“Ah! now we go look the desert of London; this ground no have house for him.”
In the streets they expressed surprise that everyone ate indoors and that no one was seen sitting down to food by the side of the open thoroughfare, as was common enough in their own country.
The huge population of the metropolis also came in for much comment, and they speedily realised that there were more people in London than in the whole of Kano emirate.
GLOVERBUCHANAN
BACK TO CIVILISED CLOTHES
One day, Ali informed me that:
“There be plenty plenty people for this town who all be different, and who sit and say nothing.”
This I could not comprehend, until slowly it dawned on me that he was referring to the monuments of London—“The people who sit and say nothing.”
While on the subject of monuments, the first silver currency in Nigeria had the head of Queen Victoria on the one side, and hence the shilling became widely known among the Hausa natives as Silli mai mammie (the shilling that has the mother). One day, when passing Buckingham Palace, Ali and Sakari came in view of the monument of Queen Victoria. At once they recognised the head, and excitedly pointed and exclaimed: