| 16 Wakiyyah (ounces, each = 1 dollar in weight) | = | 1 Ratl (or pound; in the plural, Artál). |
| 3 Ratl, or 48 Wakiyyah | = | 1 Man (Maund). |
| 12 Amnan (Maunds) | = | 1 Frasilah (35 to 36 pounds). |
| 60 Artál (pounds) | = | 1 Frasilah. |
| 20 to 22 Farásilah (according to the article purchased) | = | 1 Kandi (Candy). |
The Zanzibar lb. is the current English avoirdupois. The Arabs use a ratl without standard, except that it should be equal to sixteen Maria Theresa dollars. According to M. Guillain, it is four grammes (each 22·966 grs. avoir.) less than the English lb., and when reduced to seven grammes it is considered under weight. The “man” or maund is the general measure: there are, however, three varieties. The “man” of Zanzibar consists of three ratl, that of Maskat contains nine, and that of Oman generally 0·25 less than the Zanzibar maund. The frasilah (in the plur. farásilah) may roughly be assumed as one-third of the cwt.: the word probably gave rise to the English coffee-weight called a “frail.”
The measures of beads are as complicated and arbitrary as those of cloth. The following are the terms known throughout the interior, but generally unintelligible at Zanzibar, where this merchandise is sold by weight:
| 4 Bitil (each a single length from index tip to wrist) | = | 1 Khete. |
| 10 Khete (each a doubled length round the throat, or round the thumb, to the elbow-bone) | = | 1 Fundo (i.e. a “knot.”) |
| 10 Fundo (in the plural, Mafundo) | = | 1 Ugoyye, or Ugoe. |
| 10 Ugoyye (or 60 Fundo) | = | 1 Miranga, or Gana. |
Of these bead measures there are local complications. In the central regions, for instance, the khete is of half size, and the fundo consists of five, not of ten khete.
Beads are purchased for the monopolisers of Zanzibar unstrung, and before entering the country it is necessary to measure and prepare the lengths for barter. The string, called “ut’hembwe” (in the plural “t’hembwe”), is generally made of palm-fibre, and much depends for successful selling, especially in the larger kinds of beads, upon the regularity and attractiveness of the line. It will be remembered that beads in East Africa represent the copper and smaller silver coins of European countries; it is, however, impossible to reduce the khete, the length most used in purchases, to any average: it varies from a halfpenny to three-pence. The average value of the khete in Zanzibar coin is three pice, and about 100 khete are included in the man or maund. The traveller will find the bitil used as our farthing, the khete is the penny, the shukkah kaniki is the sixpence and shilling, the shukkah merkani and the fundo represent the halfcrown and crown, whilst the Barsati cloth, the kitindi or coil bracelet, and the larger measures of beads, form the gold money. The following varieties are imported in extensive outfits. Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are the expensive kinds; Nos. 4, 5, and 6, are in local demand, cheap in the maritime, and valuable in the central regions, and the rest are the more ordinary sorts. All those that are round and pierced are called indifferently by the Arabs madruji, or the “drilled.”
1. Samsam (Ar.) sámesáme (Kis.), kimara-p’hamba (food-finishers), joho (scarlet cloth), and kifungá-mgi (town-breakers, because the women are mad for them), are the various names for the small coral bead, a scarlet enamelled upon a white ground. They are known at Zanzibar as kharaz-kartasi—paper beads—because they are sent into the country ready strung, and packed in paper parcels, which ought to weigh 4 pounds each, but are generally found to vary from 8 to 10 fundo or knots. Of this bead there are 15 several sizes, and the value of the frasilah is from 13 to 16 dollars at Zanzibar. In Unyamwezi, where the sámesáme is in greatest demand, one fundo is equivalent to 1 shukkah merkani, and 6 khete to the shukkah kaniki.
2. Next in demand to the sámesáme, throughout the country, except at Ujiji, where they lose half their value, are the pink porcelain, called gulabi (the rosy), or máguru lá nzige (locust’s feet). The price in Zanzibar varies from 12 to 15 dollars per frasilah.
3. The blue porcelain, called in Venice ajerino, and in East Africa langiyo or murtutu (blue vitriol) is of three several sizes, and the best is of the lightest colour. The larger variety, called langiyo mkuba, fetches, at Zanzibar, from 6 to 12 dollars per frasilah, and the p’heke, or smaller, from 7 to 9 dollars. In Usagara and Unyamwezi, where from 3 to 4 fundo are equivalent to the shukkah merkani, and 1 to 2 to the shukkah kaniki, it is used for minor purchases, where the sámesáme would be too valuable. It is little prized in other parts, and between Unyamwezi and Ujiji it falls to the low level of the white porcelain.
4. A local variety, current from Msene to the Tanganyika Lake, where, in the heavier dealings, as the purchase of slaves and ivory, a few strings are always required to cap the bargain, is called mzizima, mtunda, balghami, and jelabi, the ringel perle of Germany. It is a large flat bead of glass; the khete contains about 150, and each item acts as a copper coin. The mzizima is of two varieties; the more common is a dark blue, the other is of a whitish and opaline tint. At Zanzibar the frasilah costs from 7 to 9 dollars. In Unyamwezi 3 fundo are equivalent to 1 shukkah merkani, and 1 fundo to 1 shukkah kaniki.