Their frequency is thought to be due to Arab influence.

The male congenital inverts show from their earliest years no aptitude for men's occupations, but are attracted toward female occupations.

As they grow older they wear women's clothes, dress their hair in women's fashion, and behave altogether like women.

They associate only with women and with male prostitutes, and they obtain sexual satisfaction by passive pederasty or in ways simulating coitus.

In appearance they resemble ordinary male prostitutes, who are common in Zanzibar, but it is noteworthy that the natives make a clear distinction between them and men prostitutes.