Ummoja Wema

[shipstamps]

Other issues of Zanzibar show small types of dhows. The designer of these stamps is Abdulla Farhan and the craft shown on the stamp illustrated is a "buti", one of three local types; the others are the "jehazi" and "machuwa". Built of local timber from the jack-fruit tree ("mfenesi"), the buti is used for local trading. The illustration, from the sketch book of Mr. Farhan, shows a craft taking teachers and their wives to the southern areas of Zanzibar before they were connected by road with the city.
SG360 Sea Breezes 9/58

[Arturo]

Umoja Wishi

She is a trading local dhow. Known as “Buti” type. Built in 1926 for the late Mr. Shawi Makame of Zanzibar.

Generally she is used for carrying small groups of passengers as required.

Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts withlateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Some historians claim the dhow was invented by Arabs or Indians, but the majority give the credit to the Chinese.

Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, fresh water or merchandise, along the coasts of theArabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and East Africa. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty, smaller ones typically around twelve.

Zanzibar, 1957, S.G.?, Scott; 259

Source: Wikipedia.