Eastern Coast Of Africa Research Articles

The old German consulate in British East Africa: A Mombasa mansion and its carved door

Mombasa and the entire Swahili coast of Eastern Africa have long had historical and cultural links with the rest of the Indian Ocean region, and this article reflects those links. The mansion in question is a nineteenth century house situated between the Portuguese-built fort and what is now the Old Port. Over the past century the house has had four owners, three of them Muslim. The first was a gentleman from Oman, who almost certainly built the house and commissioned the carved door. The second was Tharia Topan, an Isma‘ili from Gujarat, who accumulated vast wealth. The third was a Parsi firm originating in Bombay; it was towards the end of the period that this structure became dilapidated and that, probably, the two original leaves of the carved door were removed. Shaykh Mbarak ‘Ali Hinawy, the fourth owner, restored both the house and its carved door.

碑文及び考古学資料から見た古代エジプトと南アラビアの関係

In the middle of the first millennium B. C., South Arabian kingdoms flourished, not only as a major source of frankincense and myrrh but also as an entrepot of various incense from the eastern coast of Africa and the countries beyond the Indian Ocean. Egypt was one of the most important consumers of the incense throughout antiquity, and how the long-distance trade between South Arabia and Egypt was done actually is of much note. In this article, the relations between ancient Egypt and South Arabia will be considered by using archaeological and epigraphical sources from both Egypt and Yemen.Except the coffin of a Minaean, all South Arabic inscriptions from Egypt were found in the Eastern Desert, on the ancient route either between Qift (Coptos) and Qusayr (Myos Hormos) or between Qift and Berenike. Though it is impossible to date three inscriptions from the former route, one of them is supposed to be incised after the third century A. D. One from the latter route was incised by a Minaean. Himyarite symbols from the same route suggest that it was used by the Himyarites around the fourth century A. D. From Qusayr al-Qadim, a pottery sherd with a South Arabic graffito was excavated and it mostly belongs to the first century A. D.Greek inscriptions from Egypt show the existence of a Greek-Egyptian who returned from South Arabia to Idfu (Apollinopolis Magna) via Berenike in the Hellenistic period, and also that of a merchant of Aden who was active in Berenike and Qift between 54 and 70 A. D.As for South Arabic inscriptions referring to Egypt (Msr), the texts date back from the fifth century B. C. to the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period, and are all Minaean. Together with Msr, they exhibit the names of the caravan cities (Didan, Yathrib, Ghazza etc.) which Minaeans visited on their way to Egypt.Summing up the information from those materials, the following conclusions can be drawn.1. Before the Ptolemaic Period, the Minaean merchants came to Egypt via the inland route of Arabia which ran along the Red Sea coast, and most probably they entered Egypt by way of Ghazza.2. After the foundations of the Egyptian Red Sea ports by Ptolemy II, it seems that Minaeans used the Berenike-Coptos route as well as the Arabian inland route to enter Egypt. A route to Idfu was also available from Berenike. Until this period, it seems that a considerable number of Minaeans were staying in Egypt.3. In the Roman Period, the main transportation route between South Arabia and Egypt was the seaway. Among the Egyptian ports, Berenike and Qusayr were the most utilized for loading and unloading the merchandise from South Arabia, and for other purpose.

Geographic trends in mangrove crab abundance in East Africa

The aim of this work was to determine the abundance of crabs inmangrove communities along a latitudinal gradient along the eastern coastof Africa from 4°S to 32°S. Surveys were made atMombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Maputo (Mozambique) and in theTranskei (South Africa). Crabs were estimated at three designated levelsin the mangroves by visual census using a common protocol, and numberswere converted to biomass.Even after standardising the selection of sites and methods of censusthere was still extensive variability in the data, emphasising the complexheterogeneity of mangrove ecosystems. Lunar phase (full versus new moonsprings) did not have a consistent effect on results, but shore height hadseveral effects. Total crab biomass was similar in the two lower shore strataexamined, but about twice as high at the top-Avicennia level. Theratio of grapsid biomass:ocypodid biomass also changed with height: fromnear unity in the lower mangrove, to 0.14 in the middle strata, but to 15at the top.There was no consistent latitudinal trend in total crab numbers, but totalcrab biomass increased from north to south. In addition there was aconsistent and marked change in the grapsid biomass:ocypodid biomassratio: this swung from 0.65 at Mombasa to 6.8 in the Transkei. This hasimplications for the transfer of primary production through the food chain. Grapsids are important macrophagous feeders on the leaves and other partsof mangroves, whereas ocypodids are microphagous deposit feeders.

INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICAN SUMMER RAINFALL. PART II. MODELLING THE IMPACT OF SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES ON RAINFALL AND CIRCULATION

This study is concerned with the possible physical link between global sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) and south-eastern African summer rainfall. We have performed a series of general circulation model (GCM) experiments, where the model atmosphere has been forced with certain SST anomaly patterns. These have been identified by Rocha and Simmonds (in part I) to be related to drought conditions over the subcontinent. Results show that anomalously warm SSTs in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, typical of ENSO events, can generate dry conditions over much of south-eastern Africa. However, those in the central Indian Ocean, which are partially independent of ENSO, dominate the rainfall response. Sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean have little or no effect on rainfall. In the model, warming of the central Indian Ocean generates low-level cyclonic atmospheric anomalies there, which weaken the predominantly eastern flow across the eastern coast of Africa. As a result, less moisture enters the continent and reduced precipitation takes place. Cool SSTs in the south Indian Ocean further enhance this scenario. Warm surface waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean generate upper-level westerly wind anomalies, which extend eastwards across into the Indian Ocean. Such upper-level wind changes have been related previously to ENSO and southern African drought.

Longevity, competence and energetic content in planulae of the soft coral Heteroxenia fuscescens

The longevity and competence period of the azooxanthellated planulae of the soft coral Heteroxenia fuscescens, a common shallow-reef inhabitant on the Red Sea reefs, were studied for the first time. The caloric content of the planulae in the course of their life is determined and its possible significance for the longevity and competence periods is considered. H. fuscescens planulae are able to metamorphose immediately upon release and tend to settle adjacent to their parent colonies. The current study presents evidence for absence of a pre-competence period. A maximal longevity of 50 days and a competence of 49 days were recorded, providing an effective dispersal time which encompasses virtually the entire lifespan of the planulae. A monthly variation was found in longevity and competence, possibly temperature related; significantly higher metamorphosis rates occurred during the hotter months of the year, indicating the occurrence of additional temporal variations related to the species reproduction. During late stages of the experiments most of the planulae underwent partial metamorphosis, probably due to a lack of necessary inducers for settlement. It is hypothesized that these polyps may obtain zooxanthellae through their mouth opening, thus acquiring the energy to extend their pelagic life, until they encounter such settlement inducers. Two-day old planulae had a caloric content of 0.58 ± 0.05 cal × planula −1; which decreased gradually with age, to a minimum of 0.35 ± 0.005 cal × planula −1 in 16-day old planulae. H. fuscescens has a wide distribution along the eastern coast of Africa, probably due to the longevity and competence of its planulae.

THE RARE LOBSTER GENUS PALINUSTUS A. MILNE EDWARDS, 1880 (DECAPODA: PALINURIDAE), WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES

ABSTRACT The species of the rare spiny lobster genus Palinustus A. Milne Edwards, 1880, are reviewed, based on a total of 54 specimens. Although the characteristics used previously to separate the species are rather variable, all 4 named species are nevertheless considered to be valid; with P. truncatus A. Milne Edwards, 1880, restricted to the western Atlantic, P. mossambicus Barnard, 1926, known only with certainty from the eastern coast of Africa, while both P. waguensis Kubo, 1963, and P. unicornutus Berry, 1979, are widely distributed in the Indo-West-Pacific. A new species, P. holthuisi, is found in Taiwan and Japan. The distinguishing characteristics of all the species are described in detail, together with line drawings and photographs. The different species have distinct coloration and color photographs of live or fresh specimens are provided where possible. A key to the species is given for their identification.

Bancroftian filariasis in Kwale District of Kenya. I. Clinical and parasitological survey in an endemic community.

A cross-sectional parasitological and clinical survey for Wuchereria bancrofti infection was carried out in an endemic community of south-eastern Kenya, to obtain background epidemiological information for detailed serological studies on bancroftian filariasis in the same community. Quantitative examination of night blood samples (100 microliters) from 1129 individuals (76% of the population), using the counting chamber technique, revealed circulating microfilariae in 13.7% of the study group. Prevalence increased with age, and was higher in males (15.9%) than in females (11.6%). The geometric mean intensity among infected individuals was 223 microfilariae/ml blood (336 microfilariae/ml for males and 212 microfilariae/ml for females). Approximately 16.5% of the males aged > or = 15 years had hydrocele and 2.4% of the population had elephantiasis. The prevalence of these conditions increased with age; in those aged > or = 50 years, 23.8% of males had hydrocele and 6.1% of the total population had elephantiasis. Acute cases of epididymo-orchitis, adenolymphangitis and funiculitis were also seen. The microfilarial prevalence in males with hydrocele was not significantly different from that in asymptomatic males, but none of the elephantiasis cases had microfilaraemia. The striking difference in microfilaraemia pattern between hydrocele and elephantiasis patients may reflect different mechanisms underlying the development of these two chronic manifestations. The overall prevalences of microfilaraemia and clinical manifestations in this community were moderate when compared with those found in other studies carried out along the coast of eastern Africa.

Atmospheric‐hydrospheric mechanisms of climate anomalies in the western equatorial Indian Ocean

Atmosphere‐ocean mechanisms of rainfall anomalies at the coast of eastern Africa are studied using long‐term ship observations in the Indian Ocean, surface current measurements, subsurface casts, upper air analyses by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, rain gauge series in eastern Africa and India, and an index of the Southern Oscillation (SO), the high‐SO phase being defined by anomalously high/low pressure at Tahiti/Darwin. The causalities of precipitation anomalies at the coast of eastern Africa differ for the two rainy seasons centered on April‐May and October‐November, and only the latter is strongly related to the SO. In the high‐SO phase, April‐May pressure is low over the entire Indian Ocean domain, whereas in October‐November, pressure is high in the west and low in the east. Concomitantly, surface waters are anomalously cold in the west, and strong westerlies sweep the equatorial zone of the Indian Ocean. Eastern African rainfall anomalies are related to the SO through a combination of cooperative mechanisms that function most effectively in the boreal autumn rainy season of eastern Africa. (1) Equatorial westerly winds are conducive to lower tropospheric divergence over equatorial East Africa, and in the high‐SO phase these are accelerated, especially in October‐November, owing to the anomalous eastward pressure gradient. (2) The equatorial westerly winds drive the eastward equatorial jet in the upper hydrosphere, which entails cold‐water upwelling in the western extremity of the basin where sea surface temperature further hydrostatically affects the zonal pressure gradient and thus feeds back into the equatorial westerly winds. (3) In addition, cold‐water anomalies in the western Indian Ocean, most pronounced in October‐November during the high‐SO phase, also suppress convection. (4) In the high‐SO phase, the Indian summer monsoon tends to be strong, leaving behind an anomalously cold western Indian Ocean, which in turn feeds into mechanisms 1 to 3. The eastward equatorial jet thus has a role to play in feedback mechanisms contributing to the anomalies of the boreal autumn rains at the coast of eastern Africa.

Syrrhopodon armatissimus sp. nov. from Madagascar, with Comments on Other Calymperaceae from the Madagascar Region

Syrrhopodon armatissimus is described new from Madagascar. It is closely related to S. armatus Mitt., but differs in its strikingly tall leaf cell papillae simple or divided at their tips. Several other Calymperaceae from the general region of Madagascar are discussed, including Ca- lymperes crassilimbatum Besch.; the suite offorms comprising S. asper Mitt., S. gardneri (Hook) Schwaegr., and S. rodriguezii Ren. & Card.; S. graminifolius Ren. & Card.; S. prolifer var. hispi- docostatus (Ren. & Card. in Ren.) Orban & Reese; and Mitthyridium fasciculatum (Hook. & Grev.) Robins. Attention is called to the seeming concentration of heavily armed taxa of Syrrhopodon in the Madagascar region. Study of specimens of Calymperaceae collected in Madagascar and other islands offthe eastern coast of Africa by Marshall R. Crosby revealed a previ- ously undescribed species of Syrrhopodon and also gave insights into the distributions, characteristics, and taxonomy of other members of Calymperaceae from the Madagascar region. Crosby's collections are at MO, with a few duplicated at LAF.

African Settlements in Gujarat

Indian settlements in Africa are a well-known fact. Studies have been made about their presence and problems. Similarly, there are some African settlements in India. Their presence was first noted by T.H. Esquire as far back as 1926.1 However, so far their presence was noted as a novelty or only in Census Reports. Recently some studies about their social and economic activity have been published. There are some African settlements in Gujarat as Gujarat has had a long tradition of trade with the eastern coast of Africa. The total population of these Africans in Gujarat is nearly five thousand; 3000 of them stay in Saurashtra.2 In the Junagadh District of Saurashtra a small hamlet Jambur, ensconced on the fringe of the Gir Forest between the rivers Saraswati and Karkari, is inhabited entirely (population 500) by Africans.3 Other than this the Africans are settled in mixed areas of Broach, Kutch and Ahmedabad district in Gujarat.

J. De V. Allen and Thomas H. Wilson (ed).: From Zinj to Zanzibar: studies in history, trade and society on the eastern coast of Africa. Papers presented in honour of Dr.James Kirkman. (Paeduma, Bd. 28.) xi, [233] pp.

J. De V. Allen and Thomas H. Wilson (ed).: From Zinj to Zanzibar: studies in history, trade and society on the eastern coast of Africa. Papers presented in honour of Dr.James Kirkman. (Paeduma, Bd. 28.) xi, [233] pp.

From Zinj to Zanzibar: Studies in History, Trade and Society on the Coast of Eastern Africa

From Zinj to Zanzibar: Studies in History, Trade and Society on the Coast of Eastern Africa

Description ofThalamita crosnieri, a new species from Somalia with notes onT. cooperiBorradaile from Somalia andT. demaniNobili from Aldabra (Decapoda, Brachyura)

Summary A new species, Thalamita crosnieri, is described from Somalia. It belongs to the T. woodmasoni group and is distinguished by the shape of the front and of the gonopod. T. woodmasoni Alcock is restricted to Andamans, southern India and Ceylon while T. crosnieri is known from the eastern coast of Africa and Madagascar. T. cooperi Borradaile (from Somalia) and T. demani Nobili (from Aldabra), belonging to the same group of species, have also been illustrated.

A Reconsideration of the Genera Monotheca and Spiniluma (Sapotaceae)

Summary. The genera Monotheca and Spiniluma are considered to be generically distinct from Sideroxylon. Monotheca consists of only one species, M. buxifolia, distributed from Pakistan to S. Ethiopia. Spiniluma comprises two species, S. oxyacantha, occurring in Ethiopia, and S. discolor, restricted to Socotra. Both genera occur in dry Olea- and Juniperus-forest and in evergreen scrub. Descriptions, synonymy and specimen citations are given, and the new combination Spiniluma discolor is made. The present note concerns the genus Spiniluma as it was proposed by Aubreville (1963). In his paper, Aubreville discussed the characters and distribution of the genus Sideroxylon L. both in the broad sense of last-century workers (according to whom Sideroxylon included those species of Sapotaceae which had pentamerous flowers with five sepals, five-lobed corolla, five staminodes, five stamens, and a 5-locular ovary), and in the more restricted sense of Dubard (1912) who excluded all species which had lateral, elongated or linear scars instead of the small basal scar on the seeds typical of Sideroxylon. According to Dubard (1912) the genus Sideroxylon comprised the sections Mastichodendron, occurring in Central America, Sinosideroxylon, restricted to S. China, and Spiniluma, only known from Ethiopia. The Mascarene and Malagasy species were placed in a separate genus, Calvaria, an unfortunate choice because Dubard also included the type species of Sideroxylon, S. inerme L., a species from the eastern coast of Africa, in this genus. Dubard's views are, with the nomenclatural error corrected, adopted by Aubreville, who points out the basic difference between Sideroxylon sensu stricto, which is equivalent to Dubard's Calvaria, on one side and Dubard's sections Mastichodendron, Sinosideroxylon, and Spiniluma on the other. The embryo in the first group is always horizontal, i.e. placed at a right angle to the floral axis; in the second group the embryo is always vertical, i.e. parallel with the floral axis. Aubreville's further reasoning concerns the latter groups. The American section Mastichodendron is considered as a distinct genus in accordance with Lam (I939) and Cronquist (I946). The SE Asian section Sinosideroxylon is raised to the rank of genus on account of the disjunct distribution and differences in the relative length of stamens and corolla. The third of Dubard's sections, the Ethiopian Spiniluma, has consequently to be raised to the rank of genus too, in order to make the classification of this group of Sapotaceae coherent. The characters used by Aubrdville to distinguish these genera are summarized in Table I. Aubreville referred two species to his genus Spiniluma, viz. S. oxyacantha (Baill.) Aubr., the type species, and S. buxifolia (Hutch.) Aubr. Both species were originally described in Sideroxylon, and are shrubs or small trees of the dry Juniperus procera-Olea africanaforests of Ethiopia and Somalia.

A New Freshwater Goby (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Pongolo Floodplain, Zululand, South Africa

A new freshwater goby, Mugilogobius pongolensis sp. n. is described and figured as a species new to southern and eastern Africa. This record extends the zoogeographcal distribution of Mugilogobius Smitt, 1899, from the Indonesian archipelago and South Australia to the Indian Ocean and the eastern coast of Africa.

An evolutionary and ecological perspective of Amazonian Hylaea species of Hymeneae (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae)

Abstract The resin-producing genus Hymenaea has an amphi-Atlantic distribution with 13 species being Neotropical and one occurring along the eastern coast of Africa. Present evidence suggests an African origin for the genus with migration across the Atlantic occurring during the Early Tertiary when the continents were closer and rainforest vegetation was considerably more widely distributed than today. The center of its Neotropical distribution is the Amazonian hylaea, although within its extensive range from 23° N to 26° S it is found in all major ecosystem types. The taxonomy, breeding structure, ecology and resin chemistry of the 9 Hymenaea species and 6 varieties occurring in the Amazonian and historically-related Brazilian Atlantic coastal humid evergreen forests are discussed as well as the possible evolution of these species in response to postulated drying trends beguen in Mid Tertiary times and during wet-dry oscillations in the Pleistocene.

Interactions Between Africans North and South of the Sahara

This article is neither typically a regional study nor is it particularly a comparative study. Looking at the map (Figure 1), you may discern a line cutting across the (shaded) Islamized areas of Black Africa, running through from Mauritania on the Western Coast to the small island of Zanzibar in the Eastern Coast of Africa. This article tries to examine the significance of this imaginary line. Of the ten countries which the line crosses, only three (Mauritania, Sudan, and Zanzibar) have received emphasis heretofore. Still, among these three countries, time and space only allow relatively closer study of one: the Sudan. The line, to start with, is claimed to signify the Islamic cultural contact between Africans of predominantly Arab origin and those of purely Negroid race. According to Jacques Baulin (1962),

Nineteenth-Century Travel Literature on the Comoro Islands: A Bibliographical Essay

Because of their location at the head of the Mozambique Channel, the four islands of the Comoro Archipelago, Anjouan (or Johanna), Grande Comore (Great Comoro), Mohilla (Mohély), and Mayotte (Mayotta) have been the subject of a considerable body of literature. European ships in need of supplies for their voyages to the east, or along the eastern coast of Africa, stopped at one or all of the islands, and many travelers and ship captains published their observations on the archipelago. Literature dealing with the period before 1800 has been arranged into collections cited below, but the numerous accounts of nineteenth-century travelers ar e scattered in periodicals and books, and the major bibliographical works on the islands, by and large, cover die same ground. This essay brings together accounts of the Comoro Islands arranged in a geographical and historical, although not necessarily chronological, context; and secondary material particularly related to the events and people is also described.

Garckea phascoides in Panama

HOWARD A. CRUM1 George A. Llano of the U. S. Air University recently sent me a small collection of bryophytes from the Volcin de Chiriqui, Republic of Panama, including a species of Garckea in fine fruiting condition. Inasmuch as this distinctive genus of Ditrichaceae had never been reported from the Americas, I tentatively planned to describe the plants from Panama as a new species, although I had failed to find any real specific distinctions in the descriptions of other species from Africa and Asia. Both A. LeRoy Andrews and E. B. Bartram kindly examined the material from Panama and informed me that it does not differ materially from their concept of G. phascoides (Hook.) C. M., a widespread species of southern Asia, Malayasia and the Philippine Islands. I subsequently studied numerous specimens from the Philippines and was able to find only a few trivial differences which might justify the recognition of a geographic variety. Until the entire genus can be critically reviewed, it seems pointless to consider the American plants other than a mere form of G. phascoides. The genus is not a large one. Only seven species of African and Asiatic distribution have been described: G. abbreviata Dixon & P.-V. of southern India occupies a part of the range of G. phascoides; G. bescherellei C. M. and G. hildebrandtii C. M. are known from the islands off the coast of eastern Africa; G. elongata Ren. & Card., G. mathieui Thdr. and G. moenkemeyeri C. M. occur in eastern central Africa. Fleischer, in the Musci von Buitenzorg, stated that G. hildebrandtii is a mere form of G. phascoides with somewhat shorter leaves and shorter capsule. Judging from descriptions, I suspect that most or all of the species mentioned above might be reduced to synonymy or treated as geographic varieties of G. phascoides. The peristome teeth of the American plants are more densely papillose, the opercula less abruptly and less slenderly apiculate and the capsules noticeably darker in color, as compared with Asiatic plants. Other less tangible differ-

A Private Circumnavigating Expedition

IN Les Mondes, for some time past, details have been given of a proposed expedition, partly scientific and partly for pleasure, on a somewhat gigantic scale. The proposed scheme seems to be the idea of a single gentleman, M. le Capitaine Bazerque, who has been twice round the world; though it has the hearty commendation of the Abbé Moigno, editor of Les Mondes, and of Le Comte Pennazzi, as well as others. The scheme is called “La Caravane Uni-verselle,” and has for its main object a grand voyage for scientific exploration over the five parts of the globe. The excursion-party may be joined by men of science, and also, we understand, by artists and others belonging to all nationalities, who wish to see the world for themselves under intelligent guidance. A subscription has been opened in the various European countries and in America, to provide Captain Bazerque with a steam-vessel suitable for the expedition. The modus operandi, we understand, will be that the vessel shall visit in succession all the most interesting parts of the world, staying long enough at each place to enable all its features to be investigated by the savants and artists composing the expedition. “The material organisation of the expedition,” says Count Pennazzi in commending it, “will allow those who form part of it to investigate thoroughly the rich treasures of Nature. The eastern slope of the Cordilleras, the sources and upper course of the Amazon, the Rocky Mountains, the country of the Mormons, the eastern coast of Africa, Australia, Japan, China, Indies, are among the regions whose flora, fauna, geology, and ethnography will furnish to the caravan much that is unknown to discover, and many interesting problems to solve.” Verily the Count is right in calling the scheme “sympathetique et seduisant.”