252 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTEAL AFRICA 



resemble the architecture of some cathedral vault. 

 Beyond this is a court, and then a third room, which 

 is again profusely decorated, and also gaily coloured. 

 Its flooring gives an impression of mosaic, for little bits 

 of broken pots are stamped into the soft mud, though 

 a regular pattern cannot be claimed for it. The artist 

 is said to be a Hausa, who came from the neighbour- 

 hood of Kano some twenty years ago. 



The Palace is also interesting, and its outer hall 

 is in somewhat the same style. Within are a number 

 of courts that lead one to another, and in the centre 

 of each is a little round hut, which thus has the dignity 

 of standing in its own grounds. 



The floor is below the level of the earth, and there 

 is a step down at the entrance. Tiers of pots stand 

 all round the walls. 



One court was full of a thick-leaved grass, grown 

 as a medicine for the back, and in another stood the 

 . unoccupied house of the chiefs late parents. 



Bound its walls are hung quivers of arrows which 

 belonged to five generations of chiefs, but there is 

 little difference between those used then and now, 

 though the oldest of all show traces of Nilotic origin. 



As a general rule, they were designed to overcome 

 the various forms of defence. Long narrow points 

 were used against chain-armour, sharp narrow barbs 

 against thick cloths, and coarser heads against thin 

 raiment — though in the last generation some are found 

 with very heavy shafts. 



It must be remembered that a scratch of the skin 

 may be as eflective as a deep wound, for all these 

 arrows are poisoned. The chief very generously gave 

 us a selection from each bag, together with his own 



