Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/500

 which, after doubling the Cape, the Portuguese fancied they had discovered in the great island inhabited by the Malgashes, or Malagasy people. But in our days Magdoshu has fallen greatly from its high estate. Vast spaces are strewn with ruins invaded by the sands, and here and there eaten away by the waves, although u few mosques standing amid groups of hovels still recall the architectural glories of the ancient city. One of these edifices bears the date 636 after the Hegira, corresponding to the year 1238 of the Christian era.

Magdoshu comprises two distinct quarters, Hamarhiwin and Shingani, the former of which has been almost abandoned and is now gradually becoming a heap of ruins. In Shingani are at present concentrated most of the inhabitants, numbering

about five thousand altogether, and between the two quarters stands the governor's palace. Amongst the inhabitants of Magdoshu are a few Arab families, including some Shurfas, or "descendants of the prophet," besides several Hindu traders and one or two thousand Somali. But fully two-thirds of the population consist of the so-called Abesh, that is to say, the descendants of emancipated slaves, on whom still falls nearly all the hard work.

The principal local industry is the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Before the invasion of the African markets by the products of the European and American looms, the textiles of Magdoshu were forwarded far and wide throughout the interior of the continent, us well as to Arabia and even as far as the Persian coasts." Now,