398 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



is almost confined to the Arabs, who make of it their normal 

 garment, the long and sleeved shirt called el dishdashah, or in 

 Kisawahili khanzu. It is the test of foreign respectability and 

 decorum when appearing amongst the half-clad African races, 

 and the poorest of pedlars will always carry with him one of 

 these nightgown-like robes. The price of the ready-made dish- 

 dashah ranges from 50 cents to 2 dols. 50 cents, and the uncut 

 piece of 16 yards costs from 2 dols. to 2 dols. 50 cents. 



The ukaya somewhat resembles the kaniki, but it is finer and 

 thinner. This jaconnet, manufactured in Europe and dyed in 

 Bombay, is much used by female slaves and concubines as head 

 veils. The price of the piece of 20 yards, when of inferior 

 quality, is 2 dollars 50 cents; it ranges as high as 12 dollars. 



The sohari, or ridia, made at Maskat, is a blue and white 

 check with a red border about 5 inches broad, with smaller 

 stripes of red, blue, and yellow ; the ends of the piece are checks 

 of a larger pattern, with red introduced. There are many 

 varieties of this cloth, which, considered as superior to the 

 dabwani as the latter is superior to the barsati, forms an accept- 

 able present to a chief. The cheapest kind, much used in 

 Unyamwezi, costs 16 dollars 25 cents per kori, or score. The 

 higher sorts, of which however only 1 to 40 of the inferior is 

 imported into the country, ranges from 22 to 30 dollars. 



The shali, a corruption of the Indian shal (shawl), is a common 

 English imitation shawl pattern of the poorest cotton. Bright 

 yellow or red grounds, with the pear pattern and similar orna- 

 ments, are much prized by the chiefs of Unyamwezi. The price 

 of the kori, or score, is 25 dollars. 



The taujiri (from the Indian taujir bura) is a dark blue cotton 

 stuff, with a gaudy border of madder-red or tumerie-yellow, the 

 former colour preferred by the Wahiao, the latter by the Wan- 

 yamwezi. The price per score varies from 8 to 17 dollars. 



The msutu is a European cotton dyed at Surat, indigo blue 

 upon a madcler-red ground, spotted with white. This print is 

 much w T orn by Arab and Wasawahili women as a nightdress 

 and morning wrapper ; in the interior it becomes a robe of cere- 

 mony. At Zanzibar the piece of 20 lengths, each 2*25 yards 

 long and 40 inches broad (two breadths being sown together), 

 costs 19 dollars. The kisutu, an inferior variety, fetches, per 

 kori of pieces 2*50 yards long, 13 dollars. 



The kikoi is a white cotton, made at Surat, coarse and thick, 

 with a broad border of parallel stripes, red, yellow, and indigo 

 blue : per kori of pieces 2 yards long, and sewn in double 

 breadths, the price is 5 dollars. A superior variety is made 



