| caption: |
war, messengers and go-betweens |
| text: |
Ya-ba is a messenger between villages at war. He is quite safe and never attacked. When on his way to the hostile village he carries a branch in order not to be killed by mistake. The yaba of Wanching used for negotiations with Wakching is a Wakching man of Leunok, Bala, who lives at Wanching in the Dzingshi. (180) Lem-bu-ba is a go-between for negotiations within the village. When a fine is demanded from a man, a lem-bu-bu delegated by the man who demands the fine, goes to his house and leads the negotiations. He receives a part of the fine. If it is a pig he receives the head. To arrange marriages other go-betweens are employed. They have no special names. Also the negotiations about bride-price are never led by the parents of the man and the girl, but by some relative, either a man or a woman, who must (181) live with his or her first husband and have children. There is one "house" in Kongan in which the position of ya-ba for negotiations with Wakching is hereditary. On the side of Wakching, such negotiations were done by Metahu man of Balang. |
