Page:Some account of the town of Zanzibar.djvu/16

 pice, or threepence, a day; this is about the two dollars a month; it will just feed and clothe a man, but then he must eat muhogo or casava root, which, when dried and pounded, makes a common sort of arrow root, and for a relish to it, he will get about a cubic inch of salt shark, while, as for his clothes, two yards of unbleached calico will supply him for half a year handsomely.

Skilled workmen get about a quarter of a dollar, or about a shilling a day, which is very good wages. But those who dress and behave like gentlemen get what would seem to us very little. I was thinking what I could reasonably charge for Bibles and Testaments in Arabic, and made enquiries to find out how much people were likely to have to spend; one man in particular, a man of learning and a teacher, made, I found, about five shillings a week, so I concluded that he was not likely to have much to spend in books.

Besides these great races, there are specimens of nearly every nation. There are Arabs of other tribes than the Muscat people, particularly the people of Sheher, who do all that requires strength and energy, they are the soldiers, butchers, makers of coarse mats and baskets, and many of them carry loads as porters. There are the people of the Comoro Islands, another mixed race of Arabs and Negroes, who are the head-servants and overlookers, and the tailors of the place. There are Indians of many races, Turks, Persians, Belcochees, and Abyssinians. The people from Madagascar have a quarter of their own. Among the women slaves are Georgians, Circassians and Greeks. There are Negroes from every tribe and country, and, not least in importance,