On the line inland from Bagamoyo and Kaole the copal-tree was observed at rare intervals in the forests, and the pits extended as far as Muhonyera, about 40 miles in direct distance from the coast. The produce of this country, though not first-rate, is considered far superior to that about Saadani.
Good copal is dug in the vicinity of Mbuamaji, and the diggings are said to extend to 6 marches inland. The Wadenkereko, a wild tribe, mixed with and stretching southwards of the Wazaramo, at a distance of two days’ journey from the sea, supply a mixed quality, more often white than red. The best gums are procured from Hunda and its adjacent districts. Frequent feuds with the citizens deter the wild people from venturing out of their jungles, and thus the Banyans of Mbuamaji find two small dows sufficient for the carriage of their stores. At that port the price of copal varies from 2 dol. 50 cents to 3 dol. per frasilah.
The banks of the Rufiji River, especially the northern district of Wánde, supply the finest and best of copal; it is dug by the Wawande tribe, who either carry it to Kikunya and other ports, or sell it to travelling hucksters. The price in loco is from 1 dol. 50 cents to 2 dollars per frasilah; on the coast it rises to 3 dol. 50 cents. At all these places the tariff varies with the Bombay market, and in 1858 little was exported owing to the enlistment of “free labourers.”
In the vicinity of Kilwa, for four marches inland, copal is dug up by the Mandandu and other tribes; owing to the facility of carriage and the comparative safety of the country it is somewhat dearer than that purchased on the banks of the Rufiji. The copal of Ngao (Monghou) and the Lindi creek is much cheaper than at Kilwa; the produce, however, is variable in quality, being mostly a dull white chakazi.
Like that of East African produce generally, the exploitation of copal is careless and desultory. The diggers are of the lowest classes, and hands are much wanted. Near the seaboard it is worked by the fringe of Moslem negroids called the Wamrima or Coast clans; each gang has its own mtu mku or akida’ao (mucaddum—headman), who, by distributing the stock, contrives to gain more and to labour less than the others. In the interior it is exploited by the Washenzi or heathen, who work independently of one another. When there is no blood-feud they carry it down to the coast, otherwise they must await the visits of petty retail dealers from the ports, who enter the country with ventures of 10 or 12 dollars, and barter for it cloth, beads, and wire. The kosi—south-west or rainy monsoon—is the only period of work; the kaskazi, or dry season, is a dead time. The hardness of the ground is too much for the energies of the people: moreover, “kaskazi copal” gives trouble in washing on account of the sand adhering to its surface, and the flakes are liable to break. As a rule, the apathetic Moslem and the futile heathen will not work whilst a pound of grain remains in their huts. The more civilised use a little jembe or hoe, an implement about as efficient as the wooden spade with which an English child makes dirt-pies.
The people of the interior “crow” a hole about six inches in diameter with a pointed stick, and scrape out the loosened earth with the hand as far as the arm will reach. They desert the digging before it is exhausted; and although the labourers could each, it is calculated, easily collect from ten to twelve lbs. per diem, they prefer sleeping through the hours of heat, and content themselves with as many ounces. Whenever upon the coast there is a blood-feud—and these are uncommonly frequent—a drought, a famine, or a pestilence, workmen strike work, and cloth and beads are offered in vain. It is evident that the copal-mine can never be regularly and efficiently worked as long as it continues in the hands of such unworthy miners. The energy of Europeans, men of capital and purpose, settled on the seaboard with gangs of foreign workmen, would soon remedy existing evils; but they would require not only the special permission, but also the protection of the local government. And although the intensity of the competition principle amongst the Arabs has not yet emulated the ferocious rivalry of civilisation, the new settlers must expect considerable opposition from those in possession. Though the copal diggings are mostly situated beyond the jurisdiction of Zanzibar, the tract labours under all the disadvantages of a monopoly: the diwans, the heavy merchants, and the petty traders of the coast derive from it, it is supposed, profits varying from 80 to 100 per cent. Like other African produce, though almost dirt-cheap, it becomes dear by passing through many hands, and the frasilah, worth from 1 to 3 dollars in the interior, acquires a value of from 8 to 9 dollars at Zanzibar.
Zanzibar is the principal mart for perhaps the finest and largest ivory in the world. It collects the produce of the lands lying between the parallels of 2° N. lat. and 10° S. lat., and the area extends from the coast to the regions lying westward of the Tanganyika Lake. It is almost the only legitimate article of traffic for which caravans now visit the interior.
An account of the ivory markets in Inner Africa will remove sundry false impressions. The Arabs are full of fabulous reports concerning regions where the article may be purchased for its circumference in beads, and greed of gain has led many of them to danger and death. Wherever tusks are used as cattle-pens or to adorn graves, the reason is that they are valueless on account of the want of conveyance.
The elephant has not wholly disappeared from the maritime regions of Zanzibar. It is found, especially during the rainy monsoon, a few miles behind Pangani town: it exists also amongst the Wazegura, as far as their southern limit, the Gama River. The Wadoe hunt the animal in the vicinity of Shakini, a peak within sight of Zanzibar. Though killed out of Uzaramo, and K’hutu, it is found upon the banks of the Kingani and the Rufiji rivers. The coast people now sell their tusks for 30 to 35 dollars’ worth of cloth, beads, and wire per frasilah.
In Western Usagara the elephant extends from Maroro to Ugogi. The people, however, being rarely professional hunters, content themselves with keeping a look-out for the bodies of animals that have died of thirst or of wounds received elsewhere. As the chiefs are acquainted with the luxuries of the coast, their demands are fantastic. They will ask, for instance, for a large tusk—the frasilah is not used in inland sales—a copper caldron worth 15 dollars; a khesi, or fine cloth, costing 20 dollars; and a variable quantity of blue and white cottons: thus, an ivory, weighing perhaps 3 frasilah, may be obtained for 50 dollars.