Public prostitutes are here few, and the profession ranks low where the classes upon which it depends can always afford to gratify their propensities in the slave-market. I have alluded to the Wasawahili women of the Madagascar Quarter; a few also live scattered about the town, but all are equally undesirable—there is not a pretty face amongst them. The honorarium varies from $0.25 to $1, and the proceeds are expended upon gaudy dresses and paltry ornaments. Retired Corinthians who have not prospered, live by fishing upon the sands, or make rude pottery at Changani Point: those who can afford it buy a slave or two, and give the rest of their days to farming. Girls who work for hire are always procurable, but such amours are likely to end badly: the same may be said of the prostitutes; consequently most white residents keep Abyssinian or Galla concubines. The ‘Liwát’ is here considered a mere peccadillo: the late Sayyid, however, denied Moslem burial to a nephew who built the British Consular residence. This ‘Maf’úl’ died in agony after the bungling performance of an operation which his debaucheries rendered necessary, and the body was cast naked into the sea.
Both sexes and all ages delight in drinking. The rich use bad but expensive French and American liqueurs, gin, brandy, and rum, from Marseille, India, and the Mauritius. Some eat opium, others prefer Bhang in its several forms: the material is imported from Bombay and Cutch. We found it near the continental seaboard, and therefore the Indian shrub is also probably grown upon the Island. A distillation, I have said, is made from the Cashew-nut and from palm-wine; this alcohol is called Zerámbo, and a free-born Arab is disgraced by touching it; preserved in foul old pots, it has the effect of poison; a drunken sailor will fall down insensible, breathe with stertorous loudness, and gradually pass from insensibility to death. Tembo or toddy is of two kinds—Támú, the sweet and unintoxicating, and Khálí, sour or fermented. The liquor is drawn from the trees by the Wasawahili and the slaves insular and continental. The Pombe, like the Buzah of Egypt and Berberia, Adel, and Abyssinia, is a simple hopless beer, made from maize or holcus. Drunkenness amongst the poor is very properly punished only when it leads to crime. It is singular that the late Sayyid, who never touched an intoxicating drink, should have been so tender to an offence with which Moslems usually deal so barbarously.
The Arab’s head-dress is a Kummeh or Kofiyyah (red fez), a Surat calotte (Alfiyyah), or a white skull-cap worn under a turban (Kilemba) of Oman silk and cotton religiously mixed. Usually it is of fine blue and white cotton check, embroidered and fringed with a broad red border, with the ends hanging in unequal lengths over one shoulder. The coiffure is highly picturesque. The ruling family and grandees, however, have modified its vulgar folds, wearing it peaked in front, and somewhat resembling a tiara. The essential body-clothing and the succedaneum for trowsers is an Izar (Nguo ya ku chini), or loin-cloth tucked in at the waist, 6 to 7 feet long by 2 to 3 broad. The colours are brick-dust and white or blue and white, with a silk border striped red, black, and yellow. The very poor wear a dirty bit of cotton girdled by a Hakab or Kundávi, a rope of plaited thongs; the rich prefer a fine embroidered stuff from Oman, supported at the waist by a silver chain. None but the western Arabs admit the innovation of drawers (Suruwali). The ‘Jama’,’ or upper garment, is a collarless coat of the best broadcloth, leek-green or some tender colour being preferred. It is secured over the left breast[[100]] by a silken loop, and the straight wide sleeves are gaily lined. The Kizbáo is a kind of waistcoat, covering only the bust: some wear it with sleeves, others without. The Dishdasheh (in Kisawahili Khanzu), a narrow-sleeved shirt, buttoned at the throat and extending to mid-shin, is made of calico (baftah), American drill, and other stuffs called Doriyah, Tarabuzun, and Jamdani. Sailors are known by Khuzerangí, a coarse cotton, stained dingy red-yellow with henna or pomegranate rind, and rank with Wars (bastard saffron) and sharks’ oil. Respectable men guard the stomach with a ‘Hizám,’ generally a Cashmere or Bombay shawl; others wear sashes of the dust-coloured raw silk manufactured in Oman. The outer garment for chillv weather is the long, tight-sleeved Persian Jubbeh, Jokhah, or Caftan, of European broadcloth. The Na’alayn, Viatu, or sandals of peculiar shape, made at Zanzibar, have already been described. Most men shave their heads, and the Shafeis trim or entirely remove the moustaches. The palms are reddened with henna, which is either brought from El Hejaz or gathered in the plantations. The only ring is a plain cornelian seal, and the sole other ornament is a talisman (Hirz in Kisawahili Hirízi). The eyes are blackened with Kohl or antimony of El Sham—here not Syria, but the region about Meccah—and the mouth, crimsoned by betel, looks as if a tooth had just been knocked out.
None but women and slaves leave the house unarmed. The lowest Arab sticks an old dagger in his belt, handles a rusty spear, or shoulders a cheap firelock. Gulf men are generally known by their round targes (Tursi) made of carved and spangled rhinoceros or addax hide, toys with high central umbo, and at the utmost a foot in diameter; others have fish-skin shields, and the Baloch affect the Cutch ‘Dhal,’ or buckler. The sword is of three forms, of which the Sayf Faranji (Frankish sword, in Kisawahili Upanga) has long been the favourite. It is a straight, broad, two-edged, guardless, double-handed weapon, about 4 ft 3 in. long, sheathed in a scabbard of red morocco: the thin and well-worn blade vibrates in the grip, and by the side of its razor-like keenness our weapons resemble iron bars. The price varies from $10 to $100, and, as at modern Damascus, cheap German imitations abound. The usual handle is wood bound with thread like plaits of black leather and silver wire forming patterns; the pommel is an iron knob, and the general aspect of the article suggests that it is derived from the Crusading ages. The ‘Kittáreh’ is a curved European sabre: the young princes and those about the coast carry in hand expensive specimens with ivory hilts and gold mountings. Thirdly, the ‘Imani,’ as they call it, is a short straight blade made in Europe, Oman, or Hazramaut. The Arab knows but two cuts,—one the ‘Kalam,’ across the ankles, and the other our No. 7, directed at the head or preferably at the shoulder: the former is evaded by leaping or breaking ground, the latter is parried with the shield. Jamhiyahs, Khanjars, or daggers, worn strapped and buckled round the waist, are curved till the point forms almost a right angle with the hilt. It is a silly construction; but anything will serve to stab the enemy’s back above the shoulders. The dudgeon of black or white rhinoceros or buffalo horn is adorned with a profusion of filagree-work, and silver or gold knobs; the blade, sharp on both sides, is nearly three inches broad at the base. The sheath (’Alá) is similarly ornamented upon a ground of leather, cloth, or brocade, dark or scarlet, with the usual metal rings and ‘fixings.’ The Khanjar often costs $200, and a handsome dagger is a sign of rank.
Not having seen at home the higher classes of Arab women, who are said to be sometimes remarkably handsome, I can describe them only from hearsay. In the house they wear tight Mezár, Sarwál, or pantaloons of Oman silk or cotton fastened at the waist with rich tasselled ties brought from Maskat, the Hejaz, and Bandar Abbas: the body dress is a long chemise of Bengal or Surat stuff, worn over a Mkájá or loin-cloth. The hair is plaited into Masúká (pig-tails) or Nyule (curls), and here, as elsewhere, the back of the head being the most sacred part of the feminine person, adults bind round the forehead a kerchief (Ngúo ku jitándá) or dastmal of bright-coloured silk, which depends behind to the waist. Abroad they appear masqued with the hideous black ‘Burka’-veil of Oman, whilst a Rida, Kitambi, or sheet of white calico or black silk, conceals even the dress from prying eyes. A Mávuli or umbrella shows dignity; some wear sandals (Vyatu), like the men, others Egyptian Papushes.
The favourite feminine ornaments are Banajireh, or Khalkhál, bracelets or bangles, gold, silver, or copper rings, solid or hollow, plain or embossed, with or without hinges. A Yekdani (single gem, or ‘union’), a cordiform or oval brooch and pendents of precious stones or stained glass, massively set in gold, hangs round the neck by a string of bullet-sized gold-foiled heads. The Matale (anklets) are of silver worth, that is to say weighing, from $10 to $20. A Kirt, Kupini, P’hete ya Pua, or flower-shaped ornament of gold, silver, or base metal, is worn in the wing of the left nostril. Earrings are of many varieties: the rim is pierced sometimes all round for silver Halkeh or rings, whose place is supplied amongst the poor with leaden ‘Kipini’[‘Kipini’] (in the plural ‘Vipini’). The lobe is bored and trained to encircle a disk of silver or ivory; the slaves use a bright-coloured roll of palm leaf, and when that is not procurable, a betel-nut: the result is unnatural distension, and in age the ear, as among the Moplahs of Malabar, hangs down, a mere strip of skin, to the collar bone. They have also the Kengele, copper balls for the neck; the Mpogo, or ivory ring; the Kikomo, a copper or brass bracelet; the Mkhufu, or silver necklace chain; the Mchuhu, or coarse Cassolette, and a variety of Talismans or Grigris (Hirizi) round the wrists and ankles. These women, like most Easterns, prefer strong and heady perfumes of musk, ambergris, ottar of roses, and the large Indian jasmine; their cosmetics are oil, henna, Kohl, or Collyrium (Wánjá), and saffron applied to the head and eyebrows; and they are cunning in the matter of fumigation, which might with benefit be introduced into Europe.
The Zanzibar Arab’s day is regular, varied only by a journey, a family festival, a debauch, or the yearly Ramazan fast. He rises at dawn for ablution and prayer, eats ‘Suwayk,’ a kind of vermicelli, wheaten bread, or even a little meat, drinks a cup of coffee, and chewing betel, repairs to the bazar for business or calls upon his friends. Men shake hands when meeting, wish good-morning, and ask, ‘How is thy state?’ to which the reply is, ‘And how art thou?’ They then sit down and renew queries, interspersed with many Marhabas, Sáná-B’ánás and Na shikamaus, ‘Allah preserve thee!’ and ‘Thanks be to Allah, we are well!’ If one sneeze, the others exclaim, ‘May Allah have mercy upon thee!’ which he acknowledges, with ‘Allah guide you!’—this is an old Arab superstition. Sneezing being an omen of impending evil to the patient, an ejaculation was made to the gods: ‘Homer mentions the custom; Aristotle fruitlessly attempts to explain its existence; Apuleius refers to it; and Pliny has a problem on it: “Cur sternutantes salutantur;”’ Asia still practises it, and the older Brazilians have not forgotten it. Here the convulsion is considered unsonsy: many a deputation waiting upon the late Sayyid has been prematurely dismissed because the ill-omened sternutation happened. As in Turkey and the Moslem East generally, the visitor’s place of honour is on the host’s left hand. Where coffee is offered on ceremonious occasions, all rise and take the little Finjan or thimble-cup from the house-master, who does not allow the servant to hand it; they then sit down, and they drink, contrary to usual Arab custom, more than one cupful. The hospitality concludes with a glass of sherbet. Amongst the wealthier classes at Zanzibar and Mombasah, tea is becoming a favourite beverage; not only ‘fashionable,’ but held to be hygienic because less heating than coffee.
At 5 o’clock, our 11 A.M., the Arab, like the Syrian, eats the ‘Ghada’ of fish and meat, of wheaten bread and vegetables, and of rice boiled with the cream of rasped cocoa-nut, ending with half-a-dozen Finjans of coffee and with betel. Some then repair to the Mosque; most men pray the noon-day at home, and sleep like the citizens of Andine Mendoza till the Asr or after 3 P.M. They again, perform ablution and devotions, after which they dress for out-of-door business and for home visits. The evening prayers are generally recited in public. Some eat the Isha-supper before sunset; usually it is deferred till after worship. The climate effectively prevents those last pleasant rambles by moonlight and open air séances—the Makamat so much enjoyed in the hot-dry sub-tropical regions. Here the evening is spent sometimes in society, oftener in the harem, and all apply to sleep between 10 P.M. and midnight.
The yearly fast begins with the new moon of Ramazan; crowds assemble in the open places and upon the terrace roofs till the popping of pistols and matchlocks and salvos from the squadron warn the faithful that the crescent has appeared. In the days of Sayyid Said the strict Arab salute of three guns (our 21) was kept up; five denoted a victory, and seven the decease of some eminent person. Arabs observe the dietetic law strictly; their women are expected to fast, and boys of 13 and 14 take a pride in imitating their parents. Many, especially those with weak digestion, cannot eat the dawn meal general throughout Egypt, Syria, and Persia. The Shafei ordeal ends when the sun has wholly sunk below the horizon; the Bayázi waits till daylight has almost faded from the east, and he prays before breaking bread. Most men begin hygienically with something easily digested, as dates and sour milk,—a more substantial meal follows after an hour. The rich pass much of the fasting time in sleep, and the burden here, as elsewhere, falls far more heavily upon the poor. At Zanzibar, however, the infliction is lightened by the damp climate and by the equinoctial day, short compared with the terrible 16 hours which must sometimes be endured in subtropical latitudes. Yet the servants and slaves are useless during Ramazan: idle at all times, they then assert a right to do nothing: as I before observed, the fast is one-twelfth of the year thoroughly wasted. On the other hand, it may be remarked that El Islam has wisely limited its festivals to six days in the year, a great contrast to the profuse waste of time which still characterizes the faith of Southern Europe.
As at the beginning of the month, crowds assemble to sight the new moon which ends the fast, and every fellow who has a matchlock wastes powder and ball, without much regarding where the latter flies. Here, as in the Brazil, nothing can be done without wasting gunpowder: at Zanzibar the matchlock is perforce preferred, in Rio de Janeiro the rocket and the squib have taken its place. This year (1857) a storm of rain on the evening of May 24th concealed the crescent, and it was not till half-past five P.M. on the 25th, that a salute from the shipping announced, despite the thick drifting scud which hid every inch of sky, that the weary ‘blessed month’ was no more. Then the men gathered about the palace, the women flocked to the house-tops, and the city, usually so sadly silent, rang with shouting, singing, the braying of trumpets, and irregular discharges of small arms. After sunset again all was still as the grave.