Primitive Land Tenure

Common Holding and Redistribution.

Within a com munity land is often held in common; even, as among the Creeks, cultivated in common. 'Thus, "in the town plantation every family or citizen had his parcel or share according to desire or con venience, or the largeness of his family. These fields were planted and cultivated by the town, working together and attending to the several plots in turn. They harvested at the same time, but each family harvested from its own plot." (Bureau of American Ethnology Report 1924-25, p. 336.) Communities are known which practise the periodical redistri bution of land. Thus, among the Marris in Baluchistan, land was divided every ten years. "The tribe welcomed, indeed depended upon, the admission of strangers for the maintenance of its strength, and it was not until after a man or group had been given a share of tribal land that women were given to him or them in marriage. At the time of the decennial division of land, the number of males of whatever age, in every sub-section of each section, is counted. In some cases the division takes place among the married men of the section. . . . Lots are drawn." ( Census of India, vol. v., 190 Among the Brahuis "Following the distribution of armed men among the clans and sections, came the division of the land which had been acquired under Kacchi. The share of land of each clan was proportionate to the number of armed men it had to produce, and the same system was followed in the case of each Dhagana or section until the individual was reached. Previ ous to this, however, a portion of land was specially set aside for the chief, in addition to that to which he was entitled on account of his responsibility for 20 armed men. No individual is allowed to part with his land, and if a section happens to be reduced to such small numbers as to be unable to undertake the burden of supplying the armed men assessed on it, a redistribu tion of the armed men is made among the remaining sections of the clan. A similar process is followed if a clan becomes ex tinct." Mention is made of redistribution of clan land among the Lhota Nagas.

In Central Africa, the land held by a community is invested in the chief as its head and representative. He is the murni-inshi ("master of the land"). He may not alienate it except by the permission of his people. He receives it with all the taboos attached to it—the sacred groves, the trees, ant-hills, pools, streams, the matongo, all of them with taboos attached—and it is his to see that none is violated, and to hand them all to his successor intact. Should a stranger wish to live on the land, a lubeta is called and the matter discussed. Many things have to be taken into consideration, including the character of the appli cant. There is need for some circumspection in this respect for sometimes an undesirable person gets his head in and ends by turning the rightful owner out, or at least, making himself the master. But unless patently undesirable the chief and his people are not likely to refuse him, because he adds to their number and dignity. The chief points out a place where he may live and cultivate, and informs him of taboos which he needs to know. If he oversteps the borders allotted to him he will get into trouble. (Smith and Dale, Ila Speaking Peoples, 192o.) Where a community or society comprises minor sub-divisions or has certain typical institutions ; these often occupy land as distinct units. Thus, among the Lhota Nagas "land can be held either by the village, a morung, a clan or an individual. The land

close to a village is generally waste land, and common property, as are the rights of "poisoning" in certain pools. Every morung owns land, which is the property of the morung as a whole, and not of individuals. It is worked by the boys of the morung and the produce used to buy meat for ceremonies such as the re building of the morung. . . . A very large proportion of the land in the Lhota country is clan land, which is held in common by all members of that particular clan or village. A man who leaves a village loses all right to clan land in the village. . . . Every year the members of the clan in a Lhota village meet and portion out land which each is to get that year, the senior men getting the bigger share. Strangely enough, this delicate operation never seems to result in a quarrel. . . . When direct heirs fail the land becomes clan land. If this were to go on indefinitely the whole of the land in a village would in time become clan land and no one would then be able to buy or sell land. To prevent this, from time to time when the amount of common land be comes unwieldy, the clan meets and divides it up among the members who thus each become private owners of a portion of it. The process then begins again." Recognition of the morung or Man's House as a land holding unit indicates the rudiments of corporate tenure.

Among the Ila the boundaries are well recognised. "No pas ser-by would know these boundaries. They are purely natural--a tree, an ant heap, a certain direction; all very vague, appa rently, but known to all concerned as well as if fenced in with a stone wall. All boundaries are taboo. The chief apportions the land to his people for their fields, but does it in the presence of a company so that there may be no doubt of it. When a person has his field apportioned, he puts in a few stakes, and afterwards clears a line round it. Woe to anyone who moves his neighbour's marks !" (Ila Speaking People, vol. i., 192o), the sentiment of the Commination service, where "Cursed is he who moves his neighbour's land mark." The sacred boundary stone, the natural landmark, the hill, the ravine, the river, acquire sanctity.

Religious Sanctity.

In Australia totem groups are associ ated with definite spots which are therefore sacred, and men belong to a spot because they originated there. The spot is sacred to the men because it is the place of their origin, because it is the place to which at death their spirits return, thence to be reincarnated. So, too, the Birhors of Chota Nagpur regard with reverence the hills from which the ancestor of their clans emerged. Thus the sentiment of sacredness attaches to selected spots which are distinguished from other adjoining or similar spots by the traditional sentiment whose maintenance adds to the solidarity of the society.

Religion colours the attitude of primitive man towards the land area he occupies. The Ila chief manages the land of the community as its head representative. "He receives it with all taboos attached to it—the sacred groves, the trees, the ant-hills, pools, streams, the matongo—all of them with taboos attached— and it is his to see that none is violated and to hand them on to his successor intact." Thus the easements attached to land even in primitive communities are of very diverse origin, others re lated to military service, while corporate tenure is maintained side by side with individual property.