THE IVORY TRADE OF ZANZIBAR. 227 



ten to fourteen per cent., and it must be marked with dark surface-lines, like 

 cracks, running longitudinally towards the point. It is evident from the 

 preceding details that the Arab merchants gain but little beyond a liveli- 

 hood in plenty and dignity by their expeditions to the interior. An invest- 

 ment of 1,000 dollars rarely yields more than seventy frasilah (2,450 lbs.) 

 Assuming the high price of Zanzibar at an average of fifty dollars per 

 frasilah, the stock would be worth 3,500 dollars, a net profit of 1,050 dollars. 

 Against this, however, must be set off the price of porterage and rations — ■ 

 equal to, at least, live dollars per frasilah — the enormous interest upon the 

 capital, the wastage of outfit, and the risk of loss, which, upon the whole, 

 is excessive. Though time, toil, and sickness, not being matters 

 of money, are rarely taken into consideration, by the Eastern 

 man, they must be set down on the loss side of the account- 

 It is therefore plain that commercial operations on such a scale can be 

 remunerative only to a poor people, and that they can be rendered lucrative 

 to capitalists only by an extension and a developement which, depending 

 solely upon improved conveyance, must be brought about by the energy of 

 Europeans. For long centuries past, and for centimes to come, the Semite 

 and the Hamite have been, and will be, contented with human labour. The 

 first thought which suggests itself to the sons of Japhet is a tramroad from 

 the coast to the lake regions. The subject of ivory, as sold at Zanzibar, is 

 as complicated as that of sugar in Great Britain, or of cotton in America. 

 A detailed treatise would here be out of place, but the following notice may 

 serve to convey an idea of the trade. The merchants at Zanzibar recognise 

 in ivory, the produce of these regions, three several qualities. The best, 

 a white, soft, and large variety, with small " bamboo," is that from the 

 Banadir, Brava, Makdishu, and Marka. A somewhat inferior kind, on 

 account of its hardness, is brought from the countries of Chaga, Umasac, and 

 Nguru. The Wamasai often spoil their tusks by cutting them ; for the 

 facility of transport, and like the people of Nguru, and other tribes, they 

 stain the exterior by sticking the tooth in the sooty rafters of their 

 chimneyless huts, with the idea that so treated it will not crack or split in 

 the sun. This red colour, -erroneously attributed at Zanzibar to the use of 

 ghee, is removed by the people with blood, or cowdung, mixed with water. 

 Of these varieties, the smaller tusks fetch from forty to fifty dollars ; and, 

 when they attain a length of §\ feet long, fetch 601. 



A lot of 47 tusks was seen to fetch 1,500Z. ; the average weight of each 

 was 95 lbs., 80 being considered moderate, and from 70 to 75 lbs. poor. The 

 second quality is that imported from the regions about the Nyasoa Lake, and 

 carried to Kilwa by the "Wabisa, the Wahido, the Wangindo, the Wamakua, 

 and other clans. The "Bisha ivory" formerly found its way to theMozam- 

 bique, but the barbarians have now learned to prefer Zanzibar ; and the 

 citizens welcome them, as they sell their stores more cheaply than the 

 Wabisa ; though white and soft it is generally small, the full length of a 

 tusk being 7 feet. The price of the "bab kalasi" — scrivelloes or small tusks, 

 under 20 lbs — is from twenty-four to twenty-five dollars, and the value 



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