HOST OF 20,000 HORSEMEN.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18398, 3 June 1925, Page 13

HOST OF 20,000 HORSEMEN.

WONDERFUL DURBAR FOR THE PRINCE. MEDIAEVAL THRILLS AND SPLENDOUR. KAN'O (Nigeria), April 20. Around Kano stretches a a monotonous, tree-studded, dusty plain. Across its yellowness was ranged early this morning a two-miles-long parterre of those vivid, elementary colours which native taste, with instinctive artistry, affects. In advance of this human barrier, which barred thc horizon of the plain from view, was ,in even more brilliant mass of colour, which spread down from bulky turbans in .1 chromatic cascade of flowing robes io thc richly wrought saddle-cloths of the owners' winponies. Brawn up on their front were two battalions of the Zouave-jacketed Nige. nan Regiment and the most remarkable battery of artillery in the world. It is the only battery in existence whose guns are 'carried on the heads of the gunners. They moved on parade with their whole equipment slung in a sort of stretcher, supported by pads on two men's shoulders. The Prince 01 Wales dro.ve on to the ground to a, stand formed of the historic war tent of the Emir of Kano a rough-and-ready affair of parti-col-oured canvas that a hundred years ago saw much slaughter. Then, after thc Nigerian Regiment had marched past in thc most correct Aldersbot style, we had a sudden glimpse of an older and showier kind of warfare.

Cat-Like Cavalry. Prom the dense background of natives mounted and on foot there burst a tumult of shouting, shots, and fantastic fanfares on strange musical instruments. Suddenly the motionless mob of waiting horsemen "boiled over." In groups of forty, at full gallop, they sprang forward, their spears raised abovo their heads, their vivid robes streaming out. Thirty yards from the Prince tliev wheeled, swiftly 1 as cats, and dashed off, to give placo to others. But tho barbaric splendours of tho march-past of the huge mounted host of .Emirs and their retainers, 30,000 strong, which followed, furnished such a spectacle as fow white men since the Crusaders have looked upon. Here came a throng whose horses were hidden beneath quilted armour in purple, green, and heliotrope stripes, while the riders had curious \brass helmets surmounted with towering black ostrich feather plumes. Each chief brought his own tumult of cacophonous "instruments trumpets long as lances, with strange twisted horns, oddly thrilling drums from the size of a tambourine to that of a diningtable. * Chain mail glistened beside leopard skin. Shrill war cries split the air. Banners flaunted. Plashing broadswords curved and scimitars whirled in an arc of light. Jesters With Clubs. - Ponies plunged and danced. Eiders of camels sprang to their feet on tho high saddles—dominating the whole procession—to throw their weapons into the air and re-catch them. Every functionary of a, mediaeval Court was there.,, Jesters in skins were posturing and capering and battering, their neighbours, not with bladders but .with clubs. Mounted pages sedulously fanned their lords. Troupes of dancers stopped to beat their dusty .measures before tho Prince. Small naked boys poured water from gourds to lay the stifling clouds of dust. All these 20,000 excited black faces were turned towards one slender, whiteuniformed figure, slashed across by the rich blue ribbon of the Garter, but otherwise unornamentcd except for tho green and white hackle of the "Welsh Guards set in his spiked tropical helmet. Some of thatHausa horde had travelled fiye weeks through the bush to sec him, 'bringing food for themselves and their camels with them. For an hour, without a moment's interruption, this mighty reconstruction of the glory of the Middle Ages went on.—London "Daily Mail."