Land and Labour in a Cross River Village, Southern Nigeria

Abstract

HE expedition to the Cross River country in Southern Nigeria, of which this paper outlines some preliminary results, was made possible by the generosity of the Leverhulme Research Fellowships Fund and by the courtesy of the Nigerian Government, to both of whom my sincere thanks are due. I arrived at Calabar towards the end of July 1935 and proceeded up the Cross River by paddle boat to Obubra. After a short reconnaissance of the country lying on either side of the Cross River in the Obubra and Abakaliki Divisions I decided to work in the village of Umor, and it is the territory and economy of this village community that I shall attempt to describe here. My main objective was the investigation of the economic life of a com? munity of hoe cultivators in the West African forest zone, and I was concerned with the relations of this economy to both physical environment and social organization. For this purpose it was necessary to select a group who would not only assent cheerfully to the sudden appearance of a European resident in their village but would also take kindly to detailed and persistent inquiries concerning that often difficult and even dangerous topic?the land. I was also anxious to avoid in this instance a people whose economic life was deeply affected by an external market and whose agriculture and equipment had been extensively modified by the needs and opportunities of modern trade. These conditions were largely met in Umor and to its people I owe a very great deal for their quick friendliness and their general freedom from suspicion. I was accompanied for the greater part of the period by my wife and by Mr. A. P. Brown, an artist who found time in the intervals of his painting to give me much valued help in survey work and also in the collection of data on the forest flora. We were readily accepted as residents in the village, and although there were inevitable barriers of custom which made some lines of inquiry difficult, I was, so far as ease of human relations was concerned, particularly fortunate in my choice.