Zanzibar; city, island, and coast. Vol. 1 (of 2)Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
Zanzibar; city, island, and coast. Vol. 1 (of 2)
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Africa, East -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Tanzania -- Zanzibar; Zanzibar -- Description and travel
Sheep are principally the black-faced Somali, with short round knotted
tails, which lose fat from rich grazing: in their own desert country
they thrive upon an occasional blade of grass growing between the
stones. The excessive purity of the air doubtless favours assimilation
and digestion, and as the diet of the desert Arabs proves, life under
such circumstances can be supported by a minimum of food. I believe that
in early times the Persians introduced this animal into Somali and
Galla-land. The Wakwafi, who are rich in black cattle, contemptuously
call their Galla neighbours ‘Esikirieshi,’ or short-tailed sheep,’ from
the article forming their only wealth. The Somali muttons are the
cheapest, averaging from $1 to $3. There is also a ‘Mrima’ race, with
rufous ginger-coloured, hairy coats, and lank tails like dogs: others,
again, have a long, massive caudal appendage like Syrian or Cape
wethers. These cost $2 to $5, and are considered a superior article. The
most expensive are from the Island of Angazíjah, or Great Comoro, and
they are often worth from $8 to $9. As a rule, Zanzibar mutton, like
that of the Brazil, is much inferior to beef, and presents a great
contrast with the celebrated gram-feds’ of India.
Caponized goats in these regions are larger, fatter, and cent. per cent,
dearer than sheep: I have heard of $15 to $16 being paid for the Comoro
animal. The meat is preferred to mutton: my objection to it is the want
of distinct flavour. Yet goats are always offered as presents in the
interior. Some of the bucks brought from the Continent have a peculiarly
ungoatly appearance, with black points and dark crosses upon their tan-
coloured backs and shoulders, and with long flowing jetty manes like the
breast hair of a Bukhti or Bactrian camel. They must be kept out of the
sun, and fed on vetches as well as grass, otherwise they will die during
the rains from an incurable nasal running.
A stunted Pariah dog is found upon the Island and the Continent: here,
as in Western Africa, it is held, when fattened, to be a dish fit for a
(Negro) king. Some missionaries have tasted puppy stew—perhaps puppy
pie—and have pronounced the flesh to be sweet, glutinous, and palatable.
The horse is now a recognized article of consumption in Europe; the cat
has long served its turn, as civet de lapin, without the honours of
publicity; and the day may come when ‘dog-meat’ will appear regularly in
the market. I have often marvelled at the prejudices and squeamishness
of those races who will eat the uncleanest things, such as pigs, ducks,
and fowls, to which they are accustomed, and yet who feel disgust at the
idea of touching the purest feeders, simply because the food is new. It
is indeed time to enlarge the antiquated dietary attributed to the
Hebrew lawgiver, and practically to recognize the fact that, in the
temperates at least, almost all flesh is wholesome meat for man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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