ABSTRACT
Certain general characteristics of Chiga material culture have been introduced in preceding pages. The Chiga live in bee-hive shaped grass-thatched huts, grouped in small fenced compounds which form independent and sometimes geographically isolated units. Their villages are rambling affairs with fields stretching out and up the surrounding hillsides for a considerable distance. They keep cattle, but depend for food mostly on their crops. For their food supply Chiga depend principally upon the products of their fields. They grow large and small millet, beans and peas, yams and some corn, as well as increasing quantities of the newly introduced white potatoes. Another important source of food is cattle and the herds of sheep and goats. In most households, meat is an occasional luxury rather than a staple, but those who can afford it eat meat often. Sheep and goats are butchered on many occasions, much as sacrifices and feasts; they may be killed for meat or for their skins for clothing.
