Imports.
| From what place. | 1861-62. | 1862-63. | Increase. | Decrease. |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| United Kingdom | 24,908 | 24,908 | ||
| British India | 117,790 | 157,660 | 39,870 | |
| Protected States of India | 19,789 | 18,336 | 1,453 | |
| Arabia and Persian Gulf | 10,063 | 10,572 | 509 | |
| Coast of Africa and adjacent islands | 115,856 | 206,394 | 90,538 | |
| France | 29,305 | 34,500 | 5,195 | |
| Italy | 7,263 | 7,263 | ||
| United States of America | 27,789 | 26,179 | 1,610 | |
| Hamburg | 41,242 | 52,674 | 11,432 | |
| Total £ | 361,837 | 544,902 | 183,065 |
Zanzibar imports from Europe and America silks, cottons, chintzes, and calicoes, muskets and gunpowder, beads and gunny-bags, notions and knick-nacks. The Americans chiefly send ‘domestics’ from the Massachusetts Mills. This year some thousand pieces of English cotton were sold, to the detriment of that specialty, and in 1863 even American merchants were compelled by war to import Manchester goods. French vessels bring out little but specie, there being hardly any demand for French manufactured goods. The total of French imports in 1859 was $516,451, of which $400,000 were bullion and $41,000 Venetian beads. Imports from Great Britain pass through India. Hamburg ships are laden with commissioned articles, mostly English,—glass ware and mirrors, English lead, sail-cloth in small pieces, broad-cloths, and similar articles. From India come English manufactured goods, cotton piece-goods, long-cloths, inferior broad-cloths, beads, brass and iron wires, coarse cutlery (English and foreign), bar and round iron, hardware, English muskets, tin, pig-lead, copper, spelter, china and earthenware; cereals in general, but especially rice, ghi, sweet-oil (cocoa), bitter-oil (sesamum), spices and frankincense, sugar and sugar-candy. Maskat supplies principally ornamental cloths (lungi, &c.), salt, sharks’-flesh, and fish-oil. The African Mrima contributes chiefly slaves, ivory, and copal, coffee and tobacco, cocoas and cloves; cereals, especially Jowari or holcus; ghi, cowries, and other shells, Zanzibar rafters and firewood, rhinoceros’ horns and hippopotamus’[hippopotamus’] teeth. Small pigs of excellent copper, and malachite of a fine quality, have been brought from the country of the Cazembe, and the analogy of Angola would lead us to expect rich mines in the interior. Madagascar contributes only tortoise-shell and a little rice, the latter husked or parboiled, to prevent it being used as seed by the importers. This custom is connected with some superstition: a few years ago the inhabitants of Socotra sold some she-goats to a ship’s crew, and complained that they were not visited by rain for several seasons. In 1863, wishing to introduce cocoa into Fernando Po, I bought a sack of seed from Prince Island, and found that all had been scalded. The trade with India and Arabia is carried on by ‘Daus’ and Batelas, of which there are neither registers nor returns. Weights and measures vary greatly at Zanzibar, where no three exactly correspond. There are no standards: stone is used instead of metal, and the rapacity of the seller has introduced notable differences into the sizes and contents of one and the same denomination.
The Wakiyyah, or ounce, the unit here as amongst most of the Arabic-speaking races, is the weight of a German dollar = Engl. avoirdupois, 15.50 drs.
| 12 | Wakiyyat =1 Ruba Man (¼ Ma¼und)= | 11 | oz. | 10.50 | drs. | ||
| 16 | Wakiyyat (& 1 Anna)=1 Ratl (lb.)= | 15 | 8.00 | ||||
| 24 | Wakiyyat =1 Nisf Man (½ Maund)= | 1 | lb. | 7 | 5.00 | ||
| 48 | Wakiyyat, or German crowns=1 Man (Maund)= | 2 | lbs. | 14 | 10.00 | ||
| 2 | Man ($96 weight) =1 Kaylah (measure)= | 5 | 13 | 4.00 | |||
| 6 | Kaylah =1 Farsaleh (fraisle)= | 35 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Farásileh =1 Jizleh= | 350 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2 | Jizleh =1 Kandi (Candy)= | 700 | 0 | 0 |
The weight of the German crown thus regulated all others, and of the former 16 may be assumed in round numbers to form the Ratl, or Arab lb. Of course no standard is kept. Without wear the 16 coins should weigh 449.568 grammes, or about 4 grammes less than the English avoirdupois. According to Captain Guillain the average weighs only 442 grammes, and the loss becomes 7 grammes. Thus the Man, which should be 1.348 Kilo., is reduced to 1.326; and the Farsaleh of 12 Man from 16.184 Kilos to 15.912. Practically, in order to facilitate business, the Farsaleh or unit of higher value is made equal to 35 light lbs. avoirdupois or 15.874 Kilos, but the natives still assume the weight of the Man at 48 piastres. The Kandi is the unit of freight: thus the voyage to Bombay is said to cost $4.50 to $5 per Candy. The Kandi for ivory = 21 Farasileh (= 333.354 Kilos), for copal and cloves = 22 Farasileh. Tonnage is represented by the Jizleh, a very uncertain weight, of which 2.103 to 3 are equivalent to the Kandi.
The English pound avoirdupois is generally used. The Maskat Maund is 8¾ lbs. or 9 lbs., trebling that of Zanzibar, 2 lbs. 14 oz. 10 drs. Ivory and cloves, coffee, gums, and similar articles are mostly sold by the Farsaleh.[[78]]
The measures of length, besides the English foot, which is generally recognized in commerce, are—
| 2½ | Fitr (the short span between thumb and forefinger) | } | = 1 Zirá’a, or cubit (= 18 inches), |
| 2 | Shibr (long spans between thumb and auricularis) | } | = 1 Zirá’a, or cubit.[[79]] |
| 2 | Zirá’a | = 1 Wár (= 1 yard). | |
| 2 | Wár (4 Zirá’a) | = 1 Ba’a, or fathom. |
The Kadam or pace is roughly applied as a land measure. The learned use as itinerary distances the Hindu ‘Kos’ and the Persian Farsakh (parasang), without, however, any regularity. Marches are reckoned by the Sa’at, or hour, somewhat like the pipe of the S. African Boer.