The Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord sent him their diploma: he declared that he would not belong to a body of grave-robbers and corpse-snatchers. The census of Zanzibar having been proposed to him, unlike King David, he took refuge with Allah from the sin of numbering his people. When tide-gauges were supplied by the Geographical Society of Bombay, he observed that the Creator had bidden the ocean to ebb and to flow—‘what else did man want to know about it?’ Such was his incapacity for understanding European affairs, that until death’s-day he believed Louis Philippe to have carried into exile, as he himself would have done, all the fleet and the public treasure of the realm. And he never could comprehend a Republic—‘who administers the stick?’
Of this enterprising man, the Mohammed Ali Pasha of the further East, I may say, Extinctus amabitur idem. Shrewd and sensible, highly religious though untainted by fanaticism; affable and courteous, he was as dignified in sentiments as distinguished in presence and demeanour. He is accused of grasping covetousness and treachery—but what Arab ruler is not covetous and treacherous? He was a prince after the heart of his subjects; prouder of his lineage than fond of ostentation or display, an amateur conqueror on a small scale, mild in punishment, and principally remarkable as the chief merchant, cultivator, and ship-builder in his dominions. An epitaph may be borrowed for him from a man of very different character—first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen. Peace be to his manes!
Sayyid Said’s territory at the time of his death extended in Oman from the Ra’as el Jebel (Cape Musseldom) to Sohar. In Mekran the seaboard between Ra’as Jask and Guadel belonged to him: in the Persian Gulf he had Khishm, Larak, and Hormuz, and he farmed from the Shah, Bandar Abbas and its dependency, Mina. His African possessions were far the most extensive and important. He ruled, to speak roughly, the whole Eastern Coast from N. lat. 5°, and even from Cape Guardafui, where the maritime Somal were to a certain extent his dependents, to Cape Delgado (S. lat. 11°), where the Arab met the Portuguese rule—an extent of 16° = 960 geographical miles. The small republics of Makdishu (Magadoxo, in N. lat. 2° 1′ 4″), of Brava (N. lat. 1° 6′ 48″), of Patta or Bette (S. lat. 2° 9′ 12″), and of Lamu (S. lat. 2° 15′ 42″), owned his protectorate, and in April, 1865, Marka received from him a garrison. The whole Zanzibarian Archipelago was his, and he claimed Bahrayn, Zayla, Aden, and Berberah, the first-mentioned with, the last three without, a shadow of right. His Arab subjects declared that they, and not the Portuguese, ceded Bombay to the British: the foundation of the story is a mosque built in ancient times by the Omanis, somewhat near the present Boree Bandar.
Sayyid Said left a single widow, the lady Azzá bint Musa, of the Bú Kharibán, a grand-daughter of the Imam Ahmad, and consequently a cousin. She is now (1857) in years, but her ancient lineage and her noble manners retain for her the public respect. She had but one child, which died young: all the male issue of the Prince are by slave-girls, a degradation in the eyes of free-born Omani Arabs. As usual amongst the wealthy and noble of the polygamous East, the daughters are the more numerous,[83] and many are old maids, the pride of birth not allowing them, like the Sherifehs of the Hejaz, to wed with any but equals. The eldest of the fourteen sons, Sayyid Hilal, who, in 1845, had visited England, it is said, after an escapade, died at Aden en route to Meccah in 1851. He was followed, after an interval of a few months, by his next brother, Sayyid Khalid, called the Banyan. The eldest surviving heir (Sayyid Suwayni), the son of a Georgian or Circassian slave, born about 1822, became by his father’s will, successor to and lord of the northern provinces. To Sayyid Majid, the fourth son, now (1857) aged 22, a prince of mild disposition and amiable manners, contrasting strongly with the vigorous ruffianism of his elder brother, was left the Government of Zanzibar and of the East African Coast. There is, as usual amongst Arabs, a turbulent tribe of cousins: of these the most influential is Sayyid Mohammed, a son of Sayyid Salim bin Sultan, younger brother to the late Prince, who some years ago died of consumption. Hitherto he has used his powers loyally—ruling, but not openly ruling. Sayyid Said’s valuable property, including his plantations, was sold, as his will directed, and the money was divided according to a fixed scale, even the youngest princes claiming shares. No better inducement to permanent dissension could have been devised. But Eastern monarchs apparently desire that their dynasties should die with them. Fath Ali Shah of Persia, when asked upon his death-bed to name a successor, drew a sword and showed what made and unmade monarchs: scarcely had the breath left his body than the chamber was dyed with the blood of his sons, each hastening to stab some hated rival brother.
These lines were penned in 1857. Since 1859 the hapless and turbulent family has been in a state of fratricidal strife, and the province of Oman has reverted to its normal state of intrigue, treachery, and assassination. Sayyid Suwayni, a negligent and wasteful though not an unpopular man, to whom the English were especially obnoxious, threatened in 1859 an attack upon Sayyid Majid, and was prevented by British cruisers; in due time he was murdered by his son, Sayyid Salim, who usurped the Government. This Sayyid Salim was dethroned by his uncle, Sayyid Turki, who surprised Maskat, and made himself master of the situation. The European would imagine that the stakes were hardly worth such reckless play: Arabs, however, judge otherwise.
The 300,000 souls[84] now (1857-9) composing the residents on, and the population of, the Zanzibar Island, are a heterogeneous body. The former consist of Americans and Europeans, about 14,000 Banyans (including those of the Coast), a few Parsees and Portuguese from Goa, and sundry castes of Hindustani Moslems, Khojahs, Mehmans, and Borahs, numbering some 1200. There are also trifling numbers of free blacks from the Comoro Islands, Madagascar, Unyamwezi, and the Somali country. To this accidental division I will devote the present chapter.
The Consular corps is represented by three members, who, as usual in these remote Oriental spots, assume, and are allowed to assume, the position of plenipos. The first American official was Mr Richard Palmer, who was succeeded by sundry acting men: the second was Mr Waters, who left in 1844: then came Mr C. Ward, Mr Webb, and Mr Macmullan. Captain Mansfield now (1859) holding office, is agent to Messrs John Bertram and Co. of Salem. This gentleman, who took a great interest in the East African Expedition, has had a more extensive experience of the East than his predecessors; he has also the advantage of being respectable and respected.
On the part of the French Government the first Consul was M. Broquant: he died of fever and dysentery at Zanzibar, and was succeeded by M. de Beligny, a French Creole from Santo Domingo, afterwards transferred to Manilla and to Charleston, South Carolina. M. Vignard, a young man of amiable manners, and distinguished in Algeria as an Arabic scholar, fell victim to a sunstroke when voyaging from Aden, where I met him en route for his post. The present Consul is M. Ladislas Cochet: the Chancellier and Dragoman is M. Jablonski, Pole and poet.
Lieut.-Colonel Atkins Hamerton is, and has been, I have said, H. B. Majesty’s Consul, and H. E. I. Company’s Agent at the Court of H. H. Sayyid Said, since December, 1841, when we first established relations with Zanzibar. Attached to his establishment is a passed apothecary, an Eurasian, the only attempt at a medico on the Island. Lieut.-Colonel Hamerton had been on terms of intimacy with Sayyid Said during a quarter of a century; and their friendship, as happens, began with a ‘little aversion.’ The Britisher proposed to travel in the interior from Maskat, in those days a favourite exploration with the more adventurous; and the Arab, suspicious as all Arabs, thinking it safest to put the intruder out of the way, imprudently wrote a letter to that effect. This missive fell into the hands of the person whom it most concerned: he boldly carried it to the Prince, and reproached him in no measured terms with his perfidy. Sayyid Said found himself overmatched, submitted to Kismat, and, admiring the traveller’s spirit and openness, determined to win his attachment. The two became firm friends; the Consul was the influential adviser of the ruler, and the latter intrusted him with secrets jealously hidden from his own. The reason why the trade of Zanzibar was surprisingly developed under the primitive rule of an Arab Prince is not only the immense wealth of Eastern Africa, it results mainly from the wise measures of a man who for the greater part of his life devoted himself to the task. It was an unworthy feeling which made M. Guillain write of my late friend (ii. 23), ‘Bref, sa réputation est de placer fort bien, et à beaux bénéfices, l’argent que lui donnent la reine et le gouvernment de la compagnie’—his generosity to his family left little after his decease. Not the least of Sayyid Said’s anxieties upon his death-bed was to reach Zanzibar alive, and even when half-unconscious he continually called for Colonel Hamerton. It is suspected that he wished to communicate the place of his concealed treasures, which, despite the most careful search, were never found. When hiding their hoards it is not unusual for Arabs to put to death the slaves who assist in the labour, and thus to prevent negro indiscretion. The family, I may here say, firmly believes that Colonel Hamerton knows where the hoards lay, and yet refuses to divulge the secret.
It will not be easy properly to fill this appointment. Without taking into consideration the climate, it is evident that few Englishmen are prepared to settle for long years at remote Zanzibar, and Arabs do not care to trust new men. Yet it would be the acme of short-sightedness to neglect this part of East Africa. Our Anglo-Indian subjects, numbering about 4000[85] in the dominions of Zanzibar, some of them wealthy men, are entitled to protection from the Arab, and more especially from the Christian merchants. Almost the whole foreign trade, or at least four-fifths of it, passes through their hands; they are the principal shopkeepers and artisans, and they extend as far South as Mozambique, Madagascar, and the Comoro Islands. During the last few years the number of Indian settlers has greatly increased, and they have obtained possession from the Arabs, by purchase or mortgage, of many landed estates in the Sayyid’s dominions. The country can look forward only to a moderate development whilst it continue in the present hands, but the capabilities of the coast are great. Labour only is wanted; and a European power establishing itself upon the mainland—this object has frequently been proposed, and is steadily kept in view—could in a few years command a territory and a commerce which would rival Western India.
The other white residents are commercial, and it is with no little astonishment that the Englishman finds no direct trade with Great Britain, and meets none of his fellow-countrymen at Zanzibar.[86] Their absence results not from want of venture or dearth of business, but from supineness on the part of the authorities. No merchant can profitably settle where he cannot freely correspond, receive advices that ships have been despatched, and obtain orders for cargoes and consignments. Moreover, large sums have been wasted by respectable houses in settling here trustworthy agents and sober men. The few favourable exceptions found the climate either unendurable or fatal. Hitherto, however, Englishmen have done little, and, I write it unwillingly, Englishwomen have done less, for the honour of the national name at Zanzibar than in most parts of the East. Two girls came out to the Island, married to the usual ‘black princes,’ who mostly turn out to be barbers or domestic servants; this proceeding greatly scandalized the white residents, and the Desdemonas gave more trouble to the officials than the whole colony.
The principal American houses are those of Messrs Bertram & Co., represented by Captain Mansfield, Mr Ropes, and Mr Webb: Messrs Rufus Green & Co., also of Salem, have three agents, Messrs Winn, Spalding, and Wilkins. Lastly, there is Mr Samuel Masury, of Salem, a ‘general merchant,’ distinguished for probity and commercial sagacity: he left Zanzibar during our exploration of the interior, and he presently came to an untimely end.
The French houses began with a misconception, a certain chancellier having reported officially to his Government, that 232 ships annually visited and loaded at Zanzibar. The intelligence caused considerable excitement: it was believed that every vessel left these shores crammed with copal, ivory, and gold dust, and the French merchants resolved by concurrence to drive the Americans out of the field. Messrs Vidal frères of Marseille despatched accordingly to Zanzibar Messrs Bauzan, Wellesley, and Peronnet, and appointed M. Mass their second agent at Lamu. They were opposed by Messrs Rabaud frères, also of Marseilles, a house from whom we received especial kindness: their Zanzibar manager was M. Hannibal Bérard, and M. Terassin was sent to the ‘bone of contention,’ Lamu. These firms choose their employés amongst their captains, who act supercargoes as well as commanders; they are estimable men, sober and skilful, but painfully lax in dealing with ‘les nègres.’ Their Consul publicly declared that it was his duty to curb the merchants, as well as to protect the commerce of France.
The specialty of the French houses is oil. They export the cocoa-nut in various forms, sesamum and other oleaginous grains, which Provence converts with such energy and success into huile d’olives. The sesamum is a comparatively new article of commerce, yet the Periplus (chap. xiv.) numbers Elæon Sesáminon (oil of sesamum) amongst the imports from India. Now it is supplied chiefly by Lamu. Vast quantities could be grown there, but the natives, though large advances have been offered to them, will not extend their cultivation for fear of lowering the price, which has lately doubled. French ships now visit the West Coast of India as far North as Kurrachee, in search of sesamum, and last year (1856) 27 vessels took cargo from Bombay.
At length the Marseille houses found out that Zanzibar is overstocked with buyers; that demand in these regions does not readily, at least, create supply; that it is far easier to dispose of than to collect a cargo; that the African man will not work as long as he can remain idle, and that sure profits are commanded only by the Banyan system; briefly, the two French houses are eating up each other. The Messrs Vidal are named for a loss of $400,000, which it will be impossible to recoup. It is also reported that too sanguine M. le Chancellier was threatened with a procès-verbal; of his 232 ships 70 were whalers, many names had been twice registered, and only 32 (232 minus 200) took in cargo.
The houses from Hamburg, that ‘Carthage of the Northern Seas,’ conclude the list of Europeans. The brothers Horn and M. Quas, agents for Messrs Herz and Co., are the most successful copal cleaners; they find it more economical to keep a European cooper than to depend upon the bazar. Messrs William and Albert Oswald, British protégés, represent their father; they are assisted by M. Witt, an intelligent young man, who having graduated in Californian gold-fields, proposes to prospect the Coast. M. Koll acts for Messrs Hansing and Co., and, lastly, M. Reich, lately returned to the Island, is the representative of Messrs Müller and Co.
Europeans are, as a rule, courteously treated by the upper classes, and civilly by the Arabs at Zanzibar; this, however, is not always the case on the Coast. They are allowed to fly flags; every merchant has his staff upon his roof, and there is a display of bunting motley as in the Brazil. Even a Cutch boat will carry the Sayyid’s plain red colours, with the Union Jack in the corner, and the Turkish crescent and star in the centre.
Composed of patch-work material, the Europeans do not unite, and their disputes, especially between compatriots, are exasperated by commercial rivalries, which have led to serious violations of faith. All is wearisome monotony: there is no society, no pleasure, no excitement; sporting is forbidden by the treacherous climate, and, as in West Africa and the Brazil, strangers soon lose the habit of riding and walking. Moreover, the merchants, instead of establishing the business hours of Bombay, make themselves at home to their work throughout the day; this is the custom of the Bonny River, where supercargoes are treated like shopkeepers by the negroes. European women, I repeat, seldom survive the isolation and the solitary confinement to which not only the place but also the foul customs of the people condemn them.
The necessaries of life at Zanzibar are plentiful, if not good. Bread of imported wheat is usually ‘cooked’ in the house, and the yeast of sour toddy renders it nauseous and unwholesome. There have been two bakers upon the Island: one served at the Consulate, the other, a Persian, was in the employment of the Prince. Meat is poor; a good preserved article would here make cent. per cent. Poultry is abundant, tasteless and unnutritious; fish is also common, but it is hardly eatable, except at certain seasons. Cows’ milk is generally to be had, but the butter is white, and resembles grease; fruit must be bought at the different bazars early in the morning. All such articles as tea, wine, and spirits, cigars, tobacco, and sweetmeats, are imported from America or from Europe,—the town supplies nothing so civilized. Retail dealing is wanted, and the nearest approach to a shop is the store of a Khojah, who will buy and sell everything, from a bead to a bale of cloth.
All articles but money are expensive at Zanzibar, where the dollar represents our shilling.[87] This is the result of the large sums accumulated by trade and of the necessity of importing provisions; we see the same process at work throughout the tropical Brazil. Moreover, in all semi-barbarous lands a stranger living like a native, may live upon ‘half-nothing;’ if he would, however, preserve the comforts of home, and especially if he would see society, he must consent to an immoderate expenditure. Finally, where the extremes of wealth and poverty meet, and where semi-civilization has not discovered that prudence is a virtue and improvidence a blunder, the more man spends the more he is honoured.
The humblest dwelling at Zanzibar lets unfurnished for £80 to £100 per annum. Furniture of all kinds, porcelain, china, plate, and linen, no matter how old, fetch more than prime cost, and $1 will be paid for a patched and rickety chair worth in London a shilling. Clothing must be brought from Europe: broad cloth is soon spoiled by sun and damp, and shoes must not be exposed to the air—it is well to have the latter one or two sizes larger than at home. The luxuries of life are of course enormously dear, when they are to be purchased. During the Sayyid’s absence the women of his harem have, through the eunuchs, sold for a song the valuable presents sent from Europe; and after the return of the royal vessels from Bourbon and the Mauritius, watches and chronometers, sextants and spy-glasses, have been exceedingly cheap. In both cases the stranger-purchaser would have done well to remember that he was buying stolen goods.
Another cause of expense at Zanzibar is the present state of the currency. The rouble of Russia is the franc of France, and here the standard of value is the Maria Theresa or German crown, averaging 4s. 2d. Bearing the die of 1780, and still coined at the mint of Vienna for the Arab and the E. African trade, it is perferred by the people simply because they know it. The popular names are Riyál (i.e. real, royal) or Girsh (groschen, ‘broad’ pieces). Spanish dollars (bú tákeh, ‘father of window,’ whence our ‘patak’), elsewhere 8 per cent. more valuable, are here only equal to Maria Theresas. In 1846 a French Mission failed to fix the agio of the 5 franc piece at 10 per cent. below the Spanish dollar, which still remained 12.50 to 14 per cent. more valuable. The Company’s rupee, better metal than both the above, being still a comparative stranger, loses nearly a quarter of its value. Other silver pieces are the ‘Robo’ (Spanish quarter dollar) of 25 cents, and the pistoline (20 cents); these, however, are subject to heavy agio. Small change is always rare, another sure sign of thriftlessness, and it is strange how scarce is bullion in a land so wealthy: I can only account for the fact by the Oriental practice of burying treasure.[88]
Where men reside solely for gain and sorely against the grain, little can be expected from society. Every merchant hopes and expects to leave Zanzibar for ever, as soon as he can realize a certain sum; every agent would persuade his employer to recall him. Of late years, also, foreigners complain of a falling off in ivory, copal, cloves, and other articles which the natives, it might be supposed, could most easily supply; thus profits are curtailed, and a penny saved is a penny gained. Most residents are contented with an Abyssinian or Somali girl, or perhaps an Msawahili; with a Portuguese cook, who consents to serve till he also can get away; and with a few hired slaves or free blacks, the dirtiest, the least honest, and the most disorderly of domestics. The British Consulate is the only establishment which employs Indian Moslems, perhaps the best of Eastern attendants. This luxury costs, however, at least £25 per mens., each man receiving from $10 to $12, about double the wages paid in India, and all are ever anxious to return home, the mal de pays making them discontented and unhappy. The bumboat-men and the beach-combers are Comoro rascals, who sometimes gain considerable sums; there are also some half-a-dozen negroes, speaking a little bad French, and worse English, who offer themselves to every stranger, and who fleece him till turned away for making the quail squeak. Workmen are hired by the day. Carpenters demand $0.50, three times the Indian wage, and the day’s work is at most 5 hours; of these men 4 barely did in 43 what 2 ship-carpenters managed in 5 days. The blacksmith and tin-man receive from $0.50 to $1 per diem; the goldsmith is paid according to the value of what he takes in hand—so much per dollar-weight.
The merchants, par excellence of Zanzibar, are the enterprising Bhattias or Cutch Banyans. The Periplus (chap. xiv.) mentions an extensive import trade for Ariáke and Barugaze, the latter generally identified with Baroch.[89] Vasco da Gama found ‘Indians,’ especially Calicut men, at Mozambique, Kilwa, Mombasah, and Melinde, and by their information he reached their native city. From the beginning of the present century the monopoly fell into the hands of the Bhattia caste. At first they were obliged to make Zanzibar, viâ Maskat, in a certain ship which sailed once a year: they were exposed to many hardships and perils: several of them were murdered, and when a Hindu died the Arabs, like the Turks of Masawah, claimed the droit d’aubaine. They rose in mercantile repute by commercial integrity, frugality, and perseverance, whilst the inability of the Moslem Sarráf to manage accounts or banking put great power into their hands. At Maskat and the neighbourhood they number nearly 500, and here about 400.[90] They extend southwards to Angosh (Angoxa) and Mozambique, where they make fortunes by the sale of Casimir noir, and where they are now as well treated as they were formerly tyrannized over by the Portuguese. Thus, though never leaving the seaboard, they command the inland trade, sending, where they themselves do not care to travel, Arabs and Wasawahili to conduct their caravans of savages and slaves. For this reason they have ever been hostile to European exploration, and report affirms that they have shown no scruples in compassing their ends. They are equally powerful to forward the discoverer; they can cash drafts upon Zanzibar, Mandavi, and Bombay; provide outfits, supply guards and procure the Págázi, or porters, who are mostly their employés. Ladha Damha farms the customs at Zanzibar, at Pemba Island his nephew Pisú has the same charge: Mombasah is in the hands of Lakhmidas, and some 40 of his co-religionists; Pangani is directed by Trikandas and contains 20 Bhattias, including those of Mbweni; even the pauper Sa’adani has its Banyan; Ramji, an active and intelligent trader, presides at Bagamoyo, and the customs of Kilwa are collected by Kishindas. I need hardly say that almost all of them are connected by blood as well as by trade.
The Bhattia at Zanzibar is a visitor, not a colonist; he begins life before his teens, and, after an expatriation of 9 to 12 years, he goes home to become a householder. The great change of life effected, he curtails the time of residence to half, and furloughs become more frequent as transport waxes easier. Not a Hindu woman is found upon the Island; all the Banyans leave their wives at home, and the consequences are certain peccadilloes, for which they must pay liberally. Arab women prefer them because they have light complexions; they are generous in giving jewels, and they do not indulge in four wives. Most of them, however, especially those settled on the Coast, keep handsome slave-girls, and, as might be expected where illegitimates cannot be acknowledged, they labour under the imputation of habitual infanticide. On the other hand, their widows may not remarry, and they inherit the husband’s property if not embezzled by relatives and caste-fellows.
The Bhattias are forbidden, by their Dharma (‘caste-duty’) to sell animals, yet, with the usual contradiction of their creed, all are inveterate slave-dealers. They may not traffic in cowries, that cause the death of a mollusc; local usage, however, permits them to buy hippopotamus-tusks, rhinoceros-horn, and ivory, their staple of commerce. We cannot wonder if, through their longing to shorten a weary expatriation, they have sinned in the matter of hides. This, together with servile cohabitation, caused a scandal some years ago, when the Maháráj, their high priest, sent from Malwa a Chela, or disciple, to investigate their conduct. Covered with ashes and carrying an English umbrella, the holy man arrived in a severe mood; he rejected all civilities, and he acknowledged every address with a peculiar bellowing grunt, made when ‘Arti’ is offered to the Dewta or deity. The result was a fine of $20,000 imposed upon the rich and wretched Jayaram. The sum was raised amidst the fiercest and most tumultuous of general subscriptions, and since that day the spoils of the cow have been farmed to a Khojah employé. All oppose with might and main the slaughter of cattle, especially in public, and they attempt to quit the town during the Moslem sacrificial days.
The long limp black hair, the smooth yellow skin, and the regular features of the Bhattia, are conspicuous near the woolly mops, the grinning complexions, and the flat faces of the Wasawahili. His large-peaked Cutch turban, white cotton coat or shoulder cloth, and showy Indian dhoti around the loins, contrasts favourably with the Arabs’ unclean garb. The Janeo, or thread of the twice-born, passes over his shoulder, and, in memory of home, he encircles his neck with a string of dry Tulsi stalks (Ocimum canum, a species of herb Basil), which he now grows at Zanzibar. His manners as well as his outer man are rendered pleasant and courteous by comparison with the rest of the population, and he is a kind master to his serviles, who would love him if they possibly could love anything but themselves.
These Hindus lead a simple life, active only in pursuit of gain. On the Coast, where profits are immense—Trikandas of Pangani, for instance, claims $26,000 of debt—they have substantial stone houses, large plantations, and goodly gangs of male and female slaves. Those resident at Zanzibar are less anxious to display their wealth: all, however, are now entitled by treaty to manage their own affairs without the interference of the local Government. These Banyans will buy up the entire cargoes of American and Hamburg ships: the ivory from the interior is consigned to them, and they purchase the copal from the native diggers. They rise at dawn to perform the semi-religious rite ‘Snán’ (bathing), apply to business during the cool of the day, and dine at noon. Avoiding Jowari, the Arabs’ staff of life, they eat boiled rice, vegetables, and ghee, or wheaten bread and Mung, or other pulse, flavoured with assafœtida, turmeric, and ‘warm spices.’ They chew tobacco, though forbidden by caste rule to smoke it, and every meal concludes with betel-nut and pepper-leaf, whose heating qualities alone enable them, they say, to exist at Zanzibar. They work all day, rarely enjoying the siesta unless rich enough to afford such luxury: they bathe in the evening, sup at 9 P.M., chew betel once more, and retire to rest.
As the Island contains no local Dewta, the Bhattias are careful to keep a Vishnu in the house, and to travel about, if possible, with a cow: in places like Pangani, where the horned god cannot live, they supply its place by a Hanuman (a small monkey, like the Presbyter Entellus of India) trapped in the jungle. Pagodas not being permitted, they meet for public devotions at a house in the southern quarter of the city, where most of them live, and lately they have been allowed to build a kind of fane at Mnazi Moyya. As usual with Banyans, the Bhattias have no daily prayers: on such festivals as the Pitri-paksha—the ‘Manes-Fortnight,’ from the 13th to the 18th of the month Bhadrapad—they call in, and fee a Brahman to assist them. Their proper priests are the Pokarna, who, more scrupulous than others, refuse to cross the sea: the Sársat Brahmans, so common in Sind and Cutch, are the only high-caste drones who to collect money will visit Zanzibar and Maskat. With a characteristic tenderness, these Banyans cook grain at the landing-places for the wild slaves, half-starved by the ‘middle-passage,’ and inclination as well as policy everywhere induces them to give alms largely. Apostasy is exceedingly rare: none Islamize, except those who have been perverted by Moslems in their youth, or who form connections with strange women. The Comoro men, here the only energetic proselytizers, have, however, sometimes succeeded: a short time ago two Bhattias became Mohammedans, and their fellow caste-men declared that the Great Destruction was drawing nigh. Yet Vishnu slept, and still sleeps the sleep of the just.
When a Bhattia’s affairs become hopelessly involved he generally ‘levants’: sometimes, however, he will go through the Diwali or bankruptcy, a far more troublesome process than the ‘Gazette.’ The unfortunate places in his store-front a lighted lamp, whence the name of the ceremony, and with head enveloped in a sheet, he silently occupies the furthest corner. Presently a crowd of jeering Moslems collects to see the furious creditors ranting, scolding, and beating the bankrupt, who weeps, wails, calls upon his god, and swears to be good for all future time. These degrading scenes, however, are now becoming rare. They remind us of the Tuscans and the Boeotians of old, ‘who brought their bankrupts into the market-place in a bier, with an empty purse carried before them, all the boys following, where they sat all day, circumstante plebe, to be infamous and ridiculous.’
All Hindus are careful when returning home from foreign travel to purge away its pollution by performing a Tirth or Yatra to some holy spring, and by large payments to Brahmans. Moslems declare that when the death-rattle is heard, one of those present ‘eases off’ the moribund by squeezing his throat. Banyan corpses are burnt at a place about two miles behind the town, and the procession is accompanied by a guard to keep off naughty boys. When a Bhattia dies without relatives on the Island, a committee of his fellow caste-men meets by the order of H. B. Majesty’s Consul; takes cognizance of his capital, active and passive; and, after settling his liabilities, remits by bill the surplus to his relatives in India.
The following is a list of the other Hindu castes to be found at Zanzibar:—
Brahman, of whom there are now six individuals, two Gujrati, and four Rajgarh, both sub-castes of the Sársat. One of them, Pradhán Joshí, is a Shastri—learned in the Veda.
Khattri, four in number: of these one is a trader, and the rest are carpenters capable of doing a very little very rough work.
Wáni (pure Banyan) one. There are also three or four of the Lohana sub-caste from Sind and Cutch.
Lohár, or blacksmith: of this Shudra sub-caste there are five; one acts Sutár (carpenter), and a second is a Sonár, or goldsmith—in Cutch the occupations are not separated by ‘Dharma.’
A few Parsees from Bombay visited Zanzibar; two were carpenters, and the third was a watchmaker, dishonest as his craft usually is. To the general consternation of Europeans, two Parsee agents lately landed on the Island, sent by some Bombay house whose name they concealed. These will probably be followed by others, and if that most energetic of commercial races once makes good a footing at Zanzibar, it will presently change the condition of trade. They are viewed without prejudice by the Arabs and the Wasawahili. The late Sayyid was so anxious to attract Parsees, who might free him from the arrogance and the annoyance of ‘white merchants,’ that he would willingly have allowed them to build a ‘Tower of Silence,’ and to perform, uninterrupted, all the rites of their religion.
The Indian Moslems on the Island and the Coast were numbered in 1844 at 600 to 700. Besides a few Borahs and Mehmans, Zanzibar contains about 100 Khojahs, who are held to be a ‘generation of vipers, even of Satan’s own brood.’ Here, as in Bombay, they are called Ismailiyyahs, heterodox Shiahs, who take a name from their seventh Imam Ismail, son of Ja’afar el Sádik, while orthodox Shiahs believe the seventh revealed Imam to have been Musa el Kazim, another son of Ja’afar el Sádik; and the founder of the Sophy (Safawi) dynasty, in the tenth century of the Hijrah (A.D. 1501). They have derived from the Batinis and Karmatis certain mystic and subversive tenets; and they are connected in history with Hasan Sabah (or Sayyáh, the travelling Darwaysh), our Vetulus de montanis, or Old Man (Shaykh, i.e. chief) of the Mountains, and with modern Freemasonry, which begins to appear when the Crusaders had settled in that home of heresies, Syria and Palestine. Hence the tradition that the First Grand Lodge was transferred to Lake Tiberias, after the destruction of Jerusalem. They practise the usual profound Takiyyah (concealment of tenets), call themselves Sunnis, or Shiahs, as the case may require, and assume Hindu as well as Moslem names. The Imam to whom they now pay annual tribute is one Agha Khan Mahallati, a Persian rebel, formerly Governor of Kirmán, and afterwards notorious upon the Bombay turf. This incarnation of the Deity is not intrusted with any of the secrets of his sect. The Khojahs have at Matrah, near Maskat, an enclosed house, which the Arabs call Bayt el Lúti. They declare that both sexes meet in it, and that when on a certain occasion it was broken open, a large calf of gilt silver was found to be the object of worship. Other incredible tales are also told about the sect: they remind us of the legends of the Libanus, which make the Druzes, apparently another offshoot of the Batini, worship El Ijl (the calf) when the figure is placed in their Khilwahs, or lodges, in memory of the detested Nishtakin Darazi, and in contra-distinction to El Akl, Hamzeh, their greater ‘prophet.’[91] No Agapomenical establishments exist at Zanzibar: the chief of the heretic sect is one Haymah, who has, however, but little authority, and who commands even less respect. The Khojahs at times repair to a tumbledown mosque on the sea-shore south of the city, in the quarter called Mnazi Moyya.
By no means deficient in intelligence, though unscrupulous and one-idea’d in pursuit of gain, the Khojahs are the principal shop-keepers in Zanzibar. They are popularly accused of using false weights and measures; they opposed the introduction of a metallic currency, and they have ever advocated, with the Prince, a return to the bad old state of barbarism. Many have applied themselves to slave-dealing, and lately one was deported for selling poison to negroes; they are receivers of stolen goods, and by the readiness with which they buy whatever is brought for sale, they encourage the pilfering propensities of the slaves. They travel far and wide; several of them have visited the Lake Regions, and we afterwards met, at Kazeh of Unyanyembe,[92] one of their best men, Musa Mzuri. At Zanzibar all not in trade are rude artisans, who can patch a lantern and tin a pot; one of them, who had learned to mend a watch, repaired the broken wheel of my pocket pedometer.
Of the free blacks who visit and who sometimes reside in Zanzibar, I have mentioned the Malagash: these Madagascar Islanders occupy the easternmost suburb of the town. In early ages the Arab and Wasawahili settlers on the western coast of the Great Island traded with the Mozambique, the Sawahil, and even Arabia, and since 1829 the persecutions of the Queen Ranavola-Manjaka, and the heavy yoke of the Hova conquerors, caused many to leave their homes. The rare Somal need hardly be noticed. During the season a few run down from Makdishu and Brava, to trade and barter hides and cattle. There are almost 2000 men from Angazijeh (Great Comoro), Mayotta, Hinzuwan or Anjuan (Johanna), and Muhayli. The word Comoro is evidently corrupted Arabic, meaning Moon-Island. The natives of the Archipelago here preserve their own language, which seems to be a superstruction of Javanese and Bali, Arabic, and Sanskrit erected upon a primitive insular dialect, meagre and un-Aryan. Others have detected in it a resemblance to that of the Philippine Islands,[93] and hold the people to be of Malay origin. The blood was Persianized and Arabized in the 12th century, and the Sultan and chiefs have ever since retained the Semitic physiognomy; but the extensive negro innervation has so tainted the blood that no difference can be perceived in the characteristic effluvium between them and the Wasawahili. It is curious to hear them, withal, boast of their Koraysh descent, and pride themselves upon the glories of the ancient race that produced the ‘Rasúl Ullah.’ In A.D. 1774 they hospitably entertained the crew of an East Indiaman wrecked whilst en route to Bombay. The Sultan of Johanna received in return a magnificent present from the H. E. I. Company, and the Comoro Islanders gained for themselves a permanent good name. A considerable emigration was caused in the early part of the present century by intestine divisions and by piratical attacks from Madagascar, whilst the slave emancipation by the French in 1847 set a large class free to travel. Of late they have displayed a savage and mutinous spirit, and two men were put to death for attempting with peculiar audacity the life of the young chief, Abdullah.
Amongst Eastern impostors the Comoro, especially the Johanna men, are facilè principes: the singular scoundrels have completely mastered the knack of cajoling Europeans—no Syrian Dragoman can do it better. Once or twice a year they tell-off begging-parties, who visit Mauritius and Aden, Bombay and Calcutta, and who invariably represent themselves as being on ‘Church-bijness,’ i.e. pilgrimage. Linguists, after the fashion of Egyptian donkey-boys, they also have the habit, like the petty Shaykhs and Emirs in the Libanus, of calling themselves ‘princes.’ More than one scion of Comoro loyalty, after obtaining a passage on board our cruisers, insisting upon the guard being turned out, and claiming from our gullible countrymen all the honours of kinghood, has proved to be a cook or a bumboat-man. Unscrupulous as bigoted, they have induced half-starved Europeans to apostatize by promises of making them chiefs and of marrying them to princesses; after circumcision, the wretches were left to starve. The Comoro men settled at Zanzibar are mostly servants in European houses, where they recommend themselves by exceeding impudence and by being handy at any fraud. Others are rude artisans, and the rest are Mercuries, beach-combers, and bumboat-men, who supply sailors with Venus and Bacchus, both execrably bad. When expecting invasion, Sayyid Majid equipped about 130 of these fellows as a garde de corps: they had flint muskets, two spears apiece, and lozenge-shaped hats, whereas the common troops wore woollen night-caps. Finally, they are cowardly as they are dishonest: it was not without astonishment that I heard of Dr Livingstone engaging a party of them for exploration in the African interior, and the trick which they played him is now a matter of history.
The Diwans or chiefs of the mainland ports and towns occasionally visit the Island on public and private business. Twice a year, in our midsummer and midwinter, a crowd of the Wanyam-wezi and other races of the inner intertropical regions flock, viâ the Coast, into Zanzibar, where they engage themselves as porters, and undertake carrying packs for the native traders to the Lake Regions and other meeting-places of commerce. They are so wild, that they cannot be induced to enter a house; and the terror of one who was brought to the consular residence was described as grotesquely comical: even the more civilized look upon a stone abode as a cavern or a dungeon. These half-naked miserables may be seen devouring, like birds of prey, carrion and putrid fish in the outskirts of the city; they have also a ‘Devil’s tree,’ whose trunk bristles with nails, and whose branches are robed in foul rags.
Some years ago one of the chiefs of the interior, I was told, was brought to Zanzibar a prisoner of war. He is described as a man of kingly presence, 6 feet 2 inches tall, handsome in face, and well-formed in head; his skin was covered with scar and tattoo in patterns, amongst which the crescent shape predominated.[94] When struck by his Arab owner he spat upon him, and declared that if burnt alive he would not cry out. Being carried before the late Sayyid, he boldly told him that ‘God exalts men and brings them low, that both were kings, and that the same misfortune which had made one a captive might also happen to the other.’ As he walked through the streets all the slaves, wild and domestic, prostrated themselves, to be touched by the point of his staff; they served him with food upon their knees; they remained in that position while he ate, and all wailed when he was placed in the Fort. The same story is told of an old ‘Congo king,’ who is still remembered at Rio de Janeiro. The prisoner of Zanzibar invariably placed his foot upon presents, and when the Sayyid restored him to liberty he departed empty-handed. M. Broquin, the French Consul, and other Europeans made inquiries about this black Jugurtha: all they could discover was that his country lay somewhere about the great Central Lakes.
A few Wazegura, Wasegejo, and Wadigo, heathen from the mainland, visit Zanzibar to buy and sell, or to fly from foes and famine. The greater portion settle permanently upon the Island, the savage for the most part unwillingly exchanges the comforts and pleasures of semi-civilization for the wildness and freedom of ‘Nature,’ so dear to the man of refinement. These Africans live by fishing and work in the plantations: they easily obtain from the large landed proprietors bits of ground, paying as a yearly quit-rent half a dollar and upwards according to crop, manioc, bananas, and sweet potatoes.