A BARBARIC CEREMONY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 293, 3 May 1913, Page 10

A BARBARIC CEREMONY

STIRRING SCENE IN NIGERIA. Sir Feredick Lugard, Governor of Nigeria, in a remarkable despatch to Mr. Harcourt, Secretary of State for tne Colonies, described the incidents which marked the assembly of Nigerian chiefs and notables at Kano on New Year's Day. He said:— •'I arrived at Kano on the evening of December 31, the emir with a following of horsemen riding out to meet my train near the city. On the morning of January 1 a review had been arranged. All the emirs and chiefs, with their retinues and horsemen, were disposed on the great Kano Plain in an oval one mile and a-quarter 'round. In the centre of this the troops, including artillery, infantry and mounted infantry, to the number of 523, were drawn up in review order. After an inspection of the troops ach emir, with his horsemen and followers in a dense mass, walked past a stand which had been erected on the ground. Each unit was entirely distinct and separated from the one which followed it, and each was entirely distinct in the dresses and the characteristics of the inI dividuals who composed it. Many Bornu horsemen were entirely clad in chain armor; the trumpets and other instruments of music and noise varied with each. Some had court jesters in fantastic garb, mounted or unmounted, who capered and danced about the emir; others had bands of led horses caparisoned in gorgeous cloths of gold, etc. The equipment and the coloring were as varied as they were picturesque. The number of horsemen who took part in this spectacular display is estimated by some at 15,000, 1 by others as high as 30,000. Tl>" multitude of footmen it is impossible to guees at. "When the last of this long procession of massed groups had .passed, in ordar of importance, each emir and chief, with a band of selected horsemen numbering from a score to a hundred, formed up facing the stand to proffer his salute in the manner, of the desert. Charging down at full gallop in a whirlwind of dust, with cries of triumph and of salutation, they drew up their horses on their haunches a few yards or feet in front of me. The emir dismounted —the ! principal emirs, with a refinement of courtesy, taking off their shoes—and prostrated himself with his face on the ground, speaking his words of greeting and welcome meanwhile. Mounting again, he led off' his men, and was replaced by the next wild charge of horsemen. When the salute was over, all the chiefs dismounted and grouped themselves in front of men, and I shook hands with each principal emir. I then made a short address, which was translated into Hausa by the Resident, * Mr. ( lowers, and a herald shouted it to the people. It was receiv-. Ed with satisfaction, and the chiefs remounted and returned with their respective followings to the town. "Next day I received each chief separately in audience, reserving for a second and private interview in the case of the more important emirs the discussion of any matter which they might wish to bring forward. In the afternoon I visited the town, where the emir met me and showed me over his residence. Hi' then showed, me personally over the prison, which had accommodation for about fiOO, but is occupied at present by 224. It is scrupulously clean, airy and excellent in every way, and he was manifestly proud of it. I venture to refer you to mv report to your predecessor of the description of the Kano prison 011 the arrival of the British in February, 1903, which-reads as follows: 'I visited the dungeon myself. A small doorway 3ft Oin by 'ft (iin gives access to it. The interior is divided (by a thick mini wall with a similar hole through it) into two compartments, each 1 17ft by 7ft and lift high. This wall was pierced with holes at its base,, through which the legs of those sentenced to death were thrust up to the thigh, and they were left, to be trodden on by the mass of other prisoners till they diqd of starvation. The place is entirely airtight and unvent ilated. except for the one small doorway, or rather bole, in the fall through which you creep. The total space inside is 201.S cubic feet, and at the time we took Kano 13.) human beings were confined here at night, being let out during the day to cook their food, etc., ill a small adjoining area.' The contract between the old and the new condiL tion of things was hardly less emphasised in other directions."