(A frasla equals 35 lb. avoirdupois.) For copra the average yield for ten years ending 5923 was fraslas; in 5924 the yield was the highest recorded, being 988,000 fraslas. The copra, how ever, is generally of poor quality. Prices for cloves varied greatly; from 17.12 rupees per frasla in 5912-13 to 13.19 rupees in 1926-27; in 1896 the price had been 4.34 rupees. Imports con sist mainly of cotton piece-goods, rice and other foodstuffs.
The loss of part of the transit trade was shown, not so much in any actual decrease in tonnage entering the port, which was 2,638,000 gross in 1927, as in the growth of the trade of the main land ports, especially Mombasa. Imports were valued at £1,103, 000 in 1913, at £2,223,00 in 1924, and at £1,771,000 in 1927. Exports in 1913 were valued at £5,048,000; in 1924, at £2,286,000; and at £1,828,000 in 1927. These figures include Government im ports. Trade is mostly with India, Tanganyika and Great Britain.
The chief source of revenue is the customs. Revenue increased from £275,000 in 1913 to £589,000 in 1923, and was £540,000 in 1927. Expenditure in 1913 was £248,000; in 1923, £480,000; and in 1927, £622,000.
Administration.—The virtual, if not the titular head of the administration is the British resident. There is an executive coun cil of which the sultan is president, and a legislative council; over which the resident presides and on which sit nominated unofficial members. Mohammedan law is administered for Arabs and natives in the sultan's court. There is a British court for British and for eign subjects and for all cases where one of the parties is a non native. Similar arrangements prevail in the area (the Kenya Protectorate) leased by the sultan on the mainland. Decrees of the sultan are binding when counter-signed by the resident.
From the earliest times of which there is any record the African seaboard from the Red sea to an unknown distance southwards was subject to Arabian influence and dominion. Egyptians, Chinese and Malays also appear to have visited the coast. At a later period the coast towns were founded or conquered by Persian and Arab Mohammedans who, for the most part, fled to East Africa between the 8th and 11th centuries on account of the religious differences of the times, the refugees being schismatics. Various small states thus grew up along the coast, Mombasa seem ing to be the most important. These states are sometimes spoken of as the Zenj empire, though they were never, probably, united under one ruler. Kilwa (q.v.) was regarded as the capital of the "empire." The seaboard itself took the name of Zanquebar (cor rupted to Zanzibar by the Indian traders), the Bilad ez-Zenj, or "Land of the Zenj" of the Arabs, a term which corresponds to the Hindu-bar, or "land of the Hindu," formerly applied to the west coast of India. By Ibn Batuta, who visited the coast in 1328, and
other Arab writers the Zenj people are referred to in a general way as Mohammedan negroes ; and they are no doubt still repre sented by the Swahili or "coast people," in whose veins is a large admixture of Asiatic blood. The Zenj "empire" began to decline soon after the appearance of the Portuguese in East African waters at the close of the 15th century. To them fell in rapid succession the great cities of Kilwa with its 30o mosques (1505), Mombasa the "Magnificent" (1505), and soon after Malindi and Mukdishu the "Immense" (Ibn Batuta). The Portuguese rule was troubled by many revolts, and towards the end of the 16th century the chief cities were ravaged by the Turks, who came by sea, and by the Zimbas, a fierce negro tribe, who came overland from south of the Zambezi. On the ruins of the Portuguese power in the 17th century was built up that of the Imams of Muscat. Over their African dominions the Imams placed valis or viceroys, who in time became independent of their overlord. In Mombasa power passed into the hands of the Mazrui family. The island of Zanzibar, conquered by the Portuguese in 15o3-o8, was occupied by the Arabs in 1730, and in 1832 the town of Zanzibar, then a place of no note, was made the capital of his dominions by the Sayyid Said of Muscat, who reconquered all the towns formerly owing alle giance to the Imams, Mombasa being taken by treachery in 1837. On the death of Said in 1856 his dominions were divided between his two sons, the African section falling to Majid, who was suc ceeded in 187o by his younger brother Bargash ibn Said, com monly known as sultan of Zanzibar. At that time besides the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia, the sultan's dominions extended along the East African coast from Cape Delgado north wards to and including some of the Somali ports, with an undefined extension inland. Bargash, however, lived to witness the dis memberment of his dominions by Great Britain, Germany and Italy (see AFRICA) and in March,1888,1eft to his successor, Sayyid Khalifa, a mere fragment of the territories over which he had once ruled. The mainland territories were divided, Italy acquiring the northern part, Great Britain the central part (now the Kenya protectorate) and Germany the southern part (now Tanganyika Territory) as well as Mafia island. The division was first by lease ; subsequently Germany and Italy purchased the sovereign rights in their respective areas. The Sayyids Majid and Bargash acted largely under the influence of Sir John Kirk (q.v.) who from 1866 to 1887 was consular representative of Great Britain at Zanzibar. Had an offer by Bargash been accepted the whole of his mainland dominions would have been leased to a British com pany in 1877. By Sir John's efforts a treaty for the suppression of the slave trade in the sultanate was concluded in 1873.