The humblest dwelling at Zanzibar lets unfurnished for £80 to £100 per annum. Furniture of all kinds, porcelain, china, plate, and linen, no matter how old, fetch more than prime cost, and $1 will be paid for a patched and rickety chair worth in London a shilling. Clothing must be brought from Europe: broad cloth is soon spoiled by sun and damp, and shoes must not be exposed to the air—it is well to have the latter one or two sizes larger than at home. The luxuries of life are of course enormously dear, when they are to be purchased. During the Sayyid’s absence the women of his harem have, through the eunuchs, sold for a song the valuable presents sent from Europe; and after the return of the royal vessels from Bourbon and the Mauritius, watches and chronometers, sextants and spy-glasses, have been exceedingly cheap. In both cases the stranger-purchaser would have done well to remember that he was buying stolen goods. Another cause of expense at Zanzibar is the present state of the currency. The rouble of Russia is the franc of France, and here the standard of value is the Maria Theresa or German crown, averaging 4_s._ 2_d._ Bearing the die of 1780, and still coined at the mint of Vienna for the Arab and the E. African trade, it is perferred by the people simply because they know it. The popular names are Riyál (i.e. real, royal) or Girsh (groschen, ‘broad’ pieces). Spanish dollars (bú tákeh, ‘father of window,’ whence our ‘patak’), elsewhere 8 per cent. more valuable, are here only equal to Maria Theresas. In 1846 a French Mission failed to fix the agio of the 5 franc piece at 10 per cent. below the Spanish dollar, which still remained 12.50 to 14 per cent. more valuable. The Company’s rupee, better metal than both the above, being still a comparative stranger, loses nearly a quarter of its value. Other silver pieces are the ‘Robo’ (Spanish quarter dollar) of 25 cents, and the pistoline (20 cents); these, however, are subject to heavy agio. Small change is always rare, another sure sign of thriftlessness, and it is strange how scarce is bullion in a land so wealthy: I can only account for the fact by the Oriental practice of burying treasure.[88]