Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 252
which had already been made fertile, by keeping animals for dung production and practising
crop rotation.
In this first chapter section we will introduce the general layout of a Dghweɗe farm by using
the illustration of a model I previously published (Muller-Kosack 1996). When we look at
Figure 17 below, we need to imagine that the designated area illustrating the Dghweɗe farm
layout is not a representation of the true geographical dimension in terms of distance or size,
but is only an introduction to the classification of basic types of farmland. Also, the
uncultivated bushland and cultivated farmland were in quality not so distinct, except that the
bushland was generally further away from the agglomeration of houses with their outer fields
(kla pana) and infields (vde).
Also, the distribution of fields is very simplified, as is the distribution between fallow land
(susiye), cultivated bushfields (siye) and cultivated outer terrace fields (kla pana). We can
imagine that the cultivated bushland (siye) was often less terraced, while the outer fields (kla
pana), despite consisting of cultivated and fallow land, formed the terrace fields away from
the houses. Below are photographs taken at the time to illustrate wider views of types of
terraced hillsides. Concerning the actual coverage of fields and their related ownership, we
also need to acknowledge that our model is possibly not geographically representative of the
size of cultivated land (kla pana), which here is linked to five nuclear families and their
respective infields. The number of fields visible under the designation of both kla pana and
siye do not have equivalence to the five owners, which means that the model presented in
Figure 17 is indeed very schematic.
Figure 17: A model of the general Dghweɗe farm layout
Figure 17 shows
five houses and a
tree with each
one, representing
a hamlet or khuɗi
luwa,
literally
meaning 'stomach
of a settlement'.
Such land was
constantly under
cultivation. Each
of the houses is
occupied by a
nuclear
family
with their house
and infields (vde).
In the past it was
always
the
infields
which
received most of
the
animal
manure.
Near the hamlet
with its houses
and infields, we
have kla pana,
and further away
we have susiye.
We see they both
show cultivated
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