AS the MSS. which form the present volume are the first published specimens of Hausa writing, it will be well to make a few general remarks in regard to the language in which they are written. The Hausa language is of special interest, first because it is perhaps the most widely spoken language on the continent of Africa, being spoken by about one per cent, of the whole population of the world, and secondly, because of the striking similarity of its structure to that of the Semitic languages and the possibility that it may prove to have had a definitely Semitic origin.

Extent to which the language is spoken.

Hausaland, or the country inhabited by the Hausa people, extends, roughly speaking, from lat. 8 N. to 14 N., and from long. 4 E. to 11 E., and includes an area of half a million square miles, the whole of which is within the British sphere of influence. This territory is supposed to contain a population of about twenty-five millions, fifteen millions of whom are believed to speak the Hausa language. Hausa is moreover the language of trade throughout the whole of the Central Soudan, and indeed the greater part of Africa north of the equator.