ABSTRACT
The Bamenda uplands, in the present administrative divisions of Wum, Nkambe and Bamenda offered some defensible sites for resistance to the mounted slave-raids directed by the vassals of the emirates of Adamawa, Muri and Bauchi, and were protected from them to some degree by the strong state of Barnum on their eastern flank. Their soils, not so fertile as is generally supposed, produce enough maize (and formerly guinea corn and finger millet) root crops and legumes to support a fairly dense population; the present population (1953 Census) is 429,000 at a density of 67 per sq. mile. Edible melon seeds (egunsi) are still an important article of diet. The older root-crops appear to be trifoliate and white yams and rizga. Sweet potatoes and cocoyams are said to be early introductions. Cassava, makabo, Ogoja yams and potatoes - the last introduced in 1889 together with white beans by Zintgraff - are more recent introductions. The oil palm grows in the lower lands in the West and North-East of the province and in sheltered valleys. The other main tree crops are the raffia palm, providing wine and building and basketry materials, the banana, and the kola. Tobacco is a pre-colonial crop. Small stock - goats, smooth haired sheep, pigs along the forest edge, and fowls - are plentiful. Jwarf cattle were kept by chiefs in the past and a few humped cattle were kept in at least one chiefdom, Bali-Kumbad, before regular German administration started.
