Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/414

 880 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. About the year 1865 a hippopotamus swam across the intervening marine channel, and was seen for several months disporting himself in the shallow waters along the shore ; but there is no record of either the elephant or the rhinoceros having ever visited the island in this way. Most of the local quadrupeds are of small size, as, for instance, the dwarf antelope {nanotragus), the ofolicnus, a half-monkey or lemuroid, the civet, a few felines, such as the serval and wild cat, but no hyaenas. Rats, including some from Europe, have been introduced by the shipping. The avifauna is represented by a large number of species, the marine channel not being broad enough to arrest the flight of ordinary birds. The local guinea- fowl, by some supposed to be a distinct variety, is probably identical with the continental species. Nevertheless naturalists have discovered a few animals, amongst others a lemur and a lizard, which really appear to be quite peculiar to the island. Till recently Zanzibar, in common with the neighbouring Pemba, possessed a very beautiful monkey, the colobus Kirkii ; but when first noticed by naturalists it had already become extremely rare, and according to the statement of Johnston, has since entirelj' disappeared, the few surviving specimens having unfortunately been killed by the hunters whom Sir John Kirk had sent either to capture or to report on its existence.* • Inhabitants of Zanzibar. On the east side of Zanzibar there still survive a few groups of aborigines, who have hitherto kept aloof from all the intruding peoples. These are the Waha- dimus (Wa-IIadimu), who have become Mohammedans, and whose Bantu dialect has become in a more or less modified form the current speech of the whole island, as well as the commercial language of a large part of East Central Africa. The bulk of the people consist of Negroes, some free, but for the most part descended from slaves introduced at various times from various parts of the continent. These different elements have at last been fused in a single almost homogeneous population enjoying uniformity of speech, religion and social institutions. The practice of eating an argillaceous clay, common to so many African and other peoples, is very prevalent amongst them. The Arabs, who are politically the dominant race, are also the landed pro- prietors, several residing like great lords on their plantations. Some of these Arabs have retained their purity of blood, and consequently look with supreme contempt on their sovereign, who is of mixed descent. They share with the Europeans, Americans, " Canarians " or Portuguese of Goa, and Hindus, the whole- sale trade of the island, which consists chiefly in ivory, caoutchouc, copal, orchilla, and skins, brought from the opposite coast and here shipped in exchange for such imports as dates and European wares, notably the so-called amerlkani, that is, bales of cotton, which serve as a kind of currency in all transactions with the native populations of the interior. In the island itself the Indian rupee is the legal tender. • The Kilima-Njaro Expedition, p. 38. *