410 



THE TWO FAMILIES. 



almost to faint. I have seen an Englishman 

 turn pale when he felt that a crowded slave-craft 

 was passing under his windows, and the late 

 Sayyid could not eat or drink for hours after he 

 had been exposed to the infliction. 



The Wasawahili may he roughly estimated at 

 half a million of souls. In 1850 Dr Krapf 

 (Vocabulary of six East African Languages) pro- 

 posed 350,000 to 400,000. In Zanzibar Island 

 they are divided into two great families, a dis- 

 tinction hitherto disregarded by travellers. The 

 Shirazi, or nobles, derive themselves from the 

 Shangaya settlement, also called Shiraz, on the 

 coast north of Lamu in about S. lat. 2°; thence 

 they extended to Tungi, four days' sail south of 

 the Eufuma river. Asserting themselves to be 

 Alawi Sayyids (descended from the Khalifah 

 Ali) they take the title of Muigni, c lord,' equiva- 

 lent to the Arab 6 Sheriff whereas the other 

 chiefs are addressed as B'ana — master. The last 

 Msawahili Sultan in the days of the Arab 

 conqueror, Ahmed bin Said, was Ahmed bin 

 Sultan bin Hasan el Alawi. The actual head 

 of the family is entitled Muigni Mku by his 

 people ; by the Europeans, c King of the Sawahili.' 

 His name is mentioned in the Khutbah or Friday 

 Sermon ; he collects the poll-tax, and receives a 



