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cepting the cession of a petty state on the eastern coast of Africa, to which, in the then existing circumstances of the commercial world, no great importance could be attached. Orders were accordingly sent to give the place up, but delays arose in the transmission of these orders,-owing, we believe, to the reluctance of the naval officer commanding on that station to resign so fine a harbour; and for nearly three years the British flag waved on the fort of Mombasa. The place was at length yielded up by the English, not be it observed-to the Sultan of Muscat, but to its native and hereditary chiefs, from whom it had been accepted on conditions. The Governor of Bombay was at the same time instructed to exert his influence with the Sultan of Muscat, to prevent his molesting the people of Mombása any further.

It is highly gratifying to reflect, that during the greater part of the period that Mombasa continued under the protection of Great Britain, the post of commandant was filled there by an officer who exercised his influence or authority in a manner honourable alike to his nation and to himself. Lieutenant Reitz, who first took the command of that place, soon perished in an ill-timed attempt to explore the river Pangány, which flows through the most populous country known to the Arabs in Eastern Africa. His successor, Lieutenant Emery, the officer before alluded to, desirous of employing a number of liberated Africans who were placed under his care, conceived the bold design of improving the port of Mombása, by the construction of a good landing place. For this purpose he cut three flights of steps through the solid rock; and, from the base of the cliff to which they conducted, he ran out a pier or jetty to a considerable distance. In the rock adjoining the stairs he cut a lateral gallery, at the extremity of which he sunk a well, and found good water. The watering place previously resorted to by the shipping, was two miles distant from the anchorage. This work, we are assured, was in every respect well executed, and would not disgrace an experienced engineer. To the Arabs of Mombása it appeared stupendous; and they were at a loss which to admire most, the abilities or the disinterestedness of Lieutenant Emery; for the expense of all the improvements effected by him, was defrayed out of the share of the port duties allotted by the terms of the cession for the support of himself and his party. The British flag attracted the Banyans in great numbers to Mombása, who, sure of protection, gave at once loose reins to their mercantile enterprise. The firmness of Lieut. Emery fully justified their confidence, nor did he quit the place before their accounts were settled, and interests secured. That young officer, in short, completely subdued the prejudices and gained the affections of

the people of Mombása. The day of his departure, after a two years' residence among them, was a day of general mourning throughout the island. Previously to that period, the English were more dreaded than esteemed by the Arabs of Eastern Africa, but now they are acknowledged by them to be as beneficent at least as they are powerful.

During a three years' peace, with an improved administration, Mombása acquired new strength and fresh resources. As soon as the English abandoned it, the Sultan of Muscat recommenced his attacks on it; and of these he has made four within the last ten years, but without the least success. His attempt to reduce the place by blockade was frustrated by the violence of the southeastern monsoon. His assault on it two years ago was repulsed with great slaughter. The death of the heroic Mebárak, Sheikh of Mombasa, so far from damping the ardour of his people, gave a loose to the commemoration of his virtues, which served to spread far and wide the enthusiasm of the cause in which he perished. The people of Mombása obtained, and continue to obtain, their warlike stores from Bombay; nor could the representations of the Sultan of Muscat induce the Anglo-Indian Government to deviate from the path of strict neutrality.

Irritated by his defeats, and despairing of subduing Mombása by his single strength, or of making the English the tools of his ambition, the Sultan of Muscat betook himself to the Americans, whose traders have of late years grown numerous on the coasts of Arabia and Eastern Africa. In negotiating with these adventurers he had few scruples to contend with; and it was soon agreed between the parties, that the Americans should have a factory in Zanzibar, or on whatever part of the African coast they might select, with exclusive privileges of trade, provided that they enabled the Sultan to reduce Mombása. As soon as this transaction was known at Bombay, a ship of war was sent to Zanzibar (in April 1834), to demand explanations, and thus was frustrated, we presume, the scheme of conquest concerted by the Sultan with the Americans. The latter are extremely desirous to possess a good port in the Arabian seas. They carry on much trade with Madagascar, Mocha, and Zanzibar; adroitly availing themselves of that exclusion of British activity and enterprise from those seas, which was heretofore in a great measure occasioned by the monopoly of the East India Company.

* Is it not matter of regret that the modest merits of Lieut. Emery should be wholly unknown or unnoticed at the Admiralty; and that his services should remain not merely unrewarded but even unrequited!

But to return to the trade of Eastern Africa, it is by no means so contemptible as it might be supposed to be at first sight. Where every man strives to elude the grasp of power by affecting poverty, and where the apparatus of commerce is rude or ill developed, the value of such commerce is likely to be underrated; but it is evident that, in a country where every man trades, more or less, the sum total of the traffic must be considerable. The fleets of dows engaged in the coasting trade are described in a vivid manner by our author :

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In approaching the land (at Patta), we were forcibly struck by the contrast in the coasting trade carried on here, and the cheerless absence of it which we had observed in parts that we had lately visited, where man seeks to thrive solely by the sale of his fellow-creatures, and impiously (I conceive the word not ill applied) neglects the cultivation of the soil which nature has so liberally endowed. In all directions the large boats, or, as they are called, dows, were seen, principally freighted with the produce of the land, coasting their way along shore. Their extraordinary build did not fail to attract our attention.

They are generally sixty feet long and fourteen broad, their head terminating in a long point, and their stern in one not much shorter ; and as they are built like a wedge, so, on grounding and being left by the tide, or hauled up on purpose, they require to be shored in that position by logs, which they always carry. Their planking is more frequently secured to the ribs by Cairo lashings than by nails or bolts; and with some the seats or beams projected a short distance through the side, like those of Delagoa boats.

Their huge square sail, of canvass or matting, has a yard above and below, with braces, and three or four bow-lines; and, notwithstanding their uncouth appearance, they are very swift, and sail much closer to the wind than most vessels. They are always well manned, and generally pull with sixteen oars or paddles, unless when in shoal water; they then prefer the employment of long slender poles used against the ground for propelling their canoes. In the management of these poles they show great dexterity, and it requires much practice to equal them. The dows, when large, have some times a small canopied space near the stern, on which, when prosecuting their voyage, the turbaned old chief is often seen standing and issuing his commands. Not in a single instance have I known one without an ornamental circle painted or carved on either bow or stern. These vessels are employed in the coasting trade, in which grain is the principal article; and likewise communicate between the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba and the main.'-(Vol. i. p. 375-6.)

This trade in provisions carried on within the reefs, is, we believe, wholly in the hands of the natives of the coast; but the foreign or export trade, on the other hand, which is considered to be of far greater importance, belongs altogether to the Arabs of Muscat, and to the Banyans. The Arab merchants ally themselves by marriage with the chiefs of the native towns to which they

resort, and which being the frontier towns of the coast tribes, are rarely above three days' journey from the sea. In these towns fairs are held at stated seasons, to which the natives of the interior repair with their merchandise. The ivory or other produce collected in these fairs is then carried to the Arab towns on the coast. The quantity of ivory annually exported from the three chief ports of eastern Africa, viz., Zanzibar, Mombása, and Lamú, amounts to 40,000 farâsileh, or about 650 tons; and this is all sent to Cutch, Surat, and Bombay. When the nature of this produce is taken into consideration, the amount of it exported will sufficiently prove the extent of country comprised within the range of Arab commerce. The Arabs do not erect forts, nor establish factories in the countries with which they trade. They gain their ends more securely by prompting the mercantile spirit of the natives. But in so doing, their ignorance of the principles of commerce in a great measure foils their purpose. They do not permit the Africans to trade in the island of Zanzibar, nor, we believe, in any place from which the export trade is carried on. The chief native fair or market supplying Mombasa, is, we know, held at Jóvu, about 15 miles in the interior. The chief object of this rule is the levy of two duties or more; it also serves to keep the Africans, as well as foreigners who visit the ports, in the dark respecting the profits of the trade. Another of their maxims is still more obviously impolitic than this. They never allow the Africans to see any but the vilest and cheapest goods, and are fearful of making them acquainted, not merely with a better quality, but even with the variety of manufactured articles. They thus suppress the strongest appeal that can be made to the industry of a rude people, and from their anxiety to enhance the profit, they effectually check the developement of their African trade.

The eastern coast of Africa, from the mouth of the river Juba (which is nearly under the line), to Cape Gardafui, a distance of 1000 miles, is for the most part sterile and unpeopled: the southern portion of it, indeed, as far as Mukdíshu, or Magadocia, has some considerable towns, in which the slave trade flourishes now as it did in the age of Arrian. From the shores north of Mukdíshu camels are exported in great numbers, the average price being a dollar a-piece. The Arab merchants often ascend the Juba as far as Gonára, a town consisting of wooden huts, or rather, perhaps, an encampment for a fair,-distant, according to Hardy, a three months', but according to Smee, and our other authorities, only one month's journey (with camels probably) from the coast. But the produce of the Somâly country is carried chiefly to Zeila and Borbora, in the gulf of Aden; so that the eastern coast, from

the Juba northwards, participates but little in the trade of the interior.

From the mouth of the Juba southwards, the coast subject to Arab sway has likewise an extent of about 1000 miles,-and throughout this entire extent the nations inhabiting the interior, to the distance of perhaps 300 or 400 miles from the sea, are comprehended within the usual and established range of Arab commerce. The river Ozy has been explored, we are told, by the Sultan of Kow (the son of the late Sultan of Patta), a distance of two months' journey, which can hardly be less than 400 miles. The country of the Chága, behind Mombása, is perhaps equally distant from the coast. From Kilwa, as we have already seen, the Arabs maintain an indirect commerce with the Movíza, on the western side of N'yassa, or the inland sea,-a distance in a straight line of at least 400 miles. The Monomoézi, who are represented by the Arabs now, as they were two centuries ago, to be a very rich people, but of the geographical situation of whose country nothing precise is known on the coast, are usually three months on their route down. From the time their caravans leave home, however, till their return, is a period of ten months. The country of the Monomoézi, therefore, who are constant traders, cannot be less than 500 miles from the sea shore. When their business on the mainland is concluded, they frequently pass over to the island of Zanzibar, where a few individuals of that nation are almost always to be found, waiting till the return of the next

caravan.

Enough has been said to show that the Arabs have a wide and easy access to the interior of Africa, and that their traffic probably pervades the entire population of the eastern side of that continent as far down as the twelfth degree of south latitude. The slave trade does not appear to create much impediment to their progress through the country. A very large proportion of the slaves brought down to the coast are sold by themselves or their kinsfolk; that is to say, they voluntarily enter into service by way of seeking their fortunes; and when they have the good luck to remain in the hands of Arab masters, it is likely that they find their condition much improved by servitude, as they are then pretty sure of experiencing kind and paternal treatment. We are informed that no less than 19,000 M'iáo have been sold at Zanzibar in one year, of whom by far the greater number were voluntary slaves; and although we can never rely on the numerical accuracy of Arab statistics, we see no reason to doubt that the slave trade carried on at Zanzibar, under its present restrictions, is productive of very little violence; the proportion of voluntary slaves being actually very great, and from the preference given to them, constantly increasing.

VOL. LXI. NO. CXXIV.

2 A

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