Note the Stocks. ([See page 112.])
A SECTION OF THE MARKET WITH OPEN-AIR STALLS.
Where instead of the turban a kind of white fez is worn, as is frequently the case with young men, it is lifted in courteous salute. An Englishman may well feel proud whilst walking in the streets of Kano, not because his vanity is ministered to by the repeated deference, but that he may reflect and remember the courageous pioneers of only a dozen years ago who with resources improvised in the country won the land for Great Britain and placed the name of Englishmen highest in the land.
Going through the streets the white man is gazed at as an unusual sight, but the people did not look at me with more interest than I at them, wondering how we, a mere handful, overthrew their rulers and the large armies of mounted, trained fighting-men and captured their strong towns. However, one need not wonder long. Knowledge of contemporary events gives the answer. Still more to admire—for, after all, conquering is only a feat of arms—is the sagacity which produced the policy in full operation to-day, that of the people ruled by those whom they have selected, and rulers and people thoroughly co-operating with the governing Power in administering the affairs of the country. History furnishes no example where that has been done with anything like the same material in a similar period.
A peculiar thing struck me in connection with this general salutation. In Zungeru, esteeming the excellent feeling shown by the native population to the English, I was told I would find it still better in Kano. That is just what I did not find. In Kano City, yes, and, to an extent, at the despised British traders’ stores, but the nearer one goes to the Residency quarter the less general is the salute given an Englishman. Apparently, estimating from such signs and tokens, he is respected most in the native area. Strange, this.
Not alone the city but the entire Province of Kano is ruled by the Emir, who appoints native Judges, and from him subsidiary Chiefs and village Headmen, through Chiefs of districts, take instructions and render reports. We rule through the native rulers, the leaders of the people. A very brief survey of its operation in Kano City may not be out of place.
The entire administration of justice has been placed in native hands, except where a European is involved. The Alkali, as the Judge is called, decides cases civil and criminal, framing his decisions on custom and usage based on the Koranic law. That, purged as it has been of corruption and inhumanity, is approved by the population, who are overwhelmingly Mohamedan, as being right and just, much more than would any application of English forms and methods. The Alkali is paid a fixed salary from the public Treasury and no longer, as formerly, has a share of the monetary penalties exacted.