The Emir of Zaria evinced so much interest in construction that he was in the habit of sitting on the embankment, with his officers of State around, watching the rails laid. He would repeatedly enquire how much the locomotive ate, in the matter of fuel—wood—and what quantity of water it drank. He regarded it quite as a living creature. Above everything, he loved to hear its voice, to listen to its whistle and shriek. For his greater enjoyment, the whistle would be kept going at its loudest for several minutes at a stretch. That appealed to him more than the finest tones of a Caruso or the sweetest notes of a Melba or a Tetrazzini.
The Emirs were each invited to perform the ceremony of opening the railway in his own Province. In 1909 the Emir of Bida opened the 43 miles’ section from Baro to Badegi, Sir Percy Girouard, then Governor of Northern Nigeria, being present with his staff; early in 1911 the Emir of Zaria opened the extension to 267 miles’ point, Mr C. C. Temple, Acting Governor, attending; and the lengthening to Kano was opened by the Emir of that name. The Emirs were presented with bronze spanners—a material more highly valued than silver—with which they screwed up the last fish-plate bolt.
For the first few months or so that weekly trains were running to Kano, natives from the city and the surrounding villages displayed curiosity concerning the locomotive to the degree of assembling in crowds on the track at the railhead—there is no station yet—to gaze again and again at the engine. Quite polite and giving no trouble to the officials, they would examine it from every point of view, some lying on the ground to look underneath the phenomenal thing.
Last January, shortly after the railway started, a treat was given to the pupils of the Government schools at Nassarawa. The establishment is used for instruction to the sons of Emirs and Chiefs and to men for public duties, of whatever age, to equip them better mentally for their tasks. The treat consisted of an outing by train. One of the pupils, a Mallam from Bornu, 70 years old, was with difficulty persuaded to go into the truck. Covered carriages had not arrived. Eventually he did and was soon at his ease. He watched intently all that took place during the trip and on returning was asked cheerily by one of the young engineers what he thought of it all. The old man thanked the railway officials for so much education given in so short a period, but in reply to the question he said he could tell them only by writing a big book. One pointed out that some of them might not live until he had finished, in which event they would die in ignorance of the knowledge sought from him. Therefore he should speak at once.
After thinking, the Mallam replied that he might tell them a few of his impressions in a long speech, and was preparing to gird up his loins for the operation. That prospect was not at all alluring to the audience, so he was urged to give voice to the one thing which impressed him most. He at once answered, “The fact that the engine drank more water than a thousand elephants!”
Some Chiefs from outlying districts were brought in for a joy ride in trucks. When the initial uneasiness at the novel form of movement had passed off, they seemed to enjoy the thrill of being whirled along at 20 miles an hour by no effort of theirs. Asked whether the sensation was not better than travelling in the saddle they replied, “Certainly not, as the horse did not spit hot sparks at a man on his back or behind him.”
A little after 6 a.m. the train by which I travelled left Zaria for Baro, which is a two days’ journey. The first night was spent at Minna, 155 miles from Zaria. The line from Lagos and that from Baro roughly form the apex of a triangle at Minna, with the Niger, between Baro and Jebba, as the base.
Two years ago railhead from Baro was at Minna, then a small, temporary station, really merely a stopping-place. Now there are platforms 300 yards long, and the station offices are of red brick, made on the spot, with cement facings. The station is lit by incandescent oil lamps, the oil forced up 30-feet standards. It is the only station which has semaphore signals, three in each direction. There are six tracks of the standard West African gauge—3 feet 6 inches—and a turn-table capable of taking the largest vehicle on the railway, 50 feet.
One sees as many as 50 trucks, brought up or down the line, waiting to be made up for their several destinations. They contain cotton goods from England, cement and machinery for the tin mines, kola nuts from the Gold Coast Colony for the great Mohamedan centres of Zaria and Kano. Formerly the nuts were taken by head carriage.