DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36956#0121
As soon as I arrived the villagers made it clear to me that I and my group
would not be allowed to stay in the village itself. I was therefore glad to
accept the offer of accommodation in the Forest Office lodge at Shatial,
some ten miles away, and this had the advantage that the cook could
remain there while I drove up to Sazin every day. The first month was
Ramazan, so hospitality was necessarily restricted. I was occasionally
invited into their guest rooms by the councillor and the contractor, but
usually spent the day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. working outside on the
survey. I was asked to leave at about 3 p.m. so that my presence should
not inhibit the women returning from the fields, and I would then return
to the lodge to make notes and work on the village plan. Throughout my
work at the village I did what I could to maintain friendly relations with
the male inhabitants, always visiting the platforms first, greeting all who
were there, and sitting with them for a while: most grew to accept me,
even if they were never forthcoming, but a few conservative individuals
clearly resented my intrusion.
My first concern while at Sazin was to complete the physical survey of
the village by establishing its plan. This was by no means an easy task,
as the construction was extremely irregular, and even the quoins at the
angles of buildings projected in and out to such an extent that I found I
obtained a measurement 10-15 cm different from the previous one every
time I returned to check something: I finally resorted to marking the
actual point from which I had measured, so that I could return to it. I
was not even allowed to penetrate the kof until I had completed four
weeks work around its periphery and in the southwestern annexe. When
I eventually did so, I had access only to the alleyways and some of the
closes and courts, so that the pattern of measured work I could carry out
was disconnected, and the angular relationships between these axes were
uncertain. I was never allowed to move around the village without a
young man, or at least a boy as escort, to ensure that I should have no
contact with the women, and so far as possible to ascertain that there
105
would not be allowed to stay in the village itself. I was therefore glad to
accept the offer of accommodation in the Forest Office lodge at Shatial,
some ten miles away, and this had the advantage that the cook could
remain there while I drove up to Sazin every day. The first month was
Ramazan, so hospitality was necessarily restricted. I was occasionally
invited into their guest rooms by the councillor and the contractor, but
usually spent the day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. working outside on the
survey. I was asked to leave at about 3 p.m. so that my presence should
not inhibit the women returning from the fields, and I would then return
to the lodge to make notes and work on the village plan. Throughout my
work at the village I did what I could to maintain friendly relations with
the male inhabitants, always visiting the platforms first, greeting all who
were there, and sitting with them for a while: most grew to accept me,
even if they were never forthcoming, but a few conservative individuals
clearly resented my intrusion.
My first concern while at Sazin was to complete the physical survey of
the village by establishing its plan. This was by no means an easy task,
as the construction was extremely irregular, and even the quoins at the
angles of buildings projected in and out to such an extent that I found I
obtained a measurement 10-15 cm different from the previous one every
time I returned to check something: I finally resorted to marking the
actual point from which I had measured, so that I could return to it. I
was not even allowed to penetrate the kof until I had completed four
weeks work around its periphery and in the southwestern annexe. When
I eventually did so, I had access only to the alleyways and some of the
closes and courts, so that the pattern of measured work I could carry out
was disconnected, and the angular relationships between these axes were
uncertain. I was never allowed to move around the village without a
young man, or at least a boy as escort, to ensure that I should have no
contact with the women, and so far as possible to ascertain that there
105