296 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTKAL AFEICA 



When darkness fell we all slept at a little railway 

 encampment, and proceeded next day to Zungeru, the 

 seat of Government, where we stayed with the acting 

 governor, Mr Temple. The train was late, and we did 

 not arrive till 8.30 p.m., when we walked up to the 

 residency in a perfect deluge of rain that succeeded a 

 blindinof sand-storm. We had left Kano none too soon. 

 Zungeru is an odd place to have chosen as residency. 

 The situation is low and the place hot and damp ; nor 

 before the very recent advent of the railway was there 

 any natural means of communication with any part of 

 the colony ; and the original native settlement, Dun- 

 geru by name, was very small. Government House 

 is a nice comfortable building on a superior bungalow 

 scale, but there is a general feeling that a change 

 of residency would be advisable. 



We were obliged to continue our journey the follow- 

 ing afternoon, but our stay, though brief, was pleasant. 

 We had returned to furnished rooms, and even butter 

 for breakfast, while the joy of conversation with men 

 who knew what had been happening at home was 

 immensely invigorating. 



At Zungeru a gap in the railway line occurred which 

 necessitated a land porterage of over twenty miles to 

 Akerri, where the construction line was available once 

 more to Jebba. For this part of the journey we were 

 promoted to an open truck with an awning over it, 

 which was much more fun, and as the zakis were 

 then experienced travellers, their only objection was 

 to the tedium of the journey. They were very pop- 

 ular all down the line, and many photographs were 

 taken of them ; but once we reached Southern Nigeria 

 the enthusiasm became intense. We were then in 



