The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-05

The cities Mombasa, the Magnificent,
and Magdoshu, the Immense" were
founded by them. With the appear
ance of the Portuguese in these seas in
the fifteenth century the native empire
Of the Gangs began to decline, and
after two hundred years Of Portuguese
ineficiency new power appeared up
ON the scene.
The newcomers were Arabs, follow
ers of the Imam of Muscat, who in the
seventeenth century established a new
empire upon the ruins OF that Of the
Gangs. The latter, however, seemed
to be still sufficiently in evidence to
give the country its Arabic name Of
Zanguebar, the Land Of the Gangs.
which has been corrupted in transliter-
alton to Zanzibar. The Arabs did not
content themselves with occupying the
islands and the coastland; but pene-
trated the interior of Africa, where
they made large plantations west Of
towns Tabora. Ujiji, Nyangwe, Kas-
songo and many others were establish
ed by them. They were the inst civil
lied exploiters of the commercial pos
sibilities Of Central Africa. and they
still hold most of its trade in their
hands. AT the time of its greatest
glory the realm Of the Sayyids of Mus
cat extended, with few breaks in the
line, ever the ceastlands Of the western
shores Of the Indian ocean from the
Persian gulf to the Mozambique chan
mel
The description of the patriarchal
regime of the Sayyid Said Of Muscat.
the last of the sultans OF Zanzibar who
ruled over the undivided realm, given
in the "Story Of an Arabian Princess,
a book written by one Of his daughters
who married a German trader and
adopted Europe as her home, is as in
teresting as tale of the Thousand and
One Nights, and is unique as a truthful
picture Of the home life Of an Oriental
ruler. There may have been a squaAd
reverse to the splendid outside pictured
forth, and, as the event proved, the
seeds Of bitter fueds were terminating
in the happy family of the good said,
notwithstanding the apparent har-
mony among his children born Of
many wives of heterogeneous origin,
fair Circassions dusky Arabs and
Abyssinians. One foul blot upon the
bright picture was slavery and the hor-
rTble East African slave trade.
Although nominally abolished, slav-
cry still exists in Zanzibar. Ten years
have passed since it was decreed that
no additions should be made to the
slave labor on the Zanzibar planta-
tons, yet the number Of serfs has de-
creased only from 100000 to 225,OOO,
the fact that the
slaves are VIGOROUSLY Short-hved
These facts and figures give ground for
the suspicion that the slave trade still
fourisheS, and Is carried on surrepti- |
tiously or with the connivance of the |
local authorities of Zanzibar. 1t was
this shameful survival of an inhuman |
practice which caused Professor Drum
moDd in his Tropical Africa" to de-
claim against Zanzibar az 50 cesspOol |
Of wickedncss. Oriental n its appear |
ance, Mohammedan in religion, Arab
lar in its morals, q fit capital for the |
Dark Continent" The commercial |
capital of tropical Africa It is in truth.
It is regularly visited by several lines
Of ocean steamships, and is the only |
point of departure for trad
ng expeditions into Inner Africa.
These considera lions, and the fact that
the business Of the island is rapidly
falling into the hands of the British In
1ians, who now form almost as num-
,rous an element Of the population as
he Arabs may induce the British gov
,rnment to further clip the powers OF
he decadent sultanate, and to practic-
lily assume its government as a Brit
III dependency. The undisguised an
,exation Of the island by Great Brit
liz might prove impraeticable, owing
% the opposition Of Germany and the
yther powers. It may be taken for
granted, however, that the new Sultan
1amed, proclaimed by authority Of the
British consul general, twill be the mere
hadOw Of a king.