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Chapter One. The Material Background |
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specialist metal-workers ; blacksmiths' craft |
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While every Konyak knew how to make baskets and most had tried their hand at carving wood, the working of metal was practised by specialist craftsmen. There were men who worked as blacksmiths or brass founders in addition to cultivating their land, but a skilled blacksmith could earn a good living by the sale of the weapons and ornaments he manufactured, and he would often give up tilling the soil. There were villages in which no man worked metal, but in larger villages such as Wakching there were two or three smithies. No blacksmith could work alone; he needed an assistant to blow the bellows, and this task would be undertaken by his wife, or by one of his sons. The craft of blacksmith was often handed down from father to son, but it was not restricted to any particular clan or family. Unlike the blacksmiths of some other Indian tribal populations, the Konyak blacksmiths did not occupy an exceptional social position. |
