immigration to East Africa, both before and after their conversion to Islam; and the arrival of the Portuguese under Vasco da Gama. The Book notes the great comets of 1830, 1844, 1845, 1854, 1860, 1861, 1882 and 1901. The K version ends with the death of Sultan Barghash bin Saʿīd of Zanzibar and the succession of Khalīfa bin Saʿīd in 1888. The L version ends with the death of Sultan Ḥamūd bin Muḥammad and the succession of ʿAlī bin Ḥamūd in 1902, noting that the latter was merely a nominal sovereign. Richard F. Morton regarded the Book as a legal document for use by Islamic judges (qāḍīs), a view rejected by Chittick. Excerpt The beginning of the redaction in manuscript K goes as follows: In the Name of God the Merciful the Compassionate, and to him we call for help, this is the Book of the Zunūj and information about them on the shore of the Indian Ocean towards the West. Praise be to God the Creator and Maker, the Loving, Possessor of Excellence, Generosity and Liberality, Who made for His creatures colours, white, red and black, and gave precedence to some over others in respect of lordship, extent [of rule] and happiness, and decreed for him whose father prayed against him blackness of face both for him and his offspring, and that they should be slaves to the offspring of his two sons. And prayers and peace be upon the Chosen One, Praiseworthy, and his family and his Companions, the people who bow and prostrate themselves. And so we have summarized information about the Zunūj on the shore of the Indian Ocean towards the West, and the Equator, to make clear the Zanji inhabitants whom God created in it, who were on the Juba, that is, the Kushūr in the original Arabic speech and the WaNyika in the Swahili language; and information about the Arabs who came to the Zanj country and built houses in the districts and towns and villages, and dwelt in them from the time of the jāḥiliyya . . . Notes Bibliography 19th-century Arabic books 20th-century Arabic books Arabic non-fiction books Swahili literature Islamic texts