ABSTRACT
The Safwa are a Bantu-speaking people, numbering around 65, who live in the Southern Highlands Region of Tanzania As a rule, Safwa conceal information on the number of cattle they possess both from one another and from outsiders. Animals are usually slaughtered in connection with funerals or ancestor rituals, and the skins may be prepared for use as baby slings or skirts. Hunting is mainly an activity of boys and young men. Small rodents and birds are taken by herders, as they watch their charges, usually with clubs or various kinds of snares. Larger game, primarily antelope are hunted by young men with dogs and spears. Different tribes within Safwa territory are involved in the cash economy to varying degrees; indeed even within tribes there are different degrees of involvement, depending on accessibility to markets and main roads, where in the Asian merchants and the national food co-operative arranges to pick up and purchase local produce.
