Protectorate. Warren, district commissioner of Koinadugu District, writing in 1907, noted the presence of "a large Fula settlement" on the northern frontier of the Yalunka country, adding, "it is from these Fulas that the country owes its wealth (viz. live-stock)." (1928 p.25) Lipschutz suggests that the Sierra Leone cattle market and high French cattle export duties were incentives for large scale Fula migration into Koinadugu district after the turn of the century. (Lipschutz 1973 p.166) But it is not clear whether these migrants were themselves actively involved in cattle trading. It is more likely that herd owners were migrating from Guinea in their efforts to avoid payment of a cattle tax that had been imposed by the French. (See Traoré Ray Autra 1980 p.428) Under Pax Brittanica, the immigration of Fula pastoralists into the Koinadugu district gained momentum. A census carried out in 1931 records 20,000 Fula immigrants of recent origin living in Koinadugu and Karene districts. (Viellard 1940, p.89) But this number increased many-fold over the next two decades, with Fula settlement from French Guinea being "officially encouraged and assisted", by the administration of the protectorate. (Colonial office reports on Sierra Leone 1953 p.38, but see below) Under Sekou Toure's regime, Fula herd owners in Guinea suffered a variety of violent threats to their lives and property. I was told that many cattle were forcibly requisitioned by the government. During the 1960's "massive migrations" of Fula into Koinadugu, along with thousands of head of cattle, are said to have taken place. (Traoré Ray Autra 1980 p.428) Some families, perceiving an improvement in the general political situation, have since moved back to Guinea, although many others have remained. Migration of Fula pastoralists into the northern districts of Sierra Leone has continued over the last 100 years or so. In general the process has been peaceful, and has been carried out by gradual infiltration rather than by conquest. It would also appear that this progressive movement has been the result of individual rather than collective decision making, although the political uncertainties in Guinea throughout the 1960's may possibly have led to more collective action during this period. Pastoral requirements have meant the dispersal of the cattle herders throughout the northern districts, and they are found interspersed among the "indigenous" farming communities, among whom the Fula have settled, rather than displaced. The resulting pattern is that of a complex heterogeneous mosaic. (Further discussion on this point follows.) iii. "Gold and Hide Strangers"; trade and Futa Jallon. The presence of Fula traders in both the Protectorate and Colony of Sierra Leone dates back into the early nineteenth century. Trading in cattle, ivory and gold, among other commodities, Fula traders provided an important commercial link between the European traders at the coast and Futa Jallon. However, outside of Freetown, permanent settlement, in appreciable numbers, does not seem to have taken place until the twentieth century. Overall, the process of immigration has followed a different pattern from that described for the pastoralists. Rankin, writing in 1834, provides one of the earliest descriptions of a Fula trader in Freetown. (*10) But Rankin's lively portrait, is well matched by a perceptive account

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of the expansive influence of the Fula in the Colony and the hinterlands. In his account Rankin draws attention to a number of themes that subsequently have been taken up and discussed by a number of historians. Religious zeal and Islamic learning (1826 p. 124-5), skill in trade (ibid, p.127) and political ambition. (ibid. 126), are among the factors Rankin observes. The expansion of Fula influence into the Protectorate cannot be understood simply in terms of the growing military importance of the state of Futa Jallon. Such influence only periodically extended as far as the northern populations of Sierra Leone, with Yalunka, Kuranko and Limba, in particular, suffering a number of defeats at the hands of Fula armies. Furthermore, such incursions are more properly understood as raids for booty, rather than the conquest of land. Military success was never followed up by settlement. Of more widespread and pervasive influence, was the development of "theocratic" Futa Jallon as a centre of Islamic learning. (Hopewell 1958 p.62ff. And see Marty 1921 and Trimingham and Fyfe 1960) During the eighteenth century, Futa Jallon developed as an important intellectual centre of Islam. Students were sent from great distances to study at the Islamic schools which had been established throughout the Futa region. (See Fyfe 1962 p.228, Lipschutz 1973 p.52f and Kup 1975 p.68) Furthermore, many Fula clerics and Islamic scholars found employment under the big-men and chiefs of the Protectorate. It appears that, throughout the northern region of Sierra Leone, Muslims were treated as "strangers with special rights and obligations". Zweifel and Moustier, who travelled around the region during 1879 noted how "the most important personages, notably the ministers, the priests or fetishmen, and sometimes even the King" were frequently Muslim strangers. (Quoted in Lipschutz 1973 p.53) There are many recorded instances of Fula Islamic scholars usurping the position of their former employers, (eg. Kup 1975 p.67) The influence of these ritual specialists spread far and wide. But, above all else, it was through trade that the Fula extended their influence throughout the region. The slave trade, described by Suret-Canale as "the country's only resource", (1970 p. 80) continued to be of paramount importance to the state of Futa Jallon long after its formal abolition by the British in 1808. As Kup notes, "there was no substitute the Fula could find which...would earn them the equivalent amount of European goods, or provide labour for their plantations, and they would not give it up." (1975 p.68) (*11) Many slaves taken by the Fula were war-captives; victims of various campaigns that had taken place between the Futa state and its neighbouring rivals. However, the slave-trade network was extensive, and brought Fula slavers deep into Protectorate territory. (*12) Trading settlements, some temporary, others more permanent, extended Fula economic and political influence. (Fyfe 1962 p.399 & 449) Rankin was certainly correct in his suspicions that the Fula were still trading in slaves. Indeed, evidence shows that Fula slave-traders continued to operate within Sierra Leone until the 1890's. (Fyfe 1962 p.485. And see Kup 1975 p.67-8) (*13) Throughout the nineteenth century the opportunities to engage in "legitimate commerce" increased, as European influence continued to spread inland from the coastal regions. (Kup 1975 p.71. And see Curtin 1975,pp.218-221 and passim.) From the latter part of the eighteenth century Fula traders had established themselves along the French Guinea coastline, although it is well established that indigenous

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MAP 2:3

trading systems, stretching into the interior, pre-date this period. Hopewell notes that "Muslim Fulas were in communication at least some time before the trip of Watt and Winterbottom to Timbo in 1794".(Hopewell 1958 p.111) The commercial importance of these coastal settlements was significant, and "parties of forty to a hundred men would carry to the coast a mixed cargo of gold, ivory, coffee, hides, bullocks and slaves. These were collected by nearly a dozen American, French, Spanish, and mulatto factories, who in return, supplied the Fula with such articles as tobacco, guns, powder, cloth, rum, salt, and cocoanut" (sic) (ibid. and p.141ff. And see Fyfe 1962 p.66f and Mouser 1973,passim) Watt and Winterbottom's trip to Timbo, capital of Futa Jallon, reflected the Colony's interest in maintaining, and strengthening, the trading links between them. Watt and Winterbottom were warmly received, and the Fula sent a deputation with them to Freetown to arrange regular trade. (Fyfe 1962 p.57, Hopewell 1958 p.142-3) However, trade between Futa and Freetown was frequently disrupted by wars in the interior, and the Colony sought more direct links in an effort to improve communications. In the 1820's, following further deputations to Timbo by O'Beirne and Laing, new overland trade routes were opened, and Fula caravans began to travel directly to Freetown. (*14) From the 1820's Fula, from Futa Jallon, began to arrive in Freetown in greater numbers, leading to the establishment of a permanent community of Fula within the Colony. A census carried out in 1831 shows the presence of a sizeable group located in and around an area of Freetown already known as Fula town. The census also indicates the presence of a Fula headman. (Harrell-Bond et al. 1978 p.45) Ironically, Fula prominence in commerce was short lived, and Mande traders were also quick to take advantage of the new trading opportunities, that resulted from the opening up of the overland trade routes. (ibid. p.48) However, the Fula community in Freetown remained commercially significant, although it did not grow to any marked extent until the beginning of the twentieth century; an indication, perhaps, of French success in their attempt to divert trade caravans away from Freetown to Conakry. v. Continuing immigration; the search for wage labour. The twentieth century has witnessed a dramatic increase in the numbers of Fula living in Freetown, and throughout the country. (*15) But such an increase, I think, cannot be explained by reference to continuing Fula involvement in long distance trade, or to Fula dominance over the increasingly important cattle-trade. (cf. Harrell-Bond et al. p.174) The search for waged employment has brought many Guinean Fula into the towns and villages of Sierra Leone since World War Two. Despite the varying economic fortunes of Guinea and Sierra Leone, it is the latter that, until recently at least, has been regarded as the more prosperous of the two countries. Political insecurity in Guinea, after independence there in 1958, was also a factor of considerable importance. (See above) Whilst the perceived opportunities of living in Freetown continue to attract a large number of Fula young men into the peninsula, it has been the development of the diamond mining industry in the eastern Kono region that has exerted the greatest

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"pull" in recent decades. However, the opportunities of the 1950's and 1960's have since diminished. New and tighter work permit regulations have meant that many migrant Fula have been unable to gain employment in the region. (See below) Rather than turn back to Guinea, many travel from town to town, seeking out "kinsmen" to assist them to find work. Since, outside of Freetown, the largest populations of Fula in Sierra Leone are to be found in the northern region, a few have settled in and around Kabala. (See below) However, Fula are found throughout the length and breadth of Sierra Leone. Butcher's doctoral study of Fula in Lunsar (1965) concentrates on their "role in urban life and the economy". Butcher is puzzled as to why so few Fula are employed by Delco, the large iron-ore mining company, around which Lunsar developed. Butcher's heavy reliance on Radcliffe-Brown's ideas of social structure and in particular "function", his over-use of "role" and "adaptation", and his obstinate insistence that Fula in Lunsar form a "microcosm and a replica of Futa Jallon society", ( ibid. chapter one and two) makes large parts of his thesis difficult to follow. (*16) Nonetheless, what does come out quite clearly from his data, despite protestations to the contrary, is that the Fula in Lunsar, for the most part recent immigrants from Guinea, are highly "adaptive" and opportunistic. As Butcher admits in his concluding chapter, Lunsar Fula engage in commerce on "a large scale", and new skills such as tailoring and lorry driving are readily taken up. (p.306-12, passim) In many rural areas Fula continue to provide a range of specialist skills. Dorjahn presents a brief description of the Fula population in his study of migration in the Temne chiefdom of Kolifa Mayaso. Of the Fula residents,(*17) "all were born in Guinea save only one woman and some children born since migration to Sierra Leone. In 1955 two of the four married Fula men ran a trading shop, one was a wood-carver and the fourth, a farmer, served as Imam for the Muslim community; in 1963 the major occupations of married Fula men included three wood-carvers, one blacksmith, one leather worker, one trader, and one farmer serving as Imam... Fula men indicated they left their natal areas because they could not make a good living at their specialities there; they settled in Kolifa Mayaso because they believed the opportunities were better". (1975, p.39. Original emphasis) vi. Discussion Typically, the Fula are regarded as outsiders. They are seen as recent immigrants, often migratory, which may be linked to their large numbers of cattle. They are seen as Guinean not Sierra Leonean, a point that may be "proven" by reference to the fact that there are no Fula chiefdoms within Sierra Leone. It is noted that the Fula are wealthy and, accordingly, have influence and power, which is regarded as illegitimate, for the reasons just cited. Such is the popular stereotype. It has been developing for some considerable length of time. In 1939, following a number of complaints filed by Fula elders against their own headman in Freetown, Commissioner Mathews, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary, described the Fula as "aliens" and "an inexhaustible reservoir of thieves." He added, "if they do not like conditions in Freetown as they exist they can go back to French Guinea". (Quoted in Harrell-Bond et al. 1978 p.147) Ironically, Momodu Alie, the headman in question, was a Torodo Bunduke, a Fula from Senegal.

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In rural areas, it appears that Fula are characterised in broadly similar terms. As Dorjahn notes, the attitudes of the Kolifa Temne toward the Fula were ambivalent:-" Fula are denigrated because they have body lice or ticks and are proverbial thieves; on the other hand they are enjoyed because of their ability to clown and joke and respected because of their knowledge of the Koran and of cattle-keeping. Some alleged that the Fula had a well organised cattle-stealing ring and a few said that Temne children were kidnapped and taken away to the north in the same way.(*18) By 1963 some informants were criticising the Fula for marrying Temne women but refusing to permit their women to marry Temne men. Yet Fula sons-in-law were said to be more respectful (*19) and older informants liked the Fula practice (that which is the Temne ideal but an ideal rarely achieved) of giving live cattle as bride wealth; live animals, it was observed, kept memory of the marriage alive". (1975, p.45-6) Against this Dorjahn notes that although Fula in-migrants were aware of the stereotype, they could not, or would not, cite instances where they were confronted by it. Dorjahn suggests:-"ethnic difference does not prevent meaningful incorporation into local Temne life." (ibid 46) He records the case of a Fula farmer who served as imam of the local Muslim community: "He married a Temne woman and was taught techniques of upland rice farming and assisted his wife's kinsmen on land controlled by his wife's family. His children were raised as Temne and, like his father, were accepted by neighbours and fellow villagers. Everyone knew that the man was a Fula but the fact had little significance". (ibid 47) From my own observations, I suggest that Dorjahn's observations are not atypical, and that the incorporation of small numbers of Fula into local communities is widespread. Nonetheless, since independence, especially within the competitive context of national politics, the Fula have become more clearly defined as a "stranger community". (see Skinner 1963) (*20) In many ways their position within Sierra Leone has become more precarious, although events relating to the 1982 general election may have reversed this trend. (See below) Harrell-Bond et al. note that the Fula have always been the main target in drives to deport illicit diamond-miners from Sierra Leone. Furthermore:- "Their position in Freetown is also highly insecure. Rumours that the police are preparing to round up Guinea-born non-naturalised Fula frequently lead these people to flee into hiding in the countryside or to attach themselves to established Fula families". (ibid p.312. Emphasis added)(*21) I suggest that the long history of Fula involvement in Sierra Leone, is significant for the understanding of certain present-day features of Fula social organisation; in particular the characteristics of flexibility and fluidity, which may, in part, account for the continuous and continuing commercial success of Fula. Over many generations Fula traders and religious specialists have permeated many areas of Sierra Leone, and have wielded considerable influence in many localities. Sayers' lengthy article on family and clan names among the Temne, contains references to Fula ruling families who had settled among the Temne, and Limba. (Sayers 1927 passim; For Limba also see Finnegan 1965 p.14-15. And see above.) It is difficult to assign dates to what has been a long and gradual process. However, I would suggest that the opening up of direct trade routes between Futa Jallon and Freetown in the nineteenth century was significant, in that it enabled the Fula to establish an extensive trading network throughout the Protectorate. (Fyfe 1962 p.148-9)

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The trading network was never exclusively Fula, and evidence suggests that much intermarriage occurred between prominent trading families of different ethnic backgrounds. (See Howard and Skinner 1984) Nonetheless, Rodney observes that "the jihad of Futa Djalon went even further than the invasion of the Manes towards creating throughout Sierra Leone and other sections of Upper Guinea a ruling class which was unified in interests and ideology". (Rodney 1970 p.237; cited in Kup 1975 p.68) The twentieth century has seen a great many changes in the position of the Fula, but certain features have remained constant. For example, the Fula remain widely dispersed throughout the length and breadth of the country, and continue to operate an extensive trading network which extends from Guinea, through Sierra Leone, and on to Liberia. (*22) Their "mobile" wealth continues to play an important part in the extension of influence and power, especially, but not exclusively, at the level of local politics. (*23) And Islam continues to be of central, and unifying, importance to this widely-dispersed people.

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