have separate bins or take different sections of the attic for their respective crops.

The arrangements among co-wives for preparing meals for their joint spouse follow no consistent pattern in Nsaw; as the men sometimes said, "custom is variable " (viling-viling - a word also meaning patchy), and my own observations confirmed this. For example, a nshilaf who has 14 wives has allotted 3 to each house in his compound and from each house cooked food is sent morning and evening to his own hut. In the compounds of minor lineage heads, who may have from 3 to 5 wives, the brunt of the cooking falls sometimes on the youngest, while the older inherited wives only send food from time to time, more especially when they want salt and oil. It is a matter of a quid pro quo. If the husband is inclined to be mean in his distribution of those items, the food may be given rather perfunctorily and grudgingly, as happened in one instance when a friend of mine said "I have only given him porridge because the rains have been good and I have had a large harvest!"¹ On another occasion she remarked: "I only give food to the Fai when the children have had sufficient." The women draw on their own supplies, but sometimes receive a supplement of grain from their husband's own store.

In the case of Councillors, who may have 12 or more wives, the Yelaa appoints 3 or 4 to act as cooks for a certain period. Arrangements in the palace are more elaborate: the Yelaa chooses 6 wives to act as nshilaf-wiinto to grind maize; others serve the Føn with wine or water, and others again fill the calabashes at the Føn's own water supply. Finally, there are, according to the Yelaa, about 20 wives whom she selects and trains to cook the Føn's food and who bear the title of wiinto-fai and are highly respected. One wiinto-fai is in charge in the morning, one in the evening, and so on through the whole rota. The procedure is for the nshilafsi to obtain grain from the Føn's storehouse in the inner courtyard of the palace, and to grind it in a special room. They then take it to the wiinto-fai, who cooks it and who, in the process, must not touch her body with her hands. If she wants to scratch herself there are small raffia sticks for the purpose. She carries the food in a calabash to the Føn and may be present while he eats. Maize for strangers is kept in another store, and is prepared in the quarters of the Føn's wives.²

However to return to the management of resources in less exalted circles. When a young girl harvests 20 to 50 lbs. of grain from her own little patch of land, she places it in a separate corner of the attic. It is consumed eventually by the household, but her specific contribution is recognized and viewed with pride. When a married woman plants maize or millet in her mother's farms, the harvest is often brought to the latter's compound but always on the understanding that so many vegati belong to the daughter and will be removed by her as required.

Throughout most of Bamenda the general practice is for a woman to have control over all the food that she produces; but, as mentioned earlier, there is a deviation in a few tribes. In Mbem and Mfumte, the men give assistance in the cultivation of guinea corn, and the harvest is placed in their own stores or that of senior wives. In either case it is a senior wife who doles out a share

¹ My friend was a wanto, who was an inherited wife with a large household. Nevertheless, her husband (a fai) rarely kept her provided with necessaries. On one occasion, after I had given her salt, her daughter (aged about 9 years) said: "Some people (meaning the fai) throw thorn-apples at the wanto; but Missus throws salt." The child's older sister was upset by the remark and said "A child should not say these things"; but the mother replied "Let her say it, she has seen well!"

² The account I have given was obtained during the reign of the late Føn, who was simple in his tastes and, apart from a little more meat, had much the same diet as his subjects. In the training of the cooks, the Ya-Nkooni (who is a senior wife) assists the Yelaa.

to her co-wives. In Mbembe, the men own bulrush millet and guinea corn and women are not allowed access to the granary, without the express consent of the husband. Frequently the young married men store their crop in the granary of the compound head; but, in middle age, they gain more freedom and may contribute only a small portion to him.¹

Frequent reference has already been made in this book to the fact that, among the Tikar tribes, a number of men plant, weed, and in general tend plantains and bananas and have exclusive rights to dispose of the fruit. On the other hand, if women assume responsibility they are at liberty to cut the fruit and, if they wish, sell it in the market. But in the Widekum group, and also in the Fungom area, cultivation of this crop and, more importantly, its utilization is a male prerogative. The Ngie male householder even takes over its preparation for a meal, presiding over the cooking pot on the verandah of his house, and often surrounded by a group of children, hoping for titbits, while the wives remain in the background until summoned to take away their portion. Tobacco is another cash-producing crop which is largely in the hands of the men, though women in most tribes may grow a little for their own needs.²

GIFTS

Granted that a woman not only grows most of the food but also cooks it, there is nothing surprising in the fact that she is considered the most competent person to decide how and when it shall be used for household purposes. But this management of supplies also includes the right to make gifts to relatives and friends. Generally she does not ask her husband's consent for, as both men and women stressed, "food is a woman's thing". But in some of the Fungom villages and among the more northern Widekum tribes, she would mention the matter beforehand, though there was never any suggestion that he would impose a veto. A husband is, after all, entitled to some knowledge of his wife's activities! He himself, however, has no right to take food from his wife's store and give it to others, though he may on occasion suggest that she make a present to one of his needy kinswomen. But usually the initiative comes from the wife herself and she does not require such marital prompting. This is consistent with the pattern of gift exchange throughout most of Bamenda. Men most appropriately give meat, fish, wine, salt, oil or a little cash to their kin and affines; while the women dispense foodstuffs and beer. The association between the provision of food and women is borne out also in a number of linguistic usages. In Nsaw a man instead of saying he is going to marry may say he is "going to eat porridge", it being one of the chief duties of a wife to prepare meals for her spouse. Again, the feeding of children is viewed as a function of motherhood, and is reflected in the metaphorical use of the term 'mother' as addressed to a woman by a man who has received frequent hospitality at her house.

Ties of kinship, then, are expressed not only in assistance in work and care in case of illness, but also in an interchange of gifts. From time to time a woman hands over a bag of maize cobs, flour or yams to her mother, her sisters,

¹ In a great number of tribes a woman, in the first year of her marriage, works on the farm of a senior wife or a husband's mother. Later she is allotted plots of her own and assumes control of the harvest. In Mbembe a woman is not given a store for maize until she has delivered her first child. In Mbem, the senior wife frequently manages the distribution of maize.

² In Fungom Village the women told me that they could only smoke in the presence of the husband with his express consent. Often they had to pay for the privilege; or rather they would prevail on a mother's brother to give them about five fowls and some salt to hand over. Occasionally a man may permit his senior wife, ni'apwi, to smoke without payment because of her age and status, saying "you are like your sister (waasu)." In this area, the tie between brother and sister is close and the former must respect the latter.

her married daughters, husband's sisters and brothers' wives; and, on a later occasion, she receives some return from them. Her husband also remains under an obligation to her kin even when he has completed marriage payment, and he is expected to make contributions of salt, oil, meat, and so on. Beneath the apparent spontaneity of such gifts, however, there is a realistic appreciation of reciprocity on both sides. A Natum of Aghem, after she had stressed the generosity of a woman in constantly making gifts of food to her married daughter, then proceeded to point out, of her own accord that the son-in-law "paid" for these eventually, since he had to give her oil, wine, beef and shillings. "Food is not something he obtains for nothing!" If a woman asks her husband to contribute to a feast "he must listen and obey her orders". She, on her side, "must hear him" and then there is no palaver in the household.

These exchanges are of great importance in strengthening kinship and affinal ties, but, from what has been said, it should not be assumed that the actual quantities involved constitute a drain on the resources of one household, or are a considerable supplement to those of another. The situation varies of course from year to year, and is affected by the frequency of festivals for marriage, childbirth, house-building and, finally, assistance given in case of sickness. A woman who has a long bout of illness is not merely cared for by her mother or sisters but also fed by them. For instance, in my Kimbaw budgets, Kengeran gave to her sick married daughter 2s. 3 1/2d. worth of foodstuffs - an amount which represented a large portion of the total value of foodstuffs, namely 8s. 4d., given to friends and kin for the period, September 1947 to March 1948. In another budget, the value of food given to a sick relative was 4s. 8 1/2d., as compared with the total value of gifts of foodstuffs and beer-namely 11s. 8 1/2d. for the whole year.

Nsaw land varies in its fertility and, in a year when rainfall is delayed, certain areas experience more hardship than others. At such times, women or their adolescent daughters go to beg food from their more prosperous kin, including sometimes a lineage head, who may dole out maize from his own store. Again, when purely social visits of two or three day's duration are made to relatives in other villages the visitor rarely goes empty-handed. Finally, there are the feasts in connection with marriage, childbirth, housebuilding, and certain societies. Whenever possible, most of these are arranged to take place in the dry season when food is plentiful.

At a wedding those who accompany the bride to her new home usually carry from 6d. to 1s. 6d. worth of flour or maize grain; but, it should be stressed, they are wined and dined for two or three days, and are often presented with anything from 3d. to 1s. in cash by the groom or his male kin. Women may attend two or three such ceremonies in the dry season. Gifts at childbirth depend largely on closeness of relationship and whether a journey to a distant village is undertaken. At housebuilding, the women of the compound may prepare from 10 to 20 lbs. of maize porridge or mashed cocoyam, but their work is recognized in that meat, oil, salt, and wine are sent as a reward to them during the feast. In my budgets the value of the gifts of food and beer received and given during the 6 month period (in some cases a full year) varies enormously from a few pence to some twenty shillings. Apart, however, from probable gaps in my records for some individuals, who neglected to mention all transactions, differences are due to the tendency of some persons to visit more frequently than others; secondly, to the size of the household; and, finally, its total income. It is perhaps significant that, in the case of two Christian men who were earning in the vicinity of £20 a year, hospitality was extended on a much more lavish scale than in the lower income pagan households; and the return for such hospitality in kind and in cash was correspondingly large.

Standards of living will be dealt with more fully in the next chapter, but here it may be mentioned that, on an average, a household probably gives away in one year vegetable foods and beer to the value of from 3s. to 6s.

So far we have been considering a woman's right to distribute small quantities of uncooked foodstuffs to others, and also her specific contributions of cooked foods at feasts. But there is also the question of gifts of cooked food to visitors at the house, or to residents of the compound. A woman is expected to provide for her husband's guests as well as her own, and to be ready for any emergency. Generally she prepares extra porridge or mashed cocoyams on market day and on the traditional rest day, when people pass through the village and are likely to call on their friends and kin. Within the compound women, unless they are in the relationship of daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, do not regularly exchange food but, from time to time, those who are particularly friendly invite each other to a meal, or perhaps send a child across the courtyard with a bowl of yams or greens, as the case may be. Needless to say, children pick up titbits at all doors, and particularly that of the father's mother. In many tribes, husband and wife eat apart; but, even if they sit in the same house, they do not as a rule share the same bowl. If the husband has a hut of his own his food is sent to him there, while the woman remains in the kitchen to tend to her children's needs.

The expert cook receives her due mead of praise: visitors to the house lavish encomiums if the maize has been finely ground and boiled to the right consistency. Conversely one of the greatest insults a woman may suffer is to have her food refused by her husband! The pride which a woman takes in dispensing hospitality, not only at a women's festival but also to her husband's guests, is one of those intangibles most difficult to document; but, again and again, I was struck by the dignity and graciousness of the Bamenda hostess. A senior wife or one of high rank is, furthermore, jealous of her prerogatives and resents any attempts to deprive her of her right to divide the food at feasts. On one occasion the preparation of maize porridge for a ceremony after childbirth was delayed until two senior wives of the lineage head arrived to take over the task; and, whenever I presented meat, salt and oil to the women of a compound, it was carried to the hut of the senior woman for her to divide. Often a favourite wife of high rank and middle age may assist. Such duties are not regarded as menial but rather as a means of acquiring status as well as being a recognition of status. This was brought out very clearly in the case of one of my friends, a woman who was a grand-daughter of the Føn and in her late forties. She had been the favourite wife of her late husband but, when he died, his successor neglected her and also failed to provide the household with salt, oil and tools. She said angrily that times had changed. My interpreter, Benedict, pointed out philosophically that everything changed and that she must not grumble. Then she went on to recall with pride how her late husband had always selected her to cook food for his guests and to serve them. They had made gifts to her and they all "knew her". But her new husband did not bother and none of his friends knew her! This last was an exaggeration of course since her rank as wanto secured her respect and deference from those who met her, despite lack of attention on the part of her spouse. But her remarks threw a vivid sidelight on her attitude to her duties, - one moreover which was very typical of most women.

Contributions to Women's Societies

We have already mentioned on several occasions that, during the first part of the dry season when the tempo of farm work slackens and there is plenty of food, the women cook on a more lavish scale and brew quantities of beer. In the tribes of the north-west this is institutionalized, in so far as it may be a means of entering one of the women's societies. Unfortunately, I had only about

two months in which to visit different villages and it was moreover during the rains, in June and July. But I was able to obtain some details about the societies; and, in Bentshan, Fungorn and Zhoaw, the senior office-holders were good enough to show me the ritual objects of which they had charge. In the last named village, my partial "initiation" was more formal in that palm wine was provided by the chief. We first partook of this with due ceremony, and a little was thrown on the floor of the hut "to make our hearts cold". This is not the place to discuss these societies in detail but they are relevant to our present problem, namely women's rights to crops, and the means by which they attain prestige through distribution of any surplus.

The areas with which we are principally concerned are Aghem, Kom, and Fungom, though Nsungli, Bamessi, Bum, and Nsaw also have societies.¹ Unfortunately, I spent only a few days in Nsungli where, owing to the insistence and persistence of the women, I had to discuss cattle problems most of the time. But I was told of the ndju society whose office-bearers are called ma-ndju and ngaa-ndøng, the latter being junior in status and responsible for the blowing of a small pipe (ndøng) covered with cowries. Usually the ma-ndju (mothers of ndju) are senior wives of lineage heads, and they are treated with considerable respect by the women. Their role is compared with that of a nføømi in the mandjøng club. It is noteworthy that, in the discussion of damage to farms by Fulani cattle, the mandju organized the meetings and acted as vehement and voluble spokeswomen.

The Nsaw society of tshøng meets only on a ngoilum, and not always every week, possibly because there is little in the way of a farm surplus for feasts. The ritual objects of the society are known as shiib Føn (medicine of the Føn) and, in Kimbaw, are in the charge of a few of his wives, who have attained the status Ayinko (mothers of the Society).² The jiib when not in use are kept in one of the Føn's storehouses. They include a large black stone (tshøng), some 18 inches long and 10 inches wide; small baskets (nka-shiib), with cowries attached to the rim and parts of the design; calabashes (bar-shiib), covered with a coarse mesh and also decorated with cowries; a two-foot bamboo with cowries; and a notched stick (kikwakwar ke shiib), which is scraped in time to the dancing. A woman or adolescent girl must pay for the privilege of seeing these objects (tang tshøng) by providing, with the help of her kin and friends, a feast in which wine, oil, fish, egusi, and groundnuts are important items, along with the inevitable rounds of porridge and cocoyam. Any woman or girl may take part in the dancing, which is held in the quarters of the Føn's wives. There is not space here to describe all the details of an initiation, but the high lights of the ceremony may be indicated. A small temporary structure (laf-shiib), which is made from mats and is some 4 feet in diameter, is erected in the central courtyard, and may be entered only by ayinko and the initiate. Dancing goes on most of the afternoon and there is a little feasting. About 6 p.m. the initiate squats in the laf-shiib and the ayinko bring out from a house nearby several baskets, one containing small black stones with which to strike the tshøng. Of particular importance is a farm bag which contains the tshøng itself. A yenko slowly removes the stone to show it to the initiate, while the women dancing outside the laf-shiib, shout: "Tshøng! Tshøng! " or " shiib Føn! "³ Some-

¹ With the exception of Beba, where there is a society called fungweera, of which the head is manfo (mother of the Føn), there are no women's organizations in the Widekum group.

² Some of the other Nsaw villages also have tshøng stones.

³ The house, in which the ritual objects are kept for the day of a ceremony, may be entered only by those who are Ayinko. In addition to the tshøng stone and calabashes shown to the initiate in the courtyard, there are others in the house which are seen only by Ayinko. They bend over (guë 'ti) while standing in their presence, but may sit down to partake of food there. All the other women feast outside in the courtyard.