EAST AFRICA. 



209 



Sultan's dominions. The imports of cloves were 

 180,483 in value, and exports 197,232; imports 

 of rice 193,497, and exports 141,031 ; imports 

 of textile fabrics 307,850, and exports 345,910; 

 imports of ivory 113,204, and exports 127,312; 

 imports of coal 53,147; imports of copra 30,- 

 590,- and exports 09,730; imports of groceries 

 59,502; imports of rubber 40,517, and exports 

 41,298. The trade was distributed as shown 

 in the following table: 



The tonnage entered at the port of Zanzibar 

 during 1899 was 324,901 tons. 



Any slave can get his liberty on application. 

 The great majority of the slaves are unwilling 

 to avail themselves of their legal right. Some who 

 are energetic and enterprising and have learned 

 trades seek emancipation, and a few who have 

 quarreled with their masters or whose masters 

 have died. The freedmen have to use all their 

 wits and energies to obtain the requirements of 

 life, and often they are in debt. They are shunned 

 by their fellows^ who consider it a disgraceful 

 thing to change their estate. The slave has the 

 use of as much of his owner's land as he desires, 

 and the product is his own. The master fre- 

 quently supplies the material for building the 

 slave's house, and in want or in sickness the slave 

 goes to him for food and medicine. Slaves share 

 the feasts and pleasures of the master's house- 

 hold. All they give in return for the life of com- 

 parative ease and comfort and complete freedom 

 from care and responsibility is the nominal three 

 days of work weekly, which in practise amounts 

 to not more than fifteen hours of honest work. 

 The freed slave becomes an outcast as far as his 

 past associations are concerned. His former 

 owner and his late companions will not recognize 

 him. He has no home., no friends or companions, 

 and may die of sickness or starvation with none 

 to lend a helping hand. Although the emanci- 

 pated slaves are ostracized and the process of 

 emancipation g s on very slowly, the right to 

 obtain freedom is gradually elevating the char- 

 acter and improving the lot of the slaves them- 

 selves, who are less abject 'and cringing. The 

 freed slaves show much greater energy and self- 

 reliance than those still in bondage. Of the 100,- 

 000 slaves in Zanzibar and Pemba in 1897, when 

 the emancipation law went into force, only 53,- 

 000 remained in 1901, an epidemic of smallpox 

 having carried off 20,000, and 15,000 having dis- 

 appeared or died from ordinary causes, while 12,- 

 000 have obtained emancipation. In 1899 the 

 number of slaves who applied for and obtained 

 freedom was 3,757 in both islands, and in 1900 

 there were 1,120 freed in Zanzibar and 559 in 

 Pemba. The average amount of compensation 

 paid was 40 rupees. Very few slaves are smug- 

 gled out. The Sultan cooperates with the English 

 in suppressing traffic in slaves. He even had his 

 own cousin imprisoned for slave-dealing. Many 

 owners have, in spite of the vigilance of the 

 cruisers, deported slaves from Pemba to Muscat. 

 Sir Lloyd Mathews, the Prime Minister of Zan- 

 zibar, proposed to procure native labor for Zan- 

 zibar and Pemba from British East Africa and 

 VOL. XLI. 14 A 



Uganda on contracts for three years or longer, 

 making the merchants who imported and supplied 

 gangs responsible for their wages and support. 

 This scheme was disallowed by the British Gov- 

 ernment. 



British Somaliland comprises the coast district 

 from Lahadu to Bander Ziyada. It became a Brit- 

 ish protectorate in 1894, having formerly belonged 

 to Egypt. The area is about 08,000 square miles. 

 There are British officers at Berbera, with 30,000 

 inhabitants; at Zeyla, with 15,000; and at Bul- 

 har, with 12,000. The revenue in 1900 was 385,- 

 884 rupees; expenditure, 340,092 rupees. The im- 

 ports were 3,315,051 rupees at Berbera and Bulhar, 

 and 3,471,904 rupees at Zeyla; exports, 2,871,902 

 rupees at Berbera and Bulhar, and 3,012,712 rupees 

 at Zeyla. Rice, cotton goods, and dates are im- 

 ported, and hides and skins, ostrich-feathers, gum, 

 cattle, and sheep are exported. The consul-gen- 

 eral, Lieut.-Col. J. Hayes Sadler, is at the head of 

 the British administration. 



Italian Somaliland. The sultanate of Obbia 

 was declared an Italian protectorate in 1889 by 

 an arrangement with its ruler, and the Mijertain 

 Sultan also accepted Italian protection for a part 

 of his dominions and agreed not .to conclude any 

 treaty with another power regarding the rest. In 

 1892 the Sultan of Zanzibar ceded to Italy the 

 Somali coast to a distance of 180 miles inland, in- 

 cluding the ports of Brava, Merka, Mogadoscio, 

 and Warsheik. The. boundary between British 

 East Africa and the Italian sphere by the agree- 

 ments of March 24, 1891, and May 5, 1894, is the 

 Juba river from its mouth up to six degrees of 

 north latitude, that parallel eastward to thirty- 

 five degrees of east longitude, and that meridian 

 northward to the Blue Nile. The area of the 

 Italian sphere is about 100,000 square miles, with 

 a population estimated at 400,000. The Sultan of 

 the Mijertain Somalis having* assumed a hostile 

 attitude and engaged in the contraband trade in 

 arms, a naval expedition under the direction of 

 the Italian consul-general at Zanzibar bombarded 

 and captured his residence and took a large quan- 

 tity of arms and ammunition in April, 1901. His 

 son was taken prisoner. He himself fled into the 

 interior with a small number of followers, where 

 he was kept with short supplies until he made his 

 submission in July, signing a convention which 

 acknowledges the Italian protectorate and grant- 

 ing various concessions. An agreement was made 

 with France for the delimitation of French and 

 Italian territories on the Somali coast by a mixed 

 commission which met at Raheita in February, 

 1901. 



French Somaliland. The French Somali 

 Coast Protectorate, with the colony of Obok, ex- 

 tending from Cape Dumeira to Cape Gumarle, has 

 an area of 45,000 square miles and about 200,000 

 inhabitants. Jiboutil, the capital, has 15,000 in- 

 habitants, including 2,500 Europeans. The local 

 revenue in 1900 was 581,000 francs; the expendi- 

 ture of France, 337,500 francs. The exports are 

 coffee, wax, and ivory. A railroad is building 

 from Jiboutil to Harar. The Bay of Adulis was 

 ceded to France by the King of Tigre about the 

 same time that Obok was acquired under the 

 second empire, but it has never been occupied. 

 Obok was first occupied in 1881, and a protecto- 

 rate was extended over Sagallo, Tajura, and Am- 

 bado in the following years. The port of Jiboutil 

 was founded in 1888. The natives are Danakils 

 and Gallas. By agreement with Great Britain 

 the town and district of Harar, where formerly 

 an Egyptian garrison was maintained, can not 

 be annexed by either France or Great Britain, 

 the territory having been conceded to Abyssinia 



