The principal of the minor items are coloured cloths, called by the people “cloths with names:” of these, many kinds are imported by every caravan. In some regions, Ugogo for instance, the people will not sell their goats and more valuable provisions for plain piece-goods; their gross and gaudy tastes lead them to despise sober and uniform colours. The sultans invariably demand for themselves and their wives showy goods, and complete their honga or blackmail with domestics and indigo-dyed cottons, which they divide amongst their followers. Often, too, a bit of scarlet broadcloth, thrown in at the end of a lengthened haggle, opens a road and renders impossibilities possible.
The coloured cloths may be divided into three kinds,—woollens, cottons, and silks mixed with cotton. Of the former, the principal varieties now imported are Joho or broadcloth; of the second, beginning with the cheapest, are Barsati, Dabwani, Jamdani, Bandira, Shít (chintz), Khuzarangi, Ukaya, Sohari, Shali, Taujiri, Msutu, Kikoi, and Shazar or Mukunguru; the mixed and most expensive varieties are the Subai, Dewli, Sabuni, Khesi, and Masnafu. Travelling Arabs usually take a piece of baftah or white calico as kafan or shrouds for themselves or their companions in case of accidents. At Zanzibar the value of a piece of 24 yds. is 1 dollar 25 cents. Blankets were at first imported by the Arabs, but being unsuited to the climate and to the habits of the people they soon became a drug in the market.
Joho (a corruption of the Arabic Johh) is a coarse article, either blue or scarlet. As a rule, even Asiatics ignore the value of broadcloth, estimating it, as they do guns and watches, by the shine of the exterior: the African looks only at the length of the pile and the depth of the tint. The Zanzibar valuation of the cheap English article is usually 50 cents (2s. 1d.) per yard; in the interior rising rapidly through double and treble to four times that price, it becomes a present for a prince. At Ujiji and other great ivory-marts there is a demand for this article, blue as well as red; it is worn, like the shukkah merkani, round the loins by men and round the bosom by women, who, therefore, require a tobe or double length. At Unyanyembe there are generally pauper Arabs or Wasawahili artisans who can fashion the merchants’ supplies into the kizbao or waistcoats affected by the African chiefs in imitation of their more civilised visitors.
Of the second division the cheapest is the Barsati, called by the Africans kitambi; it is a blue cotton cloth, with a broad red stripe extending along one quarter of the depth, the other three-quarters being dark blue; the red is either of European or Cutch dye. The former is preferred upon the coast for the purchase of copal. Of this Indian stuff there are three kinds, varying in size, colour, and quality; the cheapest is worth at Zanzibar (where, however, like dabwani, it is usually sold by the gorah of two uzar or loin-cloths) from 5 to 7 dollars per score; the second 10 dollars 50 cents; and the best 14 to 15 dollars. The barsati in the interior represents the doti or tobe of Merkani. On the coast it is a favourite article of wear with the poorer freemen, slaves, and women. Beyond the maritime regions the chiefs will often refuse a barsati, if of small dimensions and flimsy texture. Formerly, the barsati was made of silk, and cost 7 dollars per loin-cloth. Of late years the Wanyamwezi have taken into favour the barsati or kitambi banyani; it is a thin white long cloth, called in Bombay kora (Corah, or cotton piece-goods), with a narrow reddish border of madder or other dye stamped in India or at Zanzibar. The piece of 39 yards, which is divided into 20 shukkah, costs at Bombay 4·50 Co.’s rs.; at Zanzibar 2 dollars 50 cents; and the price of printing the edge is 1 dollar 75 cents.
The dabwani is a kind of small blue and white check made at Maskat; one fourth of its breadth is a red stripe, edged with white and yellow. This stuff, which from its peculiar stiffening of gum appears rather like grass-cloth than cotton, is of three kinds: the cheapest, dyed with Cutch colours, is much used in the far interior; it costs at Zanzibar 12 dols. 50 cents per score of pieces, each two and a half yards long;—the medium quality, employed in the copal trade of the coast, is stained with European dye, and superior in work; the score of pieces, each 3 yards long, costs 30 dols.;—and the best, which is almost confined to the island of Zanzibar, ranges from 40 to 45 dols. per kori. The dabwani is considered in the interior nearly double the value of the barsati, and it is rarely rejected unless stained or injured.
The jamdani is a sprigged or worked muslin imported from India: though much prized for turbans by the dignitaries of the maritime races, it is rarely carried far up the country. At Zanzibar the price of 10 yards is 1 dol., and the piece of 20 lengths, each sufficient for a turban, may be purchased for 15 dols.
The bandira (flag stuff) is a red cotton bunting imported from Bombay. It is prized in the interior by women. At Zanzibar the price of this stuff greatly varies; when cheap the piece of 28 yards may be obtained for 2 dols. 50 cents, when dear it rises to 3 dols. 50 cents. It is sold by gorah of 71⁄2 shukkahs.
Shít, or chintz, is of many different kinds. The common English is a red cotton, striped yellow and dark green; it fetches from 1 dol. 50 cents to 2 dols. per piece of 28 yards, and is little prized in the interior. Those preferred, especially in Unyamwezi and Ujiji, are the French and Hamburg; the former is worth at Zanzibar from 4 dols. 50 cents per piece of 35 yards, to 5 dols. 50 cents per gorah of 10 shukkahs, and the latter from 5 dols. to 5 dols. 50 cents. The most expensive is the “ajemi,” that used by the Persians as lining for their lambswool caps; the price is from 50 cents to 1 dol. per yard, which renders it a scarce article even in Zanzibar island.
The khuzarangi, a European cotton dyed a reddish nankeen, with pomegranate rind and other colouring matters, at Maskat, is almost confined to the Arabs, who make of it their normal garment, the long and sleeved shirt called el dishdashah, or in Kisawahili khanzu. It is the test of foreign respectability and decorum when appearing amongst the half-clad African races, and the poorest of pedlars will always carry with him one of these nightgown-like robes. The price of the ready-made dishdashah ranges from 50 cents to 2 dols. 50 cents, and the uncut piece of 16 yards costs from 2 dols. to 2 dols. 50 cents.
The ukaya somewhat resembles the kaniki, but it is finer and thinner. This jaconnet, manufactured in Europe and dyed in Bombay, is much used by female slaves and concubines as head veils. The price of the piece of 20 yards, when of inferior quality, is 2 dollars 50 cents; it ranges as high as 12 dollars.