Pemba

“ The crowds of men, women, and children who were paraded up and down, examined, and bargained for, and then taken across to the clove plantations in Pemba, or kept as domestic slaves in Zanzibar, were brought from the interior by the Arabs, the great slave-dealers of East Africa. ”

“ Ra’as Kigomathe, the point nearest the mainland, is separated from it by Pemba Channel, here 19 to 20 miles broad, and the greatest width is 35 miles. The western sea-board, where calmer waters under a lea land favour the labours of the polypus, is evidently advancing rapidly, and here the coast-line is notably broken compared with that of Zanzibar 14and with its own eastern or windward coast. ”

“ A hurricane blew down the trees growing on Zanzibar island in 1872, while those on Pemba island were not disturbed. The Pemba trees are 100 years old, those of Zanzibar island only 50 years old. They are planted 24 feet apart each way, and 100 grow on an acre.
The clove of commerce is the bud of the clove tree, picked before the petals open. The clove we use would be the seed of the clove tree were the petals allowed to expand. The buds are picked by natives, whose carelessness often destroys bearing limbs. ”

“ The very first day I shipped aboard the Dolphin we took two Mtpe dhows close inshore near Pemba. That brought me in a niceish bit of prize-money for a start; and, just a week arter that exactly, when we had got down to our proper cruising ground—that was, sir, just atween Zanzibar and the Mozambique Channel, which, as I daresay you know, sir, is about two hundred and fifty miles wide and runs between Madagascar and the mainland of Africa—why, we came upon the biggest haul that had been made on the coast for years ”

“ North of Fernao Veloso and Memba the largest bays are Pemba (where there is commodious anchorage for heavy draught vessels) , Montepuesi and Tunghi, the last named having for its northern arm Cape Delgado, the limit of Portuguese territory. Orographically the backbone of the province is the mountain chain which forms the eastern escarpment of the continental plateau. It does not present a uniformly abrupt descent to the plains, but in places-as in the lower Zambezi district—slopes gradually to the coast. The Lebombo Mountains, behind Delagoa Bay, nowhere exceed 2070 ft. in height ”

“ The first division, between the famous Cape of Good Hope, and the mouth of the Red Sea, contains along the coast many kingdoms of the Kafrs; as the vast dominions of the Monomotapa, who is lord of all the gold mines of Africa, with those of Sofala, Mozambique, Quiloa, Pemba, Melinda, Pate, Brava, Magadoxa, and others. In this division the Portuguese have the forts of Sofala and Mombaza, with the city and fort of Mozambique. ”

“ Seeing nothing of our senior officer after picking up the pinnace, we proceeded down the coast in the direction of Zanzibar, running across him at last when near Mombassa.
This was lucky for us; for, as soon as Captain Hankey had communicated with the flagship, he received fresh instructions that he was to keep guard on the district lying between Pemba on the south and Witu on the north; and, as Mombassa was about midway between the two points, we were, so to speak, in the very centre of our cruising ground. ”

“ Leaving this place, the two remaining ships came on the 20th February to the island of Zenziber, which is in six degrees of S. latitude, at ten leagues distance from the continent. This is a considerable island, having other two in its neighbourhood, one called Pemba , and the other Moyfa . These islands are very fertile, having abundance of provisions, and great quantities of oranges. The inhabitants are Moors, who are by no means warlike and have few weapons, but are well clothed in silk, and cotton vestments, which they purchase at Mombaza from the merchants of Cambaya. ”

“ The constitutional indolence of the people, their dislike to settled and regular work, and their Semitic unwillingness to venture money, have, despite cheap labour and low ground-rents, prevented the Island from taking to its most appropriate 222industry—sugar-growing. Refiners are agreed that the cane in Zanzibar and Pemba is equal to that in any part of Asia. ”

“ In 1890 the coast line from Ruvuma to Wanga, with the island of Mafia, was ceded to Germany, by which partition the country was reduced to two islands, Zanzibar and Pemba, containing about a thousand square miles with 165,000 inhabitants, a strip of coast line ten miles long, together with three smaller islands and five seaports. Zanzibar is a British protectorate, as are also the Zanzibar dominions on the mainland as far north as the mouth of the Juba. ”

“ The prince must be considered as an independent sovereign. His territories include, besides the Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia islands, nearly 1000 miles of coast, and extend probably over an area of 20,000 square miles, with a population of half a million. The products of Zanzibar have enriched many Europeans who traded in them. ”

“ The most objectionable part of the Green Isle is its climate. No man here is in rude health, laming ulcers on the legs exactly resembling syphilitic sores, stomach pains, and violent indigestions afflict new comers: hydrocele is a plague, and the 15population is decimated by small-pox, dumb agues, and bilious fevers.
In its palmy day many Portuguese, merchants and soldiers, settled at Pemba upon large plantations, and with the abundance of water and provisions, amongst which cattle are specified, consoled themselves for the insalubrity of the atmosphere. ”

“ Its magnificent basin is formed by one of those small coralline islands which, from Suez to Cape Corrientes, have long been the centres of commerce with peoples who, brutalized by barbarism, and incapable of civilization, would have converted mainland depôts into scenes of rapine and bloodshed. Of this chain the principal links, the Tyre, the Alexandria, and the Araduses of East Africa, are Masawah, old Zayla, Berberah—in the 16th century an islet—Makdishu, Lamu, Wasin, ancient Mtanga, Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafiyah, the original Kilwa, and Mozambique. ”

“ All three islands are disposed exactly in the same direction as the coast of the opposite mainland. Thus the axis of Mafia is inclined from south-west to north-east, like the neiglibouring shore between the Rovuma delta and the ras or headland of Mwamba Mku. Zanzibar in the same way runs south-east and north-west, parallel with the seaboard between Dar-es-Salaam and Saadani, while Pemba, like the con- tiguous continental shore-line, follows the direction from north to south, with a slight inclination towards the east. ”

“ The height of the Island nowhere exceeds 180 feet, and the soil is purely vegetable. The streamlets are not worth mentioning, and the general unimportance of the long narrow bank unfits it for representing the Menouthian depôt.
A strong current runs between Zanzibar and Pemba, carrying ships northwards sometimes at the rate of 50 miles per diem. The principal settlement, Chak-Chak, is built upon a deep inlet on the western coast, where the Island is narrowest. ”

“ On referring to the accompanying chart of Eastern Africa, the reader will observe that the Portuguese territory consists of positions almost entirely insular—namely, Ibo, Mozambique, Killimane, Sofala, Bazarutto, Inhambane, Delagoa Bay, and Pemba Bay ”

“ Even small craft have to wait for the flow before venturing to penetrate up the inlet. On the other hand the port of Kishi-Kashi, towards the north-west extremity of the island, is deep enough to accommodate large vessels, which might here ride at anchor in perfect safety. But the narrow and dangerous channel through which it communicates with the sea has not yet been buoyed. The head of the Arab aristocracy in Pemba, a vassal rather than a subject of the Sultan of Zanzibar, has his residence at Kishi-Kashi. More than half of the inhabitants of this island are still in a state of slavery. ”

“ Sharpey, en route to India, and the treacherous Europeans persuaded the ‘Moors’ to attack his crew, after inveigling them on shore by a show of hospitality. Hence the ‘villanies of Pemba’ became a proverb on the coast.
16A steep path, a yellow streak on the dark green ground, leads up to the Fort, which, situated beyond the settlement, commands the creek and landing-place. It is evidently an old Portuguese building. The frontage is a loop-holed curtain of masonry, flanked on the right by a round tower—a mere shell—and on the left by a square turret, pent-housed, with cajan mats. ”

“ On the N. West Point, where a little battery commanded the passage, Mombasah Island is separated from the mainland by a shallow ford, and possibly this canal may be artificial. 37Here I should be inclined to place the New Fosse [9] of the Periplus, and to identify, as do Vincent and Stuch, the Pyralaon Islands, with Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafiyah. M. Guillain, by a careful calculation of distances, would transfer the site further north to the natural channel between Patta, Mandra, Lamu, and the mainland. ”

“ We sailed from Comoro on the 29th November, and on the 10th December, at three a.m. we suddenly descried a low land, about a league a-head, having high trees growing close to the shore. We took this at first to be the island of Zanjibar, till one of the natives told us it was Pemba. [277] We immediately stood off till day-break, when we again made sail for the shore, along which we veered in search of a harbour or anchoring place, and sent Mr Elmore in the boat to look out for a convenient watering-place. ”

“ The coast is fortified by a chain of islands, mostly connected by reefs. Our transactions and inquiries at the latter port were checked by the unfriendly disposition of the natives. After clearing Patta, we proceeded southward along the coast,—ascertaining it, also the two points of Formosa Bay, the Leopard’s Shoal, and the mosque near it, with Quiliffa River, the town and harbour of Mombas, the islands of Pemba (or Gedree) [132] according to the Arabs, and Zanzibar, and the site of the coast between these places. ”

“ The Lusitanians, in later times, long made the Green Isle one of their principal slave-depôts: even in 1822 their ships traded regularly to Chak-Chak. I did not visit the ruins, which are said to be distant one day’s march: there is nothing to interest man in the relics of the semi-barbarous European rule. The Island also boasts of a single mosque. The Pemba men pray at home, 17and they are said to pray little. The population is held to be half that of Zanzibar, upon less than two-thirds, perhaps only one-half, of the area ”

“ The Scream in the Forest.
“How much further to this village of yours, Somala?”
“We are there now, Sidi. What you call one hour’s march.”
“Always that ‘one hour’ story!”
And the speaker turns away somewhat shortly. The question, put in a kind of mongrel Swahili dialect, was put shortly and with a touch of impatience, for the torrid equatorial heat makes men irritable—white men, at any rate—and the first speaker is a white man. The second is a negroid Arab, hailing from the island of Pemba.
Through the moonlit forest the long file of men is wending, like a line of dark ghosts. ”

“ Its rivals, however, for this honour are Pemba, Mafiyah (the Monfia of our maps) and Bukini, the northern and north-western parts of Malagash or Madagascar. [31] Ptolemy, it may be observed, places the two important sites, Menouthias and Prasum (or Prassum) in a separate chapter (iv. 9) , whereas his principal list of stations is in Book iv. chapter 7. He lays down the site of Menouthias in S. lat. 13312°, and nearly opposite the Lunar Mountain, and the Lakes whence the Nile arises (S. lat. 12° 30′) . The mouth of the Rhapta river and Rhapta, the metropolis of Barbaria, are in S. lat. ”

“ Chief Routes of Explorers North of the Rovuma 301 91. The Rufiji Delta 306 92. Mavina TypesMavina Types 311 93. East African Tribes Between the Rovuma and Pagani 313 94. Ports of Mikindani and Mto-Mtwara 317 95. Kiloa-Kisiwani 318 96. The Two Kiloas 320 97. Dar-Es-Salaam 321 98. Bagamoyo 323 99. Oceanic and Landward Coasts of Pemba, compared 326 100. Island of Mafia 328 101. Zanzibar 331 102. Pemba 334 103. Chief Routes of Explorers in the Kilima-Njaro Region 337 104. Line of Volcanic Fault, Masai Land 338 105. Region between Zanzibar and Lake Nyanza 340 106. ”

“ A path usually leads to some village, though sometimes it turns out to be a mere game track leading nowhere.
In going north, we came into a part called Mpemba where Chibisa was owned as chief, but the people did not know that he had been assassinated by the Portuguese Terera. A great deal of grain was lying round the hut, where we spent the night. Very large numbers of turtledoves feasted undisturbed on the tall stalked mapira ears, and we easily secured plenty of fine fat guinea-fowls—now allowed to feed leisurely in the deserted gardens. ”

“ There are a few Portuguese officials connected with the Custom-house and the Treasury, some half-caste descendants of Portuguese or Canarines from Goâ, and natural children of slave-dealers by native women from India or Africa; such is the society at Mozambique. Add to this, one German merchant and an agent of a house from Marseilles, thirty or forty Banyan traders from Cutch, Goâ, and Bombay; a few Arabs, or, as they are called at Mozambique, Moors, and you have all that portion of the inhabitants of the island who call themselves free. ”