Isaac Samuel
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Life and works of Mtoro Bakari; a 'hidden founder' of African studies in Europe (1869-1927).
🕑 Added 2024-11-24 13:04:29 +0000 UTC"Teaching students is hard work for little reward, because when students qualify, the teacher does not always get his pay." - Mtoro Mwinyi Bakari, 1903.
In 1903, one of the earliest foundational works on the anthropology of East African societies was written by a little-known African scholar named Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari. After arriving in Germany in 1900, Mtoro became a lecturer at the universities of Berlin and Hamburg, and his students included many prominent 'founders' of African linguistics like Carl Meinhof and Carl Velten.
Mtoro's career traverses many important events in the development of African studies that emerged during the colonial period. However, Mtoro's invaluable contribution to the study of East African societies was obscured by the work of his more famous European students and colleagues, who didn't consider him as a co-author but instead published his work under the own names.
Mtoro's ill ttreatment by his peers in Berlin and Hamburg, as well as his later marriage to a local woman further alienated him from Germany's academic community and erased his contributions to African studies. Fortunately, the recent re-discovery of Mtoro's original works has revitalized the image of this pioneering Africanist, and elevated him to the ranks of the celebrated founders of African studies.
The works of Mtoro Bakari are now widely seen as outstanding examples of 19th century Swahili literature, and represent one of the first comprehensive and modern studies of African societies undertaken by an African.
This article explores the life and career of Mtoro Bakari, and includes excerpts from his monumental ethnographic study of East African communities.
coffee house in Bagamoyo with African patrons, ca. 1906-1914, German Federal Archives.
The early life of Mtoro Bakari: Education and journeys to the interior of East Africa. (1869-1896).
Mtoro was born around 1869 in the town of Dunda, about 20km south-west of the city of Bagamoyo in modern Tanzania. He grew up in a rapidly changing world marked by the rapid growth of carravan trade and the early years of European colonial expansion. Mtoro was the son of Mwinyi Bakari, a respected Muslim, hence his title of 'Mwinyi', and his mother was Kidawa binti Marera, who was a Zaramo, one of the two prominent social groups that founded the city of Bagamoyo and its hinterland towns.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 5-8)
Following the decline of trade in Dunda, the family moved to Bagamoyo in the 1890s, which was an important point of departure and arrival for caravans. The young Mtoro received a relatively advanced education, learning Arabic for many years and studying Islamic sciences under the guidance of Shaykh Abu Bakr bin Taha al-Jabri, a renowned Somali religious leader belonging to the Uwaysiya branch of the Qadiriyya sufis. Mtoro was also an imam of one of the mosques at Bagamoyo, but the low income compelled him to become a trader.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 8-11)
Map of Bagamoyo and its surrounding hinterland.
Between 1892 and 1896, Mtoro organised a caravan into the hinterlands of Bagamoyo controlled by a polity known as the Zigua. It was a relatively modest caravan (compared to the larger caravans organised by Mwenyi Chande for example ). Mtoro's trip was also primarily concerned with obtaining cattle rather than ivory, like most of his peers. Mtoro would later write a travelogue describing the account. In it, he includes many of the important aspects of organising a caravan, the dangers of travel including wild animals, as well as the conduct of business between coastal merchants and the people on the mainland.
A brief summary of Mtoro's journey to the Interior:
"Here is the story of a journey undertaken a long time ago, when I visited the doe and zigua territories
One day, I thought in my heart of hearts: “I am an accomplished young man now, and yet, I have never undertaken a trip the slightest thing” So I went to an Indian in order to exchange goods with him. I did all of this by myself, unbeknownst to anyone.
After four days, when I was done, I announced the news to my mother: “I am going to travel”.
She asked me “where?"
-and I told him that I was going to zigua territory, to see the world and trade.
"Who will accompany you there? You are a stranger inland!"
-I am going alone, but God will assist me in every trial on the way.
She answered me: “Go”, but the heart was not there.
After our goodbyes, I recruited carriers speaking kidoe and kizigua. I found them; we discussed a lot and we agreed on everything. That done, we set out and reached the countryside...."
Mtoro then proceeds to describe the journey and the chieftains he encountered along the way. He includes some fascinating anecdotes about the lions and crocodiles that impeded the crossing, an account of the customs of the people he met and their reaction to German colonialism which was just then being established. He also includes a few mundane but curious stories such as the aggressive 'wars' between army ants; all of which demonstrates Mtoro's insatiable curiosity.
(Dela cote aux cofins, pg 56-67)
Mtoro's colonial encounter and his early intellectual career in Germany. (1896-1913)
German colonial influence in the hinterland of central tanzania where Mtoro travelled was initially very limited, before they formally begun collecting customs duties from the Sultan of Zanzibar and asserted their control over pre-existing authorities through brutal wars that lasted until 1894 in which Bagamoyo and Dunda were affected. Mtoro, like many Africans not part of the pre-existing political class, sought some opportunities in the administrative functions that emerged in the period of political compromise after the wars. He briefly served as a teacher and tax collector in 1898.
A prolonged drought and severe famine during the same period compelled him to seek out better employment as a Swahili lecturer in Berlin, where the Seminar of Oriental Languages (SOL), established in 1883, was looking for lecturer to train German personnel serving in foreign countries. Travelling from Dar es Salaam (in Tanzania) and Marseille (in France), Mtoro Bakari arrived in Berlin in June 1900 and begun working as a Swahili lecturer at the School of Oriental Languages Mtoro Bakari earned the respect of his superiors for both his excellent teaching qualities and his linguistic competence.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 35-40)
At the SOL, the basic difference between teaching personnel was that between “teachers” (often Germans) who did theoretical teaching and research, and “lecturers” (often non-Germans) who worked as instructors and assistants. This was certainly influenced by the increasingly racialized political and social environment that Mtoro was to witness firsthand when he arrived in Berlin in June of 1900.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 15-26, Ordering Africa pg 123-139)
Mtoro Bakari worked under the direction of the teacher, Carl Velten, who had previously been a student of another Swahili visitor to Berlin Amur al-Omeri who had been at the SOL in 1894. Amur al-Omeri wrote an autobiography of his early life in Zanzibar, as well as travelogue describing his journey and experiences in Berlin that i reproduced here
About a year after Mtoro arrived in Berlin, Carl Velten finished editing the 'Safari za Wasuaheli' a compilation of travel accounts written by four Swahili explorers such as the famous Comorian traveller Selim Abakari who explored Russia and parts of central Asia https://www.patreon.com/posts/66837157 as well as Mtoro's own travelogue mentioned above.
In the preface, Carl Velten introduced his German readers to the Swahili authors and commended Mtoro Bakari as the best writer of the Swahili language. After contributing to the compilation of the 'Safari', Mtoro composed his own manuscript; titled 'Desturi za Wasuaheli' (Customs of the Swahili) between the years 1901 and 1903. Mtoro Bakari finished the manuscript in Arabic script while Carl Velten transliterated and published the text in German. A recent English translation from the original Swahili was also made by J. W. T. Allen in 1981.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 36, The Customs of the Swahili people pg x-xv)
At the SOL, Carl Velten taught an elementary and advanced class of Swahili grammar, while Mtoro Bakari offered “practical exercises” for these two courses, which amounted to one and a half hours twice a day from Monday to Friday. He also conducted one hour of “writing exercises” twice a week, where he would teach pronunciation, do conversation, tell stories, ask the students to write them down and translate them, or explain something about the life of the Swahili.
Many of Mtoro's students attended these courses with the intention of acquiring a basic knowledge that would enable them to attain adequate language proficiency in the places where they were going to work, such as in colonial Tanzania. One of these was Carl Meinhof, whose research was concerned with comparative linguistics, such as in his seminal work; "Introduction to the Phonology of the Bantu Languages" (1932) in which he changed the Swahili phonemes according to Mtoro Bakari’s explanations.
In his letter of recommendation, Meinhof mentioned Mtoro's contribution and characterized their relationship in the following way:
"The Swahili lecturer Mtoro always worked to my full satisfaction. With unceasing patience he articulates the phonemes for his students. He is never short of linguistic material and understands how to organize it properly. He adopted my suggestions with great deftness and drew on them in his own ways.
Because of his education, which is quite excellent for an African, he not only knows his native language thoroughly but is also familiar with its dialects, and in particular with its poetic forms. Due to his acquaintance with Arabic he is able to identify corresponding foreign borrowings in Swahili. Because of his good pronunciation, his teaching faculties and his personal modesty he was never simply a neutral collaborator, and he most willingly provided any pertinent and linguistic information beyond his actual duties"
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 37-40)
Examining Mtoro Bakari's ethnographic work.
The 'Desturi' of Mtoro Bakari exemplifies a descriptive tradition in intercultural communication and is characterized by the intention of presenting a comprehensive account of a specific society and language. Its very title, Desturi za Waswahili [The customs of the Swahili people], unequivocally asserts the existence of the Swahili community whose customs can be studied.
As a scholar who lived in two worlds and worked to interpret one to another, Mtoro was the best-qualified intellectual to write this monumental work of ethnography. The Desturi is also a product of the encounter between Africa's intellectual traditions and Colonial intellectual traditions and may have been envisaged as a useful guide for colonial administrators to guide their policies. As described by Carl Velten; “nobody could be in a better position but the natives themselves to give us reliable information concerning their customs, manners and judicial ideas.” However, there wasn't much evidence for its use outside academia.
The bulk of information Mtoro provides originates from the Bagamoyo region where he lived during the first three decades of his life, and the book is designed to present common practices and traditions prevailing on the southern part of the East African coast and its hinterland.
Mtoro doesn't present African culture in a comparative way, nor do most parts of the Desturi address a European audience even though his section on the difficulties of polygamy may reflect a European influence, Mtoro occasionally includes comments on other cultures; eg the Nyamwezi traders who came to the coast from the interior, or the Arab's preference for roasted locusts, which the Swahili didn't eat.
He shows a wonderful eye for detail and an insatiable curiosity, which likely influenced his decision to include perspectives of Swahili culture not just from the men, like most ethnographers at the time did, but also from; women (eg on marriage, pregnancy, childrearing, menstruation, abortion, etc); from children (eg education, children's games, stories, coming of age); and from slaves ( causes of slavery, treatment of enslaved persons, manumission, etc).
Mtoro did not consider Swahili culture as a foreign transplant like many of his European contemporaries, nor does he present it as purely African, rather he portrays the Swahili civilization as a cosmopolitan littoral society, almost in the same way modern historians do. He thus often parallels what we consider 'African traditional' customs, concepts, and terms with 'Islamic' customs.
For example, he uses the Bantu-derived name for the creator deity 'Mungu' interchangeably with 'Allah', he also describes how important medical&ritual specialists called 'nganga', were as important to cultural ceremonies as Islamic teachers; 'Mwalimu'. He also includes many Swahili customs and laws that he presents as more lenient than those of orthodox Islam, particulary the sharia [Islamic law]. This hints at the prevailing tensions between the pre-existing Swahili practice of Islam and the more 'Arabized' version that was taking root at the close of the 19th century [Mtoro refers to the Swahili laws as 'our customs' and the Omanis of Zanzbiar as the 'Arabs'].
The Desturi, being one of the earliest African works to become widely accessible in a European language, would eventually have a considerable influence in Africa and the Western world, and remains one of the earliest works of African ethnography written by an African scholar.
street scene in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. ca. 1906-1914, German Federal Archives.
Excerpts from Mtoro Bakari's 'Customs of the Swahili' (1903).
Below are a few excerpts I found most interesting in the 210-page book.
You can read the entirety of the text in the book; 'The Customs of the Swahili People by Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari' that's included in the references at the end of this essay. A description of the later life of Mtoro Bakari continues after these excerpts.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"THE SWAHILI INTRODUCTION:
The customs of the Swahili, or people of the coast, are virtually the same from Lamu to Mombasa and across the German boundary from ‘Tanga harbor to the country round Lindi; but there are some slight differences in local usage, such as in marriage, burial, and the care of children.' There may be some slight differences in custom; but on the whole they are the same, because from Lamu to Lindi all follow the same religion, while the usages of their neighbors show some variation. Their neighbors near Tanga are the Digo and Segeju, near Pangani the Zigua and Bondei, near Sadani the Doe, near Bagamoyo the Zaramo, near Kilwa the Ngindo, and near Lindi the Yao. The customs of all these peoples are similar; but there are some slight differences. Anyone who knows the customs of the Swahili will understand these customs as well as many of the customs of the people up country.
One who wishes to understand the customs of the Swahili should consult an old man or an old woman, because it is they who know them and follow the old customs more than do the young people of today. Many people have abandoned the old customs and follow few of them. The young people follow any new custom that is introduced and happens to please them. In the old days they followed Arab customs and used Arabic terms*. Then they met Indian customs, and some adopted those that pleased them. Recently, since the introduction of European customs, they have abandoned those of the Arabs and Indians, preferring to follow the new customs. If they observe a European custom and like it, they follow it, and even in language, they introduce European words into their speech. But these young folk adopt these customs in their youth only. When they are mature, they revert to the customs of their ancestors, as they were taught by their elders."
[*The way Mtoro contrasts 'Arab' and 'Swahili' customs in later sections of his work indicates that the 'old times' he's referring to here are the period of Oman-Arab domination in the early 19th century rather than the classical era of Swahili history during the late middle ages]
...
panorama of Zanzibar, Tanzania. ca. 1900, Northwestern University
"When the teacher opens the school for teaching, somebody comes with his child and says to the teacher, “I want you to teach my child.” He asks how much he will charge and is told ten or fifteen dollars. When they have agreed, the teacher says, “Tomorrow bring roast millet and coconut and bring your child to school.”
Next morning he sends him with two rupees, called ufito or ubati. First of all the child has something written for him on his board, and when the child takes the board and thinks of tipeat and kites (children's games), all past for him, he cries, and when he sees the teacher before him, he thinks that he is in the presence of the Angel of Death.” ....
The Story of the School children and the Devil
A devil had seven children, of whom the seventh was called Confuser.” Their mother warned the children, saying, “If you want to please me do not play with schoolchildren, because they are very naughty.” Six of the children listened to their mother; but the seventh paid no attention. One day the devil called Confuser turned himself into a donkey and went to a fork in the road and lay down until the children were dismissed from school. They found the donkey in the road and were. all so pleased that they did not go home for their food. Each one looked for a stick, and they beat the donkey; but it did not get up. So they looked for some chilies and ground them up and pushed them up its rectum. The heat made it get up and run, and they followed, beating it. It kicked them, and they tormented it all day until in the evening they left it.
When he came home the donkey told what had happened to it, and its mother said, “I told you, my son, not to play with schoolchildren, and today they have almost killed you.”
Of Students of Elimu [Knowledge]
The age of these students is from twenty to twenty-five. After learning the Qur’an, they go to a sheikh to read elimu, to learn the forms of worship, the rules of marriage and divorce, court procedure, about buying and selling and the whole law.' These students do not behave in a silly way like the small pupils, but treat their sheikh with great respect.
It is customary for people attending the class to greet the sheikh with subalkhairi or to take his hand and kiss it, if the sheikh has not begun the lecture.' But if he is teaching, it is not polite to greet him until the end. In a class of elimu the students and others listening should not talk much but should attend to the exposition given by the sheikh.
Each one brings his book to the class, and these books are of different sorts. Some bring grammar, some Min haj [ Min Haj at-Talibin, of An-Nawawt (d. 1277), a well-known textbook of shafite law], some commentaries on the Qur’an; there are different books of elimu.
These classes are held in the morning and the evening; but some teach only in the morning. Some sheikhs teach in their houses and some in the mosques. The Swahili are by custom much attached to any person who knows the Qur’an and elimu. If a stranger arrives wishing to live in the place, he will immediately be given a wife if he likes. Every father is glad that a learned person should marry his daughter, even if he is poor.' If a man comes from a long distance to live in a place as a teacher and says, “I am a teacher, I know the Qur’an and elimu,” but the people do not know him, they set him questions; and if he answers them, he is accepted as a genuine teacher.
Bagamoyo Mosque and minaret, ca 1906/1914, German Federal Archives.
Concerning the Teacher
There is the teacher who has been taken by the head man of the place as was done in the past.' He receives a salary of twenty-five rupees a month and lives at the mosque to lead the prayers and to order the affairs of the mosque. He is paid from the alms that come into the mosque. A proclamation is made to all the people of the place that no person who wishes to get married may go to any teacher but this one. He receives a fee of two rupees from everyone who wishes to get married. The teacher is given a house to live in by the people of the place.
Then there is the teacher who is employed by people to teach their children in their homes. He agrees for a salary of ten to fifteen rupees a month. He comes to teach the children every morning and evening except on Fridays and high days, and he is given the prescribed fees such as for Ramadhan and high days; but he receives no additional fee when the children qualify, except that he is given a “turban.” The agreement is not by the month or the year but until the children qualify, whether this takes one year or two. That is the agreement.
These teachers have much more work than teaching. On return from morning prayer at the mosque, he takes his Qur’an and reads it or tells his beads. The rosary is the names of God, all of which he repeats.” After he has recited the rosary, somebody comes and says, “| want you to perform two or three recitations for my parents”; or a man comes for an amulet for his child; or somebody wishes to build a house and wants Ya sini recited over the site.
He takes up his Qur’an manuscript and goes to the building plot. Or somebody wants to arrange a marriage. He tells the teacher and gives to him according to his means. Then, if he is imam of the mosque and it is blessed with land or house property from which revenue is derived, a great part of this is put aside for the mosque, for its repair and if necessary rebuilding, and part is divided between the teacher, the muezzin, and the man who draws the water...
Teaching children is hard work for little reward, because when children qualify, the teacher does not always get his money. More are taught for nothing than those who pay, and when a child qualifies they cheat the teacher and give him nothing.
Of Swahili Petty Trading
Trade: Some people are unwilling to travel inland. If a merchant offers to supply the goods for him to go trading, he refuses. Such people hawk their goods around the town in small quantities. They buy coconuts, maize, sugar cane, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, cassava dried and fresh, oranges, bananas, jackfruit, and so forth and put them in little heaps that they sell for one to twenty pesa each. They make little profit, just enough for themselves and their wives.
It just suffices for oil and betel nut; because if she is in the dark or has no betel in her casket, she is vexed and says, “Are we to sleep like bugs?” (The Swahili keep a light burning all night for fear of a snake coming in or of being stung by a centipede or a scorpion.) If somebody says, “Why do you not travel?” he replies, “I do not want to be rich. All I want is a pot on the fire. The rich man will die, and the poor man will die too. Why go inland and have a lot of trouble in the bush? Then all the risk is mine. If people’s property is lost, I shall be in trouble or lose my life. I would rather eat roast cassava in peace.”
Other petty traders wait for the Nyamwezi to come to the coast with their cattle and goats. They make it their business to buy cattle from the Nyamwezi and to sell to the Indians or Arabs. If they cannot get a good price for the cattle, they slaughter them and sell the meat. Some of them roast mishikaki and sell them for one pesa each.' Those who have not enough money to buy cattle make agreements with the Indians or Arabs. Such agreements are—‘You go to the camp and buy for me, and I will give you two to four rupees’ commission on each beast.” To this they consent.
Bagamoyo street scene with market, ca. 1906-1914. German Federal Archives.
Of Shipbuilding*
First the builders go to the forest to split planks and to find a strong keel and strakes and ribs. When they have these, they bring them to the town, and ask their master craftsman and the teacher to cense them as they begin their work, so that it goes well.’
First the keel and the ribs, the stem and stern posts and the guide plank. They fix the planks with nails wound round with cotton and coconut oil to make them firm. When the ship is finished, they deck it fore and aft. Then they caulk it by filling any open holes with cotton and oil. Then they proof it with shark oil and fill the ship with water for seven days or fourteen to see whether it leaks or not. Then they fit the tiller, and when that is in place they sew sails and select a mast, a bowsprit, and a yard and an anchor. Then they spin ropes for hoisting and for lowering the anchor, and the ship is launched.
rare photo showing the construction of local ships (dhows), complete with scaffolding and thatching, ca. 1884, Moroni, Grande Comore, MNHN Paris.
[* you can read about the Shipbuilding and Maritime activities of the Swhaili here ]
The Customs of the Jumbe in the Past.
In the past a jumbe* had under him shahas, a waziri, a mwinyi mkuu, and an amir. The amir was the head of the common folk. If there was a problem in the town, the jumbe told the amir, and he informed the commoners...
[* this is a Swahili term for a local ruler, a similar term of mwinyi Mkuu was more commonly used in Zanzibar ]
The Authority Vested in the Jumbe in the Past
In the past they had authority over land and fields. The fields were bush without mango or coconut trees. If a stranger arrived, an Indian, an Arab, ora Swahili, and wanted a field to cultivate, the jumbe asked him whether he wanted to purchase or to rent. The applicant said which he wanted, and if it was to rent, he would say, “Give me as ubani five or six rupees.” When they had agreed, he showed him the field selected.
If the agreement was to purchase, he wrote him a deed of sale. Inside the town there were plots, and if someone wanted to build a house, he went to the jumbe and made an agreement with him for rent or purchase. Secondly, authority over traders: If foreigners came into the town with merchandise, they must go to the jumbes’ houses, for they must not sell without the permission of the jumbes.
Then there were the Nyamwezi caravans carrying ivory; in this and in the matter of cattle Indians and Shihiri and other traders could not buy freely. Everyone buying a goat paid an eighth of a dollar and on an ox a dollar. [f an Indian bought ivory, after the transaction he had to come to an agreement with the jumbe, but these powers have now gone from them, for there are no more fields for them to lease nor plots to sell, and from trade they get nothing.
Fees Due to the Jumbes
1. Any person who slaughtered an ox in the town, whether for sale or for a party, had to send his due, the hump, to the chief. If he was not given this he was angry, and if he was angry he was given something to pacify him.
2. If a fisherman caught a shark or a dugong or any large creature, the jumbe was sent a bit, called mboni. If anything was found in the sea or if a ship was wrecked with valuables on board, the salvage was taken to the jumbe. If the shipowner heard of it, he went to the jumbe to ask for his property. The jumbe received salvage money, also called mboni.
If someone’s slave ran away and fell into the hands of the jumbe, he was held until the owner should come. If no owner appeared, he was a mboni slave and the jumbe retained him. If the owner did appear, the slave was sold, the jumbe received his mboni, and the owner took the balance.
3. At Bagamoyo there is a place called Nunge near Kingani. It is on a salt flat surrounded by mangroves behind the ancient graves. Here annually there springs up a mound of crystallized salt. In the past, when the fisherwomen saw this mound, they came to the town and told the jumbes and the shahas that the Kingani mound had appeared.
When the jumbes heard this, they met to arrange for its disposal. After this they held the “ceremony of experience,” some of them performing the propitiatory rite all night, for it was not the custom to go without this ceremony. According to ancient custom, those who approached without protection had trouble on the way when they approached the mound, large snakes or bees to chase them back to the town or lions or leopards roaring in the forest. The morning after the ceremony they went to sweep the graves, and the third day after this the jumbes went with their sons and daughters and their domestic slaves to the place where the salt was to break it up. They went with horn and pipe, and at the mound they were told to break it up and the salt to be taken. The dues from this salt were as usual, the hump to the jumbes and half of the mound was their share and that of the shahas and waziris. On the sixth day after this, the townsfolk were allowed to go and take the salt, and they went with the natives to take it.
Nowadays, when the mound grows up they go to take the salt with no ceremony; except that they give advance information to the government so that it may know that people are going to Nunge for salt, because there is a lot of disorder.
Of Taxation in the Past
In the past there were taxes on the coast levied by the jumbes. For example, if strangers such as Nyamwezi arrived with ivory for trade in the coastal districts, they went to one of the jumbes and the ivory was stamped by order of the government. On being stamped, each farasila paid eight dollars to the sayyid, and a lodging fee ofone dollar, making nine in all, was paid to the jumbe, in charge of the stranger.
This was the custom.
Then before the Nyamwezi entered the town, the jumbe had to send him something as a present, because this was the practice. It was called the “covering,” and the leader of the caravan, his women, and his followers had each to be given a piece of cloth. Those who came ahead of the caravan had also to be given cloth.
On entering the town the leader of the caravan contracted for rent and had to pay “land ivory” to the chief of the place, that is, to the jumbe to whom he had gone. Then he was allowed to trade.
When the trading was completed, the jumbe had to give the Nyamwezi a parting present on his departure before he left. When he had left, the jumbe took three dollars for each farasila, which he had to be given by order of the sayyid. If there were a hundred farasila, the jumbe was given three hundred dollars out of the ivory of his guest.
Hindus and Indians, too, who came into the town with goods for trade or set up shops went first to the jumbe as head of the town. He found them houses and arranged leases for them, and when they were settled, they were told all the customs of the country. After this a merchant had to pay on each house twelve dollars a year. This had to be paid to the jumbe as head of the town because it was ancient custom. In addition he was given cloth and other things according to the merchant’s means.
The jumbes used to levy other dues. If acaravan came into the town with cattle, goats, and sheep, the jumbes levied dues on these animals. The rate was that if a man bought one head of cattle he must take one dollar to the jumbe, and if he bought a goat he must take an eighth of a dollar to the jumbe. If an Indian or an Arab wanted porters, the person who supplied them to the Indian or the Arab was given a rupee for each porter as the jumbe’s due. This levy was not all sent to one jumbe, but to the jumbe to whom the caravan had come.
The inland jumbes levied a rate called bongo. If a man arrived in the town from the coast, he had to pay such number of kitambi as they might agree; and if he came from inland he paid in inland goods.
Swahili journeys;
Agreements between Merchant and Traveler When a Swahili plans a journey, he goes to talk to his Indian merchant, saying, “I have come to you, Mukki, to borrow trade goods for a journey.” The merchant answers, “I will not refuse; but bring a reputable person to guarantee you, before I give you the goods.” He says, “I have no one to guarantee me but myself; but trust me, and you can supply me without hesitation or anxiety. God will accomplish all, and if he will, you will be pleased when I return.” The merchant says, “Good, I hear what you say, and |will think it over.” As they part, he says, “When shall I come back for your answer?” and he says, “Come back after a week.”
At the end of the week, he goes to the merchant and says to the merchant, “I have come to hear your decision.” He asks him what capital he has in fields or houses, and he says, “I have none, but I assure you before God on my honor that if I live and God will, I will repay you.” The merchant says, “I understand you; but I require a legal agreement,” and he says, “I agree to sign an agreement.” The merchant says, “How much merchandise do you want?” And he says 1,000 dollars. “For how many months?” “Two years.” “Too long; make it one year.” So he agrees to one year.
When they have agreed on this, they go to the government to write a bond for 1,000 dollars, and this is officially stamped. They go to the shop, and he asks him what goods he wants, and he tells him— “Twenty bolts of Bombay, thirty bolts ofsun, fifteen bolts of majigam, and ten bolts of gamti.” All these are varieties of white cloth. Then, “Cloth for turbans.” “What sort?” “Kareati, buraa, rehani, sturbadi, barawaji, kikoi mzinga, pasua moyo.” And one barrel of beads, and four sacks of cowries, seven boxes of sugar, six coils of brass wire, and a tent.” When he has reckoned all this up, he wants the cost of porters, and he agrees with sufficient porters for his loads. To each he gives his pay, half of itin advance. When the porters have been paid, they have to make up their loads, and when they have done up their loads, he goes to the merchant to take leave of him. The merchant says, “Go with good fortune in safety,” and the traveler goes home.
When he has taken leave of his parents and his wife, he gives a farewell party for his brothers. His wife makes him bread, and he entertains people. After food, he tells his leader to take the caravan to the country. He will sleep in the town and follow his caravan in the morning.
It is customary for a caravan to have a guide, followed by a drummer and then a conch player. Every caravan must have a guide, who is so called because he knows the way. If he goes ahead, followed by people who do not know the way, he must leave at every fork a mark so that those who follow may know which way to go. The mark is this: if the road goes to the left, he puts fresh or dry leaves or digs a furrow on the other side. Then those who are behind see the dry or fresh leaves in the road and know that where these leaves are is not the way.
When the guide comes to a place where there is plenty of water or a good camping site, he beats the drum. When those who are behind hear the guide’s drum, those who are tired have fresh strength, and when a thirsty man hears the drum he cheers up. If one has sat down he resumes his load and hurries to the water or the camp. In the wild in sunny weather, water is a great trouble.
When the caravan leaves, the guide must beat the drum again, for some are asleep and some are away in other towns. When they hear the drum, they hurry back. If the drum does not sound, they will leave them in the place, and this is not the custom of the caravan. The leader of the caravan must keep careful watch on his porters, or they will steal people’s goods without the owners’ permission.
The kome is a stick that the Nyamwezi require when traveling. It takes the place of an amulet to protect them from the dangers of the road. When the caravan reaches Nyanyembe, the guide fires a gun, and men and women come to welcome their brothers and to relieve them of their loads. They go to the camp, where they rest. This is how they leave the coast to go inland.
Map of late 19th century east Africa showing the main caravan routes
Of Trade
When they reach Nyanyembe, the porters hand their loads over to him, and he is left alone with the loads. He looks for friendly Nyamwezi to help his trade. They publish among their neighbors that a Swahili has arrived with good wares, and they come with ivory, small tusks, and cattle. He trades with them, and if his goods are not exhausted, he climbs the hills in search of ivory.
There is no end to haggling about the price until he pays the “handshake.” If the ivory is good, he pays a kitambi as handshake, and the headmen must be witnesses.'' If he does not give this, there will be trouble over the price and all will go wrong. It is their custom at all buying and selling to shake hands at the end and say, “It is a deal, brother,” or, as a joke, “It is dead.”
If the leader of the caravan does a lot of business, he writes to his merchant and sends a reputable person with the letter and the purchases, whether ivory or rubber or other things.
In the letter he writes, “To my dear merchant, greetings.'
After greeting I have to inform you that so-and-so comes with my letter. I have entrusted to him to take to you three farasila of ivory. Take them over from him. I need more goods as before. Do not send anything different, for these are satisfactory. Send them soon, for the Makua have gone hunting for ivory and will be back before long. I want the goods to be in hand when they return, for God’s sake, my merchant. Give the bearer of this letter a good kitambi as reward, because he is a good fellow. Wasalaam.”
Goods Brought Down to the Coast
After buying ivory and other things, he comes back to the coast. For the return journey he pounds the “cotton for the road,” sorghum and maize flour put up in a goatskin, which the porters use as bags. On the journey the porters have to do everything, putting up the master’s tent and finding water to bring him if he has not his own people, until they reach the coast.
As they approach the coast he sends a messenger to his merchant and to his own house to say that Mr. so-and-so has reached Mpwapwa.” He has had a good journey and has done well. He is sending to you for clothes and some other things. When the merchant hears this, especially if he is a Hindu, his loincloth flaps with glee. He packs up for the messenger the things wanted, and at his house they make good things to take to him when he reaches the river.
At the crossing he sends a second messenger to say that he is at the crossing and is coming over with his caravan. His friends go out into the country to wait for him with a group of women to welcome him.
Everyone has a cup of rice, and when they meet him they pour the rice on his head. His parents say, “Welcome, dear; you have gone safely and returned safely. That is the point. Go abroad for experience; if you do not go abroad, you see nothing.” In the past people fired salutes all the way to the customs house. In the next two or three days the ivory was stamped for tax, and then the leader of the caravan took it to his merchant for the reckoning. This is the account of the return to the coast.
Ivory caravan in Bagamoyo, ca. 1889. (Historisk Arkiv, Vendsyssel Historiske Museum, Hjorring, Denmark) note; the drummer , the Nyamwezi porters, the kirongozi carravan leader on the right, and the two german customs officers.
Of Accounts with the Merchant
After taking over the ivory, the merchant reckons up everything that he has taken, beginning with the goods and the porters. When he has done this sum, he says, “You took so many dollars, and you have brought back so many. Your profit or loss is so much.” If he and the merchant agree, there is no argument; but often they quarrel, because the merchant wants to take the whole ofthe profit. He charges a high price for his goods, and if he gets his money back he wants to make a large profit on the ivory.
If he wants to make another journey, he writes a bond for goods to go again in the hope that this time he will make a bigger profit. Such were in the past the trading journeys of the Swahili inland.
Nyamwezi Journeys in the Past
When the Nyamwezi came down to the coast, they brought cattle, goats, ivory, hippo teeth, and ostrich feathers. None came to the coast unless he had a contact in the town, a jumbe or a citizen whom he could inform of his arrival at Usako and ask for a house to be put ready for him and plenty of beer. His friend would rent a house for him and for his caravan leader and his overseers. In the morning the local man would say to his women, “Tomorrow we will welcome our friend in the country.” To welcome him they would say, “Food, food, to please our guest.”
When he reached the town he went into his house, and the ivory was sent to the customs. For the next six or seven days he would be drunk. The Indians came and went, asking his caravan leader when he would do business over his ivory; but when the porters arrived they had already sold everything that they were carrying, goats, rhino horn young and old, and spears, because their leader allowed them to sell immediately, and they bought trinkets to pack up ready to take them to their families inland.
When the ivory has been stamped, the day comes when the Nyamwezi Owner of the ivory wants to do business. He goes with his friend to the Indian shop, and there they lay it out. Their idea of business is that for each tusk they should receive the whole contents ofthe shop; but the Indians understand the business. They start in the morning, and by noon they have not agreed over a single tusk. First he wants this color and then that, and all the time they must be brought dates and coconut, and then they are pleased and think that the Indian is a good fellow. The Indian says, “I will give it you for nothing; we need no account of our dealings.” But the Indian has everything written down in his book.
Then they talk more business until they fall out and say, “We are hungry. Let us drop business and come again tomorrow.” Next day they go, and if they do not come to an agreement, the business is not completed. Perhaps on the third day the Indian will make an agreement with the Swahili sponsor: “Talk your friend into finishing the business.” Then he gives good advice to the Nyamwezi, and he finishes the business.
This is done by his insulting both the Nyamwezi and the Indian, saying, “You are too stupid to understand business.” He asks the Nyamwezi, “What is it that you want and the Indian will not give you?” He says, “I want these colors.” Then he asks the Indian, “Will not you lose by it?” and he says that he will. He says, “Never mind; give him what he wants because you will get a lot of ivory from him.” He gives it to him; but even then the business is not finished. The parties want their complimentary cloth or something of that sort. Then he takes their hands and reconciles them, and the business is finished. Such are the business methods of the Nyamwezi.
Bagamoyo market street, on the right is a shop with Indian traders. ca. 1906-1914, German Federal Archives.
The Work of Porters
When they reach the town, they go to sleep. In the morning each man takes an axe and goes into the bush to cut wood. Some cut laths, some rafters, some props, and some strip-binding bark, everything for building a house. They bring these to the town for sale at ten to sixteen pesa a load. This gets them their livelihood, enough to eat, but they are not satisfied. Others work in the town.
They go around asking for work, and people ask them what work. They say, “Any work, carrying water or plastering the house”; but if you suggest digging a latrine, they refuse, saying, “Digging a latrine is a lot of trouble.” Others work in the fields by agreement with men or women who send them to help in the fields on daily rates. They receive the agreed amount on return in the evening. Others arrange with them to go to the river to carry loads of cane. They like this work best because they get free cane to chew. Such is the work that Nyamwezi porters do in the town.
Of the Return Inland of the Nyamwezi
When the business is done, the Nyamwezi go into the bush to cut rods. Their rods are sticks for fastening up their bundles.' Then they are given their return wages, and they buy what they want and tie up their bundles. One bundle will contain ten bolts of cloth and some kitambi, and these they carry on their backs. Both men and women carry loads, and if he has bought a lot he has to carry another’s load and tie his own to his loins.
To please the porters on departure from the town, they are all given red cloth to wear, and some of them have bells on their legs which tinkle as they walk. The guide is similar; but he wears a ngara.'’ This is made of all sorts of birds’ feathers, and he wears it on his head. When the caravan is made up, they go to the country and arrange their loads in the tent.
Then they return to the town, because some of them have things that they have forgotten to buy. They bring a bolt to sell; but they get a poor price for it, because if you buy something in an Indian shop for ten rupees, the Indian will give you five. They are barbers and shave people dry. When they have bought their things, they go to the country, and the caravan departs.
Porters encamped outside Bagamoyo city, ca. 1895, illustration by Alexander Le Roy (Au Kilima-ndjaro pg 85) note that bundles of cloth tied with sticks as described by Mtoro, and stacked against coconut palms.
Of the Law of Stealing
What follows is written in the books of the law [Sharia]; but our ancestors did not know them. They may have been in use for two centuries or more in our country.
If a man is a thief and the owner adequately identifies the stolen property as his and that the accused is the thief, according to ancient custom his hand was cut off and the hand taken was the right; but for this it was essential that the thief be an adult, not a juvenile, that he be compos mentis, not insane, in which case his hand was not cut off because an idiot has no sense. The third condition is that the thing stolen must have value. A hand is cut off for that but not for the theft of two or eight or ten pesa or the contents of an amulet. It is theft; but the sentence is made compatible. For a second offense after his hand has been cut off, he has the left foot cut off; for the third offense, the left hand; for the fourth offense, the right foot. If he steals yet again, he is judged differently and is killed; but not without deep consideration, for it is a very serious matter to take a person’s life and may be a grave sin.
On the other hand, according to our Swahili custom, if a thief was caught in possession of the thing stolen, it was taken from him, he was beaten and warned not to offend again.” Then the Arabs introduced to the coast the practice of imprisonment after beating. On release he was warned not to offend again. Another old custom: If a thief came by night and dug through the wall of a house and entered with intent to steal, and if the owner half woke up and killed the thief, he was not liable; because when a thief entered a house and saw the owner, he usually wounded or killed the Owner, so if the owner woke up and struck first and killed the thief, this was the old custom.
The sentence for stealing on the Swahili mainland was that, for example, if a thief stole from a field where there was much property, not by day but by night, and happened to be killed, there was no offense under old custom; but if he was apprehended by day, he must not be harmed or killed, but must be arrested and taken before the magistrate.
‘Then highway robbery: If a man lay in wait to attack travelers and killed them but did not take their property, his sentence was death by the same method that he had used to kill others.
If one shot another, he was shot. If he killed with a sword, he was killed with a sword; if with a knife, he was killed with a knife; ifaspear or an arrow, he was killed in the same way.
If he lay in wait on the road and killed those whom he met and took their property, he was killed and exposed on a gallow for all to see. If he lay in wait on the road and robbed people but did not kill them, he had his hands and feet cut off.
If he threatened travelers and they were frightened, but he neither robbed nor killed them and they ran away, throwing down the things that they were carrying, but he did not take those things, his sentence was imprisonment, but he was not killed or beaten, only admonished.
When he repented of what he had done, that is, when he showed clear signs of repentance, he was released at the magistrate’s discretion.
If a man formed the intention of robbing you of your property and you knew that he was coming to take your property or your, life, or if you had a child that he intended to take from you on the road, kill him
if you are sure that he is intending to kill or rob you, kill him first. If you do kill him, you are not liable for homicide before the magistrate because he was going to kill or rob you and you felt that it was better to kill him first. Then you are not liable. But there must be witnesses to the fact that he was going to kill you.
Again, a person riding a horse or donkey who damages the property of another is liable for damaging the other’s property just as if he had robbed him of it.
The Customary Law of Debt
In the past, if a man was owed money and the debtor would not pay, the creditor went to other people and said, “He will not give me my rights; | want you please to come and help me.” He gave them something between two and ten rupees, and they girded themselves and went to the debtor to demand payment. If he did not pay and had a slave or something else, they would take that. If the debtor had relations and friends who thought him ill used, they would assist him with words or deeds until people appeared to reconcile them.
Another old custom: If aman owed a debt to an Indian or a Hindu [ie; Muslim Indians or Banyan hindus] and the debt arose from a business loss, as, for example, if he had advanced him goods for a trading expedition inland and there had been fighting and the goods had been lost, or the goods had been stolen by thieves or been destroyed by fire when the goods were in a house that caught fire; in the event of any of these three disasters happening to the man who had borrowed the goods, he had to pay, and the payment fell on him. If he had enough, that was all right; but if he had not, he would be given a further advance to go on a second expedition. All the profit that he made would go to pay the debt; but he was not imprisoned or bankrupted in the event of these three disasters.
The fourth case is when a man takes goods on credit and goes to trade in ivory, rubber, or gum when the price in the town is high. He goes inland knowing the prices of these things, and he buys them inland; but on his return he finds that the price has dropped. He has bought, and because he has already bought he does not know what to do. He goes with it to his merchant and sells to him at the low price and makes a loss on the goods. Then he must advance him more goods to trade with to make up the loss. But he will give him time to look for the balance—he should not take him to court. If he insists on taking him to court and the court interrogates him and he replies giving this sort of account of his loss, the magistrate will tell him to come to an agreement, to give him time to make it up or to give him more goods to continue trading, so that he may pay out of the profit on them; but the magistrate should not imprison him nor be ina hurry to bankrupt him for such a debt before he has been given time to make it up.
If two persons are in debt to each other and one says that he owes nothing while the other says that he does, the magistrate must call for evidence of the debt. The plaintiff will say that he has it, and he will be told to produce it. He will do so if he has a bond or witnesses who can give evidence that the debt is owed. Then the magistrate says to the defendant, “Here is your evidence.” If the defendant denies the debt or the plaintiff has no evidence, the defendant must swear that he owes nothing, and the case fails. Alternatively, the defendant may refuse to swear and agree to pay if the plaintiff swears to the debt. Then the plaintiff must swear to the transaction and take his money. He is stopped from refusing to accept the plaintiff's oath.
A debtor is not imprisoned for debt unless he has property and refuses to pay; if he has already a judgment against him and has asked for time and a second time he has asked for more time, the third time the magistrate will commit him to prison. If he has property, he will be compelled to pay. If he has not enough, he will be bankrupted so that his creditors may be paid something.
The reason for imprisonment is that he has property and persistently misleads the court. Firstly, it is wrong to mislead the court, and secondly, it is dishonest to have the means and refuse to pay, so he is imprisoned. If he has no property, he is imprisoned to teach him how to behave and to make sure that he really has nothing. Once it is known that he has nothing, he is released....
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Mtoro's later life: Marriage, move to Hamburg, and retirement. (1913-1927)
Mtoro left the SOL in May 1905 after his marriage to a German-Polish woman; Bertha Hilske in October 1904, led to a fall out between him and Carl Velten. After facing racial prejudice, Mtoro returned to Tanzania in September 1905 but found the colonial authorities even more strongly opposed to his marriage, arguing that it was "undermining of the repute of the white race ... at a time when, almost daily, the belief in our superiority is already contested." So they forced the couple to travel back to Germany, and instituted laws against mixed marriages across German colonies, dissolving legalised unions and disowning children born to them.
Rejected by the SOL, Mtoro took on private lectures for modest earnings before being employed as a lecturer at the at the Hamburg Colonial Institute in 1909 after another recommendation letter from Carl Meinhof. He later left there in December 1913 after experiencing further racial discrimination by his superiors, and resumed his private lectures. Little is known about his later life, although he did send another letter to Carl Meinhof in 1926 who apparently didn't respond favourable to it.
Its likely that Mtoro continued working as a private tutor for very small pay that was supplemented by his wife's earnings. He and Bertha continued to live in their apartment in Neukölln, a southern suburb of Berlin. Although they didn't have children, their 'interracial' marriage in an increasingly racialised Weimar Republic fared alot better than similar marriages of most of his African peers in Germany who were effectively stateless and unemployable after Germany lost its colonies in 1918.
Mtoro passed away in July 1927 at the age of 58, leaving his widow, Bertha Bakari, who survived through the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, only to pass away in November 1945.
(Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari pg 41-102, Black Germany pg 102-106)
Conclusion: Mtoro Bakari as a founder of African studies.
Mtoro led an illustrious career as a cultural diplomat, a teacher, and a lecturer who educated around four hundred students between 1900 and 1913. His pioneering ethnographic work on east African communities deserves him a spot among the celebrated founders of African studies, as one of the foremost Swahilists of the present era who initiated the study of his own society.
In the concluding paragraph of his 2009 biography of Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari, the Hamburg University professor Ludger Wimmelbücker notes that "the racial discrimination experienced by Mtoro Bakari curbed the intellectual development of a skilful language analyst, gifted author and cultural communicator. His major works, which he was able to produce in the short period before his academic career was brought to an end, will remain an important source for the further study of East African languages and cultures."
dhows off the coast of Bagamayo, ca. 1882. (Étienne Baur & Alexandre Le Roy, A travers le Zanguebar, pg 114.)
References:
Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari: Swahili Lecturer and Author in Germany By Ludger Wimmelbücker
The Customs of the Swahili People by Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari (Trans. By J. W. T. Allen)
Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European imperialism and the politics of knowledge By Helen Tilley, Robert Gordon
Black Germany: The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884-1960 By Robbie Aitken, Eve Rosenhaft
Africa in Translation: A History of Colonial Linguistics in Germany and Beyond, 1814-1945 by Sara Pugach
