8
JiLh ABOUT A CITY OF ARAB5, HINDOOS AND AFRICANS
lr;i m tr fn ? i :4N'A Vv !fK'VM
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
HAVE vou ever heard of Judge Riley
of Virginia? He was one of the
noted figure in W ashington dur
ing tne administrations of Grant. Hayes.
Arthur and Garfield. A carpet-bag official-
at the close of the war. he came in
for one of the foreign appointments
which were given by the Northern Pres
idents to the Republicans of the South.
He was first sent as Minister or Consul
Generai to one of the little South Ameri
can republics and after that was given ,
the Consulship to Zanzibar. Before i
leaving Washington for the latter post
he treated all his friends, dilating the
while on the splendors of the court of
the Sultan and his harem and the black
eyed houris whom he expected to see.
He then left; but at the end of six
months came back weary and worn and
sad. When asked how he liked Zanzi
bar he replied:
"Zanzibar! Zanzibar! Where in the
blank Is Zanzibar! I have been cruis
ing jver the world for the past six
months and. for the life of me, I can't
find Zanzibar!"
I have been more successful than Judge
Riley, for I have found Zanzibar, and
have even seen its young Sultan, though
not his harem. For our Consuls of the
future I would say that Zanzibar ts a"
coral island about one-sixth as large as
Torto Rico, situated In the Indian Ocean,
three or four hundred miles below the
equator and from 15 to 30 miles from the
coast of German Kast Africa. It can
now be reached by a half dozen steam
ship lines, and the fare from here to
Washington is something like $300. There
are four lines which connect the island
with Europe, and the German East Af
rica ships go regularly from here to
Bombay, in India, and to Rangoon, in
Burma. There are also ships which
have regular sailings to the Persian Gulf
and Madagascar, so that the island can
be easily reached.
The Island of Cloves.
In coming here from Tanga we steamed
along the Zanzibar coast for about 40
miles, and there are 20 or more miles yet
below us. Zanzibar is about 50 miles
long and 30 miles wide, and it would
make altogether about 400 1000-acre
farms. As you look at it from the sea
the land is low and its shores are fringed
ilth cocoanut trees loaded with nuts.
The island has a dense vegetation. It is
In the heart of the tropics and is noted
for the fertility of Its soil. It is the chief
clove island of the world, and the cakes
and pickles of the universe are flavored
by it. Throughout Europe and the I'nited
States there are millions o secret drink
rs who hide their whisky breath from
:he knowledge of their deluded wives
y the aroma of Zanzibar cloves. The
Island produced last year over 26,000.000
ounds of these spices. This Is enough
to smother the scent of all the liquors
raised by man and leave some to spare.
During my stay I have ridden out to
tome of the plantations. Cloves come
from trees which are pet out in orchards
nd cultivated. At the age of six years
the trees begin to bear blossoms, and it
to these blossoms which form the cloves
if commerce. They are bright red in
lolor and are full of perfume. They
ire picked when they are in full bloom
ind then smoked over slow wood fires.
During the smoking they turn from red
V brown, and when cured are almost
ilack. After they are well dried thej
ire packed up In bugs, and in that shape
ire sent to Europe and the United
States. The English have another clove
island, known as Pemba, which lies a
little north of Zanzibar, and is gov
erned from here. These two islands pro
Juce more than 90 per cent of all the
cloves raised In the world. ,
Zanzibar City.
The capital of Zanzibar is Zanzibar
rity. It Is the chief port of East Africa,
foreign goods being sent from here to the
mainland and carried across to Lake Tan
' fftiyMta. and other parts of the continent,
at the same time ivory, hides and the
various native products are brought here
to be shipped to Europe, so that the place
has a great trade.
As you approach the city from the sea
It makes you think of Southern Europe.
The shore is lined with three-story build
ings, built of stone or brick, covered
with stucco and painted in all colors of
the rainbow. There are blue buildings,
white buildings, green buildings and yel
low buildings all mixed together. The
lown appears twice as big as it is, and it
looks both imposing and beautiful. Right
sut of the center, on the edge of the sea,
rises the sultan's palace, and farther
lown to the south are the buildings of
the British consulate, which look like a
white marble castle.
As you come nearer the marble turns to
whiteness: and the sultan's palace dwin
dles in grandeur until It looks like one
of our great seaside hotels. It is, in fact,
a three-story building of wood painted
yellow, with galleries running about it
from story to story. These galleries are
bout 20 feet wide and they are for all
&svJ -Ao -ill
the world like hotel porches. The roof is
red. and, as it seems to cover a roof gar
den, the hotel effect Is still more in evi
dence. It Is there that the sultan lives
with his numerous wives. I do not know
how many dusky ladles there are In the
harem. His majesty is a Mohammedan
and he keeps such things to himself. I
only know that the soldiers are always
guarding the doors and that the cannon
at the entrance seemed to frown at me
as I passed by. There is no royalty, how
ever, about the looks, of the palace, and
there is but little power in the hands of
the young man of 23 who lives there and
pretends to reign.
The Sultan of Zanzibar.
Indeed the glory of this sultanate is fast
passing away. It once controlled almost
the whole of East Africa. The sultan had
all the territory that now belongs to the
Germans, reaching as far east as Lake
Tanganyika, and also the whole of the
coast lands of British Bast Africa, ex
tending almost to Arabia. He was one of
the greatest slave dealers of the world. I
recently went through the slave market
where some of this young sultan's ances
tors sold negro slaves for American con
sumption, and I stopped in a hotel named
after Tipoo Tib. the great slave dealer
who aided Stanley in bis explorations.
When Tipoo Tib died not long ago he left
more than S0O black wives. Within recent
years the British have abolished slavery,
but I understand that there are some
who are still slaves, although nominally
free.
As to the sultan of today his income is
largely from the British government and
from his own private estates. The British
hold the protectorate over his dominions
on a perpetual lease, for which they pay
him $85,000 a year; and the Germans have
secured the fee simple title to the lands
which formerly belonged to his father
upon the payment of something like $1,
250,000 cash.
I am not sure as to just what the sul
tan is worth, for his purse is kept sepa
rate from the general revenue of the
country; and the taxes are used by the
British under the direction of the British
consul-general. I only know that he has
enough to live In considerable state, and
to kep up magnificent stables, compris
ing the finest of Arabian horses. He has
probably a large number of female slaves
in his palaces and I am told there are
thousands of women who are kept in
slavery by the Arab officials and
merchants here.
An Arab City.
The Arabs are still lords of Zanzi
bar, although the British act as rulers.
They own the greater part of the island;
they have the clove plantations and they
work the native Africans to the limit.
They go 'about in turbans and gowns;
and the city looks more like a part of
Egypt or India than of Central Africa.
The streets are narrow and winding. The
buildings are high, with barred windows.
They have enormous doors, plated with
big-headed nails, making every house look
like a prison. Some of the streets, have
the walls so close together that carriages
cannot enter them, and all are so narrow
that the cabs have bells like dinner
gongs, which they keep ringing as they
drive through the streets, to warn the
people to get out of the way.
The whole place is a combination of
squalor and splendor. Some of the shab
biest houses have doors of teak wood so
beautiful that they would ornament any
Fifth avenue palace, and these doors
open into the meanest of shops and ware
houses. The architecture throughout is
Mohammedan, and the best-clad people
on the street are those who wear tur
bans and gowns. Many of the Arab mer
chants dye their beards a brick-dust red
and I see scores of women who go about
completely covered by yellow gowns
which fall without a break from their
heads to their feet. Their faces are en
tirely covered, and each girl looks out
through a little network of white cords
woven over a hole not larger than a visit
ing card, and that so closely that one
cannot see the eyes behind.
Ten Thousand Hindoos.
About one-sixth of the inhabitants of
Zanzibar come from East India. There
are more than 10.000 Hindus and also
Klings. Parsees and Brahmans. These
people are from all parts of Hindoostan,
and they wear many strange costumes.
I see little black girls whose arms and
legs are loaded with gold and silver jew
elry. They have tight pantalets which
fall to their ankles and are fringed there
with lace. They have also a coat which
comes to the knees. There are dark
faced Indian women with nose buttons
of gold and silver, and fat, greasy-looking
Indian men. who strut about wearing
pill box caps made of velvet and cloth of
silver. These men have on long coats
buttoned up to the throat, and under
the calico pantaloons which fit tight to
the skin. Others have round-about jack
ets with gold studs down the front, which
look all the world like dress shirts with
the tails cut off.
These Hindus do most of the retail
business of Zanzibar. They have long
streets of bazaar-like stores in the city
itself, and their peddlers go all over the
island. They use rupees as money, and
their chief customers are the Swahilis
and the other natives.
The British government handles the
colony as though it were a part of In
dia. The laws are those used in the courts
THE SUNDAY OKJKtxONIAN. PORTLAND. JUNE 28, 1908.
I t 2
ll 5. -. " S".::oo?;
of Hinaoostan. and the government itself
Is modeled upon that of Kast India. '
The Negroes of Zanzibar.
The bulk of the population of Zanzibar
is made up of Africans. The Arabs are
the nabobs, the Indians the traders, but
the black men do the work. There are
on the island altogether, 250,000 or more
negroes of various tribes.
There are more Swahilis thnn any oth
er. They are fine-looking black people.
The men and women are straight and the
young girls in their long white cotton
gowns are quite hitrnteonie. Many of the
men speak a little English, and my
guide knows enough to tell me about Uie
city and its people. They are the most
efficient of the natives of Central Africa,
and are employed by traders to carry
goods to all parts of the continent. I
find the thatched villages of the negroes
along the roads as I drive about the
country. They work the plantations, tak
ing care of the clove trees and gathering
the crops.
American Trade.
This city should be a center for our
trade movement toward the conquest of
East Africa. It is the warehouse of this
coast and Its business is several times
as large as that of any other port on this
side the continent. It naturally belongs
to the United States, for we were the
first to open up its foreign trade. As
far back as 1K36 Uncle Sam established
a trading consulate at the court of the
then Sultan of Zanzibar, and we then
began to send in cotton goods and hard
ware for distribution over the eastern
part of the African continent.
The work of that time is still in evi
dence. American cottons are known
everywhere. They are considered the
best made, and if our exporters would
push them they could crdwd out the
poorer goods from India, England and
Germany. The other nations fight Amer
ican goods, and they do everything they
can to destroy our trade. They are
studying the wants and tastes of the na
tives and are making patterns to please
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them. The most active merchants at
present are the Germans, who are sell
ing a kind of cotton known as kangas,
ued as women's dresses. A kanga is a
square of calico about two yards long by
a yard and a half wide. It is printed in
bright colors and two kangas form a
complete dress for a woman. One goes
around the waist and another about the
body under the arms or over the shoul
ders. There Is a change in the fashions
of these cittons from time to time, and
the women want the new styles and col
ors as soon as they come. Here in Zan
zibar I see some which have patterns of
playing cards and others which are cov
ered with animals, and especially lions
or leopards. They cost about 70 cents a
pair. I understand there is a demand
for flannel kaneas printed in colors.
There undoubtedly would be a large sale
for American kangas If the patterns were
right.
American Goods Sold by Foreigners.
The buik of the American goods
brought into this part of the world is
through Europeans. There are some
American firms, but the most of the
profits of our trade go to outsiders. There
Is a man at Marseiile named Klein who
is doing an enormous business in Amer
ican cottons throughout Eastern Africa.
He has a branch house here and one at
Mombasa, and his agents . are traveling
through Abyssinia. Somallland. British
East Africa, L'ganda and German East
Africa. He has his cotton made to order
in America in pieces of 42 yards each,
and he brings a ship load of about 4000
tons across the ocean every year.
I met one of Klein's agents on Lake
Victoria. This was a Eurasian who
had just come from Bismarckburg on
the southern end of Lake Tanganyika,
and was then on his way to Mombasa.
He had gone to Lake Tanganyika to
investigate the confiscation of $20,000
worth of ivory tusks by the Belgians.
Klein trades a great deal of Ameri
can cottons for ivory. The elephants'
tusks are carried on the heads of por
ters down to the coast, or they are
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brought to Lake Tanganyika and sent
to Mombasa by the l'ganda railway.
The ivory in question had been bought
in German East Africa, and the porters
were taking a short cut through the
Congo territory to get it to the coast.
While on the way they were captured,
and the Belgian officials claimed the
ivory on the ground that the porters
were smugglers. Klein's agent suc
ceeded in getting the ivory back, and
it is now cominj? here to Zanzibar
across country on the heads of por
ters. It will be transferred to boats
at the seacoast and brought here for
shipment.
How Ivory Is Bought.
I asked this young man as to the
selling prices of ivory. He tolls me
that the ordinary price in the Interior
for a tusk of ISO pounds is about 120
rupees, or JI4 ). At Mombasa the same
tusk would be worth $400 or $500. The.
ivory varies In price according to lo
cality, and that which Is worth 16
cents a pound on Lake Tanganyika will
sell for $2.6f a pound at the seacoast.
In buying ivory of the natives the cur
rent money Is American cotton sheet
ing, which is turned In at the rate of
1fl cents a yard. The same cloth sells
in Europe for about 4 cents a yard.
The European and Indian cloths are
cheaper, and the traders try to put
them in instead of the American. Many
of these cloths coma from Bombay.
They are so thin that one can see
through them. The German cloths are
little better.
Our goods are known as American!
all over East Africa, and they are
the only kind that really sell them
selves. This man Klein keeps a big
stock of Americani at a number of
interior trading stations. He has a
branch office at Tabora. which lies
about midway between here and Lake
Tanganyika, where he lias now some
thing like $40,000 worth of American!
on hand. This gives one an idea ot
the extent of the trade. Indeed, the de
mand is such that I do not hesitate to
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GOVERNED
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advise our Aijierloan cotton factories
to study the market and to send their
agents to Africa to investigate the pos-
I ...... .WSfe I
Who Are Authorities in English
professor Ijounsbury Would Make Great Writers I lnal Court of Appeal.
G
RAMMARIANS are wont to tyran
nize over a language. In the case
of the English language, where
grammar is an uncertain factor of which
most writers know little, they have been
especially tyrannical. rrofessor Louns
bury, of Yale, is a bold man. however,
and he flings hi? defiance in their teeth,
says the Providence Journal. The only
rational grounds for judging ot the cor
rectness of speech, he argues. In his re
cent volume. "The Standard of I'sage
in English." is the authority of the great
writers, not "the more or less imper
fectly trained and even more Imperfectly
informed persons who profess to show
what we are to do and what we are to
refrain from doing." And he sets forth
the somewhat startling principle that
"rules of grammar are of no value save
as they are based upon the practice of
these great writers." In other words, tho
writing of English is not an exact
science. It is a comforting view for
those who write, as probably most of
us do, by instinct rather than by ruin.
Perhaps Mr. Ijounsbury puts the case
in rather an extreme way: hut he is es
sentially right. A careful regard for
the so-called rules of grammar never
made a good writer. On the other hand,
the constant reading of the great writers
will do more than anything else to form
an easy, agreeable and reasonably cor
rect style. We have many had writers
today, but the explanation will probably
be found in the fact that they are sin
gularly ignorant of English literature.
Ability to "parse" a sentence is of slight
value to one who knows not his Shake
speare, his Bible, who has learned noth
ing from the prose of Swift and Soutliey
and Arnold, from the poetry of Dryden
and Wordsworth and Indor.
Yet there are difficulties in referring
moot points, to usage. What i." usage?
Professor Lounshury takes up this ques
tion. Meanwhile It may be noted that
usage is constantly changing. How wide
is the gap between Chaiicer and Tenny
son, or even between Sw .t and Thomas
Hardy! There are those who fancy that
the English language is becoming cor
rupt. It Is an ancient complaint. Swift
was an energetic opponent of noveltlep;
he wished to have an academy to set a
standard. And Dr. Johnson is quoted
as suggesting the Elizabethan standard
as the final one. "If the language of
theology were extracted from Hooker
and the Bible; the terms of natural
knowledge from Bacon: the phrases of
policy, war and pavlgatlon from Raleigh;
the dialect of poetry and fiction from
Spenser and Sidney; and the diction of
common life from Shakespeare, few ideas
would be lost to mankind for want of
Engllfh words in which they might be
expressed." But Dr. Johnson himself did
not live up to this ideal, and perhaps
he was not quite serious in advocating
it. A living language must grow like
any other living thing. It is curious to
note tho words now in common use
which were once anathema niarantha to
the fastidious. Such are mob. banter,
battalion, novel. Expressions that Eng
lishmen In the ISth century did not like
were called Scotticisms. Just as they are
now called Americanisms.
"In truth, if we take for authority
the contemporary opinion of successive
periods, there is no escape from the
conclusion that, for the past 201 years,
at least, our tongue has been steadily
deteriorating. .There is In it an innate
depravity which tends to make it go
wrong. As if this were not enough,
there are always certain mischievous
and irresponsible persons who are en
gaged in the work of destroying its
purity. In Swift's time it was the fre
quenters of the court, the theatrical
writers, the translators from the
French and the poets. In Beattle's
time it was the political pamphleteers
and essayists. But during the last
50 to 100 years the agency which has
been the favorite one to accuse of
corrupting the language is the news
paper. Its influence upon It has been
described as pestilential."
Doubtless . the errors of the news
papers have been exaggerated. But we
can hardly assent to Prof. Lounsbury's
contention that "there Is no such
thing as a language becoming cor
rupt." The English language is loss
strict in Its grammatical construction
than most others: but it does not fol
low that carelessness In Its use. how
ever It may be supported by the ex
ample of great writers. Is desirable.
If this were so there would be no
need to set before the student models
of style; the latest popular novelist
would be as valuable reading as
Thackeray. Prof. Lounsbury goes so
far as to say that the use or the
singular verb with the plural noun
may be justified because such instances
are to be found in good writers which
is nothing more nor less tnan giving
to their faults equal weight with their
merits. He carries this theory to its
logical conclusion when he defends
BVHiE BRITISH
s ,
sibilitv of building; up a bi business
in colored cottons and print goods.
Zanzibar, Jun 2.
the split infinitive. "Let It lie con
ceded." ho says, "that the practice is
improper." and adds:
"But why is it improper? What is
the nature of the particular havoc
wrought to thr language by the iaser
tion of a word or words bot'Af ca to and
the infinitive? on this point the ob
jectors to the usas; in question, along
with tho severity of their attitude,
maintain a silence so profound that the
suspicion inevitably suggests itself
that they communicate no information
about it. they advance no ariune nt
against it. because tliey have neither
information to furnish nor arguments
to present. Of expressions of person
al opinion, however, both of tile us
age and its users, the supply is ample.
It consists mainly in the application
to each of dematory epithets and
phrases. The practice is termed a
barbarism, a solecism. It is held up as
a glaring example of the corruptions
which arc invading rfur speech."
If we take the standard of usage as
the concensus erud it oram, as (luintil
lian said, the agreement (,f the culti
vated, we still must discriminate
against the inaccuracies into which
even the cultivated sometimes fall.
Probably e"ery error In the use of
English could lie justified by a refer
ence to some known writer. But that
would not make It less an error.
Tho distinction between "shall" and
"will," for example. Is reasonable and
essential: to overlook It Is simply
slipshod writing. The objection to tho
passive voice followed by an object in
perhaps quite as well founded, but in
this case usage is so well-nigh uni
versal that the strict law of grammar
may properly be waived. And in
every Himilar ease the weight of usage
Is to be considered. To cite Thack
eray, Arnold, Lowell In favor of an as
sumed soleeism would be a potent ar
gument; but a hundred other authors
might be named without carrying con
viction. "The truth is." says Richard Grant
White, "that the authority of general
usage, or even of the usage of great
writers Is not absolute in language.
There is a misuse of -words which can
be justified by no authority, however
great. by no usage, however general."
The statement may be open to modi
fication, but it seems lo b far nearer
to the truth than prof, lxiunsbury is
willing to admit, indeed. If we exam
ine the question histnrleal ly. we shall
find that there have been periods
when the prevailing use of t'le lan
guage, if not corrupt, showed tenden
cies to corrupt ion. Nor can we be
at all sure that the present. Is not
such a period, if we take the bulk "f
the newspaper and magazine writing
of today, to say nothing of tiie fic
tion, it is difficult to avoid the con
clusion that the general level of ex
cellence not merely in correctness, hut
in style as well shows a sail falling
off from the standards of the past. Xow
to quote even general usage In such a
case as this', to say that the slang of
the street is picturesque and expres
sive and therefore worthy of adoption,
is to err as seriously in one direc
tion as the gr a miliaria as have erred
in the other. There are undeniably
tendencies, not altogether to be de
plored. ' toward a larger and freer use
of the language. Hut it surely is th
duty of educated men to endeavor to
keep these tendencies within bounds.
The "hostility to certain words," which
Professor Lounshury deplores p 1 1 i
most ases based upon a sound in
stinct. It is so easy first to endure,
then pity, then enibraee In matters of
language. Here the grammarians give
us little help.
To sum up. It may ho admitted that
the authority of great writers is on
the whole our best, e.iurt of last re
sort. One who has studied the hist
writers will himself write good Eng
lish if it be in him to do so. Con
versely 'one who reads trash will fall
intq trashy diction. But there is ;t
certain standard of proprietv whieh
even great writers cannot d- fv v.-ith
Impunity. We should not make their
mistakes an excuse for our own.
Wanted A i haull'rur.
"Wanted a rhnnnVui-. botli pel.rr ar.rl nat
And able to elenn ;n:! repair.
And ivhen he's net driving to wHit on the
d.ier.
And manaKe the pony with care.
Ho muPt steep in the Flal.le and t.ik his
meals oat.
The clili keiis i.nrl pics he murt feed.
And keen all the Uiu n. and the pr i. s bor
ders ninwert. ,
And the garden lie also must weed.
"He nmst work every Sunday, and clean all
the hints.
He must milk end attend the eow.
And put up the clothesline and beat out tha
rupf.
And to polish the windows know how".
For duties like these the miinif: -ent ?iim
Of ten dollars a pk he w ill pe! "'
The woman or man who inserted thlp ad
Is In want of a chauffeur as yet.
Nw York Sun.