ABSTRACT
Every rose has its thorns, and the Resident’s rose had several thorns. They took the form of, the egg and its cognate the fowl—the horse and its cognate the guinea-corn. A shortage of fowls means a shortage of eggs. A little pressure will extract fowls, eggs and guinea-corn from an Emir without any great heart-rending, but the extraction of horses is a very different matter. Guinea-corn is the staple food in most of the provinces, and is eaten by men and animals alike. There are two weak points about guinea-corn, it may be too young and green, and when given to horses may cause colic and death, or it may be too old and weevily, with the like result. The horse occupies a peculiar position in Haussa-land. He is the visible and outward manifestation of rank and wealth, power and swagger. A fine horse suggests to the native mind successful slave-raids.
