ca, are
open, and boldly uncovered, in the Hausa States.

Most of what is written in this chapter refers to the Hausa women, who
form by far the greatest number in this country; but it is necessary to
write a few lines first about the Fulani women, who are aliens and of a
different social, political, and racial type.

It is now generally acknowledged that these people--Fulanis--originally
came from Asia, or at least are Semitic.

They are the rulers of all this great empire, and have for a hundred
years exercised a tyrannical rule over the Hausas and the pagan peoples
whom they had succeeded in enslaving before British rule in turn
overcame them. The Fulani women are many of them olive-colored; some are
beautiful and all have the small features, thin lips, straight nose, and
long straight hair associated with the Asiatic. The Fulani rulers,
following the Eastern fashion, have large harems and keep their women
very secluded.

The late Emir of Zaria was terribly severe to all his people, and cruel
to a degree with any of his wives who transgressed in any way or were
suspected of unfaithfulness. In one instance in which a female slave had
assisted one of his wives to escape, both being detected, the wife was
immediately decapitated and the slave given the head in an open calabash
and ordered by the Emir to fan the flies off it until next night!

I have been admitted into the home of one such family, the home of one
of the highest born of all the Fulani chiefs, saw two of the wives and
bowed to them, but the two little girls of seven and eight years came to
call on me. On the whole I was struck with the cheerful appearance of
the wife and the sweetness of the two little girls, but the husband was
a particularly nice man, I should _think_ a kind husband, and I _know_ a
kind father.

I knew one other Fulani lady long after the death of her husband, she
being about sixty-five years of age, and a very nice woman in many ways.
She told me that her husband, although of good family, had married only
her and that they had been happily married for over thirty years when he
died, and she had remained a widow. I fear, however, these are
exceptional cases and that the ordinary life of the women of the ruling
Fulani class is a hard one.

I was once sitting in my compound when a well-covered and veiled woman
came to see me, with the excuse that she wanted medicine. After some
conversation I found it was trouble that had brought h