PPoollyyggaammyy
Polygamy is everywhere authorised, but it is not a constant
practice. In fact, the number of wives is proportionate to the
wealth of the husband. The security paid for the first wife is, as
has been said, generally paid by the father or the chief of the
family of the fiancé, who, not being married, is not free from his
father’s power; but, for the other wives, it is the husband himself
who has to meet the expense: thus the poor are almost all monog-
amous by necessity.
IInnddi ivvi idduuaal l aanndd CCo ol llleecct tiivvee PPr rooppeer rttyy
In fact, the ground is a god that no one would think of appropri-
ating to himself, still less of buying and selling. But, by offerings or
sacrifices carried out in accordance with consecrated rites, the
Negro family first arriving on the piece of unoccupied ground
obtained from the local divinity the right and the privilege to use
this land, a right and a privilege which is transmitted in the same
family from generation to generation. No individual, no collectivity
has, then, actual property rights to the soil, and no one can
transfer rights to the land of which he is not the proprietor. But there
exist in the hands of definite ethnic collectivities, each one consti-
tuted by the descendants of the family first arriving on a piece of
land and accomplishing the necessary rites, rights of usage and
exploitation that the titulary community can cede in whole or in
part, gratuitously or for payment, to other collectivities or private
persons, but always on condition of obtaining the authorisation of
the divinity by the accomplishment of new rites.
Each collectivity owning the rights to the use and exploitation of
a given piece of land has a chief, who is generally the patriarch
of the oldest family and who bears the title of “master of the
ground”. He is at the same time the grand priest of the local
religion and the administrator of the soil; he is not necessarily the
political chief of the country. The fact that he or his collectivity
should fall under the yoke of an individual or collective conqueror
takes from him none of his religious or landed prerogatives, and
that is why, in many villages, cantons or kingdoms, one finds at
the side of the political chief who holds the reins of State in his
hands, a “master of the ground” who may be only a poor wretch,
but who enjoys an intangible prestige and without whom the
political chief can do nothing when it is a question of a sacrifice
to be offered to the divinities of the locality or a distribution of
farm lands. Conquest gives no rights to the soil conquered: this is
a principle that has never ceased to be respected by the most
famous Negro conquerors.
Everything that is not land can be possessed in full property rights,
with the right of transfer, whether by collectivities or individuals.
The source of real property is work: the product of the work
becomes the actual property of the author of the work, who may
dispose of the product as he likes, giving it away or selling it,
lending it with or without interest. If it concerns an individual, the
product of his work will constitute, at his death, his estate; the fact
of having purchased a thing, of having received it as a gift or as
an inheritance confers the same rights as the fact of having created
it by one’s own work. If the author of the work is a collectivity, the
product of this work constitutes a collective property over which
none of the members of the collectivity, including the chief himself,
has a special right and which cannot be disposed of except with
the agreement of the entire collectivity or its authorised representa-
tives: such is the case of family property, of which the patriarch,
chief of the family, is only the trustee and the administrator.The farmer is not the proprietor of the ground which he cultivates,
but he is of the cereals which he has planted and harvested, in the
same way as he is of the salary that he gains in working for
another, of the cattle and the slaves which he has bought or the
wealth that he has acquired by inheritance.Only individual wealth is transmitted by inheritance. In principle
the heir is always a single person – except among some Islamised
peoples – but it is admitted that he should, in some manner and in
the measure that appears proper to him, allow his near ones to
benefit, in the form of gifts, by a part of the succession which
comes to him.Beaded belt (Kuba).
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Beads, shells, leather.
The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.A beautiful example of the beadwork tradition associated with the inventive
Kuba. Similar to a charm bracelet, a belt of this sort has a collection of
traditional items, including those realised in beadwork, and rare, highly valued
shells. Even, uneducated viewers can easily note particular elements, such as the
knot, horned animal head, bells, and leaves. Also connected with wealth and
prestige, cowries are expected to be displayed here as they do in exclusive royal
belts made of fur. Body scarification, wooden sculpture, and other designs
found in textiles are all found here. Such a belt demands the highest quality of
design and bead application.