44 
THE KILIMA NJARO EXPEDITION 
extreme step of dismissing them and sending to Zan¬ 
zibar for others, because this would, firstly, be very 
expensive, and secondly, for the reason that they were 
only engaged for one month to transport my goods to 
the mountain, and there leave me with my nucleus of 
thirty Zanzibaris. Moreover, I was feverishly anxious 
to leave Mombasa, feeling sure that I should never 
shake off the effects of my illness till I left the un¬ 
healthy coast; and without worrying myself about a 
change of men, I had quite sufficient hindrance and 
vexatious delay in the purchase and packing of the 
necessary goods for sale and barter in the interior. 
The great staple of East African trade and the 
chief currency of all countries lying inland, is “ meri- 
kani,” or American sheeting. I had to purchase several 
huge bales of this at Zanzibar and transport it to 
Mombasa, there to be split up into loads of five gora 
each. A “gora,” or “jora,” is about forty-two yards, 
and in sheeting of medium quality, weighs 12 lbs., so 
that each load of five gora weighed 60 lbs., and was a 
fair burden for a single porter. There were many 
other kinds of “ cloth” (“cloth” becomes in Africa a 
generic name for all dry goods) to be taken. “ Ka- 
niki,” or indigo-dyed cotton; gaudy red handkerchiefs 
from Manchester looms ; “ bandeira,” or Turkey-red ; 
“ kikoi,” or handsomely bordered waistbands, fringed 
every two yards; richly dyed stuffs from Western 
India and the Persian Gulf, “ maskati,” c£ dubkani,” 
“ sabhai,” &c. All these in common with the “meri- 
kani,” had to be carefully divided into loads averaging 
55 lbs. or 60 lbs.; each load counted and catalogued in 
its amount to check the stealing of any of its contents, 
and then finally sewn up in a peculiar kind of grass 
matting, very strong, and almost impervious to rain. 
