Page:Some account of the town of Zanzibar.djvu/17

 what are called by the natives, Wazungu, that is, strange, startling unaccountable folk, and they are our own European selves, from the half-caste Portuguese of Goa to the last American improvements. The standing population of the town may very probably be a hundred thousand, which is largely increased, when the northerly wind blows, by the traders and sailors from all parts of India and Arabia, many of whom come down, according to the immemorial course of trade, when the northerly wind blows, and wait till the southerly wind comes, in a few months, to blow them back again. I must not forget to mention those who have indirectly furnished us with part of our school and are called in Zanzibar Tende Halua, that is Dates and sweet stuff, from their habit of alluring with such dainties young slaves into their houses, whence they ship them off to Arabia. These men come from the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf, and have been pirates from time immemorial, they bring a little salt fish and steal a return cargo. It was with one of their Dhows that the men of H.M.S. Wasp had so severe a fight some years since, and nine children from it are still in our schools at Zanzibar.

The lives of the people of Zanzibar are, for the most part, as monotonous as their climate. I was asking one man why he did nothing, and he said "Oh, I have no money to buy a slave." The very first idea is that if anything is to be done you must buy a slave to do it. Thus if a man comes into a little money in any way, he either spends it at once in drunkenness and dissipation, or, if he be prudent, buys a piece of land in the country, and then he buys a few slaves and settles them