Hippopotamus’ teeth in 1857 were still sent to Europe and to Bombay, principally for making sword hilts and knife handles: in America porcelain was supplanting them at the dentists’. Rhinoceros’ horns, mentioned in the Periplus about Rhapta (chap. xvii.), were exported to Arabia and Central Asia. Hides and skins, chiefly of bullocks and goats, with spoils of the wild cattle, the zebra and the antelope, were brought for exportation from the Northern coast. Ivory was, after slaves, the only produce for which caravans visited the far interior, and both articles, which the expense of free porterage rendered inseparable, were sold to retail dealers on the coast. Sometimes it was dragged over the ground protected by grass and matting, with cords made fast to holes bored in the bamboo or hollow base fitting into the alveolar process. The best in the market was held to be the fine heavy material brought down from Ugogo by the Wanyamwezi porters, who, on their long journey, collect ivories of many different kinds. These are rufous outside, and abnormally heavy—a tusk apparently of 60 lbs. will weigh in the scales 70. The duty varies according to the district which supplies it: for instance, that of Unyamwezi is charged $14 for 36 lbs.; Mombasah, Lamu, and Kilwa, $4; the Pangani and Tanga countries $8, and Somaliland only $2. In the African animal the female’s tusk is often longer and thicker than in the long-legged variety of India and Ceylon. At the Cape of Good Hope, where the land is poor, the elephant may reach twelve feet, whilst northwards, where forage abounds, the average is three feet shorter, whilst the tusks are, according to travellers, much bulkier than in the taller beast. This may be explained by the more regular development of the defences where the animal is undisturbed by man. Ivory grows as long as its owner grows. At Zanzibar they declare that the animal which bears monster tusks is not, as might be expected, of mammoth stature: it is a moderate-sized beast, high in the forehand, and sloping away behind, like a hyæna. We have found it necessary to preserve our elephants in Ceylon, but in Africa the grounds extend from N. lat. 10° to S. lat. 25°, and clean across the Continent. There is no present fear of the market wanting supply: the annual deaths of over 100,000 would be a mere trifle considering the extent of country over which the herds roam.
Zanzibar exports her produce to the four quarters of the world as follows:
Europe and the United States take cocoa, Kopra (dried meat of the nut), cocoa-nut oil, and orchilla; copal, ivory, cloves and stems, hippopotamus’ teeth, tortoise-shell, and a little ambergris; cowries, hides, goat-skins, horns, gums, beeswax, and valuable woods in small quantities. The exports to France are chiefly sesamum and Kopra. There is no direct trade with Great Britain. Vessels from the United States usually touch, before going home, at Aden and Maskat, where they fill up with coffee and dates. India demands chiefly ivory, copal, and cloves; she also buys hippopotamus’ tusks, rhinoceros’ horns, cocoa-nuts, beeswax, tabkir or snuff, arrow-root, gums, and Zanzibar rafters. It is asserted in a journal of the R. Geographical Society (vol. xii., March, 1856) that Zanzibar Island and Coast have an annual export and import trade of £300,000 with Western, and of £150,000 with Eastern India. Arabia takes the same articles as Hindostan. Madagascar prefers British and foreign manufactured goods and coarse Bombay earthenware, flowered basins, and similar goods. This trade was declining in 1857, and vessels were not allowed to enter any of the ports. The Mrima or African coast requires American domestics, indigo-dyed cloths, cotton checks, common broad-cloths (especially crimson), Indian and Maskat stuffs, Surat and other caps, china and iron wares, brass chains, and brass and iron wires (Nos. 7 and 8). It also imports Venetian beads, a very delicate article of trade, each district having its own peculiar variety; subject also to perpetual change, and refusing to take any of the 400 kinds except those in fashion. Finally, a dangerous commerce, and highly disadvantageous to the white race, was carried on in arms and ammunition: coarse gunpowder was supplied in kegs; and one European house exported, it is said, in a single year 13,000 muskets, thus overdoing the trade. The weapon must have a black butt, and an elephant on the lock, otherwise it is hardly saleable; moreover, the price should not exceed three to four shillings. The old Tower musket was a prime favourite.
The following is a summary of the exports from the port of Zanzibar in 1859, when the East African Expedition left the coast.
| Exported to | Local Money. | English Money. | |||
| German Crowns. | £ | S. | D. | ||
| Great Britain | 25,050 | 5,566 | 15 | 0 | |
| United States | 534,100 | 118,688 | 18 | 0 | |
| France | 247,500 | 55,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hamburg | 161,000 | 35,777 | 15 | 0 | |
| British India | 467,500 | 103,888 | 18 | 0 | |
| Cutch | 313,400 | 69,644 | 10 | 0 | |
| Arabia | 105,200 | 23,377 | 14 | 6 | |
| East Coast of Africa | 1,233,900 | 274,200 | 0 | 0 | |
| West Coast of Africa | 230,000 | 51,111 | 2 | 6 | |
| Madagascar | 73,850 | 16,411 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total Value of Exports | 3,391,200 | 753,666 | 15 | 0 | |
The principal articles of export from the port of Zanzibar were as follows:
| Names of Articles. | Quantities Exported | Value in English Money. | |||||
| Produce of the Island of Zanzibar, and East Coast of Africa. | £ | S. | D. | ||||
| Ivory | lbs. | 488,600 | 146,666 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Cloves | ” | 4,860,100 | 55,666 | 14 | 0 | ||
| Gum Copal | ” | 875,875 | 37,166 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Hides | number | 95,000 | 25,553 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Cowries | lbs. | 8,016,000 | 51,444 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Sesamum Seed | ” | 8,388,360 | 20,800 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cocoa-nuts | ” | 1,750,000 | 2,711 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Kopra (dried Cocoa-nut) | ” | 2,450,000 | 13,333 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Cocoa-nut Oil | ” | 252,000 | 4,066 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Rafters | number | 20,000 | 1,250 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Red Pepper | lbs. | 176,000 | 1,422 ~bb~ | 6 | 0 | ||
| Value of Local Produce exported | 360,082 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Articles of Foreign Manufacture. | |||||||
| American Cottons | bales | 6,200 | 103,890 | 0 | 0 | ||
| English Cottons | { | ” boxes | 950 100 | } | 35,895 | 0 | 0 |
| Indian Cottons | { | bales pieces | 1,100 13,200 | } | 50,089 | 0 | 0 |
| Muscat Loongees | bales | 200 | 10,000 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Venetian Beads | barrels | 900 | 25,555 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Brass Wire | ” | 225 | 8,444 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Muskets | number | 20,400 | 15,111 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Gunpowder | barrels | 10,500 | 11,666 | 15 | 0 | ||
| China and Iron Ware | 7,111 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Bullion | German crowns | 370,000 | 82,222 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Value of 21 chief Articles of Export | £ | 710,067 | 7 | 0 | |||
The following is a summary of the value of the import and export trade of Zanzibar, borrowed from the consular reports of 1864.
| £ | |||
| 1861-62 | Imports | 361,837 | |
| Exports | 427,016 | ||
| Total | 788,853 | ||
| 1862-63 | Imports | 544,903 | |
| Exports | 467,053 | ||
| Total | 1,011,956 | ||
| ———— | |||
| Total increase during 1862-63 | 223,103 | ||
The distribution of the above trade was as follows:—