148 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



fully ludicrous in the expression of countenance, the in- 

 tense and all-absorbing admiration, and the greedy 

 wistfulness with which he contemplates the rubbish. 

 Yet he uses it as a toy : after sacrificing perhaps his 

 goat or his grain to become the happy possessor of a 

 khete, he will hang it round his neck for a few days, 

 and then, child-like, weary of the acquisition, he will do 

 his best to exchange it for another. In all bargains 

 beads must be thrown in, especially where women are 

 concerned: their sisters of civilisation would reproach 

 themselves with an unconscious lapse into the " nil ad- 

 mirari " doctrines so hateful to the muscular system of 

 the age, and with a cold indifference to the charms of dia- 

 monds and pearls, could they but witness the effect of a 

 string of scarlet porcelains upon the high-born dames in 

 Central Africa. 



The cloths imported into East Africa are of three 

 kinds, Merkani, Kaniki, and " cloths with names." 



" Merkani," in which we detect the African corruption 

 of American, is the article "domestics" — unbleached 

 shirting and sheeting from the mills near Salem. Kaniki, 

 is the common Indian indigo dyed cotton. " Cloths 

 with names," as they are called by the Africans, are 

 Arab and Indian checks, and coloured goods, of cotton 

 or silk mixed with cotton. Of these the most common 

 is the Barsati, a dark blue cotton cloth with a broad 

 red stripe, which representing the dollar in the interior 

 is useful as presents to chiefs. Of double value is the 

 Dabwani, made at Maskat, a small blue and white check, 

 with a quarter breadth of red stripe, crossed with white 

 and yellow : this showy article is invariably demanded 

 by the more powerful Sultans for themselves and their 

 wives, whilst they divide the Merkani and Kaniki, 



