TAXATION OF NATIVES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA. 43 
NURE. 
Native Rulers and Communities. 
There are four Principal Chiefs, the Emirs of Bida, Lapai, and 
Agaie, and the Kuta. There are also some independent com 
munities who pay to no principal chief, but through their own 
district heads. There are no unsettled districts. 
Administrative Organization. 
There are three administrative divisions, of -which the first 
includes the bulk of the province : — 
(1.) The first division includes five units : the Bida Emi 
rate (2G districts, 1,204 farms); the Kedi, or river 
population, under the Kuta (four districts and 122 
farms) ; the Kakanda (river) (one district, 15 farms) ; 
the independent villages near Jebba (one district 16 
towns); and the section of the Gwari tribe (six 
districts and 12 towns) ; total, 38 districts and 1,369 
villages or farms. 
(2.) The second division includes the Emirate of Agaie 
with 10 districts and 318 villages or farms, all pay 
ing through Agaie. 
(3.) The third comprises two units, viz., the Emirate of 
Lapai (eight districts, 244 farms) ; and Sakka (three 
district#, 93 farms). 
Total, three divisions, eight units, 59 districts, and 2,024 
villages or farms. 
The formation of districts is not yet completed and headmen 
have yet to be appointed in the densely populated area around 
Bida, but temporary groups have been made under village 
headmen. 
Consolidation of Districts. 
The old fief-holders have been abolished; they numbered 76. 
Their soreness has now disappeared, and the districts are all 
self-contained. Some of them are retained as office-holders, 
but none would leave the capital to become district heads. The 
Emirates here, as in all provinces, comprise two separate classes : 
(a) the farmers of the densely populated home districts near 
the capitals, chiefly Mohammedan; and (b) the outlying and 
tributary pagans. The latter are already divided into districts 
under headmen. They have hitherto paid unit by unit to the 
Emir, but in future will pay through the district head. The 
former owned allegiance to various chiefs at the capital indi 
viduals in a single village often acknowledging different chiefs 
or patrons to whom they paid. The abolition of this system, 
and the substitution of district headmen having executive