Northern Hill Groups
About twenty-three different groups can be distinguished among the people who fled to the hills of the departments of Diamare and Margui-Wandala rather than submit to Fulani rule and accept Islamic beliefs. The Fulani refer to these peoples as mountain kirdi, kirdi being their term for pagan. Although of different origins, these various groups share the awareness of their ancestors' flight; a still vivid resentment against the Fulani invader; and a similar style of living evolved in adap- tation to their physical surroundings. They manage to grow millet and other foodstuffs on the steepest slopes by careful terracing.
No large-scale political organization exists among the hill people, who live in autonomous, fortress-like hamlets. On the national scale they play a minor social and political role, although they vastly outnumber the Fulani in their densely settled region. Because of the poverty of their land, some left the northern hills during the French colonial period and returned to the plains to employ their con- siderable agricultural skills on better land. All of them speak Chadic languages of Afro-Asian stock, and all seem related to the people living to the west on the Nigerian plateau.
Largest of the hill groups is that of the Matakam who live around the city of Mokolo. Their region in the Mandara Hills is one of the most densely settled in northern Cameroon and attains as many as 500 peopie ler square mile. The basic social unit of Matakam society is the gay, or patrilineal patrilocal family, which consists of father, wife or wives, and unmarried children. The father, called bab-gay, has absolute authority. In old age he is cared for by his youngest son, who always succeeds him. The older ones marry and settle elsewhere.
Villages contain four different groups of people. Chiefs are always chosen among members of the first group, namely the clan or patri- lineage whose ancestors founded the village. Chiefs, considered the intermediary between the living and the dead, have very little authority and are mainly in charge of religious and agricultural rites. The second goup consists of the members of clans whose forebears arrived at later dates. They are ranked in social importance according to the time of arrival. The third group is composed of foreigners (keda) who left other villages for a variety of reasons. They need the chief's permission to settle but can never become genuine members. A very special place in village society is accorded to the fourth group, the ironsmiths, who make the indispensable tools and arms, help with births and burials, and know the medicinal herbs and cures. They constitute a kind of occupational caste and do not intermarry with other Matakam.
The Mandara live north of the Matakam, between the towns of Mora and Mokolo. Unlike other neighboring hill peoples, the Mandara, whose name was given them by the Fulani, have adopted Islam. This is one reason that Arab herders! like to pasture near them. Although the Mandara are cultivators, the live in fairly large agglomerations. Most Mandara villages have at least a rudimentary mosque, usually consisting of low walls surrounding a rectangular area that has a slight elevation in the eastern part for the marabout.
Having adopted Islam at a relatively recent date, the Mandara serve as a bridge to non-Islamic people who come to work for them as servants for a few months or years. These non-Muslims learn new techniques, another sort of social structure, and a different attitude toward death and burial. Young Mofou, for example, like to work in Mandara country. The Mandara wear the traditional Muslim robe and leather amulets containing Koranic verses; their household furnishings are imitations of Fulani models. Their chiefs are called sultans.
Other hill peoples include the Kapsiki, who live near Mokolo together with related groups. Several thousand live across the border in Nigeria. They are said to have come from the East about three centuries ago. The Fali live near Garoua; about three-fourths of them live in the hills and the rest live on the plains where they are beginning to forego some of their traditional ways. The Mofou live mostly in the hills of northern Diamare Department, but more and more are coming down to the plains. There are a number of other small groups speaking different languages and keeping alive their separate traditions but generally sharing the same cultural features.
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