Usury, made unlawful by the Saving Faith, flourishes as in all the commercial centres of Islam. Foreign houses doing business at Zanzibar cannot afford to part with the ready money requisite to secure their regular and highly-profitable returns of trade. They therefore borrow at 6 to 9 per cent. large sums from the principal Arabs and Wasawahili; when lending they refuse less than 33 per cent. upon the best security, and I have heard of cases in which 40 per cent.—deducted also from the capital—was demanded. Amongst natives moneys advanced on landed security or bottomry bear interest of 15-20 per cent. per annum, and pious Shylock salves his conscience by the sale of an egg or a cucumber. As in Somaliland, Banyans and large traders advance small ventures of goods, such as a bale of cloth to the retail vendor, who during the season barters it upon the coast and in the interior for slaves and ivory, hide, copal, and grain. In these transactions the interest is enormous; consequently the merchant rolls in dollars, and the tradesman manages only to live.

The insurance of vessels is here, as in most parts of the East, a gambling transaction; barratry cannot be guarded against, and all manner of fraud is successfully practised. Kojahs and Banyans underwrite, working upon two systems—‘Fáliserí,’ a corruption of our ‘policy,’ because a regular agreement is written out; and ‘Patán Sulámat,’ (the safety of the keel); in the latter nothing can be claimed unless there be a total loss. It is, however, the popular form: when a vessel has been built and not paid for, or when money is wanted to finish her, the creditor insists upon Patán Salámat before she goes to sea. I may here add, that refitting at Zanzibar, as at Mauritius, is exorbitant: a spar worth $15 to $20 will be charged $350 to $370.

Between Sept. 16, 1832, and May 26, 1834, the arrivals of square-rigged vessels were 41 with 7559 tons. Dr Ruschenberger gives the items as follows: United States, 32 (5497 tons), including 4 whalers, and of these 20 were from Salim; English, 7 (1403), French, 1 (340), and Spanish, 1 (319).

Between 1852 and 1857 the Island was visited by a greatly increased number, as is shown by the following table.

’52.TONS.’53.TONS.’54.TONS.’55.TONS.’56.TONS.
American(U.S.)369,187307,519369,901289,142247,215
English61,627358721,30051,60931,517
Hamburg102,386143,504153,981153,698205,438
French144,522187,452186,598135,5232310,579
Arab52,11094,27852,11331,448123,938
Spanish36241200 46024602460
Portuguese 12152338 3930
Hanoverian 1220
Prussian 1600
Danish 1450
Total7420,4567623,2658124,9116621,8718931,127
79? 21,880

Thus in five years the tonnage show an increase of 10,671. The French ships, however, whose arrivals have greatly increased, mostly came out in ballast, and loaded with sesamum, cocoa-meat, and cloves. Moreover, it became the custom to enter the ship twice: if, for instance, she visited the coast after touching at the Island, she appeared a second time upon the lists after her return. Thus, whilst the tonnage was greatly advanced, exportation did not keep pace with it.

In 1858 the returns of merchant shipping arrivals at the port of Zanzibar showed 89 of all nationalities, with 26,959 tons. In the next year this total fell off, owing to the cholera and political troubles, to 80 bottoms, with 23,340 tons. In 1861-2 the commerce was carried on by 55 ships, and 23 men-of-war visited or revisited the Island. In 1862-3 there were 57 trading vessels and 31 cruisers (Commercial Reports recorded at the Foreign Office from H. B. M.’s consuls).

I found it impracticable to obtain any information concerning the average or the total value of native cargoes.

Zanzibar being the general depôt for this portion of the African coast, shows a list of exports contrasting greatly with its industry. The staple productions of the Island are the cocoa-nut and cloves—of these details have been given in the preceding pages. The produce of the coast is contained in slaves, in copal, and in ivory of the finest description, hides and cowries, rafters and red pepper, ambergris and beeswax, hippopotamus’ teeth, and rhinoceros’ horn. In 1859 the export of ivory amounted to 488,600 lbs. (value £146,666); of copal to 875,875 lbs. (value £37,166); and of cloves to 4,860,100 lbs. (value £55,666). These figures are taken from the commercial reports of H. B. M.’s consuls, and are probably much understated. I have already mentioned most of the main items of exports. The following details will complete the list, and for further information I may refer the reader to Appendix No. I. (Commerce, Imports and Exports), the Lake Regions of Central Africa.

Beeswax is produced in small quantities upon the Island; the slaves, however, will not allow the hives to remain unplundered—they devour the contents, wax and all. It is also brought from the Chole islet and from the mainland: here, as in Abyssinia and Harar, hives are hung to the tall trees about the villages. The produce is like our ‘virgin honey,’ oily, but very impure: it greatly differs in taste; some of it is excellent, other kinds are almost flavourless. Upon the coast there is a dark and exceedingly sweet variety often found with the small bee smothered in it: the people declare that a spoonful of it will cause intoxication, like the celebrated produce of Asia Minor.