IN A NIGERIAN MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 32, 1 November 1907, Page 5

IN A NIGERIAN MARKET.

A ndo through the market placo of a Nigerian city while the market is in progress unngs one face to face with tho most motley gathering that imagination can conceive. Tho dignifiedl'ulani, with his air. of • high breeding; the shrewd and swaggering Hausa'j tbo active jovial pagan ; the women of every class and tribe, busy ■selling food of all sorts. Moslem and pagan, chief and slavo, trader and broker, leprous, beggars and canny thief,jostle each other amid tho noisy chatter. Here in one corner a group of traders from Chad,.from Kano, and the distant Sahara, sit conversing under their breath tho "secret word," perhaps of treason;' perhaps of tho new Mahdi, who will proclaim a Holv War against the unbeliever, whom they saluto as lib rides by; perhaps of the marvels wrought by one of those many underground sects which flutter from time to time the Moslem world. Who knows ?

Tho market is-the groat'centre of nc.vs and men from tho most distarr corners of the Soudan mootthj>'brethren i'roni the Gold Coast and the Soi'i. Gie.if travellers and shrewd traders are they all, as diverse in character as the goods for sale in the-markot itself. Hero is everything TCnj,.lish cloili, native cloth, home-grown'rottx., 'antimony for the and complexion,' s.iit and potii3!i, paper fi-om far-off TWdoH, skins of Morocco leather, water-pots of all shapes and sizes, baskets and mats, etc." . In one corner sits a barber busily shaving the heads and faces of his clients; in another a holy Mallam. writing charms for the' ignorant—a few words from the Koran for which a high price is willingly paid. You 'may have thorn wrapped in leather to carry 'about as a permanent fetish, or you mayhav'o a potion - written oh a board. Wash off the ink from tho latter and drink the decoction and 10, the cure is complete. Or ...you may have a love potion made from pounded bats'wings. It is guaranteed infallible and eagerly sought for, in spite of the warning.given by a cynical rival opposite, who exhorts purchasers to "loavo off eating bats: the only medicine with a woman is money." So much shrewdness, so much credulity side by side! —"Saturday Review."