THE NEGRO RACE 



191 



been sent to Zanzibar, to earn something for their masters;" but 

 others seemed to be really independent settlers and adventurers. 

 These join the Soahili in trading excursions, and thus become the 

 medium of carrying Malay influence into the heart of Africa. They 

 likewise engage in maritime pursuits ; and many of them serve on 

 board American vessels, which is hardly the case with the Soahili. 



The Comoro men have undergone a double tutelage ; the second, 

 not only in visiting Zanzibar, but also from the extension of Arab 

 power to their own islands ; where the people are now perhaps no- 

 minally Muslim. Among a collection of Arabic pamphlets which I 

 obtained at Zanzibar, several had been written at the Comoro Islands, 

 and some even at Madagascar. 



ABORIGINAL EASTERN AFRICA. 



On one of my visits to the slave-market at Zanzibar, a Negro 

 among the bystanders, attracted my attention on account of the rude- 

 ness of his dress and his whole appearance. The race was evidently 

 pure ; and if there was any peculiarity, it was only in the beard being 

 nearly wanting. On inquiry, I learned with surprise, that he was an 

 aboriginal of the island ; and further, that having come from an un- 

 frequented district, he was acquainted with the original language. 

 He searched out two other ' Hadem,' in order that I might hear him 

 converse in it; but these, it appeared, could only speak Soahili. A 

 vocabulary would doubtless have been interesting, and I regret being 

 unable to give more than a single word : ' monakela,'* which siii- 

 nifies 'a small boy.' Zanzibar, being situated nearly twenty miles 

 from the main land, these circumstances have a bearing on the ques- 

 tion of the original population of the Comoro Islands and Madagascar. 



The above three individuals, were the only aboriginal Negroes I 

 have met upon their native soil; for notwithstanding that I have looked 

 upon a large portion of the outline of the African continent, it has 

 been my lot to set foot on it only in Egypt and at the Cape. I have, 

 however, seen great numbers of the exported aboriginals, belonging 

 probably to most of the countries that afford slaves; and at Zanzibar 



* In the Negro languages of this part ol" Africa, the plural is formed by changing the 

 inilial ' m' into ' w.' An instance of some analogy, may be remarked in our English 

 ■ rn<:' and ' we.' 



