Major A. J. N. Tremearne (1877-1915) was both a military man and a historian. Over his numerous long trips to Africa he recorded and documented many rituals and religious aspects of the Hausa culture. This book (first published in 1914) has over 60 historical pictures and almost 50 illustrations. There is line music and chants for calling bori spirits, descriptions of many of the demons and gods of the Hausa people, descriptions of rituals for puberty, marriage, and childbirth. Love spells and death curses are explained, as well describing the actions the Hausa people took to protect themselves from bori or human enemies. Pictures include spirit dances, magical tools and medicine huts, as well as sacred areas of worship. There are illustrations of musical instruments, holy weapons, and cooking tools. There are pictures of Hausa fashion at the time, henna hand and face paint designs for festivals, and descriptions of hygiene and hair-styles.
Bori or spirits or demons that are mentioned in this book include fighting spirits; black spirits; Mohammedan spirits; the spirits of the forest, water, and grove; demons and demon-dancing; children spirits; agricultural spirits, etc. At the end of the book is a description of local plants and what the locals use them for (as food or for health or as catalysts in spells and prayers). Pictures of the spirit or demon or bori dancing lists what spirits are in the picture, and their call and song, as well as their history and how the dancers’ react to them (for instance some harm their dancers or try to throw them into water, etc.)
This author’s other books include: Hausa Superstitions and Customs, Hausa Folk-Tales, The Tailed Head-Hunters of Nigeria, Some Austral-African Notes and Anecdotes, and The Niger and the West Sudan.