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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



At the latter place during the last few years they have 

 doubled in price : according to the Arabs, who regard 

 the abolition of slavery with feelings of horror, this 

 increase results from the impediments thrown in the 

 way by the English ; a more probable explanation may 

 be found in the greater cheapness of money. At Zan- 

 zibar the price of a boy under puberty is from fifteen 

 to thirty dollars. A youth till the age of fifteen is 

 worth a little less. A man in the prime of life, from 

 twenty-five to forty, fetches from thirteen to twenty 

 dollars ; after that age he may be bought from ten to 

 thirteen. Educated slaves, fitted for the work of fac- 

 tors, are sold from twenty-five to seventy dollars, and 

 at fancy prices. The price of females is everywhere 

 about one-third higher than that of males. At Zanzibar 

 the ushur or custom-dues vary according to the race of 

 the slave: the Wahiao, Wangindo, and other serviles 

 imported from Kilwa, pay one dollar per head, from the 

 Mrima or maritime regions two dollars, and from Un- 

 yamwezi, Ujiji, and the rest of the interior three dol- 

 lars. At the central depot, Unyanyembe, where slaves 

 are considered neither cheap nor dear, the value of a 

 boy ranges between eight and ten doti or double cloths; 

 a youth from nine to eleven ; a man in prime, from five 

 to ten ; and past his prime from four to six. In some 

 parts of the interior men are dearer than children under 

 puberty. In the cheapest places, as in Karagwah and 

 Urori, a boy costs three shukkahs of cloth, and three 

 fundo or thirty strings of coral beads ; a youth from 

 ten to fifteen fundo ; a man in prime from eight to ten ; 

 and no one will purchase an old man. These general 

 notes must not, however, be applied to particular tribes : 

 as with ivory and other valuable commodities, the 

 amount and the description of the circulating medium 

 vary at almost every march. 



