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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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economic privileges of chiefs, free labour |
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In Niaunu men and women of all households, including those of great Ang class, gave their labour free for the cultivation of the chief's land, and only on certain days did he provide the workers with food and drink. They helped to fell the jungle for his new fields, and to prepare the soil for the rice seed, which the chief himself sowed. He was also entitled to call the villagers to work on his fields at the time of weeding and harvesting. For assistance in certain tasks, such as the cutting up of millet straw or the clearing of weeds from old fields, the paramount chief of Niaunu was accustomed to summon the people of tributary villages, and in return for their labour he fed them meat and rice. |
