[71]. This is probably a confusion with the legend of Ali bin Hasan, the Shirazi chief, who, according to the ‘Kilwa Chronicle’ (De Barros, 1st Decade of Asia, viii. 4, 5), occupied Kilwa in our 11th century. There may have been a second emigration from Shangaya after the 14th century, but the tale of the cloth is suspicious. Cloth, however, has played everywhere upon this coast the part of gold and silver. Sofala was anciently a monopoly of Makdishu, which traded with it for gold on condition of sending every year a few young men to improve the ‘Kafir’ race, the latter highly valuing the comparatively white blood. A fisherman of Kilwa having been carried by the currents to the S. Eastern Gold Coast, reported this state of affairs to Daud, 10th Shirazi Sultan of Kilwa. This chief succeeded in getting the rich trade into his own hands by offering as many pieces of cloth as the youths sent by the people of Makdishu, and by also supplying emigrants to marry the daughters of the savages.
[72]. The Rev. Mr Wakefield (loc. cit. p. 312) calls this place Shungwaya, and states that it is a district between Goddoma and Kaúma (Wanyika-land); whilst his authority, Sadi, declares it to be the original home of all the Wasegeju.
[73]. The Sayyid Majid had originally agreed to pay annually $20,000 to Sayyid Suwayni, $10,000 to his brother, Sayyid Turki of Sohar, and $10,000 tribute to the Wahhabis. This was on condition that Sayyid Turki should not be molested, as he repeatedly was. It was generally believed that the arrangement was verbal, Sayyid Majid having refused to bind himself by writing: possibly there may have been a secret document. This agreement was subsequently modified by the action of the Bombay Government.
[74]. The Nile Basin. Tinsleys, 1864.
[75]. Introduction to ‘What led to the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile.’ Blackwoods, 1864.
[76]. ‘This fine undertaking was most inadequately subsidized: only £1000 was supplied by the Government, through the Society—£750 at the outset, and £250 on their return. The rest of the total cost, £2500, was defrayed jointly by the travellers themselves’ (Mr Findlay, loc. cit., speaking of the East African Expedition of 1856 to 1859). The Treasury, in 1860, contributed £2500, a sum which, with the experience gained during the first expedition, was amply sufficient.
[77]. Träume sind Schäume.
[78]. Farsaleh, in the plural Farasileh, is supposed to be an Arabic word, but it is unintelligible to the Arabs, except when they sell coffee. I can only suggest that it is derived from our parcel, and that we, on the other hand, have taken from it the word fraisle (of coffee).
[79]. Capt. Guillain finds amongst the Wasawahili that the cubit averages 45 centi-metres, and amongst the Somal 48 to 49. This agrees with my observations. The latter race is not only tall and gaunt; it has also a peculiarly long and simian forearm: moreover, when cloth is to be measured, the biggest man in the village is generally summoned.
[80]. The Banyans import this pulse (Cajanus Indicus) split, skin, boil, and eat it with ghi; sometimes with rice and ghi, like Dall. It is supposed to be a very windy food.