SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 119 



fessor. At the completion of their course, students receive a licence or 

 diploma, and every career in the Sudan is open to them. The pil- 

 grimage to Mecca secures the title Al-hadj. Learned men from all 

 parts of the Sudan flocked to the University of Katsena, including 

 Aicha Ahmed, one of the most famous traditionists of Timbuctoo. 

 In this town the Hausa language is said to have attained its greatest 

 perfection in richness of form and refinement of pronunciation, whilst 

 the manners of the place were said to be distinguished for superior 

 politeness over the rest of Hausaland, which was itself noted for the 

 civility of its inhabitants. 



12. LANGUAGE. 



This is grouped with Coptic among Hamitic languages and is 

 very widely spoken in the Western Sudan and other parts of Africa : 

 in places so far separated from one another as Mecca, Suakim, Tripoli, 

 Alexandria, Tunis and Lagos. It is to the west of Africa what Swa- 

 hili is to the east, and what French is to Europe. On this account 

 it has been called the lingua franca of West Africa. The Hausa 

 language, with its words rich in liquids, is far more mellifluous and 

 melodious than even such tongues as Joloff, Fulani, Susu and 

 M'Fautsi. It is excelled by Arabic alone, which has with truth been 

 called " the language of the angels ". Hausa has been reduced to 

 writing for more than a century. Despite the fact that it is spoken 

 over an area of half a million square miles, the difference between its 

 dialects is comparatively slight. 



13. SOME HAUSA PROVERBS. 



I have selected a few Hausa proverbs just to show that in spite 

 of external differences, minds move along the same general lines : 



1. " Little knowledge is like kunkummi." " Kunkummi " is 



tying the hand to the neck, a dangerous thing for horsemen 

 especially. 



2. " Hurry is not strength." 



