Reciprocal Arrangements - Pygmies and Cultivators
Nowadays many pygmy groups no longer spend the whole year in the forest. Four or even six months of the year, in the dry season, they build their huts outside a settled village of cultivators who use them as plantation labor and treat them as land servants.
In reality, many cultivators consider the pygmies less than human. They have created a system of hereditary service: a pygmy always works for the same master and subsequently for his heirs, and the pygmy's children go on working for the same family. This form of serfdom exists mainly in the intentions of the cultivators, and occurs only when the pygmies consent to it. If not treated reasonably, they disappear back into the forest, where they cannot be found. It is in the cultivator's interests to take care of their pygmies and establish an acceptable relationship. Their attitude generally is arrogant, but occasionally is affectionate as well.
The economic arrangement between the two groups usually works to the disadvantage of the pygmies, who do not use money and have no conception of its value. The cultivators generally don't know how to hunt or raise animals, except chickens, a few goats, and more rarely pigs, so they obtain meat and other products from the forest, mainly from the pygmies. In exchange the pygmies receive, apart from food, iron goods, such as spearheads and knives, and terra cotta pots (which are increasingly being replaced by saucepans made in China). They do not know how to work iron themselves, because their nomadic lifestyle does not allow them to carry heavy items such as anvils and forges.
The pygmies are considered the poorest of the poor, the occupants of the bottom rung of the economic ladder. As far as possible, the cultivators make sure they remain unaware of the value of money, for fear they will become too expensive. In the opportune season, at least, the pygmies do a lot of field work for them. They also, being light and agile, build house roofs. Apart from tools, the pygmies are paid with alcohol, tobacco, bananas, and cassava (manioc), which until recently were produced only by the farmers.
Now some of the pygmies are beginning to grow cassava, because it requires very little supervision - just plant a sprig and return after two years to gather the roots. Even the leaves make a tasty soup. A native of South America, since its introduction two hundred years ago it has gradually replaced the majority of previous crops. It is not only easy to grow but (like wheat, potatoes, and rice) does not clash with other flavors.
In any case, the pygmies don't farm willinglythey farm only when the forest is destroyed. Then, forced to change lifestyle, they may take up pot making and fishing, as well as farmwork. They survive as best they can, but continue to hunt whenever possible.
Farm life has never been considered much fun. In the Bible, when Adam and Eve taste the apple, God drives them from Eden to make them "work the earth of which they were fashioned," saying, "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."
Hunters generally work less than cultivators. This is true also of the few hunters left in the savanna, with its vast population of herbivorous animals. These grasslands have been almost completely swept away by developed economies, but they once must have been a fine sight with their rich variety of highly visible game. In the forest, it is easier for animals to hide.
The pygmy women's work is perhaps more monotonous, although they seem content with their lot. The cultivators' wives, who do the heaviest labor in the fields, work decidedly harder than the pygmy women.
The forest may look gloomy to us but pygmies feel entirely at home and safe there. It is a place where little that is untoward can happen to them, where danger is limited and life very pleasant. The same applies to all the modern hunter-gatherer groups whose culture and history we know. They are (or were) extremely well adapted to their environment, but when it changed, they inevitably had to change too, or disappear.