ABSTRACT
Despite the obvious importance of cattle in their social system, the Chiga are primarily not herders but farmers. Vegetable food is the mainstay of their diet, and the rhythm of their lives is set by the seasonal round of planting and harvesting, its times of waiting and of working, its times of fast and of plenty. Although the economic responsibility of each man is limited to his own household, there are a number of tasks which men normally do on a co-operative basis. Many Chiga concepts and patterns concerning ownership are implicit in what we have already seen of their economy and their social institutions. Ownership, for the Chiga, is primarily a function of the individual household; and there is some separate ownership even within that unit. When the head of the household dies, all his property is divided among the sons under the supervision of the eldest son, who is the official heir and administrator of the estate.
