Hausa

“ Formerly no Hausa would dare to penetrate so far into the Pagan country or within a week’s march of this part. Now there is a Hausa market established within sight of the highway, for the convenience of caravans passing through.
About half-a-mile away is the Residency, a ramshackle mud dwelling not nearly as good as a farmer’s stable in England. Living in such places, out of sight and out of mind of the public at home, badly housed, these Residents are paid immeasurably less than the value of the service they render the nation. ”

“ There are shirkers and wasters and defaulters among the Hausa carriers, as there are among bodies of men of lighter colour skin; human nature does not become perfect, whatever the externals; but treated properly—by which is meant, with tact, firmness when necessary, and consideration—my testimony is that the Hausas are as good-tempered a class as can be found anywhere, and always ready to respond to whatever call is made upon their endurance. ”

“ The Hausa is a skilled agriculturist, who has nothing to learn in that respect from any white race. He, however, is distanced considerably by the Pagan, who tends his land cleaner. The soil is much poorer than that of the Hausa country and needs greater skill and effort for cultivation. At present the Pagan raises only sufficient for his own requirements, which besides the matter of food remain small. ”

“ A sturdy middle-aged Hausa carries one child on his shoulders, grasps another by the wrist, supporting his load with his free hand. A gay, dusty crowd, weary and footsore, no doubt, tramping twenty miles in a day carrying anything from forty to one hundred pounds ”

“ They are undoubtedly nigritic, though in places with a strong crossing of Fula and Arab blood. Morally and intellectually they are, however, far superior to the typical Negro. They are a powerful, heavily built race, with skin as black as most Negroes, but with lips not so thick nor hair so woolly. They excel in physical strength. The average Hausa will carry on his head a load of ninety or a hundred pounds without showing the slightest signs of fatigue during a long day’s march. When carrying their own goods it is by no means uncommon for them to take double this weight. ”

“ On leaving Kukawa we passed across a great plain, then through a dense forest, afterwards entering a fine, undulating country, covered with a profusion of herbage, with here and there large gamshi-trees with broad, fleshy leaves of brightest green. The moon shone bright as day, and as our file of camels strode on with slow, rhythmic movement under their burdens, the drivers would now and then sing snatches of wild songs of daring in the Hausa tongue. ”

“ This town is situated on the caravan route from the Hausa states to Ashanti, and has a considerable trade in kola-nuts, shea-butter and salt. On the White Volta, midway between Gambaga and Salaga, is the thriving town of Daboya. On the western frontier are Bole (Baule) and Wa. They carry on an extensive trade with Bontuku, the capital of Jaman, and other places in the Ivory Coast colony. In all the towns the population largely consists of aliens—Hausa, Ashanti, Mandingos, &c. ”

“ KATSENA, an ancient state of the western Sudan, now included in the province of Kano in the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Katsena was amongst the oldest of the Hausa states. There exist manuscripts which carry back its history for about 1000 years and tradition ascribes the origin of the Hausa population, which is known also by the name of Habe or Habeche, to the union of Bajibda of Bagdad with a prehistoric queen of Daura. The conquest of the Habe of Katsena by the Fula about the beginning of the 19th century made little difference to the country. ”

“ The Hausa who profess Mahommedanism are extremely ignorant of their own faith, and what little religious fanaticism exists is chiefly confined to the Fula. Large numbers of the Hausa start every year on the pilgrimage to Mecca, travelling sometimes across the Sahara desert and by way of Tripoli and Alexandria, sometimes by way of Wadai, Darfur, Khartum and Suakin. The journey often occupies five or six years, and is undertaken quite as much from trading as from religious motives. Mahommedanism is making very slow, if any, progress amongst the Hausa. ”

“ A fact worth recording, perhaps, is that while the Hausa woman spins and the Hausa man weaves cotton, the Fulani woman does both the spinning and the weaving.
If the agricultural life of the Northern Nigerian peoples is a full one, the industrial life, especially in the northern provinces of the Protectorate, is equally so. It is an extraordinarily self-sufficing country at present, [120] and the peasant-cultivator and artisan are interdependent, the latter supplying the domestic wants and making the requisite implements for the former. ”

“ The most important Sudanese Negro race of Northern Nigeria. Keen traders, physically well developed, they make excellent soldiers, and are largely utilised for this purpose by their British rulers. The Hausa States were over-run by the Hamitic Fulahs (q.v.) about 1800–1810, and now form part of the Empire of Sokoto. The Hausa language is the common medium of commerce in the Central Sudan.
Hawaiians. Natives of Hawaii, of brown Polynesian stock, akin to Maoris. A remarkably fine and handsome race, steadily decreasing since contact with European civilisation and diseases. ”

“ The Hausa carries tremendously heavy loads, so heavy that he cannot by himself lift it to his head, and therefore he always carries a forked stick, and resting his load on this, rests it also in the fork of a tree, and so slips out from underneath it. Again and again on our way up had we come across men thus resting their heavy loads. He must walk warily too, for they say so heavy is the load that the Hausa who stubs his toe breaks his neck. Slowly he goes, for time as yet is of no consequence in West Africa. ”

“ A few words on the subject of Hausa embroidery may not be inappropriate here, for it is distinctly interesting, and, in its way, artistic.
The finest and most elaborate needlework is found on the Hausa gown or tobe, which, in itself, deserves a few words of description in detail. The accompanying drawing gives an accurate idea of its shape—a surplice-like garment of immense width, reaching to the ankles. The material is frequently pleated all over from neck to knees, where it falls loose, taking on a most up-to-date flow and expansion! ”

“ Men in the outer districts, who for some time have been more-or-less in contact with the Hausa people, rejoice in a loin-cloth, and, in a few instances, a short, loose shirt which once was white, whilst the women wear a large bunch of leaves in front and another at the back. Towards and in the inner areas of the Pagan country transition of male attire is abrupt to nothingness.
As one travels through the country one sees that the ladies of the various tribes exercise more gradation. Change is not so sudden. ”

“ Their explanation is that the name “Zinder” is not of Hausa origin, but is an old Arabic or Tamāshack name belonging to ancient rulers of northern race whose tribes have long ago been driven back, though the name still remains in use among the Semitic races in Aïr and other distant places on the old caravan routes to Tripoli and Algeria. ”

“ If we have the imagination to grasp the true significance of the events which led, a century ago, to the break-up of the Hausa dynasty by the Fulani, we shall find the key to the moral side of permanently successful government in Northern Nigeria. ”

“ In the technical school, the leather-workers were particularly interesting. The encouragement of this [164] branch of native art should prove a great incentive to what is a national industry. There is no reason why in time the Hausa leather-workers should not only cut out the trade in Tripoli saddlery and boots, imported across the desert and sold at fabulous profits in the local markets, but supply, as the Hausa cotton manufacturer supplies, the needs of French and German territory. ”

“ Running forward I saw a Hausa man on the ground being dragged by half-a-dozen Pagans towards their compound and houses at the side of the path, whilst eight or ten Hausa men were trying to prevent it. ”

“ Although cannibals, like the Bonjos, they are in other respects an intelligent, friendly people, who, under the influence of the Muhammadan Fulahs, have developed a complete political administration, with a Royal Court, a Chancellor, Speaker, Interpreter, and other officials, bearing sonorous titles taken chiefly from the Hausa language. Their own Bantu tongue is widespread and spoken with slight dialectic differences as far as the Nana affluents. ”

“ At many parts of the Pagan country wood is scarce. Fuel consists of dried cattle-dung and sapless cactus. A leaf or grass without moisture takes the place of the English kitchenmaid’s paper for lighting the fire. Flame is obtained by striking flint on a bit of iron or focussing the sun’s rays by means of a piece of glass, probably part of a broken bottle dropped by some Hausa miles away and picked up in the fields. Where a Hausa village, which always means a market as well, is near, matches are being introduced. ”

“ The chief agricultural implement is the Hausa hoe, the galma, a curious but efficient instrument, which simultaneously digs and breaks up the soil and is said to be of great antiquity, but which is easier to draw than to describe. There is also in daily use among the Hausas a smaller, simpler hoe and a grass-cutter, while the pagan favours a much heavier and more formidable-looking tool. ”

“ They carried children, too, on their backs, tiny babies that must have been born on the journey, or lusty youngsters that were a load in themselves. But a Hausa will carry an enormous load himself—sometimes up to 240 lbs.—so it is not likely he will have much consideration for his women. ”

“ Natives of primitive environment are very easily influenced, and the act of changing abode an undertaking of small consequence, so that once a movement commences, others quickly follow the example of the leaders. My boys, Sakari and John, I fancy, expressed something of popular Hausa opinion when they quaintly proffered the conviction that “Kano is sweet past Zinder.” ”

“ The men turn from their work in the fields to bow to the white men. The Hausa villages and Fulani farms are not far from the dwelling-places of their aforetime prey, for slaves, and sworn enemies. Cultivation of the land, though not general, is fairly frequent. Pagan villages, instead of always being made in rocky heights where they were safe from the raiding Fulani horsemen, are now seen pitched lower, and not infrequently in the valleys. The British power [155] ensures them protection and peace. ”

“ The variety of trades may be estimated from the old Hausa system of taxation. This system the Fulani adopted, modifying it slightly here and there by enforcing closer adherence to the Koranic law, and we are modifying it still further by a gradual process tending to merge multiple imposts under two or three main heads, with the idea of establishing a more equitable re-adjustment of burdens and to ensure greater simplicity in assessment. ”

“ He speaks Hausa colloquially and will frequently make the natives laugh by his waggisms in that tongue. I have heard him switch off his conversation with an Arab merchant to discuss matters with a French officer who could talk only in his own language. He would probably strike you as being languid and indifferent, but no Arab merchant is more alert, mentally, to the turns in a business transaction, and I happen to know that there are few, if any, individuals who look further ahead in a commercial survey. He appears to take things easily, and never hustles ”

“ In a subsequent chapter the method and manner of ruling these Pagan tribes is explained. They, unlike the Fulani, the Hausa and cognate people, have no corporate life.
A single instance is rendered to show the spirit which animates the Government of Northern Nigeria in dealing with the inhabitants of the country. ”

“ HAUSA, sometimes incorrectly written Haussa, Houssa or Haoussa, a people inhabiting about half a million square miles in the western and central Sudan from the river Niger in the west to Bornu in the east. ”

“ In the part of the territory of Damagarim through which I had travelled since crossing the frontier there was no great change from that of Nigeria. It was certainly less populated, but the Hausa, Fulani, and Beri-Beri tribesmen were the same, as also was the construction of their grass huts and villages, though some of the latter were somewhat dilapidated and had the aspect of belonging to a poorer or more careless class of natives. ”

“ But the importance of the adoption of Islam by the Hausas cannot be exaggerated; they are an energetic and intelligent people, and their remarkable aptitude for trade has won for them [320] an immense influence among the various peoples with whom they have come in contact; their language has become the language of commerce for the Western Sudan, and wherever the Hausa traders go—and they are found from the coast of Guinea to Cairo—they carry the faith of Islam with them. ”

“ The usual scenery of the bank is occasionally broken by a trading station, usually consisting of two or three corrugated iron sheds placed adjacent to the beach but on rising ground which the flood-level does not reach.
Standing quite alone, many miles from trading stations, are the riverside villages, enveloped on three sides by the forest. The architecture tells that the Hausa country has been left. These lower-river tribes build their oblong houses of bamboo, placed vertically. ”