Flora, Lady Lugard

“ Horse breeding and cattle raising form the chief source of wealth in the province. There is some ostrich farming. Except in the sandy areas there is extensive agriculture, including rice and cotton. Special crops are grown in the valleys by irrigation. Weaving, dyeing and tanning are the principal native industries. Fair roads are in process of construction through the province. Trade is increasing and a cash currency has been introduced.
The emir of Gando, treated on the same terms as the emirs of Kano and Sokoto, proved less loyal to his oath of allegiance and had to be deposed. ”

“ Like the emir of Kano the new emir of Sokoto worked most loyally with the British administration. The province has been organized on the same principle as the other provinces of Northern Nigeria. A British resident of the first class has been placed at Sokoto and assistant residents at other centres. British courts of justice have been established and British governors are quartered in the province. Detachments of civil police are also placed at the principal stations. The country has been assessed under the new system for taxes and is being opened as rapidly as possible for trade. ”

“ Katagum consists of several small but ancient Mahommedan emirates—Katagum, Messau, Gummel, Hadeija, Machena, with a fringe of Bedde pagans on its eastern frontier towards Bornu, and other pagans on the south towards Bauchi. The Waube flows from Kano through the province via Hadeija and by Damjiri in Bornu to Lake Chad, affording a route for the transport of goods brought by the Zungeru-Zaria-Kano railway to the headquarters of Katagum and western Bornu. Katagum is a fertile province inhabited by an industrious people whose manufactures rival those of Kano. ”

“ The better types are hardy, orderly and agriculturally industrious. They are intelligent and have shown themselves peaceful and friendly to Europeans. Others are, on the contrary, disposed to be turbulent and warlike. ”

“ These states and Sokoto itself, known variously as the Sokoto or Fula empire and Hausaland, came (c. 1900–1903) under direct British control, but the native governments are maintained. The province of Sokoto occupies the north-west corner of the British protectorate, and is bounded west and north by French territory. South and east it adjoins other parts of the British protectorate. Bordering north on the Sahara, it contains much arid land, but south-west the land is very fertile. ”

“ The population of Bauchi is estimated at about 1,000,000 and is of a very various description. The upper classes are Fula, and there are some Hausa and Kanuri (Bornuese) , but the bulk of the people are pagan tribes in a very low state of civilization. Sixty-four tribes sufficiently differentiated from each other to speak different languages have been reported upon. ”

“ Hadeija was an old Habe town and its name, an evident corruption of Khadija, the name of the celebrated wife and first convert of Mahomet, is a strong presumption of the incorrectness of the Fula claim to have introduced Islam to its inhabitants. ”

“ They form the principal watershed not only of the province of Bauchi, but of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. The Gongola, flowing east and south to the Benue, rises in the Sura district, and from the Kibyen plateau streams flow north to Lake Chad, west to the Kaduna, and south to the Benue. The soil is generally fertile between the hills, and in the volcanic districts the slopes are cultivated half-way up the extinct craters. The climate in the western parts is temperate and healthy. ”

“ Heinrich Barth made a prolonged stay in various Hausa cities at dates between 1851 and 1855. To Barth is due a great deal of our knowledge of the country. In Barth’s time American merchants were established on the Niger, bartering goods in exchange for slaves. ”