Hausa mason and apprentice building a mud-brick wall, Katsina, Nigeria

"Building is a dry-season activity. The mason and one apprentice set to work. A double handful of clay is grasped, weighed, rolled into a cylinder, set and squashed a little. Within a day, the building site is filled with rows of bricks. Then, the foundation is formed with a double row of bricks set in a ditch. The spaces between the bricks and the top of the row are packed with mud so that no spaces show, and the top presents a level surface for the next layer of bricks. An apprentice will usually work first, putting the bricks in place, while the mason follows with a big basin of mud, filling in and smoothing over the wall. If it is a wall that surrounds the compound, it will be thicker and higher, so a man on horseback cannot see into the compound. When the wall has dried for a day or two, it is covered with an outer, decorative layer." [Dihoff G., 1970:katsina. praeger Publishers]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.