TABLE V

DIARY MATERIAL - KIMBAW VILLAGE*

Adults

No.	Name; Religion; Marriage; Assistants	Approx. Age	Dependants	Acreage of Farms	Seasons	Per cent Days at Farm	Per cent Days for Leisure	Per cent Days Lost for Illness and Mourning
1	Djingla, P. 3 co-wives.	45	1	1.3(?)	ii i and ii	65.2 68.1	26.4 25.0	8.4 6.9 (1.1)
2	Yadiy, P. 4 co-wives.	35	4	1.4	i ii i and ii	60.5 75.4 67.4	36.6 23.0 30.3	2.9 1.6 2.3 (0.0)
3	Clara, X. Monog. Assisted by No. 27.	35	6	2.1	i ii i and ii	65.8 61.8 64.0	30.5 29.0 29.8	3.7 9.2 6.2 (5.5)
4	Yeduda, X. Monog.	35	5	1.8	i ii i and ii	58.0 69.7 63.4	31.8 26.3 29.2	10.2 4.0 7.4 (3.0)
5	Margaret, X. Monog. Assisted by No. 26.	38	7	2.1	i ii i and ii	54.5 67.1 60.1	28.4 28.5 28.5	17.1 4.4 11.4 (10.7)
6	Audelia, X. Monog. Assisted by mother.	25	3	3.9	i ii i and ii	56.8 63.1 59.7	27.2 15.7 21.9	16.0 21.2 18.4 (4.2)

*The data included in the various columns require some explanation. In the second column I have given the name of the individual, and whether she is a Christian (X) or pagan (P); whether divorced, a widow, or an unmarried woman; whether monogamous (monog.) or polygamous (the number of co-wives has been indicated); and whether she is assisted by, or assists, others. In the fourth column, the number of dependants in the household (children and husband) is given. After the percentages of days lost for illness, etc. for the whole period ( i and ii) I have placed, in brackets, the percentage of days lost for personal illness.

Adults

No.	Name; Religion; Marriage; Assistants	Approx. Age	Dependants	Acreage of Farms	Seasons	Per cent Days at Farm	Per cent Days for Leisure	Per cent Days Lost for Illness and Mourning
7	Shemsum, P. 3 co-wives.	60	1	1.4	i ii i and ii	52.9 67.1 59.6	34.1 31.5 32.9	13.0 1.4 7.5 (7.4)
8	Kibong, P. Divorced, and living with No.17.	30	-	1.3 (?)	i ii i and ii	59.5 58.6 59.1	38.0 36.0 37.1	2.5 5.4 4.9 (0.6)
9	Dzøøndzøiy, P. Monog.	28	3	1.4	i ii i and ii	51.1 64.2 57.1	28.4 30.0 29.2	20.5 5.8 13.7 (0.0)
10	Wanaka, P. 3 co-wives.	25	2	1.2	i ii i and ii	59.0 52.6 56.0	31.3 21.0 26.4	9.7 26.4 17.6 (17.6)
11	Mbaina, P. Unmarried mother. Assists No. 21 below.	23	-	-	i ii i and ii	52.9 59.4 55.9	35.2 33.3 34.4	11.9 7.3 9.7 (7.1)
12	Fhshwaa, P. 3 co-wives.	60	2	1.3	i ii i and ii	48.1 60.5 54.9	35.4 30.2 32.2	16.5 9.3 12.9 (7.7)
13	Vindjan, P. 4 co-wives. Assisted by married daughter.	45	8	5.2	i ii i and ii	43.5 67.6 54.7	32.0 25.0 28.7	24.5 7.4 16.6 (8.2)

The figures for the amount of time allotted to leisure also show a corresponding difference in the two periods. In the first period it was not only customary for women (Christians and pagans) to take advantage of the traditional rest days, but on occasion they visited a bride, a newly-born baby, a relative in a distant village, or else attended some dance or festivity on a traditional working day. In my sample there were 68 instances of this, as compared with only 15 for the following period - late December to March. Mention was made earlier of an innovation made by Christians in the rhythm of work. They rested on the sabbath, but the extent to which they availed themselves of the traditional days for leisure depended on the time of the year and the exigencies of agriculture, - as indeed one might expect in dealing with practical farmers. In compounds predominantly Christian, most of the pagans stayed at home on Sundays in order to enjoy the company of the others, since leisure is regarded not only as a cessation of labour but as an occasion for social intercourse and relaxation shared in common. Sometimes the pagans were teased for adhering to one Christian practice and not to others; but, as one old woman put it, "Who would cook food for the children, while their parents are at church, if we did not stay at home ?"

There is a final point to be noted: the high percentage of time lost for illness, - namely 18.1% in the first period, 14.6% in the second, and 16.1% as an all-over average. If records for only personal illness are considered the averages are still high: 12.7% for the first; 10.0% for the second; and

11.5% for September to March. With very few exceptions the difference is accounted for in time devoted to sick children. Coughs, colds, intestinal disorders, and low fever seemed to be particularly prevalent at the change of season (May and again in November), and it was usual to find one or more ailing members in a household. Women were reluctant on such occasions to entrust sickly children to nursemaids, and therefore sacrificed several days' work at the farm to tend them. Some were prepared to pay the twopence at the hospital, which would entitle them to a card for medicine as an outpatient; but many feared that they would have to remain at the hospital, and therefore did not go at all. Their reluctance is understandable. It is easier to look after and prepare food for someone in the compound; moreover, those who place warmth before hygiene find the familiar hut with its hearth fire more comforting than the draughty spaces of the hospital with its cold concrete floors and limited supply of blankets. As for the women who contracted complaints, many attempted to go to the farm if work were pressing; or, after a severe bout of illness, they would try to hoe or to weed, when they should really have been sitting in the compound and "feeling the breeze" (yu fhshweeeer).

My sample for the activities of the men included only eleven individuals (the husbands of the women whose diaries I kept) but my main impression was that the men, as a group, enjoyed better health. They, on their side, often accused the women of indulging in self-pity, and it is true that the latter have a variety of phrases for describing in some detail their aches, pains, and general feeling of being off-colour on occasion. In fact, such terms are regarded as a feminine monopoly and, when I sometimes employed them, the men laughed and said - "now you are a real Nsaw woman!" But if the men are less often heard complaining it is largely because they rarely engage in sustained labour. When they do so they are not at all stoical about their temporary discomfort, they bewail their weariness and the scratches which they have received in carrying bundles of heavy firewood and thatching grass. When I teased them they said they were not so strong as the women! This male rationalization of what appears to be an inequitable division of labour between the sexes is very typical of most Bamenda tribes. In Ngie I was told that the women could carry heavy loads because they had stronger foreheads; and, on one occasion, I heard the following comment from a group of men who were discussing a neighbour who had no wife and who had to fend for himself: "He works hard. Indeed, he works almost as hard as a woman! It is a wonderful thing!"

Pregnant women usually continued to work at the farm until the eve of delivery. They did not appear to regard this as overtaxing their strength, but reserved their complaints instead for the chore of grinding maize. Where possible they often substituted yams, potatoes, plantains, or beans for the evening meal. Once the child is born a woman enjoys a period of leisure in her compound and is visited and assisted by some close relative, - a mother, sister or aunt. In two cases, for which I have records, 25 days elapsed before any farmwork was done; in a third case the period was 22 days. Even then the collecting of firewood, weeding and hoeing were done on plots near the compound so that the mother could return frequently to nurse and feed her child. This period of complete rest appears to be typical of most Bamenda tribes; and there is, furthermore, a general recognition that a nursing mother requires plenty of food and oil, as well as meat and fish when they are procurable.¹ After two or three months, women only rarely carry their babies to the

¹ In the other tribes which I visited the women remain at home for about a fortnight and sometimes for a month after they have delivered a child. The period may be much longer when twins are born.

farms and then mainly because they have been unable to find a nursemaid. Their attitude is understandable, for a baby is an additional burden over the hills and at the farm it is likely to interrupt the work.

At the risk of boring the reader with a text punctuated by figures, I have discussed my diary material in some detail because it records for nearly 6 months the actual pattern of activity in one tribe and may do something to counterbalance the impression, held by many Europeans, that Bamenda women have "but care and woe". Most Europeans rarely visit the compound and as often as not this may be on a working day, when the women are away and only children and a few men are to be seen - the latter possibly "putting story" and tippling a little palm wine. From the road Europeans glimpse women bending over their hoes and this picture comes to symbolize a depressed and oppressed Bamenda womanhood. The hardship is overestimated; the content and pride of many of the women in their work are underestimated. The unfavourable impression, once created, tends to overshadow and even obliterate the gaity and minor festivity of those three days in the eight-day week when the women idle in the compound, gossip over their pipes, sometimes dance, gather excitedly round a new-born baby, rejoice over a harvest, or conduct a bride to her new home. It is not denied that the women work hard on their days at the farm; that they must sometimes sacrifice a rest day, or several, to make up time lost for illness; and that, in short, they have a right to leisure. What is important is that the very great majority do, in fact, enjoy such leisure for some 30% of the days of the year. And this, I think, is typical of most tribes in Bamenda. The actual rhythm of work varies in different areas but, for reasons which I have already advanced and which I need not repeat here, it is highly probable that the practice of agriculture in Nsaw makes more demands on the time, energy, and skill of the women than elsewhere. In so far as this is the case, the amount of leisure taken by the women of Nsaw may be regarded as representing the average, if not the minimum, enjoyed by women in other tribes.

Having pointed out that even the women, who enjoy relatively good health, only spend some 60% of the days in the year at the farm, it is necessary to counteract any impression that I am in agreement with the Føn that the women do not work hard enough! If a Nsaw woman has not always her hand to the hoe, she frequently has her nose to the grindstone! And here full weight should be given to the fact that, when a woman goes to the farm, she has a long working day which begins about 7 in the morning and does not finish till about 7 in the evening. As Yeduda explained, when I asked her why she did not attempt to learn English, "I must cook, then I have to go to farm; I come home; I wash my child; and I cook the evening meal. I pass from one job to the other and I would forget." Like the average European house-wife, the Bamenda woman has little respite from household chores and, while these are not always as onerous, they are time-consuming. In order to complete our picture of the women's work we shall consider these other tasks in some detail.

DAILY CHORES

In the forest, and even on the plains where there is a certain amount of timber, firewood may be obtained without much effort and loss of time; but, on the uplands in Nsaw, Nsungli, Kom and much of Fungom, women may have to wander far afield to find sufficient kindling for the evening meal and that on the following morning. Women normally spend an hour or so while at the farm gathering a few sticks; but, if they are not going to the farm they may saunter out at midday for their supply. From September onwards maize-stubble yields about a dozen bundles of kindling; while, later, the men cut and

carry in heavier timber from where tracts of country have been burnt off.¹ Firewood is only purchased occasionally in the market, since a bundle costs 5d. or 7d. and lasts only some four or five days for ordinary purposes. Women, who require a lot for the brewing of beer for sale, sometimes buy a bundle though this reduces their profits. Low shrubs and small trees growing in the bush or on outlying land under grass fallow are free for all; but saplings on cultivated plots are jealously guarded by the owner for his own use. I encountered one instance where a man had granted his married daughter the right to use a patch of land previously worked by her mother, but he expressly stipulated that she was not to cut down the saplings, as he wanted them for firewood for his own household. In Mbembe and Mfumte the women said they took advantage of the slack period of the early dry season to accumulate stores of wood for the rains.

The water-supply may be as much as 1/4 mile away from the compound, and journeys to fill pots and calabashes must be undertaken at least twice a day unless, as in Bamessi, women have very large containers for keeping a good supply of water on hand. As soon as the children are old enough to fetch and carry, the filling of calabashes becomes one of their daily tasks, along with other small chores, such as the sweeping of the compound, the washing of younger brothers and sisters, the peeling of potatoes and shelling of beans. They are rarely negligent in performance, as these tasks are done in company and, furthermore, there is the inducement that their mothers may bring home some tit-bit from the farm as a reward: a handful of groundnuts or bambarra nuts, a roasted rizga, a stick of sugar cane, or a few beetles or grasshoppers to roast on the fire! While failure to carry out these jobs may be strongly upbraided, performance is not accepted casually. The child is praised and gravely thanked. Indeed, the graciousness and courtesy which pervaded all social relationships in Nsaw is one of the most delightful characteristics of the people.

Finally, there is the preparation of food which, while not regarded as particularly onerous in itself, is often nevertheless the last straw to break a woman's back after a long day's work on the farm and a weary trudge home. In most tribes, grain porridge is the preferred food and is cooked at least once a day while supplies permit. The maize is rubbed off the cob by hand, pounded in a mortar for a few minutes and then winnowed. The grindstone, which is usually placed in the rear of hut, is some 24 inches long and 16 to 20 inches broad. A woman kneels at one end, places a slightly concave basket at the other to catch the flour, grasps a small tortoise-shaped stone with both hands, and then grinds. On several occasions, when I timed the process, it took about one hour for three pounds of grain. Generally, one grinding is considered sufficient unless there is a sickly child or a feast. Old women are apt to pant and whistle over the work, and where possible they inveigle a young girl in the compound into assisting in return for a meal. On the whole, most adolescents do shoulder this burden and relieve their mothers of at least one task. But the aged grandmothers, as in other societies, are apt to bewail modern times, and to accuse the young of doing nothing but visiting. As one friend said to me: "A bride's mother makes her child proud. When the child grows up she goes to her husband's house, but she does not know how to do anything at all!" The complaint has a familiar ring. However some do conform to the ideal standard: "Some leap up quickly and grind maize flour. The girls of the compound see this and then they do the same." Whatever the truth, it is perhaps just as well that in most Nsaw villages maize is grown only once a year.

¹ But much of the heavier firewood, collected by a man, is usually sold to augment his income.

When limited supplies are exhausted by about May, the women and girls enjoy a few months' respite from grinding. One trader in Bali had bought a hand-mill, and for a penny he allowed women to grind a small basket of grain. Apparently a number took advantage of this, more especially those who engaged regularly in petty trade and had a few pennies to spare. Whether men in a group of compounds could be induced to contribute to the purchase of hand-mills for the use of their womenfolk is another matter. It is an innovation which might well be given the support of Progressive Associations which have been formed in Kimbaw and elsewhere in Bamenda. Unfortunately the women, with their negligible monetary resources, can do little. They might resort to their traditional weapon of nagging; but, if they went further and worked "according to rule", their children (along with their husbands) would be deprived of maize porridge, and no Nsaw woman (and probably no Bamenda woman) would view this with equanimity. So far from the child being tied to its mother's apron strings, it is the mother who is tied to the child: a fact of which the men are well aware and, on occasion, willing to exploit.

But to return to the preparation of porridge for the household. While the maize is being ground, water is put on to boil in a pot. Flour is added to this and left to cook for ten or fifteen minutes until it has coagulated into a thick consistency. It is then removed with a calabash ladle in dollops, placed in calabash basins, tossed (if for a guest or a husband), and served with a relish, which is put into a separate clay container (Lamnso, lang). The relish usually comprises greens such as spinach, cowpea-leaves, pumpkin-leaves, cocoyam-sprouts, elephant-grass shoots or, in an emergency, wild leaves, which have been boiled or heated, and then mixed with about a tablespoon of oil, a teaspoonful of salt, and about the same amount of red pepper. In Esimbi, Mbembe and Ngie the quantity of oil is much larger. Sometimes instead of greens, a sauce (ntee) of oil, salt and pepper is used, to which may be added on occasion fungi, pounded egusi seeds, groundnuts, okra, dried locust bean, or termites (ngosi). Meat, as I have mentioned earlier, is still very much a luxury for the majority of the population; it marks a festive occasion and, while eagerly welcomed in the diet, is not itself regarded as being particularly nourishing: "It is not food; it is something to taste!"

Yams, plantains, potatoes, cocoyams, and cassava may be roasted if a woman is too tired to do more than prepare a scratch meal; but more often they are left to boil slowly in a large pot, and then eaten either in slices, or mashed and consumed with a sauce. Cassava and cocoyam require several hours and are usually cooked on a rest day, or placed on the fire at night and left to simmer in readiness for breakfast. Nowadays, those who have travelled abroad have adopted new foods and recipes to provide variety.

In many of the Widekum tribes cocoyam and plantains are frequently cited as preferred foods, but among the Tikar and Mbembe groups maize or guinea-corn porridge ranks high and is considered as particularly appropriate for an honoured guest or for a feast.¹ In a long discussion on the subject of food, my friend Benedict told me that if he were especially invited to a meal he expected porridge, for it was real "food" and gave strength. If he were served with yams he would be disappointed, for they did not "fill the belly", and the same applied to roasted plantains, or mashed potatoes unless eked out with beans. He said women liked millet porridge because they had to work so hard to grow the millet! As for relishes, meat was sweet but one tired of it quickly, whereas spinach always tasted good. Groundnuts were also sweet in the mouth, but even if one had chewed a pound of them, the belly would not

¹ In Ngie and also, I think, in Ngwo, women boil or roast maize, but do not prepare it in the form of porridge (or fufu, as it is known in Pidgin-English).

"refuse" maize porridge! Most men in Nsaw would have agreed with Benedict. Women were less rigid in their preferences, probably because they had the chore of preparing food and, in any case, had to keep a watchful eye on the supply of maize and occasionally substitute other dishes. Nevertheless they too, granted the energy to grind grain, frequently served it for a number of consecutive meals. Bulk is important, and a stuffed belly is equated with an adequate satisfaction of hunger. Early morning visitors to my hut used to view with some dismay and concern my breakfast of orange juice, a slice of toast and coffee, and would demand anxiously: " Does it tighten your belly ? Does not hunger clutch you?" During the period of plenty, most adults consume from 2 to 3 lbs. of thick maize porridge, and 2 to 4 ozs. of greens at a meal, or about 2 Ibs. of yams, potatoes, cocoyams or plantains. In the period of scarcity, the porridge shrinks to about 1 or 1/2 lb. for the children, and very often less for the parents. The following menus give some idea of the daily diet for three consecutive days in February and three in May (see Table VIII).

TABLE VIII

February--

Name	Time	First Day	Second Day	Third Day
Elizabeth-Bika	a.m. p.m.	mashed cocoyam fried maize and groundnuts	maize porridge, and spinach boiled rizga	maize porridge and spinach ?
Audelia	a.m. p.m.	mashed cocoyam and cowpea leaves maize porridge and fish and egusi relish	maize porridge and egusi and fish relish maize porridge and egusi and fish relish	remains of maize and egusi and fish relish millet porridge and egusi relish
Juliana	a.m. p.m.	maize porridge and cowpeas leaves maize porridge and okra relish	maize porridge and cowpeas leaves maize porridge and cowpeas leaves and egusi	maize porridge and cowpeas leaves; yams for child maize porridge
Bertha	a.m. p.m.	remains of boiled yam maize porridge	maize porridge and spinach boiled sweet potatoes and boiled yams	cold remains of boiled yam and sweet potatoes millet porridge and oil sauce
Wanaka	a.m. p.m.	boiled cocoyams maize porridge and oil sauce	maize porridge and okra relish maize porridge and okra relish	maize porridge and okra relish boiled beans
Djingla	a.m. p.m.	boiled rizga boiled yams	boiled rizga boiled beans	* ? * ?

* Information not forthcoming because Djingla was in a bad temper; she probably had another meal of yam or rizga!

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TABLE VIII - Continued.

May--

Name	Time	First Day	Second Day	Third Day
Djingla	a.m. p.m.	maize porridge and oil sauce maize porridge and oil sauce	remains of maize porridge, oil sauce boiled plantain and oil sauce	maize porridge and egg-plant relish fried beans and popcorn
Yeduda	a.m. p.m.	mashed cocoyam remains of cold cocoyam	maize porridge and meat maize porridge and meat	maize porridge and meat and egg-plant maize porridge
Fhshwaa	a.m. p.m.	boiled plantains and oil sauce guinea corn porridge	roasted maize and beans maize porridge and elephant grass shoots	maize porridge and cocoyam leaf remains of maize porridge and elephant grass shoots
Elizabeth-Kila	a.m. p.m.	maize porridge and egusi relish mashed cocoyam	maize porridge and spinach relish maize porridge and spinach	maize porridge and pumpkin leaves boiled potatoes and oil sauce

The amount of time devoted each day to the preparation of meals varies but, on an average, it is between two and three hours. Once the food is in the pot, the woman is free to idle, gossip with others, nurse her child, or potter about the house - cleaning calabashes with sand and water, or giving the floor a perfunctory sweep.

The brewing of beer is a time-consuming process and in Nsaw is done mainly for some festivity, to reward a working team, or else for trade. In the Plains, in Mbembe, Fungom, and Esimbi where grain is more plentiful, beer is made in larger quantities and often mixed with honey to render it more potent. On the whole, women in Nsaw are stinted of their fair share of liquor. A man occasionally presents his mother-in-law with a small calabash of palm wine, but is more grudging where his own wife is concerned. Often her share is no more than a sip or so from a calabash cup. As one man explained to me: "If I give my wife wine, she will not be able to grind maize for my dinner!" Another informant said that if women wanted a stimulant they could brew beer, but usually they were too lazy. Actually, limited supplies of grain and difficulty in procuring extra firewood are the real reasons. In the forests of Mbembe the women seemed to be better off, for they not only had plenty of beer but, through blandishments or palaver, persuaded their menfolk to share some of the palm wine. In the "dry" season the village has a convivial atmosphere. The men ascend the palm trees with bark slings in the early morning and evening. Sometimes they remain there for half an hour or so, swigging wine and "putting storyw" before they descend to earth again with a calabash of the residue!

The brewing of beer, and the preparation of foods such as cassava-gruel, bean-balls, gari, and other delicacies by women traders will be discussed in

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