I leave this part of the subject with the remark that I can say very little about the official quarter, as there was never any cause for me to enter it beyond a few yards when I had to go to the Post Office to despatch cables, for two visits to the Residency and one to the Treasury to obtain change of money. The place is no doubt comfortable enough. Reports say that it lacks little in that respect. But in Mandarin-like attempts to set up a caste apart from all other men, it reminds one of the Forbidden City of Pekin. Yet these matters are insignificant—I hope I ruffle nobody’s sense of dignity by saying so—compared with the interest, the attraction, the fascination, and the importance of Kano City and its inhabitants. First, however, some reference to the European stores which have been started at Kano. They belong respectively to the Niger Company, Lagos Stores, the Tin Areas of Nigeria, the French Company, and a Syrian trader. The latter has a house and does not live in a hut in the native quarter, as do nearly all his compatriots in West Africa. He approaches a great deal more than they to the European manner of carrying on business. Messrs John Holt have a site, but building has not been started. All the stores adjoin one another. They are within a few feet of the railway. The sites were selected by Sir Hesketh Bell during his term as Governor. His policy of facilitating commerce in every colony of which he has had charge is recognised by merchants at home, and has been publicly acknowledged repeatedly. The Niger Company and the French Company do what is termed a canteen business—i.e., that of retailing tinned provisions, etc.—as well as dry goods, whilst the other firms confine themselves to the heavier class of articles, though a few of the former class are also disposed of over the counter. There is not sufficient demand to maintain even a single little store for Europeans. The number of white people, officials and traders, does not exceed 30, and all bring their requirements, except fresh food, for the term of service. The stores started only a few months ago, when the railway was completed. They are not in working order and he is wise in his generation who does not rely on them. My stay in Kano has been longer than planned, with the result that for a week I had no bread; hard, thick biscuits—euphemistically called cabin bread—having to be a substitute. They were eaten with tea for which neither milk nor sugar was obtainable. Subsequently I learnt that I could buy fresh cow’s milk from native farmers at 3d. a pint bottle. When the flour had been consumed, I again flourished on cabin bread. On a supply of flour coming up—sold at 4s. 6d. for a 7 lb. tin—the always willing and useful Oje declared that he “fit to make bread,” and quite a palatable quality he produced.