I witnessed a march of the Second battalion through Lokoja, traversing the native quarter. It was done for recruiting. How the drums and fifes and bugles brought the young women to line up on the route and gaze on the troops as they proudly swept by! And there were the small boys, as yet entirely minus clothing, trotting along to the martial sounds. For days some of the bigger lads hung about the encampment of huts where the troops live, desirous of enlisting as buglers but not venturing to enter the trimly-kept compounds. At first they shrunk back with awe as a white officer or non-commissioned officer passed in or out. But as one of either class smiled at the youngsters or patted them on the head they gained courage and eventually several asked a native soldier how they could enlist. The majority of the youthful buglers are, however, sons of soldiers or of ex-soldiers. The military spirit has a large influence among the civilian Hausa population. They classify all Europeans in the country into practically two classes: “Colour-Sergeant _bature_”—_bature_ is Hausa for white man—and “_Bombature_.” The latter is equivalent to big white men—not in stature but status—and the former is the mark of subordinate rank. The “Colour-Sergeant _bature_” will be men of the class of overseers on the mines or second-class officials on the railway and others of corresponding rating in commercial concerns, as distinguished from their seniors. Occasionally there is an individual between the two classifications. He is provided for by the designation “Sergeant-Major _bature_.” In the estimate of the Hausas, there are no whites to be ranked as Privates. All are regarded as in some degree above themselves. It behoves Englishmen who go to Nigeria to remember this and to bear themselves accordingly. That does not warrant arrogance but entails self-control. [Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH I. PHOTOGRAPH II.] [Illustration: BERI-BERI WOMAN WITH ARTISTIC HEADDRESS.] [Illustration: SWEARING IN A PAGAN AND A MOHAMEDAN FOR THE NORTHERN NIGERIAN REGIMENT. (See page 280.)] CHAPTER XXXIV ZARIA CITY AND PROVINCE Prominence of Zaria—As a produce and trading centre—The gold discoveries—Opposite deductions—Model, native town-planning—Various taxes. On the railway route from Lagos to Kano the largest European trading centre produced by the opening of the line is Zaria. Several factors have contributed to making the place prominent and important. Until Kano was subdued, in 1903, Zaria was the foremost Hausa city which had submitted to the British. Secondly, the idea of making Zaria, instead of Zungeru, the administrative headquarters of Northern Nigeria, and the steps taken towards that object, which included building a suitable house for the Governor and others for the principal officials, mark Zaria as a Government station of distinctiveness, for though the commodious bungalows are not occupied by the class originally intended the men there are a senior grade.