338 



KHOJAHS. 



large calf of gilt silver was found to be the 

 object of worship. Other incredible tales are 

 also told about the sect : they remind us of the 

 legends of the Libanus, which make the Druzes, 

 apparently another offshoot of the Batini, wor- 

 ship El Ijl (the calf) when the figure is placed 

 in their Khilwahs, or lodges, in memory of the 

 detested Mshtakin Darazi, and in contra-dis- 

 tinction to El Akl, Hamzeh, their greater 

 'prophet.' 1 No Agapomenical establishments 

 exist at Zanzibar : the chief of the heretic sect 

 is one Haymah, who has, however, but little 

 authority, and who commands even less respect. 

 The Khojahs at times repair to a tumbledown 

 mosque on the sea-shore south of the city, in the 

 quarter called Mnazi Moyya. 



By no means deficient in intelligence, though 

 unscrupulous and one-idea'd in pursuit of gain, 

 the Khojahs are the principal shop-keepers in 

 Zanzibar. They are popularly accused of using 

 false weights and measures ; they opposed the in- 

 troduction of a metallic currency, and they have 

 ever advocated, with the Prince, a return to the 

 bad old state of barbarism. Many have applied 



1 Such is the general view. There may, however, be a 

 section of the Druze creed that retains the calf-image in 

 honour. 



