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  In the early 20th century, Hamman Yaji, the Fulani ruler of Madagali, developed a unique and  intensified form of slave raiding, extending it into the Mandara Mountains proper. This paper  describes and analyzes his slaving strategy, tactics and results in the light of his diary, which records his restructuring and management of this economic sector, contemporary written sources, oral traditions and ethnography. It pays particular attention to the responses of the montagnard groups on which he preyed and develops an interpretation of the nature of the interface between the Fulani and the montagnard resistance.   The montagnards on whom Hamman Yaji preyed consisted of numerous ethno-linguistic groups speaking related Chadic languages and organized into small chiefdoms rarely exceeding a few thousand inhabitants (Figure 1).   While such groups are sometimes described globally as Kirdi, a word of Kanuri origin meaning “pagan” (http://www.mandaras.info/Kirdi.html), this term is derogat

The second category of forces which control the world are anthropomorphic spirits of which there are two classes; yal and shatar . These supernaturals are actively malevolent or mischievous; the good which they do is entirely by indirection; that is, they may not do ill and to that extent do good. Although these beings do not always have anthropomorphic appearances, their behavior is conspicuously like man's. They have appetites, reside at specific places, and, most importantly, they are amenable to human acts in that they must be pleased, angered, persuaded, or even tricked or fooled. Thus men are not entirely helpless with respect to these supernaturals unlike their relationship to iju. The majority of rituals are aimed at influencing them. Yal are the more dangerous of the two, being capable of causing serious illness and even death. One is very careful not to offend a yal; either by specific act or by inadvertence. Margi do not talk lightly about yal, and they treat their trad

  Version I (From M. Bitrus Kajil) Once the sky, where our vision ends, was not as far away as it is   now. The sky was so close to the ground that when someone ascended   a very high mountain he could even touch it with a very long guinea corn stalk. When people prayed to iju he sent his only daughter, Awa, with   whatever the person prayed for. When poor people prayed to iju for   food, for example, they were given the food. There was, among the   people who were given food by iju, a very careless woman who was   too lazy to wash the container in which the food was given. So when   the daughter of iju was washing the container a splinter got under her   fingernail and she died.   See that the daughter of iju was killed because of the carelessness   of mankind, iju took the sky very far away from man so that there   should be no communion between him and man. Version II (M. Margima Gadzama) Long ago iju was close to the people of the world. At that time people did not do work fo

 

 

 

The Past (Labar Zizigu) 2 Marghi belief Finally, we must consider that portion of Margi belief which explains nature and the origin of natural phenomena, for these forces are as much a part of the world as its geographic features and its inhabitants. This must be done cautiously, however, in order to avoid the impression that these people are overly concerned with supernatural forces or even that religion constitutes a cultural focus as it is claimed for societies in other parts of Africa (Herskovits 1958:177). Gulagu market 1960 A "world view" entails the organization of both natural and supernatural phenomena into an integrated, meaningful belief system which underlies a society's conceptual system. It is meant to be literally a view of the world. It is the efficient integration of natural and supernatural forces into a single world view which causes the Margi, and doubtlessly many other societies, to appear religionless. For in fact "religion"--by which