Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-01-20
Learn One New Thing Every Day
BULLETINS BY THE
NATIONAL GEoGR ApHIC SOCIETY
KATsENA: A ROM E OF THE TROPICS

"a Rome of the tropics, peopled
by the Israelites OF Africa, center or
a farmin region which supports a
population as n as h a OF Eng
land and exports q surplus of food
s~tuffs-sucn Is Katsena, in northern
Niagara, which recently has been
frequently mentioned because its
emir visited London and also because
of surveys of Lake Chad, northeast
ern limit Of the Hause states" says
a bullet n from the Washington, ID.
c.. headquarters Of the National
Geographic Society.
"A civilization may be incongru-
Gus in contrast to another, and yet
not so primitive as the strangeness OF
it's customs would indicate" the bull
letin continues. 1.-THE Emir of Kat
senA is reported to lave gazed in
amazement at an airplane, to ave
wondered at the parsimony of a
rich nation which did not provide
servants to wave large fans over
their rulers head so he might not
be annoyed by>fiies. and to have so
heartily approve one northern lux
ury that ne purchased a brass bed
to be sem TO Katsena for the future
royal comfort.
Have Guilds and Crusades
"Yet if he found time to read any
English history while In London the
emir must lave been interested in a
European guild system which per-
sists in the industrial organization
of mis- ovy.. province to this day, and
in the Crusades which have their an
nual counterpart IL the Mohamme-
dan exodus from his capital to Nee
ca, a journey of five or six years..
during which tho pilgrims combine
religious objective with advantage
Gus trade activities all along the way.
"As a state Katsena has been
swallowed up in the province of ka-
no IN northern Nigeria, due east OF
Laxe Chad and about half way be-
tween that marsh-bound inland sea
and the Niger. AS a city it has
shrivelleI within its mighty walls, as
hign as a three story building, and
thirteen miles in circuit.
THE city of Kano has outdistanc-
ed katsena and become the Chicago
of this fertile region of grain, cot
ton. giant vegetables and luscious
fruits, and also of indigenously de-
velopcd industries that range from
cloth making to manufacture or
glass. But Katsena still is the Gull
tural center of the Hausa peoples,
whose tongue is the most mellifiu-
Gus Of north Africa and So rich in
it's vocabulary hat you may find
words for eight periods of the day
from sunrise unit. sunset. Hausa
is the trade language of the area be-
tween the Benue. the Niger and the
Sahara, and it is one of the few At
| rican tongues which has developed a
native literature.
Hausa Ruled by Eula ME
1.-The HASA genius for trade n
farming, and their comparative lit
| erary superiority I've their negritic
neighbors, does not extend to gov
| eminent, 50 that they are ruled to-
day by the Fula, a people without
a country who generally have DOM
mated buS not displaced the popula-
tons they conquer. The Fula
chiefs. in turn. ray allegiance to
Great Britain which exercises a pro-
tectorate over Nigeria.
During the F'ula siege of Katsena
which began in 1907 and lasted for
seven years, the inhabitants faced
starvation many times, the lizards
and snakes sometimes were sold in
the market places. After the con-
quest the Fulas destroyed records
and documents which, if they now
could be had, might. throw more
light in the origin of the ancient
Hausa tribes.