ABSTRACT
The Hausas of Tunis have no houses of their own, as has been stated, and they say that they would not be allowed to build in their own way, nor to congregate together even if they had land on which to live, owing to the fear of their rulers that they would be trying to combine and thus form a centre of revolt. They live in Arab or Berber houses, therefore, and have oblong rooms forming sides of a hollow square, instead of separate round huts. The building and plan of the common round and square Hausa houses have already been described elsewhere, 1 so they need not be repeated here, and since the Arabic house hardly enters into the question, a detailed description is not appropriate. All that need be said is that there are the several apartments, in addition to the ordinary bedsitting-rooms, all opening on to a central court, there being usually the depth of only one room between the courtyard and the outer wall. The house is therefore square, consisting of single rooms forming the four sides, the walls being strongly built of brick, and permanent. The rooms are separate structurally, and with no inside doors. Auta’s room, the best one which I saw, measured 25 feet by 9 feet by about 12 feet in height.
