women's duties and commanded respect. But when they were carried out by a member of the opposite sex they were regarded with some contempt and were apt to provoke ridicule among spectators and embarrassment in the performer. Much the same situation obtains in Bamenda. Agriculture is basic to existence but it is most appropriately carried out by the women. Men have their own appropriate tasks which are complementary to those of the women.

We have already pointed out that in Nsaw and elsewhere in the Province the women take a pride in their own skill and competence as farmers, in their responsibility for the feeding and care of the household, and in their knowledge that they are, in some respects, the backbone of the country. It is especially significant for a discussion of the position of women that they not only play an indispensable role in the economy and exercise considerable freedom in the management of land and the crops which they produce, but that the importance of that role is explicitly recognized by the rest of the community. In the Introduction to this book two statements were quoted which threw some light on the attitudes of the women toward their duties, and also on the attitudes of the men towards the women. They will bear repetition. Significantly they were answers to inquiries which I made about the custom of having a "cry-die" (di kpu) of four days for a woman and only three for a man; of planting four cocoyams at the birth of a girl and only three for that of a boy. They were as follows :

1. Yadiy, Djo'kem, Yuliy, Kengeran and other women:

"A woman is an important thing. A man is a worthless thing indeed, because a woman gives birth to the people of the country. What work can a man do ? A woman bears a child, then takes a hoe, goes to the field, and is working there; she feeds the child (with the work) there. A man only buys palm oil. Men only bad houses." (Wiiy dzë kifa ke ku'un ki. Lumeen dzë kifa ke kisang ki feyi, bifee wiiy dzøø wiri e wøng. Adzë lumeen yi lim g??a? Wiiy dzøø wan, wu neena li kisoo, du fee kwa, lim lim sho; yir wan sho. Lumeen yun meenggvør tshatsha. Vilum bari laf tshatsha.)

2. Kengeran:

"Important things are women. Men are little. The things of women are important. What are the things of men ? Men are indeed worthless. Women are indeed God. Men are nothing. Have you not seen?" (Vinyu ve ku'un vi dzë viki. Vilum dzë shishar. Vifa ve viki vi dzë vi ku'un. Vifa ve vilim dzë ka ? Vilum dze kisan feyi. Viki adzë nyooiy feyi. Vilum adzë kisang. B' ai yone yeen a ?)

3. Yuliy, when asked why there were four days' mourning for a woman, replied:

"Because a woman is an important thing, a thing of God, a thing of the earth. All people emerge from her." (Bifee wiiy dzë kifa ke ku'un ki, kifa ke nyooiy, kifa ke nsaiy. Wiri adzëm før fee win.)

4. The Føn and Council, when asked the same question, answered:

"A woman is a person who gives birth to a person. Women are very important people. Women are like God because they give birth to the people." (Wiiy dzë wir o dzøø wir. Viki dzë wiri ku'uni feyi. Viki dzë m'aa nyooiy bif'aa dzøø wiri.)

There were other statements to the same effect, but those quoted serve to indicate the overt emphasis on the importance of women as childbearers and food producers and the way in which certain ritual practices are rationalized in terms of that importance.

This brings us to the problem of the relation between agricultural role and fertility rites. In general, the annual ceremonies performed for the welfare of the whole community, be it tribe or village, are in the hands of the men or under their direction. Specific rituals are, however, carried out by the women but they tend to be regarded as subsidiary and limited to the wellbeing of a smaller group. In Ngie some of the senior women offer sacrifices

at the altar of the farm god at planting and harvest. In those Tikar groups, where women's societies still function, the "Mothers" invoke the blessing of God and the ancestors and brew magical herbs to endow the women with health and ensure an abundance of crops. It will be recalled that a Yelaa of Nsaw in describing the purpose of Tshøng said it was to give strength to the women to work their farms well, and that the ritual objects were "things of the earth."

The association between the fertility of women as childbearers, their agricultural role and the fertility of the land would seem to be implicit in much of the ritual. In Nsaw the Yesum or "Mother of the Farm" assists the lineage head in the sacrifices to God after the harvest of finger millet. Again, one of the Queen Mothers bears the special title of Yewøng, Mother of the Country, and acts as High Priestess. In the annual sacrifices performed at Kovifem she carries the "Basket of the Country" and the "Hoe of the Country" and assists the Føn, the High Priest, and Ndzendzef in the rites believed to ensure the fertility of the land and women, and the well-being of all Nsaw. The Queen Mothers in the other Tikar groups of Bamenda also have their ritual functions; while in Ngie women are believed to have the power to render a farm plot barren, and they may employ such power as a ritual sanction if they feel that they are being deprived by their menfolk of land required for the subsistence of their households. Throughout Bamenda, as far as I am aware, the blessing of both male and female ancestors is invoked on the crops; and, in the Tikar communities, sacrifices are made to the deceased mother and mother's mother of lineage heads. When I asked one Tieenda (Compound Head) in Bamessi why he did so he retorted: "If the mother is not, where will the Tieenda be? The mother is important." In so far as lineage heads are the main and indeed official intermediaries between the living and the dead they perform most of the sacrifices; but on occasion a woman working on her farm will ask for the blessing of her female ancestors on the crops, and pour a libation of water or of palm wine if available on the ground.

In much that has been said it is clear that the functions of a woman as mother and giver of food tend to be so identified or so fused in African thought that it is difficult to separate them in analysis. A mother will always provide her children with food, and a woman who feeds a non-relative may be addressed as ' mother '. And this brings me to another point: family relationships, especially those of parenthood and siblingship, serve as a paradigm for a wide range of relationships in the fields of kinship, economics and political organization. Both mother and father occupy positions associated with respect, authority and privilege on the one hand, and with an active sense of responsibility towards dependants on the other. The identification of authority and responsibility with parenthood occurs again and again in Nsaw values. I have already cited the titles for High Priest and Priestess - Father of the Country and Mother of the Country. A lineage head is addressed as "Father of the Compound", and his most senior wife as "Mother of the Compound." On the farms of the nobility there are always a "Father of the Farm" and a "Mother of the Farm"; while in such an exclusively male society as ngwirøng the ruling clique is referred to as "Mother of ngwirøng". Such a metaphorical use of the kinship term of 'mother' reveals the respect in which women as childbearers and food-producers are held, and it furthermore indicates that such statuses are acknowledged to be associated with the exercise of authority and responsibility in certain defined spheres such as the home, the farm and women's organizations. The question might well be raised here whether it is also conceded that the women are competent to assume the responsibilities of political offices ?

Most Bamenda men and, I think, most Bamenda women would answer this query with a somewhat emphatic denial, pointing out that a woman's

work is on the farm and that she has not time to rule the country. As one fai explained to me: "Ruling is for the man. If you catch trouble, will you send for a man or a woman ? A woman has farm work. You call her the mother of the farm" In addition to this argument others were frequently cited, more especially the alleged temperamental differences between the sexes. It is believed in Nsaw that women are more sensitive, quicktempered and capricious than men, and hence less capable of adopting the dispassionate attitude necessary for the judgment of cases. Women change their minds! One of the Queen Mothers was discussing the question with me in connection with a decision which had been made by the Føn and Council and in which the women were interested. With, I think, her tongue in her cheek she concluded her remarks by saying: "Women are like children. A child gives a grasshopper to another child. In a short time it cries to have it back again. Women are not sure what they want!" On another occasion Kengeran, whom I have already quoted frequently, said that although women were important and like God this did not mean that they were fit to rule the country. "If you give the country to women, some women will spoil the country. They have not intelligence like men. Anger burns women greatly and they have grieving hearts indeed. If you say something, a man hears it with indifference. If you say it to a woman then she is deeply pained. All troubles come to women. If food is prepared, the husband will eat and then curse you." Kengeran had, in the course of this statement, reverted to her own particular grievances but her opinion was to a great extent that of the men. After the Føn and Council had explained to me why they regarded women as important, I asked them why women did not play a more prominent part in the government of the country. I was told that " Women can't rule because they can't control themselves. They vex easily, they lose their heads." When I pointed out that I had seen men lose their tempers, the Føn replied that if a man lost his temper quickly he was reproved and chided for "behaving like a woman" (wu fhshwi kiløng tsheeertsheer, wu neena adzë mo wiiy). It is worth noting here that later in this discussion with the Council, when some of the members were bemoaning the fact that women are beginning to claim a voice in the selection of husbands for their daughters, I asked -"why not, if women are like God as you have said?" The men retorted: Yes a woman is like God, and like God she cannot speak. She must sit silently. It is good that she should only accept!

The subject of the alleged temperamental differences between men and women is an interesting one but it must be postponed for another publication. It was, however, my impression that the women did, on the whole, feel their responsibilities more keenly than the men and were subject to more stress, strain and ill-health. More than one man made the comment that women like to "foregather to indulge in self pity (awinni tati fee kisham wun)," and it was true that the word 'trouble' was often on a woman's lips and that I heard more about the "troubles of women" than those of the men. One fai, when asked to give his idea of a good wife, defined her as one "who cooks porridge quickly. Then her lineage head (her husband) tells her to go and sweep the courtyard and she sweeps it. If she is ordered to go to a place, she goes quickly. A bad wife complains about sickness always; she is constantly saying 'my body is aching'. This is a bad thing!" But it is on the woman that the chief responsibility for providing food for the husband and, more especially, the children falls. Even if the season is a good one her own health may be weakened by coughs and colds and then work becomes a burden and weeds a menace to the harvest. This anxiety about her own health is largely a reflex of her concern for her children, and it was expressed again and again by the women when fever or ' flu' prevented them going to the farms for several consecutive days. Vindjan, when asked to give her idea

of a good life, replied: "First of all strength so that I do not sicken. If I am strong then I am working well to get food. The children are well and have food. That indeed is a good life!" Another woman made a similar answer: "First of all strength because if I am not well I cannot work at all." On another occasion she said: "A good life for me is to sleep well, to have food. If I have food, I grind flour with it and feed the child with it. When the child has eaten the belly is tight. Then I am well." Most women included a husband among the good things of life providing he bought salt and oil and did not nag or curse! As one Christian woman explained to me: "It is a good life to have a husband. Then he will buy palm oil for me; he will buy salt. When hunger clutches me, then he buys maize. He buys clothes for me. That is all. If I don't have these things then my heart aches!" Some Vekovi Village women were unanimous on the point that "if a man gave a little oil, gave salt, then indeed all women would regard him as a good man. If he does these things what reason have they to hate him ?" For his part a man desires much the same things. He dreads the prospect of living with a wife who bickers, who waxes sarcastic when asked to bring water and acidly retorts: "Do you only want cold water ? Are you sure you don't want me to boil it for you ?" If he has "health, children who are well, food and a wife with a good heart, then indeed there is happiness."

Here in these statements we have nothing so elaborate as a blueprint for the future or the envisaging of a remote Utopia. Again and again the women and the men stress a few, simple, basic needs. The problems involved in the satisfaction of such needs are common to most undeveloped parts of the world; they are problems with which the Administration has been and is still grappling. They include an extension of medical services, a reduction of infant mortality, conservation of land, improved agricultural techniques, and a better diet. Marital relationships alone are not amenable to legislation either in Africa or anywhere else! But it would be wrong to assume from the statements which I have quoted that there is an atmosphere of perpetual marital discord in the compounds of Bamenda. On the contrary I heard few arguments and disputes between husbands and wives in Kimbaw, where I had ample opportunity to observe relationships among my Nsaw neighbours. Moreover, within the last 25 years, the legal disabilities to which the women were subject in some tribes under the traditional system have been removed by the Administration, and there is now much greater freedom of choice in marriage for the women, facility in obtaining divorce, and the possibility of securing custodianship of children where the Court decides that it is in the interests of their welfare. Polygyny is limited to a very small section of the population and it still is associated with certain economic advantages for the women under the traditional system. There is little to be gained from an attempt to make it illegal. Such a step would not of itself raise the status of women, and it would create misunderstanding, resentment and even hardship for the women in some cases, as well as dislocating kinship and political organization. The changes will come from within the society and are already taking place. Quite apart from the influence of Christianity, the average man is unable to afford a plurality of wives once they begin to demand clothes, better housing, European "luxuries" and a higher standard of living in general.

The main theme of this book has been the role of women in the economy: an analysis of the conditions under which they work, their methods, their attitudes to their occupation, their rights to property and the bearing of these factors on their formal status and standing in kinship groups and the community in general. As yet the vast majority of women do not envisage a future in which they will not farm. Even in the households of salaried teachers and government employees women continue to cultivate plots, though they may

also engage in trade to earn pin-money and ease the husband's burden in meeting day to day expenses. How far agricultural production can be raised above subsistence level without the participation of the men and the introduction of mixed farming is a problem for the technical experts. Clearly every effort should be made, and indeed is being made, to encourage the men to adopt farming as their main occupation. Already some individuals are planting cash crops such as coffee and castor, as well as potatoes and cabbages for export to the coast. But in the meantime any plans for economic development must take into account the fact that the women will most probably continue to assume the major responsibility for subsistence crops, and that the immediate problem is to improve their techniques and possibly organization of labour.

In Bamenda steps have been taken in this direction. Both girls and boys now spend some time in the gardens attached to schools, but since the percentage of girls attending school is still very small this policy leaves untouched the needs of the vast majority of women, old and young. To meet their requirements Women's Centres have now been established in many of the Native Authority Areas. Demonstration plots have been laid out by the Agriculture Department, and in addition courses are given in cooking, needlework, hygiene and infant welfare. In enlisting the interest of the women efforts might well be made to secure the co-operation of the heads of the women's societies,, Queen Mothers and, finally, the senior wives of compound heads. Something might also be done to carry on propaganda through such women for the organization of working teams to assist women who are attempting to farm when in a stage of advanced pregnancy or are convalescing from a bout of illness. Finally there should, I think, be some attempt to provide careers for African women in the Department of Agriculture. I am of course aware that there is a pressing demand for teachers, midwives and nurses; but the problem of improving the standard of living is so closely bound up with the improvement of agriculture that there is a strong case for training some Bamenda women either as agricultural instructors in the Department of Education or as Assistants in the Department of Agriculture.