OHAPT-EE XIX. 



THE SUAHILI. 



r pHE name Suahili appears to have been first 

 1 given to the followers of Imam Amm Zaid, 

 at Shangaya, near Lamu. The term is now 

 applied indiscriminately to those half Moham- 

 medan coast-natives who are for the most part 

 slaves of the hybrid Arabs of Zanzibar and East 

 Africa. Like all African travellers, I had full 

 opportunity of understanding these curious people. 



They are pure savages domesticated by the 

 Arabs for the purpose of carrying loads, and, in 

 their one particular line, they surpass all other 

 natives except the Wanyamwesi. 



Their faults in number and enormity can only 

 be understood by those who have had the misfor- 

 tune to experience them practically ; but it is 

 impossible not to like them, and even to grow 

 really fond of them, after one begins to understand 

 what children they really are. They have been 

 brought up with the hippo -hide whip, and unfor- 

 tunately cannot be managed even now without its 



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