the residence of the hostile tribe, and attacked 
them in their entrenchments. From some unexplained 
cause the Sepoys, at the moment of the charge, turned 
about and threw themselves upon their allies in the rear. 
Nearly the whole of the British detachment was cut up, 
and the Seyyid, who had displayed great courage and cool- 
ness throughout the action, was shot through the hand 
in endeavouring to save an artilleryman, for which act of 
gallantry he received the thanks of the Indian Govern- 
ment. 

In the year 1828 his wars, of which he had a fuller measure 
than falls to most warriors, cost him another wound. His 
troops were in flight from the Utubees and he himself forced 
to swim out towards his fleet in the harbour of Munamana. 
But ere he could be rescued by the boats he was struck in 
the sole of the foot by a spear. On another occasion he 
received a ball in the hip from the effects of which he always 
afterwards limped a Uttle. 

The young ruler, as revealed to us, is^one of the most 



SAID'S ACHIEVEMENTS. 13 

interesting personalities of the nineteenth century, whether 
we regard him as soldier, sailor, merchant, statesman, 
prince, or conqueror. Captain Hart, in some notes on a 
visit he paid to Zanzibar in February, 1834, in H.M.S. 
Imogene, described him as a tall, stout, noble-looking man, 
with a benevolent countenance, clever, intelUgent, sharp 
eyes, and remarkably pleasant and agreeable manner. He 
was at that time forty-three years old, having been bom in 
A.D. 1791 (A.H. i?o6). 

He was a very powerful man, especially in the arms, 
and he used to entertain his courtiers with the exhibition 
of feats of strength. A book called the " Full Moon," 
written by the eloquent Fakih, Sahl ibn Razik, and entitled, 
" A Ray from the Resplendent Life of the Seyyid Said, the 
Son of Sultan, Son of the Im^m Ahmed-bin-Said, with a 
Narrative of some of his Glorious and Renowned Achieve- 
ments," * is a record of the wars he waged against, and the 
victories he gained over, rebeUious subjects, and turbulent 
petty powers in alhance with Muscat, one of the most 
renowned of the achievements recorded by the eloquent 
Fakih being the murder of his cousin Bedr, when he was 
fifteen years old. 

Few rulers have entered upon their career with less pro- 
mising prospects than Seyyid Said ; few have closed them 
with records of greater achievement. Not only had he to 
cope at the outset with his uncle Kais, as we have described, 
while keeping a vigilant eye on the too-capable adminis- 
tration of his cousin Bedr, but disturbances with the allied 
chiefs, who had been kept more or less under control by his 
father, at once began to increase. During his reign of 
forty-two years his intervals of peace in Oman were of but 
short duration, yet he found time during those intervals 
to obtain possession of a vast African dominion, and to 
foimd in Zanzibar a new nation with new industries. 

Before we pass to this interesting career we may pause 

* Imams and Seyyids of Oman. Badger. 



i|^^^H^^H_ 1 ^F'^I^^H 



14 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

to explain that Seyyid Said, although in official documents 
alluded to as the Imaum of Muscat and Sultan of Zanzibar, 
and popularly so called by Europeans, had, in reality, no 
claim to either title. 

The Imaumate was originally a priestly office, but for 
1,000 years — that is to say, from 751 — the Imaums had 
combined supreme civil power with their high reUgious 
functions. They were elected by the people, who sought 
out the fittest person ; but in 1624 the principle was set up 
that the Imaumate belonged by right to the eldest son. 

The last of the Imaums to succeed to the temporal power 
was Said, second son of Ahmed, who was elected over his 
elder brother Hilal's head, as the latter was physically 
infirm, but he only reigned four years, and in 1779 was 
superseded by his son Hamed, whose chief qualifications 
appear to have been deceit and treachery. This proved 
to be the divorce of Church and State, as the father. Said, 
after having been betrayed by his son into surrendering 
the administration, still retained the title of Imaum, and 
continued to retain it till his death in the second decade 
of the nineteenth century. It also led to the disappear- 
ance of the Imaumate, as, after the death of the Imaum 
Said bin Ahmed, no successor was elected to the office. 

Nor was Seyyid Said ever officially styled Sultan, which 
was a title given to him by foreigners, and by foreigners 
applied also to his successors, Majid and Barghash, neither 
of whom ever used it. The title Sultan had in the eyes 
of an East African potentate no value, being appUed to 
every petty chief of a coast village. 

Said, although the most renowned of the rulers of Muscat, 
and the greatest of those of Zanzibar, was, therefore, neither 
Imaum of Muscat nor Sultan of Zanzibar, but " Seyyid " 
merely. This title, which means lord, was first applied 
to the sons of the Imaum Ahmed, their daughters being 
styled Seyyidah, and their descendants have retained the 
titles ever since. 



SAID'S NAVY. 15 

Arabs in Zanzibar seldom speak of His Highness as 
Sultan, but as Seyyid, or more rarely Bwana. Other 
members of the reigning house also bear the title Seyyid 
prefixed to their names, but in referring to the Sultan the 
title is generally used by itself. " Es-Seyyid " is the 
Sultan, just as " The Duke " was the Duke of WeUington, 
and is now the Duke of Devonshire. Bwana means 
"master," bwana mkubwa, "great master." The latter 
is a vulgarised complimentary distinction used in respect 
of the head of every household, where there will also 
generally be a bwana mdogo, " httle master," perhaps the 
eldest son, or principal relative. A native will salute a 
fellow native as bwana mkubwa if he wants a favour from 
him. The Bwana Mkubwa is the First Minister of the 
Government. The late Sir Lloyd Mathews was known 
almost solely by this name ; there were thousands of 
natives in remote parts of the islands who knew him by 
no other, and had probably never heard his real name. 

On one occasion an Arab who had met Livingstone in 
the interior of the Continent, spoke to me of the great 
explorer as Doctari Mkubwa Sana, the Very Great Doctor, 
the only instance I remember of the superlative " sana " 
being used in this connection. But the Sultan is seldom 
called Bwana Mkubwa, but simply Bwana, or The Master. 

We return from this digression on Said's title to catch a 
glimpse of him as sailor and a diplomatist. 

He had a squadron of one Une-of-battle ship, three fri- 
gates, two corvettes, and a brig. Captain Hart tells us : 
" When on board he conducts everything himself ; gets 
her under weigh, shifts her berth, or brings her to anchor, 
by giving every word of command." 

He had about three hundred men only to man these 
ships, which were kept in harbour till the squadron was 
wanted for service, when Arab and Lascar crews were sent 
for from Muscat. 

The ships lay ofE Mtoni, the Seyyid's principal residence 



16 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

in Zanzibar, now an old ruin, about three miles north of 
the town. This anchorage was specially reserved for the 
squadron. In Captain Hart's account of his reception we 
get a glimpse of the Seyyid at his court, exhibiting the 
same hospitality and consideration towards his guests, 
the same charm of manner and conversation for which the 
Arabs of Zanzibar, and especially the Sultan, are renowned. 
In the incident of the Liverpooly we can observe him as a 
diplomatist. Captain Hart wrote : " We came to an 
anchor off the Imaum's palace, alongside of the Liverpool, 
seventy-four guns. His Highness' flagship, carrying a red 
flag at the main. . . . We found at this anchorage 
besides the Liverpool, two frigates, two corvettes, and a 

brig At the anchorage off the town of 

Zanzibar, which is about five miles from this, there were 
lying one EngUsh merchant brig, one American merchant 
ship and two brigs, with several small craft of the country. 
Before we anchored. His Highness had sent off a Captain 
of one of his frigates to welcome us on our arrival, and to 
express His Highness' great pleasure on seeing an English 
man-of-war. I thanked him for his attention and said I 
was sorry it was after sunset, as I could not salute His 
Highness until early the next morning, when I would do 
so with twenty-one guns. He said they knew our customs 
very well, and that the flagship was ready to return our 
salute whenever we began. . . . The next morning, 
at daylight, we fired a royal salute, which was taken up 
by the flag-ship immediately after our last gun, and in 
the same time, so that it appeared a continuation of the 
same salute ; and this exactness of returning a salute they 
observed in all subsequent firing, taking it up at our last 
gun." The next morning Captain Hart went ashore : 
" His Highness, with his officers, received me at the steps 
of the Verandah in the most courteous and kind manner, 
coming up to shake hands, and, pointing out the way I was 
to go, followed me to a long room, at the head of which 



SAID'S GIFT TO THE BRITISH. 17 

he placed me on his right. We conversed through his 
interpreter, Captain Hassan, of His Highness' Navy," The 
Se5^d expressed himself as delighted to see an English 
man-of-war, as he considered the English his best friends 
and was always glad to see them. " The next day I went 
to introduce the Officers to His Highness, who was happy 
to see them, receiving us at the door ; and we were shown 
into the same room as yesterday, and served with coffee 
and sherbet. His Highness and the young princes (his two 
sons) shaking hands in the most good-humoured manner 
with all who offered to do so. . . . The Imogene, in 
compliment to His Highness, had been dressed in colours 
since eight in the morning, and at the appointed time all 
the boats attended to escort His Highness on board, he 
coming off in the barge which hoisted his red flag, the other 
boats attending and forming in two lines. He was received 
with a royal salute, and the officers in full uniform, and was 
attended on board by two of his sons, the governor (who 
is his uncle) and several officers. From the quarter-deck 
we went to the cabin, when they all took seats, and sat 
for some time. Refreshments were offered, but it being 
their great fast of Ramazan none were accepted. His 
Highness began by thanking me for my great kindness 
and attention — that he could not sufficiently express all 
he felt, but that it came from his ' inside, and from the 
bottom of his heart.' As the Liverpool was lying close 
under our stem, our attention was called to her. I admired 
her very much and repeated that I was struck with her 
great likeness to the Melville. He said she was a very fine 
ship and built by the English, and that nothing would 
please him so much as for the English to have her — that if 
they would accept of her he should be very happy. I 
thanked him, and told him I would faithfully report his 
munificent offer to my Admiral. He said : ' That is what 
I wish ; and to the Admiralty, and to the King. She is 
in very good condition, but is too large for the service of 

2 



I8 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

Muscat, and if the King of England would accept of her 
it will make me very happy. I will send her to Bombay, 
or, if you like, give her to you here.' We then went round 
the ship, and returned to the cabin for a short time, when 
he took his leave, apparently highly pleased, and left with 
every expression of thanks and gratitude. He proceeded 
to the shore under a royal salute, the boats attending in 
the same manner as they brought him off." 

The Liverpool was subsequently sent as a present to 
King William IV. She was attached to the British Navy, 
and as a compliment to Seyyid Said her name was changed 
to The Imaum. 

Seyyid Said, it is obvious, possessed in a high degree the 
quaUties of generosity and hospitality for which his race 
is justly famed, and it need not detract from our admira- 
tion of these qualities, invaluable for a statesman and a 
diplomatist, to discover that he had favours to ask of the 
British Government, whose aid he was at that time sorely 
in need of. 



19 



CHAPTER III. 

SEYYID SAID — SUBJUGATION OF MOMBASA. 

Twelve years before Captain Hart's visit Captain Vidal, 
with H.M.S. Barracouta and Albatross, anchored in Mombasa 
Harbour. These vessels formed part of an expedition 
which, under Captain Owen, in H.M.S. Leven, had, in 1822, 
been despatched by the Lords of the Admiralty to cany 
out a survey of the east coast of Africa. The Mombassians 
were at that time in arms against Seyyid Said, and as we 
are told that while Zanzibar, groaning under its tribute of 
more than 60,000 crowns a year, was suffering in its trade, 
Mombasa and Lamu, under independent Arab chiefs, were 
prosperous, we can sympathise with them in their endea- 
vours to defend their Uberties. Now, " oppressed by 
numbers, their resources cut off and resistance hopeless, 
they had unanimously resolved to give up their coimtry 
to the EngUsh, who, although differing so widely in religion 
and customs, yet ever protected the oppressed, and respected 
the Shrines of Liberty." 

Thus, on his arrival at Mombasa, Vidal was hailed as a 
deliverer, and he was urged forthwith to hoist the EngUsh 
flag. It was an opportimity they had long hoped for, and 
they had even gone the length of providing themselves with 
a British ensign of their own manufacture, to hoist, if not 
with the consent of the British Government, then without 
it ; " for," they said, " beneath its protecting shade we 

2» 



20 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

may defy our enemies ; as the lamb trembles at the lion's 
roar, so will the Imaum shrink from that which is the 
terror of the World." 

The chief's name was Mbaruk. His predecessor, Ab- 
dullah bin Ahmed, had taken a bold Une with Se3^d Said, 
and on his accession in 1814, in place of the usual annual 
present, had sent the Seyyid " a Uttle powder and shot 
with a shirt of mail, and a kebaba, or small measure for 
com," the kebaba presumably being empty. Seyyid Said 
" understood what was meant, but made no conmient," 
while Abdullah, to provide against that day of reckoning 
which he knew must come, endeavoured to enlist the 
support of the Indian Government. 

Captain Vidal, not being sure of that support, asked for 
time to consider Mbaruk's request, and next day sent Lieu- 
tenant Boteler ashore with his reply. The following ex- 
tracts are taken from Lieutenant Boteler's account of his 
experiences : 

" On landing I was completely hemmed in by a niunber 
of men and boys, who seemed determined to set no bounds 
to their curiosity. My sword, hat, and every article of 
apparel, underwent as strict an examination as the short 
time I had to wait for the Sheikh's nephew would admit. 
He soon arrived with several more Arabs to escort me to 
the castle, to which we at once ascended by means of a log 
of wood over a deep and apparently natural rent in the 
ground leading to the moat, over which, opposite to the 
entrance of the fortress, lay a huge mass of rock that had 
always remained unhewn as a natural bridge." 

Boteler describes the fort used as the residence of the 
reigning family, and he sets forth the contents of an 
inscription on a tablet over the door, recording the achieve- 
ments of the Portuguese Governor who had built the fort, 
and had subdued, chastised and oppressed the inhabitants 
of the region. 

Lieutenant Boteler was conducted to a low building 



MOMBASA AND THE BRITISH FLAdt 21 

inside the fort. " The Arabs sat on huge stone benches 
projecting from the walls, while as a mark of attention two 
old-fashioned three-cornered chairs were brought for the 
accommodation of myself and companion. The appearance 
of the hovels around, the ragged set that curiosity had 
collected at the windows, and their general look of poverty 
and wretchedness, could not fail, in spite of the ostenta- 
tious decoration of their arms, to excite surprise and com- 
miseration ; for these were the people who had success- 
fully opposed the Portuguese, when, in the plenitude of 
their power, they sought boimdless dominion upon these 
shores ; and in later days, in fact up to the present 
moment, these Arabs had firmly resisted the whole force of 
the Imaum of Muskat." 

Shortly after they were seated the Sheikh entered, a 
tall, thin, venerable man, in whose anxious coimtenance 
" there still remained a mild and pleasing expression, 
perhaps the effect of Mohammedan education, which 
teaches to speak little, and always first to examine the 
words before they are uttered.'* 

On the appearance of the SwahiU chief, " the hereditary 
Prince of Maleenda," a man with a silvery-white mous- 
tache, of short stature, sUght and well made " ; dressed in 
a large turban and a green joho, the assembly adjourned 
to a more private room where the subject of deUvering up 
Mombasa to Great Britain was discussed, and Lieutenant 
Boteler was requested to hoist the British flag. The 
assembly plied him with so many argimients and entreaties 
that he began to think they intended to make him hoist 
the flag either with or without his consent ; but acting on 
instructions from Captain Vidal, he persisted in his refusal, 
and three days afterwards the BarracotUa, to the intense 
disappointment of the Mombassians, sailed away to Pemba. 

Pending the arrival of Captain Owen, who was shortly to 
come and fulfil the longing hopes of the Mombassians, we 
may follow the Barracouta for a glimpse at Pemba. No 



22 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

more placid and picturesque spot could be conceived than 
Pemba ; it is the coral island of romance, and, like those 
beautiful islands described for us by writers of fiction, it 
has a tragic history. " It is strange," wrote Captain Owen, 
the following year, " that we should have been so long in 
ignorance of this fine port, called Masul ul Chak Chak (the 
port of Chaki Chaki, Pemba), and which Captain Moresby 
describes as having no anchorage but numerous reefs ; 
while, on the contrary, we could see no reefs, but found a 
good and secure anchorage. It is, besides, one of the most 
fertile islands in the world, luxurious vegetation springing 
spontaneously from the soil, and abounding in excellent 
ship-timber." Pemba had been subject to Mombasa, but 
about the year 1822 Mohammed bin Nassur, Governor of 
Zanzibar, captured it from Mbaruk, the Mazrui Chief, and 
the island came under the rule of Seyyid Said. We have 
evidence to show that the people of Pemba preferred the 
yoke of Mombasa to that of Muscat, for their chief and 
defender, Mbaruk, became their popular hero and his wars 
the subject of patriotic songs. Nevertheless, Mbaruk, 
though a clever and courageous soldier, could not resist 
Mohammed bin Nassur's superior forces ; so the island 
succumbed. 

Meanwhile a squadron of dhows was on its way from 
Muscat to chastise the Momba^ians. This was Seyyid 
Said's answer to the pound of shot of the impudent 
Abdullah, on which, at the time, " he had made no com- 
ment." On its way down the squadron put in at Moga- 
dishu, abducted two of the chiefs of that place, and took 
them off to Zanzibar to be held against a ransom of two 
thousand dollars. 

When the dhows arrived they found 25,000 Mombassians 
standing to arms under their home-made Jack, which they 
had hoisted on the departure of Captain Vidal. The 
appearance of the flag and the fighting men had the desired 
effect upon Abdullah bin Saleum, the commander of the 



MOMBASA AND BRITISH PROTECTION. 23 

dhow squadron, who contented himself with blockading 
the port. But during the blockade Captain Owen in the 
Leven turned up, and decided to accede to the request of 
the people and place Mombasa and its dependencies, in- 
cluding Pemba Island and the coast between Malindi and 
Pangani River, under British protection. 

The convention was drawn up by Captain Owen and 
Suliman bin Ali, the ruling chief of Mombasa, on February 
8, 1824, the day following the arrival of the Leven, and 
consisted of six conditions providing : 

1. That Great Britain should reinstate the Chief of 
Mombasa in his former possessions. 

2. That the sovereignty of the State should continue to 
be exercised by the Chief of the Mazrui Tribe and be here- 
ditary in bis family. 

3. That an Agent of the protecting Government should 
reside with the Chief. 

4. That the Customs revenue should be equally divided 
between the two contracting parties. 

5. That trade with the interior be permitted to British 
subjects. 

6. That the slave trade be aboUshed at Mombasa. 

The commander of the blockading squadron readily 
accepted this arrangement, no doubt haiUng it as a happy 
release from an arduous task. He anchored his ships off 
the town, and he and his were soon fast friends with their 
whilom opponents. 

Lieutenant John James Reitz, third lieutenant of the 
Leven, was made commandant of Mombasa, Mr. George 
Phillips, midshipman, a corporal of marines, and three 
seamen remaining with him for the time. It was a peculiar 
arrangement, such as only Englishmen could have made, a 
lieutenant of twenty-one and a midshipman with a guard 
of four men coolly and confidently committing themselves 
to a warUke and turbulent tribe ; secure in the great name 
of their country, in the high principles and ideals in which 



3.1 ZAyrzuBArt ry 'rcyTZJCjfiLijry tu^es^ 

t&w had htiOL tramai fanr arrsi^r ignnmn: 'it tie cfcirairter 
(It chi* piwpfe uhCT had lame m gntscz mif wardu imi what 
opas Ccfcr mere jeriiQiiSv of &e c&misiQs or tiie rfmiiirg to wbich 
tiejr wwre etpnseti WrtiiiL ai rnnirrftff- three ot tfce six 
were dead. Jb^ inhabitantSw litsr tie mffTmer of actives 
(yi East Afric^i, in whom thisre is no grx tl t imJe . ha-^iiog found 
refiicf frfjin the power ot tie Seyyii began, t^ tire of their 
newijr-fioccnd frienrfe, and Rertx chscovered thev were not 
the virtCDOtis peopfie he bad at first titfcyn thitszt to be. 

Oto fitrst recervEQi; possessKHi of XombsLSEk Islaiid the 
English re|]ire3ezit2ktives were griexi a ptuxtatkni on the 
tmsinhaadr opposhe the townL Ibis pfiantatiioii. mow known 
a» Eiigibh PiQcat, was presesited to them by the hereditary 
Chief o4 Halind], Oa the dsath ol LientetLuit Reiti^ Mr. 
M kbhifpman Pbilbps became actrng-commiirKfant of Mom- 
basa, and estaUished at Enghsh Point a colo&y of freed 
slaves — the first of the kind we read of in East .\frica. The 
slaves were rescned from a dhow wliich Mr. PhiUips had 
capttired and confiscated for being engaged in the con- 
traband traffic, much to the ccMistemati<Hi of the Arabs, 
wlio stro\'e, but in vain, to recover it by promises of future 
good conduct. " This Uttle n^ro estabUdment," we are 
told, ** presented a picture of perfect content ; each indi- 
vidual had a portion of ground to cultix-ate, the proceeds 
of which, together with other suppUes, supported them 
in a manner far superior to that which they had been 
accustomed to." 

The East African career of Lieutenant Reitz is of interest 
since he was but the first of many who, equally hopeful 
and vigorous, have had similar experience, and have met a 
similar fate. " Wave may not foam, nor wild winds sweep, 
where rest not England's dead," is the inscription over the 
gateway of the Naval burial groimd at Grave Island, 
Zanzibar Harbour ; a plot of ground now, alas ! only too 
full. 

Lieutenant Reitz, having been instructed by Captain 



LIEUTENANT REITZ. 25 

Owen to make himself acquainted with the history and 
topograhpy of the country, resolved to visit Pangani Falls, 
and to see something of the country intervening. The big 
rains usually begin at the close of March or beginning of 
April in Zanzibar, and set in with the month of May at 
Mombasa. But at both places, and along the coast gene- 
rally, there is a false monsoon, a short period of heavy rain, 
followed by an interval of fine weather, before the real 
masika, as the big rains are called, really begins. 

These facts lead to misapprehensions every year as to 
what is taking place, though they never deceive Arabs, 
who are excellent weather prophets, and understand their 
climate thoroughly ; and it was ignorance of these facts 
that cost Reitz his Ufe. After a month of partial showers, 
fine weather set in at Mombasa on April 26, and Reitz, 
concluding that the rains were over, though in reality they 
had not begun, set out, on May 4, against the advice of 
the Arabs, whose remonstrances he considered as not 
worthy of attention. Torrents of rain fell on the day after 
the departure of Reitz and his party, which consisted of 
seventy followers. The night of the 6th they spent in the 
miserable shelter of rock cavities. They passed through 
Wassein and proceeded to Mkumbi, but not finding their 
boats, which had gone on to Tanga by mistake, and their 
donkeys being tired out, Reitz and a few of his followers 
decided upon making Tanga in native canoes. They were 
overtaken by deluges of rain during which they drifted out 
to sea, only with difficulty discerning the land when it 
cleared again. 

Reitz no sooner escaped from one dilemma than he got 
into another. We witness a brave young Englishman 
scorning exposure and hardship, which, in a temperate 
climate, would but have added excitement to the expedi- 
tion, plunging forward to his destruction. After a few days 
stay at Tanga the party proceeded to Tongoni. Next 
morning Reitz, once more against the advice of the Arabs, 



26 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

started off in an open boat to pull to Pangani. The sea 
was rough, the rain came down in floods, the strong ebb tide 
swept back all but the boat in which Reitz was travelling. 
After a nine hours' pull they reached the mouth of the 
river, but it was too dark and too stormy to see anything 
or to hear anything until they were finally startled by the 
sound of breakers. They dropped anchor and rode out 
the night ; and in the morning entered the river, putting 
in at the village of Mbweni. Here on May 14, the day 
after his arrival, Reitz went down with fever, and on the 
29th, just as they came in sight of Mombasa, whither his 
followers had deemed it expedient to convey him, he died 
"in a most awful state of deUrium." He was buried at 
Mombasa in the ancient Portuguese Cathedral, near the 
place where the altar had once stood. Port Reitz, one of 
the reaches of Kihndini Harbour, is called after him. 

The intervention of the British at Mombasa took Said by 
surprise, but he showed himself equal to the occasion. He 
was not the man to sit down and resign himself to the will 
of Allah, till he had satisfied himself beyond doubt as to 
what the will of Allah might be. He was as ready to meet 
his adversaries with the weapons of diplomacy as with the 
weapons of war. From the beginning of the century the 
Honourable Company had, by a treaty concluded January 
18, 1800, kept an Agent in the Persian Gulf to represent 
the interests of Great Britain and, without interfering with 
the internal administration of the coimtry, we held the 
Rulers of Oman to their responsibilities in keeping the peace 
in the gulf, and generally supported them in their efforts 
to control rebellious tribes. Seyyid Said had always been 
loyal to Great Britain ; his love for the Enghsh was one of 
his most striking characteristics, being shrewd enough to 
appreciate the value of the friendship, he lost no oppor- 
timity of proclaiming it. When he discovered what had 
taken place at Mombasa he made a strong remonstrance, 
intimating to the Bombay Government that he considered 



1 



BRITISH PROTECTION REFUSED. 27 

his connection with Great Britain as being in the nature of 
an offensive and defensive alliance. To this the Govern- 
ment, acknowledging not alliance but strict friendship, 
repUed that His Majesty's Ministers had decided to drop all 
further proceedings with regard to Mombasa and to dis- 
avow the action of Captain Owen. 

Great Britain has been censured for giving up Mombasa, 
although it is difficult to see what other course she could 
have adopted. Her interests in the Persian Gulf were 
paramount, and those interests were best served by main- 
taining her influence with the Seyyid, which she could only do 
by keeping faith with him. Arabs know how to submit and 
endure in silence, but they remember an injury and know 
how to wait. We find evidence of this when, fifty years 
later, Barghash recalled to Sir Bartle Frere the attitude of 
the British Government towards his father.* What should 
we have thought of Seyyid Said if, while professing friend- 
ship towards us in the Persian Gulf, and finding himself 
by a happy accident in a position of advantage in the 
Straits, he had endeavoured to wrest from us Singapore, 
which we were at that time acquiring ? We should have 
denounced the attempt as a mean act of treachery. 

The British Establishment was removed from Mombasa 
in 1826 by Commodore Christian, the officer commanding 
the Naval force on the Cape of Good Hope station, acting 
under the orders of the Governor of Bombay in Council. 
The Commodore in his report remarked that he did not 
consider the inhabitants of Mombasa entitled to British 
protection, an opinion no doubt based on the persistent 
endeavours of the inhabitants to evade their obligations 
under the convention, especially with regard to the aboli- 
tion of the slave trade. The British Agent in the Persian 
Gulf was instructed to intercede with the Seyyid on behalf 
of Mombasa, but in 1829 the rebelUous state of the island 
called for another effort on the Seyyid's part to subdue it, 

♦ Page 8a 



28 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

and accordingly, in December of that year, he set out with 
an expedition of nine vessels, taking command himself, with 
the Liverpool as his flagship. This was the first occasion on 
which a Ruler of Muscat had visited the continental African 
dominions, and this fact alone is sufficient to show that 
Said was a man of energetic and commanding character. 
In the light of his subsequent career we may also credit him 
with a shrewd appreciation of the latent wealth of those 
dominions, though whether he had at that time any definite 
plans respecting them we can only conjecture. On pro- 
ceeding to Mombasa in 1829 he left his nephew SeyyidSalim, 
a man with no judgment or decision, to act with full powers 
as his Wakil, or Agent, at Muscat. Previous to his depar- 
ture he had treacherously seized and imprisoned his cousin 
Seyyid HiUal, Governor of Soweik, a yoimg man much 
beloved by the Arab tribes on the coast of Oman for his 
gallant behaviour and Uberal disposition, but dreaded by 
the Seyyid as a dangerous and ambitious character. In 
consequence of this short-sighted and unjust act, the coast 
towns of the Gulf were soon in a flame of rebeUion, Muscat 
itself being only saved from attack by the presence of a 
British warship, specially despatched by the Political Agent 
to assist in the defence of that place. On his return to 
Zanzibar in 1832 he confided the care of his Arabian 
possessions to two boys, his son Seyyid Hillal, and his 
nephew Mohammed bin Salim. He had no sooner sailed 
than the two youthful cousins were entrapped and im- 
prisoned by the equally youthful Said bin AU, Chief of 
Burka, who declared that he had been left by the Seyyid in 
control of the Government. The British Government, 
their pohcy being to preserve the integrity of the Se5^id's 
dominions, again despatched warships to quell the disturb- 
ances that arose. It was British influence alone, and the 
prestige our support gave to him, that at this time prevented 
Seyyid Said's downfall. 
In 1832, on his second failure to reduce Mombasa, Seyyid 



SAID AXD THE QVEEK OF MADACASCA^. ^ 

Said canoezved the idea of forming an albanco ^ith Mada- 
gascar. His own troops consisted lai^rfx* of Balwohis, who 
soccumbed to fever. When he ajqjcAred ipvith hi^ ships, 
his rebeDioiis subjects ran away, and he had not s^iffioiont 
troops either to pursoe them or hold the place afr^i^^t 
them when they returned. So he sent an Envoy to the 
Court of Antananarivo with an offer of marria^ to the 
Queen of Madagascar, and a request for 2,000 troops. The 
Envoy returned in December, 1853, >^ith the Q\ieonV reply> 
and met the Se\^nd at Lamu. The stor\- of the dohxx^rx* 
of this reply is so amusingly told by Captain Hart that we 
reproduce his accoimt, 

" His Highness," we are told, ** had long been ex{>ov^ting 
these tender documents, and, cruel as Ioxt letters always 
are, he found, contrarj^ to all expectations, that thoy wx^iv 
written in English — not only the letter frx^m the Q\uvn, b\it 
also those from her Ministers. His Highi\ess had no one 
who could translate these letters, for although his An\l>as- 
sador could speak English, yet he could not read it, and His 
Highness was obliged to have recourse to an English brig 
lying in the roads, the master of which, as good luck would 
have it, was able to read. This master was thoroforo em- 
ployed to read the Queen's letter to the Ambassador* whilst 
he translated it to the anxious ear of his royal master, atul 
thus it was that His Highness became acquainted with the 
reply to his royailove from the Madagascar Queen. . . . 

"... The Queen said she had been made happy 
by hearing from one who had long been in friendship witii 
her father, and she hoped always to hear of his welfare, 
and wished he could pay a visit to Tananarivo ; in case he 
did not do so she would be much obliged if ho would have 
the kindness to send her a coral necklace of a thousand 
dollars, and she would order the money to be paid whenever 
it was landed. She hoped their friendship would increase, 
and that opportunities would offer for their becoming 
better acquainted. 



so ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

** The Ministers were also glad to hear of His Highness, 
and wished much that he would come and show himself, 
or send some of his men-of-war, which should have every 
attention paid them. They could not offer the Queen, 
because by their law it was contrary for her to marry, but 
there was a young princess he might have. As for the 
men, he might have as many as he pleased, and he had 
only to give them a musket. This was the substance of the 
two letters. His Highness was disappointed that there was 
not more said about love in the Queen's letter, but the 
master of the brig consoled him by saying, ' she had said 
as much as she could in a first letter.' " 

The imagination depicts the Seyyid seated on a low 
divan of cushions at one end of a long narrow room, two 
or three of his chief councillors on either hand ; the inter- 
preter with hands clasped in front, standing upright before 
his master, gravely deUvering himself of each sentence as 
it was read and expounded to him by the bewildered 
skipper. Arabs have little sense of humour and rarely 
understand a joke, or if by chance they do, they never 
betray the fact, and we may be quite sure that no suspicion 
of a smile crossed the face of His Highness or of any of 
those present, saving perhaps the skipper, who was pro- 
bably too hot and uncomfortable to see a joke of any sort. 

The Malagasy troops do not seem to have been employed, 
and Mombasa continued to defy the Arab power till 1837, 
when for the third time Seyyid Said set out from Muscat 
with an expedition to subdue the town. He put in with his 
fleet and his troops at Kilindini Harbour to the south of 
Mombasa Island, where he was welcomed by a section of 
the' people who had become tired of the tyranny of the 
Mazrui. The Seyyid and his advisers, more skilful in 
diplomacy than in arms, made such good use of their oppor- 
tunities that the Mazrui were soon brought to terms. The 
terrors of previous years had taught him that his possession 
would never be secure as long as this warlike tribe remained 



FALL OF MOMBASA. 31 

in power, so he determined to remove the principal repre- 
sentatives of the Mazrui, and with this object he dispatched 
his son Seyyid Khaled, Governor of Zanzibar, in a war 
vessel to Mombasa with instructions to seize the leading 
chiefs. This, through gross treachery, was successfully 
accomplished, twenty-five of the Mazrui, including the 
chief Rashid bin Salim bin Ahmed, being betrayed and 
carried off first to Zanzibar and then to Oman, where they 
disappeared ; the remainder fled to Takaungu and Gazi. 
As a reward for their meritorious services the betrayers 
were given pensions and made elders of Mombasa. These 
circumstances are commemorated in a native song. 

The fall of Mombasa consolidated the Seyyid's power 
from Mogadishu to Cape Delgado, restored his prestige in 
Muscat, and left him free to develop his schemes for the 
opening up of trade and the settlement of Zanzibar. 



32 



CHAPTER IV. 

SEYYID SAID — RISE OF ZANZIBAR — THE SLAVE TRAFFIC 
ACROSS THE WESTERN OCEAN. 

Many Kings and Rulers have subdued foreign countries, 
but Said was one of the few who have established their 
people in the conquered lands. He was the first to per- 
ceive the superiority of the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba 
over the coast towns. The Portuguese and his Arab 
predecessors had fought for Mombasa, Zanzibar counting 
only as a pawn in the game, but Said saw that the coast 
towns in themselves were worth very little ; their chief 
value being as gates to the interior, while Zanzibar was in 
reaUty the Land of Promise. That his Arab subjects 
thought so is evident from the flood of emigration which 
followed their Ruler*s early visits to the island, and the 
manner in which they occupied and planted up the soil. 
The spirit in which they entered upon their new inheritance 
is expressed by one of their number who, in a poem setting 
forth the riches of Zanzibar, wrote : — 

*' We ate the fruits that they had grown ; 
And others after us will eat 
The fruits that we have grown." 

It was probably at the time of his second visit to the 
island in 1832 that Said first conceived the idea of making 
Zanzibar his principal place of residence. He built himself 



AMERICANS IN ZANZIBAR. 33 

a palace at Mtoni and another in the town ; and in the year 
1840, he transferred his court to Zanzibar, residing there 
till 1850, when he returned to Muscat to support his son 
Seyyid Thuwaini, *' a man of temperament singularly 
weak and vacillating — one totally imfit and unable to 
uphold the dignity of his father, or to command the 
obedience of his subjects." 

Seyyid Said made Bet el Mtoni his head-quarters in 
Zanzibar, holding his barazas there, and maintaining a 
household of a thousand souls. His revenues in 1834 
had increased to 150,000 dollars from Zanzibar, to which 
must be added 100,000 dollars from Muscat. But this 
was in addition to the money he made from his own 
private trade, and the property he inherited from the 
Bet el Mali. According to the law of Islam the property 
of persons dying without heirs goes to the Bet el Mali 
(Bet = house, Mali = property or riches) or the PubUc Purse ; 
but as all public expenditure was borne by the Sultans 
personally, they were accustomed to appropriate all pubUc 
revenues, including those from the Bet el Mah. 

The revenue was largely derived from foreign ships, 
chiefly American, only four English traders having 
touched at Zanzibar in 1833, against nine American, and 
none of any other nationaUty. These vessels were gener- 
ally brigs and they had often great difficulty in collecting 
cargo. " Their plan is to touch upon different parts of 
the coast, and leave one or two of their crew behind, with 
an interpreter, whilst they visit some other parts, or come 
to Zanzibar which is the great mart and rendezvous." 
They brought out goods and dollars and took back gum 
copal and ivory. With a view to further opening up the 
trade Seyyid Said in 1833 sent a letter by one of the 
American brig-masters to be published in the United States, 
but the owners said, "No, Mr. Waters, if we allow this 
to be published, everybody will hear of the place and we 
shall lose our trade." 



34 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Fortunately for posterity, Seyyid Said did not permit 
his schemes to perish in the waste-paper basket of these 
Yankee traders. On September 21, 1833, a Treaty of 
Amity and Commerce was concluded between the United 
States of America and Seyyid Said, not only safe-guarding 
the rights and liberties of American subjects but also pro- 
viding for Consular Jurisdiction, and, in 1835, Mr. Richard 
P. Waters was appointed American Consul at Zanzibar. 

Great Britain entered into a Treaty of Commerce dated 
May 31, 1839, drawn up and signed by Captain Robert 
Cogan, of the East India Company's Naval service and 
of the firm of Messrs. Cogan, Zanzibar. This treaty was 
ratified at Muscat on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty 
by Captain Rennel, Resident in the Persian Gulf, on 
July 22, 1848. In August 1841, Captain Atkins Hamerton 
arrived in Zanzibar in the capacity of agent of the East 
India Company, and on December 9, of that ye^, he was 
in addition appointed British Consul there. 

The appointment of the British Consul, following close 
upon the transference by Seyyid Said of his court from 
Muscat to Zanzibar, marks the beginning of Zanzibar's 
prosperous career of trade. The presence of the British 
Consul, carrying with it the assurance that justice could 
be obtained, induced a large number of British Indian 
subjects to settle and trade in the island. Where Indians 
go trade follows. 

To fill up the measure of his ambition Seyyid Said had 
now to conclude a treaty with France, the only remaining 
Great Power having interests in those regions. The 
manner in which that country signified her readiness to 
meet the Seyyid's wishes is in amusing contrast with the 
methods adopted by the two Anglo-Saxon nations. ** A 
French squadron," we read, " commanded by Captain 
Fosse, arrived at Zanzibar armed with full powers to enter 
into a Treaty with His Highness." We have, however^ 
to bear in mind the mutual jealousy between England 




A dhow. 




Zanzibar town, from harbour. 



[To fare page y^ 




L 



COMMERCIAL TREATIES. 35 

and France in those days, and the preponderating influence 
of Great Britain in the Persian Gulf, and in the affairs of 
the Ruler of Muscat. Seyyid Said had already ^communi- 
cated with the British Government, " in order to obtain 
their sentiments on the proposed measure," and having 
been informed through Captain Hamerton, " that no ob- 
jections existed to his entering into relations with the 
French," a Treaty of Commerce and Consular Jurisdic- 
tion was concluded between His Highness and the King 
of the French. It bore date November 17, 1844, and was 
ratified February 4, 1846. Treaties of Consular Jurisdiction, 
etc., between Zanzibar and other European countries 
were contracted as follows : with Portugal, October 23, 
1879, Italy, May 28, 1885, Belgium, May 30, 1885, Ger- 
many, December 20, 1885-, Austria-Hungary, August 11, 
1887. 

French trade with Zanzibar,..j|ihich at the beginning 
of the century exceeded thai>'crt*SU* other foreign countries 
put together, was aft^|^£Crds surpassed by American. 
In 1859, of a total of ^3^340 tons eiii^ered, 3,066 only were 
French, the United States having^jro,890, and the British 
493 tons. From what we know of the participation of 
tiie French in the Slave Traffic we must to some extent 
attribute the decUne of their trade to the effect of the treaty 
of 1822, which prohibited the export of slaves from the 
dominions of the Imaum of Muscat, and the treaty of 
1845, which forbade the export of slaves from his African 
dominions. The first time a trading vessel from the United 
States visited Zanzibar was in 1830, when Americans first 
introduced their cotton cloth known as Merikana, which 
became the medium of exchange among the natives in the 
interior of Africa. There was no direct trade between 
Great Britain and Zanzibar in Said's reign, the foreign 
mercantile houses being three of Hamburg, three Ameri- 
can and two French. 

There are no trustworthy figures to show the increase 

3* 



36 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

of the trade in Zanzibar during Seyyid Said's reign. Smee, 
in 1811, calculated from the amount of the customs collected 
that the value of the imports could not be less than 
£300,000. How much of this total was made up by the 
import of slaves we can only conjecture. The export of 
slaves to Muscat, India and Mauritius was estimated* at 
that time to be from 6,000 to 10,000 per annum, but we 
can safely conclude that the imports of Zanzibar con- 
siderably exceeded the exports. Slaves from 7 to 10 
years of age were worth 7 to 15 dollars ; from 10 to 20 
years, 15 to 20 dollars ; full-grown men 17 to 20 dollars ; 
a good stout female 35 to 40 dollars. Taking the number 
imported at 15,000, at the average price at 20 dollars, we 
have an annual value of 300,000 dollars, equal at that 
time to nearly £70,000 (4^ dollars to £). Roughly the 
slave trade constituted, in the second decade of the century, 
a quarter of the total trade of Zanzibar. 

Captain Cogan stated that the resources of the Seyyid 
amounted in 1839 to £80,000 a year, of which £20,000 arose 
from the sale of slaves, of whom 40,000 to 45,000 were 
annually sold at Zanzibar, 20,000 of these being exported 
to Egypt, Arabia, Persia and the coast of Makran. Cap- 
tain Hamerton in 1855 estimated the value of the Seyyid's 
gross annual revenue to be £100,000 one year with another, 
a third of this being derived from Muscat. 

Turning from these figures, we will endeavour to show 
the steps taken in Said's time for the suppression of the 
slave trade in East Africa. 

It has taken eighty years to kill slavery and the slave 
trade in East Africa. The task has been England's 
unaided — at times hindered — ^by the Powers of Europe ; 
and amid the world-turmoil in which she was the leading 
figure, with great patience, yet with perseverance unrelaxed 
for eighty years she has pressed towards the mark, till 
" the open sore of the world " is at length healed. " By 
slow degrees we reach the steep accUvities of time." Fire 



SLAVE TRADE AT PORTUGUESE PORTS. 37 

and murder no longer stalk the interior ; the caravan is 
cut off ; the slave-dhow disappears from the sea ; and 
slavery is dead. 

On September 7, 1822, an engagement, proposed by 
Captain Fairfax Moresby, commanding H.B.M ship 
Menaij for the prevention of the slave trade, was signed 
by Seyyid Said. This engagement provided for the 
prohibition throughout Said's dominions of the sale of 
slaves to Christians, and the transport of slaves to Christian 
countries. It also granted permission for British Agents 
to reside in his Zanzibar dominions. Another requisition 
concluded a few days later made all Arab ships with slaves 
on board found to the eastward of a line drawn from 
Cape Delgado, passing sixty miles east of Socotra, on to 
Diu Head, the western point of the Gulf of Cambay, liable 
to seizure by H.M. cruisers. In July, 1839, and following 
years Captain Hennel, British Agent at Muscat, succeeded 
in persuading four of the maritime Arab Chiefs to attach 
their signatures to a new engagement, in which Seyyid 
Said joined, moving the line westwards to Pussem on the 
Makran coast, thus excluding the trade from the whole of 
the Indian coast. 

But the slave traffic was still in full career in the 
Portuguese Possessions in East Africa. The blockade on 
the Atlantic sea-board, making it dangerous for slavers 
to attempt the west coast ports, the traffic was deflected 
to Quilimane and Mozambique. Lieut. Bosanquet, of 
H.M.S. Leverety stated that in 1836 upwards of 12,000 
slaves must have left those ports for Brazil and Cuba. In 
December 1836 a Spanish brig obtained 500 slaves at 
Mombasa, but the following year Mombasa was taken by 
Se5^id Said, so that the foreign slave trade of that port 
ceased. Nevertheless a coasting trade, in many cases 
under the Muscat flag, was to a great extent carried on 
to supply the two Portuguese ports. In April, 1838, 
Lieutenant Bosanquet wrote : "The exportation of slaved 



38 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

from the two ports of Mozambique and QuiUmane to the 
Brazils and Cuba is annually from 7,000 to 14,000. All 
the vessels, with one exception, during the last two years, 
have sailed under the Portuguese flag, having arrived at 
Mozambique under various flags." In September of that 
year thirteen Portuguese slavers, which would take 500 
slaves each, were awaiting cargoes at Quilimane. 

The Government of Portuguese East Africa maintained 
itself by the traffic, a duty of 7 doUars being levied 
on each slave exported. The Jimta or Council was com- 
posed of the chief slave merchants. But the vigilance 
of the British cruisers hampered though they were in those 
days of sail by the strength of the current and violence of 
the monsoon in the Mozambique Channel was effecting 
much. By 1843 they had so far succeeded in checking 
the trafl&c that the slave market was glutted, and the price 
of slaves in Quilimane fell from 40 dollars to 10 dollars. 
On September 4, 1843, H.M.S. Lily chased a slaver which 
the crew ran ashore and abandoned off Quilimane. She 
was recognised as the Esperance, which had sailed from 
St. Catherine's, Brazil, at the end of 1842, with money to 
buy slaves at Pemba for herself and the Desangano, a vessel 
which had been already captured by the Lily, A brigan- 
tine captured in 1843 by H.M.S. Cleopatra, had 447 slaves 
on board. During her voyage to the Cape in rough weather, 
such was the over-crowded state of the vessel, that 177 
slaves died on board ; and at the Cape 63 more succumbed. 
What must have been the condition of those vessels on the 
long and weary way to Brazil, or the still more terrible 
journey through the tropics to Cuba ? 

The British Government, meanwhile, was urging upon 
Se5^id Said another step in the direction of the restriction 
of the slave trade : assisting him, as they put it, with his 
enlightened views. It was at first proposed that he should 
prohibit and abolish the traffic in slaves altogether, but 
thi$ was more than he had bargained for. The proposal 



TREATIES RESPECTING SLAVE TRADE. 39 

alarmed him. To the many distinctions which Seyyid 
Said possessed, one more must be added : he was the 
greatest slave-trader in the world. He derived the greater 
part of his revenue from the sale of slaves, on whom both 
import and export duties were charged, from 10,000 
to 15,000 being annually sold from his African dominions, 
and as many more imported into Zanzibar. Consequently 
when in 1842 Captain Hamerton came with Great Britain's 
proposal, he was distressed. " All is over now," he said. 
" This letter and the orders of Azrael, the Angel of Death, 
are to the Arabs one and the same thing : nothing but to 
submit. This letter is enough for me. I will now place 
myself and all I possess under the EngUsh." 

The relations between Hamerton and the Seyjdd do not 
seem to have been of the best. He states that at this 
interview, in consequence of the Seyyid's manner, which 
he describes as " insolent," he " assumed a high tone with 
him," and we find the Seyyid writing to Lord Aberdeen 
stating that he wished British functionaries in his do- 
minions to be good-tempered men, and to treat him 
properly. Though he may have been wanting in tact, 
Hamerton was hampered in his work by the presence of 
Captain Cogan, who seems to have acquired considerable 
influence in the councils of Said ; to have been, in fact, 
his chief adviser at that time in the negotiations which finally 
led up to the conclusion of the treaty in 1845. There is 
no doubt, too, that the India Board, in whose employ 
Hamerton was, did not manifest much consideration for 
the (lifficulties of their Arab ally. 

Seyyid Said was said to have sustained through the 
Moresby Treaty of 1822 a diminution in revenue to the 
extent of 100,000 crowns ; and the British Government 
well understood that the stoppage of the slave trade would 
result in a still further reduction of his revenues. They 
had under consideration the expediency of pecuniary aid, 
but certain arguments, urged at the time, showed the 



40 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

inutility of the measure. It was feared that prohibition 
would only have the effect of throwing the traffic into the 
hands of the subjects of the Ottoman Porte and the Persian 
Government ; and that, were the inhabitants of the gulf 
to relinquish the traffic in slaves, the place of their vessels 
would immediately be taken by others from the Red Sea, 
the coast of Makran, Sind and other maritime provinces 
in the Arabian Sea. The British Government decided 
therefore to modify its demands. 

The alarm of Seyyid Said at the prohibition which he 
believed to be impending was so great that, in 1842, he sent 
his envoy Ali bin Nasur to England in the SuUanah^ a 
barque of 300 tons, and 50 guns, with letters to the Queen, 
Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Palmerston, stating that he would 
be ruined, requesting consideration for his case, and 
begging that his means of subsistence might remain. He 
sent to the Queen two pearl necklaces, two emeralds, an 
ornament made like a crown, ten cashmere shawls, one 
box with four bottles of otto of roses and four horses. In 
reply. Lord Aberdeen, in a letter dated July 12, 1842, 
expressed to His Highness the anxious desire of her 
Majesty's Government that no slaves should be taken from 
Africa to Arabia, Persia or the Red Sea. 

Seyyid Said, no doubt relieved at the moderation of 
this new demand, declared himself ready to do all in his 
power to give effect to the wishes of the Queen of England, 
though he should thereby incur the enmity of his subjects 
and suffer loss in revenue. He imprudently sent through 
Cogan a present of some horses to the Chairman of the 
East India Company, an impropriety for which he was 
rebuked, in not too courteous terms, by the Bombay 
Government. In a letter which he at the same time sent 
to Lord Aberdeen through Cogan he requested that in the 
agreement the free sale and transit of slaves between 
Lamu and Kilwa, including Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia, 
should be confirmed as a right to his heirs and successors. 



NEW TREATY SIGNED. 41 

But the British Government were not to be led into this 
trap. Candour and good faith, as well as forbearance 
and courtesy marked their dealings with the Seyyid through- 
out his reign ; they therefore told him frankly that the 
right stipulated for was granted, but that it was to 
be treated rather as a reservation to himself than a con- 
cession by Her Majesty's Government. In reply to a 
second request that, as a set off against loss of revenue. 
Great Britain should assist him in recovering and retaining 
when recovered the island of Bahrein which had belonged 
to his ancestors, but which had seceded from his Muscat 
dominions, he was informed that the British Government 
could not do this, but were willing to help him in meeting 
the first deficiency in revenue that might arise from the 
agreement. 

The Agreement was signed at Zanzibar by Seyyid Said 
and Captain Hamerton on October 2, 1845. 

It provided for the suppression from and after January 
I, 1847, of the exportation of slaves from His Highness's 
African dominions, and the prohibition of the import 
of slaves from any part of Africa into his possessions in 
Asia. 

The Persian Government, and several Arab Chiefs in 
the Persian Gulf, followed in 1848 and 1849 with engage- 
ments to prohibit the importation of slaves by sea. Pre- 
sumably to give effect to the provisions of this agreement, 
two squadrons patrolled the coast : the Cape of Good Hope 
and East Coast of Africa squadron cruised as far as the 
fourth parallel of south latitude, which just included 
Mombasa ; a squadron of the Indian Navy to the north 
of this. The vessels of the Indian Navy made few if any 
captures, in consequence of the difficulties placed in their 
way by the Indian Government, and the legal proceedings 
in which officers became involved after having made a 
capture. It was even said that upon sighting a dhow the 
officers put the helm the other way to get away from her, 



42 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

rather than risk their commissions in the Bombay Courts 
of Justice. 

H.M.S. Castor, Captain Wyvil, Commodore of the Cape 
Squadron, and four other cruisers, policed the waters of 
the Mozambique Channel and Zanzibar. Much of the 
work was done in pinnaces and cutters and has been 
recorded by Captain Sulivan*, then a midshipman in the 
Castor. The following amusing incident throws a sidelight 
upon the difficulties of the chase in those days. " Our 
pinnace," wrote Captain Sulivan, "was now under the 
command of Mr. Jones, second master of the Dee, whose 
cheery disposition and good temper made him well suited 
to take the place of Campbell, who, with a similarly 
cheerful spirit, had succeeded in rendering every one happy 
in the boats, and in making the service a most agreeable 
one." 

Starting from Ibo one morning in February 1850, in 
company with the Dee's cutter, they steered a northward 
course, inside the islands, anchoring at noon under the 
lee of Maheto Island. " From the top of a ruin on this 
island, we observed what appeared to be a large vessel 
steering north, and immediately proceeded in chase of her. 
We had received some information relative to an armed Ameri- 
can vessel in the neighbourhood waiting for an opportunity 
to escape with a cargo of slaves, and as we neared the chase, 
it was soon pronounced to be a barque. For two hours 
with a Ught wind and oars did we pull to the northward 
and westward after her, now apparently gaining, now losing. 
' It's a barque,' said Jones ; ' she has just set her royals, 
and hauled up more.' 

" * Well, she's inside, out of the current, and we are in 
the heart of it, and that's how she's gaining.' 

" ' If it's the Yankee she'U fight for it.' 

"'Mount the gun.' 

** This done, we gave way again with the oars. The cutter 

* "Dhow Chasing." 



SUFFERINGS ON BOARD BRITISH CRUISERS. 43 

was not far astem of us now. * It's the Yankee,' said 
the coxswain, looking at her through the glass ; ' I'd swear 
to it by her sails.' 

" * She's bore up to run for it,' said another, and various 
were the opinions of those who were not pulling. The gun 
was loaded, and pointed with extreme elevation, with a 
view of ' letting her have it when near enough ; ' but a 
breeze sprang up, and cleared the haze away. The goddess 
was turned into a laurel, that she might be saved from 
Apollo : — It was a tree ! " 

On April 29, 1850, the Castor put in at Zanzibar to pro- 
vision. Seyyid Said was there and entertained the commo- 
dore and officers at a dinner, but sat aloof from the table 
himself, it being against the religion of a Mohammedan 
to eat with a Christian ; a reUgious scruple which has 
undergone some modification since then. Having loaded 
up her decks with live stock, including an Arab horse, 
a present from the Seyyid to the Commodore, which, by 
the time it reached the Cape, in nine months, " could do 
everything but smoke a pipe," the Castor put to sea and 
continued to cruise on the coast till February 185 1, leaving 
it only once during that time, namely in October, when she 
put in at Mauritius to refit. Never did British man-of- 
war, since the blockading days of the French war, enter 
a port needing repair more from truck to keelson. '* We — 
the midshipmen's mess — were reduced to cocoa-nut shells 
to eat out of, cocoa-nut shells to drink out of, and one of 
my messmates, I remember, was reduced to a cocoa-nut 
shell for washing in." Towards the close of the cruise, 
in December or January, out of a complement of 320 men 
on the Castor and her tender the Dart, they had 113 men 
on the sick-list, many of whom died. We refer to these 
details, not for any special historic interest they possess, 
but because they help us to understand what hardships 
our men worked under in those days before condensers 
and propellers, and what sacrifices Great Britain has made 



44 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

in her self-imposed task of crushing the slave trade. Great 
Britain sent forth her sons not to the glory and glamour 
of battle, but to a monotonous, wearing life, under con- 
ditions to which this age can offer no parallel. 

The vigilance of our cruisers succeeded in almost ex- 
terminating the ocean-borne slave traffic to the west 
coast, but about the year 1854, entering as we then were 
upon the Crimea War, this vigilance was relaxed and we 
hear of no more captures for six years. During this time 
the export of slaves from Portuguese territory round the 
Cape of Good Hope underwent a temporary revival, and 
ships from the Atlantic began to penetrate further up the 
coast An American merchant actually published his 
opinion in a United States journal that the slave traffic 
on the East Coast of Africa might be carried on with safety. 
We read of slaves being collected at Kilwa for Reunion ; 
of a Spanish brig from Havana arriving at Zanzibar ; 
of a French ship lurking under the lee of the island and 
carrying off 600 slaves ; of another French ship fiilly 
equipped as a slaver, having on board besides provisions, 
a supply of irons, chains, tin-plates, etc., appearing off the 
east coast of Zanzibar ; but these birds of prey, examples 
no doubt of not a few never recorded were, like the 
vanishing spectres of a haunting night - mare, now to 
disappear, not again to return. For British cruisers were 
once more upon the traU. In July, i860, H.M.S. Brisk 
captured a Spanish ship in the Mozambique Channel with 
864 slaves on board, and two months later the Lyra cap- 
tured, off Mafia, another Spanish ship, fitted out as a 
slaver. With these two captures the slave traffic to the 
Western Ocean came to an end. 



45 



CHAPTER V. 

SEYYID MAJID — REBELLION IN ZANZIBAR — SEPARATION FROM 

OMAN. 

Troubles in Muscat, which never ceased throughout his 
long reign, summoned Seyyid Said once more to Oman 
in 1854. The Persians had forcibly resumed their supremacy 
over Bunder Abbas, a port on the eastern side of the Persian 
Gulf, held in feof by the rulers of Oman at an annual rental 
of 6,000 tomans. His son Thuwaini, a weak and vacillating 
Prince, was his Governor at Muscat, and he despatched him 
on an expedition to expel the Persians. But the expedition 
was imsuccessful, for though Bunder Abbas was saved to 
Oman for a period of twenty years, it was only upon 
humiliating terms. 

Disappointed and tired out, the weary monarch, in 1856, 
turned his face for the last time towards his island home 
which he was never again to see. He embarked on the 
VictoriUy a frigate of 32 guns with auxiliary steam ; the 
frigate Piedmontese 36, and the corvette Artemise 22, 
acting as escort. The Seyyid was ill with dysentery ; 
his constitution shattered by excessive self-indulgence and 
the use of stimulating drugs. On October 19, at half- 
past seven in the morning, he died on board the Victoria 
when off Seychelles. He was sixty-five years old and had 
reigned fifty- two years, seventeen conjointly with his elder 
brother Salim, thirty-five alone. He married thrice : 



46 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

in 1827 Azze binti Seif, a sister of the Prince of Shirazi, 
a woman of very strong will, feared and disliked by the 
whole of her husband's household, over which she ruled ; 
in 1847 Shesade, grand-daughter of Fath Ali Shah, Shah 
of Persia, a princess of surpassing beauty, who nearly 
ruined the Seyyid by her extravagance and shocked his 
people by her assumption of liberty and wild disregard 
of Arab custom ; and subsequently he married a daughter 
of Scif bin Ali. At his death he had seventy concubines 
and thirty-six children living. Fifteen of the surviving 
children were sons, six of whom were to reign, namely : 
Thuwaini and Turki in Muscat ; Majid, Barghash, Khalifa 
and Ali in Zanzibar. Another son, Mohammed, a pious 
and upright prince, became the father of Hamoud, late 
Sultan of Zanzibar. Seyyid Said is credited with one 
hundred and twelve children in all, twenty-one being sons. 
Honoured in his friendship with Great Britain, respected 
by his subjects, Seyyid Said was beloved of his family 
and household. At Zanzibar he kept up two huge establish* 
ments, one at Mtoni, and one in the town, each containing 
about a thousand people — Arabs, Persians, Turks, Cir- 
cassians, Abyssinians, Nubians, Swahilis, and natives from 
central Africa, over whom he extended a patriarchal pro- 
tection. Though he was strict with his children, per- 
mitting no familiarity and imposing upon them an exacting 
etiquette, he was nevertheless very fond of them. His 
son Majid was subject to epileptic fits, and precautions 
were taken against leaving him alone, especially in his 
bath room. On one occasion he was found in convulsion 
on his bed. A messenger was at once despatched to the 
Seyyid who was at Mtoni, Majid's house being in the town. 
There was no boat afloat at the Mtoni palace, so the Seyyid, 
seizing his weapons, hailed a passing fisherman and turning 
him out of his canoe jumped in and paddled himself to the 
town. Tears ran down his venerable white beard as he 
stood by his son's sick bed, calling upon God to preserve 




Seyyid Majid. 



[To face page i^b. 



48 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

palace, the place where the Sultans have subsequently 
been buried. He then tried to obtain possession of the 
fort, but the Baluchi jemadar in command refused to admit 
him. Secretly procuring arms and ammunition, he sur- 
rounded the palace at Mtoni, bu^ his attempts to collect 
a following proved unavailing. The next morning Majid, 
who, upon discovering that the ships had left Chumbe, 
had made all haste to the town, was hailed by the people 
as their ruler. 

The el Harth tribe of Arabs who had always shown signs 
of disaffection towards the Seyyid's family, proceeded 
with their chief, Abdullah bin Salim, to the British Con- 
sulate demanding to know of Hamerton what they should 
do, since the country was without a ruler. Hamerton left 
them in no doubt about what to do. He told the chief 
that if he attempted to disturb the peace his head would 
fall in twenty-four hours, and thereupon turned him out 
of the Consulate. 

Majid assembled his yoimger brothers who were residing 
on the island, his family and the chiefs on the continental 
coast, " in order that they might recognise me. To this 
they all agreed, and they accordingly elected me to be ruler 
over them and entrusted me with the direction of their 
affairs." He despatched his frigate, the Taj, with the 
news of Seyyid Said's death to his brothers, Thuwaini, 
Governor of Muscat, Turki, Governor of Lobar, and 
Mohammed. When the sad intelligence was proclaimed, 
it caused " such a wailing throughout the town that the 
hills were almost shaken by it." The people went into 
mourning for three days, praying God for resignation, 
" in accordance with the words of the Most High : * Proclaim 
good tidings unto the patient, who, when a misfortune 
befalls them, say : We are God's, and to him we shall surely 
return.' " 

In some respects the condition of affairs was unique. 
Se5^id Said, a ruler of what practically amounted to two 



QUARRELS OF SAID'S SONS. 49 

states, separated by 3,000 miles of ocean, had died, leaving 
his second but eldest surviving son, Thuwaini, Governor of 
the parent state Muscat, and his fourth but second surviving 
son, Majid, Governor of Zanzibar. Who was to succeed 
him ? Was there to be one ruler, supreme, as he had been 
over the whole of the dominions, or was each state now to 
,have its own independent ruler ? Who was to decide the 
point ? The case was further complicated by the fact 
that the parent state was poor while Zanzibar was rich, 
and that Arab law and custom provided for no stability 
in succession. 

In 1844 Seyyid Said had informed Lord Aberdeen 
that he had appointed his eldest son, Khaled, to succeed 
him in Africa and Thuwaini in Asia, and he desired to know 
whether the British Government would guarantee the 
succession, but the British Government did not see their 
way to do this. Said's eldest son, Hilal, a favourite with 
the Arabs, but a man completely abandoned to the use 
of intoxicating liquors, had been disinherited, but died 
before his father. Khaled, neither esteemed nor respected, 
also died before his father, in 1854. 

It appeared at first as if the brothers intended to abide 
by their father's wishes. Thuwaini sent his first cousin, 
Mohammed bin SaUm, one of the executors of Seyyid Said's 
will, to his brother Majid in Zanzibar, to " declare every- 
thing " unto him " by word of mouth." What it was that 
the crafty Mohammed was instructed to declare, and what 
it was that he did actually declare, must ever remain 
a mystery. One thing only is clear about his declarations : 
that no one thereafter could understand them ; that 
Thuwaini said they were one thing, Majid another ; that 
Mohammed himself never explained them, and that in a 
very short time the brothers were at each other's 
throats. 

Mohammed, however, succeeded in extracting from Majid 
a promise to pay Thuwaini annually 40,000 crowns. This 

4 



50 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

payment Majid stopped after the first year, alleging as 
the reason that one of the conditions of his promise was 
that Thuwaini should not stir up strife against Seyyid 
Turki, Governor of Lohar, who was to receive 10,000 
crowns to enable him to pay the tribute to the Wahabees, 
which condition had been violated. The real reason, 
however, was that though his revenue was large, amounting 
to 206,000 crowns, about 443,000 rupees a year, his treasury 
was empty and he wished to be freed from his promise. 
The chiefs of the warlike northern Arabs, of whom he stood 
in constant dread, he subsidised to the extent of 10,000 
crowns per annum ; he owed the customs master 327,000 
crowns ; and he had borrowed seven lacs of crowns from 
his orphan brothers. With the exception of the customs 
master, an Indian named Luddah, who farmed the customs, 
and on whom he was entirely dependent for money, Majid 
had not a single honest person about him on whose oath 
he could rely ; and though not of extravagant habits he 
was surrounded by a horde of greedy mercenaries who 
preyed upon the State. 

Majid had assumed the custody of the six yoimg children 
of his father in Zanzibar, but not only did he appropriate 
their inheritance, he neglected their comfort, and drove 
them to appeal to Thuwaini against his treatment. 

So when, in 1859, ^^^ ^^^ second year the 40,000 cro>^Tis 
was not forthcoming, Seyyid Thuwaini prepared an expe- 
dition against Zanzibar to compel the recognition of his 
rights. To forward the success of his plans which, bearing 
in mind the cautious and deUberate character of the Arabs 
and their habit of intrigue, we may be certain he had 
been contemplating almost from the time of his father's 
death, he had despatched one, Nasur bin Ali, to receive 
the second instalment of the first pa3mient of the 40,000 
crowns. Having duly received the instalment, Nasur 
" then went in among the people, secretly corrupting their 
minds, and promising them all sorts of things from 



INTERVENTION BY GREAT BRITAIN. $1 

Thuwaini. As reported to us, moreover, he said, * Bar- 
ghash will act for Thuwaini, for he is on his side, and do 
whatever he bids you.' " Nasur then left. But in intrigue 
Majid was as accomplished as his brother. He succeeded 
in winning over Seyyid Turki of Lobar, who sat like a watch- 
dog on Thuwaini's flank, awaiting his opportimity. Majid 
supplied him with arms and ammunition, and so successful 
was his strategy that had Thuwaini carried out his pro- 
jected invasion he would in all probability have lost Oman. 
But all this was sub rosa. Majid proclaimed his deliverance 
in quite other terms. " With the aid of God," he wrote, 
*' I prepared to meet and resist him with all the men and 
materials of war at my disposal, and I myself went on board 
one of my frigates for the same purpose, confident that 
God would cause me to triumph over one who had violated 
his treaty and sought to do me injury, knowing full well 
that the wicked cannot prosper ; and God did indeed 
thwart his evil designs, and made the (British) Government 
the instrument of his salvation." 

The whole of the Swahilis of the coast rose in support 
of Majid, many of the tribes under their own chiefs 
crossing to Zanzibar to his assistance. The Swahilis of 
the island and the Wangazija (natives of the Comoro islands) 
armed themselves in readiness to help in repelling the 
invasion. The dhows with Thuwaini's troops that first 
began to arrive at the northern ports of the coast found 
them all occupied by Majid's friendly tribes and ships of 
war, and being imable to land or to procure wood and water 
were obliged to surrender. 

But the time had come for Great Britain to interfere ; 
Thuwaini was upon the sea ; Oman was in a ferment ; 
Majid and the Arabs of Zanzibar and the African coast 
were under arms. 

The maritime interests of Great Britain were too great 
to permit the highway to India to be disturbed by two 
petulant princes. The British Govenmient persuaded 

4* 



52 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

the contending parties to submit their claims to the arbi- 
tration of Lord Canning, Governor-General of India. 
Thuwaini returned to Muscat, abandoning his expedition 
to Zanzibar ; Majid contentedly laid down his arms and 
resigned himself to wait for information from Bom- 
bay ; " and it is believed that none will come for . five 
years." 

Apparently Thuwaini also thought that deliberations of 
the Governor-General would be of a protracted character, 
for in the meanwhile he prepared another little diversion. 
He still had, or thought he had, another card to play. 
There were the el Harth Arabs of Zanzibar and there was 
Barghash, a "lackbrain," as he afterwards termed him, 
when his plans had failed ; " Think you that I would 
correspond with a lackbrain ; such he is ? " He bethought 
him of another esteemed " brother," Hamed bin Salem ; 
no lackbrain, at least in Thuwaini's view. Him he sent 
to Majid. The story is like one from the Old Testament. 
" Wherefore are you come ? " said Majid to Hamed. And 
Hamed answered, " To effect a reconciliation between 
you and your brother Thuwaini." Whereat Majid was 
much surprised, as well he might be, seeing that he and 
Thuwaini had both agreed that their reconciliation should 
be left to the Governor-General, and he was more surprised 
still when he came to understand Hamed's methods and 
his ideas of how this reconciliation was to be brought about. 
Hamed brought with him Nasur bin Ali ; they " went in 
and out " among the el Harth Arabs for a little time ; 
succeeded in rousing them to revolt, and then returned to 
Muscat. 

Barghash's opportimity had now come. The el Harth 
Arabs looked to him to lead them against Majid ; he 
looked to the assistance of the el Harth Arabs to enable 
him to usurp the throne. But the disaffected Arabs, while 
welcoming the leadership of Barghash, had no intention of 
being made a convenience of, their object being to get 



FRENCH INFLUENCE. 53 

rid of the whole of the reigning family of the Albusaidi and 
set up a Government of their own. 

The French Consul in Zanzibar at that time was a Russian- 
Pole, named Cochet, believed by Seyyid Majid and the 
British Consul, Colonel Rigby, to be carrying on secret 
negotiations with Thuwaini and Barghash on the under- 
standing that if the rebellion were successful the Port of 
Mombasa would be ceded to France. But though it is 
doubtful if any collusion existed between the French 
Consul and Thuwaini, there is no doubt that Barghash 
courted, and would have welcomed, French support had 
it been forthcoming. " What is your opinion," he wrote 
to Cochet, " if, in coming to the town to attack Majid, 
we meet with any English or other Christians on the road, 
shall we kill them or not ? Give me your reply on this 
point." And again he wrote to Cochet, " My brother 
Majid's wish is to give the country to the English and he 
has spoken thereof openly, not once, nor twice, but often. 
We, however, will not give our coimtry to the English, 
or to the French, or to the Americans, or to anyone else ; 
but if we sell it we shall do so only at the cost of our blood 
and of war to the death. As to yourself, be fully confident ; 
if you 4re buying or selling in the plantations be not afraid, 
your transactions will be safe." 

Unlike his father, who always remained the staimch friend 
of Great Britain, Barghash from his youth hated Europeans 
though he preferred the French to the English. Seyyid Said 
possessed several estates and clove plantations. One of 
the largest of these is situated at Machui, and on this Khaled, 
Se3^d Said's second son and Governor in Zanzibar before 
Majid, built a palace, calling it Marseilles, after the French 
Mediterranean port ; another plantation he called Bourbon. 
These plantations still bear these names, and they are 
evidence of French influence in the island at that time. 

The struggle between Majid and Barghash was now 
approaching its crisis. The probabilities seemed all 



54 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

against Barghash ; yet Seyyid Said had achieved the 
mastery by sheer force of character and Barghash inherited 
his father's qualities of courage, resource and perseverance. 
He was an able man, conscious of his ability. Majid 
was no fool, but he loved ease and repose ; always preferred 
bribing his opponents to fighting them, and, but for one 
circumstance, his power would have been wrested from him 
by Barghash and he himself destroyed. He was defended 
from this assault by the intervention of the British Consul, 
a man who, fortunately for Majid, was not afraid of 
responsibility. 

Majid, as soon as he discovered what was afoot, ordered 
Barghash to quit the island, and upon his refusing to do 
so confined him to his house in the town. The next day 
Barghash sent word that he would go but required money 
for the voyage, whereupon Majid sent him 10,000 crowns, 
Barghash's house was situated close to the shore, almost 
beneath the shadow of the palace of the Se5^d. Here he 
lived with his sister Mji, and here he now foimd himself 
in a state of siege, his provisions and water cut off. At 
the back of his house, and separated from it by but a narrow 
street, across which two people could shake hands, li'sred 
two of his sisters, Khole and Salme.* 

* Khole, favourite daughter of Seyyid Said, was a woman of rare beauty and 
form. The eyes of Arabs are, as a rule, large and lustrous, but Khole*s eyes 
were so fine that she was given the nick-name of the Morning Star. It is related 
that a young Arab, taking part in some games before the palace, was observed 
staring up at one of the windows, all unconscious of the blood which gushed 
from his wounded foot He had caught sight of Khole, and, overcome with the 
vision he beheld, had not noticed that he had pierced his foot with his lance. 
Salme was younger than Khole. In the year 1866, seven years lafter the events 
we are now relating, Salme took the desperate step of running away and marrying 
a young German, the employee of a German commercial house in Zanzibar, with 
whom, aided by those narrow and treacherous streets, so familiar a feature in 
the architecture of the town, she had been able, under the very nose of her 
brother, Majid, who sat upon the throne, to form a friendship which, but for the 
presence of a British warship, the High/Iyer^ in which she escaped to Aden, would 
have involved her in the fatal vengeance of her family. 



ATTEMPT BY BARGHASH. 55 

Forced by the angry discord which always divided the 
families of the Seyyids in these bitter feuds, the two sisters 
had espoused the cause of Barghash and in the straits to 
which he was now reduced became his only hope. The 
conspirators had for some time been collecting supplies 
and warlike stores at the palace on Marseilles plantation 
which Barghash had decided to make his stronghold, 
and it now devolved upon Khole and Salme to deliver him 
from his prison. Encompassed by spies, the adjacent 
streets thronged with troops, it was a desperate task that 
lay before the two pampered Princesses, but they proved 
equal to it. Shrouded in their masks and trusting to their 
wily feminine graces, the sisters, followed by a picked 
retinue, left their house at midnight and boldly confronted 
the officers of the watch that had been set at their brother's 
door. The soldiers, astoimded at the apparition of guile- 
less innocence before them, were struck speechless, and the 
next moment, uttering prayers and excuses, opened the 
loors of the house and passed the two women in. A few 
ninutes afterwards they emerged with Barghash and his 
/oung brother, Abdul Aziz, both armed to the teeth 
Old wrapped in women's clothes. Barghash was recog- 
ized by a Baluchi soldier, but out of veneration for the 
amily he held his peace. Once out of the town the fugitives 
nshed across country like hunted hares till they reached 
te rendezvous. Here Barghash, divesting himself of 
I5 disguise and taking Abdul Aziz by the hand, sped away 
trough the darkness with his escort to the plantation ; 
Yiile the exhausted sisters, trembling at the horror of the 
Siuation, crept stealthily back to their house to await 
t'e consequences of their deeds. 

Marseilles plantation, as we have already mentioned, 

blonged to Seyyid Khaled bin Said, and after his death 

itbecame the property of his two daughters, Chembua and 

Fchu. 

The palace was well suited for a rebel stronghold as the 



$6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Machui range on which it stood is flanked on the west 
by the marshy river Mwera, which served as a moat against 
a hostile advance from the town. Here then, Barghash 
with the el Harth Arabs and their slaves, fortified him- 
self. 

Majid prepared to follow him with his forces, endeavouring 
meanwhile to persuade his brother to desist ; but for answer 
Barghash told him that if he did not come out and attack 
he would march with his men against him : a clever retort 
intended to lure Majid from the town ; a trap into which 
the unsuspecting monarch speedily fell. Majid mustered 
his troops at Bet el Ras and in the morning, reinforced 
by nine men and a gun from H.M.S. Assaye, he marched 
to Machui. It was the month of October, 1859, and it 
was raining hard, the north-east monsoon having 
apparently set in early. Majid, nevertheless, at 3 p.m. 
opened the assault and bombarded the palace at Marseilles, 
but was unable to make much impression upon the wall. 
The rebels issuing from their fortifications, engaged theii 
assailants on the western slope of the hill, and succeedec 
in keeping them off till sunset. Majid then retired to thu 
Mwera and bivouacked his troops at the sugar factory a 
Kinuni Moshi. At night he slept, and it is presumed hi 
whole army slept too, for Barghash and his rebel forces 
all unknown to the Seyyid, moved upon the town. L 
the morning Majid advancing to renew the attack fouii 
the palace abandoned, and having procured a heavier gu 
from the Assaye^ he poimded it to a ruin, and then retumd 
to the town to find the rebellion at an end. 

Barghash had found the town in possession of Coloiil 
Rigby and was forced to seek shelter again in his houf. 
He had, in the British Consul, a less forbearing adversa^ 
than his brother. The shore in Zanzibar harbour bcjg 
steep and shelving, Rigby moved the Assaye close in aid 
anchored her off Barghash's house. Landing a guard d£ 
marines he proceeded to attack the house with rifle-Wl 



BRITISH COMMISSION. 57 

till the people from the inside began to shout out their 
submission. Rigby then went up to the house and, 
rapping with his walking-stick at the door, called upon 
Barghash to surrender. He then seized him, put him on 
board the Assaye, and in three days' time sent him off 
with his little brother, Abdul Aziz, to Bombay. Barghash 
was kept in Bombay till the end of 1861, when he was 
permitted to return to Zanzibar with Captain Lewis Pelly, 
who had been appointed to relieve Lieutenant-Colonel 
Rigby as British Consul and PoUtical Agent of the East 
India Company. Abdul Aziz is still in Bombay. 

To investigate the claims of Thuwaini and Majid with 
respect to the succession to the sovereignty over Muscat 
and Zanzibar, Lord Canning appointed a Commission with 
Brigadier Coghlan, Political Resident at Aden, in charge. 
Associated with Coghlan were the Rev. P. Badger and Dr. 
Welsh. The Commission, in June i860, proceeded to 
Muscat to hear the arguments of Seyyid Thuwaini, and to 
Zanzibar in September, 1861. 

One of the most interesting questions the Commission 
had to determine was the right of the ruler of Muscat 
to dispose of the succession by will and the laws which 
regulated the succession of Oman. The investigation 
of this point was entrusted to Dr. Badger, one of the most 
learned Arabic scholars of his day. After careful inquiries 
into the customs that had for centuries prevailed, Dr. 

Badger wrote : " Among all the sovereigns not 

one occurs who is recorded to have assumed or exercised 
the right of nominating a successor, or of disposing of his 
territories by will or otherwise. On the death of a ruler 
the member of his family who happened to exercise the 
greatest influence at the time, either put himself forward, 
or was put forward by the people, to succeed to the 
sovereignty. The claim was frequently disputed by other 
relations of the deceased, and intestine family wars followed, 
the strongest ultimately gaining the ascendency ; but even 



SS ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

in such cases the right to the sovereignty does'not appear 
to have been regarded as valid without the concurrence 
of the principal tribes." 

On these grounds, and the altered circumstances and 
condition of the dependencies during half a century, the 
Commission reported that they considered the people 
of Zanzibar fuUy entitled to elect Seyyid Majid as their 
ruler, and justified in resisting any attempt made by 
Se)^id Thuwaini to coerce them into submission. They 
therefore concluded that Seyyid Majid's claims to 
sovereignty over Zanzibar and its dependencies was 
superior to any that could be adduced in favour of the ruler 
of the parent State. 

Lord Canning accordingly awarded as follows : ist. 
That his Highness, Seyyid Majid be declared ruler of 
Zanzibar and the African dominions of his late Highness 
Seyyid Said. 

2nd. — That the ruler of Zanzibar pay annually to the 
ruler of Muscat a subsidy of 40,000 crowns. 

3rd. — ^That His Highness Seyyid Majid pay to His 
Highness Seyyid Thuwaini the arrears of subsidy for two 
years, of 80,000 crowns. 

The Award bore date April 2, 1861, and was entitled : 
Award of the Governor-General of India for the Settlement 
of differences between the Sultan of Muscat and the Sultan 
of Zanzibar. Recognition of the Independence of their 
respective States, — The Award was accepted by Seyyid 
Thuwaini on May 15 and by Seyyid Majid on June 25, 
1861. 

Lord Canning added that the annual payment of 40,000 
crowns was not to be understood as the recognition of the 
dependence of Zanzibar upon Muscat, nor as merely personal 
between the two brothers, but was to extend to their 
respective successors, as compensating the ruler of Muscat 
for the abandonment of all claims upon Zanzibar, and 
adjusting the inequality between the two inheritances 



THUWAINVS DEATH. 59 

derived from their father, " the venerated friend of the 
British Government." On March 10, 1862, a Declaration 
was made between Great Britain and France, engaging 
reciprocally to respect the independence of the Sultans 
of Muscat and Zanzibar ; the adhesion of Germany to 
this Declaration was signed October 29, 1886. 

Seyyid Thuwaini reigned ten years in Muscat. On 
February 11, 1866, he was murdered, while asleep, by 
his own son, Salim, who succeeded him. The payment of 
the 40,000 crowns was then discontinued by Barghash on 
the ground that Salim was a usurper. 



6o 



CHAPTER VI. 

SEYYID MAJID — THE SLAVE TRADE OF ZANZIBAR AND 

ARABIA. 

The cruelties of the slave trade have been described by 
many writers, but in order to understand our subject 
rightly, we must, at the risk of repeating what may be 
familiar to many of our readers, follow the slave dealer 
for a little into the interior of Africa, and the slave dhow 
upon the sea. 

During the early part of the century the country behind 
Quilimane and Mozambique provided the slaves destined 
for the markets of Brazil and Cuba, but as this traffic was 
gradually exterminated the caravans were diverted to more 
northern ports, chiefly Kilwa (Kilwa Kisiwani), and 
subsequently Bagamoyo ; while, owing to the depopulation 
of the country between Nyasa and the coast, the slave 
hunters were compelled to go further and further into the 
interior till in the fifties they penetrated to the western 
side of Lake Nyasa, whence the bulk of the slaves were 
drawn. The hunters were sometimes Portuguese subjects, 
but more often half-caste Arabs. Livingstone has des- 
scribed the method they adopted to procure their supplies. 
It consisted in stirring up strife between tribes, setting one 
against the other in warfare, and carrying off or purchasing 
from the victors for a few yards of cloth, the prisoners that 
had been made. It must be remembered, however, that 



HORRORS OF SLAVE TRADE. 6i 

kidnapping and the slave trade had been going on in the 
interior of Africa for hundreds of years ; that many of 
the people were bom slaves ; and that in times of scarcity 
and famine a chief would sell his people ; natives, their 
own relations or even their own children. Depopulation 
again was often due to marauding tribes like the Masai 
who swept over the country carrying war and desolation 
wherever they went. Dr. Steere, when in the Zambezi 
region in 1862, observed that the direction of the slave 
trade was into the interior and not down to the coast. 

But although it is undoubtedly true that the Arabs 
did not create the slave trade of East Africa and were 
perhaps responsible for only a portion of it, the slaves that 
had the misfortune to fall into their hands underwent 
unspeakable sufferings in the march to the coast and in 
transit to Zanzibar and Arabia. Livingstone's description 
of the horrors of the journey to the coast is well known. 
He believed, and the Rev. H. Waller of the Universities* 
Mission to Central Africa, who was in the Zambezi country 
with Livingstone in 1861, was of the same opinion, that 
probably not much more than one-fifth of the slaves in a 
caravan reached the coast alive, and that for every slave 
that came to the coast ten lives were lost in the interior. 
The slaves were tied together in long strings, the men being 
yoked in forked sticks, which were fastened round their 
necks, and kept there day and night till the caravan 
reached the coast and the tale was delivered to the shipper. 
The sick were left behind ; insubordination was punished 
with immediate death. Having reached the coast the 
slaves were embarked in dhows and conveyed to Zanzibar 
to be sold in the open market or disposed of privately to 
dealers. The weary toil of the track was replaced by 
hideous confinement in the hold of a dhow. Sometimes 
the slaves were closely packed in open boats, their naked 
bodies exposed day and night to the sun and rain. To 
the tortures of sea-sickness (for natives not accustomed 



62 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

to the sea are bad sailors) and confinement were added 
those of hunger and sometimes thirst, for the slaves were 
purposely kept in low condition and under-fed lest they 
should gain strength and rise against the dhow master. 
Those who upon reaching their destination were considered 
too weak to live were left on board to die, the owners 
thereby avoiding the customs duty. 

The dhows averaged about 80 tons burden — though 
some were 200 tons and more — and carried usually about 
200 slaves ; some of the larger dhows would have 300 and 
even 400 on board. To escape identification and capture 
the dhow master, if chased by a cruiser would sometimes 
throw the slaves overboard. An instance is recorded of 
a dhow that lost a third of her slaves between Kilwa and 
Zanzibar, 90 being thrown overboard, dead or in a d3dng 
condition. 

Although Zanzibar was the great mart and distributing 
centre, cargoes were, in the south-west monsoon, sometimes 
carried direct to Muscat, a voyage occupying 40 days from 
Kilwa. A slave bought in the Zanzibar market for 20 
dollars would realise 60 or 100 dollars at Muscat. 

To elude our cruisers the dhows would creep up along 
the shallow waters of the coast or pass outside Pemba. 
In 1872 a dhow laden with slaves from East Africa was 
captured in the Persian Gulf by H.M.S. Vulture. The 
following description of the dhow and its freight is taken 
from the Times of India, of October of that year : 

" The number of slaves it was impossible at the time 
to estimate ; so crowded on deck, and in the hold below 
was the dhow, that it seemed, but for the aspect of misery, 
a very nest of ants. The hold, from which an intolerable 
stench proceeded, was several inches deep in the foulest 
bilge-water and refuse. Down below, there were numbers 
of children and wretched beings in the most loathsome 
stages of small-pox and scrofula of every description. A 
more disgusting and degrading spectacle of humanity 



ARABS AS SLAVE-TRADERS: 63 

could hardly be seen, whilst the foulness of the dhow was 
such that the sailors could hardly endure it. When the 
slaves were transferred to the Vulture the poor wretched 
creatures were so dreadfully emaciated and weak, that 
many had to be carried on board, and lifted for every 
movement. How it was that so many survived such hard- 
ships was a source of wonder to all that belonged to the 
Vulture, On examination by the surgeon, it was found that 
there were no less than 35 cases of small-pox in various 
stages ; and from the time of the first taking of the dhow 
to their landing at Butcher's Island, Bombay, 15 died out 
of the whole number of 169, and since then there have been 
more deaths amongst them. But perhaps the most atrocious 
piece of cruelty of the Arabs was heard afterwards from 
the slaves themselves ; viz., that at the first discovery 
of small-pox amongst them by the Arabs, all the infected 
slaves were at once thrown overboard, and this was con- 
tinued day by day, until, they said, forty had perished in 
this manner. When they found the disease could not be 
checked, they simply left them to take their chance, and 
to die. Many of the children were of the tenderest years, 
scarcely more than three years old, and most of them bear- 
ing marks of the brutality of the Arabs in half-healed 
scars, and bruises inflicted from the lash and stick." 

Such are the pictures drawn for us by those who were 
witnesses of these events ; by the Admirals of the squad- 
rons, the British Consuls and Missionaries. They represent 
to us the extreme sufferings undergone by the poor help- 
less creatures who fell into the clutches of the slave trader. 
There were captured slaves, however, who did not undergo 
the hideous sufferings here described. The dhows were 
not all crammed full, nor in all cases were the slaves con- 
fined completely in the hold. We read of cargoes arriving 
at Zanzibar, the slaves fat and merry ; sunning themselves 
on the deck. Unlike the French and Portuguese traders 
the Arabs, though hot tempered and passionate, were not 



64 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

tyrannical ; they shared with their captives such provisions 
as they carried and shared their privations likewise. 
Still the sufferings of the slaves, even if shared by their 
masters, were cruel enough, and were increased by the 
op>erations of our cruisers. 

In the early years of Seyyid Majid's reign a considerable 
trade was carried on by the French. The French had 
agents up and down the coast and in Zanzibar. In Zanzibar 
the slaves were collected on the east coast of the island, 
which was, and is, difficult of access, and only sparsely in- 
habited, and shipped off secretly to Reunion and Mayotte. 
Majid deriving no profit from this traffic, as the French 
paid no duty on their slaves, endeavoured to stop it, but 
when he remonstrated with the French Consul, that 
functionary threatened him with the intervention of his 
Government. French warships, stationed on the coast, 
protected the French slavers from molestation. 

The northern traffic was carried on by Arabs from the 
Arabian coast. These northern Arabs took delivery of 
the slaves as they were brought to the coast by the half-caste 
traders, and distributed them to the markets of Zanzibar, 
Arabia and Persia. Not being subjects of the Ruler of 
Zanzibar they defied his authority and became the terror 
of the peaceful Arabs of Zanzibar. Kidnapping went on 
up and down the coast ; in the season the people of Zanzi- 
bar were afraid to stir out of their houses after dark, and 
all who could do so sent their children and young slaves 
into the interior of the island for safety. Armed bands 
paraded the town, and such was their wild lawless character 
that to prevent collisions with them the bluejackets of the 
squadron were not allowed ashore at Zanzibar, but were 
taken off to the Seychelles and given their leave there. It 
was with these Arabs, who were in fact pirates, that our 
cruisers had to cope. 

The trade, it will be remembered, was legal within the 
limits ol Kilwa to the south of Zanzibar and Lamu to the 



SLAVE TRAFFIC WITH ARABIA. 6$ 

north, a distance of some 430 miles. During the five years 
1862-67, 97,203 slaves were exported from Kilwa, 76,703 
going to Zanzibar, 20,500 elsewhere. This represents an 
av6rage export from Kilwa alone of 20,000 slaves. It was 
estimated that from 1,700 to 3,000 were sufficient to main- 
tain the slave labour of Zanzibar and Pemba, and that at 
least 17,000 of those who left Kilwa were destined for the 
foreign market. To this extent were the Treaty stipula- 
tions with Great Britain ignored or set at defiance. 

An export tax of two dollars was levied upon all slaves 
shipped from Kilwa for Zanzibar, four dollars upon those 
for Lamu, and a further export tax of two dollars upon 
all slaves shipped from Zanzibar. The proceeds of these, as 
of all other taxes, belonged to the Sultan of Zanzibar and 
must have represented an annual revenue of over 15,000 
pounds sterUng. 

At the time of which we write the ships of the East 
India squadron patrolled the coast as far as latitude 23® 
south. In 1867 this squadron, consisting of seven ships, 
was under the command of Sir Leopold Heath, who 
succeeded Rear-Admiral Hillyar, and during the season, 
that is to say during the south-west monsoon, which blows 
from May till October, the squadron maintained a blockade 
of the Arabian coast, Ras el Hadd being the point at which 
the slave dhows eventually concentrated, the town of 
Sur, just beyond the Ras, being the principal dhow building 
centre. 

During the three years 1867-69 the squadron of Admiral 
Heath captured 116 dhows, containing 2,645 slaves, but it 
was estimated that in the same period dhows carrying 
37,000 slaves must have evaded capture. The proportion 
of captures was then about 7 per cent. In the year 1868 
400 dhows were boarded, but 11 only of these were found 
to be slavers. The mystery of how the slavers evaded our 
cruisers was never cleared up. The cruisers, not being 
provided with steam launches, and being entirely dependent 

5 



66 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

upon boats, could not intercept the dhows as they hugged 
the shore, and the officers, often new to their work, were 
entirely dependent upon their interpreters, at that time 
a class of men by no means to be relied upon. 

The fact was that Great Britain after twenty-five years, 
that is to say from the signing of the Treaty of 1845, had 
been able to accomplish nothing in the direction of putting 
down the slave trade with Arabia ; that the Treaty rather 
played into the hands of the slavers because, within the 
legalised limits, and when provided with a licence from the 
Custom House at Zanzibar, they could defy our cruisers ; 
and they not only defied them but jeered at them. Thus 
the prestige of the EngUsh suffered, as it was said that 
while they talked and bullied they could not or would not 
stop the trade. 

Captured dhows when not destroyed at sea were taken 
to Aden or Zanzibar, where the Political Agent and Consul 
held the office of judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. The 
captors were allowed a boimty of one pound ten shillings 
a ton. Numbers of the freed slaves were sent to the 
Seychelles, others were located in Zanzibar. During the 
time that he held office in Zanzibar, Colonel Rigby freed 
6,000 slaves belonging to British Indian subjects, and these 
were either placed out with their former masters to work 
four da3rs a week in return for their houses and cultivating 
rights, or were left to find work as they could. It was a 
very doubtful privilege for a slave, after having endured 
the privations of the journey from Nyassaland to Arabia, 
to be rescued by a British cruiser just as his sufferings 
were about to terminate. It is well known that Arabs 
are kind and lenient to their slaves, and a slave having 
survived the terrible hardships of the voyage would 
probably be more comfortable with an Arab master than 
turned adrift in a new coimtry to shift for himself. 

It became obvious that the methods upon which we were 
at that time working were wrong, and that we were begin- 



PALMERSTON AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 67 

ning at the wrong end. There was but one way, namely, 
to abolish the traffic altogether. When the Treaty of 
1845 was under discussion. Lord Palmerston had instructed 
Captain Hamerton to inform Seyyid Said " that the traffic 
in slaves carried on by his subjects was doomed to de- 
struction ; that Great Britain was the chief instrument 
in the hands of Providence for the accomplishment of this 
object ; that it is useless for these Arabs to oppose what 
is written in the Book of Fate ; that if they persisted in the 
continuance of this traffic it would involve them in trouble 
and losses ; that they had better therefore submit to the 
will of Providence, and abandon this traffic, cultivate 
their soil, and engage in lawful commerce." 

This view of the great Minister Great Britain had, 
after 25 years, come to recognise as the true one. She 
now set herself the task of imposing it upon the Arabs. 
On July 6, 1871, a Select Committee of the House of 
Commons was appointed to enquire into the whole question 
of the slave trade on the east coast of Africa. One im- 
portant sequel to the enquiry was the mission of Sir Bartle 
Frere in 1873 and the treaty that followed ; another the 
commissioning of H.M.S. London in the same year. 



68 



CHAPTER VII. 

ZANZIBAR UNDER SEYYID MAJID. 

In the second year of Seyyid Majid's reign, that is to say 
in 1857, Captain Hamerton died in Zanzibar, presumably 
from fever. The symptoms that preceded his death are 
well known symptoms in Zanzibar, though they are not 
so frequent now as they were in those days. In December, 
1856, Burton landed in Zanzibar, and describing Hamerton 
as he then found him wrote : " I can even now distinctly 
see my poor friend sitting before me, a tall, broad-shouldered, 
and powerful figure, with square features, dark fixed eyes, 
hair and beard prematurely snow-white, and a complexion 
once fair and ruddy, but long ago bleached ghastly pale 
by ennui and sickness. Such had been the effect of the 
burning heats of Maskat and the Gulf, and the deadly 
damp of Zanzibar Island and Coast. The worst symptom 
in his case — one which I have rarely found other than fatal 
— was his unwillingness to quit the place which was slowly 
killing him. At night he would chat merrily about a 
remove, about a return to Ireland ; he loathed the subject 
in the morning. To escape seemed a physical impossibility, 
when he had only to order a few boxes to be packed and 
to board the first home-returning ship. In this state the 
invalid requires the assistance of a friend, of a man who 
w 11 order him away, and who will, if he refuses, carry him 
off by main force." 



ZANZIBAR TRADE, 69 

Every resident on the East African coast will recognize 
the inertia of which Burton speaks, especially with men 
who have been many years in the country, and have lost 
touch with their old connections at home. 

As British Consul and Political Agent for the Indian 
Government, Hamerton was in 1858 succeeded by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Rigby. An interval of eighteen months 
elapsed between the death of Hamerton and the arrival 
of Rigby, and during that time the British Consulate was 
closed. It was in that interval that the slave traffic across 
the Atlantic showed signs of renewed activity, as described 
in Chapter IV., and that the Spanish slaver Venus had the 
temerity to anchor in Zanzibar harbour. 

Rigby was at first the only EngUshman in Zanzibar. 
To him we owe much of the information that we possess 
of Zanzibar during Seyyid Majid's reign, especially with 
regard to its trade. The imports in 1859 amounted to 
£905,911, the total annual trade being valued at ;fi,664,598, 
including slaves. The average annual crop of cloves 
amounted to 200,000 fraslas, about 7,000,000 pounds, 
valued at about £85,000. The price of cloves at that time 
was three pence a pound, though owing to the large quantity 
grown it had declined 75 per cent, from the figure at which 
it had stood some years previously. In 1861-62 the imports 
in legitimate trade were valued at £245,981, and in 1867-68, 
according to the figures of Dr. Kirk, they had increased 
to £433,693. More than half the trade was in the hands of 
Indians. 

The customs in 1867 were farmed by an Indian named 
Jairam Sewji, who paid to the Seyyid 310,000 dollars 
a year, for which he collected an ad valorem duty on all 
imports and some of the exports. There were at that time 
about 4,000 British Indian subjects and protected subjects 
of Kutch. 

Dr. Kirk was at that time medical attendant at the 
Agency. Rigby had in 1861 been succeeded at the Agency 



70 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

by Colonel Pelly, who was in turn succeeded by Colonel 
Playfair in 1867, and in the same year by Mr. Churchill, 
the first officer representing British interests in Zanzibar 
who was not an officer of the Indian Government and had 
not been trained in the Indian school of diplomacy. The 
hidebound officialdom of the Government of India and the 
India Office was the means whereby Great Britain was 
very nearly deprived of the services of her greatest repre- 
sentative in those regions. It was decided by them that 
medical officers should not fill the appointment of PoUtical 
Agents in Zanzibar, and on this ground they rejected the 
name of Dr. Kirk when it was first recommended to them 
by Mr. Churchill. Fortunately for Great Britain, for 
Zanzibar, and for the harassed tribes of East Africa, this 
objection was reconsidered, and Dr. Kirk was appointed 
Consul-General and Political Agent in 1873. 

Seyyid Majid died on October 7, 1870. He was a 
voluptuous, easy-going prince of an amiable and generous 
disposition, fond of the EngUsh and well-beloved of his 
people. 

Burton found him " a young man, whose pleasing features 
and very light complexion generally resembled those of 
his father." His face was shghtly pock-marked. About 
the year 1867 he built himself a palace at Dar-es Salaam, 
with the object of being able to get away from the worry 
and strife of Zanzibar to a place where Consuls ceased 
from troubling. By the side of his palace he built a guests' 
house, and was in the habit of inviting the British Consul 
and others to go and stop with him. 

Bishop Tozer, writing to his sister in 1864, described 
Seyyid Majid as " a very pleasing young man." " Every 
Arab," he wrote, " is a ' perfect gentleman,' and so you 
may be sure that the Sultan's manner and behaviour 
were perfect. There was a grace and an ease which I 
never saw equalled, only to Western taste the humiUty 
was rather overdone." 




/fr^i'^1^ 



Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., &c. 

[ To fcuc page 70. 



CHANGED CONDITIONS. 71 

When Majid was dying Dr. Kirk went to see him and 
found him, just conscious, dressed in his ordinary clothes, 
lying on the floor. Dr. Kirk began to inquire about the 
succession, and Majid in reply slowly moved his hand and 
grasped the hilt of his sword. When he died, Barghash 
went to see the body, and, as he stooped over it, his dagger 
fell out of its sheath. EUs brother, KhaUfa, who stood 
behind, picked up the dagger and handed it to Barghash, 
to the disappointment of the Arabs with whom he was 
popular. " What," they asked, " is the use of a man who 
neglects an opportunity like this ? " 

The British- Consul, Mr. Churchill, called Barghash to 
the Consulate and received from him a promise that, if 
he succeeded to the throne, he would support the British 
poUcy and accept the treaty respecting the slave trade 
which had been pressed upon Majid. Thereupon his 
succession was secure, and he came to power without 
opposition. 

With the death of Majid, what may be called the Middle 
Ages of Zanzibar's brief history came to an end. In 1869 
the Suez Canal was opened, and in 1872 the British India 
Steam Navigation Company, imder contract with the 
British Government, estabUshed a monthly mail service 
with Aden to connect with Great Britain, the first steamer 
arriving in Zanzibar on December 15 of that year. Seven 
years later, on Christmas Day, the Eastern Telegraph 
Company completed their cable from Aden to Zanzibar, 
telegraphic communication with Europe being estabUshed 
on December 27, 1879. 

Through these channels the surge of Christendom was 
to flow with increasing volmne ; to eat away the f oimdations 
of the Uttle State and aU but devour its inheritance. Nature 
herself seemed against it for, as it were to warn her people 
that the old order had passed away, in 1872 she struck 
Zanzibar with a hurricane and cut off every tree on the 
island. To enable her to retrieve her losses and to cope 



72 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

with her opponents the country called for a strong man, 
and, as in the dispensation of Providence it often happens 
that the necessity of the hour brings the man forth, so in 
this case Zanzibar did not call out in vain. Seyyid Barghash 
stepped into the breach, as if specially raised up by 
Providence for the occasion. To his enterprise Zanzibar 
owes much of the material wealth she now possesses ; to 
his tenacity the survival of her institutions ; to his wisdom 
the conciliation of the European Powers, whose lust for 
territory he succeeded in gratifying while saving for his 
people the rich remnant of the islands. 



s 



73 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SEYYID BARGHASH — FRERE'S MISSION. 

On January 12, 1873, H.M.S. Enchantress, a paddle-wheel 
steamship, arrived in Zanzibar with Sir Bartle Frere, Her 
Majesty's special Envoy, who came to invite His Highness 
the Sultan to join with the Queen and her Government in 
framing measures which should have for their object the 
complete suppression of the " cruel and destructive " 
slave traffic. Practically the mission was sent to request 
Barghash to sign a Treaty, prohibiting entirely the export 
of slaves from the coast, even when destined for transport 
from one part of the Sultan's dominions to another, which, 
at certain seasons of the year, had hitherto been per- 
mitted. The members of the staff included the Rev. G. 
P. Badger, Colonel Pelly, H.M.'s Political Resident in the 
Persian Gulf, Major Euan-Smith, Captain Fairfax, R.N., 
Mr. (now Sir) Clement Hill, of the Foreign Office, and Mr. 
Grey, of the Foreign Office. In the afternoon of the day 
after the arrival of the ship, the Envoy called on the Sultan, 
who received him with marked respect, meeting him some 
distance from the door of the palace, a most unusual pro- 
cedure ; and throughout the interview he showed great 
good humour and gratification at the honour that was being 
conferred upon him, in enabling him to receive so distin- 
guished a servant of the British Crown as Sir Bartle Frere. 
But he had not yet seen the terms of the Treaty. These 



74 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

were explained to him in two interviews by Dr. Badger, 
when it soon became apparent that Barghash and his Arab 
advisers — for at that time the Seyyid of Zanzibar had not 
acquired the absolute authority which was one of the 
indirect results of the suppression of the slave trade — did 
not see things in the same light as the British Government, 
and had prepared a very good case in defence. 

The mission was badly timed. In August, 1872, the 
plantations and houses of the island and the coast over 
against it were blown down by a hurricane, an epidemic 
of cholera had before this decimated the population, reducing 
many Arabs to poverty, and in January of the following 
year the British Government came with this demand, 
which appeared to Barghash and his advisers like an order 
to commit suicide. '* It will require years to recover the 
losses," he said, " and now the prospect of being obliged 
to give up the supply of slave-labour will absolutely 
ruin us." 

" Again," he said, " you import coolies from India into 
the Seychelles and Mauritius : what would be the conse- 
quence to those islands if such supplies were stopped at 
once ? And is it just, I appeal to you as a God-fearing 
man, to impose such hard conditions upon us under our 
actual circumstances ? " Dr. Badger was forced to admit 
the hardship. " But let me ask you," he replied, " by 
what right you impose tenfold greater hardships on the 
wretched slaves who are torn from their homes — wives from 
husbands, and children from parents — to alleviate your 
distress ? " 

But Barghash could not be persuaded. He was moved 
almost to tears when he spoke of the consequences which 
he felt sure would result from the proposed treaty. 

He followed up his refusal the next day with a letter, 
which he evidently hoped would prove the conclusion of 
the matter. " All our people have become as a sick man," 
he said, " full of pains, and requiring a skilful physician to 




Sir Bartle Frere. Rev. G. P. Ridger, Mr. C. Grey, 
Mr. Clement Hill. Capt. Faiifax, R.N., Major Euan Smith. C.S.I., Mr. B. C A. Frere. 



Sir H. Bartle E. Frere and Suite. Cairo, Dec. 22, 1873. 



TREATY NEGOCIATION. 75 

treat him with gentle medicines until his disease is cured. 
But this which the (British) Government requires of us is 
a grave matter, which we are xmable to bear, for we are 
poor, and we have nothing but agriculture to depend upon, 
and this agriculture cannot be carried on except by slaves, 
and their importation to us keeps up the islands. Had 
your demand been light, we should have been delighted 
to consent to it at once, out of respect for the (British) 
Government. This is the exposition of our state. Salaam." 

Seyyid Barghash was informed that whether he signed 
the Treaty or not, the objects which Her Majesty's Govem- 
men had in view would none the less be pursued, and that 
Great Britain was determined that the slave traffic should 
cease. Twenty years ago 60,000 to 70,000 slaves a year 
had been exported from the West Coast, but now not a 
single slave ever left that coast, and this result had been 
brought about' l^y the British Government and a powerful 
British Sq^^dt^oii. 

Barghasb stuck to his own view of the case. He declared 
himself in danger of jAs life if he yielded, and pleaded for 
mitigatiph of the . demand, but Dr. Badger continued to 
ply his shafts. *' What would you think if a Foreign 
Power," he said, " occupying an island contiguous to your 
own, were to come over here and kidnap not your slaves, 
but your wives and children to cultivate their land as 
slaves ? " 

A treaty ought to benefit both the contracting parties, 
and Earl Granville had informed Barghash that, should he 
sign the Treaty, he might count on the friendship and 
support of the Governments of Great Britain and of India, 
and authorised Sir Bartle Frere to give the Sultan such 
assurances as might satisfy him that the payment of the 
Muscat subsidy of 40,000 dollars would not be enforced 
against him. As, however, this subsidy had not been paid 
for several years, the argument had little weight. 

The chief Arabs throughout the negotiations exercised such 



76 ZAN7ABAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

pressure upon the Sultan, that the latter complained : ** A 
spear is held at each of my eyes, with which shall I choose 
to be pierced ? Either way is fatal to me." They would not 
listen to this arrangement. " That is Barghash's affair, 
not ours," they said ; " he pays it, not we Arabs, and no 
one will be richer or poorer if it be paid or withheld, except 
the Seyyid." The Envoy rightly refused, before the 
Treaty was signed, to commit himself to any promise of 
definite financial relief that might be interpreted as a 
bribe ; he invited the Sultan to indicate in what way he 
could lighten the burdens of his people, and assured him and 
his Arabs they might confidently trust to the generosity of 
the British Government, but the treaty must first be signed. 
The Arabs, however, preferred something more tangible 
than promises, and complained that they were being led 
like blind beasts ; '* it may be to com, it may be to chaff." 

On February 3, after a third interview between Bar- 
ghash and Frere, at which the former began to show temper 
and impatience at the failure of all his arguments, Sir Bartle, 
with Rear-Admiral Gumming, who was in command of 
the British Squadron in Zanzibar waters, proceeded in the 
Enchantress to Mkokotoni on a visit to Captain Eraser's 
shamba. Captain Eraser, formerly of the Indian navy, 
and at that time the only English merchant in Zanzibar, 
had a large sugar plantation at Mkokotoni, and oil and soap 
works in the town. He was the only man who worked 
plantations with paid labour ; hence he exercised great 
influence over Barghash, and was also much trusted by him 
for his outspoken frankness. 

Sir Bartle Frere drew up a memorandum for Lord Gran- 
ville on what he saw, from which, since it is too lengthy 
for reproduction in extenso here, we take the more important 
points. 

The estate, about 2,500 acres, was situated at the north 
end of Zanzibar Island, on Mkokotoni Channel, which, 
with its bays and inlets, was a favourite haunt of slave- 




Seyyid Barghash bin Said. 



\To )ace page 76. 




i 



FREE LABOUR ESTATE. 77 

runners. About eight years before, when no better than a 
rice swamp, it had been purchased by Captain Fraser in 
association with certain members of a well-known London 
and Bombay merchant firm. After large sums had been 
spent on drainage, road-making, planting and machinery, 
it was sold to a Hindu-British subject, from whom it was 
leased by Captain Fraser ; and at the time of Sir Bartle 
Frere's visit it was a well-arranged, well-cultivated estate, 
on which were grown sugar-cane, cocoa-nut trees, screw 
palms, palm-oil trees, and a variety of tropical fruits, such 
as oranges, limes, and mangoes. The estate had a stream 
running through it, and consisted mostly of dark alluvial 
soil and clay, lying on a flat shore with a background of 
low hills, one of which was of coral-rag or limestone about 
250 feet above the plain. The whole was under the super- 
vision of a European assistant (who found the locality quite 
healthy), but the' work was done by natives, and it is this 
feature of the.wbrk which is of interest here, for the native 
labour was oitirely that of free men. Not only all the 
field labour ai^JJ road-making, but all the masonry, car- 
penters', smiths^*'*and coopers' work ; cart-making and 
mending, the transport and putting together of a large 
quantity of heavy machinery ; its repair and daily starting, 
feeding, and stopping — all were worked and managed by 
free natives working for regular wages. 

Over the different departments there were headmen of 
various tribes, and from various parts of the coast and 
interior. With only one exception all had been slaves ; 
and a sort of leadership was voluntarily attributed to a 
man whose parents in his own country had belonged to a 
ruling clan. 

One of the most pleasing and noteworthy facts was the 
presence of troops of healthy-looking, well-fed children, 
numbering altogether eighty-five, of all ages under eight 
or nine years old, the total population on the estate being 
about 500. 



78 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Slaves in Zanzibar had few children except under specially 
favourable circumstances, and, taken as a body, would 
soon have died out, if no fresh slaves had been brought into 
the island. The natives, as first collected on the estate, 
were slaves who naturally retained all the characteristics 
and vices of slavery. Among other peculiarities observable 
was that of infertility. Marriage as a permanent tie, or as 
any restraint on almost promiscuous intercourse, was 
hardly recognised. Children generally were looked upon 
simply as a restraint and an encumbrance, and neither 
shame nor blame was attached, in the opinion of slaves, to 
any means for preventing or terminating the existence of 
children before or after their birth. 

The change for the better was very gradual and attri- 
butable to a great variety of causes, but all resulted more 
or less directly from the status of freedom. General habits 
of order, good medical attendance when ill, and many such 
causes worked towards improvement, but the most efficient 
agency, no doubt, was the sense of property — that what 
they had was their own. This cause acted most effectually 
in raising the freed men from the more degrading vices of 
slavery. 

The first signs of an anxiety to have children about them 
had been remarked among the men. In the earlier annals 
of the primitive court for the adjustment of matrimonial, 
as of all other disputes, it was the husband who had gene- 
rally appeared the more anxious to see his children grow up 
around him, but the wife soon learned to look upon her 
offspring as desirable additions to domestic comfort and 
respectability. 

An important feature in the economy of Mkokotoni was 
the extent to which extra labour could be got from other 
shambas. The slaves in Zanzibar had, by long custom, 
two days in the week to themselves — Thursday and Friday. 
These days they generally spent in idleness ; but in the 
neighbourhood of Mkokotoni Captain Eraser's practice of 



FREE LABOUR IN JOHANNA. 79 

paying regular money-wages had induced a habit in the 
slaves on neighbouring estates of going to work at Mkoko- 
toni on their holidays ; and he had at times had as many as 
six hundred candidates for work on the same day. There 
was extremely little crime, beyond that of small thefts, 
which were said to be rarely committed by people resident 
on the estate. 

Captain Eraser's success had an important bearing on. the 
question of slavery, and Sir Bartle Frere maintained that 
the Arabs had but to follow his example to reach the same 
result. The Sultan held that it was impossible for the 
Arabs to do so, and even Captain Fraser saw the diffi- 
culties of a change of system, difficulties of which Sir Bartle 
Frere made too little. The Arabs seem incapable of pro- 
fiting by regularly paid labour, chiefly because they will 
not devote enough attention to detail and exercise active 
supervision over their employees. The natives will not — 
it would be more correct to say they cannot — work unless 
they are sharply looked after. If a man be a slave he 
naturally thinks nothing of sleeping away his time in the 
shade of a clove tree, but if he is in receipt of regular wages 
it is quite otherwise. 

Mr. Sunley, in Johanna, " that wonderfully fertile and 
beautiful spot," one of the Comoro Islands, was carrying 
on the same sort of work as Fraser at Mkokotoni. A 
memorandum on his sugar plantation was drawn up by 
Mr. Clement Hill, who wrote : " Mr. Sunley has been resi- 
dent on the island for more than twenty years. Coming to 
it alone, and with but little capital at his command, he 
fixed on the land in the vicinity of the little Harbour of 
Pomony as best suited for his purpose, obtained from the 
reigning Prince a concession of 6,000 acres of wholly xmcul- 
tivated land at a rent of 200 dollars per annum, and at once 
set to work to form an estate, now fully equal in its pro- 
ducts to the majority of those in Mauritius." On this 
estate (about 700 acres of which were devoted to sugar 



So ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

cultivation) Mr. Sunley employed 800 native labourers, 
male and female, slave and free. His free labourers he 
paid their full wages, but to the slaves, all of whom were 
hired, he gave only two-fifths of their earnings, their owners 
receiving the remainder. 

Dr. Kirk was left in charge of the negotiations during Sir 
Bartle Frere's absence, but being limited by the Envoy's 
instructions, which did not authorise the use of naval force, 
he made no progress with the Sultan, though the latter was 
manifestly uneasy. Barghash was afraid of his Arabs, 
who had made up their minds from the first that they 
would not have the contemplated treaty, and hoped that 
it might be averted by the intervention of a Foreign Power. 
Moreover, they had a lingering doubt whether they would 
be left in peace if the Treaty were signed. " Twice did you 
raise your demands in Seyyid Said's time," Barghash had 
told the Envoy ; " again in Seyyid Majid's time ; now 
this fourth time you have come to me, Barghash, with stjll 
more crushing exactions, and if I grant this, God only knows 
what the fifth demand may be. How do I know this is 
final ? Is there nothing beyond ? " 

With Dr. Kirk, Barghash returned to metaphor, the form 
of controversy which best suits the hesitating, reflective 
nature of the Arab. Slowly and deliberately addressing 
the Agent, he said : " When you find you have heaped a 
load upon your camel that it cannot pass the city gate, 
do you not lessen the burden and gain your object ? Now 
lessen this heavy burden the Government have laid upon 
us, be it ever so little, and we are your servants, and you 
will gain all you desire ; give us some respite and we will 
accept the Treaty." 

On March 15 Dr. Kirk requested from the Sultan a 
final answer to the many letters he had received at the 
hand of the Envoy, whereupon Barghash wrote a circular 
note " to the Queen, the Wazeers, the Governor-General, 
and the Governor of Bombay," saying that he had replied 



SIR BARTLE FRERE AT KILWA. 8i 

to his Excellency as he was able, and concluding : "As 
for the prohibiting of the transport of slaves to Arabia, we 
will endeavour as much as we can, but let it not be hidden 
from your knowledge that there are thieves everywhere." 

Sir Bartle Frere failed in his main purpose, but his mis- 
sion was by no means barren of results. Visiting the ports 
of the continental coast, Madagascar and the Comoro 
Islands, he ascertained the methods of the slave traders, 
the customs dues collected on slaves, the limits of the traffic, 
the extent of the Sultan's authority over the more remote 
parts of his dominions, and the influence of the Indian 
traders. " England, through India," he wrote, '* has an 
immense practical hold on East Africa. The Sultan and 
his Arabs can do nothing for good or evil without the 
Indian capitalist. Throughout our whole circuit, from 
Zanzibar round by Mozambique and Madagascar, and up 
to Cape Guardafui, we did not, except at Johanna, meet 
half-a-dozen exceptions to the rule that every shopkeeper 
was an Indian." 

The hurricane of 1872 had destroyed Barghash's navy, 
so that his hold on his African Coast possessions, always 
limited, had become little more than nominal. In the 
southern portion of those dominions the chief port was 
Kilwa, which, hidden behind imsurveyed reefs, out of sight 
of cruisers, flourished on the slave trade, exporting annually, 
in spite of the Treaty of 1845, about 35,000 raw slaves. 
Since those days the coasts and islands have been surveyed 
(under Captain Wharton in 1873-78, and under Commander 
Balfour in 1888-90), but at the time of Sir Bartle Frere's 
visit the navigation was dangerous for all except Arab 
dhows, and the Arab chiefs felt secure in their position. 
When Sir Bartle landed at this port and invited the 
Governor to meet him, that functionary replied : " Let 
him come here and sit here. I will not move to see him." 
" These English," he afterwards said, in the interpreter's 
hearing, '* show force to Seyyid Barghash and come here 

6 



82 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

to show force to me, but I will meet force with force." 
Whereupon he sent six Arab soldiers to the Custom House, 
where the Envoy was sitting, with the apparent object of 
putting this threat into execution, but no violence was 
offered. The coarse behaviour of this man towards the 
British Envoy clearly showed the attitude of the Arabs 
with respect to the proposed Treaty, and made it plain that 
Barghash had ground for his apprehension of danger when 
he said : *' A spear is held at each of my eyes ; with which 
shall I choose to be pierced ? " 

The hope to succeed by persuasion, beyond which the 
Mission had no authority to go, was foredoomed to failure, 
and the British Government found it necessary to adopt 
the argument of force. On May 15 Earl Granville in- 
structed Dr. Kirk, who had now been invested with plenipo- 
tentiary powers, to inform the Sultan that if the Treaty were 
not accepted and signed by him before the arrival of 
Admiral Gumming, who was ordered to proceed at once 
to Zanzibar, the British naval forces would blockade the 
islands. Even then Barghash would not comply, for he 
and the Arabs hoped to see a French war vessel come to 
support them. Had the opportunity occurred, he would 
have tried to go to Paris and open negotiations there, and 
he had to be convinced of the vanity of such expectations. 
In putting pressure on the Sultan, Dr. Kirk always had the 
Arab chiefs present and addressed arguments to them all, 
but, even when the crisis was most acute, no one showed 
animosity against him. The Sultan, in fact, was not a 
free agent, the consent of the chiefs being indispensable ; 
so that Dr. Kirk, without forfeiting their goodwill, found it 
necessary to suggest vague alarms, far beyond the incon- 
veniences of a blockade. So effectually did he work on the 
fears of the Arabs that they joined their influence to his 
and urged the Sultan to sign. The good feeling of Barghash 
was plainly shewn at these interviews. When Dr. Kirk 
one day was explaining what a blockade meant, no letters 



SLAVE MARKET. 83 

in or out, no fresh meat from the mainland, and if a French 
man-of-war should arrive, no permission for Barghash to 
leave, the Seyyid leant over and whispered in his ear, 
" Then I will come and live with you at the Agency." 

Thus, before the arrival of Admiral Gumming, Dr. Kirk, 
by his firmness and prudence, had the Treaty duly signed. 
When the formality was complete the Sultan said, with 
great reUef : " Now my head is safe on my shoulders ; it 
is your head that is in danger." But Dr. Kirk, knowing 
better than he did the views of the Arabs, replied : " There 
is no fear of my head." 

On June 6 Dr. Kirk was able to send to Earl Granville 
the Treaty signed and ratified. It bears date June 5, 
1873, and it was signed by John Kirk, Political Agent, 
Zanzibar ; " The Mean in God's sight, Nasir bin Said bin 
Abdallah ; " " The humble, the poor, Barghash-bin-Said." 

It provided for (i) the total cessation from that date of 
the export of slaves from the coast of the Mainland of 
Africa, whether destined for transport from one part of 
the Sultan's Dominions to another, or for conveyance to 
foreign parts ; (2) the closing of all public slave markets in 
the Sultan's Dominions ; (3) the protection by His Highness 
of all liberated slaves ; (4) the prohibition by Her Britannic 
Majesty of all British India subjects from possessing slaves 
and from acquiring any fresh slaves. A Treaty in similar 
terms, but relating to the Dominions of the Sultan of 
Muscat, was signed by Sir Bartle Frere and Seyyid Turki 
bin Said, Sultan of Muscat, on April 14, 1873. 

Mr. Clement Hill, in a short sketch dated January 17, 
1873, has provided us with a glimpse of the slave market in 
Zanzibar as it last appeared before being for ever closed. 
" The Slave Market," he wrote, " is no longer in the Square 
which it so long occupied, as within the last few weeks 
Her Majesty's Acting-Consul, Dr. Kirk, took advantage 
of the old site having been bought by a British Indian 
subject, to prohibit his allowing the continuance of the 

6* 



84 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

scandal. The site now occupied is a small square, sur- 
rounded on three sides by buildings, and the approach to 
which is, on the one side, through the Bazaars, where the 
trade is carried on chiefly by Indians, and on the other, 
through more open streets leading to the outskirts of the 
Town. . . . 

" On entering the market we passed by wooden sheds, 
under which sat, on the left, some half-caste Arabs, on the 
right, some half-clothed Negroes. The market was com- 
paratively empty when we arrived at half-past four in the 
afternoon, so we had a good opportunity of seeing the 
slaves who were already there. They were seated in rows 
round the square, each batch sitting packed close together, 
and herded by an Arab or Negro (for the Negro seems to 
forget the miseries he once underwent as a newly-captured 
slave, or, like a schoolboy bullied as a youngster bidlies 
again when able), who forced into position the luckless 
wretch who stretched his stiffening limbs beyond the limits 
allowed him. We counted at that time ninety, of all ages 
and of both sexes. Many wore a set and wearied look, 
many were fat and gay, while two young men and a boy 
alone confirmed, by their skeleton frames and looks of 
misery, the sensational tales often written of these markets. 
The impression left upon the mind at this time was that 
the process of sale was not more debasing to the Negro 
than were the statute hiring fairs of recent Enghsh times 
to the servant class of England. Most of the slaves were 
naked, save a clout round the waist of the men, and a cloth 
thrown loosely over the women. I say * naked,' for one 
can hardly consider as clothing what some evidently held 
to be full dress, viz. : the scars and slashes on their faces, 
and the rings in their ears and noses. Some, however, of 
the women, chosen probably for some attraction which, 
great doubtless to Zanzibarite eyes, were hardly appreciable 
by Europeans, were gaudily dressed in coloured robes, with 
short-clipped hair, eyes and eyebrows painted black, and 



SLAVE MARKET. 85 

henna-dyed foreheads, whUe the rings and armlets they 
wore were heavy and large. 

"About five o'clock the frequenters of the market — 
the lounge of the true Zanzibarite — strolled quietly in, Arabs 
and half-castes, Persians of the Guard in their long caps, 
and all armed with matchlock, sword or dagger. At once 
the salesmen woke up, and all was bustle. And now came 
a cruel time. With a true knowledge of business, the 
sickliest and most wretched slaves were trotted out first, 
led round by the hand among the crowd, and their price 
called out. The price of one boy was seven dollars ; he was 
stripped and examined by a connoisseur, his arms felt 
his teeth examined, his eyes looked at, and finally he was 
rejected. 

" The examination of the women was still more dis- 
gusting. Bloated and henna-dyed old debauchees gloated 
over them, handled them from head to foot before a crowd 
of lookers-on, like a cow-seller or horse-dealer ; and finally, 
when one was apparently satisfactory, buyer, seller, and 
woman all retired behind the curtain of the shed to play 
out the final scene of examination. 

" I cannot say that the subjects of this searching examina- 
tion seemed to object to it ; on the whole, they appeared per- 
fectly callous, neither caring whether their merits were 
dilated on nor apparently sensible of the notice they were 
attracting from the bystanders. 

" The prices we heard mentioned varied from sixty- 
seven dollars for a woman to seven dollars for the boy whose 
case I have mentioned. We saw no deals actually effected, 
and were told that the presence of the Mission in Zanzibar 
had sensibly affected the commerce in slaves as well as in 
the ordinary articles of trade. 

" This being the close time, the market was not at its full 
height, though there must have been at least two hundred 
slaves there before we left. 

" No rudeness was shown to us by anyone, though I have 



86 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

been told that some officers of the squadron now here have 
been insulted and hissed by Arabs." 

To supplement this account we take the following from 
Captain Colomb's " Slave Catching in the Indian Ocean." 
It refers apparently to the year 1872 : 

" The market was well on when we arrived. There were 
perhaps twenty auctioneers, each attending a separate 
group and selling away as hard as possible. One of the 
officers counted over 300 slaves present, and it was clear 
several groups had only just been landed. My former 
friend with the bullet-head was dozily naming his eighteen 
or twenty dollars, as the case might be, gdtogether un- 
touched by the excitement which seemed to govern some of 
his brethren or rivals. 

" One of these strongly attracted my notice. He was a 
young man, not altogether Arab in appearance, and with 
a not unpleasant cast of countenance. His counter was 
laid out with a choice selection of goods from the con- 
tinent, and he was selling them like a steam-engine. 

" His ' lot ' appeared to be lately imported ; they were 
all young boys and girls, some of them mere babies ; and 
it was amongst them that the terribly painful part of the 
slave system was to be seen. I mean the miserable state, 
apparently of starvation, in which so many of these poor 
wretches are sometimes landed. The sight is simply horrible, 
and no amount of sophistry or sentiment will reconcile us 
to such a condition of things. Skeletons, with a diseased 
skin drawn tight over them, eyeballs left hideously pro- 
minent by the falling away of the surrounding flesh, chests 
sunk and bent, joints unnaturally swelled and horribly 
knotty by contrast with the wretched limbs between them, 
voices d^ and hard and ' distinctly near ' like those of a 
nightmare — these are the characteristics which mark too 
many of the negroes when imported. All, however, are by no 
means so. I have seen in the same batch some skeletons, and 
others as plump as possible. In this very group it was so. 



SLAVE MARKET. 87 

" My Arab auctioneer was working away at a boy when I 
first noticed him. He had reached sixteen dollars, but there 
seemed to be no advance. I knew my friend to be selling, 
when I could only see his back, by the steady periodical 
working thereof, caused by his vigorous declamation. 

" ' St — asher ; St — asher ; St — asher ; St — asher ; St — 
asher ; St — asher ; * etc., thus the auctioneer, not looking 
at anyone in particular, or seeming to attach any definite 
meaning to what he was doing. Only the ' St — asher ' 
came out of him like a jet of steam, and shook his whole 
body and the body of the slave boy on whom his hand 
rested. 

*' I addressed him through the interpreter : 

" ' When did they land ? ' 

" Auctioneer : ' St — asher — two days ago — St — asher — 
St — asher, etc' 

" / : * What will you let him go for ? ' 

" Auctioneer (he never leaves off) : ' St — asher — St — 
asher — twenty dollars — St — asher, etc' 

" No advance appearing on ' St — asher,' the boy was 
made to sit down and a little girl about six years old put up. 

" A wizened Arab, with a quiet face and one eye, was 
amongst the buyers. He looked at the child's little hands, 
and then stooped down and spoke to her with a smiling face. 
The child smiled in return, and I could not think that 
my wizened Arab would treat her very badly if he bought 
her. She was soon worked up to the regulation ' St — asher,' 
and two or three more bidders chimed in. The steam- 
engine worked faster and faster ; he had got to ' Sebba — 
t'asher ; Sebba — t'asher ' ; t and in his hurry and work 
could only pluck at the dresses of probable purchasers. 

" Wizen-face and the rest of the buyers are all very calm, 
and do not trouble their heads much about the matter, 
but the steam-engine will certainly burst his boiler if it goes 

• Silashara — sixteen (dollars). t Sabatashara — seventeeD. 



88 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

on much longer. Wizen-face, impelled by a strong pull at 
his dress, advances a quarter of a dollar ; steam-engine 
plucks him again, with an advance of another quarter, and 
goes on working madly. Wizen-face, however, is not 
inclined to go further, and moves away. Steam-engine 
plucks him harder by the dress, and never leaving off his 

* Sebba — t'asher — noos,' which is now the price, stoops down 
and gathers the child up in his arms, seeming to say, ' Come, 
take the little thing — she is only an armful.' Wizen-face 
will not buy, however, after all, and steam-engine blows off 
his steam, and sets the little girl on the ground preparatory 
to getting the steam up over a fresh article. 

" At this moment my attention was attracted in another 
direction, by hearing a sound as of a drowsy humble-bee 
chanting in monotone. Passing through the crowd in the 
direction of the sound, I became aware of a string of some 
eight negro girls, standing in a row and facing me. These 
girls were decorated in the highest style of the fashion 
before described, but they each had, besides, a sort of 
mantle of blue muslin thrown lightly round their shoulders, 
which, it struck me, they were rather proud of. The 
humble-bee from whom the buzzing proceeded was the 
auctioneer in charge of the sale of these girls. In appearance 
he looked like a benevolent edition of Mr. Fagin, as we first 
make his acquaintance in the pages of * Oliver Twist.' His 
beard was white and flowing, his nose hooked and pro- 
minent, and his eyes half closed and dreamy. He carried 
the regulation cane imder his arm, was sauntering round 
and round his stock of goods, and making undecided 
changes in the ' sit ' of the girls' attire with his disengaged 
hand. The drowsy buzzing which proceeded from his lips 
resolved itself into distinct sounds when I got near enough 
to analyse them. 

" The sounds were : ' Thelatha washerin wa noos ' ; 

* thelatha washerin wa noos ' ; which when separated into 
proper words became Swahili for ' twenty-three and a half,' 



SLAVE MARKET. 89 

twenty-three and a half dollars being the upset price of each 
or any of the lot before me. 

" This humble-bee differed from the other auctioneers, 
inasmuch as he did not seem to connect his buzzing chant 
with his stock-in-trade. 

" ' Thelatha washerin wa noos, thelatha washerin wa 
noos, thelatha washerin wa noos ' ; it was more a song to 
pass away the time than an announcement of the upset 
price of his lots, as he sauntered backwards and forwards, 
now re-settling a fold of muslin which he had unsettled on 
his last passage, now patting the shoulder of this one, and 
now altering the position of the arm of that one, and never 
ceasing to chant the while. 

" I studied the faces of these girls very closely to try and 
detect what their feelings were on the subject, but it is 
almost as hopeless to penetrate the thoughts of a negro 
through his expression as it is to get at those of a sheep by 
the same process. I cotild see neither pleasure nor pain, 
nor any other active sentiment in their demeanour or ex- 
pression. Absence of thought, rather than presence of 
indifference, pervaded each countenance, and I could not 
help speculating whether it were more true that the thoughts 
which we, in our state of mental energy, would consider 
proper to such an occasion were really present in these 
creatures' minds, but hidden from me by the negro confor- 
mation of features, or whether the thoughts were really 
absent. If I am to judge by what I have seen of the negro 
in his natural state, I must give it that the thought is absent. 

" I got my interpreter to ask one girl whether she liked 
it or not, but the only answer obtainable was that careless 
jerk out of the chin, which we associate with sulky indiffer- 
ence." 

Approached by narrow, tortuous alleys of Indian shops, 
in the depths of the bazaar, the English Cathedral now 
stands on the site of the market where these slaves were 
herded and sold. 



90 



CHAPTER IX. 

SEYYID BARGHASH — VISIT TO ENGLAND — REVIVAL OF THE 
SLAVE TRADE — LIEUTENANT MATHEWS. 

Barghash, after the signature of the treaty for the 
abolition of the slave trade, and the closing of public slave 
markets within his dominions, adhered loyally to his en- 
gagements. On June 5, 1873, the very day of the signature, 
the slave market at Zanzibar was cleared and closed by 
messengers sent from the Palace, and on June 8, a pro- 
clamation was posted up prohibiting under penalties the 
transport of slaves by sea. This proclamation Barghash 
did not suffer to remain a dead letter, but, of his own 
initiative, imprisoned not only those slave-dealers who 
actually transgressed but also those who were preparing to 
do so. 

At the same time the blockade by the British ships was 
strictly maintained, slave-runners being handed over to 
justice, their dhows confiscated and their slaves set free. 
For a while the shipments of slaves from the mainland 
coast fell of!, and at Zanzibar and Pemba the price of 
slaves doubled. There were, however, 4,000 slaves for sale 
at Kilwa, and in July half-a-dozen large slave caravans 
were expected in accordance with the usual course of 
things. The dealers were doing their best to work off their 
stock, sending gangs of slaves northwards along or not 
far from the coast that they might be shipped at some port 



BARGHASH TO VISIT ENGLAND. 91 

opposite Zanzibar or Pemba. This was, in fact, the system 
which Dr. Kirk, acting through the Sultan, had to combat. 
The slave trade as a legitimate trade had ceased to exist, but, 
as foretold by Dr. Kirk long before the signing of the treaty, 
the result was that smuggling on a large scale sprang up 
and continued for many years, 10,000 or 12,000 slaves 
being annually taken across the channels, from 30 to 45 
miles in breadth, separating Zanzibar and Pemba from the 
mainland coast. 

After these events. Dr. Kirk, who was suffering in health, 
obtained leave of absence, and, during the year 1874, had 
opportunities of discussing with the representatives of the 
Foreign Office the working of the Treaty and the general 
condition of affairs in Zanzibar. The result was that when, 
in April 1875, he returned to his post he was the bearer of 
an invitation from the British Government to the Sultan 
to come to England. The advantages of such a visit were 
obvious ; for the ruler of Zanzibar was the centre of 
Legislative and Administrative Authority in his dominions, 
and if he and his chief advisers had ocular demonstration 
of the power and wealth of his ally. Great Britain, where 
no slaves existed, they would have less hesitation than 
they had hitherto shewn in yielding to British influence. 

Arrangements were soon completed. An Arab Chief, 
Ali bin Soud, was appointed as Regent during the absence 
of Barghash, while the Prime Minister, Nasur bin Said bin 
Abdullah, and four other Arab Chiefs, besides Sir Tharia 
Topan, the most important member of the Indian trading 
community in Zanzibar, with friends and a retinue of 
servants, were to attend him on his visit. At Zanzibar the 
place of Dr. Kirk, who was requested by the British Govern- 
ment to accompany His Highness, was to be taken by 
Major Euan-Smith, appointed by the Viceroy of India. 

Before setting out, Barghash executed a deed (subse- 
quently superseded by a more Uberal instrument) 
emancipating all his domestic slaves at his death. This 



92 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

he did, as the deed itself testified, that he might obtain 
acceptance of God, and in His name, and that he might 
escape from punishment. 

On May 9, 1875, the Sultan and his party embarked and 
proceeded on their way. They were requested to put in 
at Lisbon to greet the King of Portgual, and Admiral 
Seymour was ordered to Lisbon with the Channel Squadron 
to salute Barghash and afford him an opportmiity of esti- 
mating the naval power of Great Britain. Barghash 
was displeased with the smallness of his suite and, in 
going ashore, Dr. Kirk, who was in the leading boat, was 
horrified to see in the procession a number of the Sultan's 
menials dressed up as grandees of the suite, evidently des- 
tined to accompany their master into the presence. The 
Agent was, however, able to prevent this scandal by posting 
himself at the door, and at the moment of their entry cutting 
of! the kitchen contingent, and directing them into an 
adjoining room. The King invited Barghash, but no one 
else, to sit down. The Arabs, observing the Queen seated, 
remarked to one another in Arabic, that their dignity would 
not allow them to remain standing while a woman was 
sitting, so they all sat down too. The Agent remained 
standing at Barghash's side ; the King had his Foreign 
Minister standing on his left, and they conversed in French. 
But the King and his Minister exchanged occasional re- 
marks in Portuguese, and Dr. Kirk, who was not supposed 
to know Portuguese, heard them discussing their plans. 

They would entertain the Zanzibar monarch at a re- 
ception, have a display of fireworks, and afterwards try 
and get him to settle the boundary question. The Agent 
remained motionless at his post, his eyes fixed on the wall 
in front of him, but when the visit was over he went on 
board the flagship and arranged with the Admiral that they 
should leave Lisbon that night. When the King had 
returned the visit, the Minister, hearing of the projected 
departure, went on board the Canara^ and endeavoured 



BARGHASH IN LONDON. 93 

to get the conversation round to the question of the 
boundary. But the Monarch was not to be caught in 
this way. "These things," he said, no doubt calling to 
mind their conflicts in the past, " these things are drawn 
with the sword, not with the pen." 

The party reached Gravesend on June 15, whence they 
went up the river in one of the Thames Steamboat Com- 
pany's boats. On landing at the Westminster Palace 
steps the Sultan was welcomed by representatives of the 
Foreign Office and many other distinguished men. Among 
these were Sir Bartle Frere, whom he knew well, the Rev. 
Dr. Badger, a friend whose acquaintance he had first made 
during his compulsory visit to Bombay, and Mr. (now 
Sir) Clement Hill of the Foreign Office, to whom had been 
entrusted the delicate duty of making arrangements for 
the hospitable entertainment of Barghash during his stay 
in England. 

Next day the Sultan began the round of business and of 
amusement (even more exhausting), which continued with- 
out intermission for more than four weeks, in the course of 
which he visited the Queen at Windsor, and the Prince and 
Princess of Wales at Marlborough House. He afterwards 
declared that the pleasantest sight he had seen in London 
was that of the children of their Royal Highnesses. Day 
after day be became acquainted with the varied forms of 
British hospitaUty. He received and was received by 
Royal Dukes and Ministers of State. He was feted at balls 
and concerts and garden parties ; he Ustened to deputations 
headed by bishops and noblemen who enlarged on the 
excellence of the Bible, bewailed the evils of slavery, and 
extolled the beneficial work which was carried on by 
British Missionaries within His Highness' dominions. He 
was thus brought face to face with some aspects of religious 
Ufe in England, but he did not relax his observance of his 
own religious customs. He performed his devotions 
regularly twice a day, and behind his hotel in Piccadilly 



94 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

he had a private slaughter-house and a private kitchen 
where his native butcher and four native cooks prepared 
his repasts. 

His love of horses was gratified in Hyde Park and at 
Ascot, whither he was taken in the race week. He saw 
" Blue Beard " at the Globe Theatre, heard *' Lohengrin " 
at Her Majesty's Opera, and " Acis and Galatea " at the 
Crystal Palace. He had an agreeable presence, and showed 
his approval of performances and also of plaudits intended 
for himself by a graceful movement of the arm, so that he 
became not merely fashionable but popular. At the 
Crystal Palace, when the choir rose to sing, he, with Arab 
politeness, rose also, and then the vast audience, following 
his example, got on their feet. There was general bewilder- 
ment as to what the movement might mean, and good- 
natured amusement when it was discovered to be a mistake 
due to the Sultan's ignorance of EngUsh customs. 

At the British Museiun Barghash shewed intelligent 
appreciation of old Arab manuscripts, and of the results of 
archaeological exploration of Oriental cities, but at the 
Postal Telegraph Office, where attempts were made to 
explain the working of the apparatus, he shook his head 
in despair. His attitude towards London novelties was 
that of an intelligent, good-hiunoured man, willing to be 
entertained but without false pretence. He paid visits 
to Brighton, to Aldershot, to Woolwich Arsenal, and to 
Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. Returning to 
London he figured at the GuildhaU, where an elaborate 
address in a costly casket was presented to him, and at 
the Mansion House, where he was feasted. He had learned 
that in his numerous speeches (which had been translated 
by Dr. Badger) the critics had remarked on a good deal of 
sameness. To this his reply at the Mansion House was : 
" How can I help it ? It is the fault of the English people. 
You all welcome me ; you aU tell me I have done something 
for the abolition of the slave trade, and you hope I shall 



SUPPLEMENTARY TREATY. 95 

do more ; what can I say but thank you, thank you, 
thank you." 

After a month so crowded with incidents, it was no doubt 
a welcome change to cross the Channel. On July 15, 
he went from Folkestone to Calais, where he was received 
by representatives of the French Government, who took 
him to Paris. There he spent a few days ; then travelled 
to Marseilles, where he took ship for Zanzibar, reaching 
his home on September 19. In letters to the Queen, to 
the Prince of Wales, and Lord Derby, the Foreign Secretary, 
he expressed his thanks for the many tokens of friendship 
he had received during his visit. 

One result of these doings was a supplementary treaty 
signed on July 14, by Lord Derby and Nasur bin Said bin 
Abdullah, on behalf of their respective Governments. This 
treaty was at once ratified by Barghash, and on September 
20, the ratification by Queen Victoria was deUvered to 
the Sultan at Zanzibar. 

The treaty provided that domestic slaves in personal 
attendance on their masters, or in the discharge of the 
legitimate business of their masters, might be conveyed by 
ship without rendering the vessel liable to confiscation ; 
but if they were being taken against their will such slaves 
would be set free. The first of these provisions was not 
found to work satisfactorily. Many hundreds of domestic 
slaves annually accompanied their masters in their pil- 
grimage to Mecca, the great centre of the slave trade for 
Turkey and Persia, and only a small proportion of them 
were brought back. Barghash, though he was persuaded 
to make some concession to the Arabs, ostensibly to en- 
courage them in the observance of religious duties, was 
still acting in good faith, and in the following year he 
freed his household slaves, giving them carefully drawn 
up deeds of manumission, duly executed, and this step 
helped to guide Zanzibar opinion on the question of slavery 
in the right direction. 



96 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

But the problem was, how to stop the traffic in raw, 
newly-caught slaves between Kilwa and Pemba. This 
traffic had assumed a dreadful character. The miserable 
victims of the slave dealers' rapacity were now marched, 
often at night, through jimgle paths to Bagamoyo, and, 
when it was imsafe to ship them there, they were driven 
further north to Lamu and even to Somaliland, 700 miles 
from Kilwa. When it became dangerous to march them 
along the coast northwards, the wary dealers conveyed 
them partly by sea and thus escaped observation where 
they were looked for on land. Severe punishments were 
tried. In one case the master of the dhow, the crew, and 
the slave owners were taken and handed over to Dr. Kirk, 
who caused the six slave owners (three of them being pure 
Arabs) and the captain to be secured in their own slave 
chains, and marched through the streets. Then they were 
flogged in front of the Palace, Arabs and Negroes being 
treated alike. This method of punishment had the ad- 
vantage of driving the traffic in Zanzibar into the hands 
of the lowest classes ; it made it less reputable and thus 
more easily dealt with. The slave rimners were treated as 
common degraded criminals, and the population of Zanzibar 
could hardly respect men who suffered such treatment. 

Still the smuggling from the mainland was not ex- 
tinguished, but there was evidence that the Sultan had 
impressed on his Walls the necessity of exerting themselves 
to the utmost to put it down. In a slave dhow, captured 
with 129 slaves on board by the boats of the London, there 
was found a private letter, which, when translated, ran as 
follows : " This letter comes from the harbour of Tanga, 
and, my dear friend, if you ask about Seyyid Barghash 
I tell you His Highness has stopped the buying and selling 
of slaves at Kilwa and Bagamoyo, and imprisoned the 
dealers in irons ; this is the news, and at Bagamoyo the 
agents are sending back their money." 

Some of the Walls were evidently acting up to their 



SLAVE TRADE AT KILWA. 97 

instructions, but, notwithstanding the statements in this 
letter, the authorities at Kilwa were (as we shall see 
presently) deeply impUcated in the slave trade, so that 
further steps were necessary. 

The next move made by Dr. Kirk was to induce the 
Sultan to issue the two proclamations of April 18, 1876. One 
of these prohibited the conveyance of slaves by land, 
under penalty of severe personal pimishment and forfeiture 
of property and slaves ; the other prohibited the approach 
of slave caravans from the interior, from Nyasa and else- 
where, under similar penalties. It was mainly against 
the inhabitants of Kilwa that these proclamations were 
directed, for that town was the centre of the traffic in raw 
slaves. At this time Dr. Kirk, after careful investigation, 
estimated that 12,000 slaves were annually smuggled into 
Pemba, as many were marched over-land further north, 
and some also shipped to Zanzibar. Allowing for the loss 
of life among the slaves caused by their long marches and 
terrible privations, the number actually brought to the 
coast was not less than 35,000, representing an annual loss 
to the interior of Africa of perhaps 350,000 of the popula- 
tion, as the direct result of slave-raiding with its attendant 
murder and disease. The number annually sold at Kilwa 
was over 35,000, the prices received for them amounting 
to over 120,000 lacs. It was on this traffic that the whole 
population of the town directly or indirectly depended. 
The proclamations were duly posted up, but the inhabi- 
tants defied proclamations, and the local chiefs continued 
as usual to levy dues on the caravans. 

Energetic measures were therefore taken to enforce the 
Sultan's orders, and the British war-vessel Thetis, com- 
manded by Captain Ward, was sent to Kilwa with in- 
structions to remain there as long as was necessary. Where 
force on any considerable scale was likely to be required, 
it was unsafe to trust entirely to the Sultan's troops. The 
slave-hunting and slave-running Arabs were reckless 

7 



98 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

ruffians of the lowest class, often foreigners from Arabia 
with no purpose except to secure the profit of slave- 
catching. To cope with them, men of stronger character 
were required than the levies raised by Barghash. Hence 
the presence of the Thetis at Kilwa. Dr. Kirk also went, 
and the Sultan sent special orders to the Governor, Said 
bin Abdullah, who was himself directly implicated in the 
traffic, to arrest and send to Zanzibar as prisoners all the 
chiefs of Kilwa, providing him for this purpose with a force 
of 212 soldiers. On May 15, 1876, the Thetis arrived in 
time to prevent confusion. The raw slaves had accumu- 
lated to the niunber of about 6,000, but had been riemoved 
inland out of the reach of confiscation. They were gradually 
taken north and during the next three months were shipped 
in small nimibers from Bagamoyo. There was always a 
stream of boats, most niunerous at night, crossing to 
Pemba, carrying three or four slaves at a time. But on 
the whole it was dear that, for the present, the people of 
Kilwa considered themselves beaten in the contest. They 
moved northwards to Bagamoyo in large numbers, for the 
trade was not extinct. Those who remained behind betook 
themselves, at the instigation of Dr. Kirk, to the collection 
of rubber which was very profitable. The fitting out 
of slave caravans was (for some months at least) stopped. 
In the end of that year, however, and the beginning 
of 1877, the traffic revived. The rubber trade continued 
prosperous, yet there were Arabs at Kilwa who could not 
refrain from slave-hunting, and others who could not hold 
aloof from its gains. On this occasion the Governor, 
Said bin Abdullah, was the person chiefly implicated, both 
as slave owner and receiver of bribes. He was promptly 
removed from his ofl&ce, and he went, apparently of his 
own free will, to Zanzibar. Soon afterwards a dhow with 
a gang of his slaves was captured at Pangani and brought 
to Zanzibar. The investigation before Dr. Kirk, as Judge 
of the Vice-Admiralty Court, clearly shewed that the ex- 



LIEUTENANTS OF THE ** LONDON.*' 99 

Governor was the culprit. The slaves in charge of the 
gang gave evidence against him, and an old slave who had 
been put into the gang to be sold, made the state of matters 
still clearer. The slaves were all sent before the Sultan 
who, at the time, was sitting in Baraza with the ex-Governor 
beside him. When confronted with all these men, the 
ex-Governor had no defence to make, and at Dr. Kirk's 
request he was at once arrested, put in slave-irons, and 
sent to the common prison. Thus a wholesome lesson was 
given with the utmost pubUcity, and the Sultan sent out 
letters to Governors, threatening them with severe punish- 
ment if they neglected their duty with respect to the slave 
traffic ; a warning which had good results. 

The British vessel which, in those years, was commanded 
by the chief naval officer at Zanzibar was the London. 
She had reached Zanzibar in November, 1874, commanded 
by Captain G. L. Sulivan, who was succeeded in September 
by Captain T. B. Sullivan. The London was used as a 
stationary ship at Zanzibar while her boats cruised for the 
suppression of the slave trade. To this ship Lloyd W. 
Mathews was appointed as lieutenant, on August 27, 
1875, and he at once proved himself an able and energetic 
officer. The work of dhow catching was often dangerous, 
and from the Admiralty reports it seems clear that some- 
times the young officers in the boats of the London dis- 
played more of the spirit of enterprise than of prudence, 
and owed occasionally to good fortune escape from 
" accidents " which might have brought the punishment 
of murder on whole villages. The names of three lieu- 
tenants, O'Neill, Mathews and Lang, were specially men- 
tioned for commendation in the reports of Captain T. B. 
Sullivan who, on August 2, 1876, wrote : " Although con- 
stantly brought into contact with the Arab slave owners 
at Pemba who have suffered these losses, such has been the 
tact shewn by these officers that in no case has friendly 
intercourse between them been affected." 

7* 



loo ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

In a letter to his mother, dated July 29, 1877, Lieutenant 
Mathews wrote : "I returned a few days ago from a cruise 
of 26 days having captured three slave vessels, and expect 
to leave here (H.M.S. London) to-morrow for a few days 
to try and track one out that I have information about. 
Tracking them is rather like what children play — Hide and 
Seek — as we sometimes have to go 40 or 50 miles out of 
our way from the place at which we expect to find them, 
and then we find them stowed away up rivers or creeks, and 
have to get at them dead or alive as best we can. They 
are in the most awful state when we get at them (the 
slaves) ; just stewing together, packed like herrings, and 
one mass of small-pox ; many often dead ; and they and 
the living cooped up as tight as they can fit in. We deal 
with the owners first, and sort out the poor devils after- 
wards ! " And again he wrote : " The slave dealers are 
an ugly lot. You have to be ready to put a bullet through 
them at all times, and it is sometimes impossible to bring 
them back without disabling them if you mean to return 
with a whole skin and the cargo of poor devils you've 
rescued." 

In August, 1877, Barghash, acting on the advice of 
Dr. Kirk, resolved to have a new military force of about 
500 men, armed with Snider rifles and drilled in European 
style. Hitherto his force had consisted of an undisciplined 
and lawless Persian Guard and Arab irregulars from 
Hadramaut, on whom little dependence could be placed, 
whereas the new force would consist of negroes who could 
be made amenable to discipline and would certainly not 
combine with the Arabs. Captain Sullivan of the London 
was applied to for assistance in this matter, and, being 
told that Lieutenant Lloyd Mathews had volunteered to 
drill the men, he gave permission for this officer to do so 
at such times as his services could be spared. This offer 
was accepted by the Sultan, and the enrolment and in- 
struction of the Zanzibar recruits went on satisfactorily.. 








Sir Lloyd Mathews, K.CM.G. 



{To face page loa 




i 



NEGRO SOLDIERS. 

Mr. Richard Vause, of the Natal Mercury^ who paicf 
visit to Zanzibar in 1877, recorded his impressions of th< 
recruits in the following terms : " Attracted by the martial 
sound of fife and drum, we follow its direction, and soon 
come upon a string of black recruits, at the run to their 
rendezvous. Filing with them into the police barracks, 
we find Lieutenant Mathews, R.N., of H.M.S. London, in 
the drill shed, from whom we gather that he is engaged on 
behalf of the Sultan in converting the raw material present 
into food for powder, aliaSy soldiers, by drilling them every 
afternoon. 

" Lieutenant Mathews has a quiet happy knack with him, 
drills them in English, and they take to soldiering as 
naturally as ducks do to water. To-day he has four 
sections of 80 men each, and though ' irregulars ' in every 
sense of the w.#rd, they really do not look half amiss in 
their short black jackets, white trousers and jaunty red 
caps. They go through their exercise with excellent 
precision, and Lieutenant Mathews is quite sanguine they 
will prove very efficient. In fact, by last mail, one of our 
letters says they are making great strides, and becoming 
a well drilled body of men. It was impossible, though, 
to restrain a smile at the wooden weapons, shaped like 
muskets, with which they * present arms,' possession whereof 
the fellows all seem not a little proud, carrying them about 
even when off parade. The Arab officers, who give the 
word of command in good English, in their gold and silver 
lace and blue frock-coat and trousers, look great swells. 
In conversation with some of the * raw material,' we find 
them utterly unable to understand what the motive 
impelling the Sultan to make soldiers of them is, or what 
purpose they are to serve. They evidently look upon it 
as connected with some strategic operation on the opposite 
mainland, as there is, according to their view, no con- 
ceivable use to which they can be put on the island itself." 

The British Government entirely approved of the for- 




matku oi this ioTce and, on April lt r>7S, cntimated 
that, to signify their apprc^-al ot the Sciltan's .icdoa with 
respect to the slave trade, they had onkr^ 500 stand ot 
Snider rifles, with bayonets and anuntmitkscu and also 
^even Wlutworth gons^ to be shipped tor ZanTrhtr tor His 
Highness* use. On June 22, the arms arrived and were 
formally fJaced in the hands of the soldiers, who were then 
inspected b\' the Sultan. The men. all of whom had been 
trained by Lieutenant Mathews, and were under his sole 
command, had made hig^y creditaUe progress, and the 
companies first formed were ready to commence practice 
with the new rifles. 

The Sultan was the owner of a great number of slaves 
who worked on his plantations and with whose services, 
in the condition of things then existing, he could not easily 
dispense. In the persistent smuggling of slaves across the 
channel, it was almost certain that not a few were landed 
on his private grotmds ; but these surreptitious pro- 
ceedings were due to the connivance of his overseers to whom 
it was difficult to bring home actual comphdt}'. So far 
from encouraging these irregularities, Barghash shewed 
by his private as well as his public acts that he ^-as in 
sympathy with the movement against slaver>\ In Janu- 
ary, 1879, an Arab of Lingah on the Persian Gulf trading 
by dhow with Zanzibar, sent a complimentary letter and 
presents to the Sultan. The presents were Oriental in their 
character, a Bahreini donkey (the donkeys of Bahrein 
are still valuable), two dresses and an Abyssinian male 
slave. The Sultan dismissed the bearer of the letter, 
declining the presents, but freeing the slave. 

His Governors of the Somali coast acted in accordance 
with the spirit as well as the letter of his instructions to 
them. There slavery had been nominally abolished by 
the proclamation of January 15, 1876, and now active 
Walis endeavoured to make the proclamation effective. At 
Barawa, the Wali, ceasing to recognise the status of slavery, 



EXPEDITION UNDER MATHEWS. 103 

at every opportunity which the exercise of his judicial 
duties afforded set the slaves free. If a slave came before 
him with a complaint of cruelty on the part of his master ; 
if two men disputed in his court the ownership of a slave ; 
or if any other circumstance brought the question of slavery 
before him in concrete form, it was the slave who got the 
benefit, for he was declared to be free. Consequently, 
slave-owners became cautious and careful neither to give 
slaves occasion for complaint, nor to make too much of 
their title to property in them. 

The proceedings of the missionaries were frequently a 
cause of embarrassment. Their sympathies were, of 
course, in favour of Uberty, and they took Uttle account 
either of law or custom. At Rabai, near Mombasa, at 
the end of 1879, they had about 150 slaves who had run 
away from their masters. These slaves had not been freed, 
but they had built houses for themselves and they worked 
for their own support. Their masters claiming them, 
it was only by the interposition of the Sultan that the 
dispute was settled without violence. 

The Sultan was a man of ability and saw that neither 
his own interests nor the prosperity of his dominions de- 
pended on the slave trade. Before the treaty of 1873, 
his revenue had been largely derived from duties on im- 
ported slaves ; in 1875, the duties being farmed, the rent 
paid to the Sultan amounted to 350,000 dollars annually : 
in 1880 the rent was increased to 500,000 dollars. 

In June, 1880, the command of the military force, and 
the management of police force were entirely in the hands 
of Lieutenant Mathews. In consequence of troubles at 
Pimbivi, including the murder of Captain Carter and his 
companion Mr. Cadenhead of the Belgian expedition, he 
was sent on August 13, with his troops to occupy stations 
inland. The expedition was away three months and, 
though military in form, had an entirely pacific purpose, 
being intended to protect the inhabitants against passing 



I04 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

plunderers and to prepare routes for traffic. Occupying 
an entrenched position at Mamboia, 120 miles from the 
coast, it put matters in a satisfactory condition, settling 
difficulties respecting run-away slaves. 

Towards the end of April, 1881, the WaU of Pangani 
was reported to be remiss in suppressing the exportation of 
slaves to Pemba, and Dr. Kirk applied to the Sultan for 
his removal from office. The Wali, being at the time in 
Zanzibar, was not allowed to return to his post, but two 
men were sent secretly to watch at Pangani and find out 
what was going on. Two days later, Mathews, with an 
armed force on board a native vessel, entered Pangani 
harbour. He duly met his two "inquiry agents," who 
briefly made their report and enabled him to decide on the 
spot what course he should adopt. Guided by the two 
men, he marched his soldiers under the Sultan's colours to 
the houses of the slave-dealers and had them and their 
slaves promptly secured. In his operations he was 
assisted by the Sultan's officials, and was able to arrest 
the principal offender, on whom the whole of the slave 
traffic at Pangani depended, and to seize the vessels en- 
gaged in the trade. Then he went to Tanga, but the 
rumour of his doings went before him, and the slave-dealers 
were prepared. He was delayed and obstructed by the 
officials and no slaves could be found. However, he had 
the chief dealer arrested and sent to Zanzibar, and his 
dhow seized. In these proceedings Mathews was supported 
by the Sultan. Offenders were punished, slaves were set 
free, and for further operations on the coast an Intelligence 
Department imder Mathews was organised. 

These incidents, however, had other and more important 
results. When Mathews had paid to Tanga the surprise 
visit which proved to be no surprise, there were no slaves 
there, not because there was no slave traffic, but because 
the slave runners had removed their stock inland to escape 
detection, When Mathews left they did not bring back 



SLAVE-RUNNING TO PEMBA. 105 

their gangs to Tanga, but took them to Mtangata, a small 
port between Tanga and Pangani. There they found a 
northern Arab fishing dhow and putting 80 slaves on board, 
set sail on May 5 for Pemba. The night was dark and one 
of the boats of the London approaching hailed her at 30 
yards' distance. As no answer was given, a blank cart- 
ridge was fired to which the dhow replied by a volley of 
bullets into the boat. The boat was a whaler with only 
four EngUsh seamen and an interpreter on board ; there 
was no ofiicer in command and, in the confusion which 
followed the unexpected attack, there was some delay 
and two oars were lost. The dhow continued to fire on 
them, but the boat, following at a distance, returned the 
fire till the dhow, apparently intimidated, lowered her 
sail. By that time the whaler's crew had almost exhausted 
their ammunition and, dreading foul play in seizing the 
prize, turned away to look for help. The dhow re-hoisting 
her sail, soon reached Pemba where the slave-owners and 
their cargo were safely landed. \Vhen the London's steam- 
boat came on the scene the dhow was again standing out 
to sea, but at once put about and ran on to the beach 
where she was captured, though the crew escaped. Owing 
to some mismanagement on the part of the captors the 
vessel was suffered to be broken up before condemnation, 
and thus the difficulty of her identification was much 
increased. At Dr. Kirk's request the Sultan at once wrote 
to Mohammed bin Jama, one of his agents in Pemba, re- 
quiring him to do his utmost for the arrest of the persons 
concerned in this shipment of slaves. The man on whom 
suspicion fell was an Arab of good family, a proprietor 
who had recently returned from Oman. When Mohammed 
called him to meet the charge he at first complied but 
afterwards refused to appear, and, lest force should be 
used against him, he collected his friends and armed his 
followers. The Arab chiefs of Pemba in those days did 
not regard the Sultan as their ruler, but only as a leader 



io6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

whose authority was derived from themselves. Living at 
a distance from the seat of Government at Zanzibar, they 
had no practical acquaintance with the centralised 
administration there, but adhered to their antiquated 
usages and sought to uphold their ancient rights. An order 
from the Sultan addressed collectively to these chiefs, each 
of whom considered himself as his equal, was hardly to be 
endured, but when delivered through an agent, whom 
they considered of an inferior tribe, it seemed little short 
of an insult, and therefore they set the Sultan's command 
at defiance. Mohammed, being in a difficulty, applied 
for further instructions, and the Sultan, advised by Dr. 
Kirk, resolved to seize this opportunity of correcting 
abuses, and to crush the power of revolt which the Arab 
chiefs possessed. He sent Lieutenant Mathews at the 
head of a body of regular soldiers with authority to arrest 
the man who was accused of slave trading, and, without 
referring to Zanzibar for further instructions, to shoot 
down every Arab who offered resistance. Acting on this 
authority, Mathews speedily brought the island to sub- 
mission, and the power of the Arab chiefs collapsed. The 
chief who had been accused of slave running quietly gave 
himself up, but the evidence of his guilt being insufficient 
he was, after a fair trial, discharged. 

In July, 1881, Mathews, having been permitted to retire 
from the British Navy with the rank of lieutenant, was 
confirmed in his command of the Sultan*s troops. He was 
often brought into association with civil and naval 
officials, both British and foreign, and that he might be 
able to support his position, the Sultan appointed him to 
the rank of Brigadier-General in Zanzibar. 



I07 



CHAPTER X. 

SEYYID BARGHASH — THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN BROVVNRIGG 
AND ITS RESULTS. 

Captain Brownrigg in August, 1880, took over the 
command of H.M.S. London, as Senior Naval Officer at 
Zanzibar, and he at once displayed the ability and zeal 
which earned for him the high approval of Admiral Gore 
Jones under whom he served. The captures of slave- 
runners effected under his orders were numerous, as shewn 
by the many formal documents, decrees, certificates, 
receipts, and reports concerning them. Documents re- 
lating to similar matters are probably now issued nowhere, 
and before long they will doubtless be regarded as curiosities. 
The seizure of each slave dhow was brought to the cognizance 
of the Court of H.B.M. Consul-General at Zanzibar and was 
followed by a close investigation into the circumstances. 
In all cases there was strict impartiality, and where injury 
had been inflicted on the innocent, full compensation was 
made. Usually, however, guilt was clear and condemnation 
followed. In case No. 33 of 1881, the Decree was as 
follows : 

" Our Sovereign Lady the Queen against the native vessel 
named ** Mambo Sasa " sailing under Zanzibar colours and 
having no papers, whereof Mahomed-bin- J aribu is the owner, 
and Salim-bin-Bougene Master, her tackle, apparel, and 



io8 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

furniture ; and also against ninety-one male and forty- 
six female slaves, seized as liable to forfeiture by C. J. 
Brownrigg Esq., a Captain in the Royal Navy, and com- 
manding Her Majesty's ship " London,'* before Lieutenant- 
Colonel S. B. Miles, Her Majesty's Acting Agent and Consul- 
General at Zanzibar, on the i8th day of October, 1881. 

" Appeared personally Sub-Lieutenant Robert H. Travers, 
R.N. of H.M. ship ** London " and produced his sworn 
declaration setting out the circumstances under which 
the native vessel ** Mambo Sasa," under Zanzibar colours of 
the description and dimensions set forth in the annexed 
certificate of admeasurement taken by the captors, was 
seized by him, together with ninety-one male and forty- 
six female slaves off Pemba on the 15th day of October, 
1881. I, the said acting Agent and Consul-General, having 
heard the evidence and examined the witnesses, and having 
found sufficient proof that the vessel at the time of her 
capture was engaged in the slave trade in contravention 
of Treaties existing between Great Britain and Zanzibar, 
do adjudge the said vessel, her tackle, furniture and apparel, 
and also the ninety-one male and forty-six female slaves 
found on board thereof to have been lawfully seized, and 
to be forfeited to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, and do 
condemn the same accordingly." 

Then follows the certificate of destruction, signed 
October 23, 1881, by the Sub-Lieutenant, R. C. Travers, 
and approved on October 24, by Captain C. J. Brownrigg. 
After this comes the certificate of admeasurement (prize 
money being awarded according to the size of the vessel 
captured) bearing, besides the signatures of the Captain and 
Sub-Lieutenant, that of the Coxswain of the " London's " 
launch ; and that is followed by the Consul-General's 
receipt for slaves, in this form : 

"RECEIVED from Captain C. J. Brownrigg, R.N., 
commanding H.M.S. ** London," ninety-one male and forty- 
six female slaves, taken by the boats of that vessel and 



CAPTAIN BTtOWNRIGG. 109 

condemned in this Court in case No. 33 of 1881, Zanzibar 
Admiralty Court file.*' 

Captain Brownrigg's own account of the matter states 
that " at 5 a.m. on October 15, Sub-Lieutenant Travers 
sighted a dhow and gave chase, coming up with her about 
7 a.m. On closing her it was noticed that there were a 
number of Arabs on board, and that they had arms and 
were making preparations to use them to prevent them 
boarding the dhow ; but, on a shot being fired close to the 
dhow, they laid down their arms, and the Chief Arab waved 
his sword to say that no resistance would be offered. On 
boarding her she was found to contain 137 slaves, 10 Arabs 
in charge, and 12 passengers, besides her crew of 8 hands 
who were armed as well as the Arabs and passengers ; 
the dhow was towed into Fundu (dep6t at Pemba) and in 
transhipping them from the dhow to the sailing boat 
" Alexandra,'* one dinghy full capsized, and Enoch Light- 
bourne, A.B., and Thomas Melhuish, Ordinary, specially dis- 
tinguished themselves by the promptness they displayed 
in jumping overboard and saving the slaves, who were 
in an emaciated condition and unable to swim, and some 
would undoubtedly have been drowned had it not been for 
these two men, especially Melhuish, who, on one of the 
female slaves sinking, dived and brought her to the 
surface." 

Bounties for the capture of slaves and dhows, it should 
be mentioned, were distributed among officers and men, 
through the Naval Prize Fund. For each slave taken the 
bounty would be as much as £5 and for dhows it ranged 
from 30 shillings to £5 los. per ton. The total amount 
awarded varied, of course, with the condition of the slave 
traffic. When few slave dhows were running, it might 
not exceed £2,000, but when the trade was brisk it would 
reach £12,000 in the course of the year. 

On November 26, 1881, Captain Brownrigg proceeded 
from Zanzibar to Pemba in the London^s steam pinnace 



no ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Wave on a visit of inspection and for the examination of 
the bays and creeks on the eastern side of the island, where 
it was suspected slaves were landed. He was expected back 
at Zanzibar on December 6, but on the 4th his body and 
that of a seaman, together with five of the crew of the 
pinnace, were brought from Pemba to Zanzibar. 

The circumstances of Captain Brownrigg's death were 
as follows : — On the morning of December 3, he, with the 
coxswain, 4 seamen, 3 stokers and 2 natives, was cruising 
on the west side of Pemba near Kokota Gap. He was not 
supposed to exert his efforts personally in the work of 
capturing slave dhows, but if one came in his way he 
willingly availed himself of the opportunity. Two dhows 
were sighted, examined, and allowed to pass, and then a 
third came in sight. This dhow was small, and it was 
noticed that she was flying French colours, a circumstance 
which seems to have inclined Captain Brownrigg to be 
specially careful not to give offence. He was sitting near 
the tiller beside the coxswain, Yates and the interpreter, 
and, when the dhow was about 1,000 yards distant, he said 
" I intend going alongside that dhow." He then put on 
his uniform but not his sword, holding the latter by the 
scabbard in his left hand. He next said to Yates, " I 
do not want to go on board her, but you go forward and 
take the hook-rope, and when we get alongside you jump 
on board the dhow and make the hook-rope fast, at the 
same time take a quick look round and see if you can see 
anything " (meaning slaves). Then he took the tiller, and 
Yates asked if he should get the arms ready, to which 
he replied, " All right, I'll see to that ; you go forward." 
Then Yates went forward and stood ready with his hook- 
rope. As the pinnace was nearly alongside the dhow, 
her captain was seen standing on the poop with some 
papers in his hand, but no opportunity was given of ex- 
amining them. The two vessels got abreast of one another, 
and Yates was in the act of stepping on board when he 



BROWNRIGG'S DEATH. in 

noticed about eight Arabs crouching with rifles ready, 
and at once shouted to Captain Brownrigg. The Arabs 
fired but missed him, and he with his hook and rope knocked 
one of them to the bottom of the dhow. Two Arabs then 
rushed at him with their rifles clubbed, but one of them 
slipped and fell, and Yates, ducking, caught hold of the 
rifle of the other. Standing with one foot on the Wave 
and the other on the dhow, he grappled with the Arab till 
both fell over the gunnel of the dhow and then rolled 
into the sea. Yates was eventually saved, but in the 
meantime the Arabs, firing a volley into the pinnace, 
killed or wounded four of the crew, and almost at the 
same moment Captain Brownrigg, having seized a loaded 
rifle, killed two of the Arabs at one shot. Then the crew 
of the dhow streamed over into the Wave, where no one 
but the captain opposed them. Brownrigg then gave 
the order " Full speed ahead," but neither the stoker — 
who had in fact been knocked overboard — nor anyone 
else responded, and the fight had to be fought to the end. 
He had his empty rifle and, using this as a club, he knocked 
down several of the Arabs. He was a powerful, resolute 
man, and, had he been in any degree supported by his crew, 
he would have been too strong for the Arabs. Of the 
survivors of his crew most were wounded, only two being 
left in the pinnace ; the others had fallen or been driven 
overboard, and, being shot at by the Arabs, two were hit 
and sank. Still Brownrigg fought on, his limbs and hands 
gashed and bleeding, and no other weapon being within 
his grasp, he felled an Arab with his telescope. Some of his 
assailants were in front and some above on the awning, while 
he stood exposed in the stem sheets. The Arabs above 
slashed at him with their long Omani swords, and one 
cut him across the face, blinding him. He asked his 
wounded Goanese servant for water but received none, 
and then, utterly exhausted, he was shot through the 
heart and fell. The Arabs then proceeded to kill or mutilate 



112 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

such of the wounded as they found on board, or in the 
dinghy which was towed by the pinnace, but the captain's 
servant escaped by feigning death. Then they tried to 
wreck the machinery and sink the pinnace, but without 
success, and, as soon as they were gone, the stoker, who had 
been swimming about, scrambled on board, got up steam, 
and, after rescuing others, took the boat to the naval 
dep6t, whence, next day, the remains of the captain and 
one seaman were taken by Lieutenant Travers to Zanzibar, 
together with five of the survivors, two being left behind. 
Next morning, December 5, the remains of Captain Brown- 
rigg and the seaman Aers were buried in the old English 
cemetery at Grave Island in the harbour of Zanzibar with 
the honours which were due. 

The dhow in the meantime had reached Weti, and having 
landed her cargo of about 100 slaves, she was taken to a 
place of concealment. The Arab, Hindi bin Khatim, who 
was suspected as the leader in this outrage, was well-known. 
He belonged to a band of Muscat slave dealers and had 
been shortly before released from prison, having been 
acquitted on a charge of slave dealing for want of sufficient 
evidence. No time was now lost in arranging for the 
apprehension of the whole crew. On the morning of 
December 5, General Mathews, with a force of 100 men 
and accompanied by H.B.M. Consul, Mr. Holmwood, and 
a representative of the French Consulate which was 
interested in the matter, set out from Zanzibar on board 
the Sultan's steamer Star for Pemba. 

Next morning the Star was off the Port of Weti, but 
through twice stranding was unable to laund the force till 
evening. However, a sailing boat of the London came and 
reported the capture of the dhow by Lieutenant Target, 
who, accompanied by one of the seamen, and by Cockroach, 
the interpreter, who had witnessed the conflict, had gone 
up the Weti Creek and found the missing vessel in charge 
of two men, who at once ran away. The dhow was towed 




The creek, Wdl. 




Sir John and Lady Key and Miss Taylor at Wcti. 



MATHEWS IN PEMBA, 113 

round to Funzi, whither Mr. Holmwood and M. Greffulhe, 
of the French Consulate, proceeded to examine her. There 
were not only clear indications that she had carried a 
large cargo of slaves, but also evidence of recent blood- 
shed. A blood-stained garment, pierced by a bullet, 
seemed to have been worn by a man who had fallen, shot 
through the heart by the one shot fired from the pinnace. 
No French colours or papers were found on board. 

When Mr. Holmwood returned to Weti he found that 
General Mathews, having failed to obtain from the Arabs 
any information about the whereabouts of the fugitives, 
was on the point of sending out parties of troops to search 
the roads, grounds, and houses for Hindi or any one who 
seemed to be associated with him. This method of pro- 
cedure was not in accordance with the views of the Consul, 
who, not only then, but subsequently, liberally supplied 
the General with advice and with offers of help. But Lloyd 
Mathews knew the Arabs he had to deal with, and the 
soldiers he commanded. He refused to arrest Arab 
Governors and chiefs merely on unsupported suspicion, 
and rejected the reinforcements which were pressed upon 
him. During that night his men were scouring the country 
and, in the morning, when near Chaki-chaki, he received 
a letter from M. Greffulhe stating that one of his officers 
had arrested Suliman bin Abdullah, a near relation of 
Hindi, with whom, a few days before, he had been seen. 
Mathews offered Suliman a reward of 500 dollars for such 
information as would lead to the capture of the fugitive, 
and this offer was professedly accepted by Suliman who, 
however, said that he required time. Mathews gave him 
till next day (December 8) and then, convinced that he was 
playing false, seized his property, burnt his houses and sent 
him, along with some other Arabs, to Zanzibar. No further 
progress was made till the following day, when, after mature 
deliberation, Mathews arrested Naser bin Ali, the Arab 
chief of Weti, and sent him on board the Star for conveyance 

8 



114 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

to Zanzibar. It was through this man's plantations that 
the 100 slaves from the dhow had been led, and it was 
near his house and in charge of his people that the dhow 
had been left ; and all this time he had refused informa- 
tion. But he was not strong enough for the part he played, 
for now, when the anchor was being weighed, he said that he 
knew the hiding place of Hindi, and would deliver him up 
within forty-eight hours. On giving security for the 
performance of this promise, including landed property 
worth £20,000, he was released. Next afternoon he sent 
word that Hindi was hiding in a wood close by, indicating 
the spot, and Mathews at once set out with his men to prevent 
escape ; but on reaching the place he found that Hindi 
had fled towards the eastern coast of the island. Mathews 
procured a guide who knew whither Hindi had gone, and 
tracked him to Chimba, to the house of an Arab, Saleh bin 
Rhabish, a slave dealer, but not one of Hindi's crew. By 
that time it was dark, and there was difficulty in effectively 
surrounding the house. Mathews, however, posted his 
men and went forward to summon those within to surrender. 
The slave dealers were armed with swords, and at once 
rushed to the attack, Saleh charging at Mathews, who was 
compelled to shoot him down. Two (not belonging to the 
dhow crew) were captured unwounded, and one managed to 
escape. Inside, there was still one man, and to get at him 
it was necessary to break down the wall. He proved to be no 
other than Hindi, and, when called on to surrender, he cut 
down the officer who summoned him. His resistance only 
ended when his sword-hand was shot away and one leg 
was torn with two bullets. Two surgeons from the 
Philomel found it necessary to amputate the hand and then 
the leg, but he made no recovery. The shock was too 
great for him, and he died on the evening of December 12, 
glorying that he had slain so redoubtable a fighter as Captain 
Brownrigg who, he declared, had killed two of his men with 
one shot. 



MATHEWS* REPORT. 115 

On December 19, Hindi's brother, Khalfan, was caught 
along with another Arab, Massoud, and these two were 
brought to trial for actual participation in the murder. 
It was found that the dhow had had only seven or eight of 
a crew, one of them being a slave. Of the crew two were 
killed at the time of the attack, Hindi died of wounds nine 
days later, two were prisoners, and one either escaped 
or died of wounds. The slave of course was not dealt 
with. 

The report sent from Pemba by Mr. Holmwood, on 
December 12, concerning the more important of these 
proceedings, concludes with the following generous tribute 
to General Mathews and his native force : "I cannot close 
this report without remarking upon the steadiness, good- 
behaviour, and patient endurance of the Sultan's native 
force. They have had to keep guard day and night over 
a considerable village and its approaches, also to furnish 
patrols and outposts ; yet they have always been ready 
at a moment's notice to march on the expeditions, generally 
occupying the whole night, which their leader has ordered. 
General Mathews himself has worked indefatigably ; 
indeed, I fear he has over-exerted himself. If the re- 
mainder of his troops are equal to the small body here 
present, he has reason to be proud of the force under his 
command, and no officer could better deserve the confidence 
which he has inspired among his men." 

We extract the following from the official report addressed 
to the SuUan by General Mathews : — 

" We started immediately after sunset, and the following 
morning while searching the roads to Chak-chak, and within 
half an hour's march of that place, I received a letter 
from the French Vice-Consul, telling me of the return of 
one of my officers with a relation of Hindi bin Hattam, 
named Suliman bin Abdullah, whom he had arrested. I 
immediately returned and foimd that he had been seen 
with Hindi the night after the fight. On searching his 

8* 



ii6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

house a second time, we found several guns, slave-chains, 
and neck-rings, and amongst his papers, a French pass 
for a dhow named Zura, 41 tons, owned by Hindi bin 
Hattam, from Mayotte to Mozambique, one passenger, 
Mohamet bin Ali. This vessel, by Hindi bin Hattam's 
statement, was lost at Kondulhi, and the dhow now 
captured was bought for him by an agent whilst at 
Zanzibar 

"On Sunday, December 11, at midnight, we captured 
Hindi bin Hattam at Chimba, in the house of an Arab 
named Sali bin Rabish, but not without bloodshed, as the 
Arabs discovering us before the house could be properly 
surrounded, attempted to cut their way through us. 
Eventually Sali bin Rabish was killed, Hindi bin Hattam 
mortally wounded, two were taken unhurt, and one, who 
was wounded, fell into the river and could not again be 
found. 

" We carried Hindi bin Hattam and the body of his 
companion to Waite, where he confessed that at one time 
he sailed under French colours. Having lost his dhow 
he bought the present one through an agent at Zanzibar, 
taking over his colours and papers, but without entering 
it at the French Consulate. He stated that his reason 
for fighting the English steamboat was that he had shewn 
them his colours and papers as they came close to him, 
and that a shot was fired from the boat which killed two 
of his men. As soon as he saw his men fall he gave the 
order to fight the boat, and killed the Captain and three 
of the crew ; the remainder jumped overboard. He 
states two were killed in the dhow by the first shot from 
the boat, and the second shot wounded another badly and 
injured his own left arm which I saw was scored as if by 
a bullet. Another of the crew had his skull fractured. 
As soon as the fight was over he made for Waite, nmning 
into the creek to the southward of the harbour. On 
grounding the dhow he told the remainder of the crew 



MATHEWS' REPORT. iff 

who were unhurt, viz., his brother Halfan bin Hattam, 
and one of the sailors, to escape from the island, and that 
he would see to the wounded. He also stated that after- 
wards, seeing they were so badly wounded, he left them to 
their fate. When I asked him if he thought they were 
dead or alive, he said they must have died. We could 
find no trace of them, so it is possible they may have 
been found dead in the dhow before her capture, and thrown 
into the creek or buried in the jungle. The dhow had 
100 slaves on board. Hindi bin Hattam died about 9 p.m. 
on the night of the 12th December. 

"The Arabs of Pemba after the capture and death of 
Hindi gave us every assistance. On the 19th December 
Halfan bin Hattam and the one remaining Arab of the crew 
were captured. Halfan bin Hattam stated that he was in 
the dhow as steersman, and that when the English steam- 
boat came up with them, his brother showed the colours 
and papers and told them to keep off and not to board him, 
as he was a French dhow, but they came alongside and 
fired a shot, killing two of the crew. He states that they 
then fired into the boat, and afterwards attacked with 
their swords ; but that he himself had nothing to do with 
it. After the fight he threw the dead bodies of the Arabs 
overboard. The other two wounded he left with his 
brother in Waite Creek, telling him they were unable to 
move, one being wounded in the head, and the other in 
the leg. Being told by his brother to escape if possible he 
then left with the last of the crew. From that time until 
captured, he had not seen his brother, nor heard of his 
death, as they had lived hiding in the jungle or sea, on the 
east side of Pemba, coming out only at night to steal 
sufficient food from the nearest plantation. He states 
that the crew of the dhow were seven Arabs, including his 
brother and a slave to assist. The Arab sailor captured 
with him confessed that he was in the dhow. 

" The second day after the taking of Hindi bin Hattam 



122 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

advice was not acted on at the time for, from various 
causes, there was now and then a partial cessation of 
the traffic. It might be that the slave owners were dis- 
couraged by the persistent watchfulness of the British 
boats, or the slave hunters were deterred by the firmness 
of the Sultan in punishing law breakers, or it might be that, 
for quite other reasons, there was no demand for slave- 
labour, as in 1882, when Zanzibar was well stocked, while 
in Pemba, owing to a fall in the price of cloves, the price 
of slaves was insufficient for the risk involved. However, 
in October, 1883, three vice-consuls were appointed. 
Commander Gissing, R.N., to Mombasa ; Mr. J. G. Haggard, 
formerly Lieutenant R.N., to Lamu ; Lieutenant C. S. 
Smith, R.N., to Kilwa. Twelve years later, namely, on 
March 23, 1895, Dr. O'Sullivan-Beare, the first British 
official to reside on the island, arrived at Chaki Chaki, 
having been appointed vice-consul for Pemba. 

In August, 1883, Sir John Kirk returned to his post after 
a two years' absence on leave, and the hearty welcome 
with which he was received by the Sultan was an indication 
of the influence which he wielded at the Palace. The 
British Agent had been commissioned to invest His Highness 
with the insignia of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, 
a distinction which he highly appreciated, and it was 
resolved that the investiture should be made with all due 
formality on September 10. Admiral Sir W. Hewett with 
a fleet of eight war-vessels entered Zanzibar harbour, and 
this naval display, the finest ever seen there, added to 
the favourable impression which had been produced. The 
naval officers were presented at the Palace, and, on 
September 14, with the support of the Admiral, the in- 
vestiture was made in an impressive manner, and was 
followed by festivities. Next day the Sultan and his 
suite were received with honours on board the flag-ship 
Euryalus, and the friendly feeling already existing was 
strengthened. To Lord Granville Barghash telegraphed. 



WORK AT KILWA. 123 

" I am rejoiced at this mark of cordiality, and thank Her 
Majesty heartily. I pray Almighty grant your Lordship 
long life, and may the British Empire continue to prosper." 

Another event to be recorded was the transference 
of the control and payment of the Political Agency and 
Consulate-General at Zanzibar from the Indian to the 
Imperial Government. This step, which was completed 
on September i, 1883, was taken in order that means 
adapted to the suppression of the slave-trade might be 
more readily put in operation. 

When Mr. Haggard went to Lamu he found there was 
trouble a short distance inland with the Arab chief Ahmet 
(surnamed Simba, or the Lion), who, with his sons Fumo 
Bakari and Fumo Amari, was the curse of the region. 
He had been in receipt of a pension from the Sultan, but 
this did not satisfy him and his marauding followers, who 
were armed with swords, knives, bows and arrows, guns 
being very scarce. When, in 1881, he had been asked to 
disperse his men he had replied with a demand for a supply 
of gun-powder. The coast Arabs had marched against 
him, and the Sultan had sent a force to subdue him, but 
Simba was not to be overcome, and a temporary peace was 
made. In 1884 Mr. Haggard found that he and his men 
were kidnapping slaves from Lamu and bartering them to 
the Somalis for gun-powder ; but, worse than this, there 
was famine in the land, and the natives, rather than die 
of hunger, were going into slavery. So from Mombasa it 
was reported that the coast people were selling their children 
for food in the hope of redeeming them when better times 
should come. 

Young naval officers appointed to consular positions 
might well be perplexed with the intricacies of judicial 
procedure, as was Mr. Smith at Kilwa. He, however, 
found a competent adviser in Mr. Cracknall, a barrister 
who, two years before, had entered on his duties as assistant 
political agent at Zanzibar. Under his direction Mr. 



124 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TtME$. 

Smith made such progress in judicial attainments that within 
a few weeks, much to his surprise, the Khathi of Kilwa 
practically left to him not only the capture but also the 
disposal of slaves and even of slave-dealers. In May, 1884, 
his report seemed to show that rubber-collecting was of 
more importance than the slave trade, but in July he seized 
a slave gang which was on the point of marching north. 
In October, parents were selling their children for food, 
and slave-running broke out with great vigour. Slaves 
were abundant and cheap owing to famine, for natives 
were kidnapping from neighbouring villages and selling 
the victims to agents on the coast. In those months 
many slave dhows were taken, some with over a hundred 
slaves on board. One taken in December in the Pemba 
Channel had 163 slaves and many passengers. They 
were all starving Wazaramo, emaciated skeletons, from a 
district where the population was dying of hunger and 
disease. No food had been taken for the voyage and the 
slaves had had nothing to eat. The boat of the Osprey, 
in making the capture, had to keep at a safe distance, 
for there was a rush from the dhow which would have 
swamped it. Even after the suffering had been relieved, 
several died. 

In many districts famine and slavery were caused or 
increased by the ravages of marauding bands who reduced 
the country to a wilderness. So it was in 1884 in the 
region between Kilwa and the Rovuma River, and also 
inland from Tanga, where the Masai killed 1,000 people 
and drove away 15,000 head of cattle. 

In March, 1885, General Mathews was sent by Barghash 
on a mission of inquiry to the country between Pangani 
and Kilwa, and he found abundant evidence that the slave 
dealers had profited by the famine. Wazaramo people 
had been kidnapped and sold, even by their own tribesmen, 
and handed over to Arab agents from South Arabia and 
Oman. The slaves thus acquired were set to work in large 



LIEUTENANT FEGEN. 125 

numbers on the sugar and rice fields at Pangani, while 
others were smuggled across to Zanzibar and Pemba. 
In these doings many of the Sultan's officials were im- 
plicated, but the chief culprits were the Arab agents, 
and Mathews had them promptly and suddenly arrested 
and sent to Zanzibar. It was intended that this inquiry 
should be extended to the coast further south, but before 
this purpose could be executed the Sultan heard of the pro- 
ceedings of the Germans in the Kilimanjaro country, 
and sent Mathews there to forestall, and, if possible, to 
thwart them. 

Thus, with many fluctuations, the slave traffic went 
on, slaves being rescued and set free sometimes by hundreds 
at other times by twos or threes. Usually the slave- 
runners quietly submitted to the loss of captured dhows 
and slaves, but when fortune seemed to favour them, they 
were ready to make a bold fight. Two instances of unusual 
aggressiveness on the part of Arabs occurred. On the 
morning of May 30, 1887, Lieutenant Fegen of the 
Turquoise, being in command of the cutter, sighted an 
Arab slave dhow. He summoned her to haul to, but she 
steered straight for the cutter and tried to run her down, 
the Arabs firing a volley and wounding one sailor. The 
rigging of the two vessels became entangled together and 
a hand-to-hand fight took place. Seven Arabs were ready 
to board the cutter, but Lieutenant Fegen, running for- 
ward, promptly shot two of them with his revolver, and 
ran a third through the body with his cutlass. While 
thus engaged he was wounded in his right arm by an Arab, 
whom an able seaman, J. W. Pearson, at once ran through 
the body. Three of the cutter's crew were lying wounded, 
but Fegen and the other three of the crew continued 
fighting. When the vessels got clear of each other, nine 
of the thirteen Arabs on the dhow had been killed, and 
the four who were alive, with seven other armed men, 
tried to make their escape in their dhow. Fegen, how- 



126 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

ever, kept up the chase till the Arab helmsman was shot, 
and the dhow broachmg to, capsized in shallow water. 
Two Arabs reached the shore, but one escaped, and the 
other died of wounds. Fifty-three slaves were rescued. 

Another Arab attack was made on October 17, 1888, 
off the Island of Pemba, where Lieutenant Cooper of the 
Griffon was cruising in the steam cutter with a crew of 
six men. About ten o'clock in the evening he observed 
a dhow which, on being required in the usual manner to 
heave to, at once opened a heavy fire, wounding Lieutenant 
Cooper and two of the crew. Cooper was shot through 
the chest, but told Bray, the ship's corporal, to do his best 
and not mind him. The three unwounded men kept up a 
steady fire for half-an-hour, till the dhow and the cutter 
both grounded, about ten yards apart. Then the Arabs 
jumped overboard unseen and escaped, 74 slaves being 
rescued. The cutter, however, had hastened back to the 
ship with Lieutenant Cooper who, two hours after receiving 
the wound, died just as he came alongside of the Griffon. 

It was to the memory of this gallant young officer that 
the Naval canteen and recreation ground, known as the 
Cooper Institute, outside the town of Zanzibar, was 
founded. 



127 



CHAPTER XL 

SEYYID BARGHASH — THE GERMAN SURPRISE OF 1885. 

The time has passed when patriotic motives need influence 
our judgment as to the aggression which Germany initiated 
in East Africa in 1884, or prevent a fair consideration of the 
question whether that aggression has or has not been 
beneficial to those regions. There can be but one answer 
to that question. Since it was inevitable that sooner or 
later European domination should assert itself in those 
regions it was a good thing that Germany succeeded in 
establishing herself there. The Portuguese had held and 
oppressed the country for 190 years (1508-1698) ; the Arabs 
who succeeded them had brought prosperity to some of the 
coast towns, but had conferred no benefit on the inland 
regions. There they had not governed, but only traded 
and enriched themselves, their traffic being mainly in slaves. 
After the Arabs, the British, had they so desired, might 
have come into power in East Africa, but, while recognising 
the importance of retaining poUtical influence over the 
Sultans of Muscat and Zanzibar, they had no wish to acquire 
burdensome possessions for the advantage or at the expense 
of either. Great Britain had, as we have seen, engaged in 
1862 with France, then the only other important colonising 
Power, to respect the independence of these two rulers, 
and showed no wish to change its policy. Both Seyyid 
Said and Seyyid Barghash offered to place Zanzibar and 



128 ZASZIBAR IS CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

her East African possessions under the protection of Great 
Britain, and Barghash gave Dr. Kirk a declaration in which 
he bound himself not to cede territory to any other Power 
than Great Britain ; but these offers, Uke the Mombasa 
Treaty of 1824, were quietly ignored, and British statesmen, 
while expending blood and treasure for the suppression of 
the slave trade, made no effort to secure a permanent hold 
over the region. It was only when the Germans came on 
the scene, asserting rights over wide inland tracts, to the 
exclusion of Zanzibar and Great Britain alike, that the 
British Government perceived the importance of securing 
a foothold where British merchants and travellers had 
already been active. 

Whatever sympathy with the motives, and whatever 
satisfaction with the achievements of the Germans in East 
Africa, we may now have, it is impossible to approve of the 
manner in which they began their work. A " Society for 
German G^lonization " employed as its agent for the 
purpose of making treaties with East African chiefs Dr. Karl 
Peters, who visited the inland regions and easily obtained 
the signatures of local chiefs to documents of which the 
following, dated November 29, 1884, is a specimen : 

" Mangungo, Sultan of Msovero, in Usagara, and Doctor 
Karl Peters, Sultan Mangungo simultaneously for all his 
people and Dr. Peters for all his present and future asso- 
ciates, hereby conclude a Treaty of eternal friendship. 

" Mangungo offers all his territory, with all its civil and 
public appurtenances to Dr. Karl Peters, as the representa- 
tive of the Society for German Colonization, for exclusive 
and universal utilisation for German Colonization. 

" Dr. Karl Peters, in the name of the Society for German 
Colonization, declares his willingness to take over the 
territory of the Sultan Mangungo with all rights for German 
Colonization, subject to any existing suzerainty rights^of 
Myweyi Sagara. 

" In pursuance thereof, Sultan Mangungo hereby cedes 



GERMAN "TREATIES.*' 129 

all the territory of Msovero, belonging to him by inheritance 
or otherwise, for all time, to Dr. Karl Peters, making over 
to him at the same time all his rights. Dr. Karl Peters, 
in the name of the Society for German Colonization, under- 
takes to give special attention to Msovero when colonizing 
Usagara. 

" This Treaty has been communicated to the Sultan 
Mangungo by the Interpreter Ramazan in a dear manner, 
and has been signed by both sides with the observation of 
the formalities valid in Usagara, the Sultan on direct inquiry 
having declared that he was not in any way dependent 
upon the Sultan of Zanzibar, and that he even did not know 
of the existence of the latter." 

The proceedings of Dr. Karl Peters were approved by the 
German Emperor, who, on February 17, 1885, granted a 
Charter of Protection to the " Society for German Coloniza- 
tion," and " accepted " the suzerainty of Usagara, Nguru, 
Uzeguha, and Ukami. 

The Emperor's proclamation fell like a bolt from the 
blue upon Barghash, who immediately telegraphed to him 
his protest, and was only dissuaded by Sir John Kirk from 
proceeding in person to Berlin. The only stations held by 
Barghash in these districts were Mamboia, which had been 
occupied by General Mathews in 1880, and two small 
stations behind Bagamoyo. These he began to strengthen 
with additional troops, and he despatched Mathews on a 
mission which had for its object " the definite incorporation 
with the Zanzibar dominions of the hill regions about 
Kilimanjaro," including Chaga, Taveta, Taita, and Arusha. 
This was really a move to cut out the Germans who, under 
Jiihlke, the successor of Peters, were moving through the 
Bondei country, towards that rich prize Kilimanjaro, 
making. " treaties " as they went. " Sultan " Fungu, 
a Bondei village headman, made a statement to Jiihlke 
which presents the case from the native point of view : 

" The land which I with my own power, together with 

9 



I30 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

my race, have taken possession of belongs to the great 
district of Bondei. I myself, however, came from Useguha 
and have settled here. In Bondei itself there is no great 
Chief, but there live there well-known rulers over terri- 
tories like mine, and no one has hitherto disputed either my 
lordship or theirs. I am neither a subject of the Stiltan 
Seyyid Barghash nor of any person, nor has the Sultan 
either possessions or fortresses in my country, neither does 
he send any soldiers as far as here. As, however, we all 
know that the Sultan is a powerful man, who knows what 
is the law, we have voluntarily repaired to his Government 
in Pangani when disputes have arisen amongst us, so that 
he should tell us what is right. But I know very well that 
the white man knows that just as well and better, and I 
and my race should be very glad if white people would 
settle among us, for we believe that they have the power 
to protect us, and that we ourselves should derive great 
benefit from them. Then fighting between the black people 
would cease, and the Masai would no longer make pre- 
datory excursions into our country. If you will bring white 
people into our country we will let our disputes be settled 
by you, and go no more to Pangani. Moreover, we will 
give to the white people all the land they wish to have, 
and, so far as lies in our power, help them in building their 
houses, in occupying the land, as well as in all other works.** 

Having failed to cajole any of the real chiefs of the 
Bondei, Jiihlke was compelled to exploit this '* Sultan ** 
Fungu, the headman of a small village ; who had no power 
or land to bestow outside his own compoimd, but who 
was held to have surrendered to the German East Africa 
Company for ever " all the rights which according to Euro- 
pean ideas are comprised in the sovereign rights of a Prince." 
In return for this the Company consented to " bring their 
wise people, German colonists," into the country. 

General Mathews had, meanwhile, lost no time in carry- 
ing out the mission entrusted to him by Barghash. The 




e2 



^ 



a 



GERMAX ASXEXATION, 131 

Sultan had received the German Emperor^s proclamation 
on April 27, 1885, at the hands of Heir Rohlfs, German 
Consul-General at Zanzibar, who had been sent out specially 
to condu t the negotiations, and who was at the same time 
the ber er of a letter from His Majesty, in which the latter 
proposed to enter mto a treaty with the Sultan for the 
benefit of their respective subjects. One month later, 
on May 30, Mathews had obtained from the Chiefs of Chaga 
and Kilimanjaro a declaration, in which they professed that 
they and their people, and those of Taveta and Taita were 
subjects of the Sultan of Zanzibar and were loyal to him and 
his flag. A few days after the departure of Mathews, 
Jiihlke turned up, and in long and elaborate statements 
and " treaties " succeeded in upsetting on paper all that 
Mathews had accomplished on paper. " I beg thee," said 
Mandara, Chief of Mochi, who had also signed the Declara- 
tion, " to bring with thee a better flagstaff than General 
Mathews brought with him." 

The dispute, however, was now being adjusted in London 
and Berlin between Lord Granville and Prince Bismarck. 
It has been held that in virtually supporting Bismarck, 
Granville acted timorously; but to form a just estimate 
of the course he took one must consider the interests which 
Great Britain had at stake in .other parts of the world. 
In Egypt she had just entered up>on her career of occupa- 
tion and control and had made of France, if not an enemy, 
an angry and jealous opponent ; in the Transvaal the 
restless Boers had only two years before signed the famous 
Convention. It would obviously have been inconvenient, if 
not dangerous, to have Bismarck intriguing with France in 
Egypt, or with the Boers in the Transvaal, and Great 
Britain no doubt decided wisely in accepting facts and 
bowing the Germans into their new possessions. Germany 
was, moreover, justified in her desire to annex these terri- 
tories. Great Britain had allowed her opportunity to go 
by, and it was too late now to grumble about it. Barghash 

9* 



132 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

was therefore compelled to acquiesce, his grievance bein{ 
the more bitter because, as he explained in a letter to Princ< 
Bismarck on June 12, 1885, the treaty-makers : " these 
same Germans have only got there by means of sovereign 
letters of recommendation which I gave them to my offi- 
cials there." On August 7 Commodore Paschen and a 
German fleet entered the harbour, and on the nth the Com- 
modore demanded from the Sultan a recognition by him 
of the Emperor's Protectorate over Usagara, Uzeguha, 
Nguru and Ukami, as well as over Witu, and to withdraw 
his men from those places. The formal submission of the 
Sultan to these demands was sent to the Commodore on 
August 14. 

On May 25, that is, four months after the despatch of 
the German Consul-General with the Emperor's letter to 
Barghash, Earl Granville had written to Sir E. Malet, our 
Ambassador in Berlin, incidentally requesting him to 
inform Prince Bismarck that a scheme had been started in 
England by some prominent capitalists for a British Settle- 
ment in the country between the coast and the Lakes 
which are the sources of the White Nile, and for its con- 
nection with the coast by a railway. This referred to the 
British East Africa Association, the parent of the Imperial 
British East Africa Company, which, founded by Sir William 
Mackinnon, obtained its Royal Charter on September 3, 
1888. 

The British East Africa scheme was based on conces- 
sions granted to Mr. (now Sir Harry) Johnston by agree- 
ment with the local chiefs of the Taveta country in the 
neighbourhood of Kilimanjaro on September 27, 1884, 
treaties which also possessed priority over those of the 
Germans. The German Government, not satisfied that 
this British enterprise would not conflict with the interests 
of the new German Protectorate, requested Lord Granville 
that any decision respecting it might be deferred. In 
November, 1885, the German Government were informed 



BRITISH EAST AFRICA. T33 

that no further step had been taken towards the assertion 
of the British claims, but that the original cession had been 
made over to the President of the Manchester Chamber of 
Commerce. In the following December and January the 
German Government repeatedly expressed the hope that 
the English enterprise, since it had not yet been entered 
on, would still be deferred so that it might not interfere 
with a definite arrangement, but that the German Company, 
being already active, should be allowed a free hand. The 
reply given by Lord Rosebery, Foreign Minister, was that 
the English had held back at the request of the Germans 
in order that the two Governments might come to an agree- 
ment on Zanzibar questions ; but, seeing the activity of 
the Germans in the Kilimanjaro region, the British Govern- 
ment could not restrain the English Company from asserting 
its rights there. These symptoms of je^Jousy subsided, 
however, as the negotiations advanced. 



^34 



CHAPTER XII. 

SEYYID BARGHASH — DELIMITATION — PORTUGUESE 
AGGRESSION. 

The question which now demanded settlement was this : 
What territory on continental East Africa was under the 
jurisdiction of the Sultan of Zanzibar ? It could scarcely 
be maintained that his authority was either acknowledged 
or asserted far inland, except along the great trade routes 
and at some trade centres of the interior, and his claim on 
the allegiance of the Kilimanjaro tribes, even though 
allowed by them, had no success. That he had possessions 
on the coast was not disputed, but the Germans held that 
these were limited to a few towns, and they laid claim 
to long stretches of coast line as included in their conces- 
sions. Over Witu also, far to the north, the Germans 
asserted rights on the groimd of the protection of the 
Empire vaguely accorded to the Chief of that town. This 
so-called Sultan was an old man of the Wagimia race of 
Nabahan-Arab descent ; his name was Ahmet bin Sultan 
Komlut, but he was commonly called Simba (or the Lion). 
He had spent most of his life in fighting for possession of 
the island of Patta, but being at length driven out by the 
Sultan of Zanzibar, he had for fifteen years been living on 
the mainland, first at Kau on the coast, then at Witu, a 
short distance inland, where, according to the report of 
Mr. Haggard, the British Vice-Consul at Lamu, he had a 
following of " malcontents, bankrupts, and felons," who 



DELIMITATION COMMISSION. 135 

lived by plundering the Swahili villages and by selling the 
inhabitants as slaves, so that the country became more and 
more desolate. The Germans, however, had a different 
estimate of Simba*s character and history. They regarded 
him as a hero, struggling against Arab domination, and 
eager for the prosperity of his subjects. They discovered 
that Simba had aboUdied slavery, and that his civilising 
influence was such that the natives had been induced to 
abandon their nomadic Ufe and settle down to agricultural 
pursuits. The Germans produced no treaty with Simba, 
but they stated that his predecessor had, in 1867, through 
a Grerman traveller, requested the Prussian Government 
to take him under their protection, that negotiations had 
recently begun for treaty relations, that Simba was now 
their protJgJ, and that Germans had settled in his territory. 
It was on such groimds that, when Barghash, who regarded 
Simba and his crew as outlaws, sent in May, 1885, a mihtary 
force to the neighbouring island of Lamu, which would serve 
as a convenient base for the suppression of the commotion 
at Witu, the German Government promptly interfered, 
threatening to use force against Barghash if he did not 
desist. Lord Granville interposed to prevent further 
imbroglio, and Barghash did not attack Simba. The 
British in this, as in other matters, allowed the Germans 
to take their own way, with what result will appear at a 
later stage. 

The British Government, while exerting, through Sir 
John Kirk, its restraining influence on the Sultan, arranged 
for a joint commission, British, German, and French, to 
delimit the continental possessions of Zanzibar ; but Bar- 
ghash, though not opposing this commission, refused to 
appoint an agent to look after his interests. For the pro- 
posed delimitation the British Commissioner was Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Kitchener, the German was Dr. Schmidt, 
and the French M. Lemaire. 

The first appointment was made in October, 1885, but 



136 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

delay occurred from various causes, and when the reports 
of their proceedings were rendered, the result was too in- 
determinate to form a basis for actual delimitation. There 
was serious difference of opinion among the commissioners, 
the EngUsh and French recognising the Sultan's title to the 
whole coast-line which he claimed, while the German 
Commissioner recognised his right to certain ports, but did 
not admit it over the intervening coast. The Commis- 
sioners proceeded to the coast independently of one 
another, to examine each to his own satisfaction the extent 
to which the Sultan's authority prevailed. But when they 
reassembled the German Commissioner insisted that only 
in those points on which they were unanimous could a 
decision be come to, thus virtually leaving the final word 
to the Germans. The results of the Commission were 
practically nil. But on June 9, 1886, they sent in a report, 
recording the points on which they were unanimous. This 
was accepted pro tatUo by the British and German Govern- 
ments, and the disputed questions were subsequently dis- 
cussed and settled at a conference of British and German 
oflScials in London. 

At length an Agreement was drawn up and signed, 
October 29 and November i, 1886, by the representatives 
of Germany and Great Britain respectively. Under this 
Agreement the two Governments recognised the Sultanate 
of Zanzibar over the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, Lamu, 
Mafia, all the islands of the coast, and a continuous line of 
coast from the River Miningani, at the head of Tunghi Bay, 
on the south, up to Kipini on the north, this coast-line 
having a breadth of ten nautical miles from high water-mark. 
To the north of Kipini the Governments recognised as 
belonging to Zanzibar the places Kismayu, Barawa, Merka, 
and Mogadishu, each with a radius of ten miles, and 
Warsheik with a radius of five miles. The Agreement 
provided, also, that the German sphere on the coast should 
extend from the Rovuma to the Umba, and the British 



ZANZIBAR-PORTUGUESE BOUNDARY. 137 

from the Umba to the Tana. Germany further engaged 
to adhere to the Anglo-French Declaration of the Indepen- 
dence of Zanzibar. On December 4 the arrangement imder 
the Agreement was formally accepted by Barghash, and 
on December 8, the French Government intimated that 
they raised no objection to the proposed delimitation of the 
Zanzibar Sultanate. 

With respect to the accepted delimitation, two points 
require notice, viz. : the southern boimdary on the coast- 
line and the exclusion of Witu from the Zanzibar dominions. 
We shall here deal only with the question of the southern 
boundary, leaving Witu for another chapter. 

In the Anglo-German Agreement the southern boundary 
was carefully described as commencing from the mouth 
of the Miningani River, at the head of Tunghi Bay ; follow- 
ing that river for five miles, and then following the line of 
latitude to the right bank of the Rovuma. The Germans, 
having on November i, 1886, acknowledged the Miningani 
as the southern boundary of the Zanzibar coast territory, 
made, on December 30 of the same year, without the know- 
ledge of the British or of the Zanzibar Government, an agree- 
ment with Portugal, acknowledging the mouth of the 
Rovuma as the most northerly point of the Portuguese 
coast-Une, the Rovuma being about twenty-five miles to 
the north of the Miningani. It was these two agreements 
which brought the dispute to a crisis, but the German 
Government disclaimed all responsibiUty in the matter and 
left the disputants to settle their quarrel as best they could. 
The dispute was further complicated by the fact that 
hitherto Portugal had claimed the coast up to Cape Delgado, 
between the two rivers. The disputed territory was of no' 
great value, though it contained the village of Miningani, 
which was an outlet for the ivory trade, and the town of 
Tunghi, where there was a fort, occupied by a Zanzibar 
WaU and about thirty soldiers. Whatever may have been 
the merits of the quarrel, the action of the Portuguese was 



138 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

precipitate and unjustifiable. The commotion they made 
seems now Httle more than a storm in a tea-cup, but it 
shows the excitabiUty of those who were interested in East 
African questions, and serves to justify the caution uni- 
formly observed by the British Government. 

An attempt at a settlement had been begun in April, 
1886, when Barghash had written to the King of Portugal, 
suggesting that commissioners should be appointed to 
arrange matters in Zanzibar. The negotiations then 
commenced were carried on by the Portuguese Consul- 
General, Major Serpa Pinto, who unfortunately had, through 
failing health, to return to Europe before a conclusion was 
reached. In January, 1887, Captain Castilho, the Governor- 
General of Mozambique, was appointed Portuguese Com- 
missioner, and he at once announced by telegram to the 
Sultan his intention of visiting Zanzibar to dispose of the 
boundary question. His telegram was, on January 17, 
supported by one from the King of Portugal, who expressed 
the hope that the question would be satisfactorily settled. 
On January 20 Captain Castilho arrived on board a Portu- 
guese corvette, and next day he paid a visit of courtesy to 
the Sultan. On the day following he paid another visit 
and proceeded to open the question in dispute. Being 
requested by the Sultan to transmit in writing anything to 
which he expected a reply, he had recourse to the German 
and British Consuls-General. The latter of these officials, 
Mr. Frederic Holmwood, explained to him that, in the 
circumstances, the Sultan could scarcely take the responsi- 
biUty of discussing any change in his boimdaries without 
the sanction of Great Britain and Germany. On January 
29 Captain Castilho wrote to the Sultan, who in reply stated 
that he accepted as final the delimitation made by the 
Commissioners of the Powers. The Portuguese did not 
(as they might have done) refer to the three Powers for an 
explanation of their procedure, but at once took measures 
to enforce their claim. 



PORTUGUESE ACTION. 139 

On February 11 Captain Castilho, acting on instructions, 
sent the Sultan an Arabic letter, demanding that, before 
noon next day, the territory in dispute should be handed 
over to him, otherwise he should haul down the flag from 
the Portuguese Consulate and take liis departure. Next 
day the Sultan replied, referring the Portuguese Govern- 
ment to the Governments of Great Britain and Germany. 
The Portuguese Commissioner at once broke off relations 
with Zanzibar, and set out in the corvette for Tunghi, 
where, on February 14, he found a Portuguese gunboat 
waiting at anchor. Next day the Sultan's steamer Kilwa^ 
with a German captain, German officers, and a German 
cargo which had been loaded at the request of the German 
Consul-General, to be forwarded to Usagara (in the German 
Protectorate), entered Tunghi Bay and, by order of the 
Portuguese, anchored between the two Portuguese war- 
vessels. The captain was told to consider his ship, himself, 
and his crew (twenty-seven in all) as taken in war ; the 
ship's papers were seized ; all the men were transferred to 
the corvette, and ultimately to Zanzibar ; an inventory 
was made of everything on board, seals put on the hatch- 
ways and magazines, and the Portuguese flag hoisted. Next 
day, under Portuguese officers, the vessel left for Mozam- 
bique, where her cargo was landed under charge of the 
German Consul, so that she was free to be used in the 
Portuguese service. Then Captain Castilho began opera- 
tions against the coast. On February 18 the corvette 
commenced the bombardment of Timghi, and the gunboat 
attacked Miningani. This village was inhabited mostly 
by peaceful British-Indian traders, who, accustomed to 
British protection, looked for compensation for injury. On 
the 23rd an armed boat's crew landed and fired into a mango 
grove without result. On the evening of that day, however, 
the bombardment having been resumed, the Miningani 
village was seen to be in flames, and the complete rout of 
the inhabitants was inferred. For three days more the 



I40 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

bombardment of Tunghi was continued, off and on, and on 
the evening of February 27, a detachment of riflemen and 
marines landed unopposed and destroyed the place. Then 
the Kilwa, now serving as a Portuguese transport, entered 
the bay with a cargo of provisions, and a reinforcement of 
sixty native soldiers. Thus, with much noise but with no 
bloodshed, for there was no opposition, the occupation was 
completed, and on March 2 Captain Castilho, on board the 
corvette convoying the Kilwa, returned to Mozambique. 

When tidings of these things reached the Sultan he was 
naturally indignant, and many of his Arab subjects urged 
that he should at once resist the Portuguese aggression. 
Barghash, however, had learned the advantage of sub- 
niitting to wiser counsels, and he referred the whole matter 
to Great Britain and Germany. He was prepared to rep>el 
attack on Zanzibar, keeping steam up and a force of 1,000 
well-trained men, under General Mathews, ready for action. 
But he would not take the offensive, and the battle, so far 
as it went, was thenceforth carried on by diplomatists in 
Europe. The Portuguese threatened further depreda- 
tions on Zanzibar trade, even on trade with India, but were 
easily convinced that such proceedings would not be 
tolerated. Lord Salisbury demanded the restoration of 
the Kilwa to the Sultan and this was tardily conceded. On 
May 21, 1887, the vessel was handed over to the British and 
German Consuls at Mozambique ; on the 31st the Sultan's 
steamer BarawUy with the former captain and crew of the 
Kilwa on board, reached Mozambique, and took over the 
vessel in the name of its rightful owner. 

The main question being still unsettled, a commission 
was agreed on and amicable relations were ostensibly 
restored, but when the commissioners met they could agree 
to nothing. Arbitration was suggested by the diploma- 
tists, but the Portuguese would have none of it. Then in 
December, 1887, negotiation by ministers at Lisbon was 
tried, but this also came to nothing. So convinced were 



CHARACTER OF BARGHASH, 141 

the Portuguese of the correctness of their proceedings, that 
they contemptuously refused to compensate the three- 
score and ten Hindis whose houses and property they had 
wantonly destroyed. 

The dispute was at length settled by the Treaty of 

/September, 1894, between Germany and Portugal, which 

/ decided that the boundary begins on parallel 10® 40' south 

' latitude, and runs from the coast westwards till it meets the 

river Rovtuna, which thence becomes the common boun- 

i dary. Thus Germany now holds the mouth of the Rovuma 

\ and Kionga Bay, while Portugal retains Tunghi Bay and 

the villages which she had bombarded. 

We are now approaching the end of the career of 
Barghash, and, before he vanishes from the scene, we may 
briefly consider his character and his attitude towards the 
changes which took place during his reign. On the death 
of his father Said, who ruled both Oman and Zanzibar, in 
1856, Barghash, as we have seen, had tried to anticipate 
his brother Majid in seizing the Throne of Zanzibar. In 
those days there were rival British and French interests in 
the island, and of the rivals for the Throne, Majid favoured 
the side of the British while Barghash was anti-European, 
though he was incUned to look to the French for support. 
The British (or, rather, British-Indian) Agent promptly 
had Barghash arrested and shipped off to Bombay, where, 
as has been recorded, he was kept under supervision until 
Majid's seat on the Throne was quite secure. Then he was 
permitted to come back to Zanzibar, where he lived in 
peace, enjoying more Uberty than in after years he allowed 
to his brother Khalifa. At his house overlooking the sea 
he was, from 1866 onwards, frequently visited by Dr. Kirk 
to make sure that he was not intriguing against Majid, 
and also that Majid was not plotting against him ; for had 
these two brothers not been watched, each in the interest of 
the other, one of them would have been put out of the way. 
At that time Barghash, as we have seen, professed to 



142 ZASZIbAR IS C0S7EMPGRARY TIMES. 

li2LVt abandoned his hopes of French support, alkgiiig that 
he was a sincere friend of the British poUc\% and unlike 
Majid desired the suppressicn of the slave trade. As sooo^ 
hfjwever, as he felt his seat secure, Se^-jid Baijg^iash sud- 
denly repudiated his promises, became what was kmnm 
as a Miaawa^ a pious, de\'out person, told the Consul that 
any promises he had made as a pri\-ate individual were void 
now that he had become a Ruler of the Faithful, for as such 
he had a mission from AUah. He no longer favoured the 
suppression of the slave trade, but, in defiance of the British 
Agent, supported certain British Indians, who, that they 
might own slaves, wished to be regarded as Arab subjects. 
This policy was met by measures which resulted in im- 
prisonment of the Indians for slave holding ; and a hea\y 
reduction of the Sultan's revenue, through a more stringent 
reading of certain clauses of the Commercial Treaty which 
were being set aside, brought him to compliance ; but it 
was not till after the signature of the Treaty of 1873 that he 
became thoroughly convinced of the effectiveness of British 
power, and became a loyal supporter of the British policy. 
Over the native inhabitants of Zanzibar, the Sultan had, 
from the first, sufiicient power, the foreign or Indian traders 
being under their own consular jurisdiction. The wealthy 
Arabs, however, living like feudal barons with their slaves 
about them, on their estates in Zanzibar and Pemba, formed 
an exception. Holding traditions brought from Arabia, they 
did not regard the Sultan as their Sovereign, but only as 
the first among equals, and their spokesman in all matters 
affecting other Powers. Over them the Sultan had in fact 
very little power. There is significance in the fact that 
the Sultans of Zanzibar do not dress differently from the 
Arabs, except in the use of the peaked turban, though this 
is assumed by all members of the ruling house. For the 
establishment of order and tranquillity, and especially for 
the effective observance of the slave trade Treaty of 1873, it 
was necQSsary that the independence of these chiefs should 



ENTERPRISE OF BARGHASH. 143 

be limited. The military force organised by Mathews and 
the march of these troops through Pemba in pursuit of the 
murderers of Captain Brownrigg crushed the Arab power, 
and rendered the Sultan supreme, subject, however, to 
British influence. The Arab chiefs who up to 1873 had 
dominated the courts of the Palace, were completely dis- 
carded, and under the guidance of the British Political 
Agent the Sultan's administration became prosperous. 
Not that Barghash suffered himself to be led in ignorance ; 
he was a strong-minded man, who could take a wide view 
of things and, without assistance, initiate and carry out 
measures for the advantage of his people. He had a passion 
for building. At Chukwani, six miles south of the town, 
he built a palace on a commanding headland, upon which 
he lavished money ; at Chuini, six miles to the north, he 
built himself another palace, in the river bed, constructing 
a costly artificial foundation to enable him to keep the 
building low, thereby securing a flow of water. Here he 
estabUshed a sugar factory, principally for amusement. 
He built two other sugar factories in the interior of the 
island, but they are all three now in ruins. The valuable 
crown plantations, which at the death of Seyyid Said were 
divided among his children, Barghash recovered for the 
state, adding thereto many others. By a system of conduits 
he tapped a spring three miles away and brought fresh 
water to the town ; he built roads and made a light railway 
to Chukwani. His roads have been improved and extended, 
but his railway disappeared long ago. He wasted money 
on many fooUsh enterprises, but here and there among the 
ruins monuments remain to testify of his energy and 
masterfulness. One of his most important acts was the 
creation of a cheap steam transport service between 
Zanzibar and Bombay, a measure which, at first, on account 
of its cost, seemed to be a doubtful venture. When Dr. 
Kirk pointed out to him that he was running the steamers 
at a loss of £20,000 per annum, he replied : " True, that is 



144 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

the result if you regard the ships alone, but you forget the 
increase of revenue from customs duties on imports, in 
consequence of the higher standard of living which cheap 
freight has introduced among the Indians," an answer 
which Dr. Kirk acknowledged to be sufficient. 

At the time of his accession the Sultan's revenue amounted 
to about £70,000 per annum ; at the time of his death it 
had increased to over £200,000. His revenue increased, 
notwithstanding the suppression of the slave trade, which 
bad been regarded as fatal to the prosperity of the place, 
and this provided a fulcrum on which the British Agent 
could always work, especially because, as in comparatively 
recent times in our own country, there was then no distinc- 
tion between the public revenue and the private income of 
the Sovereign. When Seyyid Said, Barghash's father, 
died, all the property which he had acquired for public 
purposes (ships of war, arms of troops, etc.) was valued and 
treated as private property, each of the brothers and sisters 
being allotted a diare. Barghash preferred to have the 
spending of a large revenue rather than of a small one, and 
this natural desire, when prudently guided, was to the 
advantage of his people. 

Early in 1888 the health of Barghash caused anxiety ; 
he went to Mogadishu in the hope of benefiting by the 
change, but returned to Zanzibar worn and ill. There 
were springs at Bushire, near Muscat, which it was thought 
might be beneficial, and, intending to visit them, he cabled 
to Lord Salisbury, pathetically requesting him to telegraph 
to the British Consul at Muscat to regard him favourably, 
though, as he alleged, he and his brother Turki, the Se5^id 
of Muscat, were friends. The favour was of course at once 
granted, and on February 23 he set out, leaving General 
Mathews in charge. At Muscat he met his brother, who 
telegraphed to Zanzibar : " Have seen Barghash, he is 
much better." He spent a week at the springs, but finding 
no improvement in health, he returned to Zanzibar and 
died on the morning of March 27, 1888. 



145 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SEYYID KHALIFA — RISINGS IN THE GERMAN SPHERE — THE 

BLOCKADE. 

It had been resolved by the British Government that 
Seyyid Khalifa should be accepted as the proper successor 
to the Sultanate. He was a brother of Barghash, whom 
he had made a feeble attempt to oust from power, the 
only result being that he himself was put in irons, and, 
when released from custody, kept under surveillance. 

The interval between the decease of a Sultan and the 
appointment of a successor by the Arabs had always been 
a time of disorder in Zanzibar. But, though on the death 
of such a ruler as Barghash trouble might have been ex- 
pected, everything now went smoothly. General Mathews, 
who was in control of the administration, at once informed 
the various foreign representatives of the Sultan's death, 
and then, with the troops, took possession of the square 
in front of the palace. The British Agent, Colonel Euan- 
Smith, communicated to the French and German Consuls 
the views of the British Government, and foimd that their 
instructions were in harmony with his own. The crowds 
gathered thick within the palace square, but they were 
perfectly orderly, the stillness of the air being broken only 
by the wailing of the mourners within the palace. 
Khalifa, since the departure of Barghash for Muscat, had 
been living in confinement in the country, and had to be 
sent for, his brother Ali being, in the meantime, informed 

lO 



r^6 ZANZIBAR :.\ ZQSTEI.lPCRAIiY TIMZ<. 

of the choice that had been made. .\ii and the Arabs 
plainly signined their agreement. When Knrriita heard 
the announcement that he had been chosen as Sultan, he 
was at first quite dazed. like a prisoner released snddoily 
from a dungeon, but requested General Mathews to serve 
him as he had ser^-ed his brother Bargfaash. His peaceful 
accession was welcomed by alL 

Notwithstanding the Treaty .signed by Bargfaash for the 
suppression of the slave trade and of slave markets^ and 
in spite of the efforts of the British Government to make the 
treaty effective, the detestable traffic still flourished, if not 
in the island, at all events in the continental possession of 
Zanzibar. When Khalifa became Sultan. British men-of- 
war were patroDing the coast and many slave dhows were 
captured every year. For the trade was lucrati\-e and 
those engaged in it could afford occaaonal losses. The 
area over which the traffic was spread was not limited to 
the Zanzibar dominions, but extended northwards to the 
Red Sea coast and Muscat, and southwards to the Comoro 
Isles and Madagascar. It might have been supposed that 
the extension and consolidation of French influence on the 
Somali coast and in the African islands of the Indian Ocean 
would tend towards the extirpation of the slave trade, but 
it proved otherwise. Slaves captm-ed among the southern 
Danakil races were marched overland to Tajourah whence, 
under the eyes of the French officials, they were shipped 
in hundreds to Jeddah or Mocha on the Arabian coast of 
the Red Sea, or to ports on the South Arabian coast. There 
was great demand for slave laboiu- in Mayotte and Mada- 
gascar, and this was supplied by slave dhows which carried 
large consignments of slaves from Lindi and other 
Zanzibar continental ports as well as from the Portuguese 
territory. The French Government had no wish to 
encourage this traffic, but their naval force in these waters 
was small and, while their officials in Mayotte and Mada- 
gascar with too much facility permitted the use of the 



DHOW-CATCHING. 147 

French flag to Arab dhows, the French Government 
strenuously refused to the British vessels the right to search 
any dhow flying the tricolour. Thus it came about that 
British cruisers could only look on while dhows, nominally 
French but evidently carrying slaves, passed outwards 
from Zanzibar ports with impunity. The political situation 
was delicate and British captains had to take great care 
not to ruflBe French susceptibilities even in endeavouring 
to prevent the misuse of the French flag. Added to all 
these difiiculties was the fact that the men who, all along 
the coast, carried on this detestable traffic were fanatical 
Arabs, many of them from Muscat, who thought that 
Africans were made to be their slaves. These men, no less 
than the British sailors, enjoyed a spice of danger, and 
desperate encounters might at any time take place. 

The nature of the work of dhow catching has been 
sufficiently shown in earlier portions of this book. The 
slave-nmners were prepared for any emergency, to resist, 
to flee, or to surrender imconditionally ; but the victims 
of their rapacity had no choice. They sat below, huddled 
together, men, women and children, in nakedness and 
filth, often stuffed compactly between decks which were 
so close as hardly to allow a sitting posture. In view of 
possible capture by the British, the slave-runners contrived 
to make their raw victims beUeve that not they but the 
white men were the dangerous enemies. " White men 
eat black men," they would say, and, if any slaves happened 
to be employed on deck, would point to the smoke from 
the fimnel of the pursuing cutter as evidence that a fire was 
being prepared to roast them. Thus it was not strange 
that, when the dhows were beached in the dark in well- 
known creeks, and the Arabs betook themselves to the 
beach for refuge, they had no difficulty in taking with 
them their living cargoes. Only when the victims were 
in the last stage of himger would they willingly trust 
themselves in the hands of their deliverers. 



143 ZANZIBAR IS CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

There was another difficulty in the way of the British 
crews. Both officers and men were ignorant of the 
languages, Arabic and African, spoken on board the dhows, 
and had to trust to interpreters who were not always 
worthy of confidence. These men were usually of Arab 
blood, and they served the Briti^ merely for the sake of 
the small pay offered. In their work they incurred the 
odium of their fellow countrymen, odium which they could 
and did mitigate by occasional misrepresentation of words 
spoken. No doubt deliberate and gross perversion of the 
truth was rare, but in more than one case it was proved 
that absolutely false statements had been made for the 
sake of gain, so that severe punishment, with flogging 
and imprisonment, was infficted. In coiurse of time the 
evil abated, but its possibility had alwajrs to be taken 
into accoimt. 

While dhow - catching operations were in prc^^ress 
Seyyid Khalifa showed himself not imfavourable to the 
suppression of the slave trade. Not only were dhows 
destroyed and slaves set free, but gangs of Arab slave 
dealers were sent to prison. In one case, five of these 
men were condemned to six months' rigorous imprisonment, 
but were soon able to escape by the connivance of their 
gaoler, who did not report the matter. The men went 
to Pemba, where they were recognised by a British naval 
officer, who duly reported them to his superior. The 
affair was thus brought to the knowledge of the Sultan, who 
had the culprits re-arrested and sentenced to 12 (instead 
of six) months' hard labour ; nor was this all, for these 
five slave traders, lest, having the sympathy of their fellow 
countrymen, they should again escape, were by arrangement 
transferred from Zanzibar to Aden, where they served their 
term of imprisonment. 

Notwithstanding the activity of the British and the 
loyal support of the Sultan, the slave traffic did not diminish 
but rather increased, and the misery of which it was the 



GERMAN DIFFICULTIES. 149 

cause seemed more widely spread than ever. More 
systematic operations were necessary, operations which 
were required also for other reasons. 

The Germans had had no difficulty in imposing their 
treaties on the simple-minded natives inland, but they 
soon found that it was a harder task to secure their 
permanent good-will. They proceeded vigorously to 
develop the resources of the country, and to Germanise 
the institutions of the tribes so far as that seemed re- 
quisite, until, before the middle of the year 1888, the Chiefs 
of the Usambara were in full revolt. Moreover, the German 
East Africa Association had, on April 28, 1888, obtained 
from the Sultan a fifty years' concession of the coast from 
the Umba to the Rovuma, including the administration 
of justice, the customs, lands and buildings, the trans- 
ference to take place on August 15 of that year. When, 
however, they began to take over their concession, they 
found that not only the Sultan but also the bellicose Arab 
chiefs of that region had to be reckoned with. These 
Arabs, while loyal to the Sultan, did not consider that 
they were bound at his bidding to transfer their loyalty 
to strangers whose habits and methods of administration 
were utterly distasteful to them. At Bagamoyo, when 
the Germans began to assert themselves, the populace 
would endure no tampering with the Sultan's flag, and the 
German flag could only be hoisted on the intervention of a 
German gun-boat. At Tanga also there was violent 
opposition, the Arabs firing on the boat in which the 
Germans approached, till a German gun-boat promptly, 
but imprudently, bombarded the town and a party of 
marines landing drove the Arabs into the bush. At Pangani 
when Herr Vohsen, the Director of the German Company, 
attempted to land, he was fired upon and returned to 
Zanzibar for the purpose of bringing a man-of-war to take 
vengeance on the inhabitants. Fortunately he found 
none, and, before further mischief was done in that quarter, 



ISO ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

the Sultan, whose loyalty was unjustly suspected by the 
German Government, sent General Mathews to Pangani to 
attempt a pacification. There Mathews found an organ- 
ised rebel force of i,ooo men whom he succeeded in tem- 
porarily appeasing, urging the chiefs to lay their grievances 
before the Sultan and the German Consul-General. This 
course they adopted, sending five deputies who accom- 
panied General Mathews to Zanzibar ; but at the interview 
the deputies showed themselves resolute, speaking plainly 
of German insult, and declaring that they would not accept 
German administration except in the matter of the 
customs. The Sultan offered to appoint Arab officials, 
but, before any clear course could be entered on, things 
went from bad to worse, and when Mathews went again 
to Pangani, though personally highly popular among the 
Arabs, he was told that since he was acting in the interests 
of the Grermans, he must at once depart on pain of death. 
And there is no doubt the Arabs would have killed him 
had he stayed ; as it was his great personahty alone saved 
him ; any other man than Mathews would probably have 
been killed. At Kilwa two German officials were slain 
after having killed 21 of their assailants ; while eleven 
natives employed there by the German Company were 
put to death. From other southern ports the Germans 
escaped. At Bagamoyo and Dar-es-Salaam there were 
German officials, but they were only able to remain because 
they were protected by German gim-boats. All along 
the coast, the hatred against the Germans was bitter and 
deep, a hatred which naturally was sometimes extended 
to other Europeans, but neither against British nor French 
was there anything like the same intensity of feeUng. 

It was in those days (October 9, 1888) that the Con- 
cession given by Barghash in 1887 to the Imperial British 
East Africa Company was renewed and extended by Seyyid 
KhaUfa, and the work of the Company in East Africa 
inaugurated. Considering the state of feeling in the region, 



BLOCKADE OF COAST. 151 

the time was critical. At Mombasa there happened to 
be a riot between Zanzibar porters and the townspeople 
which might have easily grown to serious dimensions, 
but by the skilful use of the Sultan's authority and by 
prudent management, tranquilUty was preserved. The 
violent opposition offered to the Germans they, perhaps 
excusably, attributed to the efforts which had been made 
to suppress the slave trade, but there can be no doubt 
that it was due chiefly to their own imprudence. The 
Arabs felt aggrieved at British interference with this 
lucrative traffic, but they never, at least in this region, 
displayed such animosity against British subjects, whether 
European or Indian, as they now exhibited against the 
Germans. 

Nevertheless, ostensibly, it was mainly with a view to 
the absolute suppression of the traffic in slaves that agree- 
ments were now made for operations of a more compre- 
hensive and systematic character. It was agreed by Great 
Britain and Germany, and ultimately by Italy and Portu- 
gal, that the importation of arms and ammunition and 
the exportation of slaves should be prohibited, and that 
for these purposes the mainland coast from Witu in the 
north to Pemba Bay on the coast of Mozambique in the 
south should be blockaded. 

The French Government still refused unlimited right 
of search, but, now that operations of a warlike character 
were being instituted, they were willing to regard this as one 
of the incidents of a blockade, so that at length it was 
possible that the French slavers should be boarded and 
brought to book. 

The formalities preliminary to the blockade were some- 
what lengthy, and were strictly observed. Arrangements 
had to be made between the British and German Admirals ; 
proclamations had to be issued by the Sultan to his own 
subjects and to the Walis, Sheikhs, Akidas, Elders and 
others in authority ; similar proclamations and warnings 



r;2 ZASZIBAR IN COSTEMPORARY TIMES. 

had to be made for the information of all the British 
Indians within the Sultan's dominions, and drciilars had 
to be sent to foreign consuls and others within the region 
concerned. At length, on November 29, 1888, the declara- 
tion was issued by the British Rear-Admiral Fremantle, 
and the German Rear-Admiral Deinhard, in the name of 
the Sultan, in accordance with instructions from their 
respective Governments, announcing the purpose and the 
limits of the blockade, and intimating that it would be in 
force from noon of December 2, 1888. For dealing with 
vessels captured for breach of the blockade, authority was 
given by Order in Council to the British Consul-General 
to proceed judicially in matters of prize. 

The arrangement between the Admirals was that the 
British should blockade the coast north of Wanga, and also 
that from Lindi to the Rovuma, the intervening strip being 
left to the Germans. The British and German Admirals 
had each twelve boats for blockade work, but the British 
had, in addition, about half-a-dozen boats to watch the 
Island of Pemba. To the southern part of their coast line 
the Italians sent a cruiser, and subsequently other Italian 
vessels took part in the blockade. The French Govern- 
ment stood aloof, but kept a ship at Zanzibar to watch 
events. French officials seemed anxious not to make diflfi- 
culties, but to discourage the abuse of their national flag. 

The blockade had not been long in force when the Ger- 
man corvette Carola captured a slave dhow off Pangani 
with 80 slaves on board. The Arabs were not yet famiUar 
with the German war-vessels which were painted black, 
the English being white, and the dhow, expecting no harm, 
sailed close up to the Carola so that it at once became a 
prize. But it was with events on the mainland that the 
Germans were chiefly concerned. 

The leader of the hostile movement, which need not be 
described as an insurrection, was Bushiri, an Arab, who 
was capable of showing disinterested kindness to friends 



BUSHIRI., 153 

and also of perpetrating, or at least of tolerating, the 
infliction of barbarities on his enemies. His headquarters 
were first at Pangani, but, after that town had been bom- 
barded and occupied by the Germans, he removed to the 
neighbourhood of Bagamoyo. He had no purpose which 
might not be accounted straightforward, for at Bagamoyo 
he sent to inform the Germans that if they would quit the 
country they would suffer no harm ; that they might even 
farm the customs duties without objection, provided they 
made no attempt to exercise any authority over the coast 
tribes. These terms, however, received no consideration 
from the Germans. Bushiri had about 2,000 armed men, 
most of them having breech-loaders, and he was provided 
with three small cannon. The Germans had a stronghold 
in the town, they had their war vessels in the offmg, and at 
night they landed a guard of sailors. From the 4th to the 
7th of December there was much fighting, the natives 
having over a hundred killed, and the Germans only one ; 
but Bushiri was able to take and fortify a stone house 
close to the German quarters. There he mounted his 
guns and, having placed his men between the Germans and 
the sea, appeared resolved on the destruction of his 
enemies. But during the night a panic seems to have 
risen among his men who had been told that the ground 
beneath them was honey-combed and laid with mines. 
They suddenly left the positions they had taken up and set 
about pillaging and destroying the houses which were 
still intact, smashing doors and windows, wrecking all 
they could lay hands on, and plundering men and women 
alike. Worse than this, they attacked a company of 
Unyamwezi porters who, having fought their way to the 
town with a valuable load of ivory, had placed themselves 
under the protection of the Germans. They surrounded 
the house which the Germans had allotted to these men, 
took their ivory, and seizing their leaders, gave them the 
choice between death and supporting their cause. Many 



154 ZANZIBAR IX CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

of the porters who refused to join in the movement were 
killed on the spot, and others had their hands cut off. Then 
Bushiri, abandoning his three cannon, withdrew five miles 
to the west, leaving Bagamoyo without a single inhabitant. 
The population of the town had to take refuge at the 
Mission of the Black Fathers, a mile or two away, where 
assistance was given without distinction to all the homeless 
and the starving. About 2,000 natives were fed there 
daily, and no one ever sought to molest the members of 
the mission. 

While Bushiri remained watchful, ready to attack the 
Germans either at Bagamoyo or Dar-es-Salaam, there was 
confusion at Kilwa, Lindi, and other ports, the local chiefs, 
for a time, robbing and oppressing the traders. In the 
British sphere, not far distant, all was quiet, though there 
was cause for anxiety. At the mission stations near Mom- 
basa in December there were harboured about 1,420 
runaway slaves, of whom about 870 were claimed by their 
owners, and 550, so far as appeared, were ownerless. To 
harbour slaves was illegal and created intense dissatisfaction 
among the Arabs, and yet it seemed inhuman to turn these 
refugees adrift. 

The British Company's Administrator, Mr. (now Sir 
George) Mackenzie, made and carried out an arrangement 
which quelled all discontent. The 870 slaves who were 
claimed were set free, and their owners were compensated 
at the average rate of 25 dollars per slave, while the 550 
who were unclaimed received a certificate of permission 
to remain in the mission till claimed, when each case might 
be inquired into. At the same time the missionaries were 
enjoined to harbour no more slaves except on humanitarian 
grounds apart from the general question of slavery, an 
injunction which they did not rigidly observe. The total 
amount of compensation granted was £3,500, an expenditure 
which conciliated the whole population, especially the 
Arabs. 



NASUR BIN SULIMAN. 155 

On German territory, however, things got worse. In 
January, 1889, Mr. Brooks, a lay missionary, on his way 
to Saadani was murdered, with many natives belonging 
to his caravan, when about 12 miles from the coast. At 
Dar-es-Salaam and at Pugu there were Cathohc and 
Protestant Mission stations where runaway slaves were 
harboured. In January these missions were attacked. 
From Dar-es-Salaam the missionaries themselves escaped 
on board the German gun-boat, but the natives were 
captured and carried off by the Arabs. From Pugu, of the 
nine Europeans, only two escaped, while three men and 
one woman were shot and two men and one woman were 
taken prisoners. The prisoners, however, were Uberated 
on March 11, in exchange for Arab slave-runners who had 
been captured, and a payment of 6,000 rupees. 

The rescued slaves at Pugu, sent thither by Germans, 
were once more at the disposal of their captors. There 
was now, in fact, a glut of slaves, and a slave market, too 
abimdantly supplied, was opened at Bagamoyo where 
sales were offered in great numbers, but at very low prices. 
The French Mission at Bagamoyo was not interfered with ; 
it was still feeding thousands of the destitute, but never- 
theless it began to be in danger, its security depending 
on the protection of Bushiri. There were British missions 
inland at Mamboia and Mpwapwa, and their safety 
seemed doubtful ; but the chief use which Bushiri made 
of his opportunities in such matters was to secure exchange 
of prisoners, or to extort ransom. The mission owed its 
safety, to a large extent, to the assistance rendered person- 
ally by Nasur bin Suhman, a man of wealth and influence, 
who had for 15 years been Governor of Bagamoyo. In 
these trying times he exerted his influence and even risked 
his Ufe in the interest of the missionaries. 

While the Germans are preparing to crush this revolt, 
we may, for a little, look back and see how Seyyid KhaUfa 
regarded the progress of events. In the main he followed 



1:6 ZAXZIRAR IS ro\Tr:JPORJRY riMZS. 

readily enough the injunctions which he received from 
Colonel Euan-Smith, but, being an .Vrab, he could scarcely 
be in complete accord with him. He knew perfectly well 
that the Arabs of the Mrima, or continental coast, had jnst 
cause of complaint, and on November 8, 1888, he wrote, as 
he had done before, that the causes of the disturbances 
were the removal of the Zanzibar flags, contempt shewn 
towards the mosques, and the new administration intro- 
duced by the German Company which differed completely 
from that which the people had been used to under their 
Sultan. " We," he said, " use courtesy in governing our 
people and not force. If people become refractory through 
oppression of our officials, we can keep them in order. By 
the help of God they listen to us. We wrote to you before 
that, by the help of God we can pacify these disturbances 
without men-of-war, but you did not agree with us. As 
to the materiab of war, they do not come from any other 
places than yours. You may give orders to your subjects 
not to sell these things at all, and about the Proclamation, 
inshallah, we will write and send it to our subjects, but as 
to the subjects of others, you do the same." 

The Sultan's complaints, followed by his compliance, 
must command respect and sympathy, but now and then 
he displayed less forbearance. On one occasion, in De- 
cember 1888, during an illness, when he seemed to have 
fallen under fanatical influence, he ordered 29 slaves, 
accused of murder, to be put to death. These men and 
women had never been tried, but they were to be executed 
in batches on successive days. Of the first batch, one 
escaped, but four were clumsily decapitated in the public 
market. There still remained 24 prisoners imder sentence 
of death, and, in spite of Colonel Euan-Smith's remon- 
strances four more were executed three days later amid 
a pitiless crowd of all nationalities. Then it was dis- 
covered and acknowledged that one of the first batch 
had been executed by mistake, and that various irregu- 



CAPTAIN WISSMANN. 157 

larities had taken place with respect to those who still 
awaited death. Nevertheless, after an interval of another 
day, orders were given for the execution of three men and 
two women. This was too much, and Colonel Euan-Smith 
knowing that irreparable wrong was being perpetrated, 
went to the Sultan in the morning and extorted his con- 
sent that this and the remaining executions should be 
coimtermanded. 

In another matter he was intractable. Five slave- 
nmners, accused of murdering Lieutenant Cooper, had, 
with the connivance of the Wali and other officials of 
Pemba, been allowed to escape. The facts were notorious, 
and, through the Sultan, a fine of 10,000 dollars was exacted 
of the Pemba officials; but the five delinquents were so 
serviceable in procuring slave labour for Pemba, that the 
Arabs would rather have paid double the amoimt of the 
fine than have had them arrested. The Sultan, however, 
professed to regard the fine as imjust and only paid the 
amoimt on compulsion and imder protest. 

In January 1889, Captain Wissmann, who had already 
spent eight years in Africa and had twice crossed the 
Continent, was appointed Imperial Governor of German 
East Africa, and was directed to take command of the 
military operations which were to be imdertaken for the 
restoration of order. The troops to be employed for this 
purpose would be, to a large extent, natives of Africa, 
and the Governor was required to proceed by way of 
Egypt where he would enlist Sudanese soldiers. These 
preparations, however, caused delay, and in the meantime 
the Arabs were not idle. They descended on Dar-es- 
Salaam, looted the bazaar, drove out the British Indians 
and attacked the German officials. The Germans pro- 
claimed martial law at Dar-es-Salaam and Bagamoyo, and 
prohibited the import of provisions along the coast be- 
tween Saadani and Kilwa. On March 23, they bom- 
barded Saadani to punish the inhabitants for the murder 



i6o 



CHAPTER XIV. 

WITU AND THE BRITISH COAST — MBARUK REBELLIONS. 

Seyyid Khalifa died on February 14, 1890, and was 
succeeded by his brother Ali bin Said, the fourth of the 
sons of Said to rule in Zanzibar. Ali, during his brief reign, 
quietly accepted the reforms which he found in progress, 
and offered no opposition to the extension and consolida- 
tion of European power on the mainland. It was during 
his reign that Zanzibar became formally a British Protec- 
torate, and its administration was brought under the direct 
guidance of British officials. He died on March 5, 1893, 
and was succeeded by Seyyid Hamid bin Thuwaini, whose 
accession was not altogether unopposed. Khalid, the son 
of Barghash, made an attempt to secure the succession for 
himself, but the disturbance on this occasion was not 
serious, and Hamid reigned securely till his death, August 
27, 1896. This ruler, though he did not willingly conform 
to the ways of his British advisers, had too little power to 
be able to cause mischief. The political influence of both 
Ali and Hamid was unimportant. 

In the report of the Delimitation Commission of 1886 
there was, as we have seen, no agreement as to whether the 
town and territory of Witu belonged to Zanzibar or not. 
In 1887 the Sultan of Zanzibar abandoned his claim to the 
territory, and its boundaries were determined by a Com- 
mission representing the German and Zanzibar Governments. 



FUMO BAKARI. i6i 

Upon this a German Company was formed to develop the 
resources of the territory, but the venture had no success, 
and in 1889, ^he German Government made a demand on 
the Sultan of Zanzibar for a concession of the neighbouring 
island of Lamu, alleging a promise of this concession which 
was denied. This and other disputes were settled by the 
arbitration award of Baron Lambermont in August, 1889, an 
award which was (in this matter) unfavourable to the 
German claims. There were other causes of disagreement, 
especially with respect to a custom-house which the Germans 
claimed the right to administer, and it seemed as if the 
British and Germans were about to come to blows in that 
region. The representative of German interests there went 
so far as to present to the chief six hundred muskets and 
large quantities of ammunition, a present which there was 
soon reason to regret. Altogether German prosperity in 
Witu seemed precarious, when on July i, 1890, the Anglo- 
German Agreement was made, under which the control of 
the region was to pass to British hands, though the sove- 
reignty of the Witu Sultan was to be recognised by Great 
Britain. The Sultan, Fumo Bakari, was weak and fanatical, 
and his territory was, as in Simba's time, a refuge for the 
violent and the needy. Among these people there was, not 
unnaturally, a growing dislike of Europeans in general, and 
of Germans in particular. In August, 1890, a German, 
named Kiintzel, who had formerly lived in Witu for many 
years, reached Lamu on his way back to Witu, where he 
meant to erect a steam saw-mill. He had neither right nor 
authority to exploit the Witu forests, and at Lamu he was 
warned that he had better not go forward. But, being 
provided with half a score of German workmen, he per- 
sisted in his purpose. When he put his men to work in the 
forest, the Witu Sultan ordered them to desist, there being 
signs of danger to which Kiintzel gave too little heed. When 
the danger could not be ignored he and his men came 
together into the town, and, on the morning of September 

XI 



.'5. "'"'Jirin h^r ht* ir-iind :i^ar -he:r .■.'iise vas xxnpied 
virli :olciier>. .viinrzrt i«iiancieti. in ntemew .vrtti die 
•^nit;in. int v:is :nki o v^ur. 3rtii^ l "nan it TToient 
•emp*^ ;ip viPTir ^nt to ihe ^oiciierF jid rKnonstnitBii with 
•:h*^?n :n Swrtniii. Lsine ^rmni^ ani?nai?&. \nd iiTpr bicakxast 
*.hp ^^mpa^^c^ -rent n nnmber. made :or *iie Town jarp> 
.vhirh -hp^ :onnd jarred. :hoii«n ive )t diem, mansu^ied to 
»et "liroii^. riie sokiierB dien legnn t3 ±^ :jpoii rh«*m. 
Tiipy ran uid vere poreiied- die itiidi^s inng xc dien iiuzn 
iv^hinri :he biLshes, 'he icmans retnnunif die nre as weil 
is :hpy !onld- .Ul die ire 'jermaixs 'p^l. imc ine ot diem 
M\n wnsi wnnmied Ji die Le^ iiihae:iu€2iriy .Trade Ins >-s*-npt> 
X^At momiiu} :lie aatix'es took die Crfrman yaurii wiio had 
■.>5en Iptt ta waDJa die saw-oiiiL ^igiit nnies trnm Wim, and 
^.ne held his dLrtns -^hiie another ^rar his dimax. The ioTnaii 
■nterpTt^ter. who -jns in die pay i5t die *ieniians and saw 
this, had ditficulty in escapine, bnt was rescued by other 
■wmalis in Mkomimbi. ' Jn ieptemher ni, jx a place twenty 
miles from Wit:i. die aa.tiv*»s killed another German one 
wlv> waii '*ntir.dv -incnimected with KantzeTs party, and 
there was descractioa and touring «:c die property of 
^i^ermans at other piaoss. Bat when die Saltan was asked 
by Herr Toep^j^rn, the official German representative, to 
permrt the iMirial ot the dead, he retnsed the request. 
Ckarly the massacre had been arranged with the con- 
nivance at least of the Wita Snltan^ and the news reaching 
fcor^ype tiiere was much indignatioa. The German Govem- 
rrvent v^emed to think that the British authorities had 
v/rn^'fi//w f>een rernidd, and they demanded that the British 
< ffr/f^ruuHini 5vhould interfere, ptmish the guilty, ** protect 
hMtimn?, at fmfjt,^^ and exact compensation for losses of 
pTffpftly. In dealing with these rather peremptory 
(hmnnd^ ljn6 S^ilisbury shewed that not the British but 
thf fief man Of/vernment was responsible ; that the British 
had not yet taken ovtt the Protectorate, but were waiting 
int tlio Germans to release the VVitu Sultan from his engage- 



EXPEDITION TO WtTV. 163 

ments with them. Nevertheless, the British undertook 
the task of bringing the Sultan into subjection. Letters 
were despatched to Fumo Bakari summoning him to 
Lamu ; requiring him to make restitution of the property 
of the murdered Germans and to deliver up the murderers 
to justice. The replies to these letters being unsatisfactory, 
the British Agent, Colonel Euan-Smith, in accordance with 
his instructions, asked Admiral Fremantle to take steps 
for the infliction of pimishment. 

The admiral was quite prepared to act. There were 
four villages whose inliabitants were implicated in the 
murders, and the first step was to punish them. From the 
Boadicea, the Cossack, and the Brisk, which were lying near 
Lamu, two armed parties, accompanied by the conwades 
of the murdered Germans, proceeded, on October 24, 1890, 
up the two creeks on which the villages stood. They met 
with no serious opposition, for when the sailors landed, the 
inhabitants took to flight. The sailors burned the villages 
and returned to the ships with no casualty to report. 

Next morning the Admiral sailed to Kipini, where he had 
nine war vessels lying in the roadstead ; a steamer belong- 
ing to the British East Africa Company had also arrived, 
bringing porters and 150 Indian troops. That day was 
spent in landing bluejackets and marines, and in the 
evening an advance party of 200 men with field guns was 
pushed forward about three miles on the road to Witu. 
On the morning of October 26 the remainder of the expedi- 
tion, which contained altogether 950 fighting men, set out 
from Kipini under the personal command of Admiral 
Fremantle, and that night they encamped at a place about 
three miles from Witu. Next day they advanced against 
Witu, which, after encountering some opposition, they 
occupied about nine o'clock in the morning. The Sultan 
had about 3,000 fighting men, but they were half-hearted 
and easily dispersed. The town had, in fact, been evacuated, 
and the work of the expedition during the day was simply 



Wiirii ti*<' luuiii. itut uirrutrt tif i:*nif5 d tih ^* i uuiiL. 
ii '.i/iiapi'-uuix. -p;<i■-»r^ cuuiyi^ -tii* Tum. tit- nmnir-j. r.^~ m 
* ifulr-^ ^^i-rinjij i i*nv*nT u auxvi Tiii?t?« icr iii- J33iir^ 
ij*ni3i\/j \> tiP V 111 buUai- In 1/rcoue" -2^ tif -siq^editiOL 
rriti •-*v*»iv. ni*ri wuuutKL i^UTiKrc ti tit^ uiiir. *t iiis 

aiU i :«i^.4t»- rulrjwn^ ant r. v.«a ai»uiut*i." n-::^sarT ti 
-•:d'v*^.». v.-Ci^s* '.n .iNw»nm#^ rf, "tut inniai ?rrtTcs:n:nmn? 
^♦c vv^tiirttPst vir. t5',iL :ir. ann'.BiiuL v-is maiit xur Tafruar 

Uc'j-<. -.% uir:i*J"u-r»» -^:llR G^amuxraL tuTLauc:. TitsL J'xnnr 
;):f4-i'^/ <ij»-< wiC iiK ;}vimf!*- ic^.cu*r I'V-iaii. Snv.n*. ^wis 
«!4t/ :--*/; \v ifW^'APst XiiM^ i*in 3>w'sna- ir im::* ioninminfx 

j.u.'jl^ji^'^su*/;.. '<\\tA:ji*x ic^n.utr.. Fum: AciiLr- iitiajr pui n. 

^^ /?;<<• /J.V if^-^, y< *»j!j C, trjiiZr'irrr:^:. -a-ihgiC -; ziti^ 

'^i^*-?^, */y< i/f^/fsax^m, i/Jsyjr:jiJbk; tz'tkzssxdi iad sii- 
5^^(»/i^,i/itj I// FvWiK'/ A;f4;iirfl« ykr^jcoL, Lfyai^r/er^ if£ di>i awe 

1^^ )A'44*Su f^^ff i^rf:f:tnfTrtVi were Srigned on ibe pirt oi 
If^if- I^M^ii:^^ hf^/trttiUtf^^i, <tl«e Imperial British East Airica 
f^fft^fithy, ii$$t\ i\m ri//Ubk-iv and people of Wiiu, whereby 
Ai 11/ w ^/^'l^7i of thingj)> wa5^ to be introduced. The British 
ioftHMuy HiuU'tUM^k the administration, a competence being 
;i^MfWl to I'limo Arnari ; and among xither exceUent mea- 
tiilft'ii ff/lopfwl wat» the abc^htion of the Status of Slavery-, 
Ihofi^h IIm* ;u(ual pnx:4*Hff of Hberating the slaves was not 
lo l»^ <oniplf*tHl (ill iH(/k But it soon became clear that 
thr |H*ui«' would not luht. Tumo Amari and his supporters 



DISTURBANCES RENEWED. 165 

took up a position at a place called Jongeni, in the northern 
forest, whence they continued to harry the surrounding 
country. In July, 1891,. Captain Rogers, who was in com- 
mand of the police, and Mr. Jackson, the Company's super- 
intendent, desirous of conciliating these outlaws, went 
unarmed to Jongeni and remonstrated with them but 
without success. In spite of all the efforts of the Company, 
there was no peace ; trade and agriculture were at a stand- 
still and anarchy prevailed. In March, 1892, the Company's 
officials attempted to compel submission, making an attack 
on Jongeni, but with an insufficient force and without field 
guns. They had to retire from the stockade with the loss 
of three killed and ten wounded. Mr. Gerald Portal 
supplying them with guns and ammunition, they made 
another attempt, but though they drove back the natives 
into the forest, they could not destroy their stockades 
nor make any permanent impression on them. But in 
April, with the British ship Philomel at Lamu, and the 
British Commissioner in Witu, the recalcitrant chiefs were 
intimidated and dispersed their forces, while Fumo Amari 
went to the village allotted him. A month later, however, 
Fumo had again betaken himself to the forests and had at 
his command hundreds of men whose vocation was fighting. 
In February, 1893, he became openly defiant and demanded 
the release of his men who had been arrested for raiding. 
The Company, face to face with troubles for which it was 
not responsible and without adequate means for the restora- 
tion of order, found it necessary to withdraw, and on July 
31 Witu was placed under the Sultan of Zanzibar. 

In the meantime, on July 20, the British Consul-General, 
Mr. Rennell Rodd, with three men-of-war, had arrived at 
Lamu, accompanied by General Mathews and an Arab envoy 
from the Sultan of Zanzibar. Next day the Sultan's 
steamer Barawa arrived with General Hatch and about 170 
soldiers on board, and preparations were made for an 
advance inland. The expedition reached Witu on July 26, 



1 66 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

and to that place Fumo Amari was summoned. But 
neither he nor his associates came, and it was decided to 
advance against their forest stronghold at Pumwani. Rein- 
forcements were sent for, and the party when complete 
consisted of Mr. Rennell Rodd, General Hatch with forty 
Nubian and forty Zanzibari soldiers, Captain Lindley 
commanding the naval brigade of four companies of blue- 
jackets and one of marines, with the field gun and the rocket 
and gimcotton party in the centre. General Mathews, 
Captain A. S. Rogers, and Dr. Rae accompanied the ex- 
pedition, the two latter being familiar with the country. 
They set out from their camp at Mkumbi on August 6, and 
the following day, when they approached Pumwani, they 
encountered a determined fire, their assailants being hidden 
in the bush. They advanced along a forest road at the end 
of which they saw a strong gate of piles and cross-beams, 
and a stockade extending right and left into the forest. 
The field gun and guncotton did their work at the gate, and 
when this obstacle was removed, the bluejackets rushed 
through and found the stronghold deserted. About two 
hours after the first of the enemy's shots had been heard, all 
was quiet. The next day, August 8, was spent in destroy- 
ing the fortifications, rifle-pits, and crops of the forest 
outlaws, and on the following morning, just before the 
expedition began its return march to Mkmnbi, the ruins 
were fired and the forest entrance was converted into a 
lane of fire. Of the members of the expedition two were 
killed and fifteen wounded. 

At Jongeni, not far from Pumwani, there was another 
forest stronghold under a native chief, and on August 
10 Mr. Rodd sent a despatch demanding its surrender. 
The journey to Jongeni and back to Mkumbi only 
required seven hours, and, the messenger not having 
returned, the march against the stockade began on 
August 12. The day following the fortifications and 
the villages were taken and destroyed, only three members 



DISTURBANCES SUPPRESSED. 167 

of the expedition being wounded. The party reached the 
coast on August 16, and there they found the messenger 
who had not returned to Mkumbi. He was in a state of 
great excitement, for the Jongeni natives had imprisoned 
him and sentenced him to death, and he had only been able 
to escape with the assistance of his friends. 

To provide a measure of protection for the peaceable 
villages against the raids of bandits whom it was imprac- 
ticable to follow into the forest, Sudanese and Zanzibari 
soldiers were disposed in suitable localities, and at the same 
time the general administrative arrangements for the coast 
region were published. One of the regulations prohibited 
the sale of slaves, and the separation of slave children from 
their mothers, and decreed that slaves could be inherited 
only by the lawful children of their owners. These pro- 
visions probably indicate the utmost that could be done 
towards the suppression of slavery at that time, though 
apparently falling short of the total abolition pronounced 
two years before. 

There were signs that affairs were becoming more settled, 
but the outlaws, unwilling to abandon their predatory life, 
made one or two raids in the month of September, and had 
to be repressed. For this a force of 140 men from the 
British ships and 85 men under General Hatch from Zanzibar 
sufficed. This party, like the earlier one, did its work 
quickly, surprising the outlaws and burning their stockades. 
At length, in 1894, the reign of the Sons of Simba was for 
ever abolished, and the long lingering resistance to law and 
order disappeared. 

The Sultanate was retained, but it was made only subor- 
dinate to that of Zanzibar. The chief who was raised to 
authority was Omar bin Hamid, an offshoot of the Nabahan 
dynasty to which Simba, Fiuno Bakari, and Fumo Amari 
had belonged. He had, with ability and good faith, acted 
as Wali of Witu under the Zanzibar administration, and on 
July 7, 1895, he was formally installed as Sultan of Witu. 



1 68 



ZANZIBAR IX COSTEMPORARY TIMES. 




Accredited to him as Resident is a British Officer, who i 
under the control of the British Commissioner for Eas 
Africa, the first Resident having been Mr. A. S. Rogen 
now Regent and First Minister of the Zanzibar Govemmeni 
In the once turbulent little state affairs are now quietl; 
conducted, and the region is one of the most peaceable an< 
prosperous portions of the British Protectorate in Eas 
Africa. 

On an area of 1,200 square miles it contains a popula 
tion (mostly Swahili and other natives) of over 16,000 
of whom about 6,000 are in the town of Witu and 1,000 ii 
Mkonumbi. The northern part is covered with thick forest 
yielding rubber ; in the east there are many villages anc 
plantations. Administratively Witu forms part of Tana 
land. 

To the Imperial British East Africa Company there stil 
remained a long stretch of coast-line to the south, and in th< 
neighbourhood of Mombasa fresh troubles with the Aral 
chiefs arose. Mombasa, as we have seen, had been th< 
capital of the Mazrui family, who claimed independem 
sway over the region till, in 1837, they were overthrowi 
by Seyyid Said. Though the power of this family wat 
broken it was not extinguished, for one branch had foundec 
a small state at Gazi, about thirty miles to the south o 
Mombasa, and another branch had set up a similar state ai 
Takaungu, about as far to the north. 

To the leadership of the Gazi Arabs Mbaruk bin Rashic 
succeeded, and he proved a thorn in the side of Zanzibar 
Again and again he rebelled, until in March, 1882, Genera 
Mathews was sent against him. The Arab chief driven froir 
Gazi, betook himself to his stockaded stronghold of E] 
Hazam on Mweli Hill, about eighteen miles west of Gazi, 
and there Mathews with a force of 1,200 regulars and irre- 
gulars closely besieged him for eighteen days. An attack 
was then made and the fortress taken, together with about 
390 prisoners, but Mbaruk was able to cut his way through 




c 
3 tS5 



< 





■2... 
E .S 

1:^ 



MBARUK REBELLION. 169 

with 300 of his men. It was thought that Mbanik woul 
never recover from this overthrow, but he seemed Uttle the 
worse, and eventually he even regained the pension or 
subsidy which the Sultan of Zanzibar had granted. This 
subsidy was continued (ostensibly for services to be 
rendered) by the British East Africa Company, for whose 
leniency Mbaruk had little respect. 

In 1895 a dispute arose regarding the succession to the 
leadership of the Takaungu branch, which was possessed of 
authority similar to that held by Mbaruk of Gazi. The British 
Company,, apparently with general consent, nominated 
Rashid bin Salim, a son of the late chief, but this nomina- 
tion was speedily resented by the late . chief's brother, 
Mbaruk bin Rashid (not the Gazi chief of the same name). 
There were long and fruitless negotiations between Mbaruk 
of Takaungu on the one hand and the representatives of the 
Sultan, the British Government, and the Imperial British 
East Africa Company on the other, and eventually an 
expedition was sent to suppress the violence to which 
Mbaruk had recourse. The chief was defeated and pursued 
from place to place, till at last he took refuge with his 
kinsman of Gazi, leaving behind him his brother Aziz, who 
vigorously continued the war, burning and looting towns, 
villages, and plantations. 

At this stage, on July i, 1895, the East Africa Company 
handed over their troubles to the British Government, in 
whose name Mr. Hardinge, the Consul-General at Zanzibar, 
took over the administration. Mr. Hardinge wrote to 
Mbaruk of Gazi requesting the surrender of his namesake 
of Takaungu, and, the Gazi chief consenting to an interview 
with the Consul-General, they met on July 8, but though 
Mbaruk spoke fair and made promises there was no result. 
A week later Aziz attacked and half burned the town of 
Takaungu, but was repulsed by the native garrison, with 
Captain Raikes at their head. He then betook himself 
to Sokoki, whence, being repulsed by an expedition from 



:'i .: f v/::.? ^i? ;.v oyT::?jp^RARY times. 

'he Sritish ships, he tied southwards ra Mbamk or Gazi tor 
refuge. The <>azi i:hiet promised to hand over the fugitives 
at (]ja2i. and Mr. Hardini^. \vrth Sir LLoyd Marfaews and 
a forme under .\dmiral Rawson. set out overbuid tram 
Mombafia to receive them. But on. the way they learned 
that Mbaruk and his guests liad gone to Uweli^ wiiene, as 
we have seen, there was a strong^ IiilL fortress. 

Mr. Hardinge. leaving <^azi to be defended by a Sudanese 
c:^ard under Captain Rogers and a liinrifng party tram die 
Phtebe. which was lying off the coast, returned to \Ioinfaasa, 
and wrote to Mbaruk requiring liis submission. Tkongfa 
the Gazi chief had. in the meantime, been bunmig and 
slaying, his reply, without offering satisfaction^ proiessed 
loyalty. It was clear that he was (Duly ti i ffing with die 
Britwh, and therefore on .\ugust 12 the espedrtion. fully 
equipped, set out against him, It was under the command 
of .\dmiral Rawson and consisted of z2D blue-jackets. 84 
marines, 60 Sudanese, and 50 Zanzibaris^ arranged in two 
di\isions, under the command of Captain Egerton of the 
St. Gmrge and Captain MacGill of the Pkcebe. The Sudanese 
were commanded by Captain Rogers, ^rfiase tHnporary 
position as Goi-emor of Giazi had been assigned first to 
Captain Raikes and then to Captain Festing of the Blonde, 
The force was proxided with a 7-pounder. four maxims^ 
and a supply of war-rockets, and there were 700 portexs for 
transport work. .\ diversion, which succeeded in mis- 
leading Mbaruk as to the direction from which the attack 
would be made, was arranged under Captain Raikes^ and 
Captain Marx of the Barrosa was sent forward to &3rni a 
camp about half-way. The expedition was accompanied 
by Mr. Hardinge and by Sir Lloyd Mathews, who was not 
only a <^kilful guide, familiar with the country, but also 
managed the commissariat and recruited the porters. The 
distance to be travelled was about thirty miles. When, 
on August 16, they had gone more than half-way and were 
pA9smg under a hiU called Sdcio, they were suddenly fired 



BRITISH EXPEDITION. i^i 

upon, a Sudanese soldier and a porter being killed and Sir 
Lloyd Mathews and a sailor of the Phcebe slightly wounded. 
The Arab assailants were, as was afterwards learned, led 
by Eyoub, a son of the Gazi chief, but were quickly driven 
off. Two days later the expedition reached Mweli, and 
at once set to work with the 7-pounder and the rockets to 
destroy the northern stockade. A general attack was 
made and the stockade taken, the enemy offering but a short 
resistance, though their leader remained at his post to the 
last and was shot through the head by a Sudanese soldier. 
The southern gate also was quickly captured, and two 
hours after the fighting began, the place was in the hands 
of the British. The stores and ammunition found within 
were either buried or blown up, the houses were razed to 
the groimd, and then, after spending three days in wasting 
the resources of the enemy, the expedition returned to 
Mombasa. 

Mbaruk of Gazi went north to the Takaungu region and 
the troubles continued both in the north and in the south. 
On October 16, Captain Lawrence, in command of native 
soldiers at Gazi, was kiUed in attempting to arrest one of 
Mbaruk's chief men ; on November 2, a camel caravan 
was attacked and plundered, and a mission station at Rabai, 
near Mombasa, was attacked. There were raids and 
murders all along the coast, and the military force at the 
disposal of the authorities being too small to cope with the 
state of things which had arisen, on December 30, an Indian 
contingent of 300 men, vmder Captain Barratt, was 
landed at Mombasa, but in the operations which ensued 
these men were at a disadvantage through their ignorance 
of the country. 

In January, 1896, Freretown, in Mombasa harbour, was 
attacked by 300 rebels, and the Indian troops sent against 
them, being misled by treacherous guides, narrowly escaped 
perishing of thirst. In February, Malindi was similarly 
attacked, and the assailants were routed, but when pursued 



1/2 ZANZIBAR IK COSTEMPORARY TIMES. 

they alwaj-s vamshecL North and south the country was 
raided by this elusive enemy, and the ofiBdals, both ci\il 
and military, were baffled beyond endurance. At Scdcoki, near 
Takaungu, Captain Harrison held a strong stockade with 
lOo men to restrain the rebels in that regicm ; among the 
tribes, Mr. MacDougall, whose prc^r duties were ci\il, not 
only gathered the Elders tor ^' shauris '* or discussicHis, and 
induced them to remain at peace, but also marched at the 
head of scddiers in pursuit of the rebels, or directed the 
garriscming of stockades against their attacks. In the 
south General Hatch, with 205 men, was active, chasing the 
rebels and burning their \illages. Sometimes he seemed on 
the point of capturing Mbaruk, ifdio was known to be now 
in the MweU r^on, but he never succeeded. 

To put a speedy end to this troublesome condition of 
things, an Indian r^;iment (the 24th Baluchistan) of 720 
men, all ranks, under Colonel Pearson, was landed at 
Mombasa on March 15, 1896. A few days later Colonel 
Pearson b^an to dispose his men so that one Une of posts 
stretched westwards from Mombasa along the Uganda road, 
and another westwards from Wanga along the Umba, while 
supplies were stocked in the Shimba district for the flying 
columns which should scour the intervening country. It 
was known that Mbanik was within this region ; he could 
scarcely escape to the west where there extended the wide 
waterless Tarn desert, beyond which the tribes were hostile 
to him. It had been arranged with Major von Wissmann, 
the Governor of German East Africa, that if Mbaruk crossed 
into German territory he and his men should be disarmed 
forthwith and moved southwards away from the frontier. 
On March 21, the operations of the flying columns began ; 
on April 10, Mbaruk was trying to get across the German 
frontier, and on April 16 he surrendered to the Germans. 
He did not at once understand his position, but on April 
20 and succeeding days he and about 1,600 of his followers 
laid down their arms. He was shipped to Dar-es-Salaam, 



END OF REBELLION, 173 

but all the rest, except ten who had been active leaders 
and were excluded from the general amnesty, were at liberty 
either to return to their own villages or to settle in German 
territory on ground which would be allotted to them. Many 
went back to their old homes, while those who remained in 
the German sphere were distributed over thinly-peopled 
regions and formed a welcome addition to the population. 

So ended the last of the mainland rebellions, with which 
this narrative is concerned. Since then there have been 
serious risings in the interior, especially among the Ogaden 
Somalis in the Jubaland region, to the west of Kismayu ; 
but these territories were not within the Zanzibar domi- 
nions. 

Within the British East African Protectorate the domi- 
nions of the Sultan of Zanzibar are : A strip of coast-line 
ten miles broad from the German frontier to Kipini, the 
Islands of the Lamu Archipelago, and an area of ten miles 
round the port of Kismajni. A purely British administra- 
tion has been estabUshed, but the territory being within the 
Sultanate of Zanzibar, foreigners have certain territorial 
rights, and profit by the stipulations of Zanzibar treaties 
with the countries to which they belong. 

North of the Juba, the ports of Barawa, Merka, Moga- 
disho, and Warsheikh were ceded to Italy in August, 1892, 
and the administration was taken over by Italy in September, 
1893. 



174 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE END OF SLAVERY. 

The work of the blockading squadrons for the suppression 
of the slave traffic had been unremitting. In the middle 
of the year 1889 there were ten British war-vessels engaged 
in those waters ; their boats being always on the look-out 
for dhows, of which over 1,200 were boarded and searched 
monthly. The slaves actually foimd on board were few, 
not because the traffic was at an end, but because the Arabs 
were wary and, when there was risk of capture, would 
land their Uving cargoes on the mainland coast and make 
off with them to the bush. There were also the usual 
attempts to smuggle slaves into the islands in small numbers, 
attempts which no doubt were mostly successful and would 
be continued as long as slavery existed. 

In the Island of Zanzibar the slave population was 
largely in excess of the free, and prudence required that 
the extinction of slavery should not be enforced pre- 
cipitately. The step now taken for this purpose was 
the agreement of September 13, 1889, between Seyyid 
KhaUfa and the British Government, whereby all persons 
entering the Sultan's Dominions after November i of 
that year should be free, and likewise that all children 
bom after January i, 1890, should be free ; but the latter 
part of this agreement was not embodied in any proclama- 
tion. In return for these concessions on the part of the 



DECREE AGAINST SLAVE-DEALING. 175 

Sultan, it was agreed that the blockade, as then maintained 
by the British squadron, should be raised without delay 
TTie raising of the blockade, however, was not to assist 
the slave-runners, for by Proclamation of September 20, 
1889, the Sultan announced that he had granted to Great 
Britain and Germany a perpetual right of search of all 
Zanzibar dhows, boats, and canoes, in Zanzibar waters. 
By a Proclamation, issued by the British Consul-General, 
this right of search was extended so as to include dhows 
and boats belonging to British subjects ; various proclama- 
tions of local application were also made. 

The next important step was the issue of the Decree 
by Seyyid Ah, August i, 1890, which, while retaining the 
legal status of slavery, prohibited under severe penalties 
all buying and seUing of slaves, and pronounced the im- 
mediate liberation of all slaves of owners dying without 
lawful children. At the same time slaves were allowed, 
like freemen, to bring their complaints before the Kathis, 
and those who were proved to have been grossly ill-treated 
were to be Uberated. Since the year i860 no British 
subject in Zanzibar had been permitted to own slaves ; 
since November, 1888, no British subject had been per- 
mitted to make any contract with owners for the hire of 
slaves, and by this decree of August i, 1890, the prohibition 
against slave-owning was extended to husbands and wives 
and children of British subjects, and also to all persons 
who, once slaves, had been freed by British authority. . 
Thus great numbers of slaves were at once declared free, 
and the clause forbidding any change in the ownership of 
slaves, except through the succession of children, was not 
only beneficial in itself but provided an easy way out of 
difficulties which threatened to rise subsequently. 

The Decree originally contained a clause enabling slaves 
to purchase their own freedom on fair terms, with or with- 
out the consent of their masters ; but, three weeks later, 
this provision was rescinded. To the Sultan and the 



176 ZANZIBAR /.V COXTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Arab slave-owners this power of redemption seemed 
dangerous, for the slaves "might get big heads,'* that is, 
become insubordinate and insolent, and might even 
commit robberies to provide themselves with redemption 
money. 

Still the slave dealers made persistent efforts to continue 
the illicit traffic and were only frustrated by the watch- 
fulness of the British boats. In one case of capture in 
June, 1891, 53 slaves were Uberated and the slave-runners 
sentenced to "thirty cuts and the chain gang." TThe 
number of slaves Uberated through the action of the British 
boats in the year 1892-93 was 175. 

Before this, another evil of long standing became serious. 
Liberated slaves were in many cases not unnaturally dis- 
inclined to work, and the supply of labour available for 
agricultural and other purposes was far short of the demand. 
Not only so, but there was a constant drain of men from 
the island for continental purposes. Zanzibar porters 
were employed by the authorities of the German sphere, 
the EngUsh sphere, the Congo Independent State, and 
Natal, and by innimierable Arab and European traders 
and travellers in the interior of Africa. Within a few 
months nearly 2,000 men had, either by persuasion or 
compulsion, been withdrawn from Zanzibar, which was 
regarded as an unfailing reservoir of willing or imwilling 
labour. This out-flow of the population was a very serious 
matter, both for the porters themselves and for the 
prosperity of the island, for*of the men thus drafted off 
many never returned. The course proposed by Mr. Gerald 
Portal to the Sultan and accepted by him was the issue on 
September 11, 1891, of a decree whereby all recruiting or 
enlistment of soldiers, cooUes, and porters for service beyond 
the Dominions of His Highness was strictly forbidden. 

In May, 1892, the Brussels Act was put in force, and the 
registration of dhows sailing imder Zanzibar or English 
colours was begun. These dhows were all marked and 



SLAVES KIDNAPPED. 177 

numbered on the sail and stem with figures two feet long. 
They were not allowed to put to sea unless provided with 
the necessary papers, and their crews and passengers were 
mustered and examined before the port officer, who was a 
British naval commander. 

In the same year the traffic in arms and ammimition 
was put under control, and the sale of guns and gun- 
powder to natives was stopped. By these measures it 
became easier to check slave-smuggling, but still many 
dhows which visited Zanzibar escaped registration, and it 
was chiefly by such vessels that such illicit traffic as still 
lingered was maintained. Thus, on April 22, 1893, the 
boats of the British war-vessel Philomel found a dhow 
flying French colours about 12 miles off Zanzibar. 
Authority to search was obtained from the French con- 
sulate, and, on board the dhow, which was bound for the 
Persian Gulf, there were foimd about 50 slave-children 
who had been kidnapped. This incident was used at the 
time by partisan writers as a basis for insinuations of 
remissness on the part of the British officials, to whose 
activity both on shore and at sea the detection of the slave- 
running Arabs was due. Other attempts of similar nature 
were made and frustrated, for the slave trade died hard. 
The Admiralty report for 1893 showed that the traffic by 
sea had scarcely any existence ; even the dhows overhauled 
on the South Arabian coast contained neither slaves nor 
preparation for their reception. The police on shore and 
the boats at sea had been too vigilant for the Arabs, and, 
in the opinion of Admiral Kennedy, the suppression of 
the traffic was partly attributable to " the general march 
of civihzation in what formerly used to be unfrequented 
parts of the globe." 

But even yet smuggling had not ceased. The .slave 
system entered not only into the agricultural and other 
out-door operations of the Arabs, but also into their 
domestic and family life, and, as most of the slaves were 

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••.^'.- .»|fi wt|-,r»i!t iiniriiitv. 7:* meet "iiis 
• ^ ♦-■•-■ ,o!irt- v^r^ -rriririrn*<i :r "lie -nmii rirrs 
fnrf .nhipr! • .!lriiDrf»<: ipd -mrill ■.-lOtTir*^ wi^re -riecrea ironi 

■.'r,rr*r^r! ''-r.iieh -.^liif.Tn m ^. rriAnner 'vhich <:oTiid be snewn 

^'. V* ll<^c'al \fsn'- .f -he- AtTihs v^nt umnaiiv a 

;j!£Timrtcrft vj .\rprr:t irtr^-ndrti '.'a- -iav^ who '='xpressed no 

in'<'iHiTiOT>'*^'=: ^'» :?o. hilt .vh«*n •he masters returned ".nev 

.«' r^ jtt.-Tirlf'l r#r' :»*tv -.f *he 'ioTne<;tirs .vho had ieparred 

ri^h ■li'm. fioth :or :mpnrtrition ind -xpomtiQiL •:•! 

.l;,t r-: •jjp ;.-,,v. •|<^ .t now ^food. provided remedies : btit 

Mif h'-r-^ A'^r^ /<fpt :n i^or^nrr ot their nghts, md :ae 

Vf^'.h'immpd'fn inw -^oiirt^. .vhil<* dealing lairiv wtii :ases 

f)ro?ic^ht rithin rhHr '^os^i7;inrp. did not. or '.ouid not. 

inifi'itp rn^-i^inr'--; ^o pr^v<^r f>artiriilar ibiises. 

T!i'^ ''jii^^tion iiow shv^- irv?lf "should be brougfat ro 
.in "nd 'A'-i^^ -i^ill iin«iettWI. Among Europeans there was 
no rljc^piifo ;iq to the decsirabilitv of its abolition, but tJierr 
AM-. m»Kh di<;^n<s<;ion ?»s to the methods by which that 
' nd ^h^'Mild l^>e r^nrhed. There were abolitionists in Great 
f'»rit;iin with ;igents m Z?inzib?4r who, in this delicate and 
diffK tilt rondition of piffairs, riamoured with p)erfect 5eif- 
((mMrnro for complete, absolute, and imconditionai 
r'm;mnp;ition. ;md protested against any system of com- 
pr-n^jitirm to sjjive-owners, as tending to retard and com- 
ph<;itf the rnrrying out of abolition. Ordinary considera- 
fiorm of prudenrr ;!nd of fiiir dealing required that abolition 
«;|ioiild he brouglit a^Knlt without dislocation of the economic 
;irir| ^(it'v\] rrmditions of the islands and without injustice. 



METHOD OF DEALING WITH SLAVERY, 179 

There were no statistics either of the number of freemen 
or of slaves (for Mohammedans may not number the people), 
but competent judges estimated the free at 70,000, and the 
slaves at 140,000. The slave population was the main 
source whence labour was obtained for the working of the 
agricultural estates, and they were mostly engaged in the 
cultivation of cloves. On the successful development 
of this industry depended not only the welfare of the slave- 
owners and other freemen, but of the slaves themselves 
and even the solvency of the State. Inconsiderate inter- 
ference with the existing order of things might at once 
plunge the islands into confusion. It was necessary to 
consider also what harm might result from the sudden 
liberation of multitudes of ignorant native labourers who 
had been victims of oppressive cruelty, and of thousands 
of young women who were either domestic slaves or con- 
cubines. Could such a measure be of advantage to the 
women ? or would it tend to the general welfare ? Further, 
concubinage was a recognised institution, and the lot of 
concubines was in general an easy one. Should one bear 
a child to her master, her future freedom and independence 
were secured ; her child would inherit from the father and 
she herself would enjoy the benefits of the inheritance. 
As regards the slave-holders it could not reasonably be 
maintained that owners of property in its nature lawful 
from time immemorial, legally acquired and legally used, 
should be deprived of it without compensation. 

The method recommended and insisted on by Sir Arthur 
Hardinge, to whose foresight is mainly due the peacefulness 
of the transition to freedom, was similar to that which 
had been followed in India in 1843. By the Decree of 
Seyyid Hamoud, April 7, 1897, the legal status of slavery 
was abolished. The courts of law would no longer enforce 
any alleged rights over any person or the services or property 
of any person on the ground that he was a slave. If, how- 
ever, any one could prove that he was till then in lawful 

I2» 



i8o ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

possession of such rights, he should receive just and reason- 
able compensation for the loss of them. In view of 
the action which had long been taken for the liberation 
of slaves, and especially of the Decrees of 1889 and 1890, 
which had declared the freedom of great numbers, it was 
improbable that compensation could be claimed for the loss 
of any very large proportion of those who were still held in 
the position of slaves, and all claims would have to be 
strictly proved. As, already, slaves could not be sold 
or alienated in any way, so now it was provided that com- 
pensation money, being the equivalent for lost rights 
over slaves, could not be seized for debt. To check idle- 
ness and vagrancy on the part of freed slaves, it was 
provided and published that they would all be liable to 
taxation like other subjects of the Sultan ; that they were 
boimd, on pain of being declared vagrants, to show that 
they had a regular dpmicile and means of subsistence ; 
and that when such domicile was on another man's land 
they would have to pay a just rent to the owner. With 
respect to the position of concubines, it was decreed that 
such persons should be regarded as inmates of the harem 
in the same sense as wives, but could demand and obtain 
the dissolution of this relation on proof of cruelty. 
But any concubine who had not borne children might, with 
the sanction of the Court, be redeemed. 
The effective articles of the Decree were as follows : — 

(i). From and after this ist day of Zilkada, 13 14 (April 
7th, 1897), all claims of whatever description made before 
any court or pubUc authority in respect of the all^^ 
relations of master and slave shall be referred to the District 
Court within whose jurisdiction they may arise, and shall 
be cognizable by that Court alone. 

(2). From and after this ist day of Zilkada the District 
Court shall decline to enforce any alleged rights over the 
body, service, or property of any person on the ground 



PROVISIONS OF DECREE. i8i 

that such person is a slave, but wherever any person shall 
claim that he was lawfully possessed of such rights, in 
accordance with the Decrees of our predecessors, before 
the pubUcation of the present Decree, and has now by the 
application of the said Decree been deprived of them, 
and has suffered loss by such deprivation, then the Court, 
unless satisfied that the claim is unfoimded, shall report 
to Our First Minister that it deems the claimant entitled, 
in consideration of the loss of such rights and damage 
resulting therefrom, to such pecuniary compensation as 
may be a just and reasonable equivalent for their value, 
and Our First Minister shall then award to him such sum. 
(3). The compensation money thus awarded shall not 
be liable to be claimed in respect of any debt for which 
the person of the slave for whom it was granted could not 
previously by law be seized. 

(4). Any person whose right to freedom shall have been 
formally recognised under the 2nd Article shall be liable 
to any tax, abatement, corv6e, or payment in lieu of 
corvee, which our Government may at any time hereafter 
see fit to impose on the general body of its subjects, and 
shall be bound, on pain of being declared a vagrant, to 
shew that he possesses a regular domicile and means of 
subsistence, and where such domicile is situated on land 
owned by any other person, to pay to the owner of such 
land such rent (which may take the form of an equivalent 
in labour or produce) as may be agreed upon between them 
before the District Court. 

(5). Concubines shall be regarded as inmates of the 
Harem in the same sense as wives, and shall remain in 
their present relations unless they should demand their 
dissolution on the ground of cruelty, in which case the 
District Court shall grant it if the alleged cruelty has 
been proved to its satisfaction. A concubine not having 
borne children may be redeemed with the sanction of 
the Court. 



182 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

(6). Any person making any claim under any of the pro- 
visions of this Decree shall have the right to appeal from 
the decision of the District Court to Ourselves, or to such 
Judge or other public authority as we may from time to 
time see fit to delegate for the purpose. 

In order that the change from slavery to freedom might 
be accomplished smoothly, the old administrative divisions 
of Zanzibar and Pemba were, by a second Decree, abolished 
and new districts were created with District Courts and 
Arab judges from whom there was an appeal to the Sultan 
or, in fact, to Sir Lloyd Mathews, the First Minister of 
the Sultan. 

The Decree was made known first to the Arab chiefe 
in Zanzibar ; then it was published and explained to 
officials throughout both islands, who set forth its pro- 
visions both to slave-owners and slaves. English Slavery- 
Commissioners (Mr. J. T. Last for Zanzibar and Mr. J. P. 
Farler in Pemba) were appointed to watch over its execu- 
tion, to give advice when asked, and to report to the central 
Government, and a Zanzibar Government Agent — Mr. 
Herbert Lister — was appointed to Pemba, to control 
vagrant freedmen. 

A movement was made among some of the slave-owners 
to have their slaves shipped to places beyond the juris- 
diction of the Sultan, but this, being anticipated and 
provided for by Sir Lloyd Mathews, never assumed serious 
proportions. The form it usually took was a futile attempt 
to pass off natives as domestic servants and personal 
attendants on a journey to Oman. A few slaves were sent 
in French dhows to Muscat, and a few were taken to the 
German coast. Some Pemba Arabs even tried to make 
an arrangement with the German Governor of Tanga 
whereby they might obtain land on which to settle with 
their slaves. They were told they might obtain land 
if they surrendered or sold their estates in Pemba, but 



POSITION OF FREED SLAVES, 183 

that no immigrants would be received on the condition 
of having one foot in the German and the other in the 
British Protectorate. These terms did not please the 
slave-owners so they went back to their shambas in Pemba 
to face the new order of things. 

The liberation of the slaves proceeded slowly. There 
was no rush for freedom, no serious unsettlement of the 
prevailing economic conditions. For a time the slaves 
did not grasp the significance of the legal change, but 
understood clearly enough that their masters would not 
now be allowed to treat them harshly. They came before 
the Walls with complaints of cruelty (often trivial), and, 
when the specific wrongs were reckessed, went back to 
their work well satisfied. 

The owners found it was to their advantage to keep the 
slaves out of the courts, and therefore abandoned the inflic- 
tion of personal chastisement, the slaves being permitted 
to work or not to work, very much at their own pleasure. 

In the Island of Zanzibar by the end of Jime no more 
than 120 persons (about 40 per month) had claimed their 
freedom, but the number had been gradually increasing. 
It was chiefly among town slaves, men who worked as 
servants to Indians or as artizans, bakers, fishers, or small 
dealers, that the desire for freedom first spread. Slaves 
of this description were hired out by their owners or 
allowed to labour in their own vocation, but of their 
earnings one half went to their masters. When the un- 
hired artizan or trading class obtained their liberty their 
position was vastly improved, for they at once received 
double for their labour. With the slaves who were hired 
out, however, the case was different. Their employers 
were generally Indians, keen at a bargain. They pointed 
out to freed slaves that now, since they could keep all 
their earnings to themselves, it was proper that the wages 
should be reduced by half, and on this principle the Indians 
reaped the profit intended for the slaves. 



1 84 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

Apart from this provocation, there were not a few town 
freed slaves who did not understand their position as 
freemen. They readily undertook work, but were idle 
and neglectful in its performance, and when urged to shew 
a moderate degree of diligence they threatened an action 
before the British Consul-General. European merchants 
found difficulty in controlling the men they employed, 
and there was some consultation with the authorities on 
the subject. The idea of a Government labour bureau 
was seriously suggested, but Sir Lloyd Mathews with the 
approval of Sir A. Hardinge, stationed a few askaris about 
the town, to arrest the indolent and refractory ; a measure 
which ensured order among the freed men. 

In the Island of Pemba things moved. more slowly, for, 
in the first eleven weeks following the issue of the Decree, 
in only one case had slaves claimed their liberty, and this 
they obtained on the ground of cruelty, so that the owner, 
an Arab lady, received no compensation. 

After the Decree had been in operation for a year the 
number of slaves who, in both islands, had taken advantage 
of its provisions, was 4,278. Of this nimiber, 2,000 had 
obtained their freedom, and 2,278, had, without claiming 
papers of freedom, made contracts with their masters as 
free labourers. 

In and about the town of Zanzibar the slave-owners 
were of three classes : the wealthy Arabs in whose service 
there was distinction, luxury and security — few slaves 
of these men applied for or desired their liberty ; the 
middle class natives who could confer no privileges and 
could provide no luxuries — between them and their slaves 
the bond was in many cases soon dissolved ; the artizans 
and small traders who associated familiarly with their slaves 
and treated them almost as equals — few of the slaves of 
these men claimed their freedom. 

In country places and especially in Pemba the plantation 
slaves gave some trouble. They wished to enjoy the ease 



s 



THE TIME OF TRANSITI014. i8s 

and comfort which they associated with freedom, but, at the 
same time, they were disinclined to leave their old homes, 
and the shambas with which their masters had provided 
them, and the cocoa-nuts which were produced on the 
shambas. They would go to the WaU and claim their 
freedom. The Wali would ask, " How are you to earn 
your living ? " and they would say, " Cultivating our 
shambas." " But if you live on your master's shamba, 
you must pay rent." This they had never thought of, so 
they took time to consider. Sometimes the passionate 
young Arabs would become impatient and indignant at 
the idleness and insolence of their labourers, and would 
there and then administer condign punishment, after which 
the slaves would hale them into court, accuse them of 
cruelty and forthwith be declared free men. Or the 
trouble might take a different turn. The master, dis- 
gusted with the laziness and dishonesty of his men under 
the new conditions, would bring a batch of them into 
court, requesting that they should be freed forthwith and 
himself compensated. Then the slaves would decline to 
be set free and assert that they belonged to their master 
who was bound to provide for them. What claim had the 
owner to compensation for losses on which he, and he alone, 
insisted ? 

But, on the whole, the transition stage passed in both 
islands without serious difficulty. In Pemba, imder the 
influence of Mr. Farler, the best of the masters and the 
best of the slaves had no difficulty in coming to terms 
which, without the use of formal papers of freedom and 
without compensation to the slave-owners, were settled 
as between free men. To the labourer an allotment was 
made, the produce of which was his own. Instead of 
paying rent he worked for four days a week, six hours a 
day, on his master's land ; all work done outside that 
period being paid for in coin or in kind by the master. 
These arrangements were usually in writing, for a period 



186 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

of two years ; latterly they were required to be in writing 
and registered by the courts. The Sultan set the example 
of this system and, of thousands of slaves living and working 
on his lands in Zanzibar and Pemba, not one asked for 
freedom. 

Among the smaller and poorer proprietors, and among the 
wilder or more imcivilized slaves, as in the north of Pemba, 
there were difficulties ; but, where the refractory element 
was too obtrusive, a little judicious control, with the help of 
a military and police force, under Captain Goldie Taubman, 
was sufficient to repress lawlessness and preserve peace till, 
in the natural development of things, masters and men 
should, through the mere force of circumstances, be con- 
strained to live together in harmony. 

The process of manumission of slaves still proceeds. 
It is a very simple process. A slave appears before the 
Collector at his office and says — Nataka kuandikwa — I 
want to be written. His name, his master's name and 
place of residence ; the slave's tribe, approximate age, 
height, marks and other details are all then entered in a 
book specially kept for the purpose ; he is given a small 
brass counter, with a number stamped thereon, and at once 
dismissed, a free man. A few days afterwards his former 
master may appear and demand compensation, but before 
this can be awarded him he must furnish credible witnesses 
to prove that the freed person was his slave, lawfully held ; 
and he must provide two guarantors, men of recognised 
standing, as surety against fraud. If it should turn out 
that the applicant has obtained compensation under false 
pretences, and that the freed person was not in reality his 
slave, the Government can recover from the guarantors. 

A native has an abiding faith in being written down. 
If his name be in the book he knows that no man can 
touch him. When freed a native will often style himself 
— not a free man — but a slave of the Government or of 
the Consul. From thus describing himself he derives a 



NATIVE VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 187 

sense of protection, which is no less sincere than convenient. 
" I want work ; I am a slave of the Government,*' is not 
an infrequent demand. One of the most effective threats 
that can be used against an idle and good-for-nothing 
fellow is the threat to free him. When the question of 
the aboUtion of the legal status came up in 1897 the 
advocates of total abolition could never have realized 
the amount of hardship they would have inflicted upon 
many of the slaves of Zanzibar if they had had their way 
and compelled them, noletUes volentes, to be freed. The 
injustice to the Arabs would have been great, but the 
cruelty to the slaves would have been greater. Hundreds 
of people, who now contentedly live in their old homes, 
working only when they like, would have been turned out 
and become vagrants. Slavery, such as prevailed in the 
Southern States, never existed in Zanzibar, and even 
that mild form of slavery which the leisure-loving Arabs 
could impose, has long since been dead. If the truth 
were known, I believe that the slaves, no less than the 
slave-owning classes, when first they observed the efforts 
of the British Government towards the suppression of 
slavery, looked upon the whole proceedings as a monstrous 
injustice. A slave, lawfully held according to Moham- 
medan law, rarely denied the fact. He never put in the plea 
that, according to all the laws of hiunanity and justice 
his master had no real right to him. According to his 
view his master had a right to him, and he himself, as soon 
as he could afford to do so, bought slaves of his own. 

Natives come with the most amazing stories of how 
they were kidnapped and sold, but the most astonishing 
case that ever came under my notice was that of a youth 
named Makame, a native of Tumbatu, the large island 
on the north-west of Zanzibar Island. When a small 
boy, he was one day taken down to the beach, and sold 
by one of his own slaves to the owner of a dhow. He was 
taken to Pemba and in course of time obtained his freedom 



188 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

under the Decree of 1897. He was then sent to the Govern- 
ment plantation at Timdaua, under Mr. Lister, and put to 
the school which had been established there for the benefit 
of homeless children. One would have expected that when 
he grew up and came to realise the protection he could 
claim, Makame would have endeavoured to seek out and 
bring to justice the man who had wronged him. But 
nothing will induce Makame to go near Tumbatu ; he is 
afraid he would be recognised by the slave who sold him, 
who, to escape the consequences of his act, would certainly 
make medicine on him, and bring upon him grievous trouble. 
The gullibihty of the ordinary native is incredible. A 
native, whom I will call Juma, once complained to me 
that he had been the servant of a European, who lived 
some distance out of the town of Zanzibar. His employer 
one day sent him to the town on an errand. On the way 
he fell in with a man who had been his companion on a 
trading caravan to the Lakes, so they walked along to- 
gether. When they had gone some way his companion 
invited Juma to go with him and see a friend who lived 
just off the road. When they arrived his companion 
introduced Juma as his slave and, to Juma's amazement, 
thereupon sold him to his friend. No doubt Juma pro- 
tested and wildly gesticulated, but in the end he sub- 
mitted and followed his new master ; and probably his 
reflections were not those of indignation at being unjustly 
treated, but of regret at not being beforehand with his 
betrayer. 

All such doings are now at an end. In describing the 
efforts of our cruisers to destroy the slave trade, I 
have referred to several incidents of the chase. I will 
refer to one other, as it marks a contrast. About 
two years ago a report reached the Zanzibar Government 
that a girl had been kidnapped at a village on the north- 
west coast of Zanzibar Island. The First Minister kept the 
information as quiet as he could, and when darkness set 



SLAVE-TRADING EXTINCT. 189 

in he despatched the Commanding Officer with a detach- 
ment of troops to march overland to the place. He himself 
at midnight, unknown to almost everyone in the town, 
proceeded up the coast in a launch. When he reached the 
spot he found there a British warship with lights out. 
Her Commander had also heard the report and, in order 
not to arouse suspicion, had appeared to pay no heed to 
it, till, under cover of darkness, he was able to creep out 
of the harbour. But they foimd no kidnapped girl, as there 
had been none to find. 

The cruisers are still there, in and out of Zanzibar, in 
and out of Pemba, but the slave trader has gone. 



1 



our^AjnsATTox of Zanzibar iovhhnjezsti 

Thp. jfSkT t9qz -svas an impartanr one in riie !iiatmLy <3t 
Zfui^ihar. ^51 it -^vas in tiiar 7«Lr tiiat the rpgiiui^ni^iafif yn- .jf 
the admsni&tzstum by 5ir (lezaid PortaL C3nxe inxa opernt- 
fion, ;uul wttfa tiie oorm at ijuv»^iinenr nmfer woiiA tfie 
iJtUrut haft Mice cmmnoed tn tfarire. The _ 
rUre^ tmm Ocmher 20. iSor. on wincb. (fay 
Mathi^trq '•ntenrf an hia wnrk 35 First Unrigtgr tn t&eSfz£c3S. 
^m ^>rtober 23, Partal ananged with, t&e Seyyif Aly |ait 
riaiii, that he fihoiild receive a nxed xmnniily sonr far 
hw ^>WTi perv)nal expenses : that proper accounts sbooid 
be kept of all revetmes and expenditzne. and that vaiimfe 
(Mpaftmeat<i of Govenmient ^iculd becsrganKd and pbced 
nnder the rjyatrrA oi British offiriaK who shoold be iire- 
»u>^abie except hj consent of the Briti^ CoosoI-GciieiaL 
Before that date no organised G tAemm qit realhr 
^HfM, The expenses of adminstration were small, as 
n// woTfc<i were carried oat for the benefit of the pablkr ; 
the revenoes, comparatively large, were for the most part 
^f/pf</pfiated by the Saltans, who were preyed upon by 
;idventnfer» and retainen eager '^to grasp as large a 
nh^tc, Hs^ pOMiMe of the money which was poured into the 
Hilltan'n (xrfferi/^ The advent of the German and English 
OfTnpatiitnf followed by the alienation to Germany of the 
tmitiiUne tcfritorics which now form the coast of German 



IMPROVED ADMINISTRATION. 191 

East Africa, and the lease to the English Company of the 
greater portion of the remainder of his continental dominions, 
resulted in reduction of the Sultan's revenue to about one 
third of its former amount. But the Sultan did not on that 
account reduce his expenditure. Hence, on arriving at 
Zanzibar in the Autumn of 1891, Portal found that " the 
Sultan, and, indeed, the whole island of Zanzibar, were 
advancing towards a state of insolvency. Few accounts 
were kept, statistical returns were unknown, such moneys 
as could be collected by the Customs Officials were paid 
in to the Palace, and paid out again indiscriminately to 
a clamorous crowd of adherents who lived on the Sultan's 
bounty. " 

Sir Gerald Portal began his difficult task by abolishing 
the five per cent, import duty, which yielded 180,000 
rupees a year. This was a bold step at such a time, but he 
considered it necessary if Zanzibar was to maintain its 
position as the chief port of transhipment, and the central 
market of East Africa. His choice of new sources of revenue 
was restricted by treaties which did not permit of an equable 
system of taxation ; treaties which still hamper the ad- 
ministration, made as they were under conditions that 
have now altogether changed. Nevertheless, the range of 
taxation was extended and considerable revenue was de- 
rived from registration and from liquor licenses ; at the 
same time rigid economy in expenditure was observed, 
and the host of Palace dependants, a source of trouble, as 
well as of expense, was weeded out, so that at the end of 
the year a satisfactory balance was carried forward. Many 
other improvements were effected ; the port service, under 
Commander Hardinge, R.N., was organised, the registration 
of native vessels was enforced, the harbour approaches 
were buoyed and lighted, and other works for the im- 
provement of wharves, roads, and sanitation were carried 
out. The military force numbering 860, all ranks, was 
taken over by General Hatch when General Mathews 



192 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

became First Minister, and in January 1892, it was supple- 
mented by a police force. The first newspaper in the 
island made its appearance on February i, 1892, under the 
title of The Gazette for Zanzibar and East Africa. It is of 
a semi-official character, and is the medium for the publica- 
tion of information supplied by Government and by the 
British and Foreign Representatives. There are now in 
Zanzibar and in the British and German Protectorates 
several other newspapers, some official and some non- 
official. 

Under Seyyid Said Zanzibar had become the centre of 
East African trade, and its importance as such had been 
increased by subsequent Sultans, till at length all East 
African trade routes led to Zanzibar. Sir Gerald Portal 
saw that the prosperity of the island depended on the 
continuance of this commercial supremacy and, owing to 
his action, Zanzibar was on February i, 1892, declared 
a free port. The wisdom of this step is shewn by the fact 
that the combined value of imports and exports, which in 
1892 amounted to £2,093,370, steadiy increased till in 

1899 it reached the value of £3,110,000. On October i of 
the latter year, the 5 per cent, ad valorem duty was, with 
certain modifications, re-imposed, a rebate being allowed 
on goods re-exported. From that date the trade began to 
decline. An exact comparison cannot be made, for, in 

1900 and subsequent years, the trade with other ports of 
the islands was excluded from the Zanzibar commercial 
statistics ; but since 1900, when the imports and exports 
amounted to the value of £2,283,835, there has been a 
decline, not continuous, but on the whole considerable, 
the total in 1903 having fallen to £2,087,980. 

The direct trade of the German and British Protectorates 
with Europe will probably increase, and the trade of 
Zanzibar, both with Europe and East Africa, fall off for a 
time. It has been regarded as probable that the Uganda 
Railway will interfere with the commercial prosperity of 



TRADE PROSPECTS. 193 

the island, but, so far, there is little to support this belief. 
The railway will more probably injure German commerce 
by diverting to Mombasa the traffic between the interior 
and the coast towns of the German Protectorate. The 
depression of Zanzibar commerce will probably be 
neither serious nor long-continued. The island has ad- 
vantages which, if rightly used, must secure her pros- 
perity. She has a magnificent harbour which ships of all 
sizes can enter in any weather, and where they can ride 
securely at anchor ; her rainfall is much higher and con- 
sequently her fertility is much greater than that of the 
continental coast, so that it is more convenient for ships 
to provision and water at Zanzibar than at any other port 
in the region. Moreover, Zanzibar is the favourite home 
of the Arab and the African, and where the people go the 
trade will follow. The clove industry estabUshed within 
the island has attracted an immense number of Indian 
merchants and traders, financiers and speculators, as well 
as members or representatives of several large European 
firms, and the presence of these men keeps the principal 
currents of trade flowing through Zanzibar. 

Kilindini, near Mombasa, has a large harbour, but at 
the port of Mombasa, the terminus of the Uganda Railway, 
large vessels cannot be accommodated, and until the com- 
mercial interests of the British Protectorate are transferred 
to Kilindini, Zanzibar has little to fear. 

On the German coast there are no ports where large 
vessels can lie conveniently, none to compare with the port 
of Zanzibar. The Germans made Dar-es-Salaam the capital 
of their new possession. They laid out a beautiful town 
and built commodious and substantial public buildings, 
and they provided magnificent steamship services which 
have been subsidised partly with a view to the fostering of 
trade at that port. Some of the leading German houses 
transferred their head-quarters from Zanzibar to Dar-es- 
Salaam, but they have all gone back to Zanzibar, and Dar- 

13 



194 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

es-Salaam, except for its official character, is only an un- 
important coast town. 

For German East Africa the way to prosperity lies rather 
through industrial than commercial enterprise. The 
Protectorate will flourish by the working of its planta- 
tions, the growing of cotton and textile plants, the de- 
velopment of such mineral resources as it possesses. Such 
enterprises will meet- with no rivalry in Zanzibar, which 
seems destined to occupy on the African coast a position 
analogous to that held further east by Singapore and 
Hong Kong, both of which ports are, it may be observed, 
free ports. 

The arteries of trade did not always converge on Zanzi- 
bar. There was a time when she was of no more account 
than Mafia is to-day, and, if the advantages she now 
possesses be not judiciously employed, prosperity may 
forsake her. She must maintain facilities for commerce ; 
on no account ought she to fall behind in her harbour and 
shipping arrangements ; above all she must keep her 
tariff low. 

The Government of Zanzibar is administered by a First 
Minister, whose nomination is subject to the approval 
of the Foreign Office, and a staff of European officials. 
Great Britain is represented by an Agent and Consul- 
General who, in addition to being responsible for the 
liberties of British subjects, is the medium through whom 
communications between the Foreign Office and the 
Zanzibar .Government pass. 

Zanzibar and Pcmba are divided into sub-districts 
administered, under British officials, by Arab Governors 
or Walls, assisted by Arab Judges or Kathis who dispense 
justice to Zanzibaris in accordance with Mohammedan 
law. For Americans, Belgians, Germans, Italians, and 
Portuguese there are consular courts representing their 
respective countries. All other Christian foreigners, as 
well as British and British-protected subjects, arc under 




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ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 195 

the jurisdiction of the British Court. This court had its 
origin in 1866, when power was given to the British Consul 
to try disputes between British subjects, and to exercise 
the functions of a vice-admiralty court. As the judicial 
requirements of the island extended, authority was by 
degrees entrusted to professional lawyers till, in 1897, the 
British Consular jurisdiction was abolished and a separate 
British court of justice established. In this court the 
most conspicuous figure was that of Judge Cracknall who, 
having been successively legal adviser (1881), judicial 
assistant (1884), consular judge (1893), became (1897) the 
first judge in the new court, and retired in 1900. In 1902 
this court was made the Appeal Court for the three 
Protectorates of British East Africa, Uganda, and British 
Central Africa. The ^Indian Penal Code was made 
applicable to ZanjiB^^ife<'i867^ The present court ad- 
ministers EnglisJiir,'/ 5ttigio-Indiari;i Hindu, Parsi, and, since 
1898, as delega^^^cl Court of Hie Sultan, Mohammedan 
law. The busifi^^ >cd[ thp jcourt is at present conducted 
by Judge Lindsey^^'Smith with two assistant judges, a 
registrar, and a judicial officer for Pemba. 

Since the year 1890 Zanzibar has been a British Pro- 
tectorate but, as such, it holds a position widely different 
from that of the British East Africa Protectorate, or 
Uganda, or the Central Africa Protectorate. It would 
perhaps be more correct to say that Zanzibar is a protected 
State, or a Sultanate under British Protection. The 
island, so long as it occupies this position, is in a sense 
neutral territory where men of all nationalities may meet 
without mutual jealousy, and this state of things is vital 
to its welfare. The Pax Britannica rules there and, with 
brief intermission, has ruled since the sway of Great Britain 
was formally admitted. 



13* 



196 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE BOMBARDMENT. 

For a century Great Britain had maintained her influence 
with Oman and Zanzibar and had imposed her treaties 
upon their rulers without having to fire a shot ; yet before 
reaching the goal of her patient and persistent policy in the 
Decree of 1897, she was compelled to resort to the humiliat- 
ing expedient of a show of force. Bom under the shadow 
of India, Seyyid Said, a much more powerful monarch than 
any of his successors, regarded his great neighbour as a 
friend whose protection might be sought, yet as a master 
whose wishes must be respected. With the death on March 
5, 1893, of Seyyid Ali, the last of Seyyid Said's sons to 
occupy the throne of Zanzibar, the time-honoured relations 
of the two countries appear to have been forgotten. At 
that time there was some anxiety, as there were no fewer 
than three claimants to the succession. Of these the most 
energetic was Khaled bin Barghash, who at once seized the 
Palace, the others being Hamid bin Thuwaini and Hamoud 
bin Mohammed. When General Mathews heard of Khaled's 
proceedings, he occupied the square of the Palace, and by 
his personal influence held in check the supporters of the 
rival claimants. For an hour the situation was critical, 
but when the British Agent, Mr. Rennell Rodd and Captain 
Campbell, with 160 blue-jackets and a guard of marines 
from the Philomel and the Blanche, came on the scene, 



SEYYID K HALED. 197 

and, pointing a machine gun on the door, summoned the 
usurper to submit, Khaled opened the door and gave himself 
up. Hamid was placed on the throne, and after two days* 
confinement Khaled was restored to his place of honour in 
the Sultan's court. 

Hamid bin Thuwaini, though he owed his position to Great 
Britain, assumed an attitude of passive defiance towards 
his protector, and so successfully did he work on the pre- 
judices of his subjects that, towards the close of his reign, 
Arabs began to jostle Englishmen in the streets. Khaled 
also was not idle, but was making ready to reassert his claim 
at the first opportunity which might arise. He was re- 
garded by a large section of the Arabs as the rightful heir 
to the throne, and since, according to their notions, might, 
coupled with election by the tribes, was right, he considered 
himself justified in his action. His hostility to the British 
was both the ground of his hope and the cause of his down- 
fall. British influence seemed on the wane ; the laissez 
faire policy was misinterpreted by the Arabs, and Khaled 
and his supporters thought that somehow, by a swift and 
sudden stroke the island might be restored to its former 
independence. 

Thus it was that, when on August 25, 1896, Hamid bin 
Thuwaini suddenly died, Khaled again came to the front. 

On the news of the Sultan's death Mr. Basil Cave, Acting 
British Agent and Consul-General, and Sir Lloyd Mathews, 
proceeded as quickly as they could to the Palace ; but as 
they were mounting the steps Seyyid Khaled, with fifty 
armed followers, entered the Palace square, and entirely 
ignoring them, began an attack upon the door and windows. 
Mathews, who had known Khaled since he was a boy, 
endeavoured to reason with him, but the young Arab was 
now in no mind to be talked over as he had been in 1893, 
and within a very few minutes he, with a mob of 500 Arabs, 
entered the Palace and took possession. 

Sir Lloyd's next impulse was to shoot Khaled on the 



198 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

spot, and had he done so he would probably have averted the 
bloodshed that followed ; but he reflected that perhaps he 
was scarcely justified in taking upon himself this extreme 
step. There was nothing for it but to withdraw ; so he 
and Mr. Cave, still covered by the rifles of the rebel horde, 
retraced their steps to the Agency. 

The troops of the island were at that time divided into 
two forces : one commanded by a British officer under the 
orders of the Zanzibar Government, the other controlled by 
the Sultan. The Sultan's force originally consisted of 200 
men, and was intended solely to provide a guard for the 
Palace, and an escort when the Sultan drove out. This 
force Hamid bin Thuwaini had on his own responsibility 
increased till it outnumbered the Government troops, and 
must at his death have been nearly a thousand strong. In 
addition to these troops and the armed corvette Glasgow, 
the Sultan possessed seven Hotchkiss and Krupp guns, 
two maxims, gifts from Queen Victoria, and a large number 
of old muzzle-loading cannon, which had been carried in the 
fleets of Seyyids Said and Majid. 

Khaled increased his forces by the addition of about two 
thousand Persians, Comoro Islanders, and slaves whom he 
armed with weapons of every available kind, and disposed 
in the Palace, its approaches and adjoining houses. He 
ordered the Glasgow to fire a salute to announce his accession, 
and sent notices to the foreign Consuls demanding from 
them recognition of his claim. The Consuls, in reply, kept 
their flags at half-mast, declining to recognise him till the 
British authorities had first done so. 

The European residents, meanwhile, had collected at the 
English club, from the roof of which a commanding view of 
the harbour, the Palace, and the town could be obtained. 
The southernmost watch-tower of the fort, which rises 
thirty feet landwards from the roof of the club, was occupied 
by a few decrepit Arab troops, who, with antiquated fire- 
locks, prepared to despatch the assembled Wasungu (white 




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B 
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L 




BRITISH WAR-SHIPS. 199 

men) when the appomted time should arrive. The Philomel 
and Thrush were the only two British warships in the 
harbour, but these lost no time in landing guards of marines 
and blue-jackets for the Agency and Custom House. 

Outside, the Sparrow, on her way from the north, was 
carrying out evolutions, but on a signal from the Philomel 
she at once stood in and took up her position 150 yards from 
the shore, opposite the Palace. Following her example 
the Thrush left her anchorage, and moored in line ahead of 
her. In the town all was confusion, and the European 
ladies who lived in isolated localities found refuge at the 
British Agency under the hospitable care of Mrs. Cave. 

Thus Tuesday, August 25, dreW to a close, Khaled having 
possession of the Palace quarter, and keeping the quick- 
firing and other guns trained on the approaches, the club^ 
the Custom House, and the British warships ; while the 
bridges and principal thoroughfares of the town were held 
by the Government troops imder General Raikes. 

The next morning the complexion of things underwent a 
change. First the Racoon steamed in from the south and 
took up her position opposite the Custom House, astern of 
the Sparrow ; then at midday, to the surprise of everyone, 
as she was not expected for two days, the 5/. George, Rear- 
Admiral Rawson's flagship, was signalled from the south. 
Not knowing what was afoot she had prepared to salute 
the Sultan's flag but was happily warned in time. 

The Admiral lost no time in increasing the forces ashore, 
strengthening the guards of marines and blue-jackets at 
the Agency and Custom House, and posting others in the 
thoroughfares leading to the European quarter. But in 
spite of renewed exertions to bring him to submit, Khaled 
still refused to quit the Palace, or to surrender the power 
he had usurped. Thus Wednesday, the 26th, passed and 
the city prepared for a second night of suspense. " Whether 
it was so or not, everyone the next day agreed that never 
had they known such a soundless night." 



200 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

At seven in the morning Admiral Rawson sent an ulti- 
matum to Seyyid Khaled, requiring him to haul down his 
flag, make his troops and followers pile their arms in the 
square and leave the Palace, and deliver himself up to 
him at the Custom House before nine o'clock, failing which 
he would open fire with the guns of his ships. At eight 
o'clock an envoy was despatched to Mr. Cave, who was at 
the Custom House, requesting a parley, but he was told by 
the British representative that no parley would be granted, 
and that salvation could only be found in fulfilment of the 
conditions of the ultimatum. With a parting defiance the 
envoy returned to his desperate master. 

The English ladies and children in the town were taken 
off to the ships in the harbour ; some to the 5/. George, 
others, as well as many British and Portuguese-Indian 
subjects, to the British India S.S. Nowshera, Captain Stone. 
On the first night of the rebellion the European and native 
members of the English Mission, both at Mkunazini in the 
town, and at the outlying stations to the south of the town, 
had remained at their posts, but on the morning of the 27th, 
when it was realised that a bombardment was inevitable, 
they were brought in. 

The British forces on shore consisted of 330 seamen, 
120 marines with five maxims and one 7-pounder, and 500 
native troops of the Zanzibar Government. The seamen, 
with three maxims and the 7-pounder, were at the Custom 
House ; the marines guarded the British Agency and the 
approaches to the Palace square. It was thought that 
Khaled might endeavour to escape into the plantations, 
and to prevent this, as well as to turn back the looters who 
in the confusion would probably descend upon the town, 
the outskirts were held by General Raikes, with forty 
marines and two maxims, and a detachment of native 
troops. 

The disposition of the ships was as follows : The Thrush, 
gunboat. Lieutenant and Commander Stoddart, Sparrow, 



PREPARATION FOR ACTION. 

gunboat, Lieutenant and Commander Wilkin, Racoof^^ 
third class cruiser, Commander Underwood, moored ii\t^ 
line opposite the Palace and Custom House at point- 
blank range ; the 5/. George, first-class cruiser. Captain 
Egerton, flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, 
anchored to the south of Shangani Point, a promontory 
which makes an entering angle into the harbour, and from 
which the coast falls away to the north-east towards the 
Palace and Mtoni and to the south-east towards Mbweni. 
The British Agency stands on this commanding site. The 
Philomel occupied a position between the Racoon and the 
5/. George ; and between the Philomel and 5/. George, and 
exposed to the stem gims of the latter, lay the Glasgow, 
sole surviving ship of the Zanzibar navy. Merchant vessels 
were warned to seek safe berths, a warning disregarded by 
some of them till the shot of the Palace guns began to whistle 
about their rigging, when, with more haste than dignity 
(in the case of one British steamer, by the officers themselves 
heaving the anchor up, the crew having been scared below) 
they sought the shelter of Shangani Point. 

On shore the Palace square bristled with cannon, manned 
by slaves, while the galleries of the Palace were thronged 
with Arabs. Crowds of natives lined the flanking shores, 
with the idea apparently that they were to witness a sort 
of fireworks display. 

The Arabs themselves had no idea what was about to 
happen ; they never reckoned on their houses being brought 
tumbling about their ears ; the medicine men had foretold 
that the British guns would only discharge water, and at 
worst they anticipated that their fire would be confined to 
the wretched natives they had driven to the guns. 

At five minutes to nine Admiral Rawson hoisted the 
signal to prepare for action ; two bells struck and then 
followed a breathless three minutes of suspense till the 
Palace clock struck the hour. 

A moment later the three bombarding ships discharged 




202 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

their batteries against the Palace guns. The Thrush opened 
the action, followed immediately by the Racoon and Sparrow. 
It is not necessary to describe the result in detail. In half- 
an-hour the Palace and clock tower were in flames, the 
middle palace was a ruin, the Arabs had fled, 500 dead and 
wounded lay in and about the square, and the Glasgow was 
at the bottom of the sea. 

The Admiral had given orders that the Glasgow was not 
to be fired on unless she herself assumed the aggressive ; 
but this she immediately did, and was only at length silenced 
by a six-inch from the 5/. George after repeated warning 
shots from the Philomel and Racoon. Nine of her crew were 
killed or drowned, the rest being brought to the St. George. 
Thirty-seven minutes after the bombardment had begun 
the red flag was hauled down from the Palace flagstaff and 
the " cease fire " sounded. But Khaled had escaped. 
Horrified at the ruin that fell around him, he left the Palace 
and made his way through the main street of the town. 
Here he was stopped by a guard of marines, who, not know- 
ing who he was, merely disarmed him and let him pass. 
A few yards brought him to the German Consulate, 
which he entered. As soon as the preliminaries could be 
arranged Seyyid Hamoud bin Mahommed bin Said was 
conducted into the Custom House and proclaimed Sultan 
of Zanzibar amidst the salute of the ships. 

Our casualties were mostly trifling, but one was serious, 
a bluejacket from the Thrush having been so severely 
wounded in the thigh that he subsequently died. The 
Thrush was hit over a hundred times, the Philomel only 
twice. The Italian man-of-war VuUurno was in harbour, 
and having declined the invitation to shift her moorings she 
received a shot into her companion which caused her to 
slip her cable and steam round behind Shangani Point. 

A few houses in the town were struck by stray shots, but 
no serious damage was done. The wrecked Palace was the 
scene of much curiosity and interest. " To describe the 



RESULTS OF BOMBARDMENT. 203 

interior is impossible. To produce a similar effect take 
chairs, tables, cabinets, clocks, vases, bookcases, an or- 
chestra, an armoury, a manuscript library, a wardrobe, 
an instrument maker's, an electrician's, and an optician's 
store ; lamp and perfume sellers' shops ; spread the floor 
with choicest carpets ; add all scraps of royal insignia 
procurable ; put dynamite here and there, explode ad lib. 
and there you have it." ♦ The Rev. J. P. Farler, writing in 
" Central Africa," thus described the scene at the Palace : 
" It was an awful sight ; dead bodies lying everywhere, and 
such ruin and destruction ! The looters had been at work ; 
every drawer was opened and ransacked ; valuables were 
lying all over the floors of the different rooms. I saw 
natives carrying off silver and other valuables. Money and 
jewels had disappeared, and soon nothing would have been 
left if an officer and a guard had not arrived and cleared the 
palace." 

The Rev. K. Firminger, writing in the same paper, said : 
" After the ' cease fire,' leaving Mr. Lister to keep all our 
people within bounds, I set off to the Custom House to see 
what could be done for the wounded. Here I came in for 
two or three hours' work amidst a perfectly indescribable 
scene of horror — too terrible to strike one as a reality — more 
like the shambles than aught else. After a time the influx 
of wounded stopped, and hearing that our own hospital 
was full, I sent Mr. Prior off to assist and went up myself 
a bit later. There proved to be some interesting cases, and 
some especially sad ones. The captain of the usurper's 
guns, a Persian, was hopelessly wounded. Among the 
sad cases that turned up was a small boy, shot through 
the arm close to the shoulders. This boy was found in 
the street by Mr. Lister and brought in. Saddest of all 
was a mother and her baby boy, the bullet having passed 
through both legs of the latter into the mother's breast. 
This was not due to our people, but was the outcome of the 

* TAe GautU ^or Zanzibar and East AfrUa, 



204 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

recklessness of the rebel soldiers, who did as much damage 
as they could in their headlong flight through the streets 
when the Palace was destroyed." 

The wounded, under the direction of Dr. G. A. MacDonald, 
were sent to the hospital of the Universities' Mission at 
Mkunazini, where they were received by the matron. Miss 
Brewerton, and Messrs. Faulkner and Saunderson, two lay 
members of the Mission, who had remained at Mkimazini 
during the bombardment with a native guard to di^fikpK^ the ■ 
Cathedral and Church house. Others were seat ta'^tlie 
Military Hospital, whither P^re Lutz and Father Smith, 
of the French Mission, had repaired to render what aid they 
could ; and others again to Madame Chevali(ir^4nd Sisters 
of the French Hospital. 

The steps of the German Consulate give on to the beach, 
so Seyyid Khaled was able to get on board the German 
warship Secadler without exposing himself to arrest. He 
was taken to Dar-es-Salaam and provided for by the Ad- 
ministration there. 

He is there still. 

It is idle to speculate upon what would have happened 
had the forces of disorder prevailed, but from one incident 
which occurred we may conclude that, if from any accident, 
such, for example, as the absence of warships, the state of 
anarchy had been prolonged, European residents would 
have been exposed to grave danger. Mr. Last, of the 
Zanzibar Government service, was at Chwaka, a village on 
the east coast of the island, when the rebellion broke out, 
and knew nothing of what was taking place. When the 
bombardment was over the chief of the village, who had 
witnessed in town the ruin of the rebel cause, made ofi to 
Chwaka with his armed followers, resolved that one Euro- 
pean should suffer. But Mr. Last had received news of 
what was afoot, and had succeeded in joining his wife on 
the St, George some hours before the bombardment began. 

Although the bombardment cannot be regarded as the 



DEATH OF MATHEWS. 205 

direct outcome of England's attitude towards the slave 
trade, it proved a salutary prelude to the Decree abolishing 
the legal status of slavery ; for the brief exhibition of power 
had the ejHect of clearing from the minds of the Arabs all 
doubt as to Great Britain's ability to compel its acceptance. 
No people are more loyal in defeat than the Arabs of Zan- 
zibar, and their mutual relations having been determined 
both victors and vanquished settled down to work out the 
application of the Decree in as practical a way as they could. 

Seyyid Hamoud reigned peacefully, prosperously, and in 
sympathy with the British policy respecting slavery. 
It was in his time that the Decree for the abolition of the 
legal status of slavery was issued, and so loyally did he 
co-operate with the British in carrying out the provisions 
of this Decree, that Queen Victoria marked her appreciation 
of his efforts by conferring on him the Grand Cross of the 
Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. 

Zanzibar, delivered from strife and slavery, was now 
about to lose the hand which, through many anxious years, 
had controlled her destinies. 

After suffering from a prolonged attack of fever. Sir 
Lloyd Mathews, in February, 1900, went home to England 
for rest, returning to Zanzibar in November of the same 
year. The change, though it did him good, was of too short 
a duration to restore him to a normal condition of health. 
In October, 1901, he fell ill again, and on the nth of that 
month died. I can convey no idea of the shock to the 
island the news of his death caused. His personality per- 
vaded the remotest hamlets ; not only wealthy Arabs but 
little children looked upon him as a personal friend and 
protector. Ragged urchins would waylay him in the 
street with their tales of woe, but he would never turn them 
away. Often after hearing their story he would take them 
to his house and give them food and clothing. On Christ- 
mas Eve he gave himself up to what was probably the 
happiest task of the year, arranging presents for the chil- 



2o6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

dren. Every European child in Zanzibar received a present 
from him on Christmas Day. During the Boer war trans- 
ports occasionally called at Zanzibar on their way from 
India. In one instance the troops were paraded on shore, 
marched to the golf ground and given liberty. They became 
thirsty and besieged the water-butts. Observing this, 
and knowing the injurious effects that often result from 
drinking water in Zanzibar, some residents, who were 
playing golf, began to get up a subscription to provide the 
troops with lager beer and lemonade, but before anything 
could be done word came that the General, as Sir Lloyd was 
usually called, had sent beer and lemonade on board the 
ship to suffice for all when they returned. Plutarch has 
told us that the secret of Caesar's power over his legions 
was his liberedity towards them : the secret of the General's 
hold over the people of Zanzibar was his liberality and 
kindheartedness. No more liberal-handed man ever lived 
than Lloyd Mathews. But though he was loved, he was 
feared. No Arab dared to oppose his wishes ; no native 
would rebel against his decision. During long residence in 
the country, being a man of great shrewdness, he had 
learned the arts and turns of African methods, and when 
once set upon his track, no man could escape him. He was 
personally acquainted with all the important Arab families, 
and knew the records of most of the village chiefs. 

Men of strong personality have often marked failings, 
and Sir Lloyd Mathews was no exception to this rule. As 
might have been expected, he was too generous to be a 
good financier, and in some respects he was not a good 
administrator. One of the rules of life for a European in 
Zanzibar should be — never do yourself what you can get 
someone else to do for you. This sounds like a perversion 
of the good old maxim : If you want a thing done properly, 
do it yourself ; but in a climate like that of Zanzibar a 
European should reserve his strength for things that he 
alone can do. He will probably find that as much as he 







8. 



C 

s 



DEATH OF HAMOUD. ao; 

can manage. Sir Lloyd Mathews tried to do everything 
himself. Surrounded in his early years by corruption 
and chaos, he discovered he could trust nobody, and he 
trained himself to see to the smallest detail. To these 
careful habits he owed, in no small measure, his success, 
but he never perceived that the newly-organised adminis- 
tration, which he himself had helped to establish, demanded 
from him considerable delegation of power. So he sank 
at last, literally fighting to the end with the cares of govern- 
ment which overwhelmed him. Sir Lloyd was a Welsh- 
man, bom at Madeira in 1850. He entered the Navy in 
1864, and served in the Ashantee war of 1873-4. He was 
made a C.M.G. on May 24, ^889 ; a K.C.M.G. on March j, 
1894 ; and he was the reci^^ent of many foreign decorations. 
He was buried with fulJ^naval and military honours in the 
English Cemetery, ]i»t outside the town of Zanzibar, 
Mr. A. S. Rogers, Sui>^mmissipner of the British East 
Africa Protectorate, and Resident at Witu was, in January, 
1902, appointed in his place. First Minister of the Zanzibar 
Government. 

On July 18, 1902, scarcely a year after the death of Sir 
Lloyd Mathews, his friend and master, Seyyid Hamoud 
died also. Seyyid Hamoud was a wise ruler, who under- 
stood the attitude which circumstances required him to 
adopt towards the Protecting Power. Under him, for the 
first time in their history, no shadow of rebeUion or strife 
fell across the lives of the people of Zanzibar. He was 
fond of Europeans, especially of the English, and took a 
delight in entertaining his officials and in having them near 
him. He inherited all the grace of manner and dignity 
of bearing that has never failed to impress strangers at the 
Zanzibar court, and, what is perhaps the chiefest indication 
of good breeding, he possessed the art of making his guests 
feel at home. He was a large man, very stout, and at his 
death was about fifty-four years of age. 

Seyyid Hamoud was succeeded by his son, Seyyid Ali, 



209 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

MISSIONS. 

The Christian missionaries working in Zanzibar represent 
the Universities' Mission, the Mission of the Holy Ghost, 
and the Society of Friends. A pioneer in their work 
was Dr. Krapf, who, with his wif 6,, -arrived in the island 
in January, 1844, havliig been coifipelled, after six years 
• of eflort, to abandon his labours in Abyssinia. He, how- 
ever, only remained in Zanzibar till March of the same 
year, having selected Mombasa as his field of labour where, 
in June, 1846, he was joined by his famous colleague, 
Rebman. 

The next missionary who appeared in Zanzibar was 
Livingston, whose name — the greatest name connected 
with Africa — is indissolubly associated with the island. 
Though Zanzibar was the scene of few of his activities, 
he was virtually the founder of the Universities' Mission. 
The house where he dwelt still stands conspicuous before 
the traveller entering the harbour. It is not in the com- 
paratively clean European quarter, but in the slums of 
Melindi, where Livingston might have been expected to 
choose his dwelling ; a square white house, towering above 
its neighbours as Livingston towered above his contem- 
poraries. 

Bishop Tozer and Dr. Steere, the first representatives 
of the Universities' Mission, arrived in Zanzibar on August 

14 



2IO ZANZIBAR !N CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

31, 1864. The Bishop was received by the British Consul, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair, and took up his quarters in a 
house that is now the British Consulate, " quite next to the 
Sultan's in appearance, and certainly superior in situation." 
I once heard a traveller, in comparing 2Janzibar with Mom- 
basa, say : " Zanzibar is the East ; Mombasa is not the 
East " — and so as regards Zanzibar, Bishop Tozer found 
it — " you scarcely observe the crowd of huts which cover 
the surface like bees in front of a hive at swarming time, 
for all along the shore is a fringe of tall, and for the most 
part stately, flat-roofed houses, as Eastern as possible." 

From the first the Mission has carried on its work in 
loyal co-operation with the constituted authorities and, 
no doubt for this reason, has enjoyed an immunity from 
local criticism probably enjoyed by missions in few countries. 
Its representatives witnessed the cruelties of the slave 
traffic, were grieved at the vexatious delay in its suppression, 
and yet restrained themselves in times when public opinion 
ran high. Nor is it less creditable to the Administration 
that through forty years of difficulty and anxiety they 
proved themselves worthy of the confidence and co-operation 
of these missionaries. 

In January, 1871, St. Andrew's College, Kiungani, was 
founded. TTiis is a school for the training of native 
teachers and clergy. It is situated about two miles out 
of the town, to the south, and contains from 80 to 100 
pupils drawn from the preparatory school at Kilimani 
and from the schools of the mainland. The boys within 
the walls of Kiungani constitute the hope of the Universities' 
Mission. 

The methods upon which the Universities' Mission works 
differ from those ordinarily followed by foreign missions. 
It may, I think, with truth be said that the aims are 
different, for whereas in the case of most missions the 
direct aim is to make converts to Christianity, to teach 
the people, and to train the children to useful crafts, that 



MISSION BOYS. 211 

of the Universities' Mission is to found an African Church, 
whose work shall ultimately be carried on by a native 
Ministry. This involves the selection from the field in 
which they labour of the brightest and most promising 
youths and the devotion of the best energies of the Mission 
to the training of those youths. What I may term the 
ordinary educational and industrial side of mission work, 
is regarded as of secondary importance, and its interests, 
when they clash with those of the higher training, are 
made to give way before it. 

It must be remembered that the Universities' Mission 
works in Equatorial and Tropical Africa ; in climates 
where, for the most part, Europeans can never make for 
themselves permanent homes. In such countries the powers 
of Europeans are limited and they themselves will always 
be foreigners. 

It should perhaps be mentioned that, in 1892, it was 
decided that Nyasaland should have its own Bishopric, 
and on December 21, of that year, the Rev. W. B. Hornby 
was consecrated first Bishop of Nyasaland. At the same 
time the Bishop of the Mission, who, since the first arrival 
of Bishop Tozer, had resided at Zanzibar, assumed the 
title of Bishop of Zanzibar. 

The boys of Kiungani who do not seem fitted for the 
work of a teacher or for the Ministry, in time leave the 
Mission and seek employment in the town. They under- 
stand a little EngUsh, and act as interpreters to newly- 
arrived Europeans, or as office boys or perhaps jimior 
clerks, but when at length the elHect of the school discipline 
wears olH, they frequently develop habits of drink and 
become quite useless to serve in any capacity. The result 
is that mission boys as a class have, in Zanzibar, a bad 
name ; that many residents of experience will not employ 
them ; and, what is far more serious, that the reputation 
of mission work itself is prejudiced. It is true that people 
not connected with the Mission come in contact as a rule 

14» 



212 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

only with the failures ; that every institution must have 
failures, and that the work of the Mission must be judged, 
not by its failures, but by its successes ; but it is equally 
true that people are accustomed to form impressions from 
what they see. It is certainly a fact, too, that a know- 
ledge of English is often detrimental to a native. If he 
have brains and perseverance he can, of course, turn thaft 
knowledge to good account and procure advancement. Boys 
with these qualities, however, rarely leave the Mission. 
Natives who can speak a little English too frequently 
gravitate to the town beach and to the ships, where they 
meet with the roughest element that the human race can 
produce. 

In addition to the school at Kiungani, the Universities* 
Mission in Zanzibar supports a Theological College at 
Mazazini, a children's school for the last 25 years imder 
Miss Mills, at Kilimani, a girls' school at Mbweni, an Indian 
school and special town Mission at St. Monica's, a printing 
office at Mkunazini, and a hospital at Mkunazini. The 
principal residence of the Bishop, now Dr. Hine, is at 
Mkunazini. The girls' school at Mbweni was for many 
years presided over by Miss Thackeray, now one of the 
oldest residents in the island. The hospital is staffed 
by trained English nurses, and, since the year 1892, has 
been under the direction of Miss Brewerton, a nurse who 
has the reputation of being one of the best that ever went 
to Africa. Stations and schools are maintained in Pemba, 
and in the Rovuma district and Bondei country, German 
East Africa. It is in this territory that the principal 
work of the Mission is performed. The station at Weti, 
Pemba, founded by Bishop Richardson, was opened by 
Canon Sir John Key and Lady Key in 1897. 

In describing mission work in Zanzibar the question 
not unnaturally arises : — ^What progress has Christianity 
made against Mohammedanism ? The answer is that in 
Zanzibar Christianity has made little progress against 




The British Agency, Zanzibar. 




Livingston's house, Zanzibar. 



^TolouctV^S^'*'^'** 



THE BLACK FATHERS. 5.5 

MnhamrnfrtanTsm : peiha^ it may even be said none 
wbsasvci. The MahaTnmcdaii rdigian has iis rciats deep 
domn in the people ; its fatalKtir docxrmes are pecnharix* 
ad^iced to their habits of thon^i and of hie : its iea^Oii^ 
and iasiiiig-^ ^ipeal H) their ematiaDal character. £\*eary 
edocaied Arab k in a aense a priest of Islam ; a daihr 
ffxpnuifgiT of the ffirmalrrifs of his reii^osn. The A^enr 
iangnage of the c umilii breadies Islam, fiat perhaps 
mare than to ainrthiiig dae the rei^ian of ^ePrc^ihet cvwes 
its poniFer to &£ tart that it pennits ite devotees a phnahty 
of wiveb and as manr ccmmhrnes as ther can siq:9Kirt. 
It s easier to overcome 5iq>erstitioiis idolatiT than to 
persuade peopie, who woa^shq) the same God as yon do, 
that 3ram' way of wu i diipp ing Him is better than theirs; 
e^iedally wixsn yon are conqieOed to admit, as I think 
most students of Mahammedanisin wdold admit, that there 
K mndi about the letter and practice of their reUgion 
vhidi :k good. In refigions matters the people icSkm 
thp Arabs, and On i** iianitv can never prevail against 
Islam by ddrmishhig an the out^drts. It must diive at 
the heart of iL But to be able to do this it must be pro- 
vided with Arabar scholais, having a thonoog^ knoideclge 
ol the language and the Koran. 

The European members of the Universities^ Mission 
staff receive no pay, though a nominal allowance of twenty 
pounds a j'ear is made to them, if they diould require it. 
They go out to Africa in the true spirit of CJirist, who 
called tqxm His disciples to leave all and foDow Him. 
The records of the Mission are ridi in the names of men 
and women who have obeyed this calL It is a call to 
arduous labour, often to privation, sometimes to death. 

With equal loyalty to the Government, and for an even 
longer period than the English Mission, the Black Fathers 
have laboured in the idand. The Mission of the Holy 
Ghost, known locally as the French Mission, because its 
members are under the protection of the Fraich Consul, 



214 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

was founded by Dr. Amand Manponit, Bishop of St. 
Denis, Reunion, who sent his Vicar-General to Zanzibar 
in i860. The Rev. Father Horner was appointed Prefect- 
ApostoUc, and with him came the Rev. Father Etienne 
Baur, P^re Etienne, as he is popularly called, now the 
doyen of the European communities, a witness, after more 
than 40 years' experience, of the amenities of the climate. 
The first Bishop of the Mission, Dr. de Courmont, was 
appointed in 1883. The principal branch of the Mission, 
that at Bagamoyo, has grown into a large home where 
carpentering, blacksmithing, building, shoemaking, vanilla- 
growing and other industries are taught by experienced 
Europeans. The new Roman Catholic Cathedral at 
Zanzibar was built by the Mission, largely with its own 
trained labour. The essentially practical character of the 
French Mission is one of its most marked features. On 
behalf of, and in co-operation with, the Zanzibar Govern- 
ment, it undertakes the care of lepers ; and has control 
of a home for the sick and infirm at Walezo, about four miles 
from the town. Bishop Allgeyer, the present Bishop, 
established, in 1897, a station at Dongoni, near Chaki 
Chaki, Pemba, entrusting the founding of Roman Catholic 
missionary work in that island to the Rev. Father Smith. 

In the same year the Society of Friends estabhshed, 
under Mr. Theodore Burtt, a mission station at Chaki 
Chaki, Pemba, and subsequently another at Banani, where 
they maintain an industrial home. 



215 



'< CHAPTER XIX. 

THE PEOPLE. 

In a sketch of the people of Zanzibar and Pemba, the Arabs, 
as the conquerors and landowners of the country, claim 
attention first. After a century of luxury in these balmy 
spice islands, where the fruits of the earth can be raised with 
the minimum of effort, and where for generations slaves 
exerted this minimum, the Zanzibar Arabs have lost much 
of the vigorous temperament which distinguished their 
ancestors. The stoppage of the supply of slaves has 
affected them very much as a perpetual strike would affect 
the mine-owners of Staffordshire : it has left them almost 
without any resources. 

Nevertheless, though shaken by the ordeal through 
which they have passed, the Arabs of Zanzibar still possess 
most of the land, and carry on the clove-growing industry 
for which the two islands are far famed. They understand 
the natives, and the natives understand and like the Arabs, 
and accept their control more readily than that of any other 
race, except Europeans. It is, in many cases, easier to 
manage natives through an Arab than to treat with them 
directly, and plantations in Zanzibar can be more success- 
fully worked by employing Arabs in subordinate responsible 
positions than any other people, not excepting Europeans. 
Europeans could not for long endure the sun, and are not 
fitted for active over-seeing work in Zanzibar. Arabs 



2i6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

enjoy the heat and can live on the fruits of the soil ; to them 
travelling is no hardship or weariness. Indians always get 
ill in the shambas ; they are bad riders and walkers ; are 
often bullied and chaffed by the natives, in whom they 
seem to excite ridicule and contempt. Creoles drink, and 
never remain long in one place. The better-class natives 
make excellent overseers, but the best of them fall far short 
of the Arabs in intelligence. They have few wants and 
lack the stimulus of ambition, which can always be counted 
upon to keep an Arab up to a certain standard of efl&- 
ciency. 

Courteous and hospitable, Arabs exhibit the signs of 
national good breeding. There is no more hospitable people. 
An Arab will not only set before you the best he has, but it 
will be a delight to him to see you eat and drink in his 
house. No men that I have ever met have such good 
manners as the Arabs. Their walk is slow and extremely 
graceful, incessu patuit Dea ; and, I suppose, save in warfare, 
no man in Zanzibar has ever seen an Arab run. Once a 
year, on the King's birthday, the Sultan and his court caU 
on the British Consul-General. They drive up in carriages 
accompanied by mounted troopers carrying lances ; but at 
one time it was the custom for the procession to arrive on 
foot, and the spectacle has suffered by the change, as all 
the charm of slow and dignified carriage, of which the Arab 
is master, and which on this occasion was seen to the best 
advantage, is now lost. The Arab receives his friend by 
lightly touching his own forehead and breast, and extend- 
ing both hands ; then follows a mutual exchange of greet- 
ings of a formal character, in which much repetition is 
used, and much concern is expressed by each as to the 
other's health and future happiness, though no reference 
is made to the household at home, except among very inti- 
mate friends. The whole bearing and manner of the Arab 
is indicative of leisure and an extreme regard for his own 
heshima and that of his guest or host. This word heshima, 



THE ARABS, 217 

like many Arabic and Swahili words, cannot be literally 
rendered into English. It is usually translated as 
" honour " or " respect," but it means more than that. 
By our word honour we usually imply that such a man's 
honour is in his own keeping, but an Arab's heshima is in 
the keeping of his friends and fellow men. He values it 
above all else, for it belongs to his position, and it is in the 
observance of all the little courtesies which mark the appre- 
ciation of this fact, that the secret of successfully dealing 
with the Arab really lies. 

The same dignified bearing is maintained at meals. Food 
is placed on the floor on mats, and eaten in silence with the 
fingers of the right hand. Alcohol is forbidden by his reli- 
gion, and as a rule this veto is strictly observed ; an Arab 
is either an abstainer from drink or a drunkard in private. 
His food consists chiefly of curry and rice, supplemented 
with vegetables and fruit ; his drink is coffee and sherbet, 
and he loves all sweet things. 

The Arab's character is influenced to a great extent by 
his religion, which he accepts literally as a little child. His 
unquestioning belief in the Almighty power and will of 
Allah, and the sense of his own importance, has given him 
the great quality of patience. Knowing that all things 
come to him who can wait, he is never in a hurry ; he is 
learned in the Koran, and in the traditions of his own race ; 
but of ordinary educational subjects — history, geography, 
mathematics, or scientific subjects of any sort — he is com- 
pletely ignorant, and he is forbidden by the Koran to 
inquire too closely into such matters as being too high 
for him. Arabs calculate all distances by the time 
it takes to cover them, and their inabihty to understand 
a map or plan is as remarkable as it is at times in- 
convenient. 

But though they have many excellent qualities, and, 
in many respects, are an agreeable people to have to do 
with, Arabs, like all other sons of earth, have their failings. 



2i8 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Probably no European, with any extensive experience, ever 
thoroughly trusts an Arab, and, at the same time, it may be 
said that no Arab ever thoroughly trusts a European. Theif 
ideals being different, and their conduct of life being regu- 
lated by different standards and religions, complete confi- 
dence between the races, or even between individual 
members of them, is impossible. " It may be observed," 
wrote Captain Hamerton in 1855, " that there are no 
people in the world from whom it is so difficult to get 
information as from Arabs. They have a rehgious dislike 
to talk of the past, they care Uttle for the present, and for 
the future nothing at aU." 

I may perhaps best illustrate the intellectual position and 
the manner of life of the Arabs by a reference to an old 
Arab called Ali bin Mohammed, who Uved near me at 
Dunga. Sheikh AH was a doctor ; that is to say, he had a 
good knowledge of native drugs ; but he was shrewd enough 
to understand the value of the white man's medicine, and 
was always willing to give it a trial. He firmly believed in the 
efficacy of dieting, and prescribed a different menu for almost 
every ailment. He was a lawyer, a priest, and an indispen- 
sable agent in all local marriages and funerals. He was one 
of the few Arabs I have met who would discuss religious 
and metaphysical subjects, though most dogmatically, 
nor did I ever succeed in the smallest degree in shaking his 
convictions or altering his opinions. On one occasion I asked 
him how he explained the phenomenon of day and night. 
He said that the sun travelled across the heavens and was 
restored to its original position during the night by the 
Archangel Michael. It was true that the earth revolved 
on its axis, but only once a year, which accounted for the 
seasons. 

This sheikh lived in a large mud house, thatched with 
palm leaves. Such houses have a framework of rough- 
hewn mangrove wood, lashed together with coir rope ; 
no nails are ever used in the construction of these houses, 



SHEIKH ALL 219 

nor, it may be mentioned, in that of the locally-made 
dhows. It is wonderful what a tight job a native can make 
with his coir rope. The walls of Ali's- house were mud and 
coral rubble, stuccoed with mortar made of slaked lime, 
sand and red earth. 

The house was of the ordinary native type, but of a 
larger and more substantial build, and was raised on a 
plinth, three feet high. The compound at the back was 
enclosed by a stone wall, which concealed the women of 
the household, and permitted them to go about their 
domestic duties without fear of intrusion. At one comer 
of the court-yard stood the kitchen and under the eaves 
of the house an open stone tank, containing water green 
with slime, and full of the larvae of mosquitoes. Along the 
front of his house ran a stone bench or baraza, on which 
mats were spread for the accommodation of guests. One 
or two domestic slaves lived on the premises, all that 
remained of the host the sheikh at one time owned ; but 
whether this faithful remnant was a curse or a comfort to 
him is doubtful. Sheikh Ali was fond of Wazungu (white 
men), but the injustice he considered he had suffered in 
being deprived of his slaves rankled in his soul. He, like 
all his countrymen, looked upon himself as a member of 
the chosen people of God, and the black man as specially 
created to serve him in slavery. No argmnents had any 
effect on him whatever, and he for his part had but one 
argtunent for a recalcitrant slave, namely, a stick, which I 
have no doubt he used freely in days gone by. He com- 
plained bitterly of his helplessness in his old age, with no 
slaves to pick his cloves, or to weed his garden. The few 
that remained robbed him of his cocoanuts, and compelled 
him to keep every room in his house padlocked against 
them, and threatened him with " dismissal " ; that is to 
say, with procuring their own freedom, if he became too 
rebelUous. Sheikh Ali was very devout and said his prayers 
in his front porch, so that all men could behold him. If you 



220 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

happened to arrive at his house in the midst of his -devo- 
tions he would take not the slightest notice of you till 
they were completed, nor abate one sentence from their 
length, but his welcome was no less warm afterwards. He 
would bring out his best and newest mats for you to sit 
upon and compel you to eat or drink something, were it but 
a draught of cocoanut milk. But he would never invite 
you into his house or courtyard unless you were on very 
intimate terms with him. His family consisted of a son, 
a smart lad, who, in contrast with his father, could neither 
read nor write, as he declined to go to school ; and a 
daughter, who had made an unfortunate marriage, and 
was often forced to seek the protection of her father's house. 
He himself had married one of the concubines of the late 
Mwenyi Mkuu, but he informed me one day that he was 
about to marry again, which for a man over seventy was a 
courageous undertaking, especially as the bride was but 
fourteen years old. 

In the treatment of dumb animals the Arab of Zanzibar 
is ahead of the people of this country. In place of bit and 
bridle he uses for his donkey a richly-adorned head-stall. 
The donkeys' mouths are, therefore, never tortured in the 
way horses' mouths are in this country. For a saddle he 
uses a set of brightly-coloured padded cloths raised in front 
to form a grip for the knees, but with no stirrups. He rides 
on the hind-quarters of his donkey, which he sends along 
at a rapid amble. The large white Muscat donkey of 
Zanzibar is of as much value as a horse, and will command 
600 rupees, but the brown jivu jivu donkey, which is only 
used to carrj' loads, can be purchased for thirty or forty 
rupees. 

The Arab's patience and powers of self-denial are illus- 
trated by his endurance of the fast of Ramathan. Though 
not so important, from a religious point of view, as the 
festival of El Haji which occurs two months and ten days 
later, in Zanzibar, which sends but few pilgrims to Mecca 




Swahili girls. 




Boy drinking. 



[To/ac^ ^ogs 111^ 



FAST OF RAMATHAN. 221 

at the El Haji, the Ramathan exercises a greater influence 
over the people, who count their months from its termina- 
tion. Thus the Arab month of Shawal is called Mfunguo 
wa most, meaning the first from having left off fasting, the 
second Mfunguo wa pili, and so on. The Arabs keep 
strictly to the letter of the law and abstain from eating or 
drinking between the hours of 4 a.m. and sunset. Sick 
people are allowed to take sustenance, as well as those on 
a really laborious journey, though not on a mere ride of 
five or six hours. In the night time they gorge themselves 
to repletion, with the result that on the whole they get 
through far more food in the month of Ramathan than in 
ordinary times. Consequently, on the approach of the 
fast, servants and employees will come and demand a 
gratuity or advance to meet the extra consumption of food, 
the enhanced price of all market ofpdiice, and the open 
hospitality expected of them. ^Natives endeavour to 
follow the Arabs in their custom^-^ot so much from reli- 
gious convictions as from the hesJiima thus acquired ; and 
as the natives are the labouring classes, serious interrup- 
tion in all work and business is^the result. But many 
natives, though they will begin the month with fasting, 
very soon drop it, while others, the majority, make no 
pretence of fasting at all. The month closes with the 
appearance of the new moon, which must be seen, unless 
the weather is very unfavourable, in which case, after a 
second unsuccessful attempt to detect the crescent, it is 
taken as having been seen, and the termination of the fast 
proclaimed. This ceremony takes place in the square in 
front of the Sultan's palace where all the troops are mustered 
with a battery of two guns and a company of rifles to fire a 
feu de joie. The signal is given by the Sultan from the 
palace ; but if, after a period of watching, the new moon 
cannot be seen, the troops are marched back to the bar- 
racks and the attempt to see the moon renewed the following 
day. The prospect of another day's fast must be a disap- 



:xa. z/Li^Writ IF nom^mp'ot^^iirz r: 



iipffigffMfifii^ x nriiisr naHi**- anf minsir 



^"TfF ^^£E1 



Tut vfik vL iiut JfaimiaH- jTOmsniTiL wscz xinr the 
Tiiiiiip -^teiflK* ranassE ac f *»]n*— P^ nM ^i w ^ ^^ n: bL 'nif: "'iV *^^ of 
£ist A±3:2^ mm iimi^g gc mix ht J't'grn- *OTTf!TT: Ibe 
ifiae ^KPSL 11/ "^xft TTirytf piniiiiHiiziL s ^fsiKzii^ or, 
HHCEe -msilh'. TwsmiL. z i^nr iiriiwnr laec n* osaccs the 
^<«iif tdBiss iruiL SmTBitfiHTif H' TKrwgrmhigii* ^s£2dL~ in 
AsSkbK^ mramnr ^:sfiifii. ^iniing "nif: «ry gn-y*<.rv ot the 

railifi mpsR; rehigeaes iraic ^3i£ ufaOL&axoiicid or tbe Per- 
Oiftf, ircm Sdxac •an der odst ssk £id Oz2s=i <xi tbe 
^iCtifir. BflrtOD speals cd rmrjiy^ tnr I^essBs^s as wcD 
M hf Asals; Dr. Badg^ar btfci ' id ^die coEiqaeras to 
be Amlfft^ vtio, tovznfa tze fsd €6 tbe anrecth centmy, 
famm; rebeAed a^azost HosieiB tTTcmnr. vcre ranqoisfaed 
^md Hed to ^ tbe had oi the Zaxij.^ Tbe oairatire of this 
0^^mi br. Bodgtr regarded as "^tbe most rdiafale record 
w^ pr/«M:«i erf the fiist inmugratioo of tbe Omani Arabs 
t// tf*e ^M* coast of Africa.** These Arabs urere caOed the 
KfiK/ftaid» (Amimi Sa'id), the Peoj^ of Said, and were so 
nammi iumi an Omani ruler, fnxn whom their leader was 
diW/milnfL The Emosaids became the noUes and rulers 
//f till; Swahili^ while in Zanzibar the great majority of this 
lpc49ifUi were either descendants of the ancient possessors of 
till) inland tft were of servile origin. 

Tritml distinctions tend to disappear in the ordinary 
Ifitrirroiirsi! of Zanzibar life and, except in official documents, 
or Un purpoNifs of identification, the native classes are spoken 
ol UN Swiilillls, just as the English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, are 



SWAHILI PORTERS. 223 

often described as English. Socially and politically the 
Swahilis of Zanzibar may be conveniently divided into 
the porter class, which frequents the town and performs 
coolie labour, and the shamba people who live in the plan- 
tations and are the slaves or freed slaves of Arabs. Tra- 
vellers and visitors seldom come in contact with the latter, 
their experience being limited to the " bo}^ " who hang 
about the beach, for the most part wasters. 

The character of the Waswahili has been the subject of 
much criticism by travellers. Burton,* speaking of the 
real Swahili, foimd that " from the Arab they derived 
shrewd thinking and practice in concealing thought ; they 
will welcome a man with the determination to murder 
him ; they have unusual confidence, self-esteem and com- 
placency ; fondness for praise, honours and distinctions ; 
keenness, together with short-sightedness, in matters of 
business, and a nameless horror of responsibility and 
regular occupation .... their African languor upon 
doctrinal points prevents their becoming fanatics or prosely- 
tizers. African, also, is their eternal restless suspicion, 
the wisdom of serf and slave compensating for their sluggish 
imagination and small powers of concentration. They excel 
in negro duplicity .... honesty and candour are 
ignored even by name. When they assert, they probably 
lie ; when they swear, they certainly lie." 

Professor Drummondf wrote : " In Zanzibar these black 
villains, the porters, the necessity and despair of travellers, 
the scum of old slave gangs and fugitives from justice from 
every tribe, congregate for hire, and if there is one thing 
on which African travellers are for once agreed, it is that 
for laziness, ugliness, stupidity and wickedness these men 
are not to be matched on any continent in the world." 
Sir F. LugardJ in quoting this description of the Zanzibari 
by Drummond, after stating that it is fairly applicable to 

• "Zanzibar." t "Tropical Africa." 

t " Rise and Fall of our East African Empire.*' 



234 ZAJSFZTBA R £2^ CQNTRMJPGSABIT TIMES. 

many incfividualsv PFtrmfrte : '' I know of no sncfe laiw 
rnatRTTaJ in the worid; voa can mould, them as voa 

Some philanthropic people cegari the nati^Te as 2 cnaii 
and a brother ; atiiera^ laok upon. Hfm as IH-Hi* better tiiaii 
aiL animal and treat him accorrfing^, but the majority of 
Emropeans who go to East AJrfna take xaa&ex: of tiiese 
extreme views^ It is pfain that the Atrfran, inteQJecticdljr, 
morallsr and phyacafly^ is not tie equal of the Emropean. 
like a Waterbury watch, the Swahifi: of Zanafbar requires 
much wmrSngHipy and wiH mat go for any length of tmie. 
% is a great r:hTld, posBessiag many qualities of the Arab 
by whom he has beeai trained. There is no better house- 
servant than a boy who has been a ^ve. He has kamt 
obpffifftirey sSemx; bow to wait upon his master, how to 
receive and announce v i a i fei jc s ; to keep hnnsetf dean, and 
to be loyaL The Swahih never betrays himself into dis- 
respect towards his bacma fmaster)^ nor into talking of his 
bwana's affairs to strangers^ but^ hke a faithful dog, he will 
not alwajrs show respect towards otherSw To him his 
master is everything^ and so long as he feds that he has 
his master's good opinion, the opinion of other men is of 
little moment ; but it is weD known that an ordinary 
native possesses no gratitude. Xo matter what services 
may be rendered him they are all taken as a matter of 
course and speedily forgotten. 

I think it may be laid down that most natives are by 
nature thieves and liars. If, after long training, a native 
seem to have acquired honest habits, the explanation is 
that he has learned that, with Europeans, dishonesty does 
not succeed. The propensity of the natives to falsehood 
makes it difficult to deal with them, and sometimes renders 
the detection of crime almost impossible. But such faults 
are misfortunes resulting from the oppression of which 
for centuries the Swahili were the victims. Men who have 
themselves been stolen, who have had no means of redress 



MEDICINE . MEN. 225 

for their wrongs except deception, cannot be expected to 
observe the precepts of a high standard of ethics, or to 
transmit to their successors a clear perception of distinc- 
tions between right and wrong. 

In any statement he makes a Swahili has always some 
undisclosed motive, some ulterior object, which perverts 
the truth, even if it be only the wish to gratify his interro- 
gator. If, on a journey, he is questioned as to the distance 
of the destination, he will reply, " karibu " — it is near — 
and this he will repeat more and more emphatically, with 
kindly purpose, till the discouraged questioner carefully 
cross-examines him and finds that he has still half the road 
to travel. If a native has to give evidence in a court of 
justice, he will find the doors blockaded by door-keepers, 
messengers, and other trusty persons desirous of showing 
their interest in the case, and, even as the leopard cannot 
change his spots, so the Swahili cannot overcome his love 
of fingering a bribe. 

In most cases of theft, especially in serious cases, the 
thieves are known to the people of the locality who can never 
be induced by our direct methods of investigation to give 
information against one another. Yet the thieves can be 
discovered by those who know how to proceed. Among 
the Swahili the denouncer of thieves is the medicine man, 
who, if he cannot always expose the culprit, will often at 
least indicate where the lost property has been concealed. 
These medicine men have a great hold on the superstitious 
people, and have secret agents who keep them informed 
of what takes place. Faith in medicine men is probably 
not entirely superstitious nor to be altogether despised. 

A few years ago some men broke into my house at night 
and carried off my despatch-box, in which there were 
several articles of value, and, after much fruitless search 
had been made by detectives and police, I called in the 
local sheikh and requested him to make medicine and to 
inform me who the thieves were. There are numerous 

IS 




.2^ 2A!:znjAi 77 rD7::rz:i7?Tariir! —rmrr^ 
wiiy: r i;»iua tni: i* nant «amf o: ^nuci 

ir jfltyyu* mxjji ^iion BsiEDiciai ochul 

^. iiivjrjum- oa** i- i<r twr mn. -u et iiciscl 
smaustxi auf nziotitr: .axxL tc hcul loir -^rirjf^ jz. 
Uf/Tiz.cnnali*. ixmr. tt :TOnn ^La.3 -ssasaesn £ 

iiif lir/nn £ ussuf Tsmta. n^ iit ^m^igr. anc tx* i 
nmif fi: Cf k#l odwx inmr. nmsst r it^ smoic ia lmiU ; 
lu; nnif^fsi:^ Tie surssr are Miiiifi^^ffr tl 
iiprLn auL r 'tus^ ^sumiii: iri-^ifTM^ juwa i fe mifl 
am it im simHm ift & asnnmcsst. ar litt iiiigf. 

Tu^ ifrja! midia tnuc: m im iiusmiiL nzmcr n ' 

'ts*^. flirtxuf njniL i. TT»r hl Im |rnnm£ Tarmc 4k: 

ctifC rutiz^c timflittl: il hull in., fumniii^ Js 

Tiiim*nnF Tcin^erE. Tiit In^BiHiidsrE. to« 

xu iii:^ iiirail«XE, aiifi -wii^ -wert bL greKTTr 

tiit KikamirtT tc tin: ur&sil idmrn 11 ^ iniasq?nDfc. 

xufiinnn^ iivt isi smii^ or Tftfr. 1^ instnimBic cd 

ijyL' -v'iii tv ^ i: trjnr. wjHiinn ^bymaH "Hsiinstt^. SDd i>rvjiiAiwiJM| 

m/tL tii*: jie^jfjfe it flit no^iiDiciiDDd. ftimigi'i mat 

^/j9ii^^jA tt) icoT "wsT -wnfb lilt bDxae: it -mtecii fee ; 

ix^'d vo^^uTT*^ Wldk- 'fiiH bcT iTzts- famig scmg^l ior, tiie 

vi^riikij '»^^jtd inixmsH. drrested Ti-rrwrih' si iss UmiIm 

^lUjlAtA;, r'yW: Vtf^JBH ts ixxi. Slid IbfiCitZi £0 go iluxiQg^ tfae 

I'^ixj 'A naA-4sBy parzyts^. ppc^sisiimg: ^TFrr^fii at intervals 
t//Mf:4Af4^ tte KMh^ Fresenllv 21 bey vas prodooed, and 
i\0: W^kti pr<o*Cjei6ded to waA him, aaid to dothe him in 
Vwh ]/fyhf/^ (A oeir caHoo, one for bis loins and the other 
U$ my^JUff0: Im bead and shoalders, leaving only the face 
*^»fMf%^, Ht pia/ued him on a lovr stod before him, and 
HiliHiu WHuti^ his right hand and arm. Meanwhile he had 

* Tim *Kf«4 tttfim id M^hawediin, in the Gfctt MoHioe at Mecca, bsih 
'/y«ri f U r»i#«cNfM«% a/^Mf, l/mardi which all MofaamoMdam faioe when at pnyer. 





The Mnazi Mmoja at Sikukun. 



'■mi 







War drums. 



[jTo fact "1^8^ "rjSi. 




I 



DETECTION OF CRIME. 227 

called for fire to be placed at his side, and for incense to be 
dropped therein. He then took pen and ink and wrote 
upon the boy's hand, beginning upon the fingers, down the 
palm and across the wrist, then inked in the lines. This 
operation took some time, but when it was completed to 
his satisfaction the Sheikh covered up the boy with the 
caUco, and resumed his prayers. After a few minutes he 
asked the boy if he could see anybody in his hand and the 
boy replied yes, he saw a man. Instructions were then 
given by the Sheikh to the boy to be conveyed to the man 
in his hand, the Sheikh pausing now and again to inquire 
if his instructions were being carried out. " Tell him to 
pitch a tent, to sweep up, to carry water, to set a chair 
ready for the chief ; now call the chief and his guard, tell 
the man to kill a goat and cook it for the chief, and now 
tell the chief to wash his hands, .to eat, and to drink some 
coffee, and give him my salaams and ask him to produce the 
thieves." The boy then said that the chief in his hand had 
produced the figures of my cook and his wife. The cook 
was a Goanese and a Christian, of whom I had entertained 
not the slightest suspicion, but the sequel proved that he 
was without a doubt the culprit 

A European always feels, when listening to an account 
of any affair, that only part of the story is being told to 
him, and probably the least important part ; he knows that 
the native never at first betrays the real motive with which 
he has come ; that however disinterested his story may 
appear, he has an axe of his own to grind, and, in all pro- 
bability, somebody else's cabbage plot to spoil. There is 
an Arabic word, fitina, imtranslatable into literal English, 
because the English people have not yet felt the want of 
such a word, though the word " intrigue " comes nearest to it. 
But with a native, the power of being able to make things 
uncomfortable for a troublesome friend, without telling 
clumsy falsehoods about him, is a valuable quality always 
to be reckoned with. A native seldom gives a direct answer 

15* 



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*.,. pr'/f/s-br, tik/: : iTjC ir:*T rr.tr}- ^t-ILlI Li5 :«rrC irTiZ.^i 

,f-/^ wrx^ i>. v> •r-^ proer>:S5 i.* 15 =jJci-£. itierBrise the 

/•. fr,'At ^T.r*:ljsiA^. '',T*^X''i7':. th^r SwarSi i:^:: ne\-er be 
ff-'^tf/l to <>Jirry ti.T^/^M^:^ f:ven the sin:p4€:st r:~tine duties. 
U<: j^ hk'r a hrok^j re^. and for ever warns propping. 
L:tttf/^/iHi(f: i\ oft/rri riuxT'^ifAmhXi*'. ci a people, and Swaiili 
j% liO t'.xt t:\A\hu to thi-- nile. One of the most valuable and 
U*t^\i4'ux\y livrd wr>rds in the Swahili vocabuIar\- is the word 
hado, A native wll never cx^nfess that he has iailed to per- 
\titui a |/;irtiMjlar duty, only thiat he has put it o£t. or rather 
I hat h^; hsis not yet completed it, but is going to do so after 
fh<' !a{/v: of an insignificant period of time. Hence his 
f;ivoiirite fiJirki— " not yet," or, as it is generally qualified, 
*• l;jido kid//go •• (kidogrj — little). Sijui is another of his 
w<'ll-iiM:d words ; it means, " I know not," and it is on his 
li|/n in n.*ply to every question that may involve either 
liini»i<;il or his fellows in rebuke of punishment. Siwezi is 



HABITS AND LANGUAGE. 229 

another. This means, " I am not well," but also, " I can- 
not." An English youth's ambition is to be able to do 
anything, and he often deludes himself into the belief that 
he can do everything, but a Swahili will reply : " Bwana, 
I cannot ; I am but a slave, a poor weak man. Look for 
some other man to do this work ; do not give it to me, 
siwezi." The word Shauri signifies discussion. Nothing 
can ever be done without first having a shauri about it — 
the longer the better — and no man is more eloquent in 
pleading his cause, or in elaborating a statement from his 
own point of view than the Swahili. Shauri also means 
advice, and it is used as we used the word business in the 
expression : " It is not my business " — " Si shauri yangu." 
The native is plausible in the extreme, and no matter what 
scrape he may get into he will be provided with profuse 
excuses and explanations backed with a reassuring smile. 
His use of the word jamboy or, as it is sometimes used, 
si jambo — " I am well " — is very characteristic of his nature, 
which is extremely optimistic and fatalistic. He may be 
in great suffering, yet, in answer to an enquiry, he will 
always begin with " Si jambo " — " I am well," or, " It is 
well with me " — and then go on to describe his complaint. 
His social life is governed by Dasturi — Custom, in the 
observance of which he is most conservative and strict, 
especially in all relating to his domestic arrangements, to 
the manner of eating and drinking, and to the performance 
of his duties towards his master. Often there is no more 
effective rebuke than to ask him if such-and-such a thing 
is dasturi. No one ever thinks of entering another man's 
house without first shouting " Hodi " — ^an untranslatable 
word used to announce the visitor's approach — ^nor enters 
till he has received the invitation, " Karibu " — " Come 
near," or " Come in." Natives never stand up when they 
are drinking, but always squat upon their heels or sit on 
the ground, and, in eating, the right hand only is used. They 
seldom or never eat singly, there being always at least two 



230 ZANZIBAR IX CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

or three gathered round the dish ; and no matter how hungry 
or how poor they may be there is never any haste in eating, 
or any endeavour on the part of one to get more than his 
share, while strangers are always welcome. In Zanzibar 
there is no poverty or privation, as we know these things 
in England. 

The Swahili language is easy enough to acquire. Its 
vowels are pronoimced as in Italian, and it is spelt phonetic- 
ally, an advantage it owes to its great philologist Bishop 
Steere, third Bishop to the Universities' Mission to Central 
Africa. The Swahili manner of putting things is often 
puzzling to the newcomer ; for instance, in answer to such 
a remark as, " There is no water in the bucket," the Swahili 
will say Ndto — Yes, or truly, meaning, " Truly, it is as you 
say, there is no water in the bucket " ; or, " You did not 
go to the plantation yesterday as I told you." " Ndio," 
" Truly, I did not go." To a direct question he will reply 
by an assertion, not by yes or no as we do. " Did you go 
to the plantation yesterday ? " — " I went there." " Have 
you planted those nuts yet ? " — " I have planted them." 
If he had not planted them he would say, " Bado." Upon 
receiving a present a native never says thank you, unless 
he has been taught to say so at a Mission, but he is most 
punctilious with his Sabalkheri, a corruption of the Arabic 
" Saba al kheir," or " Subalkh Allah bilkheir," which answers 
to our " Good morning," or Good day," and he will never 
enter on his business imtil he has first delivered himself of 
this salutation. The more humble folks say ShikamUy an 
abbreviation of Shika mguu — " I catch or kiss your feet," 
to which the great man repUes, " Marahaba " — It is well, 
or Welcome. Both Arabs and natives are long-winded folk 
and consume much time in coming to the point. They 
always come provided with an elaborate and plausible story 
of their antecedents, their forbearance, their integrity, 
before coming to their tale of woe, and in order that the 
threads of the case may be kept distinct, and due emphasis 



PLACABILITY. 2si 

be bestowed upon each point as it is made, each period is 
closed with the ejaculation, Bassi, as we might say, " Do 
you see ? " or, " Very well, now." Bassi, or Bass, is also 
used to cut short and dismiss a person, as in the expres- 
sions, " That will do," " That is enough, you can go now." 
Like many others in the Swahili language, Bassi is a most 
useful and indispens3.ble word, though it cannot be literally 
rendered. " Is there nothing but weeds growing on that 
plantation ? " " Weeds ; Bass," " Weeds, nothmg else." 
" How many rupees will you give me for this mat ? " 
"I will give you five rupees." "Bass?" "Bass." 
Natives have a delicate appreciation of letting bygones be 
bygones, and do not like reopening old wounds. The head- 
master of my school once told me that in a " row " between 
a master and a boy the odds were ten to one that the boy 
was in the wrong. And so with a native ; the odds are 
ten to one that in a dispute with a European he is in the 
wrong. Certainly he generally comes out worsted, and his 
way of acknowledging defeat is to exclaim, " Bassi," which 
means, " Enough. I give in, and I don't want to hear any 
more about it." 

The plantations of Zanzibar are traversed by a maze of 
footpaths, which wind about like the brook of Philip's 
farm, and in order to come by the nearest road it is neces- 
sary to have a local guide. Any lounger who happens to 
be at his doorway as you pass will cheerfully conduct you 
on your way, and hand you over to a neighbour when the 
road becomes no longer familiar to him. Though he may 
receive he does not ask for, and probably does not expect, 
a reward for his services. " Kwaheri rafiki," " Eewallah, 
bwana;" " Marahaba "—" Good-bye, friend;" "So be 
it, master ; " " It is well ; " and so he retraces his 
steps. 

At the dose of the month Ramathan comes the Siku Kuu, 
or Great Day, which for the Swahili takes the place of our 
Christmas time. It is the great day of giving and receiving 



232 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

presents, of putting on new clothes, of feasting and dancing, 
and the festivity will continue for a week. The crowds that 
assemble at the Nazi Moja, the Grand Boulevard and 
golf-ground, just outside the town, at this festival never fail 
to excite the admiration of all who behold the order and 
good behaviour which distinguish them. The administra- 
tion of the island has complete control over the inhabitants, 
and exercises its power with tact and efficiency. 

Thousands of people come together for five or six days, 
some in groups of tribes, each tribe dancing its own especial 
Ngoma ; some patronising the cranky hurdy-gurdies of the 
various peep shows, but the vast majority merely wandering 
about. In England, drinking booths would be scattered 
about, and around them would be collected noisy or excited 
knots of people. But in Zanzibar no drunken man is ever 
seen on the Nazi Moja at the Siku Kuu, while small 
children could be trusted to amuse themselves in the crowd 
without danger of offence. 

The Waswahili of Zanzibar have complete confidence in 
the judgment, integrity, and, above all, the justice of the 
European ; the same confidence that a well-trained horse 
has in his rider. This happy effect is due in no small degree 
to the fact that they come in contact with the educated 
classes, and have little to do with the lower orders. A 
friend of mine once related a story which shows that the 
Swahili, though he looks upon the Wazungu as in every 
way his superior, imderstands that all Wazungu are, never- 
theless, not like those with whom he is most familiar. Some 
of his boys were discussing outside his room what it was 
that constituted a pukka bwana, or, as we should put it, a 
real gentleman ; and after various solutions had been 
offered the following was accepted as the simplest test : 
that a pukka bwana had a bath every day. Thus cleanliness 
was goodness. The instinct of order in the Swahili is closely 
allied to the quality of patience, which he possesses in a 
marked degree. He will endure without complaining the 



PATIENCE. 233 

most loathsome sores, and suffer in silence the most unjust 
treatment, because he knows how to wait, and never loses 
hope. A friend of mine in Pemba had a cook called 
Ambali, and when one evening dinner was late, and he asked 
his houseboys the reason, he was told that AmbaU was not 
well. He went into the kitchen, and finding the dinner 
almost ready to dish up, he asked Ambali what was wrong 
with him. " I have small-pox," he said. " Then go to 
bed at once. " I will finish cooking your dinner first," 
said Ambali. Some years ago I happened to be suffering 
from an attack of fever, during which my head boy, Sadallah, 
nursed me, and when I was getting better I pointed to his 
arm, and asked him what the spots upon it were. He 
replied, " Small-pox." It was but a very slight attack, 
and it is not often that a native would display such devo- 
tion as to nurse his master under such circumstances, but 
the point that struck me at the time was the patience that 
this boy exhibited in saying nothing about his complaint, 
notwithstanding my irritability of which he must have been 
the victim. 

Natives are most particular in their clothing. The idea 
that anything is good enough for the African is, I suppose, 
exploded ; and it may be presumed that the EngUsh 
manufacturer has come to reaJise that the African knows 
what he wants, and will insist upon having it. He loves 
colour, pleasing patterns, and something new. Durability 
is with him a secondary consideration, sometimes even an 
objection, and coarse fabrics he will have none of. For a 
loin-cloth he uses unbleached caUco, locally known as 
Amerikaniy as it was originally introduced from America ; 
or, if he can afford it, a kikoi, a rather finer white calico 
cloth, with a native-spun coloured border. His body is 
clothed with an ordinary cotton singlet, costing half a 
rupee, while over all he will wear a sort of ecclesiastical 
alb, called a kanzUy a white gown, descending to his heels, 
made of fine linen, Indian muslin, or, more rarely, tussore 



T^ Z.SXZESA& IX COfXTEJiPOSAStY TIMES. 

sDl. He psvs fitdier aJXeotiiJiL ts- mt qt^aEtfity of his sii^^et, 
kEt B psrticdbr sLbcirt: Ei2§ As^ti. jjui s(iB more aboot his 
kmrnxMr w&iic& b Eusmmed anrt stitcfied! roc&ad the neck and 
siKnIdcrs with redsSIc sod mriffftied oo m tassels and loops 
down t&fr bock. For atteoxfiEq^ izpoiL hB Bsaster on pobhc 
oocasHces, or at tafafe. or tg> gg atiiv his his( tor fine dothes, 
one o< his coain ddl^tSy he is provided, or ppoiides himsdf , 
with a coioarcd waistoottt. caOed a kisibmm^ adorned with 
Umcy work. Arabs wear a joko over their kanzii. A 
joho is a robe, asnally of black ckyth^ faced with gold braid. 
The head is ocn-ered with a white hnen sknlkcap, beantifally 
embroidered, or, in the case of natives, generally a red fez. 
Arabs and weD-to-do natives wear a tnrban, though only 
out of doors, or in strangers' houses. Members of the 
Sultan's family ha^-e the prefix Seyyid attached to their 
name, and gather the front of thdr turban into a peak. 
Around his waist the Arab buckles his jambia, a richly- 
mounted dagger, with a hooked pcMut, and when attending 
the Sultan's court will carry a sword. The sword, generaUy 
a curved sabre, thou^ provided with a sling is ne\'er fastened 
to the waist, but is carried in the hand ; the sling being 
arranged so that when travelling it may be hung upon the 
shoulder. In the dajrs of Seyyids Said and Majid Arabs 
never went out without spear and shield, but these warlike 
implements are now never seen in the hands of Arabs of 
Zanzibar. 

Women are simply clad in two square cloths of coloured 
calico, one of which is tucked under the arms, and the other 
tlirown over the shoulders. They are very particular 
about the patterns of the prints, the fashions of which 
change every few months. The fashions of the men's 
clothes never change, but the women, as in other countries, 
are the slaves of fashion ; and I have no doubt Zanzibar 
sets the fashion for all that part of the world, as Paris does 
(or Europe. The people of Zanzibar are in more prosperous 
circumstances than those on the mainland, and dress better. 



DRESS— MORALS. 235 

Over their heads the women twist a brightly-coloured cotton 
or silk turban cloth, resembling a large handkerchief. The 
native women never veil, but Arab women either veil or 
wear a mask covering the eyes and nose. Arab women are 
of course kept in close confinement, and are never seen, 
except in the evening, when, masked and attended by their 
women, and a man with a lamp, they issue forth to visit 
their friends. They wear brightly-coloured frilled trousers ; 
they walk upon wooden clogs or leathern sandals. All 
classes in Zanzibar that can afiord to do so, wear sandals 
which are left at the bottom of the stairs on entering a 
house. Women pierce their ears and nostrils with large 
holes, and stuff in rolls of coloured paper, which can be 
purchased ready made up at the shops. Silver rings 
sometimes hang from the cartilage of the nose and lobes of 
the ears. The neck and wrists are adorned with beads or 
silver chains and bangles, accumulated savings being 
invested in large silver anklets. Arabs are very fond of 
scent, especially attar of roses, of which they sometimes 
reek. In morals the natives of Zanzibar fall far below the 
standards of Christendom. Arab boys are provided by their 
fathers with concubines to keep them at home ; the Swahili 
youths exercise no restraint upon themselves, nor is any 
imposed upon them by their parents. Maternal responsi- 
biUties do not include the *' bringing up " of daughters, who 
enjoy complete liberty with their lovers, while the only 
qualification expected of a suitor is the possession of a 
stated quantity of rupees, to be delivered to the bride at the 
wedding. 

Swahilis do not shut up their wives, but they never trust 
them, and are always ready to listen to and investigate 
charges of infidelity against them. Husbands resent 
infidelity in their wives, but not to the extent that they do 
neglect of domestic obUgations, especially cooking. The 
native is but a big child, whose first consideration is his 
stomach ; he loves to think that when he gets home his 



238 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

customs and traditions ; they use potent poisons and 
understand the stars. 

But the European can have no part or lot in all this witch- 
craft, which to some will seem to be absurdities. Yet it 
cannot all be explained away ; and though the native may 
assimilate many of the habits of the European, especially 
his vices, and even embrace his religion, he will secretly 
cling to the mystic lore of his own people, and in his ex- 
tremity turn to the medicine man. 

The descendants of the early settlers of the Island of 
Zanzibar are called Wahadimu, and live principally on the 
eastern portion of the island, especiaUy on the east coast, 
where there are a number of fairly large fishing villages. 
Each village is presided over by a sheha^ or chief (from the 
Persian word Shah), who is usually the eldest male repre- 
sentative of the ruling family. An Mhadimu is literally a 
servant, a term bestowed upon them by northern tribes 
when they conquered the country ; but the latter, though 
they exacted taxes and corvee from Wahadimu, never 
enslaved them. No written records exist of the Wahadimu, 
but the traditions of the niUng famiUes have been pre- 
served, extending, however, no further back than the fifth 
generation. In the times of Seyyid Said and Seyyid Majid 
the Wahadimu were governed by the Mwenyi Mkuu, a 
great chief of the Shirazi, who lived at Dunga. His real 
name was Mohammed bin Ahmed, but he was sometimes 
called Sultan Hamadi. He succeeded his brother Sultan 
Hasani, who lived at Bweni, a village joining Dunga. 

Sultan Hasani came from the coast, probably Pangani, 
in the time of Seyyid Said; settled at Bweni, and built 
himself a stone house there, the ruins of which may now 
be seen. Though of a good family he appears to have been 
a person of no great consequence, but he obtained from the 
serkali (government) some position of power with the 
Wahadimu, over whom he exercised a limited influence. 
His brother Hamadi was at that time living with the 



MWENYI MKUU. 239 

principal sheha of Dunga, one Kimemeta bin Mgwa Mchenga, 
the most noted sheha of the tribe of the Wamchangani. 
On succeeding his brother he began to extend his influence, 
and soon was able to reduce the Wahadimu to the most 
absolute subjection. He built himself a stone palace at 
Dunga with a mosque, bath-rooms, and houses for his 
retainers. Fifty armed slaves kept guard at each of the 
many doors of the palace. 

On approaching him the Wahadimu fell on their knees, 
and crawled up to him, cap in hand, saying, " Shikamu ! 
Shikamu ! " and when he went out everyone in his vicinity 
who happened to be up a tree gathering cocoanuts or 
picking cloves descended to the ground, as it was not con- 
sidered etiquette for anyone to be above the chief. In 
addition to possessing thousands of slaves and owning all 
the rich land in the neighbourhood, which at that time, 
before the hurricane, was covered with clove trees, he levied 
taxes in kind upon the Wahadimu for the supply of all his 
wants. 

His principal official function was to collect the poll-tax 
from the Wahadimu for the Seyyid, and in the season to send 
them to his plantations to pick his cloves or perform other 
special service. 

The tax was two dollars per head, one of which went to 
the Seyyid and the other to the Mwenyi Mkuu. The tax 
was abolished by Barghash, but reimposed by Hamoud. 
Barghash, to break the influence of the chiefs, placed the 
Wahadimu under ordinary Arab law, administered by Kathis 
of the Sunni sect. 

About the year 1846 the Mwenyi Mkuu began to build 
the present palace at Dunga, which took ten years to 
complete, but it was finished some time before he could 
bring himself to leave his old residence, and when he had 
lived in it four years he died. Various legends attach 
to this building. It was supposed that to consecrate its 
foundations many slaves were slaughtered, but this is not 



240 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

correct, though the house is haiuited, according to the 
natives, by the Sheitani, and according to the testimony of 
several Europeans, by an Arab lady, or an Arab man with 
a black dog. The sacred horn of the Swahili was supposed 
to be buried somewhere in the walls, the identical spot 
being known by only one man, who kept the secret till, on 
the point of death, he handed it down to another man. 
The sound of this horn would carry a great distance, and 
if blown all the Wahadimu would rally to its call. This 
legend of the buried horn may be traced to the great Siwa, 
a huge wooden horn five feet in length, which belonged to 
the Mwenyi Mkuu, and which at his death was most 
jealously guarded by the natives and kept in close conceal- 
ment. It came from Utondui, a place on the mainland, and 
was used only on great occasions. With it was a smaller 
Siwa, and two great war drums beautifully carved. These 
relics are now m the possession of residents in Zanzibar. 
The last time the Siwa was blown was three days after the 
Mwenyi Mkuu died in 1865. He was rather a small man, 
with a fringe of white beard, but he possessed the qualities 
of a great ruler ; his memory is still cherished by a few of 
the old inhabitants of Dunga who served him. Still those 
were by no means peaceful times. Human Ufe was held 
cheap, and it was scarcely safe for a man to venture along 
the highway at night. Near the ruins of his first palace 
there is a d^ep'pit, avoided by the natives as the place 
where slaves convicted of dnuikenness and other crimes were 
slaughtered and then thrown in. The Mwenyi Mkuu left 
a son, who though receiving the same heshima that his 
father had enjoyed, exercised no power over the people, 
as he Uved in the town. The great chief as ruler of the 
Wahadimu had no real predecessor, and no successor, and 
the Wahadimu since his time have been left pretty much 
to themselves. 

They are not great tillers of the soil, and seldom enter 
the labour market. They get their Uving as carpenters. 



THE WAPEMBA, 241 

builders, sawyers, blacksmiths, tailors, chilli or copra 
merchants, fish hawkers, pedlars, small shopkeepers, fisher- 
men, pig hmiters, game snarers ; and in days gone by they 
also carried on slave traffic with the mainland. 

Wahadimu are the principal cattle breeders of the island, 
and hold their stock for high prices, a bullock selling for 
eighty or one hundred rupees, and a good cow sometimes 
for three hundred. The cattle are extremely quiet, docile 
creatures, and have a hump on their withers, which serves 
as a reserve store of energy when grass is deficient. Cattle 
from the coast will not live in Zanzibar, and are purchased 
for no other purpose than to kill for beef. Goats are also 
bred by the Wahadimu, though to a greater extent by the 
slaves and others who Uve among the clove plantations of 
the western portion of the island. 

The large island of Tumbatu, on the north-west coast of 
Zanzibar, is inhabited by the Watumbatu, who for the most 
part follow a seafaring life, either in the coasting dhows or 
as fishermen and pilots. Tumbatu is a coral island with 
little cultivable land and building space ; consequently, 
the houses of the villages, instead of being strung out, as 
in Zanzibar, are packed close together. Colonies of the 
Watumbatu settle behind Mkokotoni on the main island, 
and in Pemba. They are great clove pickers and migrate 
to Pemba in large niunbers during the season, just as the 
Irish come across to England for the harvest. 

The natives of Pemba are called Wapemba ; they do not 
Uve in such seclusion as the Wahadimu on the larger island, 
but are mixed up more with the Arabs and WaswahiU. 
Their chiefs are called sheahas and also wazee (elders), a term 
often applied to the native chiefs throughout both islands. 
The WaswahiU from Zanzibar laugh at the Wapemba ; 
they caU them foolish and regard them in very much the 
same way as cockneys regard Hodge. Like the Wahadimu 
the Wapemba were conquered by the Arabs, but not 
enslaved. 

16 



ZAs, ZANZIBAR rti cmrrsMmmAHY l r ir^.?. 



I 



Tlie WapetnifiL it riie ^ondi it tiie twfanrf as 
rhose in *jie ^Dfittu iznt ^{ann iescssir j.uiu tis Wizncusz 
ant iTtiiar Mmtfaem ' .iiijga hnrntpx ivfar by- tfae Fn i ?" ii ^ f j ^r^ 

B^unrsns;. Sliofahs;. Bfirahs. ffindoiis^ Pscsees. vlassnese. 
pvnsieas rfae tmde mi the isiaiKL tstfaer js ^OQMaBEpes^ 
mongy-ttftirffTS. memhaiits;, .^nail -xadess-'ir ^kriTpff nsec^azacsL 
Gfianese nni the Emnpean ^tnres .mrt OEuvitfie t&e ooofts 
^nd <deriB in Eurnpexn acmses:. diaiii^ maay^ diez^s mre 
Biu^vsR, H we look 'ipmi the .irabs is iie aristncracv. or 
landed. 'Tiass, and the -V^ ir""*» nures is die Lower ' i i i ib* t s. tha 
the rnffJaiTg^ ma^ be ^'.nniyarffgf to the mrffWip .-^rt^rpif^ ^i 
Fngfanrf. 

The town swanns with beachcmnhers^ giTXHfie^-boySw 
drrier* and caxzieL chivRis Lpjui Behuihistan. ^lobi amf sSrar 
workftTi from Ceyfoiu Peraans. <ji::gg>gr. Egy pciansw Levan- 
tines. Jiigsmese, SamstBs. Creoles. rTTrfranyr and Arabs of all 
desrsvptitmSr making a tpmi i i i g throixg of Gcfe. ii y Jubtiy 

A £ew words iiia.7 be said on the wagies pasd in Zanzibar, 
as Europeans nsoally enrgkyy i large izmnber ot servant 
and are the waig&^i&ying class. Hoizseboys get traai five 
to twentjr-ftve itujecs a. month, accortfir^ to their work as 
ponkah boy% bodjr servants^ or head stewards^ The latter 
prmtifxa are often Mfed by Comoro boys, who are OKire 
snteDigeot than Swahili, bat are voy dannxsh^ and when 
titey once get a footing in a hoosehold, often succeed in 
turning oat the Swahibs from the higher positicMis and 
r#^pia/.tng them with their own coontrymen. Goanese 
r^^iks receive from forty to hft>' rupees a month, sopfde- 
mfmttA by small change and commissions frcHn bazaaring 
(IT marketing. There appears to be a sort of ring or union 
amrmg the Goanese cooks in 2^anzibar, as, however inferior 
tiift r|ualifications may be, it is impossible to get a man for 
kim than frnty rupees. They spend their money in drink* 
and arc often to be found intoxicated on the night of a 
dlrmirr party. Swahili cooks receive from fifteen to twenty- 



WAGES AND SALARIES. 243 

five rupees a month, and though on safari they are far 
superior to the Goanese, who cannot travel, they never seem 
able to rise to their level as cooks. Indian syces, who are 
also much addicted to the bottle, can be obtained for thirty 
rupees a month. The Waswahili are excellent donkey boys 
and good grooms, but they are unable to concentrate their 
attention sufficiently to make good drivers. On the other 
hand, as boat boys they are superior to the Indians. They 
are good oarsmen, and on a long pull will always accompany 
their swing with a song or rather a chant, the soloist im- 
provising verses as he goes along, not infrequently about 
his master in the stem sheets, the remainder of the crew 
lustily responding with the refrain. Head boat boys are 
paid from fifteen to eighteen rupees, the others ten to 
twelve. Coolies and town porters make from twenty pice 
to a rupee a day ; Swahili masons and carpenters, forty 
pice to a rupee ; Banyan carpenters, two to three rupees ; 
town labourers, twenty pice to a half-rupee ; plantation 
laboiurers, twelve to twenty pice ; Goanese and Parsee 
clerks, thirty to two hundred rupees a month ; Arab 
overseers, fifteen to fifty rupees. Food is not as a rule 
given, though the master will sometimes keep a bag of 
rice in the house for the use of the boys. Laundry 
expenses amount to twelve or thirteen rupees a month 
per head. 

No European should in Zanzibar receive less than 250 
rupees a month, if he has to feed himself. In order success- 
fuUy to resist fever and the general debilitating effects of 
the climate, he must live well, have at least two servants, 
a cook and a boy, and be provided with a well-stocked 
wardrobe of tropical clothing. All the world over it is 
recognised to be false economy to under-pay employees, 
and if this applies to England it applies with much greater 
force to a country like Zanzibar, where by the time he has 
arrived at the scene of his labours a European will have 
cost his employers a considerable outlay in passage money 

i6» 



244 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



alone, if he is engaged from Europe. It is worth while, 
therefore, to treat him well. 

There are no statistics as to the population of the islands. 
The town of Zanzibar is believed to contain 100,000 inhabi- 
tants, and the plantations another 100,000, making 200,000 
for the larger island. Pemba has probably between 50,000 
and 60,000. There are over 10,000 Indians in the islands, 
and nearly 400 Europeans, half of whom are English. 



245 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE PLANTATIONS . 

The clove-growing industry is by far the most important 
industry in Zanzibar, representing an annual value to the 
country of £200,000. The clove tree (Eugenia caryophyllus, 
natural order Myrtacea) came originally from the Moluccas, 
and was first introduced into Zanzibar from R^imion by, 
it is said, an Arab called Saleh bin Huremil. 

Burton says they were introduced in 1818. Captain 
Smee visited Zanzibar in 181 1, but in his account of the 
industries of the island makes no mention of cloves, so 
it may be presumed there were no bearing plantations in 
his time. Seyyid Said first visited Zanzibar in the year 
1829 ^^d built the Mtoni palace (now a ruin) where, local 
tradition asserts, cloves were first planted, though the 
first regular plantations were laid out at Kizimbani, 
Seyyid Said's country residence, now a well-known centre 
of the clove industry. Whether or not the plant was 
introduced before Seyyid Said's arrival, to him must be 
ascribed the credit of establishing the industry, for with- 
out his support it could certainly never have taken root 
and flourished as it has done. No little credit, too, belongs 
to the Arabs, who introduced the plant from Reunion, 
who planted large areas, and replanted them when the 
trees were blown down in Zanzibar Island ; who recognised 
the wonderful adaptability of the islands for the growth 



246 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

of the spioe, and who succeeded where other ooantries had 
faikd. 

The seed, unless it be planted fresh, wflD not ger- 
minate. It can only be transpcHted id water, and this fact 
has no doubt operated against its cultivatioa in other 
countries. The plants are of very slow growth, and are 
not ready to set out in jdantations until they are at least 
two years old. Arabs prefer them four or five years <dd 
and even older. They allow young nurseries of self-sown 
seed to collect round trees in plantations, and plant several 
seedlings in a hole, sometimes as many as seven. Ex- 
perience has shown that this is by no means such a crude 
method as it might appear to be, for the young dove plants 
suffer severely from the dry weather, which almost in- 
variably follows upon the rainy season, and large numbers 
of them die. But the Arab will let the whole collection 
of young trees that he has planted grow up together with- 
out thinning them, a process he apparently does not 
understand. 

The returns from a plantation will, of course, depend 
upon the market. Within the last eight years prices in 
London have varied between 2jd. and 6d. a pound ; 4d. a 
pound in London is equal to about 7 rupees a frasla (35 lbs.) 
in Zanzibar, and at this rate clove plantations there will 
give a gross return of about 5 annas per tree, or about 
4 annas net. In Pemba the trees will net about 6 annas. 
From these figures a 25 per cent, export duty exacted by 
the Government must be deducted. Experiments at the 
Government's experimental plantation at Dunga have 
shown that by good cultivation, manuring and pruning, 
f.^., topping, clove trees can be made to produce regularly 
about 5 lbs. a tree, as against from 2 to 3 lbs. a tree under 
Arab methods, which consist in merely weeding the plan- 
tations once or twice a year. In exceptionally prolific 
years, such as occur at rare intervals, clove trees in Pemba 
have yielded considerably over a frasla a tree, and I have 



CLOVE GROWING. 247 

known a single tree, not specially selected, give six fraslas 
— 210 lbs. — of dried cloves. Seven or eight years elapse 
before the young tree begins to bear, and ten years before 
it brings any real returns. Young trees are planted 18 
to 30 feet apart according to the soil, and are shaded by 
a little bandUy which consists of a palm leaf, or a few tufts 
of dried grass, suspended upon sticks. 

Clove trees in Zanzibar may be said to grow wild, and 
will withstand drought, fire, and even the axe. I have 
known plantations converted into bare white poles from 
the effects of drought, and after remaining so for two years, 
slowly begin to bud again. When the plantations are 
ill-kept and weedy, the trees become covered with maji ya 
moto ants, which are very injurious, and the natives light 
fires beneath the trees to smoke them out. It often happens 
that the fire rushes up through the branches and destroys 
the foliage. There are dove trees in Zanzibar which have 
not had a hoe near them for fifteen years ; the weeds 
and scrub, fifteen or twenty feet high, completely smothering 
them, yet they continue to grow and bear fruit. These 
facts show that the Zanzibar Islands are eminently suited 
for the production of this spice ; better probably than any 
other country in the world. Pemba is even more suitable 
for the clove plant than Zanzibar ; the trees there grow to 
60 feet in height. The soil has more clay and body in 
it, and can resist the effects of drought very much better 
than the lighter and more sandy soil of Zanzibar. Cloves 
like a deep sandy-clay soil, with good drainage. 

The trees begin to bud about January or February, 
which corresponds with our English summer, and clove 
picking may begin any time between July and November. 
The clove of commerce is the unexpanded flower bud. 
Just before the imbricated petals of the " head " fall off 
and release the stamens, the tube of the bud begins to 
turn pink and then red. It is in this stage that it should 
be picked. If the buds are left till the flowers are opened 




ZAs:zmAm ux coxtemporamy times. 



aod lAcni podkeii^ ai gp^a^ mBfieciior sample of dcive will be 
otoafimifd Araite oeMr^r bepub to pick, however, until 
tlbesre v& at g!i3od sfosmr wpsm tlue tmees, enoi^li to m^e it 
W€irth mtasM wiLdie- to taJke^ an iaterest in the {HXiceedings. 
Tlbeir send Hbam pecfife ootl in small groups under head- 
men. Women aore tSue best ptckeis, they dimb the trees, 
and bunch off the doves and stems in handfnls, putting 
them in a piece of bhie cafico doth, hung faxmi the neck ; 
or they wfll stand on the ground and bend the boughs 
down with a crooked stick, crften tweaking the branches. 
About one o^'dock they assemble at the h<xnestead, sit down 
under a shady mango tree, or in an open shed, and stalk 
ickumlma) the doves, which are then measured over by the 
o\'erseer. The measure is called piski, a wooden bowl 
containing usually four or five pounds. The pickers receive 
three or four pice, or more according to market (i pice — 
I farthing) for every pishi of green do\'es they bring in. 
A good picker will gather ten, some even twenty pishi 
a day, though the average is about six. Next day the cloves 
are spread out on mats (majamvi) in the sun, and in four 
or six days of good weather they will be dry enough to store. 
When dry they are almost black and the stem cannot be 
bent about, but is brittle and breaks off. The stems are 
generally left to heat in a comer of the yard, to be after- 
wards collected and sold ; but if properly dried, stems 
sell at one-seventh the current value of the cloves. Arabs 
measure their cloves mto bags by a wooden oblong box 
called a fara, which contains about forty pounds. 

The clove market is the Custom House in the town of 
Zanzibar. All cloves whether in Zanzibar or Pemba 
must be collected at the Custom House for export. They 
are conveyed thither by donkeys or on the heads of porters, 
or, if they come from coast plantations or from Pemba, 
in dhows. In the latter case they often arrive in a damaged 
condition, through exposure, or from having been conveyed 
in leaky vessels. For this reason Pemba doves command 



CLOVE MARKET. 249 

a lower price than those of Zanzibar, and also because they 
are smaller. The bulk of the cloves are bought up for 
export by German, French and Indian firms, and are sent 
to Bombay, Rotterdam, Marseilles, New York and London. 
They are largely used for the distillation of oil of cloves 
which is employed in the manufacture of drugs, perfumes 
and confectioneries. 

The spice is generally considered a speculative market, 
and for this reason the industry is looked upon as in a 
more or less precarious condition. But in its clove industry 
Zanzibar has a unique and valuable asset. The islands 
yield seven-eights of the world's clove produce, which is 
estimated at about 90,000 bales, or 12,600,000 lbs. 

The result has falsified Burton's opinion of the industry. 
In his book on Zanzibar, written in 1872, before the hurri- 
cane, he said : " The people would do well to follow the 
example of Mauritius, whence the clove has long departed 
in favour of sugar. For the latter Zanzibar is admirably 
adapted : when factories shall ever5^where be established, 
the island will have then found her proper profession, and 
will soon attain the height of her prosperity.'* 

Much uncertainty, as a rule, prevails in the European 
market, in the early months of the year, as to the abundance 
of the coming clove crop. Reports from Zanzibar are 
not to be relied on, for the simple reason that no one there 
can estimate the amount of the yield till some time after 
the trees begin to bud. Much depends on the rainfall, 
and the crop of the previous year. Very large crops, such 
as those of 1898-9, 1902-3, and 1904-5, are apt to exhaust 
the trees, though it does not always follow that a poor crop 
will be succeeded by a large one or vice versa. The Pemba 
crop varies much less than that of Zanzibar, and as it 
produces three-quarters of the total output, this fact 
exercises a steadying influence on the production. Clove 
trees suffer if the rainfall is considerably below or above 
the average, though the influence of a season's rain does 



250 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

not appear to manifest itself in the trees till the year next 
but one following. Much rain inclines the trees to nm to 
leaf at first, though heavy crops may be expected snbse 
quently. With a short rainfall in the latter pairt of the year 
trees will sometimes be unable to ripen the crop, and the 
immature buds will fall to the ground. Such buds zxt 
swept up by the natives, and sold in the market as koh 
cloves, or, as they are usually called in the plantatioos, 
peta cloves, from the fact that they are sifted out from 
the dead leaves and rubbish beneath the trees (KupeiM— 
to sift). 

Cocoanuts grow in Zanzibar without any cultivation 
whatever, and yield about thirty nuts per tree per annum, 
that is to say, the owner's share will come to about that. 
The Arab has to provide portions for others besides himself. 
One-third of the produce of cocoanut trees is stolen by the 
plantation people ; one-third is " annexed " by the over- 
seer and the proceeds of the remaining third are all the 
master can count his own. No amount of vigilance ever 
prevents theft. The trees, except in a few instances, 
are not set in regular plantations, but are scattered about 
among mango trees, orange trees, jack fruit, bananas and 
even clove trees. They are used to mark boundaries, a 
double row being always planted, half of which belong 
to the one owner and half to his neighbour. Arabs do 
not understand a common boundary line, there must always 
be two lines with a strip of neutral ground between. 

Cocoanut trees are planted at all times of the year, 
though principally in the rainy season, about April. Very 
little care is taken about the selection of seed. Nuts are 
placed end to end on their sides in trenches about six 
inches deep, just deep enough to allow of their being covered. 
The spot selected for the nursery must be in the vicinity 
of an overseer's or head-man's house, else the nuts will 
soon be dug up and disappear. Prowlers will even dig 
up the young plants when they have been set out in a 



COCOA NUTS. 251 

plantation. After about six months, when they should be 
eighteen inches to two feet high, they are roughly chopped 
out with a hoe, and are set out in small shallow holes just 
large enough to receive the nut. Here they are left to 
grow as best they can, receiving perhaps an occasional 
weeding, till they are eight years old, when they may be 
expected to bear their first crop. They continue to grow 
and to bear for sixty or seventy years. In most countries 
the trees are allowed to shed their nuts, which are collected 
and brought in every day ; but in Zanzibar, trees are not 
allowed to shed their nuts. Once in three months the 
overseer collects his people for a gathering ; boys and young 
men are sent up the trees to cut down the ripe nuts, which 
the women collect in heaps in the long grass. The nuts 
are sold on the spot to local copra-makers, who are always 
at hand, at prices varying from fifteen to thirty shillings 
per thousand, according to market, locality, state of the 
weather and size of the nuts. These local manufacturers, or 
i&achuruzi, as they are called, purchase on the credit system, 
paying by instalments as they sell their copra, and seldom 
or never default. They split the nuts and spread them 
out in the sun for three or four days. There is a prejudice 
against drying the nuts too thoroughly ; in fact the natives 
would not dry them at all but for the Government 
regulations. The small native manufacturers sell to Indian 
traders, who are scattered over the island, and are to be 
found in the early mornings with weights and scales posted 
at the junctions of the principal thoroughfares. These 
traders sell again to large exporting firms in the town. 

No use is made of the husk fibre, which is thrown away. 
Ten years ago a. European firm had a fibre factory at 
Bububu, five miles north of Zanzibar town, on the coast, 
but was soon compelled to close the works. Under present 
conditions of labour, transport, and market, the manu- 
facture of coir fibre in Zanzibar does not pay. The fact 
of the trees being promiscuously scattered about, makes 



ri^ ZAS^lB^It fjr COyrEMPOR.4RT^ TTMES. 



the rxOerxirxi zad tra3Epcct of the Iinsks « »^^ i t*miK F 
Eorcfpeaxi upervisioci is irjsdj; oative sopervsoii nuR 
rxAdy yz2L asd tiue prices obtainable for tfae fibre are lov. 
N'ativ*s. hoTre'/*r- Trork !ip the coir fibre and prodnce a tht 
virvic^abie roipe,«tiidi s nsed for baQdm^ and tfaaidm^ 
thoo^ act in ixxSdent qnantitT to sappty tbe A*fwam^ a 
the blaxKL 

There are few cocoannt trees in Pemba. Kxcept at 
Mamka, in the north, and at various spots on the coast 
the v»l of Pemba is too stirky for cocoannt trees, which 
like a Wjie sandy sofl. Several varieties of cocoanats ait 
cultivated, which may be distinguished by the cdoor <A 
their nuts, some of which are brown, some green, otheis 
a rich cream ccdour, but no attention is paid to their 
vrlection. A small species, called Pemba cocoannt (though 
as it is common in both Zanzibar and Pemba the reason ot 
the name is not obvious), is grown only for the milk of 
the young nuts, which pro%ides a very refreshing drink. 

Chillies are grown principally on the coral country in 
the eastern part of Zanzibar Island, though they are to 
\yp, found in almost every native garden. The plants are 
for the most part self-sown, or grow from seed scattered 
about by birds. It is very difficult to rear them in a 
nursery, but when they have once got a good hold of the 
land they grow rapidly, and in favourable weather will 
boar in a few months. The bushes grow to about four 
feet in height, and in the second or third year die down. 
Natives sometimes prune back the dead wood, and the 
stork shoots out again. The chilli industry is in the first 
pla('(! entirely in the hands of the natives, principally 
Wjihadimu, who set up as small traders, and buy the 
Kreen or dry chillies brought to them by women and 
boys, at the rate of about a penny a pound. They are 
spread out on the ground or sometimes on mats to dry 
and are sold to the Indian middlemen, who re-sell to Euro- 
pean lirms. The Indian of course cheats the native 



RUBBER. 253 

trader whenever he can, whether in the purchase of chillies 
or copra, yet it is a curious fact that the latter would rather 
be cheated by the Indian than take his produce direct to 
the European firms. There is an export duty of 10 per 
cent, levied at the Custom House. The bulk of the Zanzibar 
chillies go to London, though New York exercises a con- 
trolling influence in the market. Zanzibar chillies have 
the reputation of being the hottest in the world, and any 
anticipated shortage in the crop sends up the price. The 
annual value of the trade is about £10,000. 

Chillies are very troublesome to pick, as they make 
the fingers and eyes smart. A woman will pick a pishi 
(2 lbs.) or more per diem, which in value just about covers 
her wages ; hence it is impossible for the large planter 
to grow chillies profitably. The season begins generally 
about February and continues until September or 
October. 

The rubber of Zanzibar is the product of a creeper, or 
" vine " (Landolphia Kirkii), It is found growing in the 
forests of Pemba. Compared with the rubber industry of 
the mainland, that of Zanzibar or rather Pemba is a very 
small affair. Nevertheless a few words about the way 
it is collected will not be out of place. The rubber forests 
of Pemba lie in the north of the island where the popu- 
lation is sparse, and where there are few Arabs and few 
clove plantations. The forests are Government property, 
and the collection of the rubber is regulated by Government 
officials. Native rangers or overseers are appointed, 
whose duty it is to see that the creepers are not destroyed 
by the collectors, and to purchase the rubber from them, 
on behalf of the Government. The collector sets out in the 
morning provided with a knife and a calabash of salt water, 
and having fixed upon a favourable spot with plenty of 
creepers about, he proceeds to slice off the bark in little 
chips here and thei:e, beginning at the bottom of the creeper 
and working up as high as he can reach. He inmiediately 



154 ZANZIBAR r.V COyTEMFORARY TIWFS, 

dabs salt water on the wonnds and tfifin goes on to tas 
two or three other vines in like manner. la about bait 
an hour he returns to the first creeper to find tic n^tioK 
cosifpdsit^ by the salt water into a rick, wixite, stkkj 
mass which can be peeled off quite cleanly £roizi the woomk 
He b^fpask with a very ^mall ball which keeps gicwpiug aid 
growing as each successive vine is viated. SameciaKS 
instead of dabbing the wounds with salt water^ be wil 
smear the liquid latex upon his arm as it casats fresh mm 
the cut, when the saline exudations of the skin soon coagulate 
it. In the course of a day an expert coQectcx' will have 
accumulated a ball of rubber the siie of a large oruigc 
which will weigh, in its green state^ about a pound. This 
is placed in the scales against pice. A poond o< rubber 
win weigh down a rupee^s worth of pice- 
It would be obviously easy to roD the rubber roaod 2 
nucleus of stone or to adulterate it with sand, and this 
was formerly sometimes done ; but the Government regu> 
Utiom now require that all rubber balls shaD be cut in 
half before being received into the Custom Hoose for 
export. 

r The first account of the rubber vine we have is that b^ 
Captain Owen, of H.M.S. Leven, who, in describiDg 
Lieutenant Reitz's journey from Mombasa to Pangani 
wrote : '' Some of the few trees that grew upon this island 
[? Tanga] are entwined with the convolvulus, from which 
exudes a species of india-rubber, which is only collected by 
the children to amuse themselves in imitating the report 
of a pistol. They make an incision in the bark, and, as 
tlic juice runs out, collect it on a leaf, wherein it remains 
until it begins to acquire a glutinous quality ; it is then 
moulded by the fingers into the shape of a tube, with one 
end closed ; in the other they introduce a reed, through 
which the caoutchouc is blown into a globe of the size of a 
bullock's bladder ; on striking this it bursts, and yields the 
desired report/' 



BANANAS. 255 

The development of the india-rubber trade of Zanzibar 
and the East Coast, is due to the energy of Sir John Kirk 
who, in 1868, began to induce the natives of Dar-es-Salaam 
to collect the produce of the vine which before that 
time was not an article of trade in Zanzibar. Sir John 
Kirk's endeavours bore fruit only after the lapse of 
several years owing to the absorbing interests of the slave 
trade. 

Landolphia flarida grows more profusely than Landolphia 
Kirkii but is not tapped. The latter will not coagulate. 

The foregoing include all the products of Zanzibar that 
find their way to the European markets with the exception 
of nutmegs and vanilla, which as yet are grown in but 
very small quantities. Nutmegs, though of very slow 
growth, thrive wonderfully on the richer soils. The cul- 
tivation of vanilla has been comprised within the 
experimental work which has been carried out by the 
Government. 

A great variety of fruit, vegetable, oil and fibre products 
common to most tropical countries find a congenial home, 
and a ready local sale in the islands. 

Of the fruits, the most important are the plantain and 
banana, which, as they differ only in size and flavour, 
are in Zanzibar both included under the former term. 

Bananas are not cultivated in large plantations but in 
small groves round native houses. Arabs and natives, 
while they will leave cocoanuts and cloves to struggle 
with the weeds as best they may, keep their bananas 
clean. The bunches of fruit exhibited daily for sale in 
the market would compare favourably with those in any 
part of the world. Very little trouble is taken with the 
actual planting of the banana boles, as with the planting 
of other trees of whatever kind. There are over twenty 
sorts of bananas and plantains. The sweetest and best 
are known locally as sukari (sugar) ; and the largest is 
called mkono wa tcmbo from its size and resemblance in 



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f..ff. .frt f»ll Hir ffi.T f !>;'»' H .tr' fi//irly lull grown, and ready 



JACK FRUIT, 257 

for plucking. The fruit is gathered in the roughest manner 
possible, by throwing up sticks or stones, or by climbing 
the trees and shaking or knocking it off. The wind, how- 
ever, does the greatest part of this work, and those who 
live in the neighbourhood of bearing trees make it their 
business, every morning at the dawn of day, to kick about 
in the grass for windfalls, whether the trees belong to them 
or not. One of the best varieties is the dodo, a large and 
rather fibrous fruit ; the bourbon is also much sought 
after ; it has a pink skin, and hangs to the tree by a very 
long stem. The Bombay is however the choicest kind, 
but this is rarely found in the market, there being but a 
limited number of trees on the island and these growing 
principally in the Sultan's plantation at Marahubi. In a 
good season thousands of mango fruit fall and rot on the 
ground, or are stolen, and it is usual to let the plantation 
people have the run of the trees. The proceeds of a load 
of fruit sold in the town market does not cover the cost of 
carriage, and this applies to nearly all the minor products 
of a plantation. 

Jack fruit trees begin to ripen their fruit in November 
and go on till March. Four or five pice are obtained in 
the plantation for one jack fruit. Both the fruit itself 
and the seeds, which are cooked, are eaten with avidity 
by the natives, but by Europeans never. The trees, as 
in the case of mangoes, are sometimes sold for a few rupees 
for the season's crop. No attention is paid to their culti- 
vation. The bread fruit is found here and there, but is 
by no means conunon, though it grows luxuriantly. The 
durian tree grows to very large proportions equalling the 
mango tree in size, and its fruit is much prized by the Arabs, 
who pay fancy prices for it ; but the crop is very uncertain, 
and is liable to destruction by high winds. The fruit 
emits such an atrocious and searching odour that the 
presence of even one in the house is sufficient to make every 
room uninhabitable. 

17 



2 58 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

Orange trees abound everywhere, and though quantities 
of the fruit find their way into the market, the waste 
in the plantations in a good season is enormous. The 
trees ripen their fruit from March to July. The ordinary 
orange is known as the Mchungwa wa kipemha, of which 
there are two varieties, the thick and the thin skinned, 
the latter being considered the sweetest. The Mandarin 
orange and the Tangerine are both common, the former 
being an especial favourite with Europeans. The Zanzibar 
orange has a good reputation, but in comparison with 
carefully selected varieties now cultivated in other parts 
of the world it is doubtful whether it really deserves the 
reputation it has acquired. Small quantities are exported 
to Mombasa and other mainland ports, but the coast trade 
in Zanzibar fruit is very small in comparison with what 
it might be if properly organised. Large quantities are 
sold to passing ships, which, in the orange season, are 
crowded with home-going passengers, and to the fleet, 
which usually pays its annual visit to Zanzibar in June 
or July. 

The Seville or bitter orange grows freely, its fruit 
being used as a condiment in curries ; but it has no market 
value. Several varieties of sweet and sour limes, two 
varieties of citron, and two or three of lemon are found. 
Lemon trees bear from May to June, but they are seldom 
used by Europeans, the sour lime taking its place in the 
manufacture of lemon-squash. Limes can be obtained 
all the year round. Citrons are very rarely seen in the 
market. Two varieties of the pumelo or shaddock (forbidden 
fruit), the large and the small, are grown in Zanzibar, 
though more abundantly in Pemba. 

Two varieties of pineapple — the green-skinned and the 
pink-skinned — are grown in Zanzibar. The former is the 
better of the two, though they are both small and fibrous. 
Pineapples are not a favourite fruit with the natives, who 
will scarcely take the trouble to steal them. In the season, 



VARIOUS FRUITS. 259 

which begins in December, they can be purchased in the 
town at an anna each. 

The papaw tree may be said to grow wild, as it takes 
root easily and grows rapidly with little care. It is found 
everywhere and lasts for four or five years. Luscious 
fruit can be purchased for a pice or two each. Other fruits 
more or less common are the rambutan, litchi, pom^ranate, 
guava, rose-apple, Malay-apple, zambarao (Eugenia 
jambolana), sweetsop, soursop, custard apple, sapodilla 
plum, Chinese date {zizyphus jujuba)y Otaheite apple 
(Spondias dulcis), granadilla, loquat, musk melon, water 
melon, tamarind, date. Dates do not grow well in Zanzibar, 
nor is the fruit so good as that which comes from the drier 
climates of Egypt and Arabia. At his plantation at Sherif 
Msa, Dr. Andrade has made some valuable experiments 
with tropical and sub-tropical fruits, and has succeeded 
in introducing many improved varieties into the island. 

Natives pay a considerable amount of attention to the 
cultivation of their vegetables, and exhibit much judgment 
in the observance of times and seasons, and in the selection 
of varieties. Planting times are counted from the mwaka, 
a fixed season of the year occurring on or about August 14. 
Thus nUama (sorghum) may be planted 150 to 180 days 
after mwaka, namely, from January 11 to the first week in 
February. The planting seasons are arranged in decades 
of days from the mwaka, thus the ii6th day from mwaka 
would be referred to as in the mia wa ishirini (the 120), 
just as in stating the hour of the day, a native would call 
a quarter to four saa tano (the fifth hour), or if correctness 
were required saa tano kassa robo (less a quarter). 

The staple food of the native is cassava or manioc, of 
which there are two main species — the sweet and the bitter 
— each having three or four varieties. The bitter is the 
favourite with the native, though it takes longer to grow. 
Cassava is planted any time in the year, and in all sorts 
of soils, from deep rich loams to light sands and gravels, 

17* 



26o ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

though in the latter case only poor crops are obtained. 
Cuttings six inches long are stuck in the ground in the most 
casual manner, about eighteen inches or two feet apart. 
At first the garden is kept fairly clear of weeds, but after the 
plajits have grown to three or four feet high, it is left to 
itself. In six months the plants are ready to pull. Cassava 
can be bought at almost every cottage, and in every local 
market-place, where it is displayed in small heaps of three 
or four roots and sold for two pice a heap. In one form or 
other it forms the daily food of all people in the plantation, 
and of the bulk of those in the town. 

The sweet potato belongs to the natural order ConvoU 
vulacea, and is propagated by planting slips or cuttings 
of the stem. Five varieties are grown. Natives plant 
them at all times of the year, when rain serves, though 
the principal season is the Masika, or big rains, in April 
and May. The earth is moulded up in long tortuous beds, 
two or three feet high, and three or four feet wide, and the 
cuttings crowded indiscriminately all over the surface. 
They rapidly creep over the beds, nearly hiding the soil. 
In two to five months, according to season and variety, 
the crop is ready to dig. When digging the potatoes, 
the natives may frequently be observed sticking in the tops 
again behind them, for a second crop, and in well-made beds 
this process may be repeated several times. No manure 
is ever applied for this or any other crop ; natives do not 
seem to understand its use ; hence large crops of potatoes 
are seldom obtained. They are sold in the local markets 
in little heaps like cassava, and occupy an important place 
in the economy of the household. Sweet potatoes are boiled 
with salt and sometimes mixed with cocoanut or syrup. 
In Tumbatu the haulms are trained up poles, evidently 
to economise space, land available for planting being scarce 
there. 

Rice is grown in the low swampy flats, and is usually 
planted from about the middle of December to the middle 



GRAINS. 261 

of January. There are at least seventeen kinds of rice 
grown in Zanzibar. The seed is lightly dibbled in, the 
method pursued in this as in every case where seed has 
to be sown, being for one man to go ahead with a hoe 
chopping little holes in the ground all around him, and a 
second to follow with the seed which he lets fall into the 
holes and covers with his foot. Natives pay great attention 
to their rice fields, and as the harvest approaches devote 
the whole of their time to keeping the birds off. Crude 
arrangements of tin cans are often employed for this purpose. 
Harvesting, which takes place in June or July, is conducted 
in the most primitive manner, by plucking the ears singly. 
In dry weather the grain is sometimes threshed out on 
the spot. Compared with its yearly consumption the 
island produces very little rice ; hence large shipments 
arrive fronfi Rangoon. The sweltering, swampy valleys of 
Pemba could produce abundant crops of rice, and in the 
time of Seyyid Said rice was an article of export from that 
island to Zanzibar. 

In every native garden Indian corn is to be found, 
usually among beds of pulse. It is dibbled into the ground 
in the same way as rice. The natives state that it is a 
mistake to cover up the seed, except perhaps very lightly, 
or to press it down, as we should do by using a roller. It 
is left lightly resting in the soil and sufficiently exposed to 
benefit by the action of the heavy dews, which fall nightly. 
There are at least three kinds of Indian corn, but they 
are all very poor compared with the splendid samples 
produced in sub-tropical and temperate climates. It is 
sown before the rains, to allow the plants to be a few inches 
above the ground when the rains arrive. The ears must 
be closely watched as they ripen or they will most certainly 
share the fate conmion to most food products, and be 
stolen by the first wayfarer who catches sight of them. 

Sorghum is chiefly grown by the Wahadimu upon the 
rich shallow soils of their coral country. About every 



362 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

third year fresh ground is cleared of its scrub, and seed 
dibbled in. Plants grow to twelve feet in height and arc 
really a beautiful sight, especially in the early morning, 
when the nodding pinnacles glisten with dew. It is planted 
from the second week in January to the first week in 
February anS harvested in August. At harvest time the 
owner with his family often migrates to his plantation, 
if it is some way from his village, and erects a temporary 
house with sorghum stems and palm leaves. Wild pigs, 
if they are not watched, make great havoc with the clearings. 
There are three varieties grown, with seeds of white, pini 
and red colour. Sorghum is very largely used as a meal oi 
porridge in cases of sickness, and as food for donkeys. 

African millet (Penisetum typhoideum)^dismdML gramineous 
plant, is sometimes found in native gardens, though not 
in large quantities. It may be planted at all times of the 
year. Both sorghum and millet are imported from 
India. 

In the time of Seyyids Said, Majid and Barghash, sugai 
was quite an important industry, and even so late as 189; 
molasses was still made at one factory. Natives used woodei 
crushing mills of their own manufacture, but these hav< 
passed into disuse. The cane is now grown in all parts 
of the island, in the deep soil, but only in small patches 
and for household consumption. The sticks sell from a 
halfpenny to a penny each in the market. 

Many years ago Zanzibar exported a large amount 01 
indigo, but the industry was presumably killed by th< 
fall in prices. The plant grows wild in great profusion 
but is now entirety neglected. 

A variety of pulses are cultivated by the natives, th< 
chief of which is the pigeon pea (Cajanus Indicus), whid 
is very common in their native gardens. This plant i 
perhaps foimd at its best on the edge of the coral country 
where the soil is deep enough to accommodate its roots 
and at the same time the coral sufficiently near the surface 



PULSE. 263 

to provide a rich store of lime. The bushes bear in about 
a year, growing to a height of eight feet or more, and will 
stand three or four years. When systematically cultivated, 
a crop of cassava is taken off the ground before the peas are 
planted, and, while the latter are in occupation, ground 
nuts, beans, or some other low-growing crops may be 
obtained. 

Pigeon peas are often followed by sessamum, or as it 
is conunonly called simsim, and by the natives ufuta 
(oil). It is planted in September, harvested in January 
and February ; but the bushes ripen their seed very ir- 
regularly, and go on flowering at their terminals after the 
lower branches have begun to ripen their seed. Hence 
branches have to be cut out as they ripen. The native 
method of threshing is to take a sheaf of the simsim and 
tap it with a stick or the back of a knife, when the small 
clover-like seed falls into a mat below. The sheaf is then put 
back in the store and taken out again the next day when 
another crop of ripe seed will fall, and so on. The bushes 
grow to about seven feet in height, spreading in proportion. 
There are two varieties of simsim, so-called black and 
white, from the colour of their seed. The oil is expressed 
by wooden mills made from a section of the trunk of a mango 
tree set on end and hollowed out at the top. The seed is 
put into the cavity and crushed by a wood pestle, weighted 
down, and worked round by a camel. 

Ground nuts are a favourite crop with the natives, but 
yield very poorly, and cannot be profitably grown when 
hired labour has to be employed. Unlike many annuals 
they cannot rise above the weeds, which, in Zanzibar, 
grow with amazing vigour and speed. They must be kept 
clean by weeding every fortnight or three weeks. Groimd 
nuts are planted in December or January and occupy the 
ground three or four months. 

The bambarra ground nut {Voandzeia subterranea) is 
also common and can be planted at any time of the year. 



264 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Quite a nmnbeT of dwarf peas and beans are cultivated 
in Zanzibar ; they fill an indispensable jdace in the daily 
menu, thou^ they are generally grown in the gardens as 
subsidiary crops. 

The yam, called in SwahiU Kiazi kikuu (large potato), 
is seldom to be seen except isolated and trailed ap the 
garden fence. The tubers grow to a great size : from 
two to three feet long and over twelve pounds in weight. 
They are propagated by large sets buried to a few inches 
in the ground, either in trenches or in holes, and grow 
very rapidly. 

The betel leaf (Tambuu) industry is almost entirely 
in the liands of the Wahadimu and the Watumbatu. The 
latter devote a good deal of attention to their plantations, 
which arc set out in groups of clumps, each clump belonging 
to a different owner, though the whole presents the ap- 
pearance of one plantation. The Watumbatu are the only 
natives I have ever come across who do not steal growing 
crops from one another ; in the management of their 
betel plantations this honest behaviour is strictly adhered 
to. The vines are trained up stout supports. In the 
hot season, that is to say in the north-east monsoon, 
which blows in January and February, or in dry weather, 
the phmts produce very few leaves. Only young leaves 
are plucked, old leaves not being saleable. The leaves 
are ready to pluck twenty-five days after budding, and 
retail at a pice (a farthing) each. All Arabs and natives 
chew betel-leaf, mixed with betel-nut and lime, a supply 
of which is always carried on the person. 

Tobacco is often planted after sorghum, in the rocky 
coral country, but it is also extensively cultivated on the 
light soils in the north of Zanzibar island. Plants are 
generally set in August, in raised beds, three feet apart. 
A considerable trade in tobacco is carried on by the 
Wahadimu on the east coast, who send their produce into 
Zanzibar town. 



ECONOMIC PLANTS. 265 

Two or three varieties of brimjal and at least three 
varieties of tomatoes are grown in Zanzibar, and several 
varieties of large capsicums. Of cucurbitous plants, the 
principal are the large gourd, snake gourd (Motnordica 
charantice), lufia (two varieties), cucumber, musk- and 
water-melons. Other cultivated plants are lady's finger, 
a species of radish, garlick — which is an invariable ingredient 
in cin"ries — turmeric, tanias, ginger (very rarely grown). 

Among other economic products to which more or less 
attention is given is the cotton tree (Ericdendron an- 
fractuosum), which crops in October and November. Indian 
cotton, castor oil (very common but neglected), the large 
hollow bamboo, cashew nut tree, the soap berry tree, two 
varieties of cardamum, the physic nut tree used as a hedge 
plant and to mark boundaries, lemon grass, the leaves of 
which are brewed with tea and are supposed to be good for 
fever, the areca nut palm, the oil palm, growing extensively 
in Pemba. The natives eat the fruit of the Borassuspalm 
raw, having first scraped off the outside of the husk. Seeds 
are sometimes planted and allowed to sprout, and the young 
tender plant then plucked for food. The full grown trees 
are too large to climb, but the leaves of the smaller and 
more accessible trees are used for making mats and rice 
bags. The Raphia palm is also found in Pemba, and pro- 
vides material for mat making, but mats are more frequently 
made from a species of wild date found on the mainland. 
Anatto grows vigorously, but natives pay no attention 
to it. Liberian coffee may be met with here and there 
near Arab houses. A variety of plants provide cordage, 
namely, Triumfetta rhomboidea, the bark of the Baobab, 
the midrib of the cocoanut leaf, the stem of the banana, the 
leaves of the pineapple. 

The mangrove is the principal timber tree of the coimtry. 
It grows in profusion in the shallow inlets of the sea, both 
in Zanzibar and Pemba. There are at least three species, 
the largest of which, mzitnzi, grows to a height of sixty 



266 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

feet. The mangrove provides beams for the roofs of stone 
houses, and lathes and rafters for the walls and roofs of 
mud houses. The best timber in Zanzibar comes from the 
Chedju creek, the export village of which is Chwaka on the 
east coast. A considerable trade is done in Pemba, where 
the trees are somewhat larger than in Zanzibar. The man- 
grove is also cut down for its bark, largely so in Pemba, 
which provides the principal supply. The trees are first 
felled, the bark then stripped off and filled into sacks or 
baskets. The trade is in the hands of a few Indians who 
buy from the native collectors at the rate of about eight 
annas a bag, which, in Zanzibar, is worth about a rupee. 
The bulk of the bark is exported, but some is used locally 
for tanning. The bark is cut into small pieces, put into a 
cask and covered with water. Ox hides are then steeped 
in the liquor for from i8 to 20 days ; goat and sheep 
skins for six days, and afterwards pegged out in the sun 
to dry. The jack fruit tree, mango tree, cocoanut palm, 
mzambarau (Eugenia jambolana) provide timber for rough 
doors. 

Gum copal, sandarusi, is foimd in Zanzibar, but only 
to a limited extent. Traces of an old giun field are to be 
found at Bomani, north of Chuini. The soil is poor and 
sandy, the cocoanut trees in the vicinity thin, carrying 
but very small crops of nuts. Natives dig large holes 
in the ground, but they state that it is httle use digging in 
the dry weather, the proper season being in the rains. I 
can offer no explanation of this, or afiirm whether it really 
be true, as very httle attention is paid to gum ; and though 
I have myself dug for it, I have never succeeded in finding 
any. Most of the gum copal exported from Zanzibar comes 
from the mainland. 

The following account of gum copal is taken from Doctor 
Kirk's researches, communicated to the Linnean Society 
in 1868, 1870 and 1873. Dr. Kirk described three 
distinct kinds of copal in the Zanzibar trade, subdivided 



GUM COPAL. 267 

by merchants into many classes. First the tree copal or 
Sandarusi ya nUi, an excretion from the trunk and branches 
of the Trachylobium Hornemannianum, a large tree of the 
natural order Leguminosae, and distinguished by its rounded 
head of glossy leaves, with white groups of flowers projecting 
from the points of the branches. The gum solidifies, but 
drops to the ground in soUd brittle lumps. This is an 
inferior sort, and goes chiefly to India. The tree is found 
along the mainland coast from Mozambique to near Lamu, 
chiefly between Cape Delgado and Mombasa, though only 
to a short distance inland, becoming very rare, and finally 
disappearing when removed from the influence of the sea. 
The second sort of copal is known as Chakazi, and is found 
in the ground at the roots of the trees, or in the country 
where these exist. It is of modem origin, having remained 
but a short time in the soil after the death of the tree which 
produced it. In value it is about equal to the Sandarusi 
ya mti. 

The third, the valuable animi of the English markets, 
is found all along the ancient sea beach of the maritime 
plain which fringes the continent to a depth of from 20 
to 40 miles. This is the true Sandarusi — a semi-fossil 
or bituminized resin, which, in Dr. Kirk's opinion, is the 
product of extinct forests of the identical Trachylobium 
Hornemannianum, now found growing at the coast. 

The great produce market of the island is that in the 
town. It used to occupy an open space outside the fort, 
but is now at Mkunazini, where a large and convenient 
building, called the Estella market, has been put up by 
the Government, who levy a 10 per cent, duty on all produce 
sold therein. In return they protect the natives from 
the rapacity and extortion of the Indian, and compel the 
latter, when produce is being taken to his shop, to pay 
the price agreed upon in the market, which is registered 
at the time by officials appointed for that purpose. Nearly 
three thousand loads of produce, all borne upon the head, 



2M ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 

enter the Efttella market daily, the statistics showinj^ j. 
marked rise during the month ot Rama than, diiriiig whicii 
all followers of Islam are supposed to fast, but in reality 
feast, though only in the night time. The scene in the 
Esteila market in the morning is, as may be imagined^ a 
busy one, and extremely hot. Tliere is no yelling or ad- 
vertising of goods, but each man squats on the groimd 
with his neatly-arranged basket ot fruit or vegetables, or 
spreads his wares in front of him. All varieties of tnQpicraL 
fruits and vegetables are on view as well as goats, sheep, 
poultry, fodder-grass, while, in an enclosed building, 
stalls are fitted up for the display of clothing and house 
furniture. In the country the local market-place is often 
under a mango tree or a large spreading African almond tree, 
and it is the favourite meeting place where the villagers 
gather and exchange their gossip. 

For cultivating the ground, the native uses a hoe called 
a jemhe, which serves the purpose of weeding, digging and 
shovelling. It is made of wrought iron, hammered out by 
the local blacksmith into a pear-shaped outline, contracting 
at the head into a spike to fit a hole in the handle. The 
handles are made of rough-hewn brush-wood ; they are 
from two fe^t to two feet six inches in length and may 
be fixed by the owner himself. The hoe costs from 4d. to 
6d., according to size and quahty, and is much to be pre- 
ferred to the foreign imitations which may be purchased 
in the biiAs^r, In spite of many enterprising attempts 
to intrr>duce something more modem and up-to-date, the 
native* still clings to his homely implement, which is cheap 
and strong. He can use it with one hand, while with the 
otlier he picks out the weeds. He has a rough, Ught 
axe, with a very narrow edge, for felling timber, while 
for staking or fencing he employs a large hooked bush 
knife of wrought iron. In the museum at Naples there are 
axes and busli knives, found in the ruins of Pompeii, which 
very much resemble those now in use in Zanzibar. In one 



SOIL. 269 

of the houses at Pompeii a kitchen is shown, which has been 
left exactly as it was found, and among other relics there 
are some iron cooking-pots, with expanded bases, identical 
in shape with the cooking pots in common use in Zanzibar. 

In Appendix VII. will be found the analysis of two samples 
of soils of Zanzibar Island, made by Dr. Voelker, Con- 
sulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England. They are fairly typical of the lighter and richer 
soils of the island. Judged by the standards of this country, 
the soils are both of inferior quality, especially No. i, 
but in Zanzibar, as in other equatoriaJ countries, as much 
or more depends upon the rainfall as upon the richness of 
the soil. A soil like No. i would be deemed a very poor 
soil in England, yet in Zanzibar it supports a rich vegetation, 
and cocoanut and clove trees thrive upon it. Even No. 3 
would not rank as a rich soil ; but at Dunga, where the sample 
was taken, the growth upon it is most luxuriant. The 
whole of the eastern part of Zanzibar, with the exception 
of a fringe round the coast, is coral rag. The line which 
marks the division between this and the deep soils begins 
roughly at Kidote to the north of Mkokotoni, makes a 
curve inwards behind Dunga, meeting the sea again below 
Chukwani. This coral country sometimes takes on an 
open park-like appearance, with rock outcropping only 
here and there, and with a deposit of rich vegetable loam, 
from six inches to a foot deep. In other places it is very 
rough ; broken coral covers the surface with spurs pro- 
jecting in every direction, flanked sometimes by great 
holes worn out by water. A rich black mould is lodged 
in the pockets and supports a dense, though stunted, forest 
vegetation. The open park-like expanses were no doubt at 
one time covered with thick forest growth, and in some 
previous age, when the Wahadimu were more populous, 
were regularly cultivated by them, the scrub upon them 
having at last been killed by repeated clearing. The 
greater part of the coral country is iminhabited and un- 



270 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

cultivated. It will not support large trees except the 
mzambarau and the baobab, and cocoanut trees, if planted 
upon it, bear no nuts, but fall a prey to the rhinoceros 
beetle, which ravages the leaves and growing points, aove 
and cocoanut plantations are found upon the deep soils on 
the western portions of the island. 

Three low ranges of hills traverse the greater part of the 
island in a longitudinal direction, the highest point being 
Masingini, 420 feet. 

The soil on the tops of the ranges is a red clayey loam, 
passing into a brown sandy loam in the valleys. The 
richest part of the island is from about Mangapwani on the 
coast, ten miles north of Zanzibar town, to Mbweni in the 
south, and extending to about ten nules inland from this 
base. The soil in the north of the island is generally lighter 
in character than that in the middle. 

In contrast with the gentle undulations of the surface 
of the larger island, Pemba is cut up into a succession of 
steep low hills and valleys. Travelling is laborious, and in 
wet weather difficult, as the valleys are then converted into 
swamps, and the small rivulets, which are far more numerous 
than in Zanzibar, become torrents. 

As in Zanzibar, the west part of the island is the cultivated 
part, though the proportion of waste coral country is far 
less in Pemba, and is confined to a flat strip a few miles 
wide along the east coast, inhabited by Wapemba. The 
soil is generally a sandy clay, sufficiently tenacious to enable 
it to retain moisture in dry weather. The clove trees 
clothe the hill tops and sides, but neither cloves nor cocoa- 
nuts will grow in the valleys, which are principally devoted 
to the cultivation of rice. At Weti are some enormous 
clove trees, probably the largest in the world. The soil 
in the north of Pemba is much lighter and more sandy 
than that in the south, and the surface of the land more 
even. It is covered in places with primeval forest, in 
which the Lm4olphia rubber thrives. There are evidences 



PLANTATIONS MOETGAGFD. 271 

that the whole of the north and east of Pemba was at one 
time covered with forest, which no doubt supported the 
rubber vine, and even to within a few years ago the Wapemba 
were in the habit of cutting down forest to make themselves 
fresh gardens. 

Land in Zanzibar and Pemba is owned principally by 
Arabs, though large numbers of small plantations are owned 
by freed slaves and by Wahadimu and Wapemba. The 
land is held in freehold, and there is always considerable 
demand for plantations that may be in the market, as this 
and house property are the only form of investment open 
to small capitalists. Plantations are valued according 
to the number of cocoanut and clove trees they carry, 
though a complete list of every sort of tree growing is 
generally included in the inventory. Values run from 
two to six rupees per tree, according to locality, condition of 
the plantation, and prevailing prices. The people do not 
understand acreage. 

Many of the Arabs have mortgaged their plantations, 
and are now in the power of the Indians, who exact interest 
at the rate of 20 per cent, per annum and upwards. The 
system adopted is somewhat as follows : an Indian will 
lend an Arab, say, 5,000 rupees, the latter signing a deed 
stating that he has received 8,000 and undertaking to pay 
the interest on that amount. If valued according to 
European standards, the estate would probably be worth 
4,000 rupees as an investment. 

In dealing with the Indian, the Arab gets a larger advance 
than he would from a European, while the probability of 
the former foreclosing is remote, as he could never recover 
the face value of his mortgage ; though it must be confessed 
that the Arab pays dearly for these privileges. 

Some attempts have been made by European capitalists 
to supplant the Indian, but they have not been successful ; 
the former are too cautious and will not risk enough. If 
after investigation, a European capitalist does not consider 



272 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



the investment satisfactory and rejects it, the Arab is liable 
to lose heshima (resp)ect), and is exposed to the suspicion 
among his fellows that his affairs are not altogether as he 
represented them to be. An Indian money-lender on the 
other hand is generally also a trader, and if he cannot 
meet the Arab in one way will compromise with him in 
another. It is not easy to see how the Arabs are to be 
rescued from the financial tangle in which they have become 
involved. 

The abolition of the legal status of slavery in 1897 was 
thought at the time to be full of danger to the landed 
industries of the island, yet it is a remarkable fact that 
since that date plantations in Zanzibar have steadily 
risen in value. Improved markets for both cloves and 
cocoanuts have enhanced the value of trees, but at the same 
time there is, I think, little doubt that the releasing of 
slave labour has brought about an improvement, multipl3dng 
the number of small holders and making it possible for 
Indians who, a few years ago were in the position of 
absentee mortgagees, to obtain labour and work plantations 
themselves. 



273 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CLIMATE. 

Zanzibar has a terrible record of death, and for the men 
who first went out there in the '6o's and '70's it must 
have been anything but a nice place to live in, and might 
even have justified the description of it attributed to 
Mr. Gordon Bennet by Vizetelli in his book "From 
Cyprus to Zanzibar." Mr. Bennet was explaining to Mr. 
Vizetelli that he wanted him to go to Zanzibar to find 
Stanley : " It's an awful place, you know ; you get the 
fever there, and die in a week." The foreshore at that 
time reeked with carrion and garbage from the town, which 
polluted the atmosphere, and even now the odour of 
Melindi Spit, the east-end of Zanzibar city, can be detected 
some distance out at sea. Captain Hamerton, writing 
in 1842, stated that he had seen at one time fifty dead 
bodies of slaves, which had been tlirown on the shore, 
being devoured by the dogs of the town, but in consequence 
of his representations on this shameful practice, the Imaum 
had caused such bodies to be buried. It was the habit 
all over the town to bury the dead amongst the houses, 
commonly under a tree, close to the deceased person's 
habitation. Arabs and the wealthy were properly interred, 
but the poor were wrapped in a mat and placed in such 
shallow holes as scarcely to be concealed from view, while 
slaves were left to putrefy on the beach. 

18 



274 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

The country has improved since those days, and 
Europeans, from experience and tradition, have got to 
understand it better. The town is now supplied with 
good water, which is led in pipes from a spring about two 
miles and a half to the north. It is swept daily and cleared 
of its refuse. Communication with Europe is frequent 
and regular, whereas in the '70's, the island was left some- 
times for six months without a mail. The houses are 
better ; in every way the conditions of life have improved, 
and they continue to improve. While therefore the 
climate of Zanzibar cannot perhaps be described as good, 
it is certainly not so bad as it is sometimes said to be. 

The malaria-bearing Anopheles mosquito had not till 
quite recently been discovered in the town, though its 
existence was detected some years ago at Bunga, but the 
harmless Culex is very prevalent. No systematic measures 
are taken for its extermination, though this would not be 
an impossible task, at least in the European quarter of the 
town. Nor has the now approved method of Uving in 
mosquito-proof houses been adopted, except in the case 
of one or two residents who have made themselves mos- 
quito-proof bedrooms. 

In Pemba mosquitoes are more numerous, and in parts 
when in camp it is necessary to retire into the mosquito 
curtains at sundown. The species in Pemba seem to be 
more vicious, as they will bite through ordinary drill 
trousers. Mosquitoes attack the ankles, wrists, and backs of 
the hands, or wherever the veins are near the skin ; but their 
bite is not very serious unless the place be scratched. Acute 
irritation is set up for a few minutes but soon passes off. 

Probably everyone who goes to Zanzibar and resides 
there any length of time contracts malaria, which manifests 
itself sooner or later in one form or another. The type 
commonly met with is ordinary benign, which may be 
brought on by chills, exposure to the sun and disordered 
digestion ; the three most exciting causes of fever. The 



IMAGINARY AILMENTS. 275 

prevailing symptoms of an approaching attack of fever 
are a feeling of languor with an inclination to yawn and 
stretch, irritability, loss of appetite, headache and aching 
limbs. It is an old saying that at forty a man is either 
a physician or a fool, and it is equally true that with 
experience each man should in time find out the treatment 
that suits him best in an attack of fever. Some en- 
deavour to carry on their daily work and to fight it ; 
others go to bed immediately and physic themselves. 
The treatment that suits one man may not necessarily suit 
another, but once having got rid of the fever in whatever 
manner, it is universally acknowledged to be a dangerous 
thing to dispense too quickly with precautions and tonics, 
and to rim the risk of a relapse. Dr. Hine, Bishop of 
Zanzibar, in some notes addressed in 1904 to the members 
of the Universities* Mission of his diocese on the subject 
of the treatment of fever in the absence of a doctor, mainly 
cautioning them what to avoid doing, condemns among 
other things the use by new comers of " that rather dangerous 
instnunent," a pocket clinical thermometer. " I well 
remember," he writes, " one youth lying in bed with his 
thermometer in his mouth for at least half an hour and being 
quite distressed because, as he said, " I am sure I have fever 
coming on, but I can't make this thing go up.** With those 
people who look upon the doctor and nurse as natural 
enemies engaged in a conspiracy to keep them in bed ; 
with the fidgetty patient who is nervous if his temperature 
reaches loi® and seriously alarmed when it is "subnor- 
mal " ; and others who are haunted with fancies about 
parasites and big spleens, or who quote " what Dr. Manson 
told me,'* and experiment upon themselves and their 
brethren who are weak enough to submit, with the whole 
gamut of the presentation medicine chest, the Bishop 
has no sympathy ; though, as he explains, no one would 
be more surprised than Dr. Manson himself to hear what 
strange utterances he is credited with. 

i8» 



i«»St •.•TT.i::'; :•... 

Ts ,tna , 
; thcv 'ju 



M 



2;6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Natives frequently get fever, often acutely, but it 
does not last long with them, nor does it leave them 
weak and helpless as it does a European. Both natives 
and Arabs live in closely-confined houses, and shut 
all doors and windows at night. Some years ago 
a philanthropist went to Zanzibar, visited one of 
the country prisons and came back to England and 
denoimced the authorities for confining prisoners in rooms 
with no windows in them. But he did not explain, and 
possibly did not know, that native houses seldom or never 
have windows, or, if they have, that they are only small 
squares of glass not meant to open. The native at night 
shuts the whole house up, however hot the weather, and 
sleeps in a confined atmosphere. This is of course contrary 
to our ideas of fresh air, and, in fact, we could not endure 
such conditions, yet there is something to be said for them. 
A cool breeze blowing through the bedroom is very pleasant, 
but if the bed be in a draught so that the chill night 
air can strike the heated body, which is always but lightly 
covered, then no doubt there is risk of a chill. It is 
related by Captain Owen that in 1824, four of a boat's 
crew of the Andromache, who, from unavoidable circum- 
stances, were not able to return on board for the night, 
landed and lay round a large fire on shore instead of sleeping 
in their boat. For nearly a fortnight no ill effects were 
visible, but at the end of that time three died and the 
fourth was invahded home in a broken down condition. 

" Is Zanzibar itself unhealthy ? " was a question put to 
Major-General C. P. Rigby by the Chairman of the Select 
Committee of the House of Commons appointed in 1871 
to enquire into the slave trade of East Africa. " The town 
is not," was the reply, " but it is almost certain death for 
any white man to sleep in the plantations. Some years 
ago the conunodore went with several officers and a boat's 
crew to one of the Sultan's country houses in the interior 
of the island, a distance of about fifteen miles ; they only 



BLACKWATER FEVER. 277 

slept one night in the interior, and a few days afterwards 
the only one of the whole party alive was the one who had 
slept in the boat, the vegetation is so dense and rank." 
The house here referred to (Doonger) is probably Dimga. 
That this lamentable result was not due solely to the un- 
healthiness of the interior of the island is proved by the 
fact that many Europeans have since that time stayed 
at Dunga and other parts of the interior without suffering 
ill effects therefrom, and that the author lived at Dunga 
five years. 

Until quite recent years it was thought that Zanzibar 
was free from blackwater fever. Cases of blackwater fever 
have occurred, but in every instance it was discovered, 
or thought to be discovered, that the patient had con- 
tracted the disease on the mainland. Since the year 1901 
several cases have occurred in Zanzibar and Pemba, namely 
at Dunga, Mtoni and Weti, affecting people who never 
resided on the mainland. I am not aware if scientific 
research has yet determined the special microbe to which 
blackwater fever is due ; but the predisposing causes of 
an attack have been shown to be a succession of low fevers, 
which at the time may be thought little of, and an in- 
judicious appUcation of drugs, especially quinine. Two 
cases of blackwater fever which came under my notice 
appear to me to illustrate the danger of chills. There 
were living with me at Dunga two Europeans ; one a guest, 
the other an official. In July, 1901, I had occasion to go 
to Pemba, and returning in ten days I found one of the men 
dead from blackwater fever, and the other in hospital 
from the same disease. They had lived in the same house 
for months and were struck down within half an hour of 
each other. I had left both in excellent spirits, and 
apparently in fairly good health, though I recalled after- 
wards that one at any rate had been for some time subject 
to slight attacks of fever, a rise in temperature of only a 
degree or two, for which he did not think it necessary to 



278 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

lay up, and that he used to get up early in the morning! 
and take strong doses of quinine. But these men had beer 
in the habit of sitting out in the open air after sunset, anc 
enjoying a cool pipe in their shirtsleeves, after a hot walk 
round the plantations. 

Dysentery is now seldom contracted in Zanzibar, thanks 
to the excellent water supply and the soda-water factories 
that have been established. Small-pox is endemic among 
the natives, and sometimes takes an epidemic form. This 
occurred in the years 1898 and 1901 when thousands in 
the two islands perished. In the latter year several 
thousand natives were vaccinated by the Government, and 
this checked the disease. Natives, especially Wahadimu, 
display a curious antipathy to vaccination, which arises 
from their fear of the witch-doctors and medicine men 
in whose power they have a most abiding faith. The 
medicine men threaten them with the direst penalties if 
they submit to the treatment of the white man ; so that 
instead of the subject, as in this country, being required 
to pay a fee, he will in Zanzibar demand bakshishi for 
allowing himself to be operated upon. In the efficacy of 
the remedy, the Wahadimu have not the smallest belief, 
or if in some cases they may have, they prefer to submit 
themselves to their predestined fate than to the lancet of 
the white man. This curious prejudice against vaccination 
was observed by Captain Smee so long ago as iSri, when 
the island had just recovered from a devastating wave of 
the disease, which carried off 15,000 people in the town 
alone. Nevertheless the people would not consent to be 
vaccinated. Although not ignorant of the danger from 
infection, they are extremely careless about it, especially 
the Wapemba, who will sit round the houses of sick friends 
and scramble for their clothes when they are dead. 

Zanzibar, though geographically in the very centre 
of an affected area, has hitherto escaped the plague. 
Within the last eight years plague has broken out in Bom- 



IMMUNITY FROM PLAGUE. 279 

bay, Mauritius, Madagascar, Durban, Delagoa Bay, 
Nairobi and Aden, all in direct communication with 
Zanzibar. In 1899 a British - India ship arrived at 
Mombasa with coolies for the Uganda Railway, among 
whom plague had appeared. The ship was sent to 
Zanzibar where facilities for provisioning and watering 
are greater than at Mombasa ; she was anchored outside 
the reef, and in the course of about three weeks or a month 
the disease had disappeared and the ship was given a clean 
bill of health. That Zanzibar should have escaped while 
her neighbours one after another became affected is all the 
more remarkable when it is remembered that it is the great 
transhipping port of East Africa, at which all vessels 
proceeding north or south call. In the north-east monsoon 
hundreds of dhows come from Bombay and the Persian 
Gulf, and in the south-west monsoon hundreds more come 
from Madagascar and the neighbouring islands. Admir- 
able precautions for protecting the port were instituted 
and carried out by the late Sir Lloyd Mathews and Doctor 
A. H. Spurrier, special plague officer of Zanzibar and 
British East Africa. It has been pointed out that ships 
arriving in Zanzibar do not lie up at the wharf but dis- 
charge their cargo by means of lighters, which greatly 
reduces the risk of infection through rats. But when 
every allowance is made for this and every credit given 
for skilful and vigilant precautions, it is impossible to 
believe that the germs of plague have not found their way 
into the port even if they have not penetrated the town. 
In March 1902 plague broke out in Nairobi, and the infection 
was subsequently traced to the presence of plague germs, 
which were discovered in some sugary foodstuffs imported 
from Bombay. These germs must have passed through 
Mombasa, but had lain dormant till they reached the cool 
altitudes of the interior. Bombay has a much larger 
trade with Zanzibar than with Mombasa, and it may b* 
assumed that as plague germs have been conveyed to Mom- 



28o ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

basa they have probably ako been conveyed to Zanzibar, 
but have been kept dormant by the even and elevated 
temperature of the island. If this assumption is correct, 
then it is probable that Zanzibar will never become the 
scene of a great outbreak of plague. I believe there is no 
record of an epidemic of plague on the littoral of the 
equatorial belt. There is a huge bazaar in Zanzibar in 
which the Indians live in full liberty of filth, so that if an 
outbreak occurred it would make terrible ravages. 

A few years ago " jiggers " were common in Zanzibar, 
having come across Africa from the West coast, but they 
are now much less prevalent. Isolated cases of sleeping 
sickness have reached the coast, but the species of tetse 
fly which plays the part in the spread of this disease, 
corresponding with that of anopheles in malaria, has not 
yet been discovered in Zanzibar, though search for it has 
been made. The natives of Zanzibar suffer from elephan- 
tiasis, leprosy, ophthalmia, consumption, beri-beri, terrible 
sores, and other prevailing complaints of Africa. The lepers, 
both in Zanzibar and Pemba, are segregated in homes 
supported by the Government. Europeans, apart from 
fever and its complications, enjoy singular immunity from 
disease. 

A few words may be said of the life usually led in 
Zanzibar, though there may be Uttle to add to what has 
been already written on this subject by travellers and 
others. Europeans live in the Arab stone houses, which 
are large, white, rectangular, flat - roofed buildings, two 
or three stories high with an open courtyard in the middle. 
The rooms are long and narrow, their width being regulated 
by the beams of mangrove wood which span them and 
support the ceilings. The flat concrete roof is the best 
style of roof for the country, affording ample protection 
from the sun and rain. Residents in Zanzibar have in 
East Africa the reputation of keeping a good table, the 
principle that the system should be well nourished being 



TIME RECKONING. 281 

thoroughly believed in and practised. Most people rise 
at seven or half-past ; office hours are from eight to four, 
with an interval for lunch, and at half-past four everybody 
turns out for a ride or drive, cricket, tennis, golf, or a sail 
in the harbour. There are admirable links and tennis 
courts ; the Zanzibar cricket team is acknowledged to be 
the best in those parts, being only defeated when the com- 
bined strength of the fleet is once a year pitted against it, 
and not always then. Dinner is announced at eight o'clock 
every evening by a gun fired from the saluting battery 
to call Mohammedans to prayer. The fixing of the time 
at sunset every day is quite an interesting ceremony. The 
Arab whose duty it is to determine the exact moment 
which is to be called six o'clock takes up his position at the 
Sultan's landing pier, watch in hand, and observes the sun 
slowing sink into the horizon. A few seconds before he 
gives the signal he gets up from his seat and advances a 
few paces, so that the man in the clock-tower, and the 
corporal of the guard which is to fire the volley, may more 
accurately observe his movements. He holds up his stick, 
the guard discharge their rifles, the bugle sounds a royal 
salute, the band plays the Sultan's anthem and His High- 
ness, who is supposed to have really given the signal, bows 
his acknowledgments from one of the windows of the palace. 
There are of course two systems of time reckoning, the 
European and the Mohammedan, the latter being from six 
to six, so that Saa tatu, the third hour, is equivalent to our 
nine o'clock. In all dealings with Arabs or natives Moham- 
medan time is kept. 

The Moslem year consists of twelve lunar months of 29 or 
30 days each, making altogether 354 days. Eleven times 
in every cycle of thirty years a day is added to the last 
month of the year, which then contains 30 instead of 29 
days and the year is stretched to 355 days. In official and 
business transactions, which are controlled by Europeans, 
the Gregorian calendar is used, Sunday being the dies non, 



282 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

when all offices are closed, but Friday is the Moslem holy 
day and day of rest. I suppose no one is more tolerant 
of other people's religious beliefs and observances than 
an Englishman, and in Zanzibar scrupulous regard is paid 
to the susceptibilities of Mohammedans, whose religion 
is recognised to be that of the country and whose laws 
are as far as possible administered. Nevertheless, while 
he leaves the Arabs to arrange their week as they like, 
respects their day of rest and will even date his letters to 
them according to the traditions of Islam, yet the English- 
man declines to open his office for them on Sunday. He is 
not perhaps considered very religious, still he insists on 
his Sunday and on his church, though he may not attend 
it very often. 

The ordinary native of Zanzibar takes little heed of the 
course of years and has but the vaguest notion of periods of 
time beyond a year or two. I never met a native who could 
accurately state his age nor heard of anyone celebrating 
a birthday. In Zanzibar events are referred to the reign 
of the Sultan who happened to occupy the throne at the 
time of their occurrence. A man will state for instance that 
he was born in the time of Seyyid Majid ; another that 
he was freed in the time of Seyyid Khalifa. 

The temperature in which one lives in the house in 
Zanzibar averages about 80*^ F.^ In the shade in the 
town, it ranges from a minimum of 69° to a maximum of 
93°, and from 60° to 98^ at Dimga. Thus there is an 
extreme range during the year of 24° in the town and o\ 
about 38° in the country. The average for a number of 
years would work out at a little less than these figures. 
Captain Hamerton in 1855 found the thermometer ranged 
from 71° to 90° and estimated the rainfall at from 84 to 
100 inches. 

Meteorological observations have for some years been 
kept in Zanzibar by Doctor Charlesworth ; since 1898 by 
the staff of the Agricultural Department at Dimga ; and 



TEMPERATURE. 283 

since 1899 by the Friends' Industrial Mission at Banani, 
Pemba. 

The mass of masonry in the town stores up the heat 
of the day, and releasing it at night prevents the tempera- 
ture in the town falling to the extent that it does in the 
country, where radiation can proceed unchecked. The 
proximity of the sea also tends to moderate the temperature 
of the town. No records have been taken of the maximum 
temperature in the sun. The condition in the narrow 
white streets of Zanzibar at midday in the hot season 
resembles that of a furnace, and is even greater than the 
choking heat experienced in the clove plantations. The 
hottest months are January, February and March ; No- 
vember, December and the early part of April before the 
rains have set in are often trying, as at these times the 
monsoons may have ceased to blow. Pemba is supposed 
to be hotter than Zanzibar, but the records at Banani do 
not confirm this view. Their extremes and means are 
both within the limits of those recorded at Dunga. Pemba 
is a degree nearer the equator, but on the other hand it 
is a small island much indented, so that no part of it is 
very far from the sea. The temperature of both islands, 
it will be observed by reference to the tables in the appen- 
dix, is very even and regular, but the heat is aggravated 
by the extreme humidity of the air which, in the rainy 
season, will register over 95 per cent. The difference 
between the temperature of the hot and cool seasons is 
slight, and it is only after a year or two's residence that it 
comes to be fully appreciated. To the newcomer both are 
trying, but the old resident who knows how to dress and 
to take advantage of the breeze which is nearly always 
blowing, and understands the importance of keeping out 
of the sun, enjoys the cool months from June to September, 
and gets through the hot season without much discomfort. 
Newcomers are apt to think lightly of the power of the sun, 
but the Zanzibar sun is a terrible enemy to the European. 



284 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Its rays seem to fall all round him like a cataract. Cork 
helmets are not sufficient protection to the head ; nothing 
in fact except pith is really safe ; and there are some men 
who never go out in the sun without their " life preservers," 
as white umbrellas are sometimes called. An old African 
will not even allow a ray of sunshine to fall into the room 
anywhere near where he may be sitting. No European could 
stand a regular outdoor life in Zanzibar. If his occupation 
should be in the country, he should contrive to get through 
his outdoor work by nine in the morning, and keep in- 
doors till three. If he makes a practice of keeping out 
till eleven or twelve, he will not last long. 

The average rainfall in the town may be set down at 
about 60 inches per annum. The lowest fall on record 
was the year 1898, when only 27.49 inches were registered. 
In 1900, 74.05 inches were recorded, the highest for twenty 
years of observation. At Dunga 97.94 inches fell in 
1899, 87.60 in 1901 ; at Banani 105.24 inches were 
recorded in 1899, ^t^d 92.78 in 1901. The greatest fall in 
one month was that of May 1899, when 60.68 inches were 
measured by Sir John Key at Weti, Pemba. On May 2 
of that year 11. 12 inches fell at Weti, which is the record, 
I believe, for East Africa. April is the wettest month, then 
May, then December ; June and August are the driest 
months, but no month ever goes by without a little rain. 
There is often a shower between three and four o'clock in 
the morning, when the temperature is at its lowest. A 
reference to the tables will show that rain falls on nearly 
half the number of days in the year. There are two 
rainy seasons, the most important being in April and May, 
when the north-east monsoon has ceased to blow and the 
south-west is setting in. The rains may begin any time 
after the beginning of March, though usually not till the 
middle or close of that month. They come down in terrific 
floods, and penetrate windows and walls ; iron roofs will 
not keep them out, and mackintoshes and umbrellas are 



RAIN AND DEW. 285 

practically of no use. The land, being very porous, quickly 
dries, and a few hours' hot sun is generally sufficient, except 
in flood-time, to restore the roads to their normal condition. 
In 1899 all the bridges in the island were washed away, 
and many houses were unroofed. There was scarcely 
a house in the town in which, on the worst nights of April, 
the residents were not flooded out of their bedrooms. The 
lesser rains occur in November and December, rarely at 
the latter end of October ; but they are very uncertain 
and sometimes do not arrive until January. The rainy 
season in Pemba is often a month later than in Zanzibar. 
The big rains travel in a northerly direction, following the 
course of the sun, and arrive at Mombasa in May and at 
Kismayu in Jime. The rainfall is Jess in the northern coast 
ports than in the southern ; Dar-es-Salaam, for example, 
having greater rainfall than Mombasa, and Mombasa again 
than Kismayu. But no place on the coast equals Zanzibar 
either in amount or distribution of its rainfall. The 
great commercial and industrial prosperity of Zanzibar 
must be traced to this, and it will help to keep her in the 
future the chief centre of activity in East Africa. 

Heavy dews fall nightly and saturate all vegetation. 
The dew not only provides the soil with a light draught 
of moisture, but it enables plants to ward off for a con- 
siderable time in the morning the withering effect of the 
sun's heat. Dews are dangerous for Europeans, especially 
in the plantations where they begin to fall immediately 
after sunset. The sun sinks so rapidly that there is no 
intervening twilight between daylight and darkness to 
allow for the gradual cooling of the air. In the town the 
heat from the houses postpones the fall of dew till half- 
past seven or eight o'clock. Next to exposure to the sun 
probably more mischief has been caused through the 
effect of dews than from anything else in Zanzibar. 

Not that there is anything intrinsically injurious in the 
dew itself ; but with the conditions under which its influence 



286 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

is felt it is mischievous. Sunset is the time when one 
generally returns heated from a walk, a ride, or a 
game of tennis, and to sit down in the dew and rapidly 
falling temperature is a certain way to invite a chill. 

The breeze which is always blowing in Zanzibar, except 
in brief intervals between the monsoons, has an average 
rate of six miles, in the height of the monsoon ten 
or fifteen miles an hour. The north-east monsoon begins 
to blow about December and goes on till March. It is 
known locally as the Kaskas. The Kusi, or the south- 
west monsoon, begins with the rains of April and con- 
tinues till October. Though violent squalls often sweep 
down upon the island, such a thing as a really heavy gale 
of wind is very rare. Zanzibar fortunately lies out of the 
track of cyclones. The only occasion on record on which 
Zanzibar has ever been visited by a hurricane was on 
August 15, 1872. It began to blow at eleven o'clock on 
the night of the 14th from the south or south-west, and 
continued until 1.30 p.m. the next day, when there was 
a lull of half an hour. The storm then suddenly burst 
upon the island in greater fury from the north, and raged 
for about three hours. Every ship and dhow in the 
harbour was driven ashore save one, an EngUsh steamship, 
the AbydoSy Captain Gumming, which by steaming at full 
speed was able to keep her moorings. The town was 
wrecked, the clove and cocoanut plantations levelled, and 
many people were killed and drowned. The interior of 
the island must have presented a curious sight ; as when 
one travels in it now, it is difficult to see more than a few 
yards in any direction, because of the abundant tree 
growth. Natives who remember the cyclone, declare 
that when the hurricane was over they could see for miles, 
as everything was blown flat. The storm seems to have 
been preceded by about a month of heavy rain and 
thunder storms, violent weather continuing for some time 
afterwards. It did not visit Pemba, so the clove trees 



STORMS. 287 

on that island were not blown down. This partly accounts 
for their large size. On December 10, 1903, a severe storm 
from the west burst upon Zanzibar, but it was not nearly 
of such violence as that of 1872. It resembled the tor- 
nadoes of the west coast, and occurred just as the north- 
east monsoon was setting in. It may possibly be accounted 
for by the acciunulation of a curtain of moisture in the 
channel between the island and the coast, formed by a 
deadlock between the westerly winds from the mainland 
and the newly-arrived north-east monsoon from the Indian 
Ocean, the former at length bursting through the 
obstruction. The storm was local, about seven miles 
wide, its centre striking the town, where much damage 
was done. Fifty dhows were driven ashore, but most 
of them were got off again. Tlie plantations suffered 
little damage ; the clove trees none at all ; one boy appears 
to have been killed by a falling tree. The storm occurred 
at five o'clock in the morning, when the fishermen had not 
as yet gone out. Its effects were not felt on the mainland 
or in Pemba. 

Summer lightning is almost a daily occurrence in the 
hot months, and the heavy rains are often accompanied 
by heavy thunderstorms. Yet as a general rule thunder- 
storms are far less severe in Zanzibar than they are in 
England. On September 14, 1903, a meteor of great 
brilliancy passed over Zanzibar about 7.30 p.m. It came 
out of the west and travelled almost due east, lighting 
up the sky like a full moon, and descended into the Indian 
Ocean with a loud report. It was observed in Pemba 
and upon the mainland, but few Europeans in Zanzibar 
saw it, as at that time of the day most people were in their 
houses. The medicine men divined, doubtless from the 
direction whence it came, that in the coming year trade 
would undergo a great stimulus ; many people would 
come over from the mainland to trade, while in Zanzibar 
everyone would enjoy special freedom from epidemic 



\ 



288 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

diseases. Arabs with whom I have conversed, describ 
a magnificent display of shooting stars w^hich they n 
member to have seen years ago, which I have little doub 
refers to the Leonids of 1866. 

Waterspouts are seen in the harbour and the channe 
during the stormy weather in the early part of the soutl 
west monsoon and must often cause destruction to th 
small dug-outs in which the fishermen will venture fc 
miles out to sea, even to Pemba and the mainland. 

No account of the climate in Zanzibar would be complet 
without reference to the glorious moonlight effects tha 
may be observed. The intensity of the moon's light a 
the equator, compared with that in temperate climate 
is probably known to astronomers, but however it may b 
mathematically expressed it is certainly considerable. Th 
nights are generally still save for the hum of insect lif^ 
the croaking of frogs in stagnant pools in the valleys, am 
the occasional thud of a falling palm leaf. Palm tree 
are for the moonlight, and all tropical vegetation seem 
to enjoy its cool and mellow beams, which, while the 
conceal the blemishes and irregularities of growth re 
vealed by the searching and brilliant light of the sun 
accentuate the grace and outline of form. No sceni 
effect at Earl's Court could reproduce the sweet influence 
of moonUght upon the harbour, with the sea like a shee 
of glass ; to the north the dliows, herded together withi 
a few yards of the shore ; a sailing ship or two ; the mai 
boats each with its brood of barges and coal Ughters ; 
war ship off Shangani, and a multitude of boats at th 
beach, or hurrying to and from the ships. Yellow light 
glitter in the town, though feeble compared with th 
brilliant electric light of the Sultan's palace. 

Stars, too, shine much more brilliantly at the equator tha 
in higher latitudes, app)earing within half an hour after sunset 
As the nights are nearly always clear, opportunities for th 
study of the heavenly bodies are exceptionally favourable 




Malindi, Zanzibar. 



[To face page 288. 



CLEAR ATMOSPHERE. 



289 



The faint column of the zodiacal light, projected into 
the evening sky as it follows the sun through the seasons ; 
the grand procession of the planets ; the rise of the 
constellations are all so clearly defined, so near and so 
real, as to intensify the awful silence of the celestial 
depths. 




APPENDICES 



19* 



f 



APPENDIX I 



RULERS OF ZANZIBAR. 



NAME. 


DATE. 


Said bin Sultan 

Majid bin Said 

Barghash bin Said 

Khalifa bin Said 

Ali bin Said 

Hamed bin Thuwaini 

Hamoud bin Mohammed 

Ali bin Hamoud 


November 20, 1804 to October 19, 1856 
October 28, 1856 „ October 7, 1870 
October 7, 1870 „ March 27, 1888 
March 29, 1888 „ February 14, 1890 
February 14, 1890 „ March 5, 1893 
March 7, 1893 „ August 25, 1896 
August 27, 1896 „ July 18, 1902 
July 20, 1902 Whom God preserve 



294 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



APPENDIX II. 

Meteorological observations recorded by the Agricultural Depart- 
ment at Dunga, Dr. F. Charlesworth at Zanzibar Town, and the 
Friends' Industrial Mission, Banani, Pemba. 



1899. 







MEAN TEMPERATURES. 


RAIN. 


"S 
















^ 


M 










^ 






& 


It 

IS 


.0 
1 


PQ 

1 


B 

3 
g 

a 


B 

9 
B 
*2 

2 


1 
1 


"& 

X 


1 


c 


•s 


Zanzibar, 30. 1 55 


78.9 


73.6 i 84.2 i 76.2 1 8.0 


90.2 


69.0 


66.69 


144 


Dunga . 


30.023 


77.9 


74.0 1 87.3 , 70.7 j 16.6 


98.1 


61.5 


97-94 


i«3 


Banani . 




... 


.. 1 83.3 1 70.2 1 13. 1 


92.0 


65.0 


105.24 


149 


Weti ... 


... 


... 


... . ... , ... 1 ... 


... 


... 


9fe.<)9 


147 



n 



APPENDIX 11. 



295 



o 

OS 



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Q 



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1 


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l>oaj| lwq3iH c 




1 


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+'Xia tantujuijv 




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Q4Q ChoO 00 00 QQ 00 00 « OG A 00 




^l"a 1»M 




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r|%..4l|l|l 

^,Ui *.=, ■< pr-. t^t—,< C/} ^ W « 



a 



6A 

a 

•c 

a 

I 



9 
IB 



B 
g 



296 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



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OS 



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O 
H 

l-H 

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<: 









_ ^ O Q O O V 

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4i ^-3 

f5 s 












!>. 1^ r^ 1^ ^% o. r<. jh^\o fH, ^ 1^ 



IN. 



dvM d C?^ f^ r^ « ITS 1^ *^i'® 

00 ^ ^ 00 00 so 00 00 QQ QD QO 00 



t^t^t^t^a^ doodad d^ 



SQ 00 r^ 






Oi \f^ 06 "^^^ -i M *-- i-i fh ""i-^ 

QO 4C DC ?0 w QC QOi QO OO 00 QO w 






od 



4 



4 
00 









4 



00 



« ^ a* ^ 4A0O iiO 00 TO (i ^ li-i 



§ I- S - ^ 



dddg^ddddd ddd 



^ 



o 













i 



>. ^ t> 



5^ a Si U 

K^ W W *- g 5j 

l-o-^.s s i I 

? C<5 o § «^ 

I li ^ 



APPENDIX II. 



297 



BANANI, PEMBA, 1901. 



I90I. 


Mean 
max. 


Mean 
min. 


Absolute 
max. 


Absolute 
min. 


Rainy 
days. 


Rain- 
fall. 


January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 
December 


84.56 
82.50 
85.80 
81.90 
80.22 
78.90 
7846 
79.16 

83.18 

8293 
83.50 


73.80 
71.90 

74.23 
70.62 
70.05 
68.10 
67.10 
67.26 
67.38 
69.50 
71.48 
7300 


90.0 
85.0 

87.0 
84.0 
83.0 
80.0 
82.0 
83.0 
86.0 
87.0 
87.0 


70.0 
68.0 
72.5 
70.0 
68.0 
66.0 
66.0 
66.0 
65.0 
67.0 
70.0 
71.0 

650 


13 
13 
12 

23 

n 

14 
II 

i 

13 
13 


4.00 
12.09 

6.54 
20.79 
27.40 

|:S 

0.93 
0.90 

2.73 


Year 


81.80 


70.37 


90.5 


166 


1 
92.78 1 



HIGHEST TEMPERATURE TAKEN IN SUN 175° 



Years. 


Mean 
max. 


Mean 
min. 


Absolute 
max. 


Absolute 
min. 


Rainy 
days. 


Rain- 
fall. 


1899 

1900 

1901 


83.30 


70.20 
71-30 
70.37 


92.00 
95.00 
90.50 


65.00 
66.00 
65.00 


149 
160 
166 


105.24 
90.3s 
92.78 



i 



29» 



ZANZIBAR AV CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



o 






y 



8.1 






tifvi siCvp JO •o.v 






IlirjonfH 






■jtioq jKKi s»{nu 



'amnfTaf|iq 



t 

■3 













a 


1 

1 


a© A dk'^d «^i>d t^ 1^ wt rn v« 




o 


« **! — %o 'vnooaoo ft a a ao 




o 


a 

so 


o 






o 






o 




••• 


o 




£• 





r^ r^ r^ ^ r^ r^ c^ r^ r^ r^ isl t^ 


00 



'9i9qd«ottiiv 

|0 SJtttMltl U19)l^ 






•jQO eg 00 '*>^N r^r^ o O 



8. 



I 



: ! 



fl 



|J5jS 



A>2 




§ 

E 



\ 



APPENDIX II. 



299 



o 

OS 



o 

H 
< 

l-H 

S3 

:z: 

< 

S) 



;2 



-3 

a 



.si 



bi 






'sjvaX gi 
loj )unouiir adusAy 



5 = R^ ;?^5,r.'8?S.'2 



■sdqoui ui lunouiy 



•sXrp JO 'oi^ 



W fO »0 O^ <*>\P ^t* ^ fOOO ro fO 

(3 f^vx5 dv f^<5 "^d e<vx5 t;.<5 



^u> >o «n o^ u^ r 






S 



•§ 

^ 



E! 
B 

V 



*93UB^ 



00 i-i d d 



^0 »«» 0^000 O H t% 



g *q)UOUI JOj )S9MOq 



O O «nOO N ^0 N O O O ^00 



i^ i5^ dv dK fd>> 4- 1>^\4 i^ "^ *^ 

QO 30 CO OO 00 OQ OQ QD QQ dO Q> O^ 



fiinuq >£ '^U7^ 






tiiioq t7 'uiniuiuijf^ 



^noq tz 'utauiu(«jj^ 



mi g 'mna i^W 



TU-w 8 'qpa iti<i 



•UITBg 

*ajdqdsoui)v jo ainssdij u^lV 



d^^d^o(i t4. i^ fH r*j 1^ H>*36 p6 
fr^ r^ t^ t^ 1^ f^ r^ t^ ^H, F^ r% t^ 



QQ w QO QO QD 00 flO 00 ^ 00 OlO W 



*^OOV ^^%noOoooo^ 



^^ ^1 ^> ^> ^4 ^> ^4 ^4 ^4 ^^ ^4 ^J 









DO 



W1 
00 



^ ^ ^ ^ 5^ *^^ ^ t4. d^ « 4 <J^ 
90Q0W00 ^-^^^^^^^^ t^og 00 r^ 



ft 



H 

is 

o 



5^r : --Isll 



300 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



BANANI, PEMBA, 1902. 





Mean 


Mean 


Absolute 


Absolute 


Wet 


Rain- 


1902. 


max. 


min. 




min. 


days. 


fall. 




















January 


8339 


72.24 


87.00 


7a 00 


2 


0.05 


February 


8323 


72.17 


88.00 


70-50 


8 


3-31 


March 


86.00 


74.00 


91.00 


71.50 


17 


6.35 


April ... 


84.25 


73.66 


87.00 


72.00 


21 


II. 16 


May 


82.00 


72.23 


85.00 


7aoo 


20 


8-97 


Tune 

July 


81.07 


7a 00 


83.50 


68.00 


7 


2.69 


79.67 


68.69 


82.00 


67.00 


8 


3.06 


August 


8ai4 


68.70 


82.00 


67.00 


3 


0.13 


September 


82.18 


69.40 


85.50 


67.00 


4 


a 76 


October 


83-34 


7a 20 


86.50 


68.00 


10 


4.18 


November 


83.50 


72.10 


88.00 


7aoo 


21 


23.00 


December 


84.71 


73.43 


89.00 
91.00 


7aoo 
67.00 


u 


5.06 


For the year 


82.79 


71.40 


>32 


68.72 



RAINFALL. 



1898 

1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 



Zanzibar. 

27.49 
66.69 
7405 
73-65 
66.30 



Dunga. 

1 4- 98 (7 months) 

97-94 
(79 09) 

87.60 
85.61 



Banani. 

) 
105.24 

90.3s 
92.78 
68.72 



APPENDIX II. 



301 



O 



< 

O 



IH 


2»*tS^'«=S"£2'^'« 


« 


it 




% 
s 


M 


1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 


1 


Wind 

Average 

MUes 

Hour. 




in 










■papj039>[ 

IsaMoq 




<3 


■pspjosA}] 


HQO ^ ^w>o u^ 





1^ 


s| 




ge 
tt 


si 


r% r^ i^ r^ !>. r* r^^ ^^ t^^^ 


li 


U-i f*l^ 000 f1 ^ ^ *- f^OQ 00 




ll 


11 


On H *a r-.« « k/^sO TT O^ ^ Ov 



in 


fl 






tl4\ 




1 
^ 


1 




i 



302 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



to 
o 



O 

< 
m 

N 
55 

< 



i 

B 



vt 






I 



2.^ 



as 2 



i «^^j>o6 »^ (5 M ei c« rooo 



ro O^ ro ON O^ 'TOO i^ »*• O^^O eo 









»*• ^ ^ O O ChO O O O ^ r>. 
SvW Ov OvOO 0?00 00 S S woS 




»i* too *0 w N ^avrs.i-1 M 



f^de^oovdob fo ro 'f »o i«i.o6 
00 r^r^i^r^t^r^*^i^»^i^i^ 



O 

00 
00 



00 



MOO MOO O ct ooo M mo q 

OvS « 00 oJoJo?* 00 00 »w 



J!:^ 






M »«. ON O ^ t^ ChO ^ ** o »^ 
M IS.M is.«ArOM r'jro »^sd In. 
00 1^ »*• rs. »*• rs. »*• rs. rs. tN rs. t^ 



00 vO 00 O rO OvO N fO (>«(>« In. 

tA C< f^ M 00 ^d »^^d t^ d^*i J^ 
00000000 i^r^t^r>.rs. t^oo oo 



OS 



2 ^ 



11° 

"^ K* 00 



'H 



s 









I 



APPENDIX II. 



303 



BANANI, PEMBA, 1903. 



1903- 


Mean 
Max. 


Mean 
Min. 


Absolute 
Max. 


Absolute 
Min. 


Rainy 
Days. 


Rain- 
fed!. 


January 
February 
March . 
April . 
May . 
June 
July . 
August . 
Septemb 
October 
Novemlx 
Decembe 


tr . 

ir . 

r 





84.60 
8460 
8670 
83.10 
80.30 
81.35 
79.37 
79.51 
80.90 
82.83 
80.90 
83.16 


73.90 
73.12 

75-19 
72.50 
71.00 
70-48 

^Ts 

68.60 
7aoi 
71.68 
72.26 


9a 00 
89.50 

V^ 

85.00 
83.00 
82.00 
84.00 
84.00 
86.00 
86.00 
87.00 


70.50 
71.00 
71.50 
7aoo 
68.50 
69.00 
66.00 
67.00 

%.^ 

7aoo 
7aoo 


5 

4 
5 

24 
24 
13 
15 

2 
II 
15 


4.90 
2.00 
1.40 
13.09 
17.93 
5.22 

3.15 
1.14 
a 52 
1.91 
2.65 
9.33 


Year 


82.28 


71.43 


86.21 


69.08 


138 


63.24 




? 
'^ 



"\^ygr\ .ntwin/ 






TKVft3ft»ff 






— ' 5 



— = c 













J ll 













5 ;? 4^.^_s_s_^sJ. « 



^^ s» 



1^ 



=3" 






« v^fts^* 



ib^ }t"^^Q Ok 1^ i "^ <5 a 



»fl wig 









2rf 






§l§s 



8si 



^ 


i 


1m . 







APPENDIX III, 



305 



APPENDIX III. 



FINANCE. 
The revenues of Zanzibar are derived chiefly from import and 
export duties, shipping dues, registration and market fees, a tax of 
two dollars on each hut, and from the Post Office and Crown 
property. There are also considerable revenues from the continental 
territories; the British East Africa Administration pays ;;^i 1,000 
annually for the ten mile wide coast strip of that Protectorate ; the 
interest on the ;;^2oo,ooo received from Germany amounts annually 
to ;;^6,ooo, and the rent paid by the Italian Benadir Company 
amounted to ;;^8,ooo a year. Under the arrangement made in 
January, 1905, the Italian Government takes over from the company 
the administration of the Benadir Territory, having acquired from 
Zanzibar sovereign rights on payment of the sum of ;;^ 144,000 at 
once, instead of an annual rent 

The revenue from customs, the total revenue (exclusive of loans) 
and the total expenditure in twelve years are shown as follows : — 



Years. 


Revenue. 


EXFENDI- 

TUHK, 


From Customs. 


Total 
Revenue. 




Import 


Ex Don 


Other 


Total 






Duties. 


Duties. 


sources. 


Customs. 

£ 








£ 


£ 


£ 


£ 


£ 


1S92 


3.8S0 


32,030 


10.740 


46,650 


73.113 


70,980 


1S93 


1,500 


32,746 


5.567 


391813 


74i336 


72.706 


1S94 


V7 


33.nS 


6.60s 


40,040 


96.770 


94*693 


i»95 


1,487 


39.S63 


7i793 


491143 


113,404 


101,623 


1896 


i.S^ 


35,927 


7,571 


35^027 


102,594 


142.029 


iS97 


1,978 


25. 'SS 


S,6oi 


35*734 


105,363 
127*528 


117*479 


^SgS 


7*3S2 

12,&7i 


46.866 


10,420 


62,140 


121*335 


1899 


i"t56s 


71-104 


118,249 


133,374 
!3i*8f2 


1900 


35. J 04 


31*719 


11*033 


67,856 


114*565 


1901 


*J,49? 


40,007 


11,5^ 


75i02S 


r4S,n2 


121,581 


1902 


13,916 


36.614 


io,S69 


70,399 


140, J 19 


1903 


^i593 


40,418 


9,062 


74072 


148,590 


121.439 



20 



3o6 



ZANZIBAR IX CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 



The oatstanding debt of Zaumbor, at the end of 1894, and sabse- 
qoent years, was : — 



Vcai& 


1 
DeU. j 


Yens. 

1 


Dd)C 




£ \ 


i 


£ 


I&M 


J5.O0O 


tS99 1 


83.000 


1895 


3S-O0O 


1900 , 


83.000 


•896 


35-000 1 


1901 


96,000 


1897 


35000 j 


1902 


ioo»ooo 


1898 


4«.ooo 


1903 

t 


95^333 



^T' I ^m I V ' 



APPENDIX IV. 



307 



APPENDIX IV. 

COMMERCE. 

Total Value of Imports and Exports into and from the Port 
of Zanzibar during each of the Years ended December 31, 1892 
to 1903. 



Years. 


j Tm PORTS. ; 


1 - 


Expoiir*3. 




■k%^ 


1-^ 


^g| 


si.? 


1 


!ll. 




Pi 


^^ 


^3 ^^S 




^l 


^'^^^ 




^^4; 


^■2 


sil^ 


i ^M^ 


^^ 


3|1^ 




d|S 


els 


a-^1^ 


' :3^s 


s.g 


^0-^ 




0-= 


E 




^^ 


^ 


^r^^§ 




jff 


J^ 


^ 


;f 


^ 


Z 


1892 


1*185,330 


Not Slated 


'02,33s 


908.036 


Not slated 


105,028 


1S93 


'.I4&»?S9 


74^740 


93.793 


1.002.035 


119-233 


iii,So6 


1S94 


M9?^^^' 


69.804 


96,296 


1 1,096,240 


135,109, 


i67,9"J 


^^95 


1,293,646 


133,488 


91. '6j 


M99*84i 


Not stated 


153.594 


IS^ 


1,275,470 


80,005 


Il8,Q22 


! M 58,806 


t37.SSr 


129.199 


1897 


1.J99.07S 


1 18.591 


159,894 


I.1S9.66S 


150,952 


162,422 


189S 


».SSSi07o 


115,619 


t2lH2I] 


1-497.&83 


205,730 


114,716 


1S99 


[,596,606 


100,163 


146.143 


iiSi3,407 


176.438 


116,964 


1900 (aj 


1,116,041 


94i7iS 


106,400 


1|J67>794 


137,817 


106,165 


I9OJ 


1,196,831 


166,048 


107,205 


m68,5j8 


i49>355 


83,095 


1902 


1,106,247 


48.206 


156,503 


i,oSo,277 


108,194 


90,852 


"903 


1. 0J3i 1 3S 


S9*toi 


114-846 


1 1,054,846 


89,149 


88,777 



Note. — Conversions into £ sterling have been made at the rate of is. 3d. per 
rupee in 1892 and 1893 ; is. i^d. in 1894 and 1895 ; is. 2id. in 1896 ; is. 3id. 
in 1897, and is. 4d. in later years. 

(a) The trade carried on with other portions of the Sultan*s dominions is 
excluded after the year 1899. 



20* 



3o8 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



I 


H 


1 




1 Irf^ 


f 




•S 

i 

s 

2 


i 




1 i <>o 


1-^ 

a- 
1 




1 




* 1 


0^ 




s 

1 


1 




S 


1 


8 


1 




t 




» 

fl 

1 






i 






1 


1 

9 


4-» 

ctf 

1 


1 




QO 

- 


c 


It 

3 


1 








* 


8 


^ . .1 1 1 

l^alT "lilt # 


1 





APPENDIX V. 



309 



APPENDIX V. 



RATES OF CUSTOMS DUTIES ON IMPORTS AND 
EXPORTS. 



ARTICLES. 

Import Duties, 

Beeswax, coal, coins, Colombo root, copal, copra, 
gum arabic, gunny bags, hides, hippopotamus 
teeth, ivory, orchella weed, rhinoceros horns, 
rubber, shells, skins, sim-sim, and tortoiseshell ... 

Distilled liquors, at 50** Gay Lussac alcoholometer at 
15^ C. per gallon 

All other goods ad valorem 

Export Duties, 

Ebony, shells, tobacco ad valorem 

Orchella weed, borities (Zanzibar poles and rafters), 
chillies, hippopotamus teeth, hides, rhinoceros 

horns, and tortoiseshell ad valorem 

Ground nuts and sim-sim „ 

Copal, ivory, and rubber „ 

Cloves, stems, and mother of cloves ... „ 

Grain per 360 lbs. 

Rice in husks ... 
Chiroko beans... 

Camels each 

Cattle and donkeys 

Horses 

Sheep and goats 

Importation of alcoholic liquors for consumption 
not permitted. 



RATES. 



Free. 

2 rupees. 
5 per cent. 

S per cent. 



10 per cent. 
12 

25 

35 c«"^s. 

25 » 

1 dollar IOC 

2 dollars. 
I dollar. 

10 dollars. 
25 cents. 

by natives is 



3IO 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES, 



APPENDIX \1. 

SHIPPING. 

The port of Zanzibar is visited by the vesseb of the British 
India Steam NaTigation Company, the Gennan East Africa line, 
and the Messageries Maritimes In 1903 the Austrian Lloyd 
Company b^an a service between Trieste and Durban, the vessels 
calling at Zanzibar. The number and tonnage of vessels engaged 
in the foreign trade that entered the port in tweh^ calendar years 
are given as follows : — 



v««. 


Bntisk. 




Tfit»l, 
















X<k 


! T«-. 


N(x 


To<». 


Xa 


Tons. 


'!? 


44 


^^ 


los 


ifiJtJ^ 


149 


31&,44& 


■!» 


45 


S^^S 


5* 


i*9^»99 


129 


i87p7S2 


1894 


^ 


7i*23S 


S3 


123,251 


126 


i9i.4S6 


^^ 


JQ 


99.US 


iOE> 


"44*467 


170 


^43.6** 


'&? 


64 


98.^1 


9fi 


"45*993 


160 


^44.366 


^ 


4$ 


7S*<>*J 


tax 


■70.355 


150 


^S.36S 


6> 


9U^ 


171 


194.940 


1S3 


2S6,309 


iSm 


!» 


103*457 
107,983 


139 


^ifSfH 


198 


5^96' 


19D0 


&t 


145 


y»>>4^ 


*?^ 


J4S.405 


1901 


5S 


9^.S04 


"3 


305,JJ6 


168 


S97.740 


1901 


r* 1 


1^3,^5 


"3 


229*630 


193 


35^905 


1905 


85 


161,466 


J43 


n«.»so 


226 


44P>7l^ 



APPENDIX VI. 



311 



The nationality of the vessels which entered in 1902 and 1903 
was as follows : — 



Nationality. 


1902. 


1903- 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


British 

Austro-Hungarian 

French 

German 

Norw^ian 

Others 


70 

4 

il 

4 
I 


123.27s 

6,962 

48,602 

168.07s 


83 
12 

24 

100 

6 

I 


162,466 
26,344 

196,602 


Total ... 


193 


3S2.90S 


226 


440,716 



The increase in the number and tonnage of the vessels which 
entered in 1903 was due partly to re-arrangement of the traffic by 
the British India and German East Africa lines, their vessels having 
visited the port more frequently, and partly to the inauguration of 
the Austrian Lloyd service. 



^ 
I 


L 


1 


^^^^A 


«^ 


IB 



312 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



APPENDIX VII. 

Fairly representative samples of the soils of Zanzibar Island were 
in January, 1897, sent home to Dr. Augustus Voelker, consulting 
chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The 
following are the figures of the Analyses: — 



No. I. 

^Organic matter and loss on heating 

Oxide of Iron 

Alumina 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Potash 

Soda 

Phosphoric Acid 

Sulphuric Acid 

Insoluble Silicates and Sand ... 




loaoo 



♦Containing Nitrogen 


ao9 


No. 3. 






Dried at 212** F. 


♦Organic matter and loss on heating 

Oxide of Iron 


8.20 


6.49 


Alumina 


... 15.06 


Lime 


a4o 


Magnesia 


0-37 


Potash 


a29 


Soda 


a 10 


Phosphoric Acid 


a26 


Sulphuric Acid 


ao3 


Insoluble Silicates and Sand 


... 6&83 




loaoo 



♦Containing Nitrogen ... 



a 16 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 313 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

February 21, 1853. 

A Bill for carrying into effect the Engagement between 
Her Majesty and Syed Syf bin Hamood. 

A.D. 1869. 

A Bill to regulate and extend the Jiirisdiction of Her 
Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar. 

January 24, 1870. 

Report addressed to the Earl of Clarendon by the Com- 
mittee on the East African Slave Trade. 

January i to December 31, 1870. 

Class B, East Coast of Africa. Correspondence respect- 
ing the Slave Trade and other matters. 

August 4, 1871. 

Report Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa). 

1872-73. 

Correspondence respecting Sir Bartle Frere's Mission to 
East Coast of Africa. 

Slave Trade, No. 2 (1874). 

Treaty between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Zanzibar 
for the suppression of the Slave Trade. Signed at Zanzibar, 
June 5, 1873. 

Slave Trade, No. 5 (1874). 

Reports on the present state of the East African Slave 
Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. 7 (1874). 

Further reports on East African Slave Trade. (In con- 
tinuation of Slave Trade, No. 5, 1874.) 



314 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Slave Trade, No. 8 (1874). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents, 
and reports from Naval Ofl&cers, relative to the East African 
Slave Trade. From January i to December 31, 1873. 

1873-74- 

Administration report of Zanzibar and its Dominions for 
the years 1873-74. 

Slave Trade, No. 9 (1874). 

Papers relating to the emancipation of the Negroes of 
Puerto Rico. 

Slave Trade, Jime i, 1875. 

Return to an Order of the Honourable House of Commons. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1875). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad and reports from Naval Officers, relative to the 
African Slave Trade. 

Zanzibar, No. i (1876). 

Treaty between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Zanzibar, 
supplementary to the Treaty for the suppression of the Slave 
Trade of June 5, 1873. Signed at London, July 14, 1875. 

Slave Trade, No. 3 (1876). 

Communications from Dr. Kirk, respecting the suppres- 
sion of the land slave traffic in the dominions of the Sultan 
of Zanzibar. 

Slave Trade, No. 4 (1876). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers, relating to the 
Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. 5 (1876). 

Instructions respecting reception of fugitive slaves on 
board Her Majesty's ships. 

Slave Trade, No. 2 (1877). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers relating to the 
Slave Trade: 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 315 

Slave Trade, No. 3 (1878). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers, relating to the 
Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. 4 (1878). 

Annual reports of the Commander-in-Chief in the East 
Indies on the Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1879). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers, relating to the 
Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. 5 (1880). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1881). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1882). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1883). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade, 1882-83. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1884). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade, 1883-84. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1885). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, 
relative to the Slave Trade, 1884-85. 



3i6 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1886). 

Correspondence with British Representatives and Agents 
abroad, and reports from Naval Ofl&cers and the Treasury 
relative to the Slave Trade, 1885. 

Africa, No. I (1886). 

Correspondence relating to Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. i (1887). 

Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between 
Her Majesty and His Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar. 
Signed at Zanzibar, April 30, 1886. 

Africa, No. 3 (1887). 

Further correspondence relating to Zanzibar. (In con- 
tinuation of " Africa, No. i, 1886." C, 4,609.) 

Slave Trade, No. i (1887). 

Correspondence relative to the Slave Trade, 1886. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1888). 

Correspondence relative to the Slave Trade, 1887. 

Africa, No. 6 (1888). 

Correspondence respecting suppression of Slave Trade in 
East African Waters. 

Africa, No. 7 (1888). 

Reports on Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa, 1887-88 . 

Africa, No. 10 (1888). 

Further correspondence respecting Germany on Zanzibar. 

Slave Trade, No. i (1889). 

Correspondence relative to the Slave Trade, 1888-89. 

Africa, No. i (1889). 

Further correspondence respecting Germany and 
Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. i (1890-91). 

Anti-Slavery decree issued by the Sultan of Zanzibar, 
dated August i, 1890. 

Africa, No. 3 (1890-91). 

Correspondence respecting the Punitive Expedition 
against Witu, of November, 1890. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 3^7 

Africa, No. 5 (1890). 

Despatch to Sir E. Malet respecting the affairs of East 
Africa. 

Africa, No. 4 (1891). 

Declaration between Great Britain and Zanzibar, relative 
to the Exercise of Judicial Powers in Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. 6 (1892). 

Papers relative to Slave Trade and Slavery in Zanzibar. 

Treaty Series, No. 7, 1892. 

General Act of the Brussels Conference relative to the 
African Slave Trade. 

Treaty Series, No. 3 (1893). 

Declaration between Great Britain and Zanzibar respect- 
ing the exercise of Judicial Powers in Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. 4 (1893). 

Reports on Zanzibar Protectorate. 

Africa, No. 6 (1893). 

Paper respecting the Traffic in Slaves in Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. 9 (1893). 

Correspondence relating to Witu. 

Treaty Series, No. 10 (1893). 

Agreement between Great Britain and Portugal relative 
to Spheres of Influence North of the Zambesi. 

Africa, No. 12 (1893). 

Returns of Slaves freed in Zanzibar Waters through Her 
Majesty's Ships, 1892-93. 

Treaty Series, No. 14 (1893). 

Arrangement between Great Britain and Germany 
respecting the Boundaries in East Africa. 

Treaty Series, No. 17 (1893). 

Agreement between Great Britain and .Germany re- 
specting Boundaries in Africa. 

Treaty Series, No. 17 (1894). 

Protocol between Great Britain and Italy respecting 
the Demarcation of their respective Spheres of Influence in 
Eastern Africa; 



518 ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 

Zaiuibar Indemnity, A.D. 1894. 

A Bin for anthorising the Treasury to indemnify the Bank 
of Exigiand with respect to the Transfer of Gxisolidated 
Bank Annaities standing m the name of the late Saltan of 
Zanzibar. 

Africa, No. 6 (1895). 

G)iTespondence respecting Slavery in Zanzibar. 

Zanzibar, No, 1765. 

Report for the year 1895 on the Trade of Zanzibar. 

Treaty Series, No. 3 (1896). 

Agreement between Great Britain and PortngaL 

Africa, No. 6 (1896). 

Correspondence respecting the recent RebeUion in 
British East Africa. 

Africa, No. 7 (1896). 

Gnrespondence respecting Slavery in the Zanzibar 
Dominions. 

Africa, No. I (1897). 

Instructions to Mr. Hardinge respecting the Abolition 
of Legal Status of Slavery in the Islands of Zanzibar and 
Pcmba. 

Africa, No. 2 (1897). 

Abolition of the Legal Status of Slavery in Zanzibar and 
Pcmba. 

Africa, No. 7 (1897). 

Report by Sir A. Hardinge on the Condition and Progress 
of the East Africa Protectorate from its Establishment 
to the 2oth July, 1897. 

Africa, No. 6 (1898). 

Correspondence respecting the aboUtion of thie. Legal 
Status of Slavery in Zanzibar and Pemba. 

Africa. 

Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Reports on the Island 
of Pemba for the year 1900. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 319 

Germany. 

Diplomatic and Consular Report. Report on German 
East Africa for the year 1900. 

Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Report on German 
Colonies for the year 1900-01. 

Africa, No. 7 (1901). 

Report by His Majesty's Special Commissioner on the 
Protectorate of Uganda. 

Africa, No. 9 (1901). 

Report by His Majesty's Commissioner on the East Africa 
Protectorate. 

Zanzibar. 

Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Trade of Zanzibar 
for the year 1902. 

Africa, No. 6 (1903). 

Report by His Majesty's Commissioner on the East Africa 
Protectorate. 

Africa, No. 10 (1904). 

Memorandum on the State of the African Protectorates 
administered under the Foreign Office. 

The Persian Gulf. Bombay Selection, No. 24, 1856. 

Report on the Zanzibar Dominions, Bombay Selections No. 
LIX, New Series, 1861. Lieut.-Colonel C. P. Rigby. 

Precis of Information concerning the British East Africa 
Protectorate and Zanzibar. Revised in the Intelligence Divi- 
sions, War Office, December, 1900. 

The Map of Africa by Treaty. Hertslet. 

Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, 
Arabia, and Madagascar ; performed in H.M. Ships Leven and 
BarracouiUy under the direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen, 
R.N., by command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 

1833. 
Imams and Seyyids of Oman. Badger. 
Missionary Labours in EasCem Africa. Krapf. 
Zanzibar. Burton. 
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess. 
Dhow Chasing. Sulivan. 
Rise of our East African Empire. Lugard. 




320 



ZANZIBAR IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES. 



The Foundation of British East Africa. J. W. Gregory. 

The Partition of Africa. J. S. Keltie. 

The Mission to Uganda. Portal. 

Letters of Bishop Tozer, 1863-873. Edited by Gertrude 
Ward. 

A Memoir of Bishop Steere. R. M. Heanley. 

Life of Bishop Smythies. 

The History of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, 
1859-98. 

Banani. The Transition from Slavery to Freedom in Zanzibar 
and Pemba. H. S. Newman. 

The Universities' Mission to Central Africa Atlas. 

Die Portugiesenzeit von Deutsch und Englisch-Ostafrica. 
Strandes. 



INDEX. 



ABDUL AZIZ, 55, 57, 

Abdullah bin Ahmed, 2a 
„ „ Saleum, 21. 

Aberdeen, Lord, 39, 40. 

Aden, 71. 

Ahmed bin Said, la 

Ahmet bin Sultan Komlut (surnamed 
Simba, or the Lion), 123, 134 

Akidas, 151. 

Albatross (ship\ 19. 

Albulfeda, King of the Zingis, 8. 

Albusaidi (tribe), 10, 53. 

Ali bin Athman, 10. 
„ „ Mohammed, 2 18. 
„ „ Nasur, 40. 
„ „ Said, 160. 
„ „ Soud, 91. 

Ambali, 233. 

Andrade, Doctor, 259. 

Anopheles (mosquito), 274. 

Antananarivo, 29. 

Appendices: — I. Rulers of Zanzibar, 
293 ; n. Meteorological Observa- 
tions, 294-304 ; III. Finance, 305-6 ; 
IV. Commerce, 307-8 ; V. Rates of 
Customs Duties on Imports and 
Exports, 309 : VI. Shipping, 310- 
311 ; VII. Soils, 312. 

Arabia, slave traffic with, 65. 

Arabian Sea, 4a 

Arabs, as slave traders, 63 ; character 
of, 217. 

Artemise (ship), 45. 

Arusha, 129. 

Assaye (ship), 56. 

Azania, 7. 

Aziz, 169. 

Azrael, 38. 

Azzi binti Seif, 46. 



bahger, doctor, 57, 74. 

Bagamoyo, 97, 154, 157. 

Bahrein (island), 41. 

"Bakshishi,"222. 

Balfour, Commander, 81. 

Baluchis, 29. 

Bambarra ground nut {wanduia sub* 

terranea)^ 263. 
Banani, 214. 
Banda, 247. 
Banyans, 242. 
Barawa, 102, 136, 173. 
BarcBwa (ship), 165. 
"Baraza,"33, 99, 219. 
Barracouta (ship), 19, 21. 
Barrett, Captain, 171. 
Barrosa (ship), 170. 
Bedr bin Seif, 11. 
Beni Bu Ali Arabs, 12 
Bet el Mali, 33. 
„ „ Mtoni, 33. 
„ „ Ras, 56. 
Bibliognphy, 313-20. 
Bismarck, Prince, 131. 
Bissel, Lieutenant, i. 
Blankett, Commodore, i. 
Boadicea (ship), 163. 
Bomani, 266. 
Bombay C^vemment, 26. 
Bondei Country, 129. 
Borahs, 242. 

Bosanquet, Lieutenant, 37. 
Boteler, Lieutenant, 20. 
Brisk (ship), 44, 162. 
British East Africa, 133. 

„ „ „ Association, 132. 

» ft If Company, 163. 

„ Government, 18. 

21 



322 



INDEX. 



British India Steam Navigation Com- 
pany, 71. 

Brooks, Mr., 155. 

Brownrigg, Captain, 107 ; buried at 
Grave Island, 112 ; death of, iii. 

Bububu^ 251. 

Bulad Beni Bu Ali, 12. 

Bunder Abbas, 45, 47. 

Bunga, 274. 

Burka, 28. 

Burton, Captain, 68. 

Bushire, I44< 

Bushiri (an Arab). 152, i$8. 

Butcher's Island, 63. 

'* Bwana " (master). 15. 

'* Bwana mdogo " (little master), 15. 

" Bwana mkubwa ** (great master), 15. 

Bwana Shche, 164. 

CADENHEAD, MR., 103. 
Ciunbay, gulf of, 37. 
Canara (ship), 92. 
Canning, Lord, 52, 57, 58, 
Cape Delgado, 9, 10, 31, 137. 
Cape Guardafui, 81. 
Carola (ship), 152. 
Carter, Captain, 103. 
Cassava, 263. 
Castilho, Captain. 138. 
Castor (ship), 42. 
Cave, Mr. B., 197. 
Chaga, 129. 

Chakazi (a sort of copal), 267. 
Chaki Chaki, 7, 122. 
Charlesworth, Doctor, 282. 
Chedju Creek, 266. 
Chembua, 55. 
Chimba, 114, 116. 
Christian, Commodore, 27. 
Chuini, 143, 266. 
Chukwani, 47, 143. 269. 
Chumbe Island, 47. 
Chumbua, 248. 
Churchill, Mr., 71. 
Chwaka, 204. 



Cleopatra (ship), 38. 
Cogan, Captain R.. 34, 39. 
Coghlan, Brigadier, 57. 
Commerce, see Appendix IV. 
Comoro Islands, 51, 146. 
Congo Sute, 176. 

Cooper, Lieutenant, 126, 157 ; death 
of, 126. 

„ Institute, 126. 
Cossack (ship), 163. 
Cracknall, Mr., 123. 
Culex (mosquito), 274. 
Cumming, Rear-Admiral, 76. 
Customs Duties, see Appendix V. 

DAiDALUS (ship), i. 

Danakil races, 146. 

Dar-es-Salaam, 70, 154; martial law 

at, 157. 
Dart (ship), 43. 
Dee (ship), 42. 

Deinhard, Rear-Admiral, 152, 158. 
Delimitation Commission, 135, i6a 
Desangano (ship), 38. 
Dholl, 3. 
Dhows, 6, 41, 61, 90, 174; captured 

at Pangani, 98 ; catching, 147. 
Diu Head, 37. 
Doctari Mkubwa Sana, 15. 
Dongoni, 214. 
Duarte da Lemos, 9. 
Dunga, 218. 

EASTERN TELEGRAPH COM- 
PANY, 71. 
El Harth, 48 ; Arabs of, 52, 56. 
El Hazam, 168 
El Khaburah, 11. 
Emosaids, 222. 
Enchantress (ship), 73. 
English Point, 24. 
Esperance (ship), 38 
Euan-Smith, Colonel, 73* 9i> 156. 
Eugenia caryophylius (clove tree), 245. 
Euryalus (ship), 122. 



INDEX. 



^^^ 



Exports, 36 ; see also Appendix V. 

Eyoub, 71. 

Fachu, 55. 

Fairfax, Captain, 73. 

Fakih, 13. 

Farler, Mr. J. P., 182. 

Fath AH Shah, 46. 

Fegen, Lieutenant, 125. 

Finance, see Appendix III. 

Fosse, Captain, 34. 

Fraser, Capuin, 76, 77. 

" Frasla " (= 3Slbs. ), 69, 246. 

Fremantle, Rear- Admiral, 152. 

Frere, Sir Bartle, 27, 67, 75, 93 ; at 

Kilwa, 81. 
Freretown, 171. 
Fruits of Zanzibar, 251-259. 
Fumo Amari, 123, 164. 
Fumo Bakari, 123, 164. 
Fundu, 109. 
Funzi, 113. 

GAZI, 31, 168, 17a 

German East Africa Company, 159. 

Gissing, Commander, 122. 

Granville, 75, 131. 

Grave Island, 24. 

Greffulhe, M., 113, 119. 

Grey, Mr., 73. 

Griffon (ship), 126. 

Guardafui, 7. 

HADRAMAUT, 100. 

Haggard, Lieutenant J. G., 122, 135. 

Hakim, or Governor, 5. 

Halfan bin Hattam, 117. 

Hamburg, 35. 

Hamed, 14. 

Hamed bin Said, 10 

Hamed bin Salem, 52 

Hamerton, Captain, 34, 39, 41 ; death 

of, 68. 
Hamid bin Thuwaini, 160. 
Hamoud, 46. 
Hardinge, Mr., 169. 



Hardy, Lieutenant, 5. 
Harrison, Captain, 172. 
Hart, Captain, 13. 
Hasani, 2^8. 
Hassan, Captain, 17. 
Hatch, General, 165. 
Heath, Sir Leopold, 65. 
Hennel, Captain, 37. 
Hewett, Admiral Sir W., 122. 
Highflyer (ship), 54. 
Hilal, 14. 

Hill,SirC., 7<. 93- 
Hillal, Governor of Soweik, 28. 
Hillyar, Rear-Admiral, 65. 
Hindi bin Hattam, 113, 115, 116. 
Hine, Doctor, 275. 
Holmwood, Mr., 112, 113. 
Huaman, 11. 

IBO, 42. 

Imaumate, The, 14. 

Imaum of Muscat, 4, 35. 

Imaums of Oman, 10. 

//w^«tf (ship), 13, 17. 

Imperial British East Africi Company, 

168. 
Imports, 36, 192; see also Appendix V. 

JAALIN, 12. 

Jairam Sewji, 69. 

** Jambia " (a richly mounted dagger), 

234. 
Jeddah, 146. 
"Jembe" (a hoe), 268. 
Jezira El Khathra, or the Green 

Island, 7. 
Johanna (island), 79, 81 ; free labour 

in. 79. 
Johnston, Sir H., 132. 
Joho (robe), 21. 
Jones, Admiral Gore, 107. 
Jongeni, 165, 166. 
Jubaland, 173. 

Juba Town, or Rogues River, i, 3. 
Juhlke, Herr, 129, 130. 



324 



INDEX. 



Juma, 1 88. 

Junta, or Council, 38. 



KAABA. 226. 

Kais, II, 12, 13. 

*• Kanzu " (white gown), 233. 

Kau, 134. 

** Kelnha " (a small measure for com), 

20. 
Kennedy, Admiral, 177. 
Khaled, 53, 55. 
Khalfan bin Khatim, 118. 
Khalid, son of Barghash, 160. 
Khalifa, 46, 71. 
Khathi of Kilwa, 124. 
Khathis, 175. 
Khojahs, 242. 
Khole, 54, 55. 
Kiazi Kikuu (yam), 264. 
Kidote, 269. 
" Kikoi •» (calico). 233. 
"Kilemba" (turban), 226. 
Kilimani, 21a 
Kilimanjaro, 125, 129. 
Kilindini Harbour, 26, 30. 
Kilwa, 9, 40, 44, 90, 96, 154 ; sUves 

exported from, 65 ; slave trade at, 97. 
A7/wa (Sultan's steamer), 139. 
Kimemeta bin Mgwa Mchenga, 239. 
Kinuni Moshi, 56. 
Kionga Bay, 141. 
Kipini, 136, 163. 
Kirk, Sir J., 69, 129. 
Kismayu, 136, 173. 
Kitchener, Lieutenant-Colonel, 135. 
Kiungani, 21a 
Kiwani Bay, 9. 
" Kizibau" (waistcoat), 234. 
Kizimbani, 245. 
Koka cloves, 250. 
Kokota Gap, 1 10. 
Krapf, Doctor, 209. 
KUntzel, Herr, 161. 
Kutch, 69. 



LAMBERMONT, BAROX, 161. 

Lamu, 19, 134, 161. 

Landolphia Kirkti (rubber vine), 253. 

Lang, Lieutenant, 99. 

Last, Mr. J. T.. 182. 

Lawrence, Captain, 171. 

Lemaire, M., 135. 

Z^tf/an/(ship), 2. 

Leven (ship), 19, 23, 254. 

Leveret (ship), 37. 

Wy (ship), 38. 

Lindi, 146, 152, 154. 

Lindley, Captain, 166. 

Lingah, 102. 

Lister, Mr. H., 182. 

Liverpool {'d^x^), 16, 28. 

Livingstone, Doctor, 15. 

London^ (ship), 67. 

Luddah, 50. 

Lyra (ship), 44. 

MacDOUGALL, Mr.. 172. 

Machui, 53 ; range of, 56. 

Mackenzie, Sir G., 154. 

Mackinnon. Sir W., 132. 

Madagascar, 146. 

Mafia, 40, 136. 

Mah^. Isle of, 4. 

Maheto Island, 42. 

Mahomed bin Jaribu, 107 

Majid. 14. 57. 58. 

'* Majamvi '' (mats), 248 

Makame 187. 

Makongwe, 120. 

Makran, 36, 37. 

Malagasy troops, 30 

Maleenda. Prince of, 21. 

Malet, Sir £., 132. 

Malindi, 9. 21 171. 

Mamboia. 104. 129, 155. 

Mamho Sasa (native vessel), 107. 

Mandara^ Chief of Mochi, 131. 

Mangungo, Sultan of Msovero, 1 28. 

Manioc, 259. 

Manson, Doctor, 275. 



f^ 



INDEX. 



325 



Mapepo (spirits), 237. 

Marahubi, 257. 

Marco Polo, 7. 

Marx, Captain, 170. 

Masai, 61. 

** Masika," or big rains, 25, 26a 

Massoud, 115, 116. 

Masul ul Chak Chak, 21. 

Matthews, Sir Lloyd, 15, 99, loi, 112 ; 
death of, 205. 

Mauritius, 6, 43. 

Mayotte, 64, 116. 

Mazazini, 212. 

Mazrui (tribe), 10, 22, 23, 30. 

Mbaruk, 20, 22. 

Mbanik bin Rashid, 168, 169. 

Mbweni, 26, 212. 

Mears, Lieutenant, I. 

Medicine men, 225. 

Mecca, 178. 

Melindi, 209. 

Melindi Spit, 273. 

Melville (ship), 17. 

Menai (ship), 37. 

Merka. 136, 173. 

Meteorological observations— See Ap- 
pendix IL 

Mhadimu, 238. 

Miles, Lieutenant-Colonel S. B., 108. 

Millet {Penisetum fyphatdeum), 262. 

Miningani (river), 136, 137. 

Mission of the Black Fathers, 154, 213. 

Mission of the Holy Ghost, 209, 213. 

Mji, 54. 

Mkokotoni, 76, 78, 269. 

Mkokotoni Channel, 76. 

Mkonumbi, 162, 168. 

Mkumbi, 25, 166. 

Mkunazini, 200, 267. 

Mnazi Mmoja (the Grand Boulevard), 
232. 

Mocha, 146. 

Mogadishu, 10, 22, 31, 136, 144, 173. 

Mohammed bin Jama, 105. 

Mohammed bin Nassur, 21. 



Mohammed bin Salim, 28. 
Mombasa, 24 ; subjugation of, 19-31 ; 

harbour of, 19 ; fall of, 31 ; slaves 

at, 37. 
Mombasa, Port of, 53. 
Mombasa Treaty of 1824, 128. 
•* Mombaze," 2. 
Moresby, Captain, 21, 37. 
Moresby Treaty, 39. 
Mozambique, 4, 37. 
Mozambique Channel, 42. 
Mpwapwa, 155. 
Mrima, 156. 
Msovero, 128, 129. 
"Mtaawa," 142. 
Mtangata, 105. 

Mtoni, 2, 15, 46 ; Palace at, 33, 245. 
Munamana, Harbour of, 12. 
Muscat, 3, 10, 30 ; Imaum of, 4. 
Mweli Hill. 168, 171. 
Mwenyi Mkuu, 238. 
Mwera (river), 56. 
Myweyi Sagara, 128. 
Mzee, or elder, 237. 
Mzimzi (species of mangrove), 265. 

NAIROBI, 279. 

Naser bin Ali, 113. 

Nasir bin Said bin Abdallah, 83. 

Nasur bin Suliman, 155. 

Ndolo, 17a 

•* Ngoma " (dance), 232 237. 

Nguru, 129, 132. 

Nyasa, 61, 97. 

Nyasaland, 66, 211. 

OGADEN SOMALIS, 173. 
Oman, 105, 182. 
Omar bin Hamid, 167. 
O'Neill, Lieutenant, 99. 
Orestes (ship), 2. 
Osprey (ship), 124. 
Ottoman Porte, 4a 
Owen, Captain, 19, 21, 23. 254. 
21* 



j26 



INDEX. 



PALMERSTON, LORD, 40. 

PAngani, 9S, ID4, 124, f jo, 

PangAni friver)> 23. 

PSmgani Falls, 2$- 

Paschen, Commodore, 132^ 

Pattft, 3t 134- 

Pclly, Captain, 57, 

Pemba, 5, 6, 23, 62. 90. 96, 117, 136; 

glimpse at, 21 ; slave running to, 

105 ; populalion of, 244, 
PetJiba Channel, 6> 124* 
Persian Govemtnent, 40, 41, 
Persian Gulf, 36, 177* 
Peia dovts, 250. 
Peters, Doctor Karl, 128. 
**PheDg'* [a bird). & 
Phillips, Mr. G., aj. 
/Tit^fw*/ (abip), 114, 177. 
Fiedmffft/ese (ship), 45, 
Pigeon pea ( Cajanus Indicu^ ), 262. 
Pimbivi, 103 ; Capt. Carter and Mr. 

Cadenhead murdered at, loj* 
Pinto, Major Serpa, 138. 
"Pishi" (a meftsurej, 24S. 
Playfair, Colonel, 70. 
Pomony, Harbour of, 79, 
Portal, Mr. Gerald, 165. 
Port Reiu, 26. 
Portuguej^e East Africa, 38, 
Products of Zanzibar, 259^266. 

Pumwani, 166. 

QUILIMANE, 39, 

RABAI, 103. 

KaiUes^ Captain, 169, 

Ramathan, 4, 

Ramadan {interpreter), 139. 

Rama^n, fast of* 17. 

Ras el Hadd, 63. 

Rash id bin Salem, i6gi. 

Ras Nungwe, 120. 

Kasbid bin Salim bin Ahmed, 31. 

Rawaon, Admiral, 17a 



Red Sea, 40. 

Reitz, Lieuteoant J- J*, 25; deat 

of» 36. 
Rennet, Captain, 34, 
Reunion (island), 44, 
Rigby, Colonel, 56, 69. 
Rodd, Mr- Renncn,.l6s. 
Rogers, Mr., 165, 
Rojvues River or Juba Town, i,. 
Rohlfs, Herr. 131. 
Rosebery* Lord, 133. 
Rovuma (river), 124, 137, 15a, 
Rulers of Zarjii W— see Appendix I* 



SAADANT, 155, 157. 

" Sabatashara ' ' (seventeen), 87* 

Sadallah, 233. 

Safari, 243. 

Said (ruler of Muscat)^ 6. 

Said bin Abdullah, 9«. 

Said bin Ali, Chief of Burka, 2S. 

Said bin Sultan, \\, 

Si, Geafge (ship), 170. 

Saleh bin Huremil, 245. 

Saleh bin Rhabish, 114, 116. 

Salil ibn Raiik, 13. 

Salim, 4S, S9. 

Salim bin Bougene, 107. 

Salisbury, Lord, 162. 

Salme, 54, 55* 

Saodarusi (gum COpEil), 366, 

Schmidt, Doctor, 135, 

Seif bin Ali, 46- 

Seif bin Sultan, Imaum of Mii5<^t, 9^ 

Sepoy», 12. 

'*SerkaIi,*' or Government, 238. 

Seychelles, 4, 

Seymour, Admiral, 92. 

Seyyidah^ 14. 

Seyyid Ali, 173, t^. 

Seyyid Barghash, 27, 47, 75, 1 27 ] 

character of, 141 ; visits England, 

9J ; in London. 93, 94. 
Seyyid Hamoud, 179. 203. 



INDEX. 



3^7 



Seyyid Khaled, Governor of Zanzibar, 

31, 49, 196. 
Seyyid Khalifa, 145, 150, 155 ; death 

of, 160. 
Seyyid Said, 10, 13, 26, 41, 127, 196 ; 

gift of, to the British, 17 ; death 

of. 4S. 
Seyyid Thuwaini, 33, 45. 
Shamba, 76, 78, 183. 
Shangani Point, 201. 
'* Shauris*' (discussions), 172. 
*«Sheha," or chief, 238. 
Sheikhs, 151. 
Sheitani (devil), 237. 
Sherif Msa, 259. 
Shesade, 46. 

Shipping— see Appendix VI. 
Shirazi, Prince of, 46 
Siku Kuu (Great Day — Christmas), 231. 
Sind. 40. 
Singapore, 27. 
"Sitashara" (sixteen), 87. 
Sittini Creek, 118. 
Siwa, 24a 

Slave Market at 2^nzibar, 83, 89. 
Slave trade, 60 ; at Kilwa, 60 ; at 

Bagamoyo, 60 ; horrors of the, 61. 
Smee, Captain, 5, 36, 245. 
Socotra, 37. 

Soils — see Appendix VII. 
Sokoki, 169, 172. 
Sorghum (*' mtama **), 259. 
Soweik, 28. 

Spices of Zanzibar, 255. 
5/ar (ship), 112. 
Steere. Doctor, 61. 
Suez Canal, 71. 

Suliman bin Abdullah, 113, 118. 
Suliman bin Ali, 23. 
Sulivan, Captain G. L., 42, 99. 
Sullivan, Captain T. B., 99. 
Sultanah, 40. 
Sultan bin Hamed, ii. 
*' Sulun " Fungu, 129, 130. 
Sultan of Zanzibar, 134. 



Sunley, Mr., 79. 

Sunni Sect, 238. 

Sur, 65. 

Swahili, The, 222 ; dress and morals 
of, 234-5 > habits and language of, 
228-9 > superstitions of, 237. 

Sylph (ship). 5. 

TAITA, 129, 131. 

Taf (ship), 48. 

Tajourah, 146. 

Takaungu, 31, 169. 

Tana, 137. 

Tananarivo, 29. 

Tanga, 25, 104, 182. 

Target, Lieutenant, 112. 

Taru desert, 172. 

Taubman, Captain (roldie, 186. 

Taveta, 129, 131. 

Temato (ship), 5. 

The Intaum (ship), 18. 

Thetis (ship), 97. 

Thuwaini, 57, 58 ; death of, 59. 

Toeppen, Ilcrr, 162. 

Tongoni, 25. 

Topan, Sir Tharia, 91. 

Tozer, Bishop, 7a 

Travers, Sub- Lieutenant K. II., 108; 

captures a dhuw, 109. 
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 34. 
Treaty of 1873, ^3, 142. 
Tsengu, 8. 
Tuml»tu, 187. 
Tundaua, 188. 
Tunghi Bay, 136, 141. 
Turki, Governor of Ix)har, 48. 
Turki bin Said, 83. 
Turquoise (ship), 125. 

UGANDA, 172. 
Uganda Railway, 192. 
Ukami, 129, 132. 
Umba, 136, 172. 
Unguja, 9. 
Unguja Ukuu, 9. 



328 



INDEX. 



Universities' Mission to Central Africa, 

6i. 
Unyamwezi, 153. 
Usagara, 128, 129, 132. 
Utondui, 240. 
Utubees, 12. 
Uzeguha, 129, 130, 132. 
Uzi Island, 9. 

VASCO DA GAMA, 9. 
Vause, Mr. R., loi. 
Victoria (ship), 45, 47. 
Vidal, Captain, 19. 
Vulture (ship), 62. 

"WACHAWI" (wizards), 237. 

Wachusi (local manufacturers), 251. 

Wagunia (race), 134. 

Wahabees, 50. 

Wahadimu, 238. 

Waite Creek, 117. 

"Wakil," or agent, 28. 

Walezo, 214. 

Wali, 102, 151. 

Waller, Rev. H.. 61 

Wamakua, 242. 

Wamchangani, 239. 

Wanga, 152, 172. 

Wangazija, 51. 

Ward, Captain, 97. 

Wareno, 9. 

Warsheik, 136, 173. 

Wassein, 25. 

Wasungu, 198. 

Waswahili, 222 ; character of the, 223. 

Waters, Mr., 33, 34. 

Watumbatu, 241. 

Wave (ship), 1 10. 

Wazeers, 80. 

Wazungu, 219. 

Welsh, Doctor, 57. 

Weti, 7. 



Weti, 112, 120; Port of , 112. 
Weti Creek, 112. 
Wharton, Captain. 81. 
White Nile, 132. 
Wissmann, Captain, 157. 
Witu, 134. 137 ; Sultan of, 167. 
Wyvil, Captain, 42. 

YAKUTI, 5. 

Yule (translator of Marco Polo's 
writings), 8. 

ZAMBEZI, 61. 

Zanzibar : chillies of, 252 ; climate 
of, 273-288; clove-growing industry 
at, 215, 247 ; clove market at. 249 ; 
cocoanuts at, 251 ; Custom House 
at, 66 ; definition of the word, 7 ; 
economic plants of, 264-5 » epidemic 
of cholera at, 74 ; French Consul 
in, 53 ; French influence at, 53 ; 
French trade with, 35 ; fruits of, 
251-259; grains of, 261; harbour 
at, 47 ; imports and exports, 36, 192 ; 
increase of trade in, 36 ; life in, 280 ; 
manufacture of cuir fibre at, 251 ; 
meteorological observations at, 282 ; 
people of, 215 ; plantations in, 215, 
245 ; population of, 244 ; prevalent 
diseases in, 277-280; products of, 
259-266; rainfall, 282-4; rubber 
growing at, 253 ; slave market at, 
83-89 ; soil of, 269 ; spices of, 255 ; 
sports in, 281 ; storms at, 286-7 » 
Sultan of, 134 ; suppression of slave 
trade in, 36, 189 ; temperature of, 
282-3 ; time reckoning in, 281 ; 
trade in, 69, 193 ; transport service 
between Bombay and, 143; wages 
in, 242 ; waterspouts at, 288. 

Zilkada, i8a 

Zura (dhow), 116. 



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