Page 191 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat
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No act is considered binding On the Khojah body, or in any way legal that has not
received the assent, either verbal or in writing, of every one of the five members of the
Amuldavi.
The amount raised by the Khojahs for religious purposes and remitted to the Agha
Khan in Bombay was last year 45,000 rupees ; this year it will equal 60,000 rupees,
exclusive of the sum of 12,000 rupees left by will to the Agha Khan.
:
Every year the number of Khojah pilgrims to Kcrbclla increases ; this season about
150 set out at the beginning of the south-west monsoon in April and May.
The total mortality from cholera during the late epidemic among the Zanzibar Khojahs
has been 135, or 6$ per cent, of the whole.
Besides the large building or Jematkhana used for the weekly feasts and on other
public occasions, the Khojahs are possessed of other property in town and of the neck of
land uniting Zanzibar town with the island ; this is partly occupied by their cemetery and
mosque.
a. Bohrahs—In the middle of the eighteenth century the Bohrah Mussulmans,
people of Surat,settled on the north-west coast of Madagascar, about the same time as
Khojahs from Surat settled in Zanzibar. They next formed trading stations on the
African Coast between Lamo and Patta, and to this day still hold in the.iy hands the greater
part of the trade of that region.
During the past fifty years Bohrahs of Surat and Rajcote have ceased to arrive,
but a great emigration has taken place from Kutch.
The Bohrah community in Zanzibar is guided by a Moolla and the chief men of the
sect, but possess no well-organized Council like that of the Khojahs. The orders of the
Chief .0/ Suxa* ast io .all cases fi nal.
This body possesses separate mosques and burial-grounds in Zanzibar.
In 1870-the statistics of the Bohrah population of Zanzibar were as follow*-—
-err i -■
Aduljs.
Place of residence. Children. Total. Houses.
Males. Females.
No. No. No. No. No.
Zanzibar Ml 75 <55 110 250 40
Pemba 23 *3 *5 5* 16
Lamo • M 20 «4 S 42 II
Melinda 37 I” 37 21
Mabroni 4 4 a
Mombassa ... 39 33 70 142 35
Wasjein m
? a 2
Tanga
3» 5 8 44 16
Dar-Salam ... 4 4 2 to 4
Quiloa
3 3 1
Mungao ...
Mi 2 1 Ml 3 »
Toul «••• 340 '*35 213 588 .*39
Total adults
375
3. Mckmons.—The various Sunni sects of Indian Mahomcdans are of little import
ance and few in number in Zanzibar. They do not ptqbably .exceed 350 individuals.
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