Curtis - Letter home from Jack Haggard - .......... A few years back a Frenchman called Greffuhl (who is now living in Zanzibar) was forced to reside here for over two years in an unofficial capacity. I asked him if he did not find his lonely life very depressing. He replied no, that he was never so happy in his life, and he added with rapture, "Ah, every night I return to Lamu in my dreams. In that place you need never put on a clean shirt." ……

Ujiji - H. Greffuhle, a French merchant resident in East Africa from about 1868, served the House of Roux de Fraissinet until the firm went bankrupt in 1883. In the same year Greffuhle signed a controversial contract with Barghash granting the Frenchman the sole right to mint, for 20 years, a new currency for Zanzibar. The contract caused much trouble when the British took control of Zanzibar, the issue finally going to arbitration.  Greffuhle was awarded £23,500 for the suppression of his contract.

Ujiji - Zanzibar July 22 1878 - M. Greffuhle ……. A French merchant … had an auction of toys etc. today. It was most amusing to see staid and respectable Arabs and Hindoos carrying home squeaking dolls, tin railway engines, drums and penny rattles!