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TEMNE 775
kola, enter the market as cash crops. Fishing is carried out by a variety of
techniques along the coast and in the rivers. The human density is high enough
so that hunting is of negligible importance. Limited grazing and other factors
prevent the keeping of cattle on a large scale, but some cows and a variety of
other domestic animals are found throughout the area. As opportunities have
developed, Temne have taken wage work of various kinds. Large numbers
participated in the "diamond rush" into Kono District in the years 1952-1961,
and before its closure they made up most of the work force of the Marampa iron
mine. Many Temne thus have migrated to work sites and to the growing urban
areas, both the provincial cities and the national capital, Freetown.
Islam reached the Temne in the seventeenth century, brought by occasional
itinerant Muslims. The Sierra Leone area generally escaped the devastating wars
of militant Islam in the Sudan, but the victory of Muslim Fulani (Fulbe) in Futa
Jalon late in the eighteenth century did affect the Temne, albeit indirectly. Fulani
and various Manding-speaking Muslim traders also penetrated the Temne area
as a coastal-oriented trade became established (see Manding-speaking Peoples).
Muslim traders settled along the developing trade routes, married locally and,
on a limited basis, proselytized. The early Muslim centers in the Temne area
from Mabun to Forodugu and from Chinti to the Yoni chiefdoms, began in these
ways. During the twentieth century, Islam expanded and continues to expand at
the expense of both Christianity and traditional belief systems. Non-Temne
Muslims who have settled among the Temne practiced the normative Maliki
Islam of western Sudan but seem to have made few Temne converts.
In 1949 the Temne were grouped into 44 chiefdoms, each with a paramount
chief and several subchiefs. Subsequent amalgamations have reduced the number
of chiefdoms. In the Sierra Leone administrative system chiefdoms are grouped
into districts; those districts containing Temne chiefdoms make up the Northern
Province. Since independence in 1961 individual Temne have been active participants
in the national governments of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP)
and, after, the All Peoples Conference (APC).
Temne chiefdoms may be grouped into those in which a male society (Poro,
Ragbenle or Ramena) conducts the installation ceremonies of the chief and those
in which Muslim clerics conduct the rites. In non-Muslim chiefdoms most subchiefs
bear the title kapr. In Muslim chiefdoms they are known as alimami or
santigi. A number of Muslim Temne chiefs, as well as other Temne, have made
the pilgrimage to Mecca and add "El Hadji" to their title/name, like El Hadji
Alimami Suri, the late paramount chief of Kunike chiefdom. In a paramount
chief's court witnesses swear on the Bible, the Quran or traditional medicines,
depending on their religion. Muslim chiefs play leadership roles in the ceremonial
calendar of the Muslim community. Today each rural Temne village has an
elected headman who serves as a liaison with higher authority. Within a village,
representatives of households handle most disputes on a moot basis.
Descent among the Temne is traced unilineally through males, that is, patrilineally.
Eligibility to chieftancy as well as the inheritance of rights to most