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43 Chapter Three: A History of Bambili/Babanki-Tungoh and the Genesis of the Boundary The combined forces of climate, bedrock, topography, and living organisms, amongst others have made the soil fertile. The soils of the region are a mixture of forested equatorial and azonal types. A survey carried out in 1953 presented a broad picture of two soil types, viz: reddish, friable porous clays and sandy clays, about 1524.3meters above sea level. The soils are well-drained, strongly leached, and of high humus content. The sandy soil form is derived from the volcanic rocks. These are more fertile than any other predominantly reddish friable porous soils6 . This therefore means that the region under study is blessed with fertile soils, but BabankiTungoh is more fertile because it is situated in a valley, though in terms of area coverage she is not all around as fertile as Bambili which is found on the slopes. The fertility of Bambili is explained by the fact the Bambili people use “mechanized” farming in which they apply cow dung to the earth in order to make it fertile. The arrival of the Germans in this region in the 1890s signalled the introduction of cash crops like Arabica coffee7 . Babanki-Tungoh which is blessed with a rich and fertile soil produces more food and limited land for cultivation. Besides, the production of crops like vegetables, groundnuts, yams and maize flourish in this region. The coming of the cattle rearing Fulani was accompanied by another type of farming - Animal Husbandry. This was however, to be more a problem because arable land was to be used now for cattle rearing thereby making it scarce. In the late -twentieth century, most of the inhabitants diverted their line of occupation to commercial services. For instance, traders trade on a variety of items. Many other fields of occupation were also encouraged through education. Nonetheless, it could be deduced that it is because of the fertility of the land which is suitable for agriculture all year long that the two villages are having persistent boundary disputes. Before the boundary dispute erupted in the 1950’s these two neighbouring villages were living in peace. C) From Fraternal Friends (up to 1950s) to Fraternal Enemies? The people of Bambili/Babanki have lived at their present sites for more than a century. From the period when they arrived at their present site to the early 1950’s, these two villages which shared a common boundary, lived peacefully so to say. 44 Sons and Daughters of the Soil The administration of the R.J. Hook in the 1920’s as the Assistant Divisional Officer (A.D.O.) for the Bamenda Province, he made the villages to live in peace. This was facilitated by creating “The Seven Head Chiefs in Council” which constituted all the seven chiefs making up the Bafut Native Area. The head chiefs declared that they were going to work hand in glove with each other. This meant that none of them was going to make or execute any law without the consent of the other chiefs. There was also a consensus of doing everything in union, and this seemed a good reason to accept the assembled chiefs as individuals, and at the same time as a collective unit of the Native authority to the Bafut area. This could be seen as all the villages jointly operated a single court at Bafut which worked “satisfactorily” and was headed by the chiefs of Bafut and Big-Babanki (which later gave birth to Babanki-Tungoh). Apart from this legislative aspect, the two neighbours paid taxes into a common treasury at Bafut. Furthermore, the inhabitants of the two villages for more than a century have been freely intermarrying. This therefore meant that they must have experienced social inter-course through market interactions, cultural ceremonies and other festivities. Yet, each village seemed to hold herself aloof. While in the field informants maintain that, in the early times no chief would visit another chief not even his own brother, but would send messages. This was applicable only to the chiefs of the area. But in the early period of the 20th century the situation had changed. This manifested itself in that no chief could pass to another village for a visit during the night. He could only do this during the day, and only after he has been granted permission8 . From the foregoing , it is tempting to conclude that the relationship between Bambili and Babanki Tungoh was very...

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