The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-02 00:00:00

-of the caravans from the Nyassa. Every year the
slave traffic is extended further into the interior,
and a great many :laves are now brought from
beyond the Nyassa ; and even the Mazanza, from
the valley of the Shir, are now brought here. lilt
should ever be found possible to put a small
steamer on the Lake Nyassa it would cut off the
chief supply of slaves to the east coast. The foreign
slave trade has lately been very much on the
increase on the east coast. I have recently sent in
the first returns of the trade of Zanzibar, which
have been compiled here. In 1859 the imports at
this port amounted to :—lmports, £908,911;
exports, £753,666 ; total, £1,664,577, which is an
excess of 83.5 per cent. over the trade of Aden, and
of 16.5 per cent. on that of Kurrachee. This is
now the chief market in the world for the supply
of ivory, gum copal, and cloves. In 1859 the export
of ivory amounted to 488,6001b5., value £144,666 ;
of gum copal to 875,8751b5., value £37,166 ; and of
cloves to 4,860,1001b5., value £55,666. This trade
is all the growth of the last few years, and were the
slave trade on the mainland abolished a great
quantity of cotton, sugar, gums, &c., might be
exported. Within the last few years they have
commenced to grow sesamum on the mainland.
Last year 8,388,3601h5. of sesamum were exported
from here ; and 8,016,0001b5. of cowries, value
£51,444, were exported from here to the west
coast. The whole of this island is of exceeding
fertility; sugar cane, cotton, cloves, nutmegs, pep-
per, coffee, rice, Holcuss sorghum, &c., grow in the
greatest perfection. The cassava, or manioc, which
forms the chief food of the slaves and poorer classes,
yields three or four crops a-year without any trouble.
Almost the whole of the trade hero is now in the
hands of British Indian subjects; they have settle-
ments at all the towns on the coast and even far in
the interior. The Arabs are a poor, debased,
ignorant race, and are fast becoming confirmed
drunkards. Persons bring out great quantities
of cheap spirits. The climate of Zanzibar
is net unhealthy, although from its excessive
dampness and there being no cold weather, it is
very enervating. The fall of rain last year amounted
to 16.7 inches—more than double the annual fall
at Bombay. The extreme range of the thermome-
ter during the year was only 19; and the mean
range 7.9. The climate of Zanzibar has acquited a
very bad reputation from the great amount of sick-
ness which prevailed among ships-of-war some
years ago after coming here, but I believe it was
chiefly owing to their taking supplies of water from I
impure sources near the town. Now aqueducts '
have been constructed at some distance from the
town, and they afford a never-failing supply of pure
water. The crews of the merchant ships work
all day in the sun, and never appear to suffer. The
Sultan has also given an order to a Hamburg firm
to keep up a supply of coal here for the use of any
ships-of-war requiring it. I think that the Zanzi-
bar State may have a very important effect upon
the future of East Africa. There are now from
5,000 to 6,000 industrious British subjects residing
in it, and commerce is rapidly extending. I fear
that I am troubling you with a very long letter on
the subject of Zanzibar, which will severely tax
your time and patience to peruse.
" Believe me, my dear Sir George Grey,
" Yours very truly, "C. P. RIGBY."