beyond the greyish-green waters of the sea of
Zanzibar, Amer, son of Osman, remarks to his friends in a musing tone:

"I have sat here, close to my own mangoes, almost every evening for the
last twenty years looking towards that dark line of land, and always
wishing to go nearer to it, to see for myself the land where all the
ivory and slaves that the Arab traders bring to Zanzibar come from."

Directing his eyes towards Khamis bin Abdullah, Amer continued:

"And never has the desire to leave my house and travel to Africa been so
strong as this evening, when thou, Sheikh informest me that thou hast
brought with thee 600 slaves and 800 frasilah [a frasilah is equivalent
to 35 pounds in weight] of ivory from Ufipas and Marungu. It is
wonderful! Wallahi! Five hundred slaves if they are tolerably healthy
are worth at least 10,000 dollars, and 800 frasilah of ivory are worth,
at 50 dollars the frasilah, 40,000 dollars, nearly half a lakh of rupees
altogether, and all this thou hast collected in five years' travels.
Wallahi! it is wonderful! By the Prophet!--blessed be his name--I must
see the land for myself. I shall see it, please God!" and as he
finished speaking he began to wipe his brow violently, a sign with him
that he was excited and determined.

"What I have spoken is God's truth," said Khamis bin Abdullah, "and
Allah knows it. But there are many more wonderful countries than
Marungu and Ufipa. Rua, several days further toward the setting of the
sun, is a great country, and few Arabs have been there yet. Sayd, the
son of Habib, has been to Rua, and much further; he has been across to
the sea of the setting sun, and has married a wife from among the white
people who live at San Paul de Loanda. Sayd is so great a traveller, I
should fear to say what land he has not seen. Mashallah! Sayd, I
believe, has seen all lands and all peoples. He says that ivory is used
in Rua by the Pagans as we use wooden stanchions or posts to support the
eaves of our houses, that ivory holds their huts up, and he believes
great stores of it are known to the savages, where some of their great
hunters have killed a large number of elephants, and have left the ivory
to rot, not knowing how valuable it is, or where a great herd of
elephants have perished from thirst or disease. However the knowledge
came to these people, or whatever the cause which left such a store of
ivory in that country, Sayd, the son of Habib, is certain that