Uandishi kuhusu ushahidi wa maingiliano katika Bahari ya Hindi katika karne ya 18 na 19 umechukua sura mpya mara baada ya washairi mashuhuri wa Kiswahili kugusia masuala ya utamaduni wa manukato au tarabizuna katika kazi zao. Washairi hao kama vile Liyongo, Mwanakupona, Sikujua, Himidi, Abdalla na wengineo wamegusia suala la manukato kama sehemu ya utamaduni uliokopwa kutoka Asia-Arabuni au Umangani hadi pwani ya Afrika ya Mashariki. Ni kwa nini suala la manukato linatumika kama kigezo cha kuathiriana kitamaduni baina ya Wahindi, Waarabu na Waswahili? Makala haya yanajenga hoja kuwa motifu ya manukato ni mojawapo ya kielelezo cha maingiliano ya kitamaduni baina ya wadau wa Bahari ya Hindi katika kazi hizo za sanaa. Makala yanatoa fursa ya kuliangalia swala la manukato linavyoibua mfumo wa kijamii na suala zima la usawa wa kijinsia, osmolojia, mahusiano ya ndoa, utambulisho na sanaa ya mapambo. / Writing about the evidence of the Western Indian Ocean connections in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have taken a new turn following manifestation of the perfumery customs in the works of Liyongo, Mwanakupona, Sikujua, Himidi, Abdalla and others who are classical celebratory Swahili poets and yet they have evoked the perfumery trope in their works as part of the adapted oriental customs in the Swahili coastal littoral. Why is the perfumery trope used as an emblematic entity of influence and contact between Asia, Arabs and African Swahili? This article argues that the motif of perfume in those Swahili poems represents the study of cultural hybridity around the Western Indian Ocean rim. This study gives opportunity for scholars to examine how the perfumery trope symbolizes social issues, osmology (power and marginality), marital relations, identity, and ornamentation customs.