Chapter 14

END OF VOL. I.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.

1. Mr Frere’s memory is unusually short. I intrusted the MS. to the Eurasian apothecary of the Zanzibar Consulate, and I suspected (Lake Regions of Central Africa, vol. i. chap. i.) that it had come to an untimely end. The white population at Zanzibar had in those days a great horror of publication, and thus is easily explained how a parcel legibly addressed to the Royal Geographical Society had the honour of passing eight years in the strong box of the ‘Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.’

2. Georg. lib. i. ix. The concluding words are ὧν ἐστι τὸ τῶν Ῥαπτῶν ἀκροτήριον ὀλιγῴ νοτιώτερον. There is no reason why Bilibaldus Pirkimerus (Bilibaldi Pirckeymher), Lugd. 1535, should render it,‘quibusRhaptum promontoriumpaululum est Australius.’

3. When the Portuguese counselled the Abyssinians to wall their settlements against the Gallas, the former replied like Spartans, ‘No; we keep stones to build churches and temples, but we defend our country with our arms and hands!’ The Coptic ‘Nob’ signifies gold (Ritter Erdkunde, French translation, 142), the Camoensian ‘Noba’ is therefore more correct than our modern Nubia, which we find in the monk Burchard (A.D.1250),‘Æthiopia quæ hodie Nubia dicitur.’De Barros (1. iii. xii.) prefers‘a gente dos Nobis.’I have been tempted to add a stanza which isnottranslated from Camoens.95 (a)‘And‘Andsee the twain from Albion’s chalky shorego forth th’ Egyptian mystic veil to rend:the farthest font of Nilus they explore,those mighty waters whence the rivers trend,then, O dire Chance! O Fortune hard and sore!of all their fatal labours view the end—that lies self-victimed in his natal land,this lives afar on friendless foreign strand.’

95 (a)

‘And‘Andsee the twain from Albion’s chalky shorego forth th’ Egyptian mystic veil to rend:the farthest font of Nilus they explore,those mighty waters whence the rivers trend,then, O dire Chance! O Fortune hard and sore!of all their fatal labours view the end—that lies self-victimed in his natal land,this lives afar on friendless foreign strand.’

‘And‘Andsee the twain from Albion’s chalky shore

go forth th’ Egyptian mystic veil to rend:

the farthest font of Nilus they explore,

those mighty waters whence the rivers trend,

then, O dire Chance! O Fortune hard and sore!

of all their fatal labours view the end—

that lies self-victimed in his natal land,

this lives afar on friendless foreign strand.’

4. The losses of the Somali expedition (not including those of the Arab and Somali attendants) were as follows:—Lt. Stroyan, I.N. (killed), lost Co.’s Rupees1750Lt. Speke (wounded)do.4100Lt. Burton (do.)do.1950Lt. Hernedo.500Shaykh Ahmeddo.120Total, Company’s Rupees8420

4. The losses of the Somali expedition (not including those of the Arab and Somali attendants) were as follows:—

5. I could not resist the temptation of printing ‘wig’ and newspaper paragraph side by side in the Appendix (ii. 428) to my ‘Lake Regions of Central Africa.’

6. Proceedings Royal Geographical Society, May 5, 1866. The lamented travellers’ notes have now (1869-70) being published under the title of ‘Baron Carl Claus von der Decken’s Reisen in Ost-Afrika in den Jahren 1859 bis 1861. Bearbeitet von Otto Kersten (who accompanied the first expedition). London. Asher.’

7. Somewhat boisterous, but true. (Note 14 years afterwards.)

8. Literally rock, rocky ground. Hence the Arabs are called Wámánga. Mr Cooley (‘Inner Africa Laid Open,’ p. 61) blunders pitiably about this word.

9. This is the ‘Poane’ of ‘O Muata Cazembe’ (p. 323), and there rightly translated, ‘Costa de Zanzibar.’ Mr Cooley (p. 14, ‘The Memoir on the Lake Regions, &c., reviewed.’ London, Stanford, 1864) thus misleads his readers: ‘The Cazembe knew the name of only one place on the coast—Mpoáni, near the Querimba Islands.’ The word literally means ‘on the coast,’ or simply ‘the coast.’ In the Zangian dialects the terminative ‘-ni’ has two senses. Now it is a locative, signifying on, in, by, or near, as, e.g., Nyumba-ni, ‘at home’ (in the house); Mfu’ua-ni, at the place near the Mfu’u tree. Then it is almost pleonastic, as Kisiwa-ni, ‘the island,’ and Kisima-ni, ‘the well.’ Mpoa-ni, a word in general use, is a literal Kisawahili translation of the Arabic Sawáhil (plural of Sáhil), ‘the shores,’ strictly speaking between Mtangata and the Rufiji River. Hence, possibly, the Greeks drew their name, ‘Αιγιαλος.’ The latter is usually identified with the modern Arabic Sayf Tawíl, the long strand, not ‘bold or declining shore,’ as translated by Captain Owen. It extends southwards from the Ra’as el Khayl to Ra’as Awaz (Cape of Change) in the Barr el Khazáin (Ajan or Azania). Of the latter more in Sect. 1, Chapter V.

10. De Barros by a slip of the pen writes (Decades i. 5, 9) Guadrafu. I should explain the corrupted ‘Guardafui’ not as usual by ‘Cabo d’Orfui,’ but as a European version of Jurd Hafun,—highland or crest of Hafun. Jurd, in Arabic, means the mountain-top, opposed to the Wusut, shoulders or half-way slopes, and to the Sahl, or low lands. The modern Arabic name of the ancient Aromata Promontarium is Ra’as Asir, the captive headland, a term especially applied to the projection of land, some 2000 feet high, which, viewed from the south, extends farthest seaward to the north-east, as I saw when sailing from Zanzibar to Aden. Hafun, supposed to be the Mosyllum Promontorium of Pliny and the Opone of Ptolemy, the Khakhui of El Idrisi; the Jafuni of El Masudi; the Carfuna of other Arab geographers, and the Orfui of the moderns, means the surrounded, i.e. by water, because almost an island. Lieutenant Crittenden, I.N. (Aden, April 10, 1848. Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society), describes it as a headland of lime and sandstone nearly square, and 600 to 700 feet high. He remarks that after the Elephas Mons it is the only point on the coast concerning which there can be no mistake. The sites are thus—Ras Asir (Guardaful) North Easternmost point of AfricaN.lat.11°50′0″Raper(11°4′4″Norris)Ras Hafun, Easternmost point of AfricaN.lat.10°26′48″"(10°27′48″″ )Difference1°23′52″1°13′16″Lieutenant Carless, I.N., makes the difference of meridian arc0°4′50″

Ras Asir (Guardaful) North Easternmost point of AfricaN.lat.11°50′0″Raper(11°4′4″Norris)Ras Hafun, Easternmost point of AfricaN.lat.10°26′48″"(10°27′48″″ )Difference1°23′52″1°13′16″Lieutenant Carless, I.N., makes the difference of meridian arc0°4′50″

11. Yet we read of the ‘great river Matoney,’ and of ‘travellers crossing the great River Mtony.’ Mto, in the language of Zanzibar, is a river or a rivulet; also a pillow. The Quilimani River signifies simply kilima-ni, (water) from the mountain. The meaning of Quilimansi (the Obi—Webbe—Nile of Makdishu, Webbe Shebayli, of late christened the Haines River, and called Quilimancy by De Barros, from a settlement now unknown) is still under dispute. It cannot grammatically be made to mean ‘mountain-stream, or a mountain with streams,’ as Dr Krapf has it.

12. The ‘Father of History’ evidently held to the theory that the modern Bahr el Ghazal (explored of late by Mr Petherich and by the unfortunate Tinné family) was the head reservoir of the White Nile. Nor is it impossible that in long-past ages the lakes or waters in question were fed by a watershed whose eastern declivities still discharge themselves into the higher basin.

13. In 1859 I had written (Journal Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxix. 272) ‘The Nyanza, as regards name, position, and even existence, has hitherto been unknown to European geographers; but descriptions of this “sea” by native travellers have been unconsciously transferred by our writers to the Tanganyika of Ujiji, and even to the Nyassa of Kilwa.’ Mr Hogg proposes to show that such was not the case. But the map by John Senex (1711) throws into one three or at least two waters. Mercator (Kauffman) lays the ‘Garava’ lakelet almost parallel with the Zaflan (Zambeze) or Kilwa Lake. Walker (1811) and Lizars (1815) fit in the Tanganyika correctly, whilst the Nyassa is wholly incorrect.Of the five maps one only, that of John Senex, deserves consideration. ‘This great lake placed here by report of the negroes,’ alludes, I believe, to legends of the Bahari-ngo (the ‘great sea,’ vulgarly, Baringo), of which many East African travellers have heard. One Rumu wa Kikandi, a native of Uemba, described the water to Dr Krapf as lying five days’ journey from Mount Kenia: in the Introduction to his last travels (p. xlviii.), however, the enterprising missionary identifies it with the so-called Nyanza or Ukerewe Lake. I was told of it by the Wakamba at Mombasah in 1857. The Père Léon d’Avanchers (Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, vol. xvii. 164) also collected, when travelling on the East African coast, in August, 1858, information concerning Baharingo, as he writes it. Senex finally disconnects it with the Nile, and indeed gives it no drainage at all.I cannot but think that Mr Hogg’s learning and research have considerably strengthened my position, and that the so-called Nyanza Lake was, curious to say, the least known, and at the same time the nearest, to European geographers.

Of the five maps one only, that of John Senex, deserves consideration. ‘This great lake placed here by report of the negroes,’ alludes, I believe, to legends of the Bahari-ngo (the ‘great sea,’ vulgarly, Baringo), of which many East African travellers have heard. One Rumu wa Kikandi, a native of Uemba, described the water to Dr Krapf as lying five days’ journey from Mount Kenia: in the Introduction to his last travels (p. xlviii.), however, the enterprising missionary identifies it with the so-called Nyanza or Ukerewe Lake. I was told of it by the Wakamba at Mombasah in 1857. The Père Léon d’Avanchers (Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, vol. xvii. 164) also collected, when travelling on the East African coast, in August, 1858, information concerning Baharingo, as he writes it. Senex finally disconnects it with the Nile, and indeed gives it no drainage at all.

I cannot but think that Mr Hogg’s learning and research have considerably strengthened my position, and that the so-called Nyanza Lake was, curious to say, the least known, and at the same time the nearest, to European geographers.

14. This ‘restrictive treaty’ was published in No. 24 of the Bombay Selection (1856), under the head of ‘Persian Gulf.’

15. We must not, however, forget that in ‘all-enlightened England’ Smollett could complain of the ‘people at the other end of the island knowing as little of Scotland as of Japan.’

16. The ‘Nyassi’ is, in fact, a general reservoir into which are thrown the Lakes Tanganyika, the Nyassa, the Shirwa, and the four smaller waters, the Liemba, the Bangweolo, the Moero of the great river Chambeze, and the Liemba drained by the Lufira-Luapula stream. The latter, lying between S. lat. 10°-12°, have lately been reported by Dr Livingstone (Map of the Lake Region of EasternAfrica)Africa), showing the Sources of the Nile recently discovered by Dr Livingstone, with notes, &c., by Keith Johnston, jun. (Johnston); and we have a Sketch Map of Dr Livingstone’s recent Explorations—Eine Kartenskizze, &c. From Dr Petermann’s Geographische Mittheilungen, Part V., for May, 1870 (Gotha, Perthes).

17. Changa (large sands), in the plural Michanga, sands (of great extent). Mchanga (sand generally), at Mombasah and on the coast which preserve the older dialect, becomes Mtángá, and means a sandy place. The islanders of Zanzibar, for instance, will say Nti (the land or earth), the continentals, Nchi: these prefer Ku Changanyika (to meet together), those Ku Tanganyika. Foreigners often confound chyá with jyá, and pronounce, for instance, Msijyáná for Msichyáná—a lass. The Arabs, who cannot articulate the ch, convert it into their familiar sh, e. g. Ku Shimba for Ku Chimba (to dig).

18. Manioc, often erroneously written Mahogo.

19. I have described (Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah) the modern Sambúk of the Red Sea, and find the word ‘Sonboúk’ in the French translation of Ibn Batutah. Sir Gardner Wilkinson quotes Athenæus, who makes the ‘Sambuca’ (a musical instrument) ‘resemble a ship with a ladder placed over it.’

20. It is written Mutaifiyah in the Arab Chronicle of Mombasah History, translated and included in Captain Owen’s work (Voyages to Africa, vol. i. 416, Arabia, etc., London, Bentley, 1833).

21. The quarters, beginning from Changáni, the most western, are, the Baghani, which contains the English Consulate; the Mnazi-Moya to the south, with a grave-yard, and a bazar where milk and grain are sold; the Fuga adjoining it, the Zambarani, the Kajifichemi, the Kunazemi, and the Námbo to the south-east; the Gurayzani, containing the fort; and the Furdani with the Custom House; the Kipondah, where the French Consulate is; the Ziwani (Mitha-pani of the Hindus) further to the south; the Suk Muhogo, where manure and fish are sold; the Melindi, or Melindini, occupied by Hindus, and boasting a bazar; and lastly the Mnawi, the Kokoni, and the Fungu extend to the easternmost quarter, the Malagash, where the Lagoon, an inlet of the sea, bounds the city. I did not hear any of the three names mentioned in the text; they are probably now obsolete.

22. The Iberian name (in Arabicالستح, El Sat’h) of the flat roof-terrace, borrowed from the dry lands of Western Asia.

23. Chap. 7. Captain Hamilton’s ‘New Account of the East Indies.’

24. The Arabs here call the shark ‘jarjúr,’ the Wasawahíli p’hápá. I do not know why Captain Guillain (ii. 391) says,‘le requin, nommé par les Arabslebah—‘Lebah is the Somali name for a lion.

25. Uhiáo is the Iáo of Mr Cooley, who calls the people M’yau (Mhiáo) and Miyáo (Wahiáo). They are the ‘Monjou’ of Salt, and the Mujao of the Portuguese. M. Macqueen (On the Geography of Central Africa) says, ‘The inhabitants on the west side of the Lake are called Yoah, and are Mohammedans.’ They are still pagans. Capt. Guillain (1, 390) remarks,‘Les historiens Portuguais nous paraissent avoir donné au pays le nom que les indigènes donnent à ses habitants. Moudjâou, ou plutôt Moniâo et, par contraction, M’iâo signifie un homme du pays de Iáo.’Uhiáo would be the country; Mhiáo and Wahiáo (singular and plural), its people.

26. Dr Livingstone (Zambezi Expedition, x. 213) confounds these African ‘smokes’ with the blue hazy atmosphere of the ‘Indian summers’ in America, often the result of grass-burning and prairie fires. During an August on the Syrian coast and a December in the Brazil, I have seen the African ‘smokes’ as well developed as at Fernando Po.

27. Dr Krapf (112, Missionary Travels) tells us ‘the Somali coast, from Cape Guardafui southwards, is designated by the Arabs “Dar Ajam,” not “Ajan” or “Azan,” as the maps wrongly have it, because no Arabic is spoken in it.’ Dar Ajam is, I believe, a modern and incorrect phrase.

28. My learned and accomplished friend, Dr R. S. Charnoch (The Peoples of Transylvania: London, Trübner, 1870, p. 28), agrees with D’Herbelot, and from Zangi derives the racial gipsy names Czigány, It. Zingari, Var. Cingani, Zingara, Cingari, Port. Ciganos, G. Zigeuner. But the Zangi were and are negroes, Wasawahíli, whereas the gypsies never were.

29. Foreigners—Arab, Persian, and Indian,—call them Sawáhili. They call themselves Msawahíli in the singular, and Wasawahíli in the plural, always accenting the penultimate syllable. In the Zangian tongues a prefixed M is evidently an abbreviation of Mti, a tree, e. g. Názi, a cocoa-nut, Mnázi, a cocoa-nut tree, or of Mtu, a man. Before a vowel it is euphoniously exchanged to Mu, e. g. Muarábu, an Arab. The plural form is Wa, a contraction of Watu, men. ‘Wá’ also is the sign of the personal, or rather of the rational animate plural opposed to ‘Má,’ and must not be confounded with the possessive pronoun ‘Wá,’ of. Mr Cooley (Memoir of the Lake Regions, &c., Reviewed, Stanford, 1864), asserts that ‘Wa mtu,’ ‘of a man,’ becomes by rejection of the singular prefix, ‘Watu,’‘men‘men(des hommes):’ consequently it is an error to call the coast people Wamrima and the mountaineers Wakilima. If so, it is an error made by every Kisawahili-speaking man. There are, however, tribes, for instance the Rabai and the Doruma, that do not prefix the normal ‘Wá,’ to form a plural. A prefixed ‘Ki,’ possibly contracted from ‘kitu,’ a thing, denotes the language, e. g. Kisawahili: it also acts diminutive, e. g. Kigito, a little mto, or river; and it appears to have at times an adjectival sense. Opposed to it is ‘Ji,’ an augmentative form, e. g. Jito, a big mto. U, possibly derived from an obsolete root which survives in the Kinyika ‘Uatu’ (a place), denotes the country, e. g. Uzaramo, Usagara, and Uzungu—Europe the land of the Wazungu. Some names arbitrarily refuse this locative, for instance, Khutu, Karagwah, Sanga, Bondei, and others: we never hear Ukhutu, and so forth. ‘U’ is also a sign of abstract words, e. g. Mzuri, a handsome man; Uzuri, beauty; Mtajíri, a merchant; Utajíri, merchandise; Refu, long; Urefu, length. I may here remark that Captain Speke’s analysis of Uzaramo and Usagara into U-za-ramo and U-sagara, the country of Ramo and Gara, making them ‘obviously triple words,’ is wholly inadmissible. The root of national and tribal names, whatever it may be, is used only exceptionally amongst the Zangian races. Upon this point I shall presently offer a few observations.

30. Captain Guillain (vol. iii. p. 107, et passim) is correct upon the subject of the word ‘Mrima.’ Mr Cooley (Memoir on the Lake Regions, &c., p. 8) informs us that ‘Wamrima’ (the mainland people) signifies ‘of the mainland; for it is a mistake to suppose that Mrima is but a dialectic variation of Mlimá (read, Mlíma) hill, in its primary sense, cultivable ground; it is, in truth, a corruption of the Arabic word Marâ’im, signifying the land to the west, or under the setting sun. When the early Portuguese navigators told us that the Querimba Islands were peopled by the Morimos, we must understand by this name the people of the mainland.’This is an excellent illustration of how dangerous a thing is a smattering of philology. The ‘Arabic word Marâ’im’ is absolutely unknown to the Arabs of Zanzibar. It is evidently coined out of the dictionary from ‘رَعَمَobservavit occidentem solem.’ I would also ask how ‘Comazinghi is Arabic?’ (Geography, art. 15). Similarly, we find (Journal Royal Geographical Society, xix. 190) the Somali ‘Aber’ (error for Habr) derived from the Arabic (Hebrew?) Bar, and explained by Benú (sons), when it really signifies mother or old woman.It may be noted that in the Kisawahili of Zanzibar, Mríma is applied to the coast generally, especially between Mtangata and the Rufiji River, and it is mostly synonymous with the Arabs’ ‘Bar el Moli,’ whereas Mlíma means a mountain. From the latter comes the diminutive Kilima, a hillock, also synonymous in composition with the French mont. It enters into many East African proper names, e. g. Kilima-njaro, Kilima-ni, &c.I cannot agree with Messrs Norris and Beke, despite their authority as linguists, in stripping the national and racial names of their inflections, e. g. Sagara for Usagara, Zaramo for Uzaramo. Mr Cooley is equally wrong in stating that the ‘Sawáhily and the Arabs write Nika, Zeramu, andGogo.’Gogo.’The Arabs may, the Wasawahíli do not, thus blunder. Captain Guillain, I have remarked, is no authority. He confounds (vol. i. p. 231) the land of Wak-wak (the Semitic Gallas) with the South African Wamakua; and, worse still, with the ‘Vatouahs.’ And (vol. i. p. 281) he writes the well-known ‘Abban’ of the Somal, ‘Hebban.’ He also unduly neglects the peculiar initial quiescent consonant M, e. g. (i. p. 456) ‘Foumo’ for ‘Mfumo.’ The bare root-word, I repeat, is never used by the people, who always qualify it by a prepositive. This, in our language Brit or Brut may be the monosyllable upon which Briton and British are built, but it is evidently barbarous to employ it without suffix. In the Zangian tongues the prefixes are clearly primitive words; nouns, not as the Rev. J. L. Doehne explains them in his Zulu-Kafir Dictionary (Cape Town, 1857), ‘pronouns, in the present state of the language, used as nominal forms compounded with otherwords.’words.’

This is an excellent illustration of how dangerous a thing is a smattering of philology. The ‘Arabic word Marâ’im’ is absolutely unknown to the Arabs of Zanzibar. It is evidently coined out of the dictionary from ‘رَعَمَobservavit occidentem solem.’ I would also ask how ‘Comazinghi is Arabic?’ (Geography, art. 15). Similarly, we find (Journal Royal Geographical Society, xix. 190) the Somali ‘Aber’ (error for Habr) derived from the Arabic (Hebrew?) Bar, and explained by Benú (sons), when it really signifies mother or old woman.

It may be noted that in the Kisawahili of Zanzibar, Mríma is applied to the coast generally, especially between Mtangata and the Rufiji River, and it is mostly synonymous with the Arabs’ ‘Bar el Moli,’ whereas Mlíma means a mountain. From the latter comes the diminutive Kilima, a hillock, also synonymous in composition with the French mont. It enters into many East African proper names, e. g. Kilima-njaro, Kilima-ni, &c.

I cannot agree with Messrs Norris and Beke, despite their authority as linguists, in stripping the national and racial names of their inflections, e. g. Sagara for Usagara, Zaramo for Uzaramo. Mr Cooley is equally wrong in stating that the ‘Sawáhily and the Arabs write Nika, Zeramu, andGogo.’Gogo.’The Arabs may, the Wasawahíli do not, thus blunder. Captain Guillain, I have remarked, is no authority. He confounds (vol. i. p. 231) the land of Wak-wak (the Semitic Gallas) with the South African Wamakua; and, worse still, with the ‘Vatouahs.’ And (vol. i. p. 281) he writes the well-known ‘Abban’ of the Somal, ‘Hebban.’ He also unduly neglects the peculiar initial quiescent consonant M, e. g. (i. p. 456) ‘Foumo’ for ‘Mfumo.’ The bare root-word, I repeat, is never used by the people, who always qualify it by a prepositive. This, in our language Brit or Brut may be the monosyllable upon which Briton and British are built, but it is evidently barbarous to employ it without suffix. In the Zangian tongues the prefixes are clearly primitive words; nouns, not as the Rev. J. L. Doehne explains them in his Zulu-Kafir Dictionary (Cape Town, 1857), ‘pronouns, in the present state of the language, used as nominal forms compounded with otherwords.’words.’

31. ‘What Booken (Bukini) means I do not know.’ Wake on the Madecasses. Journal, Anthrop. Soc. No. 28, xxxi., Dr Krapf (Kisuáheli Grammar, p. 106) uses Bukini as Madagascar generally.

32. Captain Guillain (vol. i. 121—139, et passim) contends, and with much show of reason, that the Periplus was written after the days of Ptolemy (A.D.139 andA.D.161).‘Tant de lacunes dans l’œuvre du grand géographe grec, ne semblent-elles pas assigner à son travail une place toute naturelle entre les écrits de Marin de Tyr et le Périple?’

33. The daily run (مَجرا) native craft varies from 40 to 50 knots per diem, and 50 may be assumed as an average. Captain Guillain estimates it higher, from 48 to 60. Abulfeda gives the Majrá or δρόμος νυχθημέρος, 100 Hashemi miles = 170 of our geographical miles, here too high a rate unless aided by currents. Other Arab authors propose 100,000 paces = 100 Roman or Arab miles = 80 geographical miles. The pilot Theophilus (Ptol. i. 9) rated the day and night run in these seas at 1000 stadia = 100 miles, or two Ptolemeian degrees; the Pelusian geographer having, I have said, reduced the degree to 500 instead of 600 stadia.

34. See Part II. chap. 11.

35. Dr Ruschenberger, I know not on what authority, says that the island is undulated andcrossedby three principal ridges, whose most elevated points are 500 feet high. My information, derived from hearsay, however, not from actual inspection, assures me that the waves of ground are disposed north and south.

36. The Bahr el Kharab, or Bad Sea, the mountains El Mulattam (the lashed or beaten), El Nidameh (of repentance), and El Ajrad (the noisy); the Mountains of Magnet, and the ‘Blind Billows’ and ‘Enchanted Breakers’ which, says El Masudi, make the Omani sailor of the tribe of Azd sing—‘O Berberah and Jafuni (Ra’as Hafun), and thy warlock waves!Jafuni and Berberah and their waves are these which thou seest!’

‘O Berberah and Jafuni (Ra’as Hafun), and thy warlock waves!Jafuni and Berberah and their waves are these which thou seest!’

‘O Berberah and Jafuni (Ra’as Hafun), and thy warlock waves!

Jafuni and Berberah and their waves are these which thou seest!’

37. At Latham’s Isle was found guano, which Captain Cogan, I.N., obtained permission to export. In 1847, however, it was washed away by a ‘Ras de Marée.’

38. The temperature of the island as observed by French travellers is—Max. (April 6A.M.2 morn.) 89° (F.)—Colonel Sykes—88° (F. in shade)Min. (October, midnight and 6A.M.) 73°ditto73°Mean temperature of the year 79° 15ditto79·90 (extreme range 18°-19°)The following are the results of the evaporating dish:—Total of monthGreatest in one day of month.Least in one day.inches.inches.inches.January, 18572·360·090·04February ”2·190·100·05March ”2·490·090·06April ”1·760·100·03

38. The temperature of the island as observed by French travellers is—

Max. (April 6A.M.2 morn.) 89° (F.)—Colonel Sykes—88° (F. in shade)Min. (October, midnight and 6A.M.) 73°ditto73°Mean temperature of the year 79° 15ditto79·90 (extreme range 18°-19°)

The following are the results of the evaporating dish:—

Total of monthGreatest in one day of month.Least in one day.inches.inches.inches.January, 18572·360·090·04February ”2·190·100·05March ”2·490·090·06April ”1·760·100·03

39. The Consular report of 1859 gives Captain Owen’s variation.

40. Azyab is the classical Arab term for Cæcias (Kaikias) the N.E. wind—according to Firuzabadi it is the S.E.; Sciron, the N.W., is the Arab ‘Shúrsh’; Lips, the S.W., is ‘Labash’; and Euros, the S.E., ‘Sh’luk’ (scirocco, which is in many places a due east wind). The N.E. is still commonly called ‘Barráni’; in vulgar Arabic, however, men would say, Bayn el Shimal w’el Gharb. At Zanzibar the east wind is called by the Washawahili Zá jú—of above, and the west Phepo Mánde or Umánde—of dew or mist.

41. I can only suggest that this term is borrowed from the zodiacal sign Sagittarius.

42. V and F are often interchanged, as Mpumbafu (a fool), and Mfulana (a youth), for Mpumbavu and Mvulana. Generally the Arabs of Oman and other incorrect speakers prefer the latter, and the Wasawahili the former, a sound which does not exist in Arabic.

43. Or Mbua, the B and V being confounded, like F and V. Similarly, in the Prakrit dialects of Indra, vikh becomes bikh (poison).

44. This is ignored by Captain Guillain (Appendix, vol. iii.), who makes the Wasawahili retain all the names of the Arab months.

45. In 1870, for instance, it was kept in Syria on the 11th of ‘Adar’ (March), old style, and on Adar 23rd, new style.

46. According to Captain Guillain, in 1846-7 it corresponded with August 29 (the New Year’s Day of Abyssinia and Egypt in 1844); in 1848 with August 28; and in 1850, 51, 52 with August 27. He was also informed that the Vuli began 20 days after the Nau-roz, and lasted 30 (Sept. 20 to Oct. 20), that the Msika (which he writes Mouaka) begins 90 days after the 110th (Dec. 20 to March 20), and that the Mcho’o commences 20 days after the 280 (June 10 to July 1). That author, moreover, remarks that as the new Persian calendar adds to every century 22 days, instead of our 24 days, the Nau-roz thus falls behind ours 48 hours in each hundred years. Thus between 1829 and 1879, the New Year’s Day should occur between the 28th and 29th August.

47. In some cases an emetic will cut short the enemy. The allopathic remedies are evacuants, cooling lotions applied to the head, and sulphate of quinine (4 to 12 grains three or four times per diem), with appropriate treatment for complications. Calomel and tartar emetic must be avoided on account of their depressing effects. Liquor arsenicalis and the Tinctura Warburgii (Warburg’s Drops), which is said to have failed in yellow fever, have cured malignant, inveterate, and chronic cases. The Persians at one time in Zanzibar besieged Colonel Hamerton’s door for this ‘Ab-i-hayyát’—water of life. The invaluable wet sheet and the Turkish bath were unknown at Zanzibar in 1857.

48. Mr Lyons M’Leod says (vol. ii. 347) that a ‘very handsome jet-black parrot’ is to be procured there.

49. The χελώνη ὀρεινὴ, or mountain-tortoise of the Periplus (chap. i. 15), may have been a turtle or terrapin. A small quantity of tortoise-shell is sold on the island by Malagashes (Madagascarians) and Comoro men.

50. The iguana abounds on the West Coast of Africa, and in the Bonny River, where the huge hideous lizard is Ju-Ju—obnoxious to the honours of divinity.

51. So Dr Roschenberger mentions at Zanzibar a coluber called boa-constrictor, and peculiar to America.

52. I have not seen the ‘Fishes of Zanzibar,’ published in 1867 by Lieut.-Col. Playfair, H.M.’s Consul, and Dr Günther (Van Voorst, 1, Paternoster Row).

53. The eel-shaped fishes with green bones have the reputation of causing stomach-pains and vomiting. I may observe that the Oriental mind readily connects venom and verdant colours.

54. Nází, in Kisawahili, is the fruit, Mnází the tree: in this case the initial letter is evidently a contraction of Mti, a tree. The name for the sun-dried meat, ‘kobra,’ is borrowed from the Hindustani ‘khopra.’

55. I shall speak of the clove in a subsequent chapter.

56. The Hindu anna, which contains four pice, is here reckoned at eight.

57. The mango pickles of Makdishu are described by Ibu Batutah inA.D.1331.

58. Missionary of the Southern Baptist Connexion. He published a book of Travels in Western Africa, and a Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba language, printed by the Smithsonian Institution (May, 1858).

59. The ‘hot amourist’ pronounces this drink to beالامساک کثير

60. The seeds cannot easily be digested. Thus the lower regions of Fernando Po are a thicket of guava, suggesting the Jackal-coffee of the Neilgherries.

61. According to my friend Mr P. L. Simmonds (The Journal of Applied Science) this bast fetches readily £14 to £15 per ton, and ‘although the paper makers will buy any quantity brought to market, it is to be regretted that they will offer no combined assistance to facilitate the obtaining larger supplies of this important product.’

62. The Inzimbati (a leguminosa) and Invoulí of Capt. Guillain.

63. Palpably a corruption of the Portuguese Grâo—grain generally.

64. I have read in some book that the ‘Pywaree’ of Guiana is made from the masticated and fermented juice of the cassava-‘flower’—probably for—‘flour.’

65. I heard also of antimony on the Brazilian coast, opposite the Island of S. Sebastião, in the Province of S. Paulo, but I have not seen any specimens of it.

66. Recollections of Majunga, Zanzibar, Muscat, Aden, Mokha, Aden, and other Eastern Ports. Salem: George Creamer, 1854.

67. It is hardly necessary to correct in these days the error of Carsten Niebuhr, who made the ‘Belludges’ (Baloch) a tribe of Arabs. The Baloch mercenaries will be found further noticed in Part II. chap. vi.

68. Wellsted’s Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 403. This author exposes, without seeming to know that he was doing so, the selfish and short-sighted policy of the H. E. I. Company which wanted a squadron subsidiary to its own.

69. The consular report of 1860 gives an aggregate value of the port trade at £1,667,577, viz.: imports £908,911, and exports (information furnished by the mercantile community, and evidently much understated) £758,666.

70. Commercial Reports, received at the Foreign Office from H. M.’s Consuls, between July 1, 1863, and June 30, 1864. London, Harrison and Co. In 1862 the revenue of Maskat was computed to reach the very respectable cipher of £1,065,640 per annum.

71. Report of Select Committee appointed to inquire into the whole question of the slave trade on the East coast of Africa.

72. History of the Imams and Sayyids of Oman, fromA.D.661 to 1856, by Salil ibn Razík. Translated, &c., by the Rev. G. P. Badger. Printed for the Hakluyt Society.

73. So called from some silly vision of an illuminated sheep appearing to one of the Shaykhs. The city is supposed to have been founded inA.D.295, about 70 years before Kilwa.

74. The three voyages of Vasco da Gama, &c., as from the Lendas da India of Gaspar Correa, translated by the Hon. Henry C. J. Stanley, London, Hakluyt Society, 1869, chap. xxi., note to page 261. M. Guillain (i. 319) makes the expedition reach Zanzibar on April 29, 1499.

75. The only Shaykhs who took the name of Sultan were those of Kilwa and Zanzibar: he of Mombasah was tributary to the latter.

76. M. Guillain (i. 522) had vaguely heard of this tradition.

77. The Western as well as the Eastern Arabs turn the hard Káf into a Jím, e. g. Jibleh for Kibleh. The Kawásim derive their name from a local Wali, or Santon, the Shaykh Kásim.

78. A detailed account of this Prince’s early life is given in the ‘History of Syed Said, Sultan of Muscat’ ... translated from the Italian. London, 1819 (written by his physician, Shaykh Mansur, alias Vincenzo). Buckingham, Fraser, and Sir John Malcolm have also supplied notices of his eventful career.

79. I give this account as it was told to me by Lieut.-Col. Hamerton. M. Guillain (part II. chap. iii.) may be consulted for another and a more diplomatic version.

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