- 74 Reviews.
Hausa Stories and Riddles, with Notes on the Language etc., and a concise Hausa dictionary. By Hermann G. Harris, B.A. Weston-super-Mare : Mendip Press, 1908. 8vo, pp. XV -f iii -t- 33,
Mr. Harris, who was for about eleven years engaged as a missionary amongst Arabs and Hausas in North Africa, may be congratulated on a useful contribution to Hausa literature. The great variety of dialects represented in the thirty stories is of special value, as many writers are apt to assume that there is a standard Hausa which is current throughout Nigeria. To a certain extent this is the case, but particular districts have particular expressions, words, and phrases, a knowledge of which is useful for everyday work and indispensable to a study of the origin of the language. The system adopted by IMr. Harris of writing down the words as they are actually pronounced by different men is at first puzzling, but, if the reader repeats a doubtful phrase or word two or three times, the meaning begins to dawn on him, and the exercise is useful. Besides which, in many cases no one is yet entitled to say what is the correct pronunciation. When Mr. Harris states (p. xii.) that Northern Nigeria is the home of the true Hausas, it should be under- stood that he means the present home. The available knowledge of the tribes, languages, and history of the Central Soudan is so incomplete that the original home of the Hausa must long remain a matter of conjecture.
As a whole the stories, and especially Nos. 7, 9, 10, 12-15, 17-19, and 24-6, give a good idea of what life in Hausaland was before the British occupation. The districts concerned can be readily recognised by anyone with a little local knowledge, and some valuable hints can be obtained as to Hausa ideas and customs. In No. 2 the superficial character of Mohammedanism as practised in Hausa is well illustrated. The learned man, priest, or mallam, the archer, the wrestler, and the courtesan are represented travelling together and stopped by a swollen river. Each relies on the instruments of his trade to cross the water. The mallam puts his trust, not in prayer, but in the paper on which he writes. This paper and the writing on
