HISTORY OF ZANZIBAR 



overbearingly consequential. Their wives, who at 

 home used the humble 'bus and looked on a cab 

 as a treat, now have rickshaws supplied, and car- 

 riages allowed them a certain number of days a 

 week, according to their husband's rank in the 

 Zanzibar Government or Consulate ; but this beau- 

 tiful state of things is about to cease, as at the 

 end of the year 1907 carriages were not going to be 

 allowed, for one thing. It is a great jump from a 

 suburban villa with only one or two maids to an 

 Arab mansion and plenty of boys, and these ma- 

 terial joys make up in a great measure for the tem- 

 porary exile from England. 



But to return to the Sultan of Zanzibar. Seyyid 

 Khalifa made an agreement that all children of 

 slaves born after January 1st, 1890, should be 

 free, and all persons coming into Zanzibar should 

 be also free. But it was not till Seyyid Hamoud's 

 reign in 1897 that slaves ceased to be recognised 

 altogether; after that time any slave might claim 

 his freedom, and the owner was compensated by 

 Government for his loss. 



However, many slaves never claimed their free- 

 dom — they recognised that it was better, if in a 

 wealthy family, to live a life of more or less idleness 

 and have some one responsible for their food and 

 shelter. If, however, the slaves could prove the 

 cruelty of their masters they were set free, and 

 those masters were not compensated. 



247 



