Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 109
Daw ga Htsile’s house to take the bull which was kept there for the bull festival, although Plata
himself had advised them not to take such a bull dedicated to sacrifice. When the people of
Ghwa’a realised what was happening, they dressed up for serious war and successfully stopped
the Plat-ha taking the bull away.
After the soldiers returned empty-handed to Plata [Madagali], they were told by him that their
defeat was a result of having taken a sacrificial bull. When they returned for the fourth time, they
went straight to Durghwe and took all the animals the people of Ghwa’a were hiding there. The
people of Ghwa’a felt seriously defeated and discussed what to do next, and decided to get the
colonial powers involved. They knew that Ghwa’a, and also Kunde, was traditionally under
Wandala, and that the Plat-ha had not informed the Wandala of his planned attack [implying that
the people of Ghwa’ had already told the Wandala of the attacks]. They now collected items, such
as tka [iron diggers], vardinga [worn out iron hoes], tghwa [tiger nuts], and ɓala wurighe [part of
palm tree] to get ready to contact the colonial powers.
While a gathering of the Ɗagha-ha [Dghweɗe peacemaker lineage] was taking place at Tap ga
Viva’s house because of har ghwe [regular sacrifice of a he-goat], the Ɗagha were asked to find
out how to re-establish peace in Ghwa’a. They found out with the help of their vavanza [Cissus
quadrangularis used for divination], whom they should send to the British to launch an official
complaint. Next, they prepared a pot of beer from Tap ga Viva’s house, and added three pieces of
vavanza. Someone's name was called out and beer was poured from the pot into a calabash which
the person had to drink. A man by the name Vaima [the ward head mentioned by Lewis as Baima]
turned out to be the one who swallowed the three pieces of vavanza which made him the man to
guide the subsequent delegation to solve the problem with the Plat-ha. Finally, all the other
lineages of Ghwa’a were asked to find as many cockerels as possible, which were gathered
together and sacrificed at the place where a special vavanza grew. The vavanza was now harvested
and brought together in one place.
Vaima, himself also a member of the Ɗagha lineage, was called and had to sit down nearby this
vavanza. The Ɗagha elder hit Vaima with his flat hand three times on the top of his head, and the
three pieces Vaima had swallowed came out of his nostrils. They took these three pieces and
combined them with the ones they had just harvested and handed them over to Vaima to take them
with him when leading the delegation. They said to Vaima: ‘Go and don’t fear anything!’ and
Vaima went, leading the delegation on his journey. They first went on to Ghute’s house in Chikiɗe
and from there on to Arboko and further on to Agapalawa where they went to Kalangwaya’s
house. Next, they went to Zaka Shawire in Ashigashiya.
On leaving Ghwa’a, Gwavarke, who was one of the members of the delegation, had been given a
stone. They were instructed to put this stone on the ground when they reached a place called
Yagwa [not 'Yerwa', which is Maiduguri]. First Gwavarka should kick the stone towards Vaima,
who would kick it back, and after they had done this three times, the stone was supposed to
disappear into the ground. They now did this and what had been predicted happened. After the
third time of being kicked, the stone magically disappeared into the ground.
They were instructed to continue their journey after they had done this, until they would reach a
place where they would find fertile land nearby a gagha tree [Acacia albida]. It was predicted that
they would see a ladder up this tree and they should climb up this tree to place a vavanza there.
This happened and they continued their journey. Next, they were supposed to move on and find a
grindstone. They found the grindstone and as they had been told, they put a vavanza underneath it.
They continued their journey. Now they were expected to find a termite hill. They were supposed
to kick the termite hill to find adult termites. As predicted, when they kicked the hill a second
time, they found adult termites only. Kicking a third time would produce white termites and they
had been told that this would mean that they would find yude [white man, the British]. All this
happened.
They continued their journey to Bama and from there to Dikwa and from Dikwa via Marte to
Maiduguri where they asked for yude but were taken to the shehu’s house. The shehu asked them
why they wanted him to contact yude and Vaima explained to the shehu, how Hamman Yaji was
troubling them. The shehu directed them to the governor’s house, whose name was Kaftrusa. They
went to see Kaftrusa, but were told that he was out playing tur rura [which might be cricket].
Eventually, Kaftrusa arrived, and they told their story and Kaftrusa said that they should wait
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