Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 88
terrace cultivation of sorghum. Our documentation of the Dghweɗe past ritual culture makes
them an ideal case study to illustrate how our assumed shared pre-colonial past might once
have ethnographically appeared in the mountainous part of our subregion.
Before we present our legendary accounts to ethnoarchaeologically support our first
hypothesis of a connection of the Wandala with the early development of terrace cultivation
of sorghum, and then at the end of this chapter link it with intensified manure production, we
will present Leo Africanus as another early written source. He was the first to mention the hill
populations of Borno and describe their way of life. We then connect Leo Africanus and the
already mentioned Anania, and discuss possible suggestions for early trade relations, and
subsequently compare them with some oral Dghweɗe accounts. By doing so we continue to
concentrate on the distinction between early and late pre-colonial times when discussing the
historical relationship between the Wandala and the Dghweɗe, which represents also an
important key to understanding the pre-colonial way of life in the Gwoza hills as a whole.
Mentions of hill areas by Leo Africanus
In 1529 Leo Africanus not only mentions the 'Medra' (Mandara), but he is the earliest source
to inform us about the mountain populations of Borno, of which he speaks as the 'Montanari'
(montagnards), as opposed to those of the plains of Borno. We have a vague idea about the
zone of influence of the Borno kingdom during the second half of the 16th century from Ibn
Furtu, when he describes Borno's wars against rebellious vassals of the wider region, among
which the Wandala of Kirawa were only one. The other was the 'ruler of Marghi', and we
remember that the 'mergi' (Margi) had already been mentioned by Fra Mauro about 125 years
earlier, in the context of the 'mendara' (Mandara).
Leo, who visited Borno around 1513 (Rauchenberger 1999; Muller-Kosack 2010), in his
account describes the montagnards of Borno only from hearsay, mainly the details merchants
from the plains told him, which also shows that in the early 16th century, views held about the
hill populations were already subject to prejudice (English translation from Rauchenberger by
me):
The landscapes of this province [Borno] are quite different. Some areas are mountainous while
others consist of plains. In the plains, there are big villages in which the more highly developed
people live as well as the foreign, black, and white merchants. The soils there are rich and heavy.
In one of these villages lives the king of Borno with his officials. In the mountains live tribes who
raise goats and cattle. They plant millet and other, but unknown cereals. They all go naked during
summertime and cover their private parts with small aprons or leather. During wintertime, they
wear sheep hides and their beds are made of fur. Some of these montagnards have no religion,
neither Christian nor Jewish or Islamic. They live like animals without faith. They share their
women, who work like men. They live in villages where they live together like families. These
mountain people also fight each other but they use only bows and wooden arrows, without iron,
which they dip in poison...
One of the reasons for quoting this is to show how far back the prejudice about hill
populations being viewed as backward and socially inferior goes. Leo had learned it from
hearsay when he wrote that they would 'share their women, who work like men'. The first part
of the sentence tells us more about Leo's and his informants' prejudices, while the second part
presumably throws a realistic light on the social division of labour among the 'Montanari' of
Borno. I have seen with my own eyes how hard women work in the hills. He also describes in
a realistic way that 'they raise goats and cattle, plant millet and other, but unknown cereals',
which indirectly suggests that they practiced mixed farming. We tend to think that this
included sorghum, either under the translation of 'millet' or that of 'other, but unknown
cereals'. He also says that 'they fight each other', which indicates that tribal warfare was seen
as being typical for them. We will see later in Part Three, how war alliances reflect conflict
divisions based on local clan and lineage groups among the Dghweɗe.
86
