PRICES AT UJIJI IN 1858. 



73 



arbitrary prices, averaging about three teacups for the 

 khete. A shukkah would procure three pounds of 

 butter, and ghee was not made for the market. It was 

 impossible to find sweet toddy, as the people never 

 smoke nor clean the pots into which it is drawn ; of the 

 acid and highly intoxicating drink used by the Wajiji, 

 from five to six teacups were to be bought with a khete. 

 Firewood, being imported, . was expensive, a khete 

 being the price of a little faggot containing from fifty 

 to one hundred sticks. About one pound of unclean cot- 

 ton was to be purchased for three khete of samesame. 

 It must be observed, that this list of prices, which 

 represents the market at Kawele, gives a high average, 

 many of the articles being brought in canoes from con- 

 siderable distances, and even from the opposite coast. 



The traveller in the Lake Kegions loses by cloth ; the 

 people, contented with softened skins and tree-bark, pre- 

 fer beads, ornaments, and more durable articles : on the 

 other hand, he gains upon salt, which is purchased at 

 half-price at the Parugerero Pan, and upon large wires 

 brought from the coast. Beads are a necessary evil to 

 those engaged in purchasing ivory and slaves. In 1858 

 the Wajiji rejected with contempt the black porcelains, 

 called ububu. At first they would not receive the 

 khanyera, or white-porcelains; and afterwards, when 

 the Expedition had exchanged, at a considerable loss, 

 their large stock for langiyo, or small blues, they 

 demanded the former. The bead most in fashion was 

 the mzizima, or large blue-glass, three khete of 

 which were equivalent to a small cloth; the same- 

 same, or red-corals, required to be exchanged for 

 mzizima, of which one khete was an equivalent to three 

 of samesame. The maguru nzige, or pink porcelains, 

 were at par. The tobacco-stem bead, called sofi, and 



