28 GEOGRAPHY : ZANZIBAR [No. 96 The immigration of Indian traders into Zanzibar has been continuous for over a century, and the natives of India, or people of Indian origin, who are mostly engaged in commerce, now number about 15,000. There are also many Baluchis, Goanese, and Cingalese. In the floating population of Zanzibar a number of the mainland African tribes are represented — Wanyam wezi , Wamanyema , and others. Comoro Islanders have settled insome numbers , and there are Malagasies from Madagascar.

Of the white population of Zanzibar, estimated at about 250 before the war , half was British , and the other half comprised representatives of nine different nationalities.

There are a great many different languages spoken in the islands , but Swahili, which is a mixture of Bantu and Arabic , serves as the lingua franca of Zanzibar and the east coast of Africa generally.

a ( 6 ) POPULATION The census returns of 1910 gave the following figures : Adults.

Children . Total.

Males. Females.

Zanzibar Island Pemba Island ..

43,416 28,480 49,230 31,899 21,423 22,751 114,069 83,130 Total 71,896 81,129 44,174 197,199 The density of population per square mile was esti mated at 175 in Zanzibar , 219 in Pemba.

It was supposed till recently that the population of the Protectorate was dwindling, but it is now believed that, if complete records were obtainable, they would show that in recent years births have outnum bered deaths.