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THE BEAD-TRADE OF EASTERN AFRICA. 



The lucrative bead-trade of Zanzibar is now almost entirely in the hands 

 of the Banyan capitalists, who, by buying up ships' cargoes, establish their 

 own prices, and produce all the inconveniences of a monopoly. In laying 

 in a stock, the traveller must not trust himself to these men, who seize the 

 opportunity of palming off the waste and refuse of their warehouses : he is 

 advised to ascertain, from respectable Arab merchants on their return 

 from the interior, the varieties requisite on the line of march. Any neglect 

 in choosing beads, besides causing daily inconvenience, might arrest an 

 expedition on the very threshold of success : towards the end of these long 

 African journeys, when the real work of exploration commences, want of 

 outfit tells fatally. The bead monopolisers of Zanzibar supplied the East 

 African Expedition with no less than nine men's loads of the cheapest 

 white and black beads, some of which were thrown away, as no man would 

 accept them at a gift. Finally, the utmost economy must be exercised in 

 beads : apparently exhaustless, a large store goes but a little way ; the 

 minor purchases of a European would average ten strings or necklaces per 

 diem, and thus a man's load rarely outlasts the fifth week. Beads, called 

 by the Arabs kharaz, and by the Wasawahili ushanga, are yearly imported 

 into East Africa by the ton — in quantities which excite the traveller's 

 surprise that so little is seen of them. For centuries there has been a 

 regular supply of these ornaments ; load after load has been absorbed ; 

 but although they are by no means the most perishable of substances, and 

 though the people, like the Indians, carry their wealth upon their persons, 

 not a third of the population wears any considerable quantity. There are 

 about four hundred current varieties, of which each has its peculiar name, 

 value, and place of preference ; yet, being fabricated at a distance from the 

 spot, they lack the perpetual change necessary to render them thoroughly 

 attractive. In Urori and Ubena, antiquated marts, now nearly neglected, 

 there are varieties highly prized by the people. These might be imitated 

 with advantage. 



For trading purposes, a number of different kinds must be laid in : for 

 travellers, the coral or scarlet, the pink porcelain, and the large blue glasa 

 bead, are more useful than other colours ; yet, in places, even the expensive 

 coral bead has been refused. Beads are sold in Zanzibar Island by the 

 following -weights : 

 16 Wakiyyah (ounces, each = 1 dollar in weight) = 1 Ratil or pound (in 



the plural, Artal). 

 3 Ratil, or 48 Wakiyyah = 1 Man (Maund). 

 12 Airman (Maunds) = 1 Frasilah (35 to 36 pounds). 

 60 Artal (pounds) = 1 Frasilah. 

 20 to 22 Frasilah (according to the article purchased) = 1 Kandi (Candy). 



The following are the terms known- throughout the interior, but 



