BUM
Social and Political Organisation
Before the arrival of
Zintgraff, Bum consisted of a
fairly elaborate chefferie on a hill top surrounded by villages small in
size except for Fonfukka, which had
become a point of contact between Grassfield traders and long distance
merchants from the north and north-west. Many of the villages are said to
have been founded by princes in the reigns of early kings. There are seven
sub-chiefs, those of Sawe, Saf, Mbamlo, Mungong, Nfat, Mbuk and Fio, among
whom the first stands in a special relation to the
Fon of Bum as trusted adviser and witness
of his installation. The palace itself contained the headquarters of the
main conciliar and regulatory institutions; but village-heads (abitek)
exercised considerable autonomy, and appear to have controlled public
works in their own villages and to have dealt with the majority of civil
disputes as presidents of an open moot attended by compound heads. As in
Kom, many of them might own male
associations, but the latter were not used, except in sub-chiefdoms, as
local regulatory associations. Some also might possess guinea-corn
medicine and be responsible for village rituals co-ordinated with those of
the palace, as in Kom.
Clans are dispersed and predominantly patrilineal, but
there is evidence of the previous existence of a few matrilineal clans
which now seem to conform to patrilineal descent. Genealogies of lineage
heads are some four to six generations in depth and seem to date from the
'Bala' raids and the consequent shift of
population. Succession to compound-headships (as also the
village-headships and the kingship) is ideally filial; in comparison with
Kom, compounds are large and accommodate patrilineal extended families.
The main distinction between clans is between those which are
Alung, descendants of the
original migrants from Mbot and
participating in the prestige of the royal house, and the
Atshinawüt who can be
regarded as commoners, although the term means literally 'outsiders', i.e.
not of the Alung group. The connections between the Alung clans
are exhibited in ritual at ancestral graves: lineage-heads perform blood
sacrifices and make food offerings, but libations of wine can only be made
on their behalf by the Fon. As in former days in Kom, the Fon made
circuits of his kingdom, staying with his retinue in the compounds of
village-heads; on these occasions he might perform sacrifices and settle
local disputes. It was recognised that commoners who brought their
complaints to the palace might sometimes be prevented from seeing the Fon,
or having their case reported accurately to him by palace retainers.
The royal palace consists of a large piazza around which
are the meeting houses of tut (vide
infra), the hunting lodge of fumbain,
the palace military lodge, and the senior lodge of the women's
association, tshong (not to be
confused with the men's association also called tshong and held by
some village-heads). The headquarters of the associations restricted to
royals such as nggili are
further removed; a special section of the palace easily reached from the
private royal quarters housed the pages and the regulatory association,
kwifon. The royal mausoleum is
at a little distance from the main palace complex beyond the wives'
quarters and contains the graves of the two Fons who have died at
Lagabum. The inner part of the palace
contains the lofty audience chamber and sleeping quarters of former Fons,
but these, though they are respectfully preserved, are not the centres of
royal ritual, as they are in Bafut,
Kijëm Kegu and
Mankon.
Associated with tut are hereditary officers (tshesu
tutsu), consisting of eight men of Alung status, a princess who
acts as wine-server, and the Fon. Fon Sawe and Fon Mbamlo may also enter
the house; and any man from Bum proper can become an ordinary member on
payment of the entry fee of four goats, two fowls and a drum of wine which
are shared between the Fon and officers. The most senior office, after the
Fon is Njito (a permanent
title), allegedly descended from one of the early fons; he can never be
removed from office. He is the Fon's trusted adviser, and also acts as
king-enstooler at the installation ceremony which takes place in the tut
house in the presence of the most senior member of the royal lineage and
the premier sub-chief, Fon Sawe. Before a tut session starts a
sacrifice is made of a fowl; God is invoked and the names of deceased Fons
are called. The house of tut is regarded as one of the two
conciliar bodies controlling Bum affairs, and as the institution concerned
with the protection of fertility and health, and the expiation for
accidental bloodshed. It assembles to inaugurate the local cycle of
guinea-corn sacrifices, the ibin
December festival and whenever summoned by the Fon. It formerly heard
civil disputes, but if these were too difficult they were transferred for
hearing in kwifon quarters and judged by its important members,
though male officers of tut might be present. The Fon, because he
is associated with peace and mercy, never attends trials though findings
are reported to him. Criminal cases such as witchcraft, treason, murder
and adultery with a Fon's wife were automatically heard by kwifon.
The regulatory institution, kwifon, comprised an
inner council referred to by virtue of its meeting place (nda-tshum)
as tshesu tshumsu and
consisting of four or five co-optive members of commoner status; the
members of the kwo' mortuary society; recruited retainers (
asutshisëndaso);
and
#men who had paid to see the sacra of kwifon.
This last right was extended to royals - an unusual privilege in Bamenda
chiefdoms. As in other regulatory societies, a young retainer,
babe, is in charge of the herald and
lictor masks and instruments of kwifon, and disciplines his
juniors. Young retainers are all of commoner status and this status
includes the sons of princesses given in bride-wealth marriage. There was
no obligation on commoners to present twins for service in the palace.
Nda-tshum
was the second council of state and all important decisions involved
consultation between it and the nda-tut. Thus decisions on peace
and war and on the punishment of criminals were initiated by nda-tshum
but referred for confirmation to nda-tut. It could also fine the
Fon but never remove him from office. Its orders were, in the main,
executed by retainers who might, if arrests or expropriations were
intended, be accompanied by masked lictors. Executions were carried out by
a masker in the bush: this man was always a stranger. Kwifon was
also concerned with the regulation of annual renders at the dry-season
annual festival of ibinilume
and the appearance then of the village mask-societies. It also controlled
trading practices and enforced the repayment of debts.
The palace depended on the regulatory institution for
the arrangement of public services with village-heads - such as building
and clearing - but not for its regular food supply. There were farms
worked by palace women and young retainers under prince over-seers. A
source of wealth was, however, the granting of honorifics, to obtain which
a man had to satisfy the notables of both conciliar houses and the Fon
with gifts. These honorifics, which gave a man access to the ruler's
presence and enabled him to take a share of later gifts, were not
hereditary: as we have seen there are scarcely any hereditary titles in
Bum. The public services owed by young princes, in common with others,
were regulated by the royal nggili society under its own senior
boys, though disobedience to the orders of kwifon brought the
young princes under the discipline of kwifon. Princes endowed with
raffia stands by the Fon were expected to maintain a regular supply of
wine to the palace. Princes settled out in the villages were expected to
visit the palace regularly to report on local affairs. An elder royal,
usually of the generation of the ruler's father, acted as head of the
royal lineage and had his compound near the palace. He was one of the tut
officers, appointed the head of the nggili society, arranged the
marriages of princesses, acted as priest in the royal mausoleum, and was
present at the Fon's installation.
It is difficult to recover the pre-colonial military
organisation since it has, in recent times, been reformed on the model of
the Nso mfu society and
used for poll-tax collection. It would seem that formerly a local war
lodge (nda-tsham) existed
in most villages. In kwifon there was formerly a lodge (nda-asugwe)
for thirty outstanding warriors of commoner status appointed by the ndatshum;
an inner council called nesugwe (mother of asugwe)
consisted of five members appointed by ndatshum and was consulted
in times of war. Its leader was held to have a power called
finti, a clairvoyant and
predictive capacity which was conferred upon him by the Fon.
The institutions briefly described refer to Bum proper.
There seems to be considerable variation in their nomenclature in the
minuscule sub-chiefdoms: in Saf, for example, the institution most closely
corresponding to tut is called nsëm,
and in Mungong ye-gong.
For further information contact
Ian Fowler