Note 2 — Chapter II · MOMBASAH OR MVÍTA.[2]

This Kisawahili name is usually written by the Arabs ‘Mfíta.’ Dr Krapf prefers ‘Mwita,’ and remarks that the ‘Wamwita,’ together with remnants of 11 other tribes, represent the original inhabitants of Mombasah. The natives would also pronounce Mombasah as Mombásá; and indeed so it is written by Ibn Batuta (chap. ix.). The silent terminal aspirate of the Arabic and Persian becomes in Kisawahili a long á, e.g. Ndílá, a coffee-pot, from the Arabic Dallah and Daríshá, a window, from the Persian Daricheh. The translation of El Idrisi (Climate I. sect. 7), gives Manisa two days from Melinde, evidently a conception of Mvita. Capt. Hamilton (India, chap. i.) unduly contracts it to ‘Mombas,’ and this seems to be the cacography adopted of late years.