SWAHILI(Wa-Swahili, i.e., “Coast People,” from the Arabic sáhil, coast), a term now commonly applied to the inhabitants of Zanzibar and of the opposite mainland between the parallels of 2° and 9° S., who are subjects of the sultan of Zanzibar, and whose mother-tongue is the Ki-Swahili language. According to present local usage no person would be called a Swahili unless he verified these two conditions. The Swahili are essentially a mixed people, in whom the Bantu and Arab elements are mingled in the proportion of about three to one; and the same is true of their speech, which of all the Bantu dialects has been most affected by Arab and other influences. The interest attaching to the Swahili people, who have figured so largely in the history of African enterprise during the last half century, is thus of a social rather than of a strictly scientific character. The energy and intelligence derived from a large infusion of Semitic blood has enabled them to take a leading part in the development of trade and the industries, as shown in the wide diffusion of their language, which, like the Hindustani in India and the Guarani in South America, has become the principal medium of intercommunication throughout most of the continent south of the equator. During his journey from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Commander Cameron found that a knowledge of this language enabled him everywhere to dispense with the aid of an interpreter, as it was understood by one or more persons in all the tribes along the route. Owing to this circumstance the intelligent and enterprising natives of Zanzibar have been found indispensable assistants in every expedition penetrating from the eastern seaboard to the interior since they began to be employed by Speke and Burton as porters and ...