'industry: 



253 



are essentially exporting, and cannot become 

 manufacturing centres, at least as long as the 

 present race endures. 



The principal supply is of matting and bags 

 for merchandise : the labourers are mostly 

 women, who thus spend the time not occupied 

 in domestic toil. The best mats are those sent 

 by Madagascar : the c native ' Simim (in Kisa- 

 wahili termed Mkeka), an article upon which 

 none but Diwans may sit, is neatly made of 

 rush and palm-fronds from the river-side and 

 from the low grounds of the coast ; it is dyed in 

 red patterns with madder, and the root of the 

 Mudaa-tree boiled in water gives it a dark purple 

 variegation. The housewives also make a rude 

 fan, imitating that of Maskat. Materials for 

 common mats and grain-bags are found in 

 strips of palmated and fan-shaped leaves, cut in 

 the jungles of the mainland, sun-dried, care- 

 fully scraped with knives, and plaited by men, 

 women, and children. The Maskat traders buy 

 these lengths, and sew them together with Khus, 

 or thread made from the cocoa-leaf. The large 

 Jambi (mat), varying from 8 to 10 cubits long, 

 costs about a quarter of a dollar : this is em- 

 ployed in bagging (in Arabic, Kafa'at, and in 

 Kisawahili, Makanda) to defend from rain the 



