Peoples of the Northern Flood Plains
The peoples living in the far northeast near the Chari and Logone rivers include, from north to south, the Kotoko, the Mousgoum, the Massa, and the Toubouri. All of them speak Chadic languages. Their recorded histories begin with the time of the Fulani conquest of the Adamaoua region, although they are probably indigenous to the north- ern flood plains. Because of the geographical features of their region, they were better equipped than their southern neighbors to withstand Fulani attacks and the incursions by slavers from the north and east. They are fishers and cultivators, and they keep cattle, mostly for marriage payments. Because these may be as high as ten head of cattle, young men often must go elsewhere to earn the necessary funds.
The Kotoko
The Kotoko live on both sides of the Logone and Chari rivers, from Lake Chad south to about the eleventh parallel. They are believed to be descendants of the Sao, the legendary early settlers in the Logone valley, whose compact settlements the Kotoko developed into walled towns of brick. The towns have become too large for the Kotoko, whose birthrate is declining, and are surrounded by enormous walls several miles long, up to thirty-five feet high, and sometimes crenelated. Within them, narrow alleys wind between high, windowless walls that hide the dwellings and courtyards of individual families. Noble families always live in the northern section of town; lesser families and foreigners reside in the southern section. Between the two areas, on a vast square, stands the residence of the ruler, or sultan.
The Kotoko are skillful fishermen who obtain their catch by using large butterfly nets. They are also noted as builders of boats that are made of planks literally sewn together. They formerly engaged in cultivation only for their own consumption and left cattle raising to Arab herders. In more recent times some Kotoko have become cattle raisers as well. The men are also renowned as dyers of cloth and the women, as makers of pottery.
Rights to land use are carefully delimited between cities. Foreigners, including the Arabs who have been there for generations, must pay tribute to the various "chiefs of the soil" for the rights of cultivation and pasture. The Kotoko also have a monopoly over fishing and river transport. The river waters are strictly apportioned between towns, each having a "chief of the waters" who presides over the cult of water spirits and who decides when fishing is to begin. Tolls are levied for river crossings, and foreigners may fish only after having made certain payments. Conversion to Islam and practice of Muslim rites are combined with totemism and a cult of spirits, who are believed to be living in the water and in certain sacred trees and rocks. The Kotoko's Chadic language has many different dialects.
The Mousgoum
Islam also is making inroads among the Mousgoum, who live south of the Kotoko. The Mousgoum have adopted the flowing dress of the Mus- lims and the Fulani type of house. For the past thirty years or so they seem to have been spreading in a northerly direction toward Fort-Foureau. An equal number of them live across the river in Chad, where they are called Moupoui.
The Massa
The densely settled Massa south of the Mousgoum have their administrative and geographic center at Yagoua. The name Massa designates groups of varying ethnic origins who speak the same Chadic language, have the same customs, and worship the same rain god, Olona. They are also known as the Banana. Bana in their language means "comrade," and banana means "being in a state of fellowship."
The Massa are probably of Nilotic origin, closely related to the Toubouri living to the south and east of them. They suffered in the fourteenth century from raids by the Islamized kingdoms to the north, such as Bornu and Baguirmi, and at the end of the nineteenth century, from Fulani attacks. Nevertheless, they adopted Arab dress and imposed some features of Fulani political structures upon their local "chiefs of the soil," who were in charge of agrarian rites. They appear to be spreading northward. About 50,000 Massa live in Chad.
The Toubouri
The Toubouri (Toupouri, Tupuri) south of the Massa are also very densely settled, and there are up to 388 people per square mile in some areas. They, too, seem to be spreading northward. About 53,000 Toubouri live in Chad. They are skilled as farmers and stockraisers. Their paramount chief, called ouankoulou, has essentially religious functions. The Toubouri have borrowed a rite called gourouna from the Mousgoum. The Massa, in turn, adopted it from the Toubouri. Gourouna thus constitutes a tie among all these peoples. Men who take part in the rite retire for several months from their ordinary pursuits and restraints, during which time they drink prodigious amounts of milk.
They do not live in seclusion, in contrast to initiation rites, but are very much in public view, festively garbed, singing, dancing, and engaging in mock fights. As many as 7 percent of the male population, aged eighteen to thirty, may take part. The rite, which lasts several months, is a public demonstration of the fact that the participants belong to families who are wealthy enough to own the necessary herds and who are able to dispense with the young men's labor.
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