Specimens of Hausa Literature

Hausa is an African language originating in Niger and northern Nigeria and spoken widely in West and Central Africa as a trading language. This anthology of Hausa texts (mainly Islamic religious verse and historical narratives) was the first publication supported by the short-lived Hausa Association, formed in 1891 to promote the study of the Hausa language and people. Under its aegis the Reverend C. H. Robinson went on to produce a Hausa Grammar in 1897 and a Dictionary in 1899, making great advances in Western knowledge of the language, despite the fact that some in the field criticised him for his relatively short exposure to Hausa-speaking countries. With facsimile reproductions of the manuscripts at actual size, the texts collected in this book were the first published specimens of Hausa writing. Each text is transcribed into in roman script and an English translation is given on facing pages.