The Settlement and Daily Pursuits

Abstract

When in pre-contact times the Jaqaj settled somewhere for a longer period of time, they often chose a strategic point where their fathers or grandfathers once had planted coconut trees. If there were no such trees, they would soon plant them themselves. Around the settlement they planted a dense strip of banana bushes. It provided the community with fruit and the women with a latrine area. This strip of banana bushes also served as a defence ring. Behind it they could take cover when the settlement was attacked. In times of danger they also built a fence of tree branches and shields in which only narrow openings were left. To further protect the site, the approaches to the settlement were kept narrow and winding, that is, if the settlement was situated in the forest, a rather unattractive place to people who, like the Jaqaj, love the sun and the wide vista of the open plain.