Zanzibar Tales - FULL Audio Book - by George W. Bateman - African Adventure Stories - Summary excerpt (written by the author in 1901) - Thirty years ago Central Africa was what people who are fond of airing their learning would call a terra incognita. To-day its general characteristics are pretty well known. Then, as now, the little island of Zanzibar, situated just south of the equator, on the east coast, was the starting place of all expeditions into the interior, and Unguja (pronounced Oon-goo'jah), the big town of that island, the place where the preparations for plunging into the unknown were made. At that period these expeditions consisted, almost without exception, of caravans loaded with beads and cotton cloth, which were exchanged among the inland tribes for elephants' tusks and slaves--for Unguja boasted the only, and the last, open slave-market in the world then. If you have read any accounts of adventure in Africa, you will know that travelers never mention animals of any kind that are gifted with the faculty of speech, or gazelles that are overseers for native princes, or hares that eat flesh. No, indeed; only the native-born know of these; and, judging by the immense and rapid strides civilization is making in those parts, it will not be long before such wonderful specimens of zoölogy will be as extinct as the ichthyosaurus, dinornis, and other poor creatures who never dreamed of the awful names that would be applied to them when they were too long dead to show their resentment. As to the truth of these tales, I can only say that they were told to me, in Zanzibar, by negroes whose ancestors told them to them, who had received them from their ancestors, and so back; so that the praise for their accuracy, or the blame for their falsity, lies with the first ancestor who set them going. You may think uncivilized negroes are pretty ignorant people, but the white man who is supposed to have first told the story of "The House that Jack Built" was a mighty poor genius compared with the unknown originator of "Goso, the Teacher," who found even inanimate things that were endowed with speech, which the pupils readily understood and were not astonished to hear; while "Puss in Boots" was not one-half so clever as the gazelle that ran things for Haamdaanee. It would be a severe task to rattle off "Goso" as you do "The House that Jack Built." (by the author - George W. Bateman - 1901) - SUBSCRIBE to Greatest Audio Books: http://www.youtube.com/GreatestAudioBooks - READ along by clicking (CC) for Transcript Captions! - LISTEN to this entire book for free! Chapter Listing and Length: 00 To My Readers -- 00:04:31 Read by Phil Chenevert 01 The Monkey, the Shark, and the Washerman's Donkey -- 00:08:49 Read by Sherri Vance 02 The Hare and the Lion -- 00:10:10 Read by Kristel Tretter 03 The Lion, the Hyena, and the Rabbit -- 00:05:48 Read by kandice stehlik 04 The Kites and the Crows -- 00:07:00 Read by kandice stehlik 05 Goso, the Teacher -- 00:07:27 Read by Venita 06 The Ape, the Snake, and the Lion -- 00:11:25 Read by Dee Wykoff 07 Haamdaanee Part 1 -- 00:16:36 Read by kandice stehlik 08 Haamdaanee Part 2 -- 00:20:05 Read by kandice stehlik 09 Haamdaanee Part 3 -- 00:13:49 Read by kandice stehlik 10 Mkaaah Jeechonee, the Boy Hunter -- 00:19:34 Read by kandice stehlik 11 The Magician and the Sultan's Son -- 00:09:48 Read by Carolin Kaiser 12 The Physician's Son and the King of the Snakes -- 00:26:17 Read by kandice stehlik More about the African island of Zanzibar: Zanzibar (zænzɨbɑr; from Arabic: زنجبار‎ Zanjibār, from Persian: زنگبار‎ Zangibār "Coast of Blacks"; zangi [black-skinned] + bār [coast]) is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25--50 kilometres (16--31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar), and Pemba. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City. Its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site and is claimed to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa. Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia). Zanzibar is the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkey, the Zanzibar Servaline Genet, and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard. Total running time: 2:41:19 In addition to the readers, this audio book was produced by: Book Coordinator: Availle Dedicated Proof-Listener: bettine Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Availle This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. Cover photo in the public domain.

• published: 13 Nov 2012
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