NATURAL DIVISIONS 123 



The origin of the Haussa race is still a matter of 

 uncertainty, although there is some reason to suppose 

 that it came from the east, and gradually penetrated 

 the Western Sudan from the north. The Haussa lan- 

 guage, which is claimed to be more in use than any 

 other native language in West Africa, is said, by Lady 

 Lugard, to be classed with Coptic among the Hamitic 

 languages.* 



History has established the fact that there were seven 

 divisions or states in Haussa Land, the people of which, 

 although regarded as having come from a common stock, 

 were almost perpetually at war with one another. The 

 mythical account of the formation of these states relates 

 that each had particular duties assigned to it ; those 

 of Kano and Rano, to the north of Zaria, being specially 

 industrial. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, 

 when the Songhay kingdom was at the summit of its 

 power, Kano and Gober, among other Haussa towns, 

 were specially referred to by Leo Africanus on account 

 of their cotton trade, f 



Everywhere along the West Coast the name Haussa 

 is associated with the idea of trade ; the itinerant nature 

 of the race inducing individuals to visit the remote parts 

 of the pagan countries, thus creating trade routes in all 

 directions. The Haussa trader of the present day does 

 not necessarily bring goods from his own country for 

 trading, but buys in one market to sell or exchange in 

 another. It is by this means that many European manu- 

 factured goods penetrate into localities where no European 

 trader has yet set foot. 



The Haussa is also regarded as a good soldier, and is 

 largely enlisted in the native regiments of West Africa 

 under European officers. 



The Nupes, Yorubas, Gwaris, Yauris, and others were 

 constantly in contact with the Haussas, and to a small 

 extent the Haussa language is spoken by them. Nupo 

 is regarded as an ancient kingdom, occupying at one 

 time a position of great importance. The Yorubas, who 

 inhabit nearly the whole of the Ilorin Province and the 

 Western Province of Southern Nigeria, trace their origin 

 from the Phoenicians of the tribe of Nimrod, and claim 



* Lady Lugard, A Tropical Dependency, 1905. p. 236 et sea. 

 f Ibid., p. 209. 



