The Banyan or Indian Presence at Massawa, The Dahlak Islands and The Horn of Africa

The "Banyan" or Indian Presence at Massawa, the Dahlak Islands and the Horn of Africa
Author(s): RICHARD PANKHURST

Source: Journal of Ethiopian Studies , JANUARY 1974, Vol. 12, No. 1 (JANUARY 1974),
pp. 185-212
Published by: Institute of Ethiopian Studies
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44324706
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The "Banyan" or Indian Presence
af Massawa, lhe Dahlak Islands and lhe
Horn of Africa
by RICHARD PANKHURST
THE EARLIER HISTORICAL SETTING
An Indian commercial presence in the area of the Gulf of A

including the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea coasts of Africa, can
cerned from very early times. Tradition, later recorded by th
historian Masudi, relates that in the fourth century B. C. the
philosopher Aristotle wrote to Alexander the Great at the time o
latteťs expedition to the East, giving him information on the
and proposing the establishment there of a colony of Greeks
ander, it is said, accordingly despatched a certain number of G
as a result of which "they subdued the Indians who were estab
there, took possession of Sokotra and removed a colossal idol to w
the Indians paid homage."1 Support for Masudi's story of thi
Indian presence on the island is afforded by Diodorus of Sicil
stated in the first century B. C. that the island of Panchaea, gen
identified as Sokotra, had a foreign population of "Oceani tes
dians and Scythians and Cretans," and that the islands called
nate, another apparent reference to Sokotra, were "frequented b
chants who come there from all parts, and principally from P
the town which Alexander had built on the bank of the Indus river."2
Such references are further confirmed in the Periplus of the Erythr-
aean Sea , a work of the first century or so of the Christian era,
which reports that the island's population included "a mixture of Arabs,
Indians and Greeks who have emigrated to carry on trade there."3
Merchants from India, and in particular from Ariaca, i. e. the
Gulf of Cambay, and Barygaza, i. e. modern Broach, were by this
time reported as also visiting the Gulf of Aden and the coast of Africa.
On the situation on the Horn of Africa the Periplus observes that
"ships are. . .customarily fitted out from the places across this sea,
from Ariaca and Barygaza, bringing these far-side market-towns the
products of their own places; wheat, rice, clarified butter, sesame oil,
cotton cloth (the monache and the sagmatogene) and girdles, and
honey from the reed called sacchari ," i. e. sugar. On the Red Sea port
of Adulis the Periplus likewise declares: "from the district of Ariaca
across this sea, there are imported Indian iron, and steel, and
1 . C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Maçoudi. Les prairies ďor

(Paris, 1844), III 36. See also L-M. Devic, Les pays des Denis ou la côte or-
ientale ď Afrique au moyen-age (Paris, 1883), p. 99.
2. C. H. Oldfather, Diodorus of Sicily (London, 1939), III, 215, V, 42; A. F. Miot.
Bibliothèque historique de Diodore de Sicile (Paris, 1834), II, 86, 390-1, 111,47.
3. W. H. Schoff, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (London, 1912), pp. 34,133-6.
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Indian cloth; the broad cloth called monache and that called sagmato-
gene , and girdles, and coats of skin and mallow-coloured cloth, and
muslins and coloured lace."4
Confirmation of the Indian connection is also afforded by archa-

eological findings in Ethiopia, notably by the discovery at Adulis
of the centrepiece of a carnelian ring with writing apparently in Brahmi
script, supposed by Littmann to have belonged to an early Indian
trader,5 as well as by the unearthing inland at Däbrä Damo of a
hoard of 103 Kushana gold coins from north-west India dating from
around 230 A. D.6 The extent of Indian contacts with the Red Sea
coast of Africa is likewise evident from the writings of the Greek
author Palladius who recalls in his work On the Peoples of India and
the BrahmanSy produced around 300 A. D., that Scholasticus of Thebes
hąd learnt at Aksum, the capital of the Ethiopian empire of that time,
that Indian and other merchants crossed the sea for purposes of trade,
and made their their way from Adulis to the Arabian coast, and thence
by way of the Maldives to Taprobane, or Ceylon.7 A couple of
centuries later, according to a subsequent Greek text, the Aksumite
Emperor Kaléb employed nine Indian boats for his invasion of South
Arabia in the early sixth century,8 while in the second half of the
eighth century the Dahlak islands are said by the Arab historian Tab-
ari to have been attacked by Indians, but for what reason he does not
state.9 Later again, in the tenth century, Masudi states that Indian
merchants were visiting Sokotra, as formerly, that they did so in vessels
called baraja , and that they were often in conflict with the Muslims.10
Though our documentation for the African coast in the next few
centuries is poor there is little doubt that Indian trade with the area
continued. In the thirteenth century we find the Venetian traveller Mar-
co Polo reporting that Aden was "frequented by ships arriving from
India with spices and drugs,"11 and in the fourteenth century the
4. ibid, pp. 24, 27, 90.

5. R. Paribeni, "Ricerche nel luogo dell' antica Adulis" Reale Accademia Nazi-
onale dei Lincei, Monumenti antichi (Roma, 1908), XVIII, 529, fig." 49. See also
A. Mordini "Gli aurei Kushana del convento di Dabro Damo, Accademia
Nazionale dei Lincei, Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Etiopici (Roma,
1960), p. 250; S. K. Chatterji, India and Ethiopia from the Seventh Century B. C.
(Calcutta, 1967), p. 53; E. Littmann, "Indien und Abessinien," Festgabe Her-
mann Jacobi (Bonn, 1926), p. 410.
6. Mordini op. cit., pp. 252-3. See also D.Matthews and A. Mordini, "The Mo-
nastery of Dabra Damo, Ethiopia," Archaeologia (1959), XCVII, 53; Y. M.
Kobischanow, "On the Problem of the Voyages of Ancient Africans in the
Indian Ocean," Journal of African History (1965), VI, 140-1; Chatterji, op.
cit., pp. 54-5.
7. C. Muller, Ariani , Arabis et Indica (Paris, 1846), p. 102. See also J. I. Millar,
The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969), p. 190.
8. C. Conti Rossini, Storia d' Etiopia (Bergamo, 1928), p. 174. See also F. M. Est-
aves Pereira, Historia dos martyres de Nagrań (Lisbão, 1899), pp. 155-6.
9. M. J. de Goeje, Annales quot scripsit Abu Djafar Mohammed ibn Djarir al Ta-
bori (Leyden, 1879-1901), III, Part 1, p. 135; U. Monneret de Villard, "Note
sulle influenze asiatiche nell* Africa orientale," Rivista degli Studi Orientali
(1938), XVni, p. 328.
10. Barbier de Meynard, op. cit., Ili, 37; Devic, op. cit., p. 99.
11. T.Wright, The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian (London, 1901), p. 438.
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Moroccan voyager Ibn Battuta opined that it was "the port of the
merchants of India."12
The advent in the early sixteenth century of Portuguese and other

European travellers gives us many valuable glimpses of Indian trade
on the African ports. Thus the Portuguese on arriving at the port of
Massa wa in 1520 are reported by the Portuguese writer João da Barros,
to have seen "two Gujerati ships" there.13 The port of Berbera was
said by the Florentine sailor Andrea Corsali to be visited by "many ships
from the Indies" laden with much merchandise, "principally incense,
pepper and cloth,"14 and the Portuguese traveller Duarte Barbosa
says that to the latter port went "many ships carrying much merchan-
dise from Aden and Cambaya" which carried away "much gold, opium,
ivory and divers other things."15 The port of Zeila was reported by an
Ethiopian monk, Brother Antonio, as being important because "the
fleets of the Moors from Combaia bring much merchandise" including
4 'spices and cloth of gold and silk."16 Indian merchants seem more-
over to have on occasion made their way inland, for at about the
same time the Portuguese priest Francisco Alvares notes that in the
market of Manadeley, in southern Tegré, there were "merchants of all
nations," among them "Moors of India.17
Further south, in the Indian Ocean the island of Sokotra still

had its Indian commercial contacts, a British East India Company
captain reporting early in the seventeenth century that he had seen there
"two ships of Surat, Guzerats", while far away in southern Somali-
land the British explorer, Sir Thomas Roe, records that the pilot of
the junk on which he sailed was "expert" on the journey from Mo-
gadishu to Cambay."18
Indian navigators were a common sight in Red Sea and Gulf of

Aden waters throughout this time, and indeed for several centuries.
The Jesuit Manoel de Almeida records that he sailed from Diu to
Suakin in 1622 on an Indian vessel with a Hindu captain called Papo
gy Sangva, and gives an interesting if unsympathetic account of th
religious practices of the Hindus and Muslims aboard without differen
tiating between them. "It distressed us not a little," he says, "to se
that we could not stop the incessant heathen and Mahometan rites
which the Baneanes performed on the poop, offering many sundr
12. H.A.R. Gibb, The Travels of Ibn Battuta A.D. 1325-1354 (Cambridge, 1962),
II, 372.
13. Barros, Decadas da Asia, III, Book III, Chapter 10. See also C. F. Beckingham
and G. W. B. Huntingford, The Prester John of the Indies (Cambridge, 1961),
I, 55.
14. Historiale description de V Ethiopie (Anvers, 1558), p. 32.
15. M. L. Dames, The Book of Duarte Barbosa (London, 1918), I, 34.
16. O. G. S. Crawford, Ethiopian Itineraries, circa 1400-1524 (Cambridge, 1958),
pp. 172-3.
17. Beckingham and Huntingford, op. cit., I, 187.
18. F. C. Danvers, Letters received by the East India Company in the East (Lon-
don, 1896), I, 11; W. Foster, The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court
of the Great Mogul 1615-1619 (London, 1889), I, 23.
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essences and perfumes to their idols." On passing near the Red Sea
island of Jebel Zuqur, he adds, "the Baneanes and the Moors salut-
ed it, as is their custom, with various superstitious rites."19
THE BANYANS OF MASSAWA FROM THE 16th TO THE
18th CENTURY
The age-old navigation of Indian mariners and traders in the Red

Sea and Gulf of Aden led to the establishment, at what precise d
is uncertain, of small but commercially most important resident co
munities of Banyans at the island port of Massawa as well as oth
ports on the African, and indeed also on the Arabian coast.
The Banyans were already well established at Massawa at the close
the sixteenth century when they were visited in 1597 by Melchior
Sylva, an Indian Catholic priest from Goa, who mentions one of
them, Quica, by name, and notes that his own knowledge of cer
Brahmin words and ability to chant in the Indian manner won him
their friendship.20 A few years later, in 1603, the Spanish Jesuit
priest Pero Pais stayed with the leader of the island's Banyans who
provided him with a boat to cross to the mainland and a young Muslim
servant boy to accompany him as far as Däbärwa, a market town in
the Ethiopian interior. The chiefs whose territory they passed on the
journey, according to the missionary, all showed themselves friendly
to the Banyan.21
The commercial significance of this Indian community is also no-
ted by other Jesuit observers of the period. Manoel Barradas reports
that they dealt inter alia with ivory and civet,22 while Baltazar Telles
indicates that these men, who were allowed by their religion to
practise usury,23 were also flourishing money-lenders, for he states
that in 1634 they lent 660 "pieces of eight" to members of the Society
of Jesus to enable them to pay the quittance tax demanded of them by
the local ruler.24 Further north at the port of Suakin another group
of Banyans likewise lent 600 patea s in 1633 to several other Jesuits,
the money, according to another of the missionaries, Almeida, being
repayable at the Indian port of Diu.25 The Indians at both ports may
19. C. F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some Records of Ethiopia , 1593-

1646 (London, 1954), pp. 175-6, 178.
20. C. Beccari, Notizie e saggi di opere e documenti inediti riguardanti la storia di
Etiopia durante i secoli XVI, XVII e XVIII (Roma, 1903), pp. 39, 415, 420-5.
21. P. Pais, Historia da Etiopia (Porto, 1945), III, 19-22.
22. C. Beccari, Rerum Aethiopicarum Scriptores Occidentales (Roma, 1903-17),
IV, 113-14; idem, Il Tigre descritto da un missionario jesuita del secolo XVII
(Roma, 1909), p. 109.
23. B.G. Gokhale, "Capital Accumulation in XVIIth Century Western India,"
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay (1964-5), XIX-XL, p. 53.
24. B. Tellez, The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (London, 1710), p. 256.
25. Beccari, Rerum Aethiopicarum Scriptores Occidentales , VII, 261-2. See also idem»
Notizie e saggi di opere e documenti inediti riguardanti la storia di Etiopia
durante i secoli XVI, XVII e XVIII , p. 158; Beckingham and Huntingford,
Some Records of Ethiopia 1593-1646 p. xxx.
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be assumed to have been pretty wealthy, for the Scottish traveller
James Bruce, writing of this period, declares that "the India trade
flourished greatly," and that the Banyans exported "pearls, tortoise-
shell, which sold for its weight in gold, in China; Tibbar, or pure gold
of Sennar
precious metals," and adds: "these were all bartered, at Masuah and
Suakem, for India goods."26
The Dahlak islands facing Massawa were also much involved in
Indian trade. The French traveller Charles Poncet at the beginning of
the eighteenth century observed that "vessels which come from the
Indies commonly put in there for fresh water and to lay in provisions,
of which there is great plenty,"27 while Bruce, also referring to this
period, later noted that "the India ships formerly used to resort"
there,28 and that tortoise-shell from the area between Dahlak and Sua-
kin was taken to "the East Indies, (China especially) at little expense,
and with very considerable profits."29
Subsequent political difficulties in Ethiopia, and frequent civil
wars, seem, however, to have caused the Banyans of Massawa to fall
on relatively evil days. Bruce states that by 1769 the Banyans, though
"once the principal merchants" of the port had been "reduced to six."
He adds that they were "silver-smiths, that make ear-rings and other
ornaments for the women in the continent," and were "assayers of
gold," but made only a ifcpoor livelihood."30 One of the difficulties,
the Scotsman explains, was that the port's trade, though still "consi-
derable," was effected "in a slovenly manner," and was based on
"articles where a small capital is involved" for it was "too precious
to risk a venture in valuable commodities." The principal imports at
this time, as formerly, included many articles from India, among them,
Bruce says, "blue cotton, Surat cloths, and cochineal ditto, called
Kermis," and "fine cloths from different markets in India."31
BANYAN ACTIVITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The dawn of the Nineteenth Century, a period for whic

documentation is far richer than ever before, found the south
Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somali region in close commercial conta
India, and a large proportion of the trade of the region w
hands of Indian merchants. Much but by no means all of t
merce was based on the ports of Western India,32 the Fren
26. J. Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (Edinburgh, 1790), I,
355-6.
27. W. Foster, The Red Sea and Adjacent Countries at the Close of the Seven-
teenth Century (London, 1949), p. 156.
28. Bruce, op. cit., I, 347.
29. ibid, I, 355.
30. ibid, III, 520-1.
31. ibid, III, 54.
32. G. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to índia, Ceylon , the Red Sea, Abyssinia
and Egypt (London, 1811), II, 361; C. E. X. Rochet d' Héricourt, Voyage
sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge, dans le pays ďAdal et le royaume de
Choa (Paris, 1841), p. 29; T. Lefebvre and others, Voyage en Abyssinie (Paris,
1845-9), II, 361.
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eller Rochet ďHéricourt noting in the 1840's that the African Red
Sea coast traded with many parts of India, notably Broche, Bombay,
Malabar and Bengal, whence the Banyans imported all kinds of cloths,
of both cotton and silk, rice and spices on all of which commodities
they earned considerable profits.33
Indian traders held a dominant position in this trade. The British
traveller Lord Valentia, discussing the commerce of the African coast
of the Gulf of Aden in the first decade of the century, stated that
"the whole trade" of the area was "monopolised" by Banyans, or
"Hindoo merchants originally resident in the independent and pira-
tical countries from the Gulf of Cambay to the Indus," and that "the
return of the African for the valuable articles" they exported was
"almost wholly in India goods, particularly the white cloths with a
red or yellow border, on which the Banians charge profit of from 50
to 100 per cent."34 Indian traders were indeed so important, accord-
ing to the French travellers Ferret and Galinier, as to "direct almost
alone, the commercial movement of the Gulf of Aden." Describing the
activities of these traders the Frenchmen add that the Banyans be-
ing "established in most of the Red Sea ports, they put their hands
on the most precious products of Africa, gold, musk, ivory, send them
to India, and realise in several years immense profits."35
The commercial importance of the Banyans indeed impressed all
observers. Valentia, referring to shipments between Aden, Jeddah, Mas-
sawa, and Berbera, states that the Banyans "nearly monopolise the
whole trade" and made "a very considerable profit," particularly on
the export of gold and ivory,36 while Rochet d'Héricourt, describ-
ing the commercial skill, and remarkable organisation, of the Bany-
ans, calls them "a religious community applied to commerce" and
adds: "Each of them originally brought in a share of the capital for
which he has the right to a proportionate share of the general profits.
They live in common. The law of the division of work regulates the
organisation of their society. To each member is assigned a special
function, a precise task. Some occupy themselves with the internal
administration, and, among them, there are those who descend to the
meanest details of domestic economy, as for example the care of the
apartments and the preparation of food. Of those upon whom mercantile
business has devolved some conduct the great operations, make voyages,
supervise the fishing for pearls of which they have the exclusive
trade. Others are charged with the retail sale; they sell their merchandise
in bazaar shops and even in their own houses. However, an organised
hierarchy determines the distribution of functions among the mem-
bers and the dignity of ranks. At the summit of the association is
the treasurer who is chosen by the members of the society. The Bany-
33. Rochet d'Héricourt, op. cit., p. 29.

34. G. Valentia, Observations on the Trade of the Red Sea (B. M. MS. 19,345),
p. 109.
35. P. V. Ferret and J. G. Galinier, Voyage en Abyssinie (Paris, 1847-8), II, 435.
See also R. Coupland, East Africa and its Invaders (London, 1938), pp. 27-8,
301, 310 for East African comparisons.
36. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon , the Red Sea, Abyssinia and
Egypt* II» 361.
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ans employ much competency in their trade, and I would add even
much wile, but their sweet and inoffensive character makes them lov-
ed by the natives."37
The extent of the Banyan rôle in this commerce may be seen
by examining each of the African ports in the area in turn.
Berbera
Probably the most important commercial centre on the African

side of the Gulf of Aden in the early nineteenth century was Berbera
where, according to the British traveller J. R. Wellsted, "the Banians
of Mokha, Hodeida, etc. have each a partner residing here, to whom
the various articles are consigned."38 The presence of such traders at
the port is confirmed by another English observer, Charles Johnston,
who stated in the 1840's that the population of Berbera included a
"few foreign merchants, principally Banians and Arabs" whose houses
had "some pretentions both to appearance and convenience," a state-
ment also confirmed by Rochet d' Héricourt.39
Berbera's resident population of foreign merchants was joined in
the cool winter months by crowds of visiting traders including many
merchants from India, as well as Banyans established in the Gulf of
Aden,40 who came to attend the great annual fair which was held
from October to March, and is said to have yielded immense profits.
Valentia, the first traveller to discuss this commercial event, declares:
"From the fair of Berbera, Arabia draws her supplies of ghee, and
a great number of slaves, camels, horses, mules and asses; but the pro-
fit on these articles is much less than on the sale of India goods, which
is the return made to the inhabitants of Africa, for the whole prod-
uce of the country thus brought to Berbera. Many chiefs of the in-
terior, and particularly the sovereign of Hanim, who lives twenty
days journey west of Berbera, send down caravans of their own, to
purchase, with gold and ivory, the manufactures of India€"41 On
such imported goods, he explains, "the Banians demand what profit
they please."42 The noble lord, who, it should be noted, hoped to
open up British commerce in the area, and in consequence regarded
Indian with disfavour, emphasised the exploitive character of the latter
trade, observing: "It is much to be regretted, that the sale is at pre-
sent clogged by the unreasonable profits of the Banians, which, of
course, greatly diminish the consumption."43 Arguing that "the different
37. G. Douin, Histoire du règne de Khédive Ismail (Le Caire, 1936-41), III, Part II,
pp. 180-1.
38. J. R. Wellsted, Travels in Arabia (London, 1838), II, 368.
39. C. Johnston, Travels in Southern Abyssinia (London, 1844), I, 23; C. E. X*
Rochet d'Héricourt, Second voyage sur les deux rives de la Mer rouge , dans le
pays des Adels et de royaume de Choa (Paris, 1846), p. 286; A. d'Abbadie,
Douze ans de séjour dans la Haute-Ethiopie ( Abyss inie) (Paris, 1868), 570.
40. Rochet d'Héricourt, Voyage sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge , dans le pays
d* Adal et le royaume de Choa , p. 340.
41 . Valentia, Voyages and Travels in India , Ceylon the Red Sea, Abyssinia and
Egypt , II, 358.
42. ibid, III, 256.
43. ibid, II, 358.
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articles of hard- ware, which are much wanted by every uncivilised nation
at present, only reach the eastern coast of Africa, by way of Bombay
and Mocha" he added that if the profits were ' 'reduced to about forty
or fifty per cent the consumption would probably increase ten fold."44
Around the middle of the century the fair is known to have been
visited each year by a goodly number of Indian merchants: Rochet
d'Héricourt writes of 10 to 12 large vessels,45 while ďAbbadie put
the figure at 30 to 40 "small boats", many of which, he says, later
returned to Bombay laden with ivory 46 In exchange for this article,
and the 4 'various commodities furnished by Africa" the Banyans, as
Wellsted notes, supplied such goods as iron, lead, cotton cloth, rice
and durrah.47
Traders at Berbera included merchants from all parts of India

who did a lucrative business and were a familiar sight at the fair. The
British explorer Speke told of the presence there of "Banyans from
Cutch and Aden,"48 while his compatriot Cruttenden reports that
4 'the fat and wealthy Banian traders from Porebunder, Maldavie and
Bombay," who "rolled across"49 the seas in "their clumsy Kotias,
and with a formidable row of empty ghee jars slung over the quar-
ters of their vessels," were the last to arrive but "elbowed them-
selves into a permanent position in the front tier of craft in the har-
bour, and by their superior capital, cunning, and influence, soon dis-
tanced all competitors."50
The Indian traders seem to have been careful to avoid unneces-
sary friction with the local population. The Banyan, as Cruttenden
explains, spent his time "prudently living on board his ark," and
would lock up "his puggree (turband) which would infallibly be knock-
ed off the instant he was seen wearing it." Anxious to avoid
displaying too many of his goods the merchant would "exhibit buta
small portion of his wares at a time, under a miserable mat spread
on the beach."51
The Banyans coming as they did with so many imported goods

from the east were a source of constant fascination for the local So-
44. ibid, II, 359.

45. Rochet ďHéricourt, Voyage sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge dans le pays
ďAdal et le royaume de Choa, p. 340.
46. France, Biblothèque Nationale Catalogue France Nouvelle Acquisition, No. 21,
301, p. 169. See also M. Guillain, Documents sur l'histoire, de géographie et le
commerce de V Afrique orientale (Paris, 1856), II, 483.
47. Wellsted, op. cit., II, 369.
48 . J. H. Speke, What led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (Edinburgh,
1864), p. 124.
49. "The Koi ta," according to Hornell, "is built in India for Indian owners, in
great measure it is the native craft of the coast of Kutch and Kathiawar. . .
Koitias are the oceanic tramps of Indian craft, willing to go wherever remun-
eration offers." J. Hornell, "The Origins and Ethnological Significance of In-
dian Boat Designs," Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1918), VII, 142,
and plate III.
50. R. Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa (London, 1894), II, 72. See also
M. Abir, Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes (London, 1968), p. 17.
51 . Burton, op. cit., II, 73.
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mali population. Harris records that "the curious stalls of the fat
Banians from India were thronged from morning until night with
barbarians from the adjacent districts, who brought pelties and drugs
to be exchanged; and the clamour of haggling and barter was hourly
increased by the arrival of some new caravan of toil-worn pedlars from
the more remote depths of the interior, each laden with an accession
of rich merchandise to be converted into baubles and blue calico, at a
clear net profit to the specious Hindoo of two hundred per cent.
Myrrh, ivory, and gum-arabic; civet, frankincense, and ostrich-feathers,
were piled in every corner of his booth, and the tearing of ells of Nile
stuff, and the counting out of porcelain beads, was incessant so long
as the daylight lasted."52
The commercial importance of these Indian traders at Berbera,

and the wealth they earned, was often remarked. Thus Wellsted ob-
served that the Banyans held "in their hands
trade of the port,"53 a statement echoe

stated that "the greater part" of the trad
their hands,"54 while the British explorer
Ogaden area that "the principal trader
from Aden and Cutch."55 Wellsted therefore seems to have been on firm
grounds in affirming that the Indians had "enjoyed silently and unno-
ticed" the 4 'enormous profits" of the Berbera trade,56 an observa-
tion echoed by the British envoy Cornwallis Harris who declared that
the Banyan, "during many years, has enjoyed, silently and unobser-
ved, the enormous profits accruing from the riches annually poured
out from the hidden regions of Africa."57 The same, highly preju-
diced, observer goes on to describe the Berbera fair as frequented by
"rapacious Banians from India," and remarked that though "relig-
ious prejudices on the part of the wily Hindoo" prevented the latter
from dealing in the export of live-stock "all other trade
sed by the subtle Banian, who divides the

right thumb, in order to increase the span
measured."58
Cheating among the merchants was often

seem to have been restricted to any one com
ed that "the African cheats by mis-measuri
and the Indian by falsely weighing the coffee
and other valuable articles which he receives in return."59 Rochet
d'Héricourt, on the other hand, takes a different view. Writing specifi-
cally of the Banyans he claims that they covered their operations "in
52. W. C. Harris, The Highlands of Aethiopia (London, 1844), I, 277.

54. Rochet d'Héricourt, Voyage sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge, dans le pays
ď Adai et le royaume de Choa, p. 340.
55. Burton, op. cit., II, 95.
57. Harris, op. cit., I, 38.
58. ibid, I, 38-9.
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the greatest mystery" and drew from it "no doubt important advant-
ages" but adds: "they invent no frauds to cover their cheating so
that doubly cheated, the Bedouins take them for very honest people."60
The Somalis were in fact probably well satisfied by the trade which
brought them imported goods for which there was no other source
of supply, with the result that the Banyans, as Burton records, were
"facetiously termed by the Somal their 'Milch-cows'. "61
The presence of Indian traders at Berbera made them familiar to
the vast numbers of Somalis who flocked to the fair. Cruttenden
notes that even the "savage Gidrbeersi," i. e. tribesmen from the
terior, were in contact with "the smooth-spoken Banian from Po
bunder"62 while Harris, ever writing in contemptuous vein, decla
that "rapacious Banians" traded with "caravans of wandering sav
ages from all parts of the interior."63 Berbera was thus a cultural m
ting pot, for, as Johnston notes, it "brought together the Hind
Banyan, the Mahomedan Arab, and the pagan Soumaulee."64
Though the overwhelming majority of Indians visiting Berbe
came for purposes of trade there is record of at least one Indian
fakir making his way to this part of the Somali coast. Speke, who
saw him, states that the holy man, having visited the shrines and tem-
ples of India, determined "to see what other countries were like."
Begging all the way he had accordingly sailed from Bombay to Mus-
kat and travelled thence by land to Aden whence he "again set out,
in the name of Allah, to see what the Somali Land was like."65
* * *
The Indian tra

out the greate
cade after the establishment of the British Protectorate, the Italian
explorer Cecchi reported that there were still very few Europeans at
the port, and that "all the trade was in the hands of the Banyans."66
This assertion is confirmed by the German scientist Paulitischke,
who also records that some of the Banyans remained on at the port
after the close of the annual fair when the other traders departed.67
The Italian researcher Alamanni, a decade or so later, likewise
opined that the trade of Berbera was still "entirely in the hands of
the Banyans" who, he explains, came from Port Bender, Madras and
Bombay, though the British, Greeks, Egyptians and Italians were
then beginning to make their appearance on a small scale.68
60. Rochet ďHéricourt, Voyage sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge, dans le
pays d'Adal et le royaume de Choa , pp. 340-1.
62. ibid, n, 73.
63. Harris, op. cit., I, 38.
64. Johnston, op. cit., I, 26.
65. Speke, op. cit., p. 143.
66. A. Cecchi, Da Zella alle frontiere del Cajfa (Roma, 1886), I, 7.
67. P. Paulitischke, Harar (Leipzig, 1888), pp. 374-5, 377.
68. E. Q. M. Alemanni, La Colonia Eritrea e i suoi commerci (Torino, 1890), p.
459.
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The financing of Berbera's trade seems likewise to have been main-
ly under Indian control, the only credit acceptable at the port being, ac-
cording to Pauli tischke, that based on Bombay.69
Zeila
Zeila in the early nineteenth century also had a small resident

population of Indian traders, as well as a significant amount of trade
with India. Burton records that on visiting the port he found 4 'about
twenty native craft, large and small," and adds: "They trade with
Berberah, Arabia, and Western India, and are navigated by 'Rajpuť
or Hindu pilots."70 Some of the Indian merchants at Zeila seem to
have adopted the unusual practice of settling with their womenfolk,
for the same observer tells of an Indian girl with "chocolate-colour-
ed skin, long hair, and parrot like profile" who was "much admired
by the elegants of Zayla," and "coquettes by combing, dancing, sing-
ing and slapping the slave-girls, whenever an adorer may be look-
ing."71
Another indication of the porťs close ties with Indians was, as

Burton notes, that the "citizens and more civilised" were fond of a
board-game which they called bakkis which, he explains, was of un-
mistakable Indian origin, and linguistically "a corruption of the well
known Indian Pachisi."72 This game, we may add, continued to be
played in the coastal areas of Somaliland throughout the century as
indicated long afterwards by the British big-game hunter A. E.
Pease.73
* * *
Most, if not all o

as the French histo
a number of them re-established themselves towards the end of
the century as recorded by the Italian traveller Robecchi-Bricchett
The coming of these merchants resulted in the expansion of tr
and Paulitischke reported in the late 1880's that there was by then
an "extensive commerce" in Indian cotton goods and rice. Imports
of both commodities were dominated by the Indian merchant Mena-
him Messa who had a large storehouse for these articles, and also
purchased ivory brought in by the caravans from Ogaden and Šawa.76
69. Paulitischke, op. cit., p. 378.

70. Burton, op. cit., I, 16.
71. ibid, I, 19. See also Abir, op. cit., p. 15.
72. Burton, op. cit., I, 30. See also H.J. R. Murray, A History of Board Games
other than Chess (Oxford, 1952) p. 135.
73. A. E. Pease, Travel and Sport in Africa (London, 1902), II, 143. See also R.
E. Drake-Brockman, British Somaliland ("London, 1912), pp. 129-33.
74. Douin, op. cit., III, Part II, p. 185. See also Abir, op. cit., p. 16.
75. L. Robecchi-Bricchetti, NelV Horrar (Milano, 1896), p. 21.
76. Paulitischke, op. cit., pp. 55-6. See also p. 54; L. Robecchi-Bricchetti, Som-
alia e Benadir (Milano, 1899), p. 617.
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Ports East of Berbera
To the east of Berbera the smaller Somali ports on the Gulf of

Aden, such as Bender Kassem, Bender Khor, Bender Merayo and
Alula, all had Indian as well as Arab merchants. Such traders, as the
French traveller Revoil noted in the 1870's, sent their agents even to
places of the least importance, and exported the produce of the area
to Bombay and other ports.77 These merchants, he believed, were
largely able to dictate the price at which the Somalis sold their gum
and other produce, and, because of their firm commercial hold on the
area, had little to fear from the coming of the Europeans to the
coast.78
Sokotra
Indian traders, many of them resident, continued to be active at

Sokotra throughout the century. Tratsch noted as late as the 1930's
that there were still "Hindus" on the island, and that the population
of the northern side included "Somali, Swahili and Indian elements."79
Mijertain
The Mijertain, or northern Somali coast, also had well-establi-
shed commercial links with the East, as well as a number of Indian
merchants, many of them resident in the area. Guillain, a French voy-
ager of the middle of the century, states that the exports of this re-
gion included gum, sent to Bombay, dried fish, shipped to the Indi-
an coast, and shark fins and tails which were sent via India to China,80
while much of the imports were similarly brought in by Banyan
traders.81 Such merchants continued to play a prominent rôle in the
decades which followed, Revoil noticing that there were numerous
Banyans at the coast in the 1870's.82
Benadir
Further south the Benadir also had its Indian presence. Guillain
states that Indian merchants resided at Mogadishu for several months
each year,83 while later in the century Revoil mentions one of them
by name, Hadji Indi, whom he calls "an inoffensive Indian merch-
ant," and records finding a small Hindu statue in the city,84 yet an-
other indication of a well-established Indian presence.
Indian traders, many of whom, according to Revoil, were Mus-
lim agents of Zanzibar and Bombay houses,85 were also to the fore
77. G. Revoil, Voyages au cap des aromates (Paris, 1880), pp. 271-4.
78. ibid, pp. 274-5.
79. "Sokotra," in M. T. Houtsma and others, Encyclopedia of Islam (Leyden,
1934), IV, 477-8.
80. Guillain, op. cit., II, 458.
81. ibid, II, 459.
82. Revoil, op. cit., pp. 276, 280-1.
83. Guillain, op. cit.. II, 520.
84. Le Tour du Monde (1885), II, 195-6.
85. G. Revoil, "Voyage chez les Benadirs, les Çomalis et les Bayouns," Le Tour
du Monde (1885), XLIX, 37.
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in the more southerly ports of the Benadir, particularly at Merka and
Kismayu.86 Those of Merka, he observes, were insistent salesmen,
though it was 4 'curious to see the faithful of the Banian caste, be-
lieving in metempsychosis, eating neither meat nor fish, using leaves
as plates, never drinking in your glass, and never using foodstuffs ex-
cept those prepared by themselves, acting as farmers of the customs
of the Benadir and Zanzibar littoral."87 Though these Indians spent
most of their time, he says, in their own abodes, and scarcely ven-
tured out "even under the protection of a good escort," Set Lack-
midas, a local Banyan, was so important as to be considered "in re-
ality the true governor of Merka." Holding his status as a British sub-
ject in high esteem he displayed in his shop portraits of Queen Vic-
toria and the Prince of Wales, declaring with emphasis that he was
their faithful servant, and that were it not that his religion prevent-
ed him from killing a fly he would have conquered the entire Webi
valley with a handful of men.88
The Indian community of the Benadir was indeed so large as to
have at least one Hindu priest, a picture of whom is reproduced by
Robecchi-Bricchetti in his book Somalia e Benadir}9
The entire Indian Ocean coast of Somalia thus had strong com-
mercial contacts with India and a crucially significant Banyan comm-
unity which, as Alamanni noted towards the end of the century, sup-
plied the inhabitants of the area with such important commodities
as grey cotton cloth, muslin, coloured woollen cloth, blue and other
silks and silk thread.90 This situation continued to our own times,
the present-day Italian anthropologist Grottanelli observing that Ban-
yans still constitute a * 4 rich section" of the mercantile community of
Benadir and that many of the boats in the approaches of this litto-
ral are often owned by Indians.91
The Dahlak Islands
Indian activity in the Dahlak islands, which, as we have seen,

was first reported as early as the eighth century, was largely based
the pearl trade which, according to the Italian, Hieronimo di Sa
Stefano, was already in existence at the end of the fifteenth century
Though there is apparently no record as to the nationality of
pearl merchants in those days they were, to judge by Bruce's al-
ready cited remarks on the tortoise-shell trade, as well as from later
evidence, almost certainly Indians.
By the nineteenth century the Banyans were indeed dominant in
the area. Early in the century Valentia reported that saw-fishes in the
86. idem. Voyages au cap des aromates , pp. 97-8, 101.

87. idem, "Voyages chez les Benadirs, les Çomalis et les Bayouns," p. 27.
88. ibid, pp. 27-8.
89. Robecchi-Bricchetti, Somalia e Benadir , p. 625.
90. Alamanni, op. cit., p. 418.
91 . V.L. Grottanelli, Pescatori dell'Oceano indiano (Roma, 1955), pp. 50, 192. See
also p. 333 for Indian influences further south.
92. R. H. Major, India in the Fifteenth Century (London 1857), IV, 4.
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nearby waters were caught for their fins ' 'which is a large article of
export to India," and he adds: "it finds a market in China with those
of the shark, where they are used, like the birds' nests, to give a glu-
tinous richness to the soups."93 This commerce continued to be re-
ported for several decades, Wellsted noting in the 1830's that "a lucr-
ative trade" was carried on in sharks' skins and fins "which Indian
ships take from Jeddah and Mocha for the China market."94
There is evidence also of a considerable and, as we have sugges-
ted, apparently long established Indian involvement in the pearl, tor-
toise-shell and cowrie shell business of the area, as recorded by both
Rochet ďHéricourt95 and Innés, a British trader of the middle of
the century, who declares: "The Banyans have had this trade in their
hands from time immemorial." Discussing this commerce in some de-
tail he explains that the Banyans visited the area once a year, usua-
lly in August, to make their purchases of pearls, mother-of-pearl, tor-
toise-shell and cowries. "The Banyans," he comments, "make a good
thing of the trade
the pearls" which were then taken to India

* * »
Indian participati
century, causing th
Banyans establishe
the owners of the b
return purchased
man explorer Heugl
yans had several age
the British big-ga
dian traders paid th
ter wanted, and th
making "a good th
The virtual Indian
by the advent of t
ter Alamanni note
lly in the hands of
tail he states that t
80 tons, with a sin
a rod which in most cases came from the coast of Malabar.100 The
Banyans, conducting their business on the seas, were, he says, free
from any kind of customs tax, and most of the pearls continued to
93. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia and
Egypt, II, 322.
95 . Rochet ďHéricourt, Voyage sur la côte orientale de la Mer rouge , dans le pays
ďAdal et le royaume de Choa (Paris, 1841), p. 29.
96. M. Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia (New York, 1854), pp. 339, 342. See also p. 340
97. A. Issel, Viaggio nel mar rosso e tra i Bogos (Milano, 1872), p. 80.
98. T. Heuglin, Reise nach Abessinien (Jena, 1874), p. 58.
99. Earl of Mayo, Sport in Abyssinia (London, 1876), p. 8.
100. Alemanni, op. cit., pp. 266, 284.
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be exported to India where the largest market for this produce was
held in Bombay in October.101
Another Italian, A. Perazzoli, who investigated this trade be-
tween 1894 and 1896, confirms that the Banyans each year provided
the fishermen with several months credit as well as durrah and rice,
thereby obtaining the right to purchase the pearls. Though some were
openly brought to Massawa and then officially posted to Bombay, as
indicated in postal records, the trade was, he states, exclusively clan-
destine, and based on secret agreements between the Banyans and the
fishermen. Neither offers of higher prices nor of interest-free loans at
Massawa had enabled him to overcome "the perserverance and cunn-
ing of the Indians in guarding their secrets about this traffic." Research
at Bombay, on the other hand, indicated that packets each worth
80,000 to 100,000 lire were arriving from Massawa, and that traders
were sending durrah and cotton cloths there in return for pearls. One
Bombay broker assured him that pearls arriving directly from Massa-
wa each year were worth 10 to 12 lak of rupees, or about 2 million
lire, while the Italian Consul at Bombay, Claudio Boggiano, had told
him that so many pearls were coming in from the Italian Colony
of Eritrea that Indians had exclaimed to him, "You do not even know
the produce of your country."102
Indian dominance in the trade was in fact so great that the his-
torians of the pearl, Kunz and Stevenson, noted early in the twenti-
eth century that "the influence of the Hindu traders, who finance the
fisheries and most of the catch," extended "all over the Red Sea
coast."103
Massawa
Massawa, site of Banyan enterprise since at least the late sixteen-

th century, continued to have a small but crucially significant Banyan
population which, as the French traveller Lejean says, had lived there
"for centuries."104 Valentia, the first nineteenth century observer to
describe the port, indicates that the Banyans were well established.
He states that they were then eighteen in number, carried on "a
considerable trade," and were "very comfortable." They themselves
told him that they had "ever been the same."105 This latter state-
ment is supported by Ferret and Galinier who subsequently affirmed
that at Massawa "for several centuries almost all the operations were
concentrated in the hands of the Banyans."106
101. ibid, pp. 266. 281.

102. A. Perazzoli, "La pesca del Mar Rosso," V Esplorazione Commerciale (1898),
XIII, 186-7. See also G. F. Kunz and C. H. Stevenson, The Book of the
Pearl (London, 1908), p. 143.
103. Kunz and Stevenson, op. cit., p. 113. See also pp. 89, 98 for a parallel situa-
tion in the Persian Gulf.
104. G. Lejean, "Voyage au Taka (Haute Nubie)", Le Tour du Monde (1865)
XL, 154.
Egypt, II, 50. See also pp. 42-6, 62-3, 86-7, 225, 227-8, 230-4, 336-8, 421,
424.
106. Ferret and Galinier, op. cit., II, 435.
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The paramount position of the Banyans early in the century is
confirmed by Valentia who explains that since none of the local mer-
chants had sufficient capital to purchase a ship's entire cargo or even
a large proportion thereof this would often be done by dealers, one of
the two most important being a Banyan, Currum Chund, who would
• 'receive the cargo, and consider themselves responsible for the whole;
they would dispose of it in smaller quantities to people whom they
knew worthy of credit, who would depart with it into the interior, and
would, in about three months, return with the value in gold and other
articles. A large ship belonging to the Nawaub of Surat," the English-
man adds, "arrived a few years ago, and ....disposed of her cargo
in the above manner."107 The wealth of Currum Chund is further
apparent from the fact that he informed Valentia that he could at a
month's notice procure two thousand wâqét, or ounces, of gold, to
pay for imported goods.108 Currum Chund was in correspondence
with Devagé, the British East India Company's India broker at
Mocha,109 and owned at least one dhow, for the use of which he on
occasion charged the British traveller Henry Salt no less than £12, i.e.
96 Maria Theresa dollars.110 He engaged in commercial and finan-
cial transactions on both sides of the Red Sea, and was thus able to
provide Salt and the latter's protégé, Nathaniel Pearce, with letters of
credit negotiable at Massawa and in the interior of Tegré and redee-
mable at Jeddah.111 Currum Chund seems to have made a consider-
able profit on such business, for Salt records that he lost no less than
£50, i. e. 400 dollars, on a bill of 10,005 Maria Theresa dollars advan-
ced by the Banyan at Massawa.112 Salt was of opinion that the Indian
may have engaged in not dissimilar financial transactions for Ras Wal-
da Selasse, the ruler of Tegré;113 whether this was the case or not Cu-
rrum Chund undoubtedly acted as an intermediary between that chief
and Valentia, though he seized the occasion to make a good profit,
for he charged no less than 30 Maria Theresa dollars to convey a
letter from Massawa to Antalo.114 The Indian also served as a mess-
enger for the Naib, or local ruler, of the port of Arkiko,115 and for
the Kaimakan, or governor, of Massawa,116 and was in correspon-
Egypt, HI. 258. See also Foreign Office 1/1, p. 9; B. M. Add. MS. 19, 347,
p. 4, 19,348, p. 112.
108. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea , Abyssinia , and
Egypt, III, 230.
109. ibid, II, 43.
110. H. Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia (London, 1814), p. 449; J. J. Halls, The
Life and Correspondence of Henry Salt (London, 1834), 1, 229; F. O. 1/1,
p. 166.
111. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to Indiat Ceylon, the Red Sea , Abyssinia and
Egypt, II, 448, III, 57, 59; Salt, op. cit., 207; N. Pearce, The Life and Adven-
tures of Nathaniel Pearce ("London, 1831), II, 299; Halls, op. cit., I, 95, 173,
176. See also F. O., 1/1 pp. 161, 166, 277; 1/5, p. 237.
112. F. O. 1/1 p. 166. See also p. 327.
113. Valentia, Voyages and Travels to India , Ceylon, the Red Sea , Abyssinia and
Egypt , III, 60, 195.
114. ibid, II, 386, 388, III, 433.
115. ibid, II, 42-3, 45-6, 391-2, 429, 440. See also 319, 413-14, 416, 421, 423,425,
429; Pearce, op. cit., II, 127-8.
116. Salt, op. cit., pp. 207, 209; F. O., 1/1, p. 93.
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dc nee with the Bahrnägas, or Christian ruler of the sea province,117
and was thus in close relations with the principal personalities of
Tegré and its coastline. The British, who wanted to carry out their
diplomacy on the cheap, were, however, by no means satisfied with
his dealings, and Salt observed on September 17, 1813, that the Indian
had cheated Captain Rudland, their representative at Mocha, of "a
considerable sum of money."118
The Banyans of Massawa had, however, on the whole an excel-

lent reputation among foreigners. A generation or so later the Ger-
man explorer Edouard Riippell recorded that this small group of In-
dians were the "best regarded" of Massawa's traders. He goes onto
state that they were persons of property, having stone houses and shops
near the governor's palace.119 Following as far as possible the cus-
toms of their own land they wore Indian dress, and were allowed
free practice of their religion, but were forbidden, as in Yaman, to
bring in their womenfolk, and each morning after they had washed
themselves according to their rite they would make a red spot in the
middle of their forehead.120 Being strict vegetarians one of their
favourite foods at the port was the flowering stalks of a type of
aloes which grew in the area and was sold in the market, appa-
ently for their exclusive use.121 Another consequence of their vege-
tarian beliefs was, as later noted by the British envoy Rassam, that,
unlike other inhabitants of Massawa, they were unwilling to make
use of drinking water brought in skins from the mainland, and had
therefore to subsist on "rainwater ....collected in reservoirs on the
Island during the rainy season."122
The enterprise and wealth of the Banyans was remarked upon

by many observers of the mid-nineteenth century who afford us a
graphic picture of the life of these overseas Indians on the Red S
coast. D'Abbadie observed that they "all have red doors and never
go to bed before midnight: they have a strange turban with a bump
behind the back, and large, fat, white faces."123 These traders were
so prominent, he suggests, that at the Massawa bazaar one could of-
ten hear Hindustani as well as the more important local languages.124
Lejean, who considered the Banyans the most important comm-
ercial community at the port, also describes their quarter, which lay
by the customs directly next to the bazaar. Noting that it was a place
without animation, he says that along the walls one saw angäräb, or
beds, on which indolently reposed handsome big men a little given to
obesity, half naked, with shaved heads, thin black moustache, beauti-
Egypt, II, 475, 496.
118. B. M. Add. MS. 19,347, p. 118.
119. E. Rüppell, Reise in Abyssinien (Frankfurt, 1835-40), I, 196-7.
120. ibid, I, 202.
121. ibid, I, 197.
122. H. Rassam, Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore (London, 1869), I,
13.
123. France, Bibliothèque Nationale, op. cit., No. 21,301, p 68.

124. D'Abbadie, op. cit., p. 9.
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ful black eyes in a yellow and slightly effeminate face. "One could be-
lieve oneself," he says, "in a street of Delhi or Bombay. When the
Indian goes out he wears a rich tulip-shaped turban, of red embroi-
dered with gold or yellow silk, and a heavy silver chain around the
waist."125
The "meticulous devotion" of the Banyans was, Lejean declares,

a characteristic feature of their life, for their religion prohibited them
not only from eating fish but also from touching any kind of meat,
and they stuck to this principle rigidly. On one occasion these remark-
able traders, he relates, had complained to the Turkish governor
that the dogs of the Lazarist mission carrying off bones from its kit-
chen sometimes dropped them by the cistern long used by the Bany-
ans to obtain their drinking water, with the result that during the rainy
season water which had touched the meat might drain into the cis-
tern, thus causing them to transgress their faith. The governor, who,
Lejean says, was "a good Turk, entirely indifferent to everything which
was not Islam", was unmoved by this complaint, and doubtless said
to himself "a white pig and a black pig are both nothing but pigs."
He accordingly passed on the Banyans' objections to the chief Lazar-
ist, P. Delmonte, who apparently facetiously replied that the Banyans
were perfectly free to shoot the dogs if they found them violating the
principles of their cult, and begged the Indians to remain calm.126
Estimates of the number of Banyans at Massawa in this period
vary. Towards the middle of the century Innes put the figure at only
six or seven,127 while d'Abbadie at about the same time wrote of
twelve.128 A generation or so later the British Vice-Consul Walker
noted, in 1863, that there were then fifteen to twenty Banyans at the
port,129 a figure also cited by Douin.130
Though few in numbers these traders controlled a large propor-
tion of the commerce of the port. Walker declared that they "seem
to monopolise the whole of the trade," were "the only men who pos-
sess any money on the island," and owned two vessels "built simi-
lar to the bugalows, but much larger" which traded with Bombay.131
Rassam, a half decade or so later, remarked that Massawa's trade
with India was carried on "chiefly by Banian merchants,"132 while
Douin, summing up the situation at about this time, declares that the
port's commerce was largely in the hands of the Banyans who, he
says, displayed "rigid devotion and relative probity," and "sustained
by the houses of Aden and Bombay," were "the most enterprising"
125. Lejean, op. cit., p. 154. See also Douin, op. cit., III, Part I, p. 157. The
Banyans had their cemetery on the island of Taulud, Douin, III, part I,
p. 256.
126. Lejean, op. cit., pp. 154-5.
127. Parkyns, op. cit., I, 341-2. See also Rüppell, op. cit., I, 195.
128. France, Bibliothèque Nationale, op. cit., 21,301 p. 68.
129. Great Britain, Correspondence respecting Abyssinia 1846-1868 (London, 1868),
p. 230.
130. Douin, op. cit., III, Part II, pp. 255, 530.
131. Great Britain, op. cit., p. 230.
132. Rassam, op. cit., I, 16, 21. See also H. Blanc, A Narrative of Captivity in
Abyssinia (London, 1868), pp. 58, 60.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
among the Massawa traders, and controlled "the import trade of cot-
ton cloths and fabrics."133 It was not surprising that in the 1860's
Captain Cameron, the British envoy to Emperor Téwodros, and his
compatriot, Vice-Consul Walker, should, like the Jesuits before them,
both have borrowed money from the Banyans at the port.134
* * *
Though prosperou
air that the Banyan
the projected Suez
tacts with Europe,
India. Lejean sugge
cerned by the prob
the bahr jedid , or
The establishment
other source of wo
as the British agent
that they were "cal
bookeeyeh or land
levied on them before
The Banyans nevertheless maintained their exclusive position in

commerce throughout the Egyptian occupation as noted by several
observers of the 1870's and early 1880's. The British game-hunter the
Earl of Mayo for example declared that the exports of Massawa were
"mostly shipped by the Hindoo Banians, who have had a monopoly
of the trade of this place for many years,"137 while his compatriot
De Cosson states that there were "great numbers of Banyans" at the
port who acted "as 'go-betweens,' through whose hands passes the
greater part of the trade from the interior."138 The German travel-
ler Heuglin likewise opined that the bigger houses at the port still
belonged to the Indian merchants,139 while Hamilton, a British tra-
veller, affirms that "a whole street" was "monopolised by these indus-
trious people who are imbued with the mercantile spirit. They carry
on a rich trade in ivory and pearls," he adds, "and it is notorious
that they are fairer in their dealings than their Arab competitors."140
Obviously impressed by their value to trade he declares that the Bany-
ans had "established themselves here in positions of great mercantile
133. Douin, op. cit., III, Part II, pp. 255, 530. See also pp. 256, 259, 272.
134. F. O., 1/17, pp. 55, 57.
135. Lejean, op. cit., p. 154.
136. F. O., 1/29, p. 230.
137. Mayo, op. cit., p. 8.
138. A. E. De Cosson, The Cradle of the Blue Nile (London, 1877), I, 22. See
also Douin, op. cit., III, Part II, p. 531.
139. Heuglin, op., cit., p. 53. See also W. Mc. E. Dye, Moslem Egypt and Chris-
tian Abyssinia (New York, 1880), p. 162.
140. C. Hamilton, Oriental Zigzag (London, 1875), pp. 151-2, 214.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
importance," and were "a stately race whose majestic gait proclaims
the assertion of their superiority over their competitors, and the Arabs
are intelligent enough to be impressed by their passionless strength
of character." Formerly, he adds, "they used at night to hold noisy
meetings on their housetops, when tom-toms were beaten to the dis-
turbance of the whole neighbourhood; but the practice has been sup-
pressed, and the Banyans now set an admirable example of civic
propriety in every way."141
The situation in the early 1880's on the eve of the Italian occu-
pation was also explained by the French traveller Gabriel Simon who
states that there were still 4 Wery great numbers" of Banyans at Mas-
sawa, who because of their relatively low costs, offered European
traders strong competition,142 while the Italian traveller Pennazzi con-
firms that the Banyans were still "commercially speaking the most
important colony" at Massawa.143 A British report for 1884 stated
that there were then ť 4 fifty or sixty Banians, who have important trade
with India, and monopolize the trafficking in the Bazaar,"144 while Man-
tegazza, a later Italian writer, noted that they were 4 'increasing and
multiplying without interference."145 The Frenchman Denis de Riv-
oyre, another observer of this period, sums up their significance in the
general commerce of the area when he observes that it was 4 'thanks
to their perserverant action and their industrious efforts" that the cara-
vans from the port made their way into the interior to obtain the
country's exports, as well as to procure the silver dollars which were
then penetrating the area.
The good conduct of the Banyans was now as in former times
a subject of much comment. Denis de Rivoyre describes the Indians
of Massawa as "peaceful people, of extreme sobriety" who "in general
besides assiduous labour, give the example of private virtue and blind
fidelity to the rights of their religion,"146 while the Italian writer
Negri refers to them as leading "the most quiet life" and adds that
they were "as hard working as honest," and, though "as wily as rich,"
were "loved and esteemed by all."147 Mantegazza likewise affirms
that the Banyans were an "innocuous people, who only looked af-
ter their own affairs," and, with "exemplary customs
ther to anyone." Without being assimilat

he says, they lived in "good relations with
volved in commercial litigation. He therefo
a people who "did not give annoyance, d
politics, and did not give work to the tribu
cial litigation nor for misdemeanours of
141. ibid, pp. 213-14.

142. G. Simon, V Ethiopie , ses moeurs, ses traditions (Paris, 1885), p. 15. See also
Douin, op. cit., Ill, Part III, p. 1242.
143. L. Pennazzi, Da Po ai due Nili (Milano, 1885), p. 73.
144. F. O. 403/82, Baring, 7.10, 1884.
145. V. Mantegazza, Da Massaua a Saat i (Milano, 1888), p. 231.
146. Denis de Rivoyre, Mer Rouge et Abyssinie (Paris, 1880), p. 47. See also G.
Rohlfs, Meine Mission nach Abessinien (Leipzig, 1883), pp. 38-9.
147. L. Negri, Massaua e dintorni (Valenza, 1887), p. 11.
148. Mantegazza, op. cit., pp. 235-6.
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future Italian governor of Eritrea, also testified to the goodness of
the Banyans, and declared that their large, fat and serene faces were
full of gentleness.149
Banyan traders at this time were to the fore as of old in both

export and import business. Pennazzi states that they monopolised the
trade of mother-of-pearl, gold, civet, coffee and other commodities
with which they effected their payments and paid for their expeditions
to India,150 while Negri observes that these Indian traders were lar-
gely concerned with the trade in ivory, for which they were in direct
contact with London, and imported silks and cottons from India.151
He states that the Banyans of Massawa had at their disposal "enor-
mous sums" furnished by Indian and English houses and adds, "They
devote themselves to small as well as large-scale trade, their shops
are the cleanest and best furnished of the market, and they afford the
other traders successful competition on account of the good quality
of their calicoes whose colours, especially the red, are most fast, and of
exceptionally low price."152 The Banyans, according to Mantegazza,
also controlled the retail sale in jewellery, with the result, he says, that
the "natives" of the port spent "all that they earned" on rings and
bracelets for their women, "all the money" of the "natives" therefore
ended in the pockets of the Banyans or more correctly in the money
bags which they carried round their waists.153 The Banyans of the
1880's were finally great money lenders, and in Mantegazza's opinion,
"exploited the poor people by usury," it being said that it took seven
Greeks to make a Banyan.154 The Indian traders of this period were,
according to contemporary reports, now in the main temporary re-
sidents who came to Massawa to earn quick profits before returning
home. Denis de Rivoyre states that gaining such "enormous profits"
each "after some years returns home to eat the fruit of his labour,
while a brother, relative or friend takes his place to become rich in his
turn."155 Negri confirmed this account, observing that the Banyans,
who came from Bombay and Madras and were representatives of In-
dian and English firms, were "for the greater part very young," and
"do not bring their women to Massawa nor do they themselves re-
main there long; on average they remain there from 3 to 5 years,
and alive or dead, return to their own country."156
The Banyans continued to constitute a culturally distinct section

of the Massawa population. Rather fat and of olive-coloured comp-
lexion their pale physiognomy had, Negri says, much of the feminine,
and they had the blackest of eyes and hair, the latter requiring spe-
cial attention in combing.157 They still wore their own special form
149. F. Martini, Nell'Affrica italiana (Milano, 1895), p. 22.

150. Pennazzi, op. cit., pp. 65, 73. See also Mantegazza, op. cit., pp. 28-9, 238.
151. Negri, op. cit., p. 11.
152. ibid, p. 11.
153. Mantegazza, op. cit., p. 28.
154. ibid, p. 28. See also p. 238.
155. Denis de Rivoyre, op. cit., p. 47.
156. Negri, op. cit., pp. 10-11.
157. ibid, p. 10. See also Mantegazza, op. cit., pp. 28, 235-6.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
of apparel, and dressed, Negri says, 4 'simply: five cubits of white cot-
ton cloth, bordered in red, is enough to envelope their bodies up to
the knees, leaving the breast and arms nude. They wear sandals and
gird the waist with a belt of silver: some wear a waistcoat without a
neck open in front. In the ears they have earrings of gold with beau-
tiful precious stones."158
The food habits of the Banyans were likewise unique, for as ve-
getarians they ate neither meat nor fish, and Pennazzi says, would not
make use of anything that had touched any kind of meat.159 They
are said indeed to have regarded carnivorous eating with disgust. Ne-
gri relates that a Banyan coming to visit him on business while his
servant was cooking meat would quickly retire nauseated, grimacing
as if invited to a cannibals' feast.160 The Banyans were, on the other
hand, great lovers of sweetmeats, as Denis de Rivoyre and Martini
both affirm,161 and according to Negri, spent much of their time
chewing seeds, herbs, rice and roots, as well as smoking leaves rolled
in the manner of cigars, though not made of tobacco.162
The Indians of Massawa who, as Martini observes, adored cows,
were also great friends and protectors of the island's animal life.163
Negri states that when birds, pigeons and chickens, were brought to
the market the Banyans would often purchase them to set them free,
and he knew of some Arabs whom they had paid many times for the
same pair of pigeons which when freed returned to their houses and
were in this manner repeatedly brought back to market. One day he
had even seen a Banyan purchase a young hyena from an Egyptian
soldier, the wild beast being then taken to the mainland and given its
freedom. The houses of the Banyans, he adds, were "menageries of
monkeys, dogs, turtle doves, pigeons and other beasts", and every
morning at dawn the master of the house, having finished his pray-
ers, would distribute cooked rice and other foodstuffs to a pack of
starving dogsē164 Mantegazza, who confirms that mice, spiders and
other animals reposed in tranquillity in the habitations of the Banyans165,
declares that their religious respect for animals was exploited by the
Arab streetboys who would take a dog in front of one of the Ban-
yan shops and then beat it till the Indians, ' 'despite their miserliness,
would decide to give them some coppers in order to stop the perse-
cution of the poor beast which they at once took under their protec-
tion."166 On one occasion, according to the same observer, a cur-
ious scene had been enacted when a monkey succeeded in escaping
from the Banyans' temple with its menagerie. For two or three hours
there was in consequence "great agitation in the Banyan colony of Mas-
158. Negri, op. cit., p. 11. See also Mantegazza, op. cit., pp. 28, 236.
159. Pennazzi, op. cit., p. 74. See also Mantegazza, op. cit., p. 236; Martini, op.
cit., p. 22.
160. Negri, op. cit., p. 11.
161. Denis de Rivoyre, op. cit., p. 47; Martini, op. cit., p. 22.
162. Negri, op. cit., p. 11.
164. Negri, op. cit., p. 11.
166. ibid, p. 231.
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sawa. They left all the shops, and business, to run around search-
ing for the monkey which had found refuge on the roofs and jump-
ed from one hut to another. They could not do it harm, in order not
to commit a sacrilege, so that the hunt lasted a considerable time be-
cause whenever after much difficulty a Banyan got there to take it
the monkey jumped from one roof to another, and quietly scratched
itself, or did worse, in those comic postures which are natural to these
animals." The animal, he says, seemed to mock his pursuers as they
shouted and clapped their hands in their attempts to capture it peace-
fully.167 Such concern for animal life made the Banyans at times
the subject of ridicule by persons of different cultures, Martini for
example sneering that it was said of them that they did not dare to
sit down without first removing the dust from their chair for fear of
inadvertently killing an insect.168
The Banyans of the port like other Hindus celebrated the Holi
festival or festival of colours. Towards the end of March, as Man-
tegazza notes, they marked this event with a great fantasy. This was,
he says, in fact the sole occasion during the year when these Indian
traders allowed themselves to make an uproar -to dance and to in-
terrupt the quiet life which they lived for months on end, nestling be-
hind the benches of their small narrow shops in which they suffoca-
ted, but even on this occasion the uproar they made was very mode-
rate - and did not give much annoyance to anyone. Their great fan-
tasia consisted of a special dance in which they threw about each
other a red powder so that their black faces and white clothes were
soon all red, thus giving themselves a curious appearance. This fest-
ival had special significance at the port in that it coincided with the
end of the winter, after which Massawa became hot and suffocating.169
Despite such culturally exotic practices the Banyans for the most
part passed their time quietly. Mantegazza states that they lived
peacefully in their hovels which served simultaneously as shops and
dwelling houses,170 while Martini describes the Indian traders of Mas-
sawa sitting in the darkness of their small shops, busy arranging their
merchandise or studying their large account books written in their own
language.171 Pennazzi, writing of the market where the Indians spent
most of their time, observes that it had "no animation
whatever hour of the day one passes

(beds) placed along the wall on which
ful men, slightly predisposed toward
with fine black moustaches, stupend
yellowish countenance," and echoing
lieve one was in a street of Delhi or Bo
wear on the head a rich tulip-shaped
yellow silk, while a heavy metal chain
167. ibid, p, 231.

168. Martini, op. cit., p. 22.
170. ibid, p. 235.
172. Pennazzi, op. cit., p. 73. See also P. Matteucci, In Abissínia (Milano, 1880),
pp. 35-6.
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Though culturally distinct the Banyans constituted one of the
port's principal contacts with the outside world, and an incidental
consequence of their presence was that throughout most of the century
cloth was often measured by the Indian cubit, locally referred to as
the drah hindasi , in distinction to the cubit of Constantinople which
was also employed, the use of both units being noted for example
by Rxippell in the 1830's and Sapeto half a century later.173
* * *
The Italian occupat

term advantage to
troy their former m
nevertheless a lucra
journ of the Italian
ever an Italian enter
the price at which
he says, to pay 20 li
asked. The Indians,
wares. They frequen
ers' most advance po
improvise their sho
ience which at tim
prices, and would
they succeeded in
Banyans, he says, w
made a profit.174
These industrious
their wealth. A Brit
upation of the port, s
while a subsequent report emphasised that they were still com-
mercially very prominent. "The Indians, chiefly Banians and Parsees,"
it declares, "send to Bombay ivory, gold and pearls and import mus-
lins, gauze, etc
ory, and they almost monopolise the b

the district, from the smallest transac
loans." Emphasising the international cha
arrangements the report adds: "Most of
ployed by or have close dealings with l
Trieste, Marseilles, etc, which provide the
Bombay correspondents of some London
The credit is given in sterling by the
rupees in Bombay, and again into dolla
by the Banian bankers. It thus passes thr
fore being brought into active use."176
The very success of the Banyans nev
dislike of the Italians who were anxious to dominate the commerce of
173. Rüppell, op. cit., I, 191-2; G. Sapeto, Etiopia (Roma, 1890) p. 410.
175. F. O., 403/38, Lambton, 1.12.1886.
176. F. O., 403/38, Beauclerk, 12.10.1886.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
their newly acquired colony, and disturbed by the intense competi-
tion created for them by the traders from India.177 The Italian writ-
ers of this period therefore regarded the Banyans with disfavour,178
and on occasion expressed chagrin that Italian merchants could suc-
ceed only with difficulty in capturing trade from their much longer
established Indian competitors.179 Another cause for complaint, as
voiced for example by Mantegazza, was that the Banyans contribu-
ted little to the colony because they consumed "scarcely anything" and
all that they earned they sent back to their own country, to their families
or to the employers who gave them a percentage of their takings.180
The Banyans soon found themselves under unfriendly pressure
from the Italian administration, with the result that in October
1887 Ali Abdoola Dossel, Minahim Missa and some thirty other
Indians at Massawa petitioned the British Government to appoint a
consul for their protection. Outlining the history of the community
they declared: "We are merchants dealing generally with the Indian
goods for many years. In the rule of Ottoman and Egyptian Govern-
ments we were quite happy and prosperous, and they always offered
us their possible assistance and encouragement in all our mercantile
and private affairs
this port, many difficulties and inconven

that are impossible to overcome without
traders went on to complain of Italian taxe
as aliens, and, somewhat mysteriously, of "
deemed not advisable to state here."181
Another cause of sorrow for the Banyans was the Italian autho-
rities' decision to eliminate the port's population of stray dogs as a
precaution against rabies. Martini records that when orders were
given for these animals to be trapped and killed the Banyans deman-
ded that the beasts be placed in their custody, and in fact adopted them,
and fed them at their own expense.182
Despite the advent of Italian colonial rule, and the resultant ten-
dency to encourage Italian rather than Indian enterprise, the Banyans
maintained their commercial dominance throughout the latter years
of the century. Alamanni reported in 1890 that there were then no
less than a hundred Banyans at the port, eight of them major tra-
ders.183 All but one of these, the first on the following list, were desc-
ribed as representatives of Indian firms, wholesale merchants for tex-
tiles and "Indian goods," and dealers in skins and gold.184 The
list comprised:
177. F. Fasolo, V Abissínia e le colonie italiane sul Mar Rosso (Caserta, 1887), p.
112.
178. Negri, op. cit., p. 11. See also Mantegazza, op. cit., pp. 28-9.
179. Negri, op. cit., p. 11.
181. F.O., 403/90, Baring, 20.10.1887.
183. Alemanni, op. cit., p. 177.
184. ibid, p. 191.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
Frangi Daramchi, representative of the firm of Neigh.
Damchi, for whom no representation is given.
Juer Santangi, representative of Karranee Premji.
Demji Cachera, representative of Danasan Rangongi.
Catamgi Matamsan, representative of Fonto Marangi.
Tigamgi Randas, representative of Guenci.
Ali Dassal, for whom no representation is given.185
Banyans, Alamanni explains, were thus still prominent in the ex-
port of ivory and gold, which they despatched to Bombay in return
for the produce of India and other parts of Asia, such as cloths,
muslins, printed cottons, as well as cotton cloths from Europe.186 The
importance of the Banyans at the close of the century was likewise
recognised by Martini who stated that they held "the principal
part" of Massawa's trade in their hands.187
* * *
Banking at Massaw
largely controlled
pean traders, acted
cial houses of both
plains, were thus "
mediaries between
purchasers of che
exchanges."188
The rôle of the B

by the same autho
desirous of obtaining capital to finance its operations at Mass-
awa would request a corresponding firm in London which had rela-
tions with a trading house in Bombay, to authorise the latter to open
a credit for a certain amount with an agent or correspondent at Mas-
sawa. The London house would request this credit in Sterling and
the Bombay house would grant the equivalent in rupees by supplying
the agent at Massawa with a book of cheques or assignat for the
amount of credit allowed. The dealer at Massawa when in need of
money had only to detach the cheques and hand them, or the assig-
nat, over to the local Banyans who would pay him in Maria Theresa
dollars, the money current at the port. The Banyans would then send
the cheques or assignat to Bombay where they would be refunded, in
rupees, by the house which had originally issued them.
Meanwhile with the object of repaying the amount which had
thus been made available to him the agent at Massawa would make
out a bill of exchange payable by the London house which had ori-
iginally acted as surety for the credit, in favour of the Bombay house
which had actually furnished it. When this bill was honoured by the
185. ibid, p. 191.

186. ibid, p. 284.
188. Alemanni, op. cit., p. 284.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
London house the latter would inform the European house which had
originally asked for the credit, and would debit its account according-
ly. In this way, with the assistance of three intermediaries, and with
the balancing of three different currencies, the credit operation was
completed, the Banyans and the Indian trading houses having played
a vitally important rôle in the financing of European commercial en-
terprise.189 In these operations the Banyans, Alamanni concludes,
• displayed all the proverbial ability of their caste" in its "familiarity
with the complicated functions of credit, not disdaining the most in-
significant profits, and practising usury on those whose lack of guarantee
or urgency of need put them in a condition of inferiority in face of
the lender."190
Assab
Not content with doing business in their old haunt of Massawa

several Banyans also sought to establish themselves at Assab, a port
which the Italians developed after the opening up of trade with Šawa
in the early 1880's. A number of Banyans accordingly made their way
to the port, and Alamanni states that by 1886 they numbered 21 men
and two women.191
♦ * *
The coming of th
discrimination in
hence the gradual d
CONCLUSIONS
Trans-Indian Ocean contacts, dating back to the dawn of h

tory, were accompanied by extensive commerce between India and
the Horn of Africa. This trade upon which the African region depen-
ded for a large proportion of its textiles and other imports, as well
as for the disposal of much of its articles of export, was so extensive,
and by most accounts, so lucrative, as to result in the establishment
of small but crucially important colonies of Indian traders at the
main commercial centres of the area.
First reported at Massawa towards the end of the sixteenth cen-

tury the Banyans, who were probably its ablest as well as among its
most wealthy traders, dominated the commerce of the port and played
a vitally significant rôle as money-lenders for at least three centuries,
during which time they also virtually monopolised the pearl-fishery
business of the nearby Dahlak islands and maintained their position
in all three areas of activity despite various vicissitudes, until well
into the era of Italian colonialism in Eritrea.
To the east and south the Banyans were likewise to the fore as
merchants and money-lenders in the whole of the Gulf of Aden as
189. ibid, pp. 284-5.

190. ibid, p. 285.
191. ibid, p. 308.
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132.248.9.8 on Mon, 08 May 2023 22:41:28 +00:00
well as along the Somali Indian Ocean coast. Extensive Banyan ac-
tivity was thus reported throughout the nineteenth century at the
great seasonal market of Berbera and at all the principal ports of the
Mijertain and Benadir where Indian traders continued to hold sway
until relatively recent times.
The presence of an overseas Indian mercantile community, pre-
serving the traditional customs of its motherland while exercising a
dominant influence over the commerce of the Horn of Africa, was
thus a feature of major significance in the economic and social his-
tory of the latter region besides testimony to one of the under-lying
unities of the Indian Ocean region.
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Author(s): RICHARD PANKHURST

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THE EARLIER HISTORICAL SETTING

An Indian commercial presence in the area of the Gulf of A

1 . C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Maçoudi. Les prairies ďor

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Confirmation of the Indian connection is also afforded by archa-

4. ibid, pp. 24, 27, 90.

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The advent in the early sixteenth century of Portuguese and other

Further south, in the Indian Ocean the island of Sokotra still

Indian navigators were a common sight in Red Sea and Gulf of

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THE BANYANS OF MASSAWA FROM THE 16th TO THE

The age-old navigation of Indian mariners and traders in the Red

19. C. F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some Records of Ethiopia , 1593-

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BANYAN ACTIVITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The dawn of the Nineteenth Century, a period for whic

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33. Rochet d'Héricourt, op. cit., p. 29.

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Probably the most important commercial centre on the African

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Traders at Berbera included merchants from all parts of India

The Banyans coming as they did with so many imported goods

44. ibid, II, 359.

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The commercial importance of these Indian traders at Berbera,

trade of the port,"53 a statement echoe

sed by the subtle Banian, who divides the

Cheating among the merchants was often

52. W. C. Harris, The Highlands of Aethiopia (London, 1844), I, 277.

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The Indian tra

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Zeila in the early nineteenth century also had a small resident

Another indication of the porťs close ties with Indians was, as

Most, if not all o

69. Paulitischke, op. cit., p. 378.

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To the east of Berbera the smaller Somali ports on the Gulf of

Indian traders, many of them resident, continued to be active at

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The Dahlak Islands

Indian activity in the Dahlak islands, which, as we have seen,

86. idem. Voyages au cap des aromates , pp. 97-8, 101.

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the pearls" which were then taken to India

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Massawa, site of Banyan enterprise since at least the late sixteen-

101. ibid, pp. 266. 281.

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The Banyans of Massawa had, however, on the whole an excel-