In the chieftainships, huts have sometimes very big size with their large thatched roof supported by posts. Their doors often have a richly sculpted frame where characters alternate with sacred animals, characters have sometimes ridiculous or obscene attitudes. In the huts, in a nearly complete obscurity, an extinguished fireplace could be seen, some seats of several sizes, grouped or scattered, sometimes a dressed stone, a small basin full of water in the floor. These huts are meeting places where men meet at the evening at set days. They eat, drink, seat on large or small stools depending of their importance and talk about big and small problems. It is on the basin that they take an oath and it is near the dressed stone that chicken sacrifice takes place. There are many societies which group people in each tribe: notables, warriors, young men, chief sons, servants, magicians, women... Each society has its own hut, its meeting days. The most important and older society is the Kamen, council of nine members, descendants of the nine founders of the tribe.It is the Kamen which gives his power to the chief and it constitutes the highest autority in the tribe (its members wears a copper bracelet). Deciding for all the questions regarding the country, these societies are its social and administrative frame, powerful strength in times past. From 1945 to 1959, Daniel Broussous was the head doctor of the protestant hospital of Bangwa, set up by the Société des missions évangéliques de Paris (Paris evangelical mission society) in the south of the region Bamileke in 1935. Broussous took many photographs documenting the art, the architecture, the traditions and the daily-life of Bamileke chieftainships. He also made several films.
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