ABSTRACT

Indebtedness may be divided into three main types. The first is tiie public debt for which responsibility is assumed by all natives of the stool resident in the village. The second type comprises capital debts of individuals on which annual interest is incurred until the capital is repaid. The third type consists of short term loans used mainly to tide over the period between crops. Litigation with neighbouring villages over land boundary disputes between 1929 and 1933 caused heavy indebtedness, and it was stated that disputes with Abenasi and Kisi cost the village £1200 before the beginning of the survey period. The cases were keenly contested, primarily because each party considered the chance of finding gold or diamonds on this land was great, and saw potential wealth accruing to their village. The process of debt has however already progressed too far, producing a hard core of internal indebtedness which will be eradicated only by education and by help from outside.