Show 0 B g task for a hairdresser prepared bythe by the national geog aphia society washington D C service mandate of came F roun af africa rica is astonishing the c ty stands upon a hill and Is surrounded by an elaborate system of ancient trench fortifications eating from the years of tie tl e ia laders ders the trees which have been planted along every street give it a wooded effect wholly absent among the neighboring grass meadows one has an dimmed ate ite impress on of order prosperity civil bation many of the houses of are of sun dried brick and are roofed with native tiles or grass thatch the corn com pound fences are neatly constructed the market made of brick and tile is modern in type and perfectly clean at the center of the town N 1 an tin posing three story structure set in the midst of elaborate gardens it Is the palace of naoya sultan of the bagoum and overlord of everything order br eks and garden Is indigenous ex sted when the white man was no more than a myth even now outside influences ha have hate te touched it only slightly the sultan and the majority of his people are edans in accord ance with the curious rule blat tl at people of the african deserts and prairies readily adopted mohammedanism and that the people of the african forests almost invariably did not the scarcely recall a time when their life was not dot strongly influenced by the arabic belief in the center of the town facing the sultans sultan s palace Is the in mosque a frame build ng of strongly moorish type even to the vertical stripes of red and white pa nt here enery e cry fri day the elite of the bayoum gather subeh es are a proud lot the many angl n gl or of the tr be some of whom exert far more real power than the sultan himself come in from their districts brining bring ng with them a string of dependents they mike a striking picture dearly nearly all aristocrats of if the plateau ride horseback and dress in immense how flow ng robes covered with blight em some swathe their heads in white or blue turbans others wear the characteristic floppy straw hat of the pulah cattle herders all have an air of faintly contemptuous majesty they the rulers they fondly think are the pure blood conquerors from the north and therefore the superiors of the indigenous peoples with hom they have merged As a matter of fact lit tie trace of the arab strain certainly so far south as the bagoum except for unusual stature and the occasional onal alpe a bearance pe arance of an isolated straight featured type are d distinctly negroid the n gi when they come to town are followed accord ng to their rank by greater or less entourages several male members of his family usually accompany the angl also mounted ahe horses are r caly caparisoned in red and green leather the men carry elaborate spears with shafts of hard wood and tips of silver or native bronze behind comes an ous rabble of win anes es usually well laden with produce for sale at the week end market and several depressed looking burros not qu te as heavily laden as the women while the ceremony at the mosque Is in session the women and burros sit respectfully about outside when the men come out stirs with unaccustomed activity an activity which continues until the country peo pie stray away home late the follow ln ing dav markets are picturesque all sorts of produce are spread out in the market there are leati er boots scabbards and decorated harness superb pieces of bayoum embroidery rolls of homespun cotton cloth carved wooden household articles of every description hardly less picturesque Is the food market first of all there are thou sands of ears of fine indian corn it grows everywhere on the plateau more special delicacies range all the way from roasted termites eggs to crocodile steaks things of considerably less interest to a white traveler more than a thousand people attend the marbet market the sounds s gats and smells of vigorous native trading give an impression of thriving continuing african life such as one scarcely senses among the less developed forest types part among the dietary half invalid creatures of the jungle of southern ahe faNo favorable rable 1 cl I mate the in sture of types and e 11 the remoteness of the cor influences of vl 0 te c clearly show their by sunday morning tl if e peasants hare have for the most part gone away t their r I 1 produce sold or faNor favorably ably exchanged the aristocrats however remain at the slightest slig hest pro on they will ar range a parade a sham war nar anything to vary the monotony of isolated tri bal hat life even the pr presence esene of white stran gers for whom tl e rules of the plateau have great toleration but very scant respect will serve for an excuse one sunday noon recently a traveler learned that word went forth that a play had bad been arranged the eight whites then in only three of whom hom resided there permanently sat with sultan naoya in chairs at one end of the town square the riders musicians singers standard bearers and buffoons made reidy ready at the other the play running true to the type of innumerable s illar displays that take place in the larger towns of the high prairie began with an orderly procession of all the men drums fifes horns of many kinds and stringed instruments came in the first rank playing warl I 1 e refrains before them danced somersaulted and grim aced several clowns royal jesters at cached to the sultan sultans s court in much the same position held by the court jesters of medieval europe standard bearers and a rabble of singers brought up the rear the end of the square reached the marchers formed irregular lines at el ther side and spears and standards I 1 eted shouted greeting to the horse me men n who followed charge of the horsemen the square of Is narrow and blittle a little more than yards long lone it was in dafter noon of a golden tropical summer the vividly gre green en trees that skirted the plaza and the bright red earth peculiar to the dis hrict made a perfect setting the horsemen numbered more than and each was gowned in flowing robes em ein brol dered in every imaginable bright color all carried either spears or ion long flintlock rifles lifted menacingly above their heads there was a great shout and from the distance the spurred horses bore down upon the spectators at full gal lop the dust the flashing spears the wild cries and the blazing colors made a thrilling sight in another instant the small helpless group of whites were cold with terror for the charge neither turned nor abated there was no time to move moie when less than 6 feet away each man shouted stood up in his stirrups and reined in every horse rose up on its hind legs forefeet kicking pi and the line swept away at the right angle the cruel hausa bit an iron circle that rings the horse s tongue and holds in its upper side a sharp prong pron that gouges the animal s flesh when the rein Is pulled had proved its effectiveness later in the afternoon the play took the form of a series of weird tra d lional dances performed in masks these masks a fine collection of which may be seen in the private museum of sultan naoya are of copper or wood or a combination of the t two tao ao materials many though deliberately grotesque show rare sculptural ability some are enormous some ridiculously small others have the shape of animals heads horses baboons crocodiles etc sultan and his museum one of the most unusual things in Is the museum in of sultan naoya but naoya a magnificent 6 foot black chieftain with the smile of a nice baby Is an unusual man he is himself for one thin thing the inventor of one of the only two written lit alphabets known to have been produced in negro africa a phonetic alphabet which ap parent ly has nothing in common with any other on the earth the museum occue es a ion long room at the top of the palace it contains a collection of carving bronzes spears beadwork brass jewelry embroideries and textiles for which the curator of any ethnological museum would give ghe an arm naoya has gathered the things because he adm res them and because he takes pride in every trad tion of his people in other words civilization has not penetrated with its teaching that all things not manufactured in europe are therefore contemptible it must be added that the french government resident at SI quer devoted ly and charmingly upholds naoya in his point of view lia |