Abstract: | The Laka of Chad have long used an iron currency called 'lar ndul'. Laka informants who are literate in French call this 'argent brut', that is, 'raw' or 'natural' money. There are four types of lar ndul: solha, mbel, ndaiban, and rom. The first three of these forms are long, flattened bars, while rom are thick, lozenge-shaped 'handfuls' of iron. The author describes the sources of iron ore and the manufacture and use of lar ndul forms, based on research undertaken intermittently in the late 1960s. At the time, lar ndul was no longer used, except in bridewealth. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |