CENTRE ,'D'Eruœs LfNGU1STIQUE

'~~ ET HISTORIQUE PAR TRADITION ORAlE

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CEHTRE FOR UNQUISTIC. AND

HISTORJCAL STUDIES av ORAL TIIADIrtON NIAMEY

~ORAL TRA.DITIONS OF SIERRA LEONE J - . ~

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CLHSOT IEH/3 Niamey, 6/1979

DRGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY

CENTRE FOR LINGUISTIC AND HISTORICAL

STUDIES BY ORAL TRADITION

ORAL TRADITIONS OF SIERRA LEONE

by

C MAGBAILY FYLE

Niamey, June 1979

CLHSOT/E.H/3

•

CONTENTS •

Introduction

Glossary

Approximate location of areas discussed

Tikonko

Pendema, Jawe Chiefdom

Founding of Makali

Tonko limba

Suluku of Biriwa limba

The Wara Wara Limbe

The Koranko

Morifindugu

Neya Koranko

The Koranko of Barawa

The Koroma Clan of Nieni

The Kororri3 Clan of Diang

The Toronka

Koranko of the Kabgo Clan

Kamadugu

The RaIe of the Morimen

The Samura of Solima

Smithery

Heremakono

Kabeliakhori

The Mansaray Yalunka of Sinkunia

Dembelia Musaia

The Kamara of Folosaba

Page

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For most of the traditions presented here, the interviews

were' donè: in Krio. "The Krio language is the lingua franca of

S'ferra Le'one:.:' 1 n the, most remote villa'ge in this country, m~ny

people spaak ihatlan~uage. Thus most informants could be

iMt8rvie~$d'directly in a language they speak and understand.

Thase who d'id not grasp Krio pcrfectly preferred to spaak

through a Krio interpreter. Even such informants could quickly

grasp qu~stions posed b~ the researcher before the interpreter

· could spcàk.

'The 'foliowing collection spreads over Sierra Leone, but

with è 'èoncentration on the northern part of the country. The

'reasons are two-fold. One is a reflection of the research

concentration of the author. Eut secondly; the north is the

area where there is a dearth of written sources. In consequence,

little is said about it in whatever has been written especially

about th~ pre-colonial history of Sierra Leone~ It the~efore

b8com8~ mOre necessary tri collect and present oral traditions

of such areas. Only two Mende and one Temn8 traditions are

pre'sentcd. The TemnE tradition is significant because it

dis~uss~s an' aspect of the history of the East~rn Tamne, the

area about which most authors on the Temne are silent.

Something must basaid generally about these texts. The

Mande pe'ople's of Sierra Leone refer ta the Mali Empire as "Mandelt.

The word M~li is unknown to them. In fact, very often, they

s'1mply iridicate that their anc8stors came from "up" (country).

Th~ idee 6f up and down, the north-south movement fram Mande,

i8 very common~

The system of presenting namas should aIs a be painted out.

Clan names are rarely mcntioned except where it is necessary

'ta identify a wholo clane Tokba Asana Samura, for example, is

~~~ly presented as Tokba Asana, and the clar namB added ta that

of an individual is usually done by thoS8 who had bocome ex­

posed to western norms. Mande peo~18s also often indicate tWQ

nam8's. In mast instances, ~e first name i8 that of the mother

... ,.... "

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INTRODUCTION

.. ' ... 1

Mush has been said about methodology wlth reg~rd to the , . , , . ' -collectipn and analysis of oral tradition, but li~tle 'atte~pt

... 1

h~~_been mada generally ta present any coll~ction ofsuch

traditicns for a particular country, ethnie group, or clan. • . .' .• ~. . 1. • . ~

, ,T,he. is~~,~ i.s fraught ~oJi th many problems which have probably

frustrated su .. ::h a t te mpts G

An oral tradition piece i8 a text sa that i8 ~as to~

pr,esent, ,,~s best ,as possible, exact,ly what the infor"mant said.

Inv~ri·ably. hoV:e'J8'r Jane finds that the 'pe'o'pl~ "who co'llect such

traditions do nGt speak the language of the informants. -t'he '1'

fact of translatiQ~ through an interpretéi who is usually not

weIl qualifiG~ for ~h3 purpose im~ediately raises the question

of ëlCCll}~élCy,) Wi.th respect ta accuracy also, it has been suggested

that it is i.i2.egitimate -Co collapse interviews or exclude ques­

tions r for this will disguise aspects of repetition p the in­

cidence ~f ~hich is vary important in oral traditio~. Mcst oral tradition in African History is collected u8ing

th3 method of op3n ended intervie~s~ In such situations, it is

not a.lways possible .!~J .i..c,a,...;i:(~ t,;.,(] Lju8stions as~<ed except one

is ,using a tsp:: r'E;·;:o:.:-de:i:'" This instrument does not go down weIl .... .o.! .

wi~h aIl informants Dr in aIl societies and it is sometimes ~~ T

advisabla n:t ta use ito Many questions evoking r~petiti6n are

sponté:li;etJus a:-id [,GI~1.d -:hor8fcI'3 not be pre'-recorded. But the

r~searche:!" éJlrr.c's-c ûl~"lays remfJmb~rs where repeti tians are made

a n ct t Il i G COL.; J, d b'3 b ~-: a IJ 9 h .~ ; ut: in t h 8 W r :l t t e n s cri pt, e s pee i a Il y f

if th3 ~~ccrding i8 r~trac~d saon after the interview. The inter-

viewo~ is hi~s81*' practically a detective, jud~ing by the parti­

cula:!" cir=~mstQnc~s att3mpts at falsification.

W~3t has b83~ said is intended ta demonstratè that while . "' the intE:lt~lJn i8 t~ preser.t exaétly ~hat· the informant said,

there can Le no ana prescribed way bf cioing this. Great care

shoulo how8ver be ta~en, and has been in this instance, to ~re-, ~

serV8~ as bsst as possible, ths styie àf the informant.'

1 ~ I. G. Wilks] personal co~m~nication.

• and the second is that given ta the individual. Thus in the

'cxample above:, Asana's 'mother"is, Tokbao

Virtually aIl of the informants are old mèn, knowledge­

able in the traditions of their country. In 2t lcast one

i~S~~~C8, ~thc chie* i~fd~mant was a yelib~, commonly call~d griot. The yeliba combine the functions cf histori~n and

praise singer. In pre-colonial tim8s, vcli1L~ were rGtained

3

by kings and important men. Today, they havé ta do other jobs

for their living. But some of them still ret~in the old tra­

dition as custodians of tho history of their clan, ethnie group

or country.

traditions.

Being professionals, they are experts at presenting

But th~y could alsà be oxpert at distorting thorn.

Othertraditions of the same locality should therefore be

collected ta serve as control on those of ~!ba, as even of

other informants.

A,few,_~cknow18dg8ments should a~so be made. The two texts

on the Mende warc collected by Dr. Arthur Abràham and 1 thank

him for permission for their inclusion. Similar thanks go·ta

Mr. D. Moorc-Sairay, a former student in the History Department,

Fourah Bay Colloge, for the Tonka Limba tradition. That on the

Kunike Temn8 was also taken from a ~ol18ction on the samo town

dono by formor studonts of the same department named G. Cleo­

Hancilcs, Maligie Koroma and De~y~ B~ake. Finally, 1 must

commend the effort of Miss Fanianctt Faury who typed the major

part of the script.

C.Magbaily Fyle

Institu~e of African Studi8S

August, 1978

Albitaya

Alfa

Almamy

Baba

Bai

Baimba

Bamet'i

barr'6

bUT1do

caborena

oat bread

fakG

fakai

ferensola

gbaku

kabuna

kagbere

kapr loya

kawoso

,1 '.

~

(Karanka) Gad protects us; name given ta h~ding place 'of Earawa 'Korànko'" ;

- Islamic priest t charm maker

- Isla~ic title~ for ruler~ nbw aften a first name

(Yalunka') gun powder

(Tamne) king

(Limba) ancest'br

- (Limba) town ruler

court hall

femalù secrot society

(Yalunka) bo~lows

swoar a solemn oath by eating coun'try brliad made out of. rice flour

- (Yalunka) death

small farm sottloment

- The narno by which aIl of Ko~enko country is identifico

- (Limba) king

(Yalunka) iron smith

(Koranko) salt substitute

- (Tamne) chief prosecutor

- (Yalunka) hiding place

kclleh mansa~ (Yalunka) military general

khori

kurugba

manga

mansa

tnbaimba 1

moriman

nyanda

poro

siagina

siaki

'singilin

- (Yalunka) country

(Mandingc, Limba) warrior

- (Yalunka) king

- (Koranko) king

- (Mandinka~ Koranko) sam8 as baimba abOV8

same as .ê.lfa above

- (Koranko) country mats

- male secret socioty

(Yalunka) goldsmith

- (Mandingo) goldsmith

(Yalunka) furnacc

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5

sofas soldiers··-of-·'th-&-:~'·· ~a-.C"rlrI~t!:>

solay - (Koranko) furnacD

solidagina - (Yalunka) waaden chips flying off carver's wood

tarè - (Mandinka) war fence

tatakuina - (Yalunka) mud wall around town

wureh - (Koranko) kalanuts

yambakiri - ~Koranko) local tobacco

yambé - {Koranko} local tobacco

yeliba - historian, praise singer

Approximate location of areas discussed

!t'J ~ i., I~ ..t~ \\I\f-.~ l ,~

L 1 ~/\ :3. ~ l'A ;..\ =' f~ u\

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~ IJ. J- f"'-

6

7

TIKONKO

Mr. J~ M. Kangbai p a teacher" in Bo town, gave this tradition

in January 1969 about the Mende bf Tikonk~ Chiofdom, Bo District.

This tradition, 'and that following, give somè idea of Mende

expansion frc:n the Cape Mount arca of Liberia into the Sierra

Leone hintcrland~ which started in. the latter part of the 18th

centuryo The interview was conductcd in Mende so that the ease

of co~munication is reflected in the informant's style.

According ta what l learnt from the old men and my father,

who r6member the oral tradition of this country, cspecially my

~hiefdcm Tikonko, tho first settlGr was Momoh Kukuwa. The carly

history cf Tikonko should rcally begin with his rui9n. He pro­

babl~ came from Liberia; he had no followcrs and he was a warrior.,

He cstab].J.sÎlcd hi.s rule: by gathering a fow followcrs whom

he trained in tho art of warfars 4 Hi~ ,first settlement that later

grèw into his capital was Tikonko. The namc is derivoal fram

i:~U22.-~.-_J~., and yo'u kncw the meaning - "thoy knaw it t' ... This

was on account cf Kukuwa1s bravery as a fighter, so much 50 that

people ff"3red h~rïl. WhenGvo:2 therc warc rumo"rs of war, the people

under Kukuwa would say in replYi tlthoy know it; they know who

W8 arc; le t them cerne a :-;d IT.f:je t us If • 50 the town came to be called

Tikongoh, tcday Tikonko,

A number of the original inhabitants submitted to Kuk~wa's

control to HJ.s pr:'Jlfer and influence waro extended by those he

appointed as heads in villa~es he invaded and captured. They

were nct ncccssariJ.y h:'s relatives; he appointed those who were

capable o Acccrding ta how the old peoplo described him, he

was huge and sturdy, with awo-inspiring lookso He had no morcy

for his onemies o People migrated fram various areas and settled

in the chicfdom. Those who wero fishcrmen settled by the rivers~

and farmars with hunters in the forestso

Every village was surrounded by fonces as a protection

against encmies. Tho people fought only when it was nŒcessary.

Every l~adGr of a village was a warrior, and he had a few war-boyr

with himo In timo of war, aIl of thom W8ro summon~d to Tikonko

/ ,/

8

where ,they were organised.

Kukuwa had many WiVDS, and it is even said today that Dvery

village 'uscd ta give him a wife aftor the Bundo session every

year. But his bigger wives were Hawa, Nyawulo, Sattu. His

descendants by these wives were Momoh Gena, Jigba, Makavoray­

Kangbai (my great grandfathor), and Almemy Sandi. From each

of these descends one of the present rulling familias, narned

after thorn.

It is said that Kukuwa got his power from the spirits

that he had; He is rernembered for the contributions that he

made in wars. He made the chiefdom very large through his wars~

Every ho~sehold gave hirn a bushel of ricc or oil annually as

a form of tax. People ~orked through communal labour. Those

who failed to' work wère killed at once 0

Kuku~~ always consulted his eIders when in difficulty.

AlI four of his children ruled after hrmo

9

PENDEMA, JAWE CHIEFDOM

The informant here,"Baka, who is the town" chief of Pendema,

i5 a relative of the interJiewero -Jawe Chtefd6m is in the'

Kailahun District and the interview was recorded there in Decem··

ber, 1969. Most of "the araas mentioned ar~ in Jawe, but Sulima

was a coasta: trading station in the Pujehun District.

l do not know tho many details of the history of this chief··· ..

~

dom as a whole, but r. shall give you a brief backgràund and then ,

tell you how we came to own Pendemao Yau are my grandson and

1 do not like ta tell you liGs. 1 know that there are some

eIders wha wauld fabricate answers ta your curious and inqui­

sitive questions rathcr th an tell the truth o

Tho real founder of this chiofdom was Yarvai, from up

cou nt r y _. K El i k 0 h 1 in Fen 9 e hIe h cou n t r y • Bor b 0 w a wa s a m 0 rima n.

who es tablis nad F olu, that is ft foleibu;I ml! aning under the foIe i

tree o He came from up country. Yarvai's wife dicd at parturi­

tion 2nd was buried at Kambama, so tho place came te be called

Kambama mcaning lion the grave ti •

l n th i s L~~" Q weil; soc t i 0 ~, 0 f th 0 chie f do r1 1 0 ur an ces t 0 r s " c a me

from Folu and estabJished the settlement of Njaluahun which,

as :. t expanded, came t~: bD :::alled Nyeama, yeu know, the capital

to~vn of this soctiOllo One of our ancestors was Mamei Tondoi,

the mcther of Vandi Von Kal~on 1. After him, she gave birth

to Bengay Jaya, Senesi Jegbega and Gbewoh, the owner of Pendema.

Vand~ Von asked Bcngay Jaya to establish Pendema, about

three miles from Nyeama~ Whilo Bengay Jaya actually erected

the first house~ it wes my father, Gbewoh, who extended the

6ettlement and built the foundations of this town where you

are r ig ht no~" <; You Sl~e that stream on the way to Jombohun7 l t

ls Pends r sa this town was called Pendema, because it is situa­

ted on that stream o

Not long after the establishment of Pendema, the Europeans

arrived with constables. Our people used ta go te Sulima to

sell palm kernels but thoy fearcd the constables because they

1 ]

arrestcd people. Vandi Von was not afraid. He moved freely.

Aft~r many of his trips, the constables came and said they

wanted ~o ~ix~es between us and Liberia. Vandi Von

b~ought the whole business of 'staff' hers. He was my fathcr's

brother.

After Vandi Von, Kpohni, and then GombukLa~ were electBd

chiefs. Then Lahai Cont&h-f~-months. Then ch~ Foray

and after him hi9-b~her, A. B. Samba. This is how we Kallans

came ta Pendema.

l,

FOUNDING OF MAKALI

This ttaditio~ was collecicd i~'Makai{~ Kunike Barina­Chiefdbm ih thetonkolili District in March 1973. The informant Iwas f,enthi Kagbo. _ This is é.? TemT18 ,town but historically mixed wit~ Koranko and the tradition explàins how the Temne came to superceda the Koranko~

,Our ancostors told us, about M~kali. The original founder,

who wasruler of the town was Pa ~angbema. But he stay~d at -,

Rabano. He .. also had a town at Bumpe. Aft_~r 8very invasion

there was- ~ighting., Hcwcver, the tow,n was more or less stable

until there was an e~tensivc war cal18d Barbar. But durin~ this

\1 .p er .:i. ode ven "! h.e n the r e "'II as som u chf i 9 h 'G i n 9 the chi 8 f san dl th ü i r

~iv~s were nct captured. After the war the people wh~ sur~ived cared 18ss about the chief, S8 he was in trouble. He took. the

"chief' s re galia, dres sed up and we n-: ta R obala. \rJhe n his wi fe

came she did n~t meet 1 • .1lr.1 0 51.9 wa~ tO~:.d the chief had gon8

. a w a y t 0 , Rob al a. sos he Id 0 n t t 0 , fi r. ci he r il tj s bar) d •

The land wes 18ft with~ut, a ru18r? ~owcv~r, t~ere was a

man callGd P3 M~rybon who carra l"rom Ragbena, nea:- t~e ~ende

at Mpya~ba" Wa were to"~d ..l~ !-I~t Ile ran away from the Poro

Soc ;i. et y • HG cam EJ -t 0 ,f-i a y ~ k B '~O ç rn an. who s e W .1. f e 's n a me wa s B 0 m p

Nayake 0 .Hg fell in la\.,'8 w: . .'th t~:J:s WOr.lan. He was told that

thoy' had, a C~i8f, Bai Tangbf~éjl ~lh:1 was away; so the~ went to

fin d h 5_ moT h e y ta .1 ~~ E 3 i T a ;1 9 ~.; e r.l a t h a t t h ~ Y ha d a .s t r a n 9 e r who

was ,a chiEf but tbey would never install him as chief unless

.they first tcld hi.m (;Bngbe,;na). He agreed and g,ave the new

man permi~sion t~ stay at Mayak3. He stayed there until the

reigning chi~f ~iBd and wes buried at Robanko.

-,- ,1\ f t 8 r .h i s ~ pat :1 ..l~.h e. ,people we :.:' 'J ]. e ft w i t hou t a chief.

O~~ ancestors dispers8~ from Makana ~nd Mayake. Sorne of their

leaders .including Pa Keran gathered together and wen~ down~ 1

w, rds to Vele Q Pa Lumpri Dukor wëls also_present~. W_~en they

reached YeJ.8 they made a, temporary town" Pa Saybla r8mai~ed

àt Yele and ,;,Pa Karam -,went to Masako •. ,Pa Gbonkonoh went to May-~ .,

amba~ They stayed there for nat 18s8 than ten years. But

they had among' them an e~derly wuman callod Bomp Kanneh whose

\ \

husband lived at Robando. This wom8n hùd told them ta return

her ta her husband's town. This made Pa Gbonkan'oh ta confer

'w'i th' Pa· Lumpri Dukor sa as to return to their lan.d _. He told

PEl Lumpri thF:t they should return so thAt the Mende woùld not

take over aIl the Koranko country. 50 they sent a message to

Pa Keram, Pa 5aybla and the other leaders to meet at Mayembre.

They decided to return. But fearing th~t the return journey

would be long, they pushed down to Makono. Pa Lump~i Dukor

made a sacred bush of the poro society at Makono.

'During this time the old woman, Bomp Kanneh, had been

insisting thet they moved. They stayed at Makono for three

years. Aftcr the rice h~rvest, the woman died. They decide~

to t~ke hcr to her husband's town. They assembled the warriors

and the ~oung ones, embalmed the body with salt, then movcd to

Makanike. They ascended a hill and then settled down in the

town which they called Masokiteh. The next day they moved ta

·a big trec called Maworka. They said that the town, Mayake,

was their origin81 town but decided against residing there.

Their :leaderstold them thé1t just a few miles away there was

a very nicc spot where a man c~lled Pa Kali had farmed. If

theywere able to get to this town, they would be happy. The

woman had however told them th2t if they did not get .ta her

husband's town, they should bury her. wherever they met large

numbers'of elephants.

These Elephants ascended the hills and our ancestars fired

on them. They then assem9led, took the corpse ta the hill,

founded a temporary town and then buried the body. The town

Makali wes named after Pa Kali, the Koranka who used to farm

on th8t land. Descending the hill, our ancestors decided to

build a town on Pa Kali' s ferme This wes done wi th Pa Lumpri...._ .. 4--------···-··

Dukor' s assi.stance. They stayed there a long time' ..

Then Pa Lumpril Dukor decided ta introduce the Para society

into the land. He was told that the spirit of the land did not 1

":Jant ,the society--on.hj s 1 and.. Ha insi sted..-that-ns.---would intro-

duce i t. On, the app~inted day~" fourteen of his gue"sts died.

He then told the rest of the group th~~:h~ woul~ neyer st~y

in 'that' t'own a~d that a town whet:e "the poro could be i,n~rqpuced

should be found. A~ter that he went ta Mekandeh where he

starte~ ~he society. He built a smaller secret bush an~ then ... ; ., .:... . . '. . . .

built ~ larger one at Mavuke • . ~. .', .. . :" ': .... ~ . .

At Makal~, Pa Gbonkonoh was the accepted r4~er. There,

he' wes told t'h':at', his brother was sipk et Mayembre. When he . .

went ta r"layembre, ta see his sick brother, he died., Pa" ~umpri

Du'kor ~~n~, o~er ,,~o ~1ako~~. But because ,of, his being. :a: member

of Othe Para ~o.<i~ty; he did ,not in,~erfere with t~e chiefs,hip.,

Hem 0 v e d ta hi sun cIe Pa K,u m b é) ~ und u atM a kan 9 • A ft e r, hJ s • ." ; ..... : .. t. (" l' .. ; 1 • ..

departure, the only prominent man, ,in the town wes Pa Kapo Gbla " .. who was left in charge of the town.

It was during that period thBt a whiteman, Mr. Ruff, came

into Makali to trade. Some of his goods were stolen. The chief

was then held responsible and charged to pay for aIl the 109ses

of the whiteman. Pa Kapo Gbla exploited aIl necessary grie­

vances sa as ta be able ta paye He even sold sorne of his WiV8S

and children.

The people told the government that it wes because there

was no chief that there was no law and order. 50 the govern­

ment decided that a chief should be crowned. The governœent

asked Bai Simera to do aIl within his pow8r to see that a chief

was crowned. When he came, he started on the issue. There were

two possible contestants, Pa Marybon and Pa Yeba Gbara. It was

agreed that whoever wes elected should p8y the whiteman. Bai

Simera told Pa Mnrybon ta say to the government that if elected

he would pay. Pa Marybon refused ta accept this condition

because he was not directly responsible. Pa Yeba Gbara agreed

te pay the amount, sa he was crowned chief. He was a "pure"

Temne, a native of the tawn. But since he answered ta the

government, he was crowned.

14

After he weB crowned the people had to give up their

products to pay whiteman. When this was not forthcoming, the

chief destroyed their houses, beat many ~o death and even

burned their farms. l, This tyrannieal rule Gould no·t· last

long. 50 Pa Kapr Loya deeided to take .up the people' s case.

He went to the whites at Moyarnba. Because'of the findings of

the government, the chief was removed and Jailed. Pa Kapr Loya

was then 'asked to be ehief by the peapl~. He .refused on the

'graunds thet there were thos~ aIder than ·him who were better

qu"ali fied ta be chief. Sa he alla\Jed his older brothe,r, Pa

. Alima~y Kanu, who was then'staying at Makanike to .. ~ecome chief. 1- was born during his reign.. He ruled for a long' time.

He was succeeded by Alhaji Alimamy Sariè, who rul.ed·"forforty

years.

't

1

1 5

TONKO LIMBA

Tonka Limba history before' the 19th century is discussed in ... ±.his. tradition. The informant is 'Yana Sainura of Kayebaya village.:, Tonka Limba, chiefdom, K.ambia District. The tradition was collected in September , 1977. A major point of interest

":is 50so ~x~ans~on into Limba countxy eround 5a~~ia and Kuk~na~ By the late 18th century, the 50so were fi~maly. established in those areas. . .

There was figh~ing aIl over the land fo~ several gen~rations.

Only_ the. ·Kolanten. (Great Sçarcies River) separated us from the

.$080. A man from ,Mande. lcd ou.r 'peopl~.·· He .. W8S ca).le~Pa ..

5~mbara Fufu. He was a man of 9rea~ energy and zeste He;came

w i t h .~ i n j o~r u, me a n.i n 9 a ver y .t a Il man (c el.l e d· in, Kr i 0 Lan 9 ~ fut

.Tayl~r): Pa Simbara. came with people, sorne of whom he left at

c~rtain points on the journey. He wes a blacksmith sothat

.very often he would dig a ditch into which he would Flace

selected ferreous stones for ~melti~g. Sorne of the stones, . .

left.over from smelting wera believed to have certain .powers

s u.c h a ~ :ta e n s u r.e vic t 0 r yin wa r or in h u n.t in g, and h u n.t e-r s

and warr iors alike floc ked to: Pa Simbara to acquire th~s. power.

PaS i m.b fj ra wa saI sa bel i ev e d .t a . .p o.s ses s the po we r t 0 r end e r

people bullet proaf sa tha;:; hUilters and ,warriors came to him

daily for this purpose. Some smelted stones.were wsed as.

thadotho or local catridge~ He nat only ensured.victory in

war, he.a~so made warriors immune from the ~eapons of the enemy"

!He made efficacious war medicine.

He ~eft the Mande people, but they did not remain here.

They went down as far as the coast to purchase salt. This

place is now known as Samu in· Yumkela's country which stretches

.from Kasiri to KebrisBo Then the Beyeinkay ~r Kamara clan

met tt'le M~nde and overtook them and then settled at. Kakanthin.

The area still has that name. After ~hey ~ad st~yed here for

~ very long .time, the Wormbor or Kagbo· cl?n also CAme. The

Wormpor were asked ta contin~e to.the coast but they became

tired and sEttled between the Kamera-and Pa Simbara's' people. .. .. .

They stopped first at Kadukuinya, thàt is next ta Kakanthin.

Later the Wormbor left there and went ta Kayakaru.

The Moinie or Ban9ura clan-a-nd the Dema or Samura clan

were the last to come. The Dema were led by their bainba 1 t·.

16

Manso Kholifi who did not come himself, but sent .Baio Sella

the father of Keiha Haro. He foundedMayehe. When the Moinie

or Bangura came, they askcd ta be.settled at Kamasuthuren:

This place is named afte~ the stream which flowed along'it,

~etween Kamatumbeda and Kawonkifor. But there wes a bad form­

less devil in this stream and any who confronted it face ta

face would surely die. Because of that the Beyeinkay.asked

them ta settie at Kathanyan. They awned Kaku~una or Kakoniemaka,

naw Samaia. It was aIl part af the Beyeinkay country.

One day the Dema asked why they wore 8lways ruled by the

same Beyeinkay clan. The fi+st of these rulers was Bambakha

Serti of Kakanthin and the second was Bambakha Sedu of Kakan­

th!n. 50 the Dema and Wormbor agreed between themselves

ta fight an~ drive the.Beyeinkay clan out of the land.

Afte~:doing this, they wo~ilid:tfué~u~~ke turns ta rule. As

the landw~~ very extensive, it was decided as 2 possible

alt?rnative that the land be divided bctween themselves (the

Dema and the Wormbor}c The Mafotori stream which starts fram

Madina and empties itself at Kamasakahin wes ta be the boundary.

They won the war.

Koriferi? - that is, "what are we now to do", they asked

themselves. The Dema answered that they had waited tao long

. for- this privilege ta rule the country as of right. The Wormbor

al~o said they should be the first ta rule. Four years past

and Tonka had no ruler. The land had only been cleared of

the; Beyeinkay clan. From that time onwards, whenever we sent

'. some!youngmen ta purchase salt at Wula-tende-kum - thst is,

.. Alimamy' Lai' s countrt, aur people were raunded up and sald

tô th~ .Partuguese. The cast of a slave was nahulu-ba-yaha,

literally, 'the cast per head', which was Equivalent ta four

1. i.~. around Kambia, on the coast

-.

17

. for five pounds sterling~ Gbersn Lai was the notorious slaver

in this area .. ,

Our peop).e de,cided that the Temne be formally approached

ta flnd out the ~eason for prevent~ng our people from buy{ng

.' saI t, and for making slav~s of ,others.. Our. people found an

interpreter as they did not speak the language of Gbe~en. Lai.

50 Gberen .Lai was asked by our el~ers why he was: treating'pur

people in this way. Gberan (ai answered that he was punis~ing . .

them, for Killing their leaders and driving away·· the ruling

Eeyeinkay clan whom they met on the land.'

During this period,the land was invaded and occupied on

both side$ -by 50so in'the west and by Gberen Lails Temne

people in t~e east and south of the chiefdo~. Sorne 50so people

rad'crossed,the boundary, the Kolenten river, and settled

on our land. The Temne,were doing the same from their awn area.

Out .of fear, the Limba fled and crossed the Koleoten and

settled where they became known as Bemathonko Mayete or people

of lesser Tonko. The 50so who were blacksmiths then occupied

the aree they left and it became known as Kukuna.

1 B

SULUKU OF BIRIWA LIMBA

The chief informant here is a very old man named Bubu, said . ta be :the last surviving son. of· the' great 5ulukuof Biriwa limba. He indicated that when his father died in (1906). he had just been borne But his father died a very oid man and so it is doubtful whether he was:really·a soA of Suluku. The inter­view was done in April ,1974 in Bumban, former capital of . Biriwa . Limbà" now the chief town ·of a section of the Biriwa Chiefdom in the Koinadugu District. It should be noted that ~o d a y, ,t w o. ma Jo r ru 1:. i n, 9 fa mil i es", co m p~ te for the. Par a mou n t Chieftaincy in Biriwa. ·T~e~e are descendants of Sul~ku and

-those of his brather Bub~. The sdns of Eubu ~t the present chiefdom headquarters town of Kamabai na~ hald th~,chieftaincy. There i8 same contràversy over Eubu hav {ng ruled Biri'wa. The offsprings of Bubu claim he did rule ~hile,thas~ of Suluk~, as in this tradition, 9mit his name frQm;th~ cgen~~logy~

We Limba of Biriwa' are ··Contehs. ",As' far âs we I.know, we

h av e al w à ys b e e n he r e (t'h a t i sin Bir i w'a cou n t r y ) • 0 ur f o·r e­

fat.hers told us something 'or the other about our comirig from

Sankaran but we cannat defini tely ,remember', this. Our first

9 b a k u ", ( ru le r') he r e, wa s Bai m baS a rw a • He wa s fa ll·ow e d b y hi s

son Wusie. Sankailay, Wusié' s Salt, became the .next gbaku' and

he: was . su~~ee~ed .. 9Y . h~s brother, Suluku •

.. 'L Succession bath to the office"of gbakLL ,and to property

goes from ~brother ta brother. This: is- so because it is the

brothers who take care of a man's children when he dies.

One of our greatest gbaku in Biriwa was Suluku. The ward

"suluku" means "wolf". Suluku's real name was Amadu. He was

called Suluku because he was very powerful. Sometimes he wes

also called "tambaronka" which means that his clothes always

fit him weIl.

Suluku was a very powerful warrior, but he always used

his power ta make peace. If he tried ta bring peace and others

refused, he would fight to achieve this peace. When the Sella

Limba had a war on their hands, they sent ta Suluku and he sent

warriors ta help them. The Kunike Temne also attacked the

Kor3nko and they cried to Suluku for help. Suluku sent help;

in fact, one of his sons, Tata, was killed in Kunike. Through

':

1 9

Suluku's efforts, the war ended.

~ 'Sùluku ha'd . a ktJrLÎ C!,ba . (ch.:'ef . \II/arrior) 'whom he' always sent

t 0 ., le ad hi s for ces in the se w [l r s 0 He' w'a shi s ,. son, K p'e b e, the

bameti (town ruler) at Kabumban o In 'Sankailay'stime, there

was not much war, sa 'there was no kyrugba then. If a gbaku

went o~t ta war, while he wés fighting, he was a kurugba

and'~hen he returned home~ h~ became a gbaku. :. .' . .1,. : .

. -_.:... .. Suluku' s tètri tory was very exte ns ive. :'1 t .... Jôs : similar

ta what his predecessor p ;S~n~ai12Y, ruled~6ve~o' HèWbuld

appoint a bameti over the to~ns heruledo Th~s~ b~meti were

not n~cessarily his r~lative~. In Sulukursti~e, his brother

Bubu iuled Kemabai ~nd'Karanday ruled'Ka~agbEngbe~ While Suluku , .

ruled, the only oth~r important ruler'!in ~Limba country was

Bombolai of Tonka Limba o It was·when the whitemen came that

aIl this crow;~~g of chiefs started; they we~e formerly aIl

under Suiuku; they used ta bring th~i~ tax ta Bu~ban~

Wh~~' this cro~ning'started, Sulu~u ènd the whitemen went

round ta crown his fb~mer' s~bjects. Any one of these who had

an important ~nd ~eacefui s~ttl~merit was made a chief~ With

thé D. C., (District Commissicner), Suluku first went 'and

gave a staff (of office) ta Tamba Kaira of Mabonto who had been

hi~ subject. Next they went and gave one ta aokari at Gbung­

bunai they w~rè warned not ta fight. Baio Y~mbe bf Kasokuna

(Kalahtuba Chiefdom) was next given a staff; toKagbasis they

went and crowned Kaiya; Sara Baia was'made Pa~amount Chief at

Katimbo; fram there thsy went ta Kakarima in Koinadugu and

crowned Banka. Sieh Kuyamba et Kawa (close to Kakarima) wes

the next ta reive a staff. The ruler of the Loko town of

Kasengbe alsa received a staff; his name wes Kande Baimba 1.

Also the Mapaki Chiefdom (around Binkolo) emerged out of 1

Suluku's domain; Paki 1 was given a staff there. AlI Saffroko

Limba were formerly paying tax to Suluku. AlI these mentioned

had been once subject to his rule g

-----...-~-~~------------......--

Mapaki is Tamne country while Kalantuba is Loko

. .20

Also when the whiteman came, he started a tax. 5uluku,

the man of peaee, àgreed to pay the tax. Sorne of his subjects

inteMd~d io r~sist when they were asked to paye They were

forced by Suluku to comply. Since S~luku was theirc'saviour,

they eventually aIl agreed. He tried to make peaee with aIl

thosa who refused the taxe The whitem~n was very happy about

Suluku because he wes always for peaee. When the Sofas came,

Suluku did his best to maintain peace and it was through his

efforts that there was tnD difficult conflict with the Sofas •

.. The whiteman asked Suluku for a place ·to build a barracks

in his country close to a river. Suluku gave them Karina.

They were also given Batkanu to build another barracks.

When Suluku died, he was succeeded as Paramount Chief

by Kalawa of Kamabai. It was Kalawa who went to Binkolo and

erowned Umaru Gboki as Paramount Chief of Saffroko Limba.

After Kalawa l died at Kamabai, another of Sulukurs sons,

Pompoli, was crowned Paramount Chief at Bumban. Pompoli~ like

his father, was a 'peace maker; he went to make peace at Tonka

Limba. Pompoli was succeeded by Sheku l of Kamabai; he was

followed by Kalawa l of Bumbano Next was Kalawa"II of Kamabai;

Bongo~ Pompoli's son was next; he ruled for one year and was

followed by the present Paramount Chief, Sheku II.

The name Bumba means a land of fertile sail. Bumban was

the first town of the Biriwa Limba.

r :,

21

THE WARA WARA LIMBA

.. ,' This tradition was rendered by two very old men - Sura

' .. Kamara and· Almamy Sali fu Mansaray ~ about the oldest Paramount .. Chief in Sierra Leone. The interview was done ih Hafod~a,

headquarters of Wara Wara Bafodea Chiefdom, in Novembe~, 1974. It depicts ~articularly the assimilation 6f a Mande ~ro~p, the Mansarays, by t~e non-Mande Limba~

,r'; Try~ ancestor of the :Mansaray who first came here was

na merl P Ç3;p a y Nd a yin. He bu il t 0 u r or i gin aIt 0 w non the hi Il

you ~an see here Just outside Bafodea~ Ndayin met sorne Kamara

~~mba in th~s ar~a, especially at a town called Kayinbon; they

were aIl Wara Wara Limba. Kayinbon had been founded by T~m~ta

befor~ Ndayin got heree T~m~ta's mother was T~m~ta Kati. When

Ndayinrgot to Kayinbon, T~méta gave his daughter in marriage ta

: Ndayin; ~er name was Hinti Kamara~ With Binti, Papay Ndayin

had a son named Fodayo

When Ndayin died, his son Foday became the ruler. Foday

decided to move the town from atop the hill down into a nearby

,valley. At this valley he discovered water and decid~d it was

a sui tÇ1ble site to mO'J8 his tO\.rJr: -to 0 Foday then werit,~,to-. his

nephews at Kayinbon and told them he had found a suit~~le site

to which to move his town. The people of Kayinbon thought it

was a good idea; "our tO\'I}n here is very small", they remarked.

The people in aIl the Wara Wara towns and villages were

now called to~ether to go and build Foday's town on the new

site. They came from villages called Kap09poQ, Semarnaya, 5akut2 1

Kadankan, ,Kadonso, Ka~onso, Kayenda, Kamaninki, Kakondobi,

Kamakumba,Seredugu, Kakamba, Kakoya, Kasentini, and Kaaka.

AlI these peop~e came to clear the bush; sorne were Mansaray,

sorne Kamara and sorne Conteh u

After they had cleared the bush, it was œcided that the

people of each town who had assisted should build each a house

in, the new town •. In this way the town became very large. Stone

22

and dirt was used ta build it Q When the tOWG was completed,

Foday said, "let us build a stone wall around it"; they did

this,. 'Foday then,asked that they should build a town fo~ his

un~le ~t,KaworokosorQ This his uncle, Worsor, was a Kama~a;

if you hear the name Kawoya, it is Worsor.

AlI new rulers were now descendants of Foday. The new 1 town wa~ nam~d Ba~odea after Foday; it remained in the valley

untilithe time of the whiteman ~hen it was moved ta its present

site. Foday'~as ruler ove~ aIl W~ra Wara, even as far as

Yagala. The boundary was with the Biriwa. The Yagala t6wns were

aIl founded by this time o Those whb founded those towMs did

not come ~rom here, but they be~ame Fbdéy's subjects. Gbonkobo,

Tamisoeand other areas were under Bafodea. The ruler of

Bafodea would appoint rulers of the' towns under his,control,

but these were not his relatives; they were descendants of those

who.hacl formerly been ruling'those towns~

When Foday died~ the next ruler of the Wara Wara at Bafodea

was his oldest sons Momodi Tcilékic The latter was followed as

gbaku by Lèngbè, another sOn of F0daYr Lèngbè's younger brother,

Salifu,Yaya, succeeded Lèngb~o After Salifu Yaya, Almamy Suman,

who entered into the British eraf bacame gbaku and was the first

Paramount Cl;,ief-;

In the

driven from their homs and they took refuge at Kabala.

rule of Almamy Suman, the Koranko of Firawa were 1

They

gave wives to Almamy Suman and his so~ Almamy Fanna as a ges­

ture so that they could be given a place to stay.' Almamy Suman

·was succeeded by his son Almamy Fanna~ In Fanna's time, Yagala

was separ~ted from Bafodea and Almamy Lamina,'a Mansaray at

Yagala, became the first Paramount Chief of Yagala. The whole

thing happened in this wayQ

When the' British came and star\:ed travelling to' Falaba,

they asked Almamy Fanna to provide carriers for them since

Fanna was ruling aIl Wara Wara country~ Almamy Fanna agreed

and said they should go and 'sit down' at Yateya since that town

23

was close by the 'read. When the British got to Yateya, they

sent fo~ lamina at Yagala who was qbaku bamet (sub-ruler) ta

Fanna' and' controlled the area which became the present Yagala

,Chiefdom. Lamina came to Yateya. 1 Ah ol~ man called Banda

Se's'a'y, to~n head of. Konkoba, presented the whiteman with a

. large cow as Almamy Fanna's gift~ Old Gbewuru, giandf~ther of

the presenl ParamoJnt Chief ~f Yag~la, was then up the hill.

At Yateya, the whitemen asked Lamina ta provide someone

ta aet as bis assistant ta help in the pravisibn af carriers.

This was necessary because Lemin~ W8S e.n ald man, blind and ill.

Lamina refused, fer he feared that Almamy Fanna wauld in this

way take~his pbsitian away fram him ~nd' give it te this new

assistant.~'Almamy Fanna cleared this doubt fr~m L~mina's mind.

After sorne' consultation, a compromise was reached. They

agreed that Lamina's younger brother~ Gbawuru, shouid be brought

ta KabaIa' as acting chi~f to assist in the provision of carriers.

They wouid have given Simmeh, Gbawurw' S ·older brother, this dut y ,

but Simmeh soon fell ill and died. Since Gbawuru was now im­

portant in assisting the British at Kabala, the area around Kabela

came to be called Gbawuruya.

Gbawuru selected carriers from Yagala, Konkoba~' Ka~aka,

Katawiy~, because thes~ were the nearby villages. Wh~n Lamina

died, Almamy Fanna gave the staff of office to Gbawuru as chief

there. Whsn you heer Wara Wara l, it'i~ here; W~ia Wara II

,'ls Y'agalsa •.

Almamy F~nna wes .succeeded by Almamy M~ktaru, son of

Almamy Suman. After Muktaru came Almamy Salifu,' thg presBnt

ruler •.

The following Wara Wara villag~s were left in Guinea when

the bound~ry was created between Sierra Leone and Guinea: Dembey~,

y a ma, K a t~i ri;, DaI i pot a and Su m bar a y a. They are a Il in t Ii-e Ma mou

regian. 1 n Dalipata, the 'baundary fell on a particular house;

if you are in the ver'andah, 'you a're in Sie"rra Leone. 'At the

backdoar, yeu aie in Guinea.

; . '.

THE KORANKO

The Koranko are a nuclear Mande group and the Koranko language is mutually intelligibl~ ~ith Mandinka. Formet Paramount Chief, Fina Kali BaIa, more commonly called Mongo BaIa of Mongo Chiefdom, Koinadugu District, spoke here more ~enerally of the Koranko. His ~ection on S~mori shoüld indi­cate ho~ information from more distant areas filtered down to related peoples. The interview was done in Mongo Bendugu, chief>town in Mongo Chiefdom, in'February 1975.

The'mbaimba (ancestor) of the Mara was Yurkhernani. He

wa~ ver~ p~w~rful and Gad blessed him abundantly. He once prayed

to'Gad ta lessen his power and wealth which he considered was,

tao much. After praying, he bathed in a stream on a Saturday, , .

only, to come out of it with two harns on his head - one gold and

one silver. He picked,the fruit of a monkey-breadtre8 only to

find money in one and gold in another. He was biessed grsatly.

His son was Mulku Sulaimani. Both of them stayed at Kairouani

in Guinea;they did not come down. They were however the rulers

over aIl the Koranko'.

Mulku 5ulaimani had many sons and these he sent aIl over

Karanko land. Mamburu he sent to Mongo here. Mansa Morifing

went ta Mori~indugu. To Sengbe went Kulfinyan while Kor'ke

maved to Deldugu. Mandalè founded Mankalia and Konkoronba

settled Neya. Nyedu was peopled by Nyanu Mansa Tigbale. . . 1

Tambaya is another name for Binadugu.

This country is not only peopled by Mara. lhere are also

Koroma, Kagbo, Konde, Dulare and Jawara. Bankonko Brema Sesay

was the first moriman (charm maker, priest) who came down with

our mbalmba.

Mamb~ruJ Sulaimani's son who stayed in ~ongo, had five

sons. These and their children farm the major families in

Monga. The five sons and their children'were (1) Korkantang,

whose son was Wora Mamburu; these are at Dénk~ltô. (2) Makanjo,

together with his son'Bowa Dinkin, were the ancestors of the

Ka~ffaya people; (3) Fori Mori and hi~ son Fabala Bori Mara

head the town of Mongo Bendugu; (4) Tumani and his son Ameri

were aIs a of Karifaya. The last son Kor'ke had Nyata and these

head the Nyataya family.

25

Samori's war met Mongo BaIa here. Langanfali, Samori's

kurgba, éame Hers. He made ~veryone "e~t,bread" •. M.ongo

. Birama, Mongo Foday, Kondo Konya ~ Horsel~, w~re all .... t_e.l<en to

Sikasso' and many: of them did' not return. 'The only ones who

returoed were Kumba'Baie's and Kema Kanyo's yaunger brather, . .'

'Nakura'B~le, with ~orseli as ~is Iieu~enant • . ~ ~:. ':. ,-:' ~.

But before they returned~ Samori had been captured by the

I~F:i:e·nbh. " He had'; e-arlier. sent'his son Yenwulen Kara~o ta France ... l': \ . 1 \,' 'r.. . '. -. ..

where the whites had gat this son to go and try to convince

His fatber,ta stop the fighting. Samori ha~ ~efused and His

wife, ,:Sarankyé, mother 'of YahlwuIen, had supported him. He had

Iocked :l..1p Yanwulen in awindawless house whère ithe:;latter had

died. But Yanwulen had predicted that the white~~~ould defeat

5q mori ~nd, so it happened. The war brought much famine and

.. ~cattered Samari's people~' Many joined the whites ~ho had

many gun~.' Kombo arrested 5emari.and took 'him ta Fitaba.

.. . Thé n the cou n t r y was div ide d -' the: F ;ç en G h . i.n Gui n e a ~ the En 9 lis h

in ,5 i e rra Le 0 ne.

The English started,making chiefs here. They ~sked that

people should send their childre~ ta sc~ool and that every

country shoùld~send a representative ta the CourlMessen~er

force. When they came at first, they asked every ruler te meet

them at Falaba. Mongo sent Marmakali whose father was Bamba-

tina Konyo and older b~other Kursanbale. The whiteman made

Mar"makali the Paramount Chief. After Marmakali, Kursanbale

became the ne.xt Paramount Chief. From these· ·two there de·veloped

twa ruling houses in Monga section •. Kursanbale was follc:iwed

by his oldest son, Makura Konta l, whose son, Fina Kali BaIa

(the informant) succeeded him. It wes in the rule of Mongo

'Bala that amalgamatidn came under Fina Kali of Deldugu.

Manten Bokaii fram 5erikolia followed and was succeeded by

Fakuly Mara as Damba Kuluwa II of Deldu; the next Paramaunt

Chief was Makura Konta II, the present one.

MORIFINDUGU

MorifindugJ, formerly a chiefdom of itself, is naw part 'bf Mong·o Chiefdom.' One of the informants, Moriba' Kamara, is a yeliba and of a different clan from the predominant Mara. The other, Kéw'ulé Mara'- is the chier' of rv'lori findu·gu. The Mara of Morifind~gu claim at one time political hegemony over Ferensola, the name given to aIl of Koranko country. Marle Bokari, who features prominently in this tradition, was actually captured by Samori. The ~ara are apparently trying here ta wipe off what they consider a disgrace from their traditions and this is more cleverly' done by the yeliba. The interview was conducted at Kombile in Morifindugu in February 1975.

Our mbaimba, Morif~ng Mara, came from Misadu Banankora

which is in, Sankaran ~ountry. He went. at, first ta Bafingfè

,(between the Bagbe and Bafing rivers')., It was after him that

t~is whole· erea came to be called Mori findugu.

Mans,a Mgrifing came with .his younger brother, Vira.

This latter he sent to Yiraya ~n the present Sengbe Chiefdom.

When Morifing came down, many also accompanied, him. He was a

big c~ief; thembaimba of tbe Kagbo, Mansa Kama, came with him

before going further down to Kamadugu. The Kamara, who later

settled at ~okunya Barawa (in 5ankaran) also came with him.

The Koroma also accompanied him and later moved down tO,Diang.

It w €lS much later that aIl thesebegan ta find chiefs (rulers)

in the new areas they ha~ settled.

Mansa Mlrifing's oldest son was Yengu; the latter had

three sons - Yengu Vira, Yengu Mènsè, Yengu Fara. The eldest

of these three, Yengu Vira, had a son named Tinalei.This

Tinalei was the first ruler of aIl Ferensola. This Ferensola

is Koranko country. It starts from the Sambaia area to Sankaran.

The boundary between Sankaran and Konya was the Bafune (river).

Tinalei's oldest son,was Marlè Bakari. He became a ruler

even greater than his father. Bokari moved his town to Yinde­

kuma (close to Serikolia). While Marlè Bokari was at Yindekuma,

1

• he heBrd ~bout S?mori's war~ He therefore made a very strang

war.fenéë i-'Ct'ârèj--àraund his tawn "wi th bnly one gate. "Hethen

decided ta go and greet Sa~ari~ He left ~ith his younger brather

BilAtamba, tagether ~ith many slaves, cows, sh~ep, et~. as'pre­

sen t s for Sam or i CI Ge t tin gel ~ set a 5 a ~ a n k a ra wh e r e 5 a m'CT i wa s ,

he stapped èt Bi~andugu ~baut six miles off Q He sent Bilatamba

ahead ta Samari ta announce him and seek receptian.. Now,

Bilatamba was a very huge person. When Samori sawrhim, he was

astanished. Il l s your aIder brot her alive" ?,. Samor i a-s ked h im 0

When Bilatamba replied in the affirmative, Samori told Bila­

tamba t'a t'ell 'th~t brother nat to get ta ·5anank'oro, far he was

sure that brother would be more gigantic than Bilatamba. 'C

Samari gave Bilatamba ten times the amauht crf presents Marl~

Bokar! had sent and hended over ta Bokar{ aut~arity aver the

lciwer countryo On his return journey, Marl~ Bakari passed

throug'h Wasulu, captured some :Fula and brought 'them to his

country.

Before Mariè Bokari 18ft his old town for Sanankora, his

al f a an c..: ye lib a n a me d Fin a V 'J ria Mar i Ka ma r ù (a n'c est 0 r of the

infoimant) had told him that he shouid not return to.thèt town

but look for an area in his country 'on a hill 'between two strenms

and there build a new onee Bokari couid not findsuch ~'place

on his rèturn so he went ta Umaru, ruler of Gberia Timbakb and

put the issue béfore Umaru. He asked Umaru to give him such a

place or face his wratho Umaru replied that since Marlè Bokarii~

country and his had a common boundary, the former should look

for such a place anywhere around and take it o

When Bokari could not discover such a site in Umaru's

country, he crossed the Se li (the baundary) back inta his own

country and went to settie at Bilatambaya. But this place did

not fit the description the _~J...f.ê. had given him. He stayed at

Bilatambaya three ycars while he was searching. After this

periad~ he discovered this place (Kombile) which answered the

description of the slf~a He called the new town Kambile, meaning

28 .'

a place with blessing. AlI of Bokari's ~, yeliba and

people came and settled at Kombile. From Kombile, Marlè

Bokari sent other~ who founded Gberefi, Serikolia and other

places. Al1_t~irteen towns in Marif{ndugu were founded by

people from Kombile. Kombile is older than Mongo and other

towns around; next in line is Mankalia Kirdu followed by

Kerifaya. Marlè Bokari's power still extended over aIl Fer­

ensola. Kemo Boltamba of Barawa was his prime minister.

Almamy Musa at Dankawali was also under Bokari.

Bokari was very old when the whiteman came. The whites

psked that each ruler or his representative should meet them

at ralaba. Bokari sent his son Kumba Wulenlai as his represen­

tative and the British made him the first Paramount Chief of

Mo~ifindugu. Kumba Wulenlai's oldest son, Manten Bokari,

became the next Para~ount Chief for eleven years before

amalgamation came. Five chiefdoms were joined togeth~r and

called Mongo Chiefdom. The staff (of office) was given ta

Fina Kali of Masadu. Manten Bokari became speaker ta this new

chief. When Fina Kali died on the fourth year of amalgamation,

Manten Bokari became the paramount chief of the amalgamated

chiefdom; he died five years Iater and wes succeeded by

Fakoli (ti~led Demba Kuluwa II), son of Fina Kali, with

Fayinba of Mongo as his speaker. This speaker succeeded

three years later as Majura Konta II.

•

, , .

29

NEYA KORANKO

There is much confJict between twa ruling families in Ney~ Chiefdam. The interview w~s conducted:at Kurubonla'in M~y 1973, saon aft~r ·the present Paramount Chief, Madusilai

rII .had·been installed. He moved the chiefdom headquarters . ~ram Kurubonla ta Po~pon~ nine miles away ~nd a new road had ta be bûilt by th~V~écipleto Parpan o Parpan'isthe home of· hié awn sectian~of the·ruling Mara family. The informant here how~ver is a, Kamara ~nd the interviews doriê:~away from susplcious eyes, te~ds ta be m6re balanced, and perhaps intentionally sa.

Our earliest ancestor in this Neya'. cOLJnt"rywas' Nyomboyoh.

~e wa~ a hun~er and he .came from It up" • Nyomboyoh hed nine

children and the families which descended f~am these' ni~e

~peopled Neya .. ~cauntryo Th~se fa·mi1·i~s are that of the e"ldest -

.. Sarrya '; then "'Ia~sieh 1 then 501brangbeh, then Nyalmisah, then . :- .'; . .

Dandu, t.hen Woronbaduh, then Mardulai, then Kelmasuw'eh and

~inally, Kol:iah. These fami2.ies are aIl in Porpo·n. These nine

children were aIl warriors but they did nat ~tay in one town.

The two most famaus warriors to emerge from these families

were Sondamtamba and Sar.dankali~ They were directly descended

ff9m Nyomboy~h's eldest son Nyesenyireh; Nyeseyireh wa~'the

father cf Nyesengborih whose son was Tonkor~h; Tohkoreh's son

wa s Mar b u n ban who fa "t il e r e d Bu ni iJ a mal i and Ka li.' Ka li' s san wa s

Yileh, whos~ sons were Sondankali and Sondantamba. These two

famous warriors in their time fought the K~no, Temne and other

re~ghbo~ring ethnie groups~

The eldest cf these two, 50ndantamba, "had many children

.~yarmalai, Pesilai, Lai Kanja, 5ibenkun and Gb~ngba a~ohg them • . " .

But Sondankali had only two children - a son Madu~ilai, and a

daughte~ named Nasondan~

. In Yileh's time, the Kono drave the Koranko from this Neya

country:an~.occ~pied the area. Our grandfethers ~ere driv~as .~... ....: ••.• _~ , .:. f . ',' .

far a s ~ ~ r: jan sü~'k' ù 'r~e la ( in Gui ne à) . wh e r e t he y st a y e d. Son dan da l i . .

and Sondantamba left hers and went to Mongo. But before they

went, it~was ~ecided in Porpon that a ~ay ~hould be f6und ta

retr~evE? the~r ... cC?unt.ry from the Kono. One' important 'moriman f

30

(charm maker, priest) secluded himself for seven days on this

: ,issue; when 'he 'emerged, he prophesied that someone who wes an

~ only san ,cou,ld redee,m the count,ry. "Madusilà'i was, one' sU,ch, sa

he'was chosen ta b~ S2~~ to Nyago the Mende leader, for help.

Thaugh Madusilai's mother was deeply ~rieved at, this, the deci­

sion" stood. Bef OTe lea~ing, Ma~usilai was gi~en twenty slaves

and six cows: to take' to Nya.9,o,. He was accompanied by' three

eIders - Sibenku, Nyaramalai and Pesilai (sons of Sondantamba).

When they got to Mansundu in Mende country, they met them busy . ;'

with a war. Madusiiai had to stay six months in Mansundu before

his case could be considered. Nyago initially ag=eed ta help

the Neya Koranko. Arms and powder were sent for from Freetown.

After a while ~yago was in doubt; for him to beiie~e that

Madusilai had b~ought a leg~t~mate request, he should see some

more env,oys from the Neya people ~ MeantJhile, sinc'e M~dusilai

had been absent from home for such a long time, Sondankali and

Sondantamba sent other envoyG. ~ith ten slaves and five cows to

follow Madusilai. When t~ese arrived at Mansundu, Nyago's

doubts were resolved and he sent for his warriors from aIl

around his countryo Aftsr much dancing and feasting' on the cows,

they took oif for Koranko o The road went through Nyeama Nimiyema

(Sewafe) to Sando, then ta a river where they rested and which

took the name of ~~~, (in Koranko, 'resting place'). From

Sum~yi, which is the boundary with Kono, they got to a village

named Yoromankoro which is in Neya country. From there through

Kakpo~a to Babro and then to Tinkibru, close to Porpon. AlI

this area wes deserted.

Nyago said they should best attack the Kano in the raine

Madusilai then climbed up an ant-hi11 and proclaimed 'if 1

have ever slept with a blacksmith or a yeliba or finaba's

wife (grei00us sins), lat my'words come 'to nothing; but if not,

let it rain as we move on'.

They moved on to the central Koranko towns of Pan~akundon

-~nd Tiredon which we~e then the Kono strongholds in Koranko,

as they moved towards these towns p it started ta raine The army

•

J ';'"i .

31

in s t i tut e d a pas s wo rd - If ye g b e ? fi and the ans we r, " n y c· ka" . ~. ~ ~

(who is i~? it.is me). In the attack on P~npakundon which

followed, many Kano were either kill~d or taken' slav~s~ One

Kano ruler - Fasulunkowa - was captured, but Madusilai would

not .let him betaken as slave. The ruler was·s~nt ta Porpon . . ~'.

with two guards.., Mad~~ilai did this"b~cause Fasülunkowa's ! '

mother was a.Koranko related to Madusllai. Nyombroh and Tire-

don and other villages were aIs a taken. Many'Kono were

captu;-ed.

The M~nde of Nyago stayed in Neya for six months. They

. ' handed.over the country to Madu~~lai and his t~oops. Madusilai

."., "d~.c.i~,ep .[l~ot. to executl"' those who submi tted by eating flour and

kola.

tude.

Many Kono slaves were given to the Mende 'army in grati-... j f

With the remaining slaves, the slave towns 'of Siyadu

a0~,Wurkondofe were founded.

Trade wes then only in slaves ~nd iice,the products of • ", .1

the country. When the Kono took Koranko cLuntry, th~ Fankole

people of Kurubonko had fled to 5inkinsukurela. After Madusi­

lai's victory, he sent for ~ankole ta return ta Neya and agreed

to share power with him. Whi1e Madusilai remained in Porpon,

Fanko1e wes 1eft to ru1e in Kurubon1a, bath areas being divided

by the Poro River. They agreed that if a cow was killed, one

leg would go to Madusilai and the other ta Fankole. Madusilai

was regarded as being over the entire Neya country but as a

sign of respect, Fankole was left in Kurubonla.

This Fank01e was descended from Konkoronba who was the

father of Yerikindifanko. The latter fathered Farinba Saio

who was the father of Bambafanko. Fankolai was Bambafanko's

son. The lctter's mother was a Fula by origin, named Bambe.

Farinbasaio, Bambafanko's father, was a hunter. He had many

wives but no chi1dren. A moriman told him that if he took the

wife of someone who died, he would have a popular child by her.

\:J he n Far i n bas a i a we nt t 0 h u n t a t Ku 1 a k 0 n ka, hem et Ba m b e and he r

.,~L:J,sband; he stayed with them and hunted for them. When this

32

hLtsband.die<4-F-a~inb-esa.;io ... brou~-Bembe home in fqce of the

ri~icul~ of everyone. Bambe was then getting aid. But the

prophecy came true and by Sambe was born Bambafanko ta

Farinbasaio.

When Madusilai's father.died, Madusilai made a b~g funeral

inviting many people araund and slaughtering many CDWS.

Madusilai's eldest son was Gbondo while Fankalai's

eldest son was Kumbafanko. When the whitemen came, Madusilai

at.Porpon was a very old man. He therefore would always send

Kumba~anko, who had by then taken over from his fether Fankolui,

as his emissary to the wnitemen at Falaba. These latter grew

ta recagnize Kumb~fanko and when Paramount Chieftainciss were

created and at the death of Madusilai, Kumbafanko instead of

Gbonda got that for Neya. On the death of Kumbafanko, the

.p~esent Chie: Gbondo, grandson of the aIder Gbondo became

Paramount Chief as Madusilai II.

THE KORANKO OF BARAWA

.'. This was a group interview done at Firawa, chief town of the Barawa section of Nienni chiefdom in the 'Koinadu~~

. District' iri' November 1974. The informants are: aIl Mara, the predominaDt clan in Barawa. The tradi tion .explains the southern:

,expansion of the Koranko into territory formerly occupied by the Gbandi.

Our ancestor who led the Barawapeople to this area was

~alled Maran Kankan; he was a Mara. He came down with Kodo­

k~da, but the latt~r passed on ta Simbirinya (near Mabonto).

They came~ fram a Karanko town named Sunkuny~ Barawa which is

close ta Farana in Guinea. There are Koranko still living

'there. Th~~ country, Barawa, took its name from that place.

Maran Kankan met people here called Gbendi; he drove

,them away to the waterside (ocean). Maran Kankan and his follow­

ers founded the town of Kulandi and it became their chief town.

This town is as old as Fala9a. The heads of families which ,

,followed bim founded tawns surrounding, Kulanko. These towns

were Barawa Kamoia, Kokoro, Old Firawa, Timbiran, Kalmaro, '* * 5 in 9 b i n y a,. Du k 0 no, Ba m b a k el e ya, G ben d e k 0 r 0, Ban dan k und u ma

* . * ' - * (meaQing 'short cotton tree'), Kindekoro, Kurekor6, San~~la,

* * * * Momoria, Fereya, Kankanbaya, Bangbaranbuya, Dakaya, Yenkuya, *' * Bambugu, Sisela, ~osokoroma, Dankang, (now only a fakai),

*, * * * Kulakoro,' Benkoya~ 5arinyarinya, Tolto (meaning a place to get . *

~Durishment), Merinto (people only go there to farm nowadays), * Kimasbgo, Kulukonko (meaning 'hill of leapards', now called

Wakonko), Baldoya and Y amisaya. These were the. origina,l

towns and villages of the Barawa.

When Maran Kankan died at Kulanko, he was succeeded by

his eldest son Maran, Kankansara. There was then no fixed rules

determining, succession wi thin the ruling family. When the

mansa (rulBr) died, aIl the big men got togBther and decided

who would become the next mansa. The young men would, after

this decision, collect piles of firewood and throw them at

the frontage of the appointee's house. This is the way the

information was made public. AlI other aspirants for the

Towns marked * denote those no longer existing

34

mansastiid-wo.uld then give up any hope of'acquiring it.

Ma.r an, .Kank-e-nsa.r a......w.a5..-..5-Ucceed.e.tL by-tti..s-own-eùde.s t, 's_ 0 n ,

Maran Mamburu; the latter'~ son, Maran B~lansama,' ~ollowed as

mansa of Barawa at Kulanko. After Maran Balansama, his son

Damatibolo took office, followed by Boltamba (also called

Maran Tamba), son 'of Damatibolo.

I~ the rule of B61tamba, the erttire Barawa country~ was

d~stroyed by genkerifa, ~ Kbno warrior, and his hordes. AlI

the' towns mentioned above were destroyed. Senkerifa was a

menance t6 the ~rea; it was Samori 'who got rid of him~

When Senkerifa destroyed Barawa country, ;Bol tamba led

his peopie away ta 'a townin Morifindugu'called Aramanyinya,

whose ruler was Bilatamba. The people 'of Morifindugu would

not allow the 'Barawà to stay for fear thatthe more numbeT'OtJa

Barawawould domina te them~ B61tamba then took his people

close ta Limba'country ta a hi11 outside Kabala. They were

,initially there under no one's protection; they named.the hLll

albitaya meaning."under the protection of 'God".

'These'Ba~awa remained'in Albitaya a long·timé. Boltamba

died there ~ndwas succeeded·by Senkeribolo, his.son, under

, whose: leûdership the Barawa moved down from the. hill ta settie

at .Kabala. They met the Limba at Kabala. While·:they were in

·Albi taya, they began to settle in othe r· towns and villages , *

~round Kabala. These ar~:,Yismaya, Sarako, Worowakalia, i * * . * ~akunaya, Senikedugu, 'Dankanduma, Kyekoh" Y~gbe:e (meaning 1

* * * ,'white water'), Kumandi, Mantimamburuya, Karifafinaya, ., . ,* . . *. 1 Kondoya, Koromansilaya, Kumbadiforiya, Worsorkoroma (worsor-

" * koro means 'pebble'), and Bel.ikoroya. also called Mamuruya.

Jhe Barawa Koranko founded aIl these towns and villages;

af.ter the y .1eft the a.rea, many of the villages were ·destroyed.

Benkolia started the Korari1<o town at Kabala.

35

At Kabalé, 5enke~ibolowas Bucceeded by another son of

Boltamba named Belikoro (alsb called Mam~ru). It was in

Éelikorc's rule that the whitemen passed through Kabala to get

to Falaba. They met M~nga Fasine at Falaba; the Falaba hill

did net accept the whitemen and many died.

There was a District Commissioner in' I}eIikoro' s rule called

Warren. H~ surveyed the old home of the ~arawa and toid ~amuru

that it was very suitable ~or cuttlng' p~lm and for agriculture.

He told th~ Barawa people to return to their country for if

they did not, he would give their country to someone else'.

The Barawa people agreed to return; led by Belikoroba, they

retur.ned to Bara.wa withou.t stopping anywhere else.

When Belikoro died, his brother Tenbe (or Mara~) Sewa

ruled. Tenbe Sewa was a warrior and people believed he was

wicked; when this rumour reached his ears, Tenbe Sewa called

~he people together and promised to forsake aIl wicked ways;

~e .r~al~y did and became a good r~ler. After him, Belikoro's 1

son, Porobolo was mansa in Barawa. Porobolo was made ruler

.because people believed his father had been a kind man. -Para­

bolo was a good ruIer; after him there was an interregnum which

preceeded the amalgamation. This happened because there was

.. disagreement betwee~ the support~rs of Beiikor~ba and Poro-. •... .

balo.

Property succession goes from brother ta brother; this is

because a brother takes care of the children-nf the deceased;

when however the dead man's son grows'up ~nd gets married, the

uncle has to return aIl important items inherited ta his nephew.

If the dead m~n has no brother, it goes ta his son or the

closest kin.

There was trade in slaves with Guinea before the whitemen

came. A~ter that, it was in kolanuts. Iron working was done

~t Tinbiran and Kankanbanya in pre-colonial times. The iran

was smelted in a soIsy (fu~n2ce).

Bride priee was paid in eows, rice, goats, sheep and eloth.

A poor man who wanted a wife would attaeh himself ta a wealthier

man whieh latter would marry a wife for him; from this point he

would fend for himself if he needed another wife.

THE KOROMA CLAN OF NIENI 36

There is a strorrg te-ndencY-i-n~--T-oI the informant, Pa~amount Chief Bali Kali Koroma, to centre every-. thing in Nieni. AlI of the old men h~d treen assemb1ed to give the tridition, but the Paramount Chief did not allow them to speak, only see king approval .from t hem. The tradition was recorded in Yifin, capital town of Nieni Ch{efdo~.in the Koinadugu District, in Ja~uary 1975.

Dur·mbaimba was Fakoli Koroma who came from Mandé;

Fakoli 1eft Mande and went ta Mecca for seven years before

he returned to Mande. In Mecca, he had so~s talled Sar~mbat

Tamba andYa~an; these Fakoli sent out of Mande an~ thèy got

t 0 th i s are a; the y fi r s t s è t t l e d . a t . G b e san y a wh i c: h t 0 w n i s

b~tween Yifin and Kondembaya. From Gbesanya, Yeiin Tamba came

to Yifin a.nd Saramb8 went ta Kamarow. Bath Yifin and Kamar~

were founded at about the same time. Yifin at th~t time

belonged ta the Turay Koranko; these were then subdued or

driver away by the Koroma. Yifin became the first town of

Yerin·Tamba and his followers.

Saramba's brotDer, Yalan, went ta Bumbuna; he met the

Koranko, Kagbo there and his power drove them away; he took

over Bumbuna.

At Yifin, Tamba Koroma had fo~r children - Feren, Musa.

Eala and Sara ~oroma; Feren, the eldest, was the father of

Karawa whose son was Yirimusukeli. This Yirimusukeli then

became the ruler of aIl Koranko in this area. He also ruled

·the Temne of Fulawusu and Kunike Gbarina, and the·5ando Kano •

. :. He was the mansa of the Koranko at the same time as Suluku

ruled the Limba. This was before the Barawa left for Kabala.

During the rule of Yerimusukeli, some' Koranko 18ft the

surrounding area, went to Bumban to seek Suluku's help against

Yifin. This war came to Yifin and lasted for six years; on

the seventh, in spite of the strong war fence around Yifin,

the war overcame Yifin. Eut Yerimusukeli had sent his children

.out of the country before this event. One of his children,

Bambafara, was however captured end taken to Bumban as prisoner.

With the destruction of Yifin's power, there was then no one

1

..

"

Ill.

37

... tb ,:fight fa·r.the: KaJ;'anko, ~hich, made i t possible for war ta • '.' .. • r .. !.,' ::. " '.' .,

o~ercQme, the Barawa and drive the~_to Kabala.

Aft~r this, Samori's war came. Following this war,

people were.sent from Yifin ta go and bxing Bambafara from

.' ~·Bumban,. , As there was no, money.", the people took four cows as

'a pre'sent to S.J..Jluku .. wh:~c,h "made him, release Eambafar. When

he returned, Bambafara, colle~.ted the r,est of the Koranko and

~odkith~m 'ta Kintibalia; t~~ whitemen came and said that there "

shauld be no 'mci're .war; he said that e,veryqne. should return ~ • f ~

ta hi~former home. ,The Kono of Sando who had aIl been at

Kintibalia, 'returned. Bambafara led his people ta Kruto . ;).

(which still exists) before they g~t,back to Yifin.

, The British then ,wanted a Paramount Chief over the area.

, .~, The pèople.all claimed that Bambafara was the one wno should

be appointed. A few ye,ars,,:, -t~ tl?r" ~ambafara was crowned. He

; was the ruler of K aliang (wh ic h was fula)" Wul i (Mara) and

Sambaia (Fula) besides Nieni. ,When Bambafara receiv~d the * staff, these areas mentioned only had the boak~ The first

staff was at Yifin; a, l'ittle late,r, on,e wa-s gi~en ta f,Ç3nkalia

, -in" Neya;: Mari. 'rvl'usa rec'eived one next· a·t Kamadugu; Fasine

followed for aIl: theYalun'ka; then 'i t \"'as the turn of Suman . '

at Bafodea. It was in D.Co Stanley's time that aIl the other

(lesser) chiefs received staffs.

Under Bambafara, Kaliang, Sambaia and Wuli aIl paid tax

here at Nieni for seven yearso On the eighth, the difficulties

Bambafara was experiencing in collecting the tax over such an

extensive area made him decide to give the responsibility for

this to chiefs in the different areas. Gbafara from Kumala

was ta be responsible for Kaliang; Fabol Karifa wes in charge

of Sambaia, white Wuli and Yeraia were given to Bandakarifa

from Kerifaia respectiveIy; little did Bambafara realize that

he was giving away the country.

* Book here refers ta treaties signed by the British with the local rulers about 1890.

. "

38

"At the" next" tax t"ime,' i t was çoll.ee1i&d '5Bpa~eteiy 1'rom

thes6 di-rfe.,rent," "-~o~J1~r~Q. .çreated by Bambafara. F aboI Kar i fa

ndw asked the British far his awn staff ta became separate

from Nieni. This dispute Iasted a year after which the British

~~~d ~o~e Pa~aM~nt Chiefs ta settle the issue. In the end,

F.abol Kari fa was left at 'Sambaia: Bef"\dugu and Kallang were

given ta Gbafara; the Pampa~a was put as the boundary line;

later. Sambaia was t~Bneferred ta the Tankollli District.

The whiteman askBd aIl Paramount Chiefs ta send a son

ta become a Cauri Messenger. Bambafara sent Kali, ~ho Iater

.b.ec.eme. -the. l"'t-9xt Peramount Chief." In the force, Kali was

ca+led tKali Nieni'.

After Eambafara, Kanku Mansa beca~e t~~ ~~~ Par~t

Chief, followed by another son of Bambafata, Kali; the latter

WBS $Ucceeded by thQ Dr~se~~'P9~~t CHief. Among the

Karanka, one cann-at be made a ruler if one is.. J"\.ot -From tne

~mmediate crowning house.

A.t the time of amalgam"ation, those who had' formerly

baen under Nieni,except Sambe~a, we~e "again joined to us.

; The _name 'Nie ni' means "r ieh sail", a place w~ere ti'\i~gs

could thrive." Yifin means 'Blackwater'.

•

..

• ,:'1f~ • f-.,. _._ •. "a ......

" ' ~ .' t. :"1

" .-.-.~-_. -- '---~'.--_ .. -.,

39

THE KOROMA CLAN' OF DIANG

This tradition must be re~d and compared with the pr

g

evious one by the Koroma of' Nien:C .. ·· This /tdo wa!.s a group interv iew hut the atmosphere was less cont'rolled and the Paramount Chief wes absent. One of the informants, Chiefdom Speaker, Pi·mpi Koroma' is now dec·eàse~d. The' interview was done among Koranko .of the Koroma cl:an at Kondembaia,. chi€f town of Diang Chiefdom in the Koinadugu Distric{ in Fe~ruary 1975. Lake Sonfon is a fairl; iarg~ inland iake clo~e td Kondembaia. The mythica1 s·tory at the ,start may only serve to explain the role of every clan in the area. Dansogoia was a former chiefdom, now part of Kalansogota chiefdam in the Tonkalili District~

Our mbaimba, Saramba, came from Yufune i~ Mande; there ,"' '! .

was no one in this country then. Saramba cam~ here with his

older brother Yira; the Barawa were not here ~hen. They were

also accompanied by Mamuduke Koroma and Sagba Turay, .. the

mbaimba of the Turay family. They came with the mansakin,

the medicine for sacrifice for the good of the co~ntry.

When ~hey gat to the L8ke Sonfon area, they built a

~onstruction like a watchtower (the kind used ta scare away

birds on a farm) called Eube~dè. This subendè was built with

much magical power. After they hed constructed it, Mamuduke

wes told to climb it, but he was uD~ble as the magic was too

powerful for him. Yir6 tao could not ascend the subendè.

It was only Saramba who could overcome the char~s and get . stop the subendè. He met a g01d s1ing at the top; Saramba

took the sling and directed i~ east, west, north and south

before he was asked ta climb down.

The eIders now decided that the mansakin and t8e lake

should be parcelled out. They ascend~d a hill,close to

Foriya,! close to a lake called. Talaykekonke (mean~ng" "hill

wh~re we shared"). The mansakinye was given ta Yira for safe

keeping. Saramba got the,subendè so he would look after the

country. The lake was given ta Sagba Tur~y sa th~t the Turay

family would always be making sacrifice fpr aIl of them.

40

Mamuduke, who had initially come from Mamurudugu, asked for.

his own. share; he was told that the skin of any cow killed

shouldalways go ta his family as a mark ·of respect.

Saramba got the count~y since he could climb the sub~nd~.

Hé settled down at Dafolo and' had children. His oldest sah

waè Gbaday who also had two sons ~ Sara J the eldest, and Tsmba.

This latter went ta Yifin which heopened up; thers was no

one there then. Sara rsmained in Diang; by"this timeSaramba

had died.

Sara's oldest son was Fagbesanyang, who founded a town

called G~esanyang. F agbesanyang had .three sons - Kuliyumbo,

.Manfori and Foray, the ,Youngest. Foray soon started fomenting

diss~ntion between his town brothers. Once when Manfori was

'. shé!rpening his sword, he mis ta ke nly eut K uliyumbo a n~ th is led

t 0 a big' fig h t b e t w e e n the m, bec a use For a y 1 S con spi r a c y ha d . ".. . .. '

.made them suspicious of each other. This occurrence disturbed

~heir fath~r very much so he decioed to send them to different

areas to k~~p them separated from each other. He sent Kuli­

yumbo to ,pomoliya (now only a deserted farming site); Manforay

was sent to Kamarow which he founded. Foray, who had caused

the·trouble, was not given a particular place; his father

.... _-t:~ l d hi m t 0 fin d hi s 0 w n for t une s wh e r ev e r he li k e d • For a y

was a hunter, so he travelled southwards with his gun to

Bumbuna. He met some Koranko people there, but the place had

. no name yet., Near.the town, he killed a bush cow; he killed

another and yet another; because of this, the people there

called the cou.ntry 'Dansogoia', mealJ.ing tlhunter (firing)".

The Koranko here spread the ne~s qf this great man; the y called

.. h~m ~bilr(la meaning 'great str~nger' , The name of Foray was

soon lost. At Dansogoia, Gbilma had children - Yelang, the

oldest, wes the father of Yalang Bokari; Yalang Bokari's

son was the la te paramount chief of Dansogoia.

:.Manforay at Kamarow was the father of Konibe, Sandy and

Dinka. Konibe founded Konibaya; his sons were Kerfado, Sangba­

noma (the eldest), Marmasandi, Tina Ferenkeh, BaIa (Mori) Musa

•

,

•

41

* (a former Paramount Chief, rresent at the interview) and

Sangba Màgba. Konibe. sen.t. 'Marrnasandi to .~andia; Dinka went

ta Dinkaya, which later became' known as Lengekoro. Ferenkeh

was ta bec~me the first Par~mount Chief of Diang.

But this was after the Samorian war. Mansa Fira, who

ha~ been given themansakin, was at Yara; Fasolo was his

first son and the next. wes Nonko. When the war came, Yira

tald his twq sons to go and settle on the bounda~y .between

Diang and Barawa: F asolo founded Soloya .and Nonko bU.il t

Nonkokoro. The location of these two towns saved Diang from

the Sofas, But Konibe and his· sons - Manti Bal~ and Marma­

sa~di, Binti Momori and Hinti Magba, blocked the other end

to prevent the war entering Diang.

After the war, Kerfado who was then ruler of the

icountry (Kanibe had died) divided up the ~ountry again. They

swore that everyone should bury the hatchet and r~nounce aIl

ideas of revenge. Mansa Yira (Saramba's brother) was grieved;

when he remembered aIl they h2.d done to his people, he cried;

he was told ta have patience; this, in Koranko means "dien..9.':

and so the country took its name.

When Ferenkeh died., Samba Magba became the next Paramoun"':

Chief, followed by Mari Musa, son of Ferenkeh; next came the

present Paramount Chief Sheku Megba II, son of Samba Magba~

Diang Sokurella was founded by Sandi;. later Manforay

sent his children Manti BaIa and ot~ers ta their.'big daddy'

at So~urela, because they were naw many at Kamarow.

* Now deceased.

'1l2

THE TORONKA

'Thisshort piece ~epresehts a· sm~ll group' of the Koranko, ~he Savane or Toronka of Alikal~ao . They were lat~r corners and probably entered the Sierra 'Leone hinterland in the second ha"lf of the 18th :century. The informa'ht is Madusu Momori Thoronka ~nd the interview was recprded. at Alikalia in January, 1975.

Our mba~mba .was Mankoro .who came from Torong,; the name

Toronka is .derived from ~hat place.;. the people are. really called

Savane. When Mankoro ~.ame here, ~e ,met th~. Kagb,o :in the town

b y the r i.v e r. '. He sc a t te r.e d the m .~

Man.koro' s son was D~bonta who .was t.he fpthe r of Sayo Demb8.

j. Samor!' s~ar met .;Sayo Demba at Al~:kalia 0 He .was caught by the

Sofas who released him and hereturned :to ,hi~, town. But the

Sof~s caught. him again and took him ta Here~~kono where they

killed:him. Sayo's.children were all.scatt~~ed. by the war.

At the end of the war, .. those who had survive~ came back; they

left. the oldsite of the town (probably destroyed) and refounded

.Alikalia 'on ,the· presen.t l,ocai{,i_on 0

~. I~ was af~er this that the white man cam~; 1 was born then.

The leader of tho~e who bui:t AIikaIia .was ~amoro, brother of

Sayo Demba; but the.first .paramount chief of Kaliang was 82fere

of Kumalo ; ·the name K91iang .is from the Fula. ~t; :Kumalo; Bafarç';

was a: Fula; Bafar.a was followed. as p~ramount. chief by his son

Hamoro •. :M.eanwhile? Dabo.nta, son of Sayon Demba was town head

. of Al,ikalia o He was suC?ceeded by his .:brother Mantilai •

. Mantilai -was followed hy another Dabonta who became the next

paramount chief of Kaliang aft.er .tlamo.J;.o.. ..li:; ."I[:iE? after Dabonta' s

death that Kaliang was amalgamated .wi th D.embQ.,.Lai '. s country

of Banda Karifaia; Barawa was latar added and aIl was joined

to Nieni finally~

Sayo Demba and Kali Koroma of Yifin possessed aIl this

country then.

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43

KORANKO OF THE KAGBO CLAN

It is usüaIIy very use fuI to eo·lleet t'radi tians from smaller sections of an ethnie group, state, or from Iess significant ~~ns in a town or viIIageo Since they often do not have a traditional or current stake ta superior position, they are Iess likely to distort the traditio~s. This tradi­tion from Kamadugu Sokurela 'i~ the Sengbe' Chiefdom, Koinadugu Distrd~t ·helps to give a fair ~~eture of th~ situation in Ferens91a.. This w.as .. a group interview led by Ma~in Dowe and i t wa s .é:I one i ri J a·:n u a r y, 1 975 0

·Masa Kami·w~s the first ta come down this area; he met

the Ma~a of~Morl~indugu; Mansalai was the ruler p father of

M~nten-Boka~. Fra~ Lenkonkeh· ta Yantinti - fifteen'days walk

18 called( ferensol a and belol'lgs ta the Mara. Masa Kama maved

down ta Kalkoy~o· The Mara of Kainadugu joined him there.

Masa Kama had many children. Some are at Dankawali, some

a t Ka m ad u 9 u (a r 0 und he r e )'. Man s a Yen 9 u ,( gr and fat h e r of in far m ,:, ;- .... )

was a son ~?) of Masa Kama; he was a great chief; he was given

the drum from the skiés; he founded Yanguya where his grave

still stands. Afte~ Yengu, the warrior ti~e ha~ co~~o

One of the "Kagbo mba~mbê. who came to thii3 areà Was

Komof inale h. His granc!snns 1...,8::'-8 Donkoro 9 Mer 1 se fanka, Komo­

fina, Kasasorary, Bambayira and Korakolay. These were warria:- l 3

and farmers; these finally settled ~~is area of Kamadugu.

Bombayira founded Kurakunema; Komofima (also called Kema Kama:

founded Komaya; Kyegbema also built Yarawakalay.

Two of the oldest towns in this area are Farandugu and

Sangbamba. The latter was founded by Malvo Kenya, a descendEnt

of Masa Kama~ The site of the town had been that of a farm

the previous year; this means sanqba in Karanko and thus the

town was called Sangbambao Cotton trees were planted around

5angbamba; one of these trees became a famaus tree of divina­

tion; it was called ~almar'bDnd~o

Malvo Kenyo's first son was Bremé; he succeeded Kenya as

ruler of Sangbamba. Next was Magba, son of Brema, followed by

his son Manti Sari; Almamy Sori~ son of Manti Sori, came after,

44

followe,d by his younger bro~her, the present town chief. In

Malvo Kenyo'.s ,tim~,' there was no one over al.1 the count.ry.

F~raMdu~u was founded by Tanwul~ng Tong~a who als~ came

fr.am .Mande.· He met Morekero and Diantomboro close to t'ri'e' • : •• j ;' "

·:·D·~n"k·awaliare~:. From there li he came and founded Farandugu.

The. Samorian war met Tanwuleng Tongba ai Farandugu. Tongba

sent Fina BaIa to Samori accompanied by his two so'ns:"K~à:rifa

and Tongba. By the end of the war, Tanwuleng Tongba was ill

and he went to Yagala for treatment. This was around the time

of the advent of the wh iteman'; by the t:ime h'ecouid rece:'ive . .

the book' (tre~ty), he died; but before he died, h~ pio~laimed

that he who had been sent to Samori (Fina' BaIa) should be

·g{ven the book. It was thus thet Fina BaIa became the first

Paramoun~ Chief of Kam~dugu~

It was after the war that thesepeople (from Farandugu)

came to'build Sokurela which means 'new town~. ri was founded

by Finaselai. After him came his brother Kumba Yira, followed

by"the latter~s son' Kumba Por~ as ruIer- Another Por~

succeeded; he died last year and was followed by the present

town chief, another Por~o

,

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45

KArvlADUGU

Apart" from' 'suppdrting the previc1us :in'terview'in discus­sing later Kagbo dispersa~, this tradition gives a slightly di fferent type of information. Upon req UB st ~ .... the informants discus~ed aspects of traditidnal exchanges and production. Samu, where they went sometimes to get salt, was on the. coast near Kambia, sorne 300 kilometres from ~~~~augu. The interview was done in January, 1~75.

Kamadugu means Elephant; the Kamara and the Kagbo were

the first tg, come to this country. The mbaimba of the Kamara

was cal,led Kissi r~ansa ·Monyay and that of the Kagbo was ,'-1ansa

Kama, .killer of elephants. Tbs Sesays followed these;. first

people as their alfa, offering prayers and giving divine advice

as tor',t he best place for' se t tlemen t ~ Ma nsa Kflma settled f irst

at'Kalkoya.

Mamàn Yiri, ,the mbaimba of our people here in Dankawali

,came later; he was a Kagbo. He first got ta Tumania in

--- Morî findugu section of Mongo Chiefdom, where he.', met Komo ~ila

T è m b'à " ", a Mar a, a s ru l e r • 1"1 a man Y i r i ma r rie d the sis ter 0 f

Rila:'Jembaand founded the town of Nerikolia. While· Maman

Yiri was at Nerikolia~ the Kagbo from Kalkoya would come ta

our area on hunting Expeditions.

Maman ,Yiri's first son was Tina.Fila Hamoro who ruled

next at Nerikolia; when he died" his son Fina BaIa eucceeded

him. Rules of succession were flexible; the rulership

only had to remain in the house of the first ruler. Anyone

in that house who showed' signs of prowe'ss an.cl ,prominence was

acknowledged os the next ruler when one, clied.

When Fina Bal~ was ruling at Nerikolia, a Kono war des­

troyed that town; Fina Bqla and hi~ following went to 5ayela

(at Badela, close to Gberia); he was there until Samori's war

came down. This w1a,rgathered ,Ko-ranko from al~ parts of ,this

'Koinadugu District end took theW to Mongo Kerifiya. There

they ate flciur (oath of submission) and agr~ed to obey the sofas.

After they did this, everyone returned to his area and it was

then that Dankawali was founded.

Act.uallH-the.re_had-b-e.e.n-'-a--t"owrL o'n-this site before,

called Gbordangbolia. A small animal which looks like a goat

is cafled gbon'dan in Koranko. T.his animal was 'always:, by. ,the

s.tream, just outsiqe this town. I~ was a h,u,man b'eing wh.o was

turning into a 'g~ondan, wheneverattempts were made tq grab

him. A kru~ba (warrior) from the 'southern '~re~s ,6~lied Dankawali

killed this gbondan by the stream. This stream then bore the

name 'of 'this brave krugba.

After the,oath of suhmission ta the sofas, Demba Ke~ifa

{father 'Of informa rit Momori} came and refoundéd a ,town on this

site; 'he called: it Dankawali, named &:If ter the qt:çeam., The

'whiteman saon came ,and stayed at Falaba. Samori's wa~ ,had

aest~o~~d Sayela and Fina Balahad fled~ he later got ·to

Dankawali where his relation had founded a town. The people

here th~n dècided to sènd a depQt~tjon to. th~ whiteman at

Falaba. 'Fina BaIa 'was chosen ta head this team~ He was given

the book(tr~aty) by' the whiteman. Since he becameknown ta

t~e whitemBn~ he came ~o be crowned the firs~ paramo~nt chief

in th i s à re a •. Fin a Bal a c a Il e d t'h i s t 0 w n " Tub a b u du 9 u Il wh i ch

means' "whi teman' s' tOwn".' Later during' his' rule, he changed

the name again to DankawaLi~

But' before :he could be crowned, the 'sofas were still at

Ki'ntib'alia. A' :strong contingent from he-re led by Fina Tamba

( brotherOf 'BaIa) 'moved, a'gainst the sofas there to hel.p the

whi tem~n,,' F Ina Tamba" s hand was cut wi th a sword before the

sofas ~scapBdft This is why"ffll the country gathe~ed together

and agreed that 'Fina Ba12 should be made paramount chief. It

was after this that sorne of our relations left here and founded

the villages of Badéla, Kasungya, Korenbon" Sanya and Tingifira.

At the death of Fina BaIa (also called Sayela BaIa or in

his old age, Mori Musa), Fina Samba s~cceeded him, followed

by Homori, son of Fina BaIa; the staff next went ta BadeIa,

ta MarIai Kagbo after which there was the amalgamation with

Sengbe.

•

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47

Trade and Society

People lived ... jn-Larg-e-"f-amilies..;. .. the youngerones depended

on the head of the family and ihey farmed collectively. If

anyone of the. family wanted a wife'therefore, the product of

that farm was used; rice from the farm would be used to buy

cows for the dowry. . People in this.country produced yambakiri (or yambe)

(tobacco), Wureh (kolanuts), nyanda (country m~ts), and rice

principally. Iron was smelted here ta make hoes, cutlasses

and knives. Country eloth was also praduced. The~e were the

articles of trade. In internaI exehanges, Iron ga?d 9 .were

used to buy snuff, tobacco or riee. People wou Id Ieave this

area and take tobacca.produced here ta Kano to obtain the

fine cloth made by the Kano. These latter Ioved the yambakiri.

;Count~y cloth was taken from here ta Limba country for pa lm

wine; tobacco was also taken ta Sankaran for eattle and sheep;

some even went as far as Boure with kolanuts for goid.

Kola~uts, c~ws, salt and sheep were used for dowry;

people sometimes went ta Samu to obtain salt. In its absence,

sorne salt substitutes were used. h grass called mulkay . ~ . and the bark of a tree called kurumbay were obtained; these

were first burnt and then sifted; the fine particles were

mixed with water and then boiled untii the saline product

called kagbere remained. The saed of the vegetable called

sourrel (s~wer sower) was then mixed with the kagbere to

give the salt substitute. Garden eggs(jakato in Kria)

was also used as a substitute.

... ..i '- ....

THE ROLE OF THE MORIMEN

. This tradition W2!S' reaorded from :.a 8mall village off Koinedugu town (after ~hich 'the 'district ~as named) known as Gbombon~oro. !The informants were'of the Sessy clan, regarded as descendants of morimen and .this tradition depicts their function. The recording was done in April, 1974.

Mbaimba Fara Musa, a Mara, was the one who founded

~~o~~adugu~ !!n his time, they were living originally at Gberi­

kelia.(meaning 'under a cotton tree') in Neya. It was Fori

Malé whO "looked ground lt for Fara Musa when ~e latter wanted

to know the best place he could build his own town. Malé

told Fara M~sa.to cross the Seli (rive~), to get beyond

Kal'Kpya and he would discover a place,where the cutting

.grass (a rodent) had cut down the tall (elephant) gra~s. That

would be the place. Fara Mu~a followed their instructions and

founded the town named Koinadugu - town of the tall grasSe

Uur own grandfather (ioe. the Sesays) wasMori (Alfa)

Sa~do. He came fram Mande first ta Yafuni and then ta Ba

Konko. He had a daughter; there were only the three of them.

Sando met aD old man named Mor'di at Diang (not the.p~e~ent

Di~_ng); he, was a warrior~ chief; Sando also met another warrior

chief named Fara M~~a, the ancestor of Balansama at Koinadugu~

Fara Musa told Sando to .help him get Masa Kama's· daughter as wifo~

Masa Kama was then :lt the same place as Fara Musa. The latter

was.told that Kama's daughter would have fo~! so~s. These

four.:._;:;~.n~: and their offs pr ings create .. ~ Se n9.be.~ They were

Hom oro Mar ~_~ ". Ken yoM a ra, Ku r u k e J1l i Y a and Mar an' K 0 ta.

The first rule~ of Sengbe was Fara Musa, followed

by Marin Kenyo; the next mansa was Marinkata, succeeded by

Gbindimélé, then Maran Dinka (also called Banban Sera Dinka),

the father of Balansama I who followed him. The next ruler

was Mamusu Dinka, father of the present Ealansama.

Koinadugu is older than Sengbe-Eendugu. The first

Balansama built Sengbe-Eendugu. From Eendugu, they moved ta the

Wara Wara hills.

•

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" 1

THE 5AMURA OF 50LIMA

This informant spoke mainly about the Samura clan of Solimankho~it which became 'the centre of the solima state.

49

The aged informant, Foday Erema t is very' knowledgeable about Solima history.. But the coherence of this interview could only be'att~ined after several interviews with m~ny other 5amura in Sierra Leone and Guinea. l t wes the n th'at much of what Foday Brema had ta say became clearer. The interview was done'in Falaba'; former capital of Solimana, no~headquarters town Ç>f thfl:_?uli.ma Chiefdom, in MaY'i1973.

Soli~anga and Fori Frigi were relatives; after Frigi l '

had left Mande and settled in th~ area of Firia, s?~j~~nga too

left Mande ~o go and see how his famous relative wa~ faring.

When he got to the area he first met Sa Yere, a blacksmith

and relation of Fori Frigi. Solimanga stayed a while with Sa

Yere. This is why blacksmiths are respected in Solima; they

wsre our former lodgers.

Meanwhile Fori Frigi had issued a proclamation that he

would be in the debt of anyo~e who would get rid of four

warriors who were capturing people and plundering traders around

his country. T~ese four warriors were his relations though

he did not know it. They had disguised themselves, ta~ing

different names - Kolidigigi, Koligbe, etc. While 50limanga

was at Sa Yere's, he heard this proclamation. He rose ,up to

the occasion and killed the four warriors.

It was then that Frigi know of 50limanga's pres~nce in

his country. He was grateful to Solimanga and gave him his

daughter Mmame Yeri as wife o Toget~er with someother rela­

tions in the area, Fori Frigi gave 50limanga a total .of seven

hundred males and seveD hundred females ta form his r~tinueo

This number contained no 5amuras; they were aIl Kamaras,

Mansarays, etc. It wes gradually, as 501imanga estab~ished

his own country (Solim~nkhori) that most of them came ta adopt

the na me Samura. They thought it was good to do 50.

The name 501imanga was acquired while 501imanga was with

Sa Yere. While he sat on the solidagina which were chips flyinç

off hoe handles being carved, he was called manga as he sat 0-

.,.

!So

the ,soli(daginaJ--.s.o.li.rrtan-ga_ :ur;ce-~~-rollowing was

now large, Fori Frigi's country could not contain it. Frigi

thus gav~, ,Solimanga a tow'ri named .~a~ota. 130 that the ).,atter

could ·settle:there.

Only one ~mall hill ~ivides Frigi'~·cauntry fram Futa

J a'll 0 n; t r 0 u b le' cam e w i th' the FuI a ,a.n d 5 al i man 9 a d r 0 ve the m

from near Fri~i's~ountry to as far narth as Dabola: This

cleared Yenunya for ,the Yalunka and Frigi; built Firia there.

He then came to an agreement with 501imanga that anywhere else

from "which~ Solimanga drave "away the Fula would be"long ta his

guest. vthen Solimanga atrove the Fula away fram the area

araund Kalata, that became his country and taok~ the name of

5 a li man k h o'r i .

Solimanga's four sons ând their descendants are the

only true 5amura of S61imankhori. When 50limanga died,' his

first son Yirisa Yella became ruler of 501imankhox'i at Ka~~.

50limanga's pr6perty, in gold, slaves, etc~, was shared

between the first three sons - Yirisa Yella, Kumbasa and Yeri

Fatè. Tagesa, the youngest, came up ta these three lat~r and

'as ked for' his own s hare. F irisa took his fathe r's gun" Kumbasa

took"his father's swoid, Fstè th~ bo~ and arr6w; ~~d these were

given ta Tagesa as his own" share.· Tagesa then asked for their

father's h~nting knife and he was gi0e~. He started dancing

and beating a'drum saying aIl 501ima belonged ta him. When

asked why, he said the share of the property he received was

what had been their father's actual property. Soon Kumbasa

died and his share of the p~operty went to Tagesé. Kumbasa

was followed ta the gr~ve by Yeri Fat~ whose prope~ty also went

to Tagesa (by collateral succession).

Yirisa Yella had, among others, two sons - Kahdundantili

and Isa Gamba. When Yïrisa died, Dantili vied' for the rulership

of 501imankhori with Tagesa but it went, as it should, to Tdg~S~

By !the time Tagesa died, his own soh, B'ana Dansa, was a full

,grown man. Dantili, who was by th~n old,' aIs a had a son c211ed

•

1i1

Sara Fila~ Jho was also a grown ~~n. The mangaship at Kalota

this time was not'hande-d-to,11an-tili---as i t should havé been;

it w~nt ~o Bana Danse, thdugh Isa Gamba ~rid Sara Filay fought

hard ta getit. WhenEana Dansa died, his line retained power;

His son Yima Yella succeeded him; this latter handed the

drum to his ôwn sons Yella Dansa, who, with his brother Takba

Asâna were the first rulers of Falaba.

Because of the disconteni on the part of Yiris~'s

line for having lost the rulershilj1, th~ started intr{guing

with the Fula. There had been clashes with the FuIe' since

Yima Yellals rule. In the time of Yella Dansa' , Yirisa's

line invited the Fula to attack Solimankhori. They hoped that

with Fula support, they would émerge as the rulers of a de­

feated Solimankhori. To keep up the pretence however, Isa

'Gamba'and Sara Filay had to fight on the side of Yella Dansa

so as not ta give away their plan. They appeared ta fight,

but they put no powder in their guns.

The fight however was hotly contested for years. In the

process the Solima moved from Kalota to Tambambombade, then ta

lebemere. From there they tried Konkonbanya in search of a

suitable capital where any Fula attack could be easily fore-

stalled. It was from Konkonbanya that they ,went to faund

Falaba. Sara Filay, Isa G a rrÜJ 8 end aIl jained in the building

of Falaba, where Tagesa's descendants were established as the

mangas or Solima.

Afte-r-F~al'aba had been buil t, ° both Dentili and Sara Filay

asked that they should be allowed ta build their ow~ tawns.

The Falaba rulers agreed that if Da~tili were allo~ed to create

'a town nearo

the Fula, intrigue would continue. Thesé two

ch'il-dr'en -o:f Yirisa were therefore s'ent to build towns on the

other side of Falaba, close to Sankaran. Dantili built Dan-

. tilla· ) at the confluence of the Tentereba and Sasi, while S-:-::.-;

Filay founded Gbendenkudé south' of Dantilia. These' people

were in search of a capita~ which would rival Falaba since

they fel t' they had a. bett-er,_ri.~ht to rule Solimankhori. Dut

00 '"

Fa~abe-we~~ .... ~.rrttn"lkhor"i---enct. °oeveryone was

payiOrïçi -t8>< ""ta F alaba.

When Takba Asana died, his younger brother. Dinka, became

manga. ~ara Filay and others d{d not resits theh; Asana and

Dinka were of much the same generation "as themselves. But ,

when So~i Wuleng, son of Asana succeeded, the Sara people , .

felt they should owe no allegiance ta their nephew. They

came ota Falaba (Dantili and Sara Filay) and said they wanted

ta pay tax to Falaba no longer. Falaba refused, sa they went

back and Dantilia attacked Falaba. The attack was hawever

r~p~lled.

:Sori Wuleng's brothers now started urging him that Falaba

should subdue Dantilia. These people of Dantilia had attacked

Falaba .and had refused to send the yearly tribute. Yaradi had

s~ttled Yelaya; Kungbana had founded Kunghanaya; Kalifilè

created Kalifilaya. These aIl argued that sihce they paid

tax, Dantilia should be forced to do the same. But Sari ~uleng

refused to saction the attack, feeling some sympathy with the

eIder line of Dantilia and wanting their stubbarness to pre-. .',

c~pate events.

When Wuleng died, his younger brother Binti Bakari be­

came manga. ,Again the eIders pressed for an attack, but

Bakari remembered his brother's words and refused to allow an

attack. But when Sana Gbay, Sori' Wuleng's so~ took over,

his brother Bibata Sana could wait no longer. Bibata Sana wa~

a powerful warriar o He was called Mungutinga (~unpowder and

no pow~r over him) or Konkoronba (can break an iron gate).

Mungutinga was born on the same day as Sana Gbay, the latter

in the mor~ing and the former at 8.00 p.m. Sana Gbay as the

eIder became manga and Mungutinga his kelle mansa. Munguting2

now i~sisted on an attack on Dan~ilia and Sana Gbay agreed.

Mungutinga went ta attack Dantilia. Dantili, who had

angered hi~ head wife, was betrayed by her. She gave the

secret of his strength ta Mungutinga sa the latter took the

sacre~ fish from the lake and sacrificed it. The Falaba for=82

went at night; it rained heavily so that the ~iver canflue~c

•

•

.. ; 53

{where Dantilia was situatBd)_over-fiowed and the mud wall

~. ~(tatakuina) built arou~J the town, fell. MuAgutinga ~ntered

Dantilia and addressed his uncle. He gave DantilI, who was

then a very old man, his horse and led Dantili to Falaba.

Dantili's son Gnyime Salu, was mâde ruler of Dantilia.

AlI the e"lders who had been giving bad a'dvice to Dantili were

executed sothey would not do the same td Salue Those who

remained there made the act of subm{ssion by eating bread.

'Dantili;was detained in Falaba but was not treated as a slave.

He was g±ven his ri~htful h6nor as a ruler and he Ilved in

Falaba until he died.

"Me-anwhile Sara Filay in "'Gbe'ndenkudé had been acting like

his f~ther in Uantilia. He iook slaves in an attack on the

Kissi,' but did not take these slaves to 'Fala'ba as he was used

to. He tried cases and did executions in Gbendenkud~"without

taking the culprits to Falaba. Dantili who was then'{~ Falaba

was questioned as to his son's conduct. He replied that he

was not responsible far his son's actions. The kelle manse,

Mungutinga, again took up arms against Gbendenkudé. This was

a few years after the attack on Dantilia. Sara Filay was

killed by gunshot wound before the Falaba farces could enter

the town. Isa Gamba, who was not killed, was taken ta Falaba

where he died. He was treated like Dantili. A new ruler was

installed in Gbendenkudé.

It was after this attack on Gbendenkudé that Kalia also

was attacked for not bringing tribute. People say that Demo

Kali's father, Kumbe Kali built Kalia. l am not certain about

this. The ruler of Kalia was also of the Tag8sa line, but was

playing the same game as the Yirisa people.

When the kelle mansa in Falaba, Mungutinga, died, the

sword he laid down could be picked up only by his younger

brother, Fends Sana who thus succeeded Mungutinga as kelle mansa.

AlI the people mentianed above had to pay tax; it was also

in Sewa's rule that Firia was made ta start bringing tribute.

Those also-··who---paid-tax-w.e-re... . ..B.ank.ak.a:x:-if.aya-( i<oranko), Neya

~Karanko), Karayima (Kono), Kaliang, now.amalgamated with

Yifin (Koranko). They did nat bri~g tax after any war was

made on them; they simply made the act of submission ta the

powerful Solima. Manga Sewa was planning ta build a strong­

hold at the Loma mountains. ta control those Kano which did not

bring tribute; the Sofa War failed his plan.

K~lle Manso DansaIs children went ta settle as far

as Tonka Limba and Wunkafang and became the rulers there.

1 have staod as a candidate for chirftaincy election in Tonka

Limba.

The Silima at first made gun pow~er (baba); when the

Portugu~se started bringing gunpawder, this stifled the desire

of the Solima ta make their awn pawder; they could easi~y

.catch slaves ta exchange for powder. Guns were also got from

~ Portuguese in exchange for slaves. Clath was made from

cotton;.wamen made the thread; Samu salt was used here. Gold

and iron bars were a medium of exchange o

1

55

-SMITHER"Y

Sari 5am~ra, the blacks~ith who gave ~his tradition, ~s, the most difficult man to track down. As a famous black­

!smith, he travelled often into the Republ{c bf ~uinea to pur­sue his pr6fessionc~ Here he;desctibe~ the role of~smiths, their economie and social value o The interview was done at

;'" ': Falaba ;in F~bruary, 19730

1 Wès born in Kodowa11~ M~ father's name:was A~u

! ,Bakari 5amura~ He was bo~n ln Falaba but du ring the Sofa

War, he was teken from FaIàba toKodowali by the sofas and

ihe~~rI was borno My father mad~ gun~:for Samoti in Kodowali

(w~le~ i8 in the Ivory Coa~t). The Blacksmith profession is of' ~long' 'stan'ding •.. In olden

, ,.-'. d a ys, Y a lu n k a b lac k ~ mit h s ma d e 'h 0 es r ' eut las ses, Q xe s, ne e dIe s ~

bows r for arrows 0 AlI this wa$ f rom smei ted iron. _ 1 n sorne

of the hills in Guinea, there are sorne rocks which produce

irone Pieces of this iron-producing ~ock is put in a singilin

a~d' a chareeal fire is set ta it, blown by a cabor~na (bellow2)

Ne~dles made were used. to make cou~try cloth in Yalunk2

c~~ntry. The commodities made were exchanged fer othet food­

~tuff - rice, honeYt chicken, etca produced in Yalunka' country.

1 do :not know of exchange wi.th nOIl .. ~Yalunka areas.

Smithery was a specialized profession~ There were two

t y P es 0 f sm i t h s • The r e we r eth e .Ç_a b u na who ma d e ho es, a x es,

pots, etco Eefore the Yalunka started making pots, wooden

bowls made out of the cotton tree were used as containers~

The other type of smith was the §ia~i~ (in Mandingo, siaki)

wha made only guns and worked in gold to make earrings, etco

When the Yalunka began ta import guns 1 the siagina became gun

repairers. Later §ia~LL~ started making guns, but this was

around the time of the sofas o

Smithery wes a caste profession~ handed down from father

to son. The smiths al ways had ceremonies before starting their

wark.

The idea of smithery travelled from village ta village.

If there were no smiths in a particular village, the old men

56

there would 'hand heads' (hold a disc~ssion) and send for a

smith from a village w~~ie there wa~ one. This smith ~ould

either come on a contract basis or, when he came he would

be persuaded by the old men ta stay. Travelling smiths in

se arch of a fortune would ~lso pick out a village where there

were no smiths and move therej these also might be persuaded

to stay. The big men convinced them to stay by giving them

wives. A young beautiful girl was enough. Sorne of .th~se

roving smiths went ta Koranko and other places.

When a roving smith'left his town for a different place,

the ruler of the smith's town wauld send a message to the town

where the smith had decided ta work. This message was to

warn the ruler of this other tawn that the smith's ruler knew

where the ,smith had gone. AlI d~e care should be taken of

'him there. If the smith decided ta continue-his. jou.rney to

another town, a simila.r ___ .co-mmun,ica,tion was sent. In those-· d.ays~.,_,

people did not travel alane or in small groups outside of

the area where they lived. You could be- easUy--made·a- s.lave

,if you did that. Thus, if the ruler did not send such a

message, the roving smith cauld easily be made a slave.

If on,the other hand, a smith was maltreated in a

foreign town, this could easily be a cause for war.

•

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57

HEREMAKONO

This recording was made in March 1973 at Heremakona, canton af Soliman, Farana regian in the Republic of Guinea. The boundary bet~een Sierra Leone and Guinea divided up the Samura Yalunka people. Lahai Fofana, the informant, talks first of the Solima wars with the Fula of Futa Ja±lon~ then of the founding of Heremakono.·

A.long time aga when the 50lima Yalunka were in their

:~ountry, the Fula were their overlords. ·The Fula leader

was Alifa Ba at Timbo. At this time the Solima knew no

book (i.e. Koran). The Solima would send rice and women as

tax ta Timbo.

Our grandfather was called Asana at Falaba. He sent his

son Asana Vira ta Futa for le.arning. The Fula changed Yira's

name ta Sari. When Sari returned ta Falaba, he told his father

to rebel against the Fula yoke. Asanathen went to 'look

ground'(consult the oracle). He was told that if he fought the

Fula and returned alive, the Solima would remain slaves"·to the

Fula; if however he died in the war, the Solima would forever

be free.

The Yalunka were aIl called together to discuss this issue.

They agreed to fight the Fula. By this time, the Fula had

built a masque and decreed prayer for everyone on pain of death.

On one such day of pray2r.,· the Yalunka gathered their force

and hid near the Fula masque. As soon as the Fula started

praying, the Yalunka attacked. The Fula sent for their ruler,

AIifà Ba, and their warriors. The Yalunka were driven south

by the Fula and they fled through Kalis ta as far as Lebemere.

Asana was sitting by the river; the Fula met him there and

killed him.

The Salima then received word that their ruler had been

killed. Sori Wuleng called his warriors and said 'let us go

and die after our father'. The Fula were driv~beyond Kalia.

After'-this-..tha~under---Al..i..f-e""'B~ terms with the

501ima'~'r, No one, would cont;rol the other any longer. They

58

tI'ate bÏ'ead.~',:,together. Thus it was Falaba which was the saviour

of ~he''',?~l)."ma, Y~iu:nka. ~ .. . .

: On Gbehde'nkudé'-

-.. ~ (

This town Gbe,ndenkudé' was founded by Sara F ilay. Sara

Filay's father was Dantili. Sara Filay had Sara Filay Kombo

who was'the father of ~~kari. Bokari's son was Kombo who

also had a son nam'ed Bo'kari who is here in Gbende'nkudé JI0W.

Sara F ilay came from 'bantilïa. He at first wanted

ta build a town here, but the 'eIders of Dantili·a refused.

Sara Filay then went ta Falaba. The Falaba ·people 'gave him

Bibata 5ana alias 'Munguting'a' (meaning' 'one is wasting powder'

or 'no b'ullets could ·pass' ) .' He was ta stand before Sara

Filay ta go ànd build Gbendenkudé. The nam~ of this town

means, 'let us stay here (now that we have come)'. One of

Samari's general~ renamed the towh H~remakono meaning 'WB

will await our fortune here'.

Solima ~~wns were always founde~ in areas surro~~ded

by water. At the point where there were no rivers, 'ther'e

the gate~ ta the town were built. One could only enter Solim2

towns by crôsslng the riveis or thraugh the gates. Falaba

was built in this way and sa was

Kayabayi founded Fotonkui.

the right ta go and settle there.

faunders of Falaba) first settled

Gb:er ia.

The Falaba people

Our grandfathers

at Sumanfirigiya.

gave him

(the

Tanun Solim~nga's first town was Solimankhori; fram there

he went' ta Kalota and from Kalota; his children went to' si t

at Dantilia. The first four Salima towns were Dantilie;

Gbendenkudé, Laya and Kalia. Gbendenkude is aIder then Gberiao

,

,

,

59

KABELIAKHOR.I

Kabelia was part of the Solima Yalunka state, but a major disagreement occured"which Set Kabeliaagainst Falaba. When co16n"ial rul~ ~tarted, Kabelia was a sep~~ate ~hiefdom but was Iater amalJamated with Sulima chiefdom, the centre of the former Solima state. Bscause of the nee"d for co-operation between bath sections of this new chiefdom, the reasons for the disagreement of a century aga are carefully taken out of the tradition. This interview was done at Ganya, chief town of Kabelia section in April, 1973.

The first three people in this Kabelia country were

Tenen Dansa, Kunguté and Wondenyamala. Kabeli met these

three at a place called Dansadiya. Kabeli was a hunter; when

he came, Tenen Dansa was happy ta see him. Kabeli wanted

ta continue his jaurney but Dansa pleaded with him; ttstay

here and l will give you a place far yourself". Tenen Dansa

then affered Kabeli the place where they had been threshing

rice as a site for a tawn; Kabeli was glad that these old men

did this far himo He decided ta stay and wark for them.

Tenen Dansa was by then a very ald man sa he decided

ta give the drum ta Kabeli sa that the stranger wauld stay

permanently. This plan worked and the area araund which

Kabeli's town was came ta be called Kabeliakhori.

Kabeliakhori and Falaba were built around the same

time. This was during the rule of Manga Bokari at Dantilia.

Before the founding of Falaba s every tawn had its own ruler.

After the mangash~ passed from Dantilia, Manga lsa gat it

here.

Kabeli had a son named KE~eli Sara who succeeded him.

Kabeli Sara's son was Yangi Saiop the next manga. Yangi Saio's

son, Isa, ruled after Saioo Up until lsa's time, our people

were in Simitia. It was when lsa's son, Seni, became manQa

that they moved down ta Ganya~ lt was manga Seni who faunded

Ganya. He was succeeded by his son Manga Isa II. This Isa

was then succeeded by Manga Fore, in whose rule Falaba and G2ny~

·~. 60

w~e amalgamated. Forels father was· Tenen Mmodi who was in

Taganya. This town had been part of Kabelia before the baund­

ary with Guinea was set up. Tenen Mmodi's younger brather

was Satan Musa and thé present townchief here is a grandsan

of Satan Musa.

•

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61

THE MANSARAY YALUNKA OF SINKUNIA

~inkunia, where this interview was coriducted i~ April and May~ 1973, is the chief towh of Dembelia Sin~unia Chief­dom in the' Koinadugu District.,. This former "country" was, in the 19th century, part of the Solima Yalunka state, thrQ;_~gh the informan-ts e\lade the' issue', not: very,successfuIly. Today, Sinkunia is a more thriving town than Fa~aba, the former ca~ital of the Solima state.

The first Yalunka -to come to De .. [r.I;:>_~.-,tia .country were

Gbindiya Sulay, Bandi ~~ii ahd ~bay Wureh.. These were Kamaras

who came from Solon'kono. When they came here, they met some

Koranko making farms here o 'The ko~anko were driven away by

~bindiya Sulay. After this the Ka~aras then turned their

attention towards the Fula with whom they WBre ~aving trouble~

. Sulay sent his brother, Sari, to fight the Fula at Katangi

rear the Penseli river. This river LS in Guinea and was the

:~_m,rddry between the country of the Kamaras and the Fula.

After defeating the Fula, Sori stayed at Katangi and made

a town,there to guard against the Fula. r

These Kamarawho fi~st came were foilowed by Kelis

Mansa Mamudu who was a Mansaray. On meeting Sulay, the

latter handed over the cbuntry which he had founded ~o Mam~du,

who became ruler. Mamudu' had helped him.

K~lle Mansa Mamudu had a son named Khorea Kanki who

took over from him. Kanki'sson, Kaba Dimi, followed Kandi

while Nare Sinkun, son of Kaba Dimi shouid be regarded as

.the first manga. Before Sinkan, the country was unsettIed,

disturbed by wars. With the accession of 5inkun, a real govern­

ment was set up. The town which he founded was named after

him - Sinkunia.

Our forefathers called the entire cnuntry Dembelia.

The reason for this w~s that they had learnt that patience was

.~ vi;tue. As we say in Yalunka 'A ma demb~ demb~t which means,

tak~ your time, do not be in a hurry to get anything desired.

_. '

62

This lesse-n they had learn-tfrom fighting-.t-he enemy.

A fter Nare Sinkun ~ his son, Momodu 'Kumba Kali, became

manga.. ,Kumba Kali was followe'd by Sambé. Sambé was the son

of 'Griyamfa Nwali. Nwali, himsel f, a Mansaray, had come from

"up" (Mande)" to live with hi~ brother Mansarays who had founded

their own country. As a means of encouragement, Nwali's son,

Sambé, was made manga. In the rule of Sambé, the town of

Musaia was founded. Sambé was succeeded by Tégé Musa who was

Kumba Kali's son.

During Tégé MUSB' s rule, ,there was a family quarrel.

One of Tégé Musa's councillors, a judge named Idrisa, had become

unpopular. It was reported to Tégé Musa that the fines levierl

by Idrisa as a judge were not being passed on to the manga.

Idrisa retained them. As a result Tégé Musa wanted to unseat

Idrisa from office o This angered Idrisa a lot so heleft

r,r Sinkunia and we nt to F alaba. F rom the re he. would -send·-his. ~Q'-'

as a spy to see wMat was happening in 5.inkunia.. At one time,

his son reported to him that the people of Sinkunia were aW8y

on a compaign;' Idrisa then came and attacked Sinkunia with the

help of F alaba.· In this attack, Tégé Musa lost, his li fe and

Sinkunia was destroyed. Kanda, Tégé Musa's son, led his people

ta found another town nàmed Kombila. At Kombila, I~anga Kanda

was visited by Ba Hamadi, himself ruler of Musaia.

Following Manga Kanda, the nExt two r~lers at Kombila

were Samba Karimu and his son Guduya Musee. •... J n the rule of

Guduya Mus~e, the Hubu under Abalu brought war on Kombila.

During this war, Guduya Musae got help from Kuruma wha was then

manga at Mana. Kuruma's father was Sansu Umaru; they were a

Kamara people.

The Hubu destroyed Kombila., Kuruma then took Guduya

Musae and his. people. to go and stay wi th the Karamas (i. e.

Ku'ruma t s people) at 1"1 a na • Between Kuruma. (the Kamaras) and

Guduya Musae (the Mansarays), Mana gre~ into a bigger town.

,

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•

63

Guduya Musae was at Mana when the Sofa War broke out~ Kuruma

was tt1e '"one 'who j always went to the 'sofas as ambassador. But

Mqns could .not contain two rulers.

Ma~ga Kanda "had two sons, Kanda Foday and Kanda Keifala.

iL Manga.-Kanda 'IS "brot he r, Sua Lai, had a son named F oday.. Thi~

:Foday now becàme ruler at Mana. This was the time of the Sofa

War. This ':war:met: our people dispersed.: Most of them we"re

at Mana.. :Manga Foday, a fVlansaray, was the ruler there. He

fought with Kuruma over rulership. Both.Manga Foday and

Kuruma were take n t 0 F alaba to se t tle the issue. . The" whi temen

did that for they came around this time. At Falaba, Kuruma

claimed Mana as the town of hisancestors. Captain Torti asked

M9rga Foday whe.ther the latter' s . forefathers did not build a

town. F odaytold Torti. ta put the question to F asine_o~f,,~F alaba.

When asked the question, Fasine replied that Foday's ancestors

had built a town which drank out of the same water (Falaba

river) as Falaba. Tarti therefore toid Foday to go and rebuild

his father's towns and Kuruma to return to Mana.

Foday therefore came ~ack and rebuilt Sinkunia. When the

town was rebuilt, everyone ran away from Mana ta join Manga

Foday at Sinkunia. After Foday, his first son.AImamy Lahai

became ~~. Lahai was followed by Manga Modu, son of Guduya

Musaeo After Modu was Manga Karimu, son of Sira Kuruma.

Karimu's son, Manga Lahai II was the next ruler and was followed

by Lahai III, the present manga.

When the sofas came to attack Falaba, Sinkunia sent a

contingent of about ninety men to help Falaba. When this con­

tingent had got close ta Falaba, Gnyime Kamba said that they

should stay at the bush where they were standing till night­

fall before entering the towno But Kombè accused Gnyime Kamba

of fear. He said that he, Kombè, would go and deliver the

necessary message ta Falaba. Kombè began to sing the war song.

When the sof.ê..§. heard this, they surrounded the Sinkunia con­

tingent. Kamba remarked, 'this is precisely what l had

."

64

envi~agedt, but it was tao late e

The s,ofas ha~ .. ~.een told by the people of Kabelia that

Sinkunia would not send help ta Falaba because the people of

Sinkunia were relations by,marriage with those of Kabelia.

Yes~ they are related ta 4So The grandmother of the Kabelia

people came from here~ Yangi Saio of Kabelia married Gbulen

Sira from Sinkunia. Gbulen Sira sent to her people saying

"I,cannot stay here alol")e; you must send another ~inkunia

girl to join me". 50 t~e Mansarays sent Yogè who aIs a married

'a Kabelia ,man.

~ ,After surrounding the Sinkunia -contingent, the Mansarays

m à n age d t 0 sen d . w 0 r d t 0 F a la bas a yin 9 "; w e we r e co min 9 t 0 he l p ,

but we have'been captured". A battle ensued between the

sofas and the contingent~ The smoke of the firing made sofas

undistinguishable from 5inkunia men; Even so, the contingent

was wiped out. The Sofas then destroyed Falaba and moved

as far south as Katanta in Biriwa Limba before being signalled

by their leader to return~

65

DEMBELIA MUS/\IA

In this'tradition, Hamadi Jawara of Musaia, chief town of Dembelia Musaia Chiefdqm in the Koinadugu District, talks about the advent of the Jawara clan ta Musaia. Theirs was Dembelïâ country from which 5inkunia derived the'name. The interview was done in Musaia in Hpril, 1973.

Fina Musaé, the founder of Musaia, came from Futa.

When he left there,. he went to Fuqumba. Fina Musa~ was a hunter.

Moving to.a forest named Sosokoli in this Musa~a area, he

killed a lar~e arrimaI. Musa~ stoo~.by this animal wo~dering

what to do about it. 5uddenly he heard a cock. crow and the

sound of rica being threshed. Musaé followed the sounds of

the se activities to the place where they came from.

When he got there, he made a present to the ruler there

named Fa Wulé, who was a Koranko. Fa Wulé's compound 1s called

Korankoya and still exists in Musaia. Fa Wul~ and Fa Singbe

were the headmen,thereo Musaé was given a place to sleep.

The next day, the people followed him to pick up the carcass.

Fa Wulé and Fa Singbe were happy about the advent of

Musa~. Fa Wulé had many full grown daughters whO had no men

ta marry them. Wulé immediately gave one of his daugh~ers to

Musaé as wife. Musaé was told to go and bring his people from

where he hed surne", Musaé tr~'~: l'Je nit ta F ugwmba and re turned to

Korankoya with his peopleo They were many who came with him

and outnumbered the people of Korankoya.

Fa Wulé then told Musaé, "this i8 now your country. You

who have come are more numerous than us. You have bro~ght much

power (in numbers), so we hand over authority ta yoo". Thus

Fina Musaé took over control and this country came ta be called

Musaia after him. If you hear the name Fina Isa, it is the

seme persan as Musa~. The women change the name to Isa.

The people of Musaia and those of Falaba have one rela­

tion. One of the wives of the founder of Falaba, Tokba I\sana,

was named Dugu. She was the mother of hsana .. 'tira .who .. was also

. ~ .,

66

* caIIed Dugu Seni o When ·Dugu 1 s hus~\and died, Fina Musa~

took Dugu to Musaia ta becc:ne his wi fe 0 W:.th Dugu, Musaé

had Dugu. Homor i. Homori is a Korpnko name. We Yalunka say

Hamadi.: It is the sam~ person,

Fin a Mus a é 's ch il d r en.. t 0 0 k di f fer e nt are as. . Ba· Ham ad i

stayed here. His older brother did not get the staff. He

went to Kongbandaya and settled there o Ba Hamadi was the next

r·uIer of Musaiao . He was followed by his son Dusu Sori. Sori' s

mother was Dusu arid s~e ca~e from Korankoyao . "

Before Mus~é got heie~ Fa Wulé hid offered a sacrifice

for this towno Fa Wulé took a young'girl with gold in her

ears. This girl together with a red bowl were burled a~ the

foot of the cotion tree you see over there o thatora~~e' tree

beneath the cotton tree grew on the spot where the girl was

buried. Any young girl who eats the fruit of tha~ orange

tree will never have children u

If you hear the term D8mb31ia ~ i t cornes ,from a pr-overb ...

When women in Yalunka plait their hair, they insert s~me , , hard object into the plaiting ta make it firme Thus a Yalunka

proverb here says that if you see a beautifully plaited hair:

there is no telling what is inside; in oth8r words; what is

in the face is not nsc8ssarily w~at is in the heart. The

~ord De~belia translates this pr~vcrb in a'nutshell •

When the whiteman cam8 paople were appointed here as

spokemen o The Yalunka appointéd Manga Sori and the Koranko

chose Fina BaIa of Sengbe (in Koranko country). Manga Sori

sent Mamodu Lamin who went with Manga Isa from Ganya, to meet

the whiteman. When these two returned, the people of Musaia

and others went ta rebuild Falabac Mil Falaba people who had

escaped were taken back to their townn

The first whiteman (white-black man) to come to Musaia

was Mr. Palmer. Together with the Chiefs in this area they

went to crown Fasine l of Falaba o

* Se n i me a ns Il f irstborn i~ amc:1; t he valu n ka

!

67

: i

THE KAMARA OF FOLOSABA

The former Folosaba Chiefdom, was la,ter amalgamat~d with Dembelia 'Mus·aia Chiefdom. The F olosaba people ·are Kamara Valun~a from Firia in Guinea. They were p~rt of the Solima Y~lunka state. This was a group interview conducted ~t Gbentu in April 1973.

Our grandfathers faunded this cOùnt'ry.' The fir'st Yalunka

to come ta this area ~ere Kamaras; th~y were the sons of'Tumani;

they we're led by Mari Kali, the eldest, Wakha Tumani, 'Wa'kha " Vira and lastly 'Wakha Sa.dab'a. They came 'from' F iria, from where

they had ·been driven-'out ~y the Fula. Wkle~n they got here', they

me't Limba o'ccupying this' land" They drave away the Limba,

killing somè of them and then faunded a town named after the

eldest of them, Marikalia. This town was close ta a hill'by

the present Kambao

While they were at Marikalia, the HubJ u~der Karamokho

Abal came and attack~d·this town. The town was'destroyed and

Mari K~li's people fled and hid themselves ina bush they calI

Kawasa (meaning 'hiding place')o They:did nat stay there long;

th~~ m~ved ta iebuild 'Marikalia. When the Hubu heard that this

tawn was growing; they decided ta destroy it again. On their

mavement towards rvlar{kalia, they we;r~t ~e'en at 's distance by

hunters on a hill a feltJ miles East of the town. Thes~"'hunters 1

ran back and sounded the alarme . The people of' Morikalia then

sent for help from Falaba~ The Yalunka clashed with th~ Hubu

on a "hill close ta Kamba. The Hubu were mascared and' only one . ,

of them remained. His ear was eut 6ff and he ~s releasedto

go and tell the tale. The hill where this massacre tocik place

was ,~amed Fulafakade; , '~' in' Yalunka mea~s t d~ath' •

After this the Yalunka of Morikalia founded a'secure

place of settleme~t at Kamba, built on a hill. This town was

named after a small stream (Kambandi) where the eIders had

prayed for prosperity and the town was built by the stream.

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Another place -where 'they-pxayed-w.e-s _called--Kamatimbo which

is also a stream, a branch of the river,Mongo.

Mari Kali's brother, Wakha Tumani, had a wife named

Fendè Kuyay. Fendè's mother was from Sinkunia. She had

marrisd sameone in ~alaba,(whose name we do not know}. It

was in Falaba that Fendè was barn. At that time the incidence

of war was high. When we went ta Falaba and help them in

war or vice ver~a, wives were exchanged from bath towns. Thus

,the·mather of one of our former mangas here in Kamba - Manga

Yala, 9an of Seta Musa - was fro~,Falaba. Manga Yala in turn

'" ,gave hi~ .daughter, named Gnyime, ta the ruler of Falaba and

sh~ had Sana Gbay" also a former manga of Falaba. The mather

of SaDa Gbay's aIder brother, Yogè, also came from Kamba. She

was.Sata, daughter of Manga Sata Musa of Kamba. Manga I~modi

of Kamba also had a mother from Falaba named,Fenda.

Wakha lumani' s children by Fendè Kuyay--~ere-:-:-K-uya:v. 5.o:r:~

and Kuyay Tala. Tumani also--had'ao-no nameul Sata Musa and Sata

Momodu. Kuyay Sari was the first manga of Kamb~; thus the

i,' ,~uling family of Kamba came to be called Kuyeya. :Kuyay Sari

was followed as manga by his brother Kuyay Tala. After Tala

came their younger brather Seta Musa. After Sata Musa came

Kabelaha~, son of Kuyay Tala. Kamba Sari, also a son of Knyay

Tala and yo~nger brother of Kabelahai, succeeded the latter as

manga.

In Kamba Sori's time, the whiteman came to this country.

Sari was followed by Fenda Mmodu,. a younger brother of Sata

Musa. Sata Momadu's son Tegi Sari, was the next manga. The

Sofa wa~.took Tegi Sari ta Sikasso. His two brothers and him­

self had been part of the contingent from Kamba ta help Falaba

in th~ attack by the Sofas. When Falaba was captured, the

valiance of Tegi Sori was recognized. He was drafted into

Samori's army and he fell ~efore Sikasso.

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Tegi Sori was followed as manga by Yala, son of Seta

Musa. Yala was succeeded by Mmodi, son of Tegi Sori. When

the latter 1eft Kamba for Falaba, Mmodi was a baby. When Mmodi

grew up, aIl agreed that the mangaship was due him. On

Mmodi's death, Folosaba was amalgamated to Dembelia Musaia.

Fasine, sitting here, who should have been the next manga,

was made Chiefdom Speaker.

The term Folosaba is drawn from a saying. If three

trenches are dug and you are on one side of the~ yau are

safe from people on the other. Anyone with an evil plan

against you coming from the other side cannat get over the

third trench, even if he gets by the first and second.

Other Yalunka jokingly say that in Folo5aba there i8 a witch

by the (mythical) third trench.

From Duguta river, near Limba, on ta river Mongo, is

Folosaba country. From the Mongo ta Masendi i5 Dembelia.

Masendi is the river that is crossed on the road between

Falaba and Sinkunia. It is the baundary between Dembelia and

Sulima.

This Gbentu is a new town; a few years ago it had only

six houses. When Dembelia Musaia and Folosaba were amalgama­

ted, the motorable road from Musaia only reached Gbentu. It

was difficult for Government officiaIs ta get ta Kamba and vice

versa. The Chiefdom Speaker, Fasine, and others therefore

moved to Gbentu.