The Unyamwezy is the country of the Moon--above
all the rest, the fertile and magnificent garden-spot of
Africa. In its centre is the district of Unyanembe--a
delicious region, where some families of Omani, who are
of very pure Arabic origin, live in luxurious idleness.
They have, for a long period, held the commerce between
the interior of Africa and Arabia: they trade in
gums, ivory, fine muslin, and slaves. Their caravans
traverse these equatorial regions on all sides; and they
even make their way to the coast in search of those articles
of luxury and enjoyment which the wealthy merchants
covet; while the latter, surrounded by their wives
and their attendants, lead in this charming country the
least disturbed and most horizontal of lives--always
stretched at full length, laughing, smoking, or sleeping.
Around these excavations are numerous native dwellings;
wide, open spaces for the markets; fields of cannabis
and datura; superb trees and depths of freshest
shade--such is Kazeh!
There, too, is held the general rendezvous of the caravans
--those of the south, with their slaves and their freightage
of ivory; and those of the west, which export cotton,
glassware, and trinkets, to the tribes of the great lakes.
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