From the Zumperi country the Commission traversed the undulating plain
that connects it with the valley of the Katsena, the last of the three
great tributaries of the Benue, and ascending this valley reached the
Agara or Misa Munchis district. The branch of the large and powerful
Munchi tribe which inhabits this area have preserved themselves from
contamination with the neighbouring tribes, by whom they are greatly
feared. The Munchis of the plains, who are of good physique and very
intelligent, are supposed to have come originally from a country called
Para, somewhere north of Yola, and they still call themselves Para among
themselves. Many of their customs are similar to the Zulus, with whom
they have often been compared, and the majority of their laws are
identical with those of Leviticus. Their villages are well built and
clean, and the men are brave in war and industrious in peace. Their
marriage customs, in addition to the payment of a dowry, include
exchanges of sisters, daughters and sometimes wives. Polygamy is rife,
and the value of a dowry varies from two cows in the case of a young
girl, to one cow or less in the case of a widow or elderly woman.
“The Munchis are of striking appearance. Those near the boundary are
poor and wear few clothes. They go in for extravagant hairdressing, the
most popular coiffure being a shaven head with one or two balls of hair
left growing. Others wear their hair in beaded strands, falling over the
side of the face. The tribal markings are a number of raised tattoo
marks, in the form of a crescent, on both sides of the temple. These are
universal, and are compulsory for both sexes, but the marks disappear in
old age. Other markings are tattoed stars and rings on the forehead,
chest and back, but these are all optional. The two front teeth of the
upper jaw are filed into V-shape.
“The Munchis are excellent farmers, and grow guinea-corn, yams, millet,
beniseed, maize, and ground-nuts in large quantities. They also
cultivate cotton, from which they weave good cloth, dyeing is with
indigo, which is grown round every compound. Each village has at least
one public dye-pit. Tobacco is also grown, and is either used as snuff
or smoked in large pipes with bowls of clay and stems of smelted brass.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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