14 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

the natives, who collect these articles ; in Zanzibar

they are for the most shopkeepers or hucksters, and

but rarely amass any wealth. Both Banyans and

Hindus are British subjects, and consequently are

not allowed to keep slaves.

The negroes are by far the most numerous body in

the island, forming fully two-thirds of the entire

population. The greater number of them are slaves,

only a comparatively small percentage having be^

come free by the death of their masters or in some

other way. It is from the ranks of these negroes

that the so-called Wang'uana or Seedees are drawn, who form an indispensable part of the caravan

of every traveller in East Central Africa, and to whom frequent reference will be made hereafter. The word Wang'uana means gentlemen, and has

been appropriated by these negroes to distinguish themselves from the slaves who work on the

mashamba or plantations. These Wang'uana are

not, as a rule, natives of Zanzibar, but slaves who

have been brought from the interior when young, and have become to a great extent naturalised, and who have learnt Kiswahili (the language of Zanzibar). A few of them have obtained their freedom, but the

majority are still slaves, allowed by their owners, on

condition of their receiving a part of their wages,

to engage in the service of European travellers.

They are all professedly Mohammedans, having been

circumcised by their Arab masters that they may