ABSTRACT
BEFORE describing the people it may be desirable to give some account of the country they occupy. We find ourselves, however, in some difficulty for the want of a designation. Names there are in abundance for special localities; yet, singular to say, there is no general term in modern use by which the territory occupied by the Wasuahili is designated. U-suahili, according to the general method of denoting country, would not be endured, and we have therefore chosen the compound at the head of the chapter, Suahili-land, the land occupied by the Wasuahili, and which is more or less under the government of Zanzibar Without attempting to be too precise, it may be said to extend from Kiloa, 9° south latitude, to Barawa, i° north. There may be a few Kisuahili-speaking people and a few villages nominally under the Government beyond these limits, but they can scarcely be said to belong to the country. These boundaries comprehend both the islands and mainland, the former being the more important of the two. There is scarcely a single town of importance upon the mainland. The islands seem to have been selected as affording more security against the encroachments of the savage inland tribes, yet it must be remembered that some of them are exceedingly rich and fertile. Let us take a rapid survey of the whole country, beginning at the south.
