MORE DETAILS OF THE ARABS AND ZANZIBAR 



The Arabs are very much governed by the mean- 

 ing of two of their words, one is " dasturi " (custom) 

 and the other " heshima " which is difficult to trans- 

 late, but means something like respect, or honour, 

 or kudos. They do not care to do anything con- 

 trary to " dasturi," and are very keen on anything 

 that brings them " heshima ". For instance, own- 

 ing many slaves brought them " heshima," and 

 again I was told no " heshima " attaches to the 

 mother of one of the Sultan's children, it (the babe) 

 is usually taken from her. In like manner the 

 Swahilis copy the manners of the Arabs for the 

 '' heshima " gained by so doing. 



These two words alone are enough to make 

 them the most conservative of races, and to keep 

 them from going ahead with the times. In fact, 

 in the past they were of a much higher civilisa- 

 tion, and one hears of them having made great 

 advances in many sciences, most of which are 

 forgotten, to be discovered again by a more 

 modern people. 



They had a curious habit of burying their dead 

 wherever the fancy took them, sometimes in their 

 houses, or the walls of them, usually in their gar- 

 dens. The Sultans are buried in a place behind the 

 palace called Bunda Abbas. One notices in Zan- 

 zibar the dead population seems to exceed the 

 living, judging by the amount of tombstones ; on 

 every small space of ground there are graves. Along 



297 



