342 THE BEAD-TRADE OF EASTERN AFRICA. 



generally unintelligible at Zanzibar, where this merchandise is sold by- 

 weight : 



4 Bitil (each a single length, from index tip to wrist) == 1 Khete. 

 10 Kete (each a double length round the throat, or round the thumb to the 



elbow-bone) = 1 Fundo (i. e. a " knot "). 

 10 Fundo (in the plural Mafundo) = 1 Ugoyye or Ugoe. 

 10 Ugoyye, or 60 Fundo = 1 Miranga or Gana. 



Of these measures there are local complications. In the central regions, 

 for instance, the khete is of half size, and the fundo consists of five, not of 

 ten khete. 



Beads are purchased for the monopolisers of Zanzibar unstrung ; and 

 before visiting the country, it is necessary to measure and prepare the 

 ' lengths for barter. The string, called " ut'hembwe " (in the plural 

 "t'hembwe"), is generally made of palm-fibre, and much depends for 

 successful selling, especially in the larger kinds of beads, upon the regu-. 

 larity and attractiveness of the line. It will be remembered that beads in 

 East Africa represent the copper and smaller silver coins of European 

 countries. It is, however, impossible to reduce the khete, the length most 

 used in purchases, to any average ; it varies from a halfpenny to three- 

 pence. The average value of the khete in Zanzibar coin is three pice, and 

 about 100 khete are included in the man or maund. The traveller will 

 find tbe bitil used as our farthing ; the khete is the penny, the shukkah kaniti 

 is the sixpence and shilling, the shukkah merkani and the fundo represent 

 the half-crown and crown ; whilst the Barsati cloth, the kitindi or coil 

 bracelet, and the larger measures of beads, form the gold money. The 

 following varieties are imported in extensive outfits : Nos. 1 , 2, and 3 are 

 the expensive kinds ; Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are in local demand, cheap in the 

 maritime, and valuable in the central regions ; and the rest are the more 

 ordinary sorts. All those that are round and pierced are called indifferently 

 by the Arabs madruji, or the " drilled." 



1. Sam sam (Ar.), same same (Kis.), kimara-p'hamba (food-furnishers), 

 joho (scarlet cloth), and kifunga-mgi (town-breakers, because the women 

 are mad for them), are the various names for the small coral bead, a scarlet 

 enamelled upon a white ground. They are known at Zanzibar as kharaz- 

 kartasi (paper beads), because they are sent into the country ready strung 

 and packed in paper parcels, which ought to weigh 4 pounds each, but are 

 generally found to vary from 8 to 10 fundo or knots. Of this bead there 

 are fifteen several sizes, and the value of the frasilah is from 13 to 16 

 dollars at Zanzibar. In Unyamwezi, where the same same is in greatest 

 demand, 1 fundo is equivalent to 1 shukkah merkani, and 6 khete to the 

 shukkah kaniki. 



2. Next in demand to the same same throughout the country, except at 

 Ujiji, where they lose half their value, are the pink porcelain, called gulabi 

 (the rosy), or maguru la nzige (locust's fat). The price in Zanzibar varies 

 from 12 to 15 dollars per frasilah. 



