APPENDIX I. 



389 



the dollar, but it is subject to incessant fluctuations. Mer- 

 chants usually keep accounts in dollars and cents. The Arabs 

 divide the dollar as follows : — 



4 Ruba baisah (the " pie")'= Baisali (in the plur. Biyas), the Indian Paisa. 

 8 Biyas = 1 Anna. 



2 Annas, or 16 Pice = 1 Tumun or eighth. 



4 Annas, or 32 Pice, or 25 Cents = 1 Ruba, Rubo or Quarter-dollar, the 

 Indian Paola. 



2 Ruba, or 64 Pice, or 50 Cents = 1 Nusu or Half-dollar. 

 2 Nusu = Dollar. 



The Spanish or pillar dollar is called by the Arabs abu madfa, 

 and by the Wasawahili riyal mazinga (the <c cannon dollar " ), 

 In the East generally it is worth from 6 to 8 per cent, more than 

 the Maria Theresa, but at Zanzibar, not being a legal tender, 

 the value is unfixed. The only subdivision of this coin gene- 

 rally known is the seringe, pistoline, or " small quarter dollar," 

 which is worth only 10 pice and 2 pies, whereas the ruba, or 

 quarter of the Maria Theresa, is 32 pice. The French 5-franc 

 piece, raised in value by a somewhat arbitrary process from 1 14 

 to 110 per 100 "piastres d'Espagne " by M. Gruillain in 1846, 

 has no currency, though the Banyans attempt to pass them off 

 upon strangers at 108 for 100 Maria Theresas. In selling, the 

 price ranges from 15 to 22 shukkahs, each of which, assuming 

 the dollar or German crown to be worth 4s. 2d. 9 will be worth 

 upon the island from 6d. to 8d. The shukkah is, as has been 

 said, the shilling and florin of East Africa, and it is assuredly 

 the worst circulating medium ever invented by mankind. The 

 progress of its value as it recedes from the seaboard, and other 

 details concerning it, which may be useful to future travellers, 

 have been treated of in the preceding pages. 



First in importance amongst the cloths is the kaniki or 

 kiniki ; its names and measures are made to differ by the traders 

 according to the fashion of semi-civilised people, who seek 

 in confusion and intricacy facilities for fraud and chicanery. 

 The popular divisions are — 



4 Mikono, Ziraa, or cubits = 1 Shukkah. 



2 Shukkah = 1 Doti or Tobe. 



2 Doti = 1 Jurah, Gorah, or Takah. 



2 Takah = 1 Korjah, Kori, or score. 



Of this indigo-dyed cotton there are three kinds : the best, 

 which is close and neatly made, is seldom exported from Zan- 

 zibar. The gorah or piece of 16 cubits, 45 inches in breadth, 

 is worth about 1 dollar. The common variety, 40 inches broad, 

 supplied to the markets of the interior, costs about half that 



c c 3 



