387 



APPENDIX I. 



COMMERCE, IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 



Commerce has for ages been a necessity to the East African, 

 who cannot be contented without his clothing and his orna- 

 ments, which he receives in barter for the superfluity of his 

 country. Against its development, however, serious obstacles 

 have hitherto interposed. On the seaboard and in the island 

 the Banyans, by monopolizing the import traffic, do injury to 

 the internal trade. In the interior the Wasawahili excite, with 

 all the animosity of competition, the barbarians against Arab 

 interlopers, upon the same sordid and short-sighted principle 

 that the latter display when opposing the ingress of Euro- 

 peans. Finally, the Arabs, according to their own confession, 

 have by rapacity and imprudence impoverished the people with- 

 out enriching themselves. Their habit of sending fundi on 

 trading trips is, as has been explained, most prejudicial both to 

 seller and buyer ; the prices of provisions as well as of merchan- 

 dise increase almost visibly; and though the evil might be 

 remedied by a little combination, solidarity of interests being 

 unknown, that little is nowhere found. All, Banyans, Wasa- 

 wahili, and Arabs, like semi- civilised people generally, abhor 

 and oppose a free trade, which they declare would be as in- 

 jurious to themselves as doubtless advantageous to the country. 

 Here, as in Europe, the battle of protection has still to be 

 fought; and here, unlike Europe, the first step towards civili- 

 sation, namely, the facility of intercourse between the interior 

 and the coast, has yet to be created. 



The principal imports into East Africa are domestics and 

 piece goods, plain and unbleached cotton cloths, beads, and brass 

 wire. The minor items for the native population are prints, 

 coloured cloths Indian and Arabian, broadcloth, calicos, caps, 

 ironware, knives and needles, iron and copper wires for orna- 

 ments, and in some regions trinkets and ammunition. A small 

 trade, chiefly confined to the Arabs, is done in provisions, spices, 

 drugs, and other luxuries. 



c c 2 



