414 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



head. The Wasawahili conduct a small trade in this live stock, 

 and sell them upon the" island for 4 to 5 dollars per head. From 

 their large profits, however, must be deducted the risk of trans- 

 port, the price of passage, and the octroi, which is 25 cents per 

 head. 



The exceptional expense of man-carriage renders the exporta- 

 tion of hides and horns from the far interior impossible. The 

 former are sold with the animal, and are used for shields, bedding, 

 saddle-bags, awnings, sandals, and similar minor purposes. Skins, 

 as has been explained, are in some regions almost the only wear; 

 consequently the spoils of a fine goat command, even in far 

 Usukuma, a cloti of domestics. The principal wild hides, which, 

 however, rarely find their way to the coast, are those of the 

 rhinoceros — much prized by the Arabs for targes — the lion and 

 the leopard, the giraffe and the buffalo, the zebra and the quagga. 

 Horns are allowed to crumble upon the ground. The island of 

 Zanzibar exports hides and skins, which are principally those of 

 bullocks and goats brought from Brava, Marka, Makdishu, and 

 the Somali country. The korjah or score of the former has risen 

 from 10 to 24 dollars; and the people have learned to mix them 

 with the spoils of wild animals, especially the buffalo. When 

 taken from the animal the hides are pinned down with pegs pas- 

 sed through holes in the edges; thus they dry without shrinking, 

 and become stiff as boards. When thoroughly sun-parched 

 they are put in soak and are pickled in sea-water for forty-eight 

 hours ; thus softened, they are again stretched and staked, that 

 they may remain smooth : as they are carelessly removed by the 

 natives, the meat fat, flippers, ears, and all the parts likely to be- 

 corrupted, or, to prevent close stowage, are cut off whilst wet. 

 They are again thoroughly sun-dried, the grease which exudes 

 during the operation is scraped off, and they are beaten with 

 sticks to expel the dust. The Hamburg merchants paint their 

 hides with an arsenical mixture, which preserves them during 

 the long months of magazine-storing and sea- voyage. The French 

 and American traders omit this operation, and their hides suffer 

 severely from insects. 



Details concerning the growth of cereals in the interior have 

 occurred in the preceding pages. Grain is never exported from 

 the lands lying beyond the maritime regions : yet the disforesting 

 of the island of Zanzibar and the extensive plantations of clove- 

 trees rendering a large importation of cereals necessary to the 

 Arabs, an active business is carried on by Arab dows from the 

 whole of the coast between Tanga and Ngao (Monghou), and 

 during the dear season, after the rains, considerable profits are 



