The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-04-27
STRANGE TRIBES OF BoRcU.
From Whom, 1t Was Boaeted, No White
Man Ever Escaped.

In q description of the Kingdoms OF
Nigeria Lady Lugard. wife of Sir
Frederick Lugard. High Commissioner
for Northern Nigeria, said that the
reigning chiefs were of the semi-Arab
race of the Foulahs, or FulaDi. anG
what the great Mogul of Delhi was to
the India of Gives day such was the
Great Foulah of Sokoto to the Nigeria
of four years ago.
The Fulani was striking people,
dark in complexion, but of the dis
tinguished features, small hands and
fine, rather aristocratic carriage of
the Arabs on the Mediterranean coast
They were of the Mohammedan re-
ligion, and were held by those who
knew them to be naturally endowed
with the characteristic which fitted
them for rule. Their theory Of justice
was good. though their practice was
bad: their scheme of taxation was
most elaborate and was carried even
into a system of death duties, which
left little for an English Chancellor Of
the EXchequer to improve. The cara
van trade across the desert, which
was already old when the Arab his
torian, Ell Bekri. wrote of the country
a thousand years ago. and which then
supplied the ports of southern Europe
with the leather known to US as NOR
occo leather, and with many other
articles of luxury which English
people of that day had not yet learned
to use, continued and paid its tolls to
the Fulani.
The Fulani had come to be the ruling
people, but the Haussa, who were also
for the most part Mohammedan.
formed a very important industrial
and commercial portion of the popula-
ton. The cotton cloth Of Kano was
famous through the world of Africa
long before the Fulani had made their
appearance as governing race in
history. Iron smelling and smiths
work were spoken of in an Arabic
manuscript, not yet properly trans
lated, which carried them back to the
mythical ancestry of the founders Of
Kano. Weaving, dyeing, tanning,
brass work, leather work were among
the local industries. and trade in these
as well as in the raw materials with
which the country abounds is largely
carried on by the Haussa people.
Alluding to the condition of the
country before the transfer to the
Crown. Lady Lugard said that Borgu,
the westernmost province of Nigeria,
when her husband first entered the
country boasted that no white man
ever came out of it alive. In con-
nection with the occupation of Borgu
her husband had curious adventures,
and on one occasion put his life alb
solutely in the hands of Kama, the
King. who had, he knew, been plotting
to kill him only q few days before.
The upshot was that the King became
his fast friend, and having advised
him never again to trust Borgu man
as he had trusted him, had shown
himself ever since worthy of trust.
He still sent yearly offerings to his
friend" and Borgu gives them no
trouble. In addition to the Fulani and
Haussa races. who spoke either Arabic
or Haussa, the country teemed with
local tribes having each their own
habits and their own language. Haus-
50 was the first language which the
English officer learned, but he had to
learn many others if he wished to
make himself fully understood by the
native peoples with whom be had to
deal. -
Many of the tribes were pagans.
and it was not very long since some
were cannibals. One tribe was re-
ported to have tails. There was an
other which would appear to justify
the Greek legend of the Amazons; all
their public fighting was done by
women, and their public Offices were
also filed by women. She was told,
but could not vouch for the accuracy
of any Of these statements. that in that
tribe the women were physically lar
ger and stronger than the men. In the
worst of the pagan regions civilized
trade was not at present possible. In
Borgu the people claimed that they
had never been conquered by the Fu-
lani. and they had traditions of re-
ligion which would appear to be
Christian.
Speaking of the slave trade, Lady
Lugard said that at the time Of the
transfer the principal currency Of
Nigeria was in slaves. Large sums Of
money were reckoned not in pounds,
but in slaves; public tribute was paid
in slaves, and all labor was slave
labor. The result of the slave trade
was seen in depopulation. Where
Barth described in 1854 a population
of 100000 there were probably not
more to-day than 10000 600 or 12,G00,-
600. Yet so welded were the Fulani
rulers to the system that when, on the
assumption Of power by the British
Government, the Emir of Bautchi was
demonstrated with and asked to give
pledges of abstaining from slave raid
in cr for tho fI1t1rp his rpD1y WAS "Can