of 32,8207. for public works was authorised, in 1901 a loan of 100,000%. was also authorised for reafforestation purposes, in 1902 a loan of 200,000l. for assistance to planters and one of 208,7477. for purchase of tramways for sugar estates.

The municipal debt of Port Louis was 125,000l. sterling and 241,058 rupees.

The harbour of Port Louis is defended by Fort Adelaide and Fort George. The troops in the colony at the end of 1902 numbered 2,720. The Colonial contribution to the military expenditure for 1902 was 29,8567.

The declared value of the total imports and exports of the colony (exclusive of specie and bullion) was as follows in each of the last five years :

The values of imports and exports are declared by importers and exporters, both being exclusive of charges and of exchange. They are given in rupees at the value of 16d. per rupee. The countries where the goods are shipped are taken as the countries of origin, unless the goods themselves or the bills of lading and invoices show a different origin, in which case the country so disclosed is declared in the bill of entry.

Duties are in general ad valorem at the rate of 10 per cent., but in many cases they are specific. In either case there is an additional duty of 4 per cent. on the amount leviable.

Imports from United Kingdom, 5,617,021 rupees; exports to United Kingdom, 4,348,861 rupees.

The exports from the colony comprise, as staple article, unrefined sugar, 32,543,202 rupees in 1903; rum, 9,995 rupees; vanilla, 88,191 rupees; loe fibre, 530,032 rupees; oil, coco-nut, 109,594 rupees; molasses, 287,180 rupees. A large portion of the trade is with the British colonies of South Africa, Australia, and India.

The commercial intercourse of Mauritius with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, according to the Board of Trade Returns, for each of the last five years :

The chief articles of import from Mauritius into the United Kingdom in 1903 were unrefined sugar, 109,3967.; drugs, 38,9167.; hemp, 32,6687. The British exports to Mauritius in 1903 consisted principally of cotton goods, 66,7361.; coal, 29,7097.; 'machinery, 63,9457.; iron, 42,1547.; manure, 56,4247.; soap, 20,2097.

Shipping and Communications.

The registered shipping in 1903 consisted of 57 sailing vessels of 5,458 tons (net), and 3 steamers of 99 tons; total, 60 vessels of 5,557 tons.

The number of vessels entered in 1903 was 252 of 391,537 tons (184 of 277,283 tons British), and cleared 253 of 388,242 tons (185 of 273,961 tons British).

The colony has two lines of railways with two branches, of a total length of 105 miles, the revenue from which in 1902-03 was 2,377,495 rupees, and expenditure, not including charge on debt, 1,883, 484 rupees.

A tele

The system of telegraphs contains 225 miles of line; there is a telegraph cable from Zanzibar to the Seychelles and thence to Mauritius. graph cable from Australia to Natal through Mauritius and Rodrigues has been laid. In 1903 the Post Office dealt with 2,226,512 letters, 148,890 post-cards, 2,064,539 newspapers, 13,689 parcels, and 69,097 telegrams. There are telephones belonging to a private company.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

On June 30, 1903, the Government Savings Bank held deposits amounting to 2,723,594 rupees from 25,668 depositors.

The standard coin of Mauritius is the Indian rupee, with its subdivisions. All accounts are kept in rupees.

The metric system is in force.

Dependencies.

RODRIGUES (under a Magistrate).-18 miles long, 7 broad. Population (census 1901) 3,162 (1,685 males, 1,477 females); revenue, 1903, 12,123 rupees; expenditure, 33,580 rupees; imports (1903), 257,346 rupees; exports, 176,675 rupees. Two Government schools had (1902) 204 pupils.

Other dependencies are the St. Brandon or Cargados Islands, between 16° 50′ and 16° 20′ S. lat., and 56° 26′ and 59° 41' E. long., mostly sandbanks; the Chagos Islands, and the Trois Frères, or Eagle Islands.

Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos group, in 7° S. lat., 72°–73° E. long., is 12 miles long, 6 miles wide, with 526 inhabitants (census 1901), a large proportion negro labourers from Mauritius. 1,441,072 litres of cocoa-nut oil was exported in 1903 from the Lesser Dependencies.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Mauritius. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions London.

Colonial Office List. Annual. London.

Reports on Mauritius, and on Rodrigues, in Colonial Reports. Annual. London. Statistical Abstract for the several colonial and other possessions of the United Kingdom. Annual. London.

Mauritius Blue Book. Annual.

Anderson (J. F.), The Sugar Industry of Mauritius. London, 1899.

Chalmers (R.), A History of Currency in the British Colonies. London, 1893.
Decotter (N.), Géographie de Maurice et de ses Dépendances. Mauritius, 1891.

Epinay (Adrien d'), Renseignements pour servir à l'histoire de l'Ile de France jusqu'à l'année 1810 inclusivement. Mauritius, 1890.

Flemyng (M.), Mauritius, or the Isle of France. 8. London, 1862.

Keller (C.), Madagascar, Mauritius, and other East African Islands. London, 1900. Martin (R. Montgomery), The British Possessions in Africa. Vol. iv. History of the British Colonies. 8. London, 1834.

The Mauritius Almanac. Mauritius.

The Mauritius Civil List. Mauritius.

Rae (W. C.), Handbook on the Constitution, Practice, and Proceedings of the Council of Government. Mauritius, 1901.

Unienville (Le Baron d'), Statistique de l'Ile Maurice et ses Dépendances. Mauritius, 1886.

The telegraph line has been extended from Entebbe to Wadelai on the Nile, running viâ Masinde and crossing the Victoria Nile at Fajao.

The currency is based on the Indian rupee, and consists of silver rupees with silver and copper fractional pieces. Cowrie shells are used by the natives, but are not accepted by Government. There is no bank in the Protectorate, local banking business being done at Mombasa by the National Bank of India (Limited).

Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief.-Lieut.-Colonel James Hayes Sadler, C. B.

Deputy Commissioner.-G. Wilson, C.B.
Secretary.-J. F. Cunningham.

ZANZIBAR PROTECTORATE,

Sultan and Government.

The Sultan, or more correctly, the Seyyid, Ali bin Hamoud bin Mahomed (born 1885), succeeded on the death of his father, Hamoud bin Mahomed bin Saïd, July 18, 1902. During his minority, which ceases when he is 21 years of age, the office of Regent is held by the Prime Minister. Five of his predecessors in the Sultanate were:-Burghash, Khalifa bin Saïd, Ali bin Saïd (1890), Hamed bin Thwain (1893), and Hamoud bin Mohamed bin Saïd (1896) who had been preferred by the British Government to Saïd Khaled, another claimant.

Zanzibar dominions were gradually acquired by the Imams of Muskat at various dates between the years 1698 and 1807, partly by conquest from the Portuguese and partly from native chiefs. They were held as an appanage of Muscat until the death of Seyyid Saïd, when, on a dispute as to the succession arising between Seyyid Thwain, of Muscat, uncle of the late Sultan of Zanzibar, and Seyyid Majid, of Zanzibar (both being sons of Seyyid Saïd), the dominions in Africa were made independent of the present State, and confirmed under Majid by an arbitration of Lord Canning (dated 1861), then Governor-General of India. Besides the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and smaller islands, the Sultan's authority nominally extended along the coasts and indefinitely inland, from Warsheikh, in 3° N. lat., to Tunghi Bay, in 10° 42′ S. lat., his influ ence, however, being exercised but a little way from the coast, except along a few trade routes. As mentioned above, the Sultan's dominions were gradually restricted in area between the years 1886 and 1890, until they finally included only the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, the coast of the British East Africa Protectorate up to ten miles inland, of which, though the whole of the Protectorate is under British administration, his Highness is still the titular sovereign, and the more important ports on the Somali (Benadir) Coast, which are leased to Italy.

In October, 1891, a regular Government was formed for Zanzibar, the present Prime Minister being Mr. Rogers, appointed November, 1901. All accounts are now kept in English and Arabic, and are always open to the inspection of the British Agent and Consul-General, and no new undertakings or additional expenditure can be incurred without his consent. On February 1, 1892, Zanzibar was declared a free port, and it remained so until October 1, 1899, when a 5 per cent. ad valorem duty was imposed on all imports.

Area, Population, Religion.

The island of Zanzibar has an area of 640 square miles, and Pemba 380 square miles. The population of the island is estimated at 150,000, and that of the island of Pemba at 50,000. There is a considerable foreign population, mostly engaged in trading. There are about 120 Englishmen, 40 Germans, a few Americans, Frenchmen, Italians, Greeks, and Roumanians, the two latter nationalities being under British protection. There are also about 10,000 British Indian subjects, through whose hands almost the whole trade of Zanzibar and of East Africa passes, directly or indirectly. The town of Zanzibar has a population estimated at 50,000 or 60,000.

Mohammedanism is the religion of the country, most of the natives of the coast and islands being Sunnis of the Shafi school, though many are heathen; while the Sultan and his relatives are schismatics of the Ibadhi sect. There are Christian missions (Church of England, Wesleyan, Independent, and Roman Catholic) on the island and far into the mainland.

There is a French hospital at Zanzibar, attended by French sisters of mercy, and a hospital at the Universities Mission.

Justice.

Justice among the Sultan's subjects, whether accused or defendants, is administered by various Cadis.' By a declaration signed December 16, 1892, the Sultan delegated to the British Agent and Consul-General his right to try all cases in which a British subject is plaintiff or accuser, and the defendant or accused is a Zanzibar subject or the subject of a non-Christian state, without a treaty. The British Court has also jurisdiction over all slaves originally freeď by his Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, but as the legal status of slavery was abolished on the 6th April, 1897, the relations between master and slave are no longer recognised by the Tribunals. Persons who are still slaves are so from deliberate choice. By an Order in Council, 1902, a Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa was established to sit at Zanzibar or elsewhere, to hear all appeals from the Protectorates of East Africa, Uganda, and British Central Africa. The three judges of the Court at Zanzibar and the High Court Judges of the Protectorates are the members of this Court, and an appeal lies from their decisions to the Privy Council. To the British Court also pertains admiralty jurisdiction with reference to the slave trade, and it is a naval prize court, by virtue of the Zanzibar (Prize Court) Order in Council, 1888.

There is a regular army of about 900 men, including police, under the command of General Raikes.

Finance and Commerce.

The revenue of the Sultanate is mainly derived from customs dues and taxes on produce, chiefly cloves, copra and ivory. Under the present arrangement with England the Sultan's privy purse is kept separate from the general revenue of the country, and the remainder of the revenue is devoted to the charges for police, harbour improvements, and public works. All the public expenditure must receive the sanction of the Sultan and the British Agent and Consul-General.

The chief product of the island is cloves, of which 107,965 cwt. in 1903 were exported. Most of the cloves are grown in Pemba. The cultivation of chillies has not advanced recently, but the preparation of copra is extending. The experiments made by the Goverment in the cultivation of tea and coffee have not been successful, but vanilla shows good results.

Import duties at the rate of 5 per cent. ad valorem are levied on all imports from foreign countries except coal, gunny bags, hides and skins, rubber, copra, ivory, and some other African products which are free. Spirits may be imported only for the use of non-natives. At Pemba all imports are liable to the duty.

The value of imports and exports and the tonnage entered in recent years are stated as follows:

:

Until 1900 these figures were made to include the trade between the port of Zanzibar and other ports in the Sultan's dominions, but are now confined to the trade with foreign countries. The chief imports and exports (conversions made at the rate of 15 rupees £) and distribution of trade were as follows in the last two years:

=

According to the Board of Trade Returns the imports into the United Kingdom from Zanzibar in 1903 amounted to 133,9477., comprising 37,8167. for ivory; 48,2311. for spices; 15,300l. for rubber, and 11,3671. for gum.