People in between: the Matawai Maroons of Suriname

[p. 415]

14
Migration

Urban migration is the most manifest social phenomenon accompanying socio-cultural change in tribal and peasant societies of developing countries. It is therefore understandable that migration and urbanization have become major topics of anthropological and sociological research (see for instance Eddy 1968; Southall 1973; Cohen 1974; Loyd 1980; Hannerz 1980). The large-scale movement of members of rural populations to urban areas is a major problem for policy makers, often insufficiently prepared to accomodate the stream of migrants.

This chapter discusses and describes the migration of Matawai who increasingly prefer to live in the coastal area. Until recently they lived primarily in their tribal villages along the Saramacca river, several days journey from Paramaribo. As a result of hardly two decades of migration almost half the Matawai population lived on the coast by the beginning of 1974.

City and urbanized district

During the plantation period, Paramaribo functioned as the governmental, economic and religious centre of the colony. The plantations were mainly situated in the fertile coastal areas along the Suriname, Saramacca, Cottica, Commewijne and Para rivers within a distance of about 60 kilometers from the city. In 1811, shortly after the abolition of the slave trade, Paramaribo accounted for only about 27% of Suriname's total population. However, after the emancipation of the slaves in 1863 and

[p. 416]

the subsequent decline of the plantation economy, this proportion rose to a level of 50% by 1893. After this date the size of the urban population fluctuated with economic booms and busts, reaching a new peak of 40.3% in 1950. During the last few decades the population of Paramaribo has been decreasing slowly, partly due to large-scale migration to the Netherlands. At the same time, the Suriname district including the suburban area surrounding Paramaribo has been rapidly increasing in population and now has an even larger population than Paramaribo (see table 12).

Table 12 The population of Paramaribo and the Suriname district
	1964	1971
Paramaribo	110.9	102.3
District Suriname^1)	117.7	151.5	× 1000
Source: Suriname in cijfers no 60

This rapid increase in the population of the suburban area is largely caused by the movement of people from other districts, including members of all of Suriname's ethnic groups as well as people of tribal origin, namely Bush Negroes and Amerindians. The largest population concentration can be found south of Paramaribo, along the so-called ‘Pad van Wanica’, the highway connecting the city with Zanderij airport. The plantations that once dominated this area have been parcelled out and divided for residential plots, with the population being especially dense closer to town. The spread of buildings running along the ‘Pad van Wanica’ and its sideroads is urban in character. People residing here are oriented toward the city, which is easily accessible by frequent buses on the mainroad. They are economically dependent on incomes from institutions based in Paramaribo. Yet, at the end of the sideroads, on the extremities of this suburban concentration, many

1) District Suriname 1964 includes Para district which was counted separately in 1971 at 17.8 (× 1000)

[p. 417]

Hindustani farmers still live a predominantly rural life-style.

People of various tribal origins account for a significant proportion of the population in this area belting Paramaribo. In fact, 89% of all Matawai migrants live outside the borders of the city. These percentages are most likely to be smaller for Djuka and Saramaka Bush Negroes who, in absolute numbers, exceed the Matawai in the ‘Pad van Wanica’ area. Recently it was estimated that between 10 and 20,000 Bush Negroes are living today in and around Paramaribo (Estimate of official of Ministry of the Interior and Districts, cited in Wesenhagen 1978: 17-8).

Although it is our primary concern here to analyse the movement of a particular tribal group to the coast of Suriname and to the capital Paramaribo, it is appropriate to emphasize that this town can be considered a prototype of a colonial city. In Paramaribo, the economic history and in particular the import of labour forces from various parts of the world for the gainful exploitation of plantations is most strikingly reflected in the multi-ethnic nature of its population. Urbanization and urban migration are aspects of a situation in which the economic system is dominated by dependency on external markets and wherein the town forms a focus in the relationship between the colonial or neo-colonial state and the colony.

Matawai: a mobile society

Before the peace treaty with the government was signed in the 1760s, Matawai came occasionally to the coast to trade with slaves from the plantations and with Amerindians who were settled in Saron (see Quandt 1807: 111; 113). Thereafter, the movements of Matawai to the coast were controlled by the government, which would periodically allow small numbers of Matawai to visit Paramaribo. In town the Matawai were required to stay in a house designated for them and to provide the government with a hostage (ostagier) who was responsible for the behaviour of his fellow tribesmen in town. During the middle of the nineteenth century, about 20 Matawai passed through Saron per month^(1.). Here they had to check-in with the postholder as required while on their way to Paramaribo or to the downriver plantations.

(1.) see for instance LA BIB 1946-50 (12).

[p. 418]

According to archival sources (see p. 343), the total Matawai population at this time did not exceed 400. The Matawai mainly sold horticultural products, boats and some wood; in return they bought rum, salt, ammunition etc.

After the turn of the century, the Matawai were primarily engaged in lumbering and balata gathering, working seasonally along the Saramacca river and its tributaries. The blocks of wood were sold to traders who came to the railway village of Kwakugoon. Some men returned to the villages to accompany their wives for shopping trips to Paramaribo, others went directly to town to buy the essentials for the coming year. In town they spent their nights in a small dwelling in the yard of a shopkeeper and seldom stayed longer than a week before returning to the village.

This pattern of short visits changed when the traditional way of lumbering lost its significance because of worsening market conditions and a shortage of exploitable trees in the tribal area. We will return to this point later in connection with the shifting labour possibilities.

Mobility is still an essential adaptive feature in the economic life of the Matawai. Besides regular moves of individuals and groups within the tribal boundaries, people frequently cross these on their way to the coast. Reasons for movement within the tribal area are partly connected with the principle of duolocal residence according to which a couple maintains two houses, one in the man's village and one in the village of the woman. Although the large majority of the men spend most of the time in the wife's village, they frequently visit their own village in order to participate in village affairs. Social ceremonies like weddings attrack people from a wide area. In addition, the subsistence economy of the Matawai contributes to the movement of individuals within the tribal area sometimes far beyond the surroundings of the villages. Men like to go hunting in the unhabited regions where game is less scarce than around the villages. Although lumbering for the market has lost its significance, increasingly more timber is needed for the new-style Bush Negro houses which nowadays are made predominantly of wood.

Moves which cross the tribal boundaries include shopping trips,

[p. 419]

visits to migrant relatives, seasonal wage-labour and also permanent migration to the coast. In table 13 we present data about the main motives of men from four upriver villages for trips to the coast.

Table 13 Main motives for moves to the coastal area of adult male population from the upstream area (Boslanti, Wanati, Vertrouw, Pniel). Data collected in the period 1973-1974.
Shopping	75
Wage labour	113
Trade (boats, cash crops)	26
Transport	59
Governmental affairs	8
Receiving salaries	11
Education	3
Festivities	2
Medical reasons	12
Unknown	9
_____
Total number of moves	324

Shopping is almost always combined with the other motives mentioned in table 13 Migrants return occasionally to the tribal villages, especially to attend calendrical ceremonies on New Year and Emancipation day or to spend some time during their holidays in the village. As young men prefer women from the tribal area above townswomen they will often return to seek a wife.

In a review article on adaptive strategies in urban migration Graves and Graves (1974: 117-54) emphasize the differential strategic value of three migration patterns which are useful for the description of Matawai migration. These types are:

1)	foraging characterized by temporary forays into neighbouring regions in order to supplement local resources.
2)	circular migration the process of shifting between urban and

[p. 420]

	rural areas.
3)	permanent migration, leading to a change in residence.

The foraging pattern has long been the most dominant in Matawai society and until today many moves of members of the tribal population have a foraging character. Matawai foraging does not only involve hunting, fishing and gathering of food products but also the aquisition of other essentials such as wood for house and canoe building, the gathering of palmleaves for making traditional roofs and herbs to be used in the preparation of medicines. Circular or temporary migration also has a long tradition. Men were engaged in various activities mainly lumbering, balata gathering and transport in the gold industry to acquire a monetary income (see p. 15). These activities had a seasonal character. In the last few decades the third migration type, permanent migration began to gain significance. Permanent migration is characterized by the migrant's shift of primary identification from his rural to his urban home. This type of migration envelopes a large segment of the Matawai, causing the most radical change since the first establishment of their communities in the interior.

Definitions of migration usually include not only the objective time/space criterium but also a more subjective social component. For instance, the geographer Zelinsky observes:

Genuine migration obviously means the perceptible and simultaneous shifts in both spacial and social locus, so that the student cannot realistically measure one kind of movement while he ignores the other. Ideally, we should observe shifts in both varieties of space in tandem but given the dearth of techniques for handling purely social movement, we are forced to rely on territorial movements as a clumsy surrogate for total mobility. When a truly serviceable index of mobility is fabricated, it will certainly be composite, bringing together measures of several dimensions (1971: 224)

Since short-term and seasonal migration have traditionally been important features in Matawai society, we need a definition of the migrant that distinguishes temporary moves to the coast from permanent or long-term migration.

[p. 421]

The Matawai tend to identify themselves or others as residents of the coastal area or as tribal people according to the primary social and economic focus and the lengh of time spent at the coast. We chose the following working definition: Those Matawai are classified as migrants who consider themselves (or are considered by others) as residents of the coastal area and who actually stay more than half of the year on the coast. Although this definition reduces the complexity of the migration process in a dual division, the criteria will cause some difficulties. We will consider the usefulness of the definition by an exploration of the actual pattern of residence of all Matawai from four upriver villages during the period 1973-1974. This pattern reveals that the number of cases that remain doubtful when we only look at the time dimension, is relatively small. A requirement in the use of our working definition is that classification must be done at one point in time. The juncture we used was January 1, 1974. A man who had lived for some months in town and is intending to return to the village, is offered a permanent job and finally decides to stay in the coastal area. In such a case we have taken into account both the year preceding January 1, 1974 as well as 1974. Another problem is how to classify those Matawai who have a dual residence pattern, staying part of their time on the coast and the other part in the tribal area and who consider themselves as nango ta kon (coming and going). As this category is quite heterogeneous a threefold classification migrant, coming and going, tribal makes little sense. The distinction migrant, nango ta kon reflects merely the ideological factor rather than actual behaviour. Most of the people who call themselves nango ta kon are, in accordance with our definition, included in the migrant category. We have to admit, however, that in some cases their primary orientation is uncertain. Seasonal workers who extend their working period in a particular year to seven or eight months or even longer and who do not consider themselves migrants or nango ta kon are included in the non-migrant category. The Matawai do not perceive these wage labourers as belonging to the migrant category. In general, the closely interrelated criteria of primary identification of the individual himself or as conceived by others are given prevalence over the time criterion.

Migration is nearly everywhere accompanied by a counter-stream,

[p. 422]

albeit much smaller of people returning to their home villages. This is evident in the case of seasonal and temporary migration, but may also be noted among people who have apparently resided more or less permanently in the coastal area and then returned to the tribal village for good. The counter-stream among the Matawai is very restricted. In some cases a village council urged men to return to assume positions of village headmen or assistants (kapiteni and basia). There are men who changed their regular jobs for the function of village official with a lower income, but with the security of maintaining this income until death. Men incidentally return if they fail to find work, women may return after divorce, and a few older people return after retirement. However, presently only about 20 out of the total adult population living in the tribal area fit into this category of return migrants.

Having provided criteria (p. 424) to distinguish migrants and non-migrants, we will now examine the mobility pattern of the present Matawai population. We base ourselves on observations during 1973 and 1974 of the total population originating from four upriver villages (Boslanti, Vertrouw, Pniël, Wanati). These villages are less affected by urban migration than villages in the middle- and downriver area. It is likely that the pattern differs from other areas where trips crossing the tribal boundaries are more frequent. Reasons to stay on the coast are in most cases primarily economic. Therefore men spend more time (as a mean 2.4 months) on the coast than women who on the average only stay one month in a year on the coast (see table 14). This period is, however, much longer when we consider only younger men. Men born between 1939 and 1948 spend on the average 4.8 months of a year on the coast. We turn now to the patterns of movement of Matawai migrants. Women tend to be away from their ‘urban’ homes longer than the men. They stay 0.5 months in the village against 0.42 for men. In fact, men in the urban area have more obligations toward their employers while many of the young women still have kinship obligations in the tribal area.

[p. 423]

Table 14 Residence of men and women from Libasei 1 according to age, for migrants the time spent in the tribal villages and for the non-migrants the time spent in the coastal area during the years 1973 and 1974.
year of birth	migrant		non migrant
	M	F	M	F
- 1908	-	-	20	20
1909-1918	3	1	22	19
1919-1928	2	2	23	15
1929-1938	8	2	23	34
1939-1948	15	4	6	22
1949-1958	12	5	17	25
_____
- 1958	40	14	111	135
1 percentage of time non-migrants spent in the coastal area 2 percentage of time migrants spent in the tribal area

year of birth	1		2
	M	F	M	F
- 1908	7%	1.2%	-	-
1909-1918	15.8	3.6	0.3%	6.3%
1919-1928	21	0.6	0.4	-
1929-1938	22.1	7.3	2.0	-
1939-1948	38.9	6.3	1.9	16.2
1949-1958	28.3	3.3	7.7	9.0
_____
	19.8%	4.2%	3.5%	8.3%

[p. 424]

Changing labour opportunities

It is generally agreed that economic motives play a major role in rural-urban migration. In this section we will describe the changing labour opportunities in rural and urban areas and the acceleration of permanent migration as a consequence of growing differences in accessibility to resources.

Matawai migration has been greatly influenced by economic factors. Prior to 1950 the chief male occupation was seasonal work, lumbering and balata gathering. These activities were mainly performed within the tribal boundaries along the tributaries and creeks of the Saramacca river. Lumbering was done in large groups that were needed to pull the wooden blocks out of the forest to the river (see p. 15) After 1950 other work became available for Bush Negroes. A considerable number of men were recruited from the Matawai to gather makapalmnuts along the Coppename river (see Bruijning and Voorhoeve 1977: 87). Others worked in the district of Nickerie where large areas were cleared for rice cultivation. In the late 1950s and early 1960s many Matawai men were engaged in large surveying projects and they swarmed out along all the rivers of Suriname. At about the same time governmental services rapidly expanded employment for Bush Negroes. Initially these jobs were intended to be temporary, but soon the best labourers were selected for steady employment. Extensions of work in the interior were, in part, related to the large dam project on the Suriname river completed in 1966. These new employees were required to be on hand when their bosses needed them and for this reason many began to reside permanently in and near the city of Paramaribo. In addition, the decline of lumbering profits was an equally important factor in the process of leaving the villages in the interior. As we have already indicated, the traditional occupation became less profitable when the most valuable trees became scarce near the rivers and the lumber market declined as a result of the competion from large lumber companies. By the early 1960s the traditional labour intensive method of lumbering had completely ceased, and the coast became the most important place for the Matawai to earn money.

Presently, Bush Negroes partly continue the seasonal labour

[p. 425]

pattern working temporarily in concession areas of Hindustani and Creole concessionaries. These areas are mostly located in the coastal plain. Relations between concessionaires and Bush Negroes are not always harmonious. Numerous stories are told of Bush Negroes who were mistreated or who returned without having received their wages after several months of work. There are also some permanent migrants who continue to work in the lumber concession areas. For some others, infrequent odd jobs provide the only source of income. Several expressions are used to refer to these odd jobs; djap wooko, naki djap, waka waka wooko are some of the most common. The range of incomes for these activities varies, and in some cases wages are comparable to salaries paid by the government services. Young newly arrived migrants often start with this kind of work, entering the odd job labour market with the aid of relatives or friends. Those without contacts walk around asking for work everywhere: Mineli, ju na' wan wooko da mi? (Mister, do you have a job for me?)

To summarize, initially migration was only seasonal, later this was partially replaced by temporary migration, and today we find permanent migration emerging as a dominant pattern for many Matawai men and women. However, the change from one pattern of migration to another does not involve a clear break. The individual choices and shifts of labour patterns do not always show the same sequence of seasonal to temporary and to permanent migration. In fact, all three patterns remain to be relevant.

Prior to 1950 when seasonal migration was dominated by lumbering and balata gathering men remained to be engaged until old age. They were assisted by younger often more able-bodied men, whom they initiated in this work. When temporary and permanent migration became important in the 1960s, many old men were unabled to participate directly and stayed behind in the tribal villages te perform tasks for migrants relatives in town, such as house building and boat making or clearing garden plots for the wives of migrants who used to stay a large part of the year in the village. There are other factors that have prevented the move from seasonal to permanent migration from becoming even more widespread. The Suriname government today pays a small allowance every three months to the elderly and to single women in the tribal area.

[p. 426]

In addition, the salaried tribal functionaries (kapiteni and basia) account for a large part of those Matawai who have remained in the tribal area. These functionaries are less dependent on regular wage labour than others. The input in terms of money in the tribal area for salaries and social security is considerable compared with other sources of income (see table 15).

Table 15 Money income for 141 adult males in four upriver villages over a two year period (1973-1974).
A	Incomes from activities in tribal area
		boat making		Sf. 4500.-
		cash crops (peanuts, ginger) (1)		1400.-
		house building for migrants		2100.-
		freight carrying		3500.-
		local functionaries (2)		21840.-
		local jobs		5700.-
			Total		39040,-
B	Incomes from activities outside tribal area
		Balata gathering, woodcutting, odd jobs		71440.-
C	Incomes from social security (3)			18660.-
				_____
			Total	Sf. 129,140,-
(1) includes income of 4 women, (2) of 8 women and (3) of 35 women Estimates are made on basis of census data, length of working periods, number of boats made for sale ect. Calculations of social security and salaries paid to village officials are based on standard amounts.

[p. 427]

Migration, sex ratios and the marriage system

The exodus of Matawai from the tribal villages to the coast started only recently in the 1960s. As the difference in the accessibility of resources in urban and rural areas is a major stimulus for migration, predominantly males in the age category 20-40 in search for wage labour initiate the move to the coast. The motivations of kinsmen who follow them tend to be more complex in nature. As a result of approximately 25 years of migration, almost half of the Matawai population has settled more or less permanently on the coast, in and around Paramaribo. Migration is a temporal process with differential effects on age and sex distribution, therefore the characteristics of the migrant population at a given point in time reflect a stage in the process. It will be shown in this case that as the process of migration develop, initial imbalances in the sex ratio and age distribution tend to level out. In figure 14 a, b, c, d we contrast the tribal and urban segments of the Matawai population originating from four different areas. The population pyramids indicate that the age category of males between 20 and 40 in particular, tends to be absent in the tribal area. This is even more predominant in the downriver villages. In all areas the peak in the pattern of male migrants corresponds with the peak of the female pattern. Comparison of the upriver and downriver clusters indicates outstanding peaks of migrants around the age of 30 as well as low percentages of young children and aged persons among the migrants in the upriver region. (see also table 16). In this region the largest differentiation exists between the two sexes. For libasei 1 we found that male migrants constitutes 15% of the total male population and for female migrants a percentage of 10.7%. Downriver (bausee 1), the area most heavily affected by migration, the relative difference is much smaller: 76.8% male migrants against 66.4% female migrants of the total populations. During a visit in 1974 we collected additional data on migration after 1974 from the upriver area. A significant number of young migrants were among the new migrants, a large part of them were unmarried in 1974. The unbalanced sex ratio in this area can only partly be explained by male migration to the coast. Of the total population originating from the four upper river villages (Libasei 1) females outnumber males and many women

[p. 428]

Figure 14 a Population distribution of migrants compared with the total population from Libasei 1.

[p. 429]

Figure 14 b Population distribution of migrants compared with the total population from Libasei 2.

[p. 430]

Figure 14 c Population distribution of migrants compared with the total population from Bausei 1.

[p. 431]

Figure 14 d Population distribution of migrants compared with the total population from Bausei 2.

[p. 432]

Figure 14 e Population distribution of migrants compared with the total Matawai population

[p. 433]

Table 16 Migrancy of adults and children from libasei and bausei
	Adults	Children	Total
Libasei	151	54	205
Bausei	257	170	427
	_____
	408	224	632
X^2 = 11.14 Statiscally significant at 0.001 level which means that Libasei has a significantly lower percentage of children in the migrant population.

Table 17 Migration and sex ratio in four Matawai areas
area	% Migrants	Migrants			non-Migrants
		Males	Females	s.r.	Males	Females	s.r.
Libasei 1	14%	36	25	1440	163	208	780
Libasei 2	31	83	58	1430	157	167	940
Bausei 1	59	90	75	1200	23	38	610
Bausei 2	73	143	118	1220	77	104	740
	_____
N	59	354	276	1280	420	517	810
Correlation coefficient % migrants and sex ratio 0.34 s.r. Sex ratio = M/F × 1000

[p. 434]

remain single for an appreciably longer period.

In table 17 we have summarized data on adult migrant and non-migrant populations originating from different areas. We will consider here the consequences of the uneven distribution for the marriage system.

Contrary to the situation as described by Price 1975: 65-74) for upriver Saramaka, the Matawai tend in the course of their marital career to take their families with them to the city. However, many Matawai male migrants are single, due to the fact that they do not remarry easily after divorce. The large number of men who remain sometime without a partner causes a shortage of men in the tribal area. It must be remarked that this shortage is larger than our data may suggest because we have included all Matawai older than 15 years of age, while men tend to marry four to five years later than women. In addition since the Matawai have abandoned polygynous marriage after the introduction of Christianity, many women in the tribal area remain unmarried after divorce.

The sex ratio of the total -migrant plus non-migrant- population reaches a value of 930, indicating a small majority of women. Differences emerge when we divide the population in a migrant and non-migrant category resulting in sex ratios of 1440 for the migrant population and 700 for the non-migrants. A further distinction between married and non-married people of both migrants and non-migrants reveals remarkable differences in migrant and tribal sex ratios of the unmarried categories. (see table 18)

Table 18 Sex ratios, migration and marital status
		total population
		930
	migrant			non-migrant
	1440			700
married		not married	married		not married
1070		2570	880		470

[p. 435]

Table 19 Migration and marital status of all Matawai adults originating from 17 villages according to sex, area of origin and present place of residence (January 1, 1974, N = 952)
	Unmarried
Libasei	never married		divorced		widowed
	M	F	M	F	M	F
Migrant	23	-	15	7	2	-
non-Migrant	27	36	8	31	2	27
	_____
	50	36	23	38	4	27
Bausei
Migrant	22	8	21	13	3	6
non-Migrant	22	16	8	29	3	12
	_____
	44	24	29	42	6	18

	Married		Total
Libasei
	M	F	M	F	T
Migrant	57	45	97	52	149
non-Migrant	133	139	170	233	403
	_____
	190	184	267	285	552
Bausei
Migrant	75	73	121	100	221
non-Migrant	38	54	71	108	179
	_____
	113	127	192	208	400

[p. 436]

The data presented in table 19 enables us to examine the relationship between marital status and migration more closely. The most remarkable feature emerging from these data is the large number of divorced men in the coastal population (70% of all divorced men live on the coast) and the large percentage of divorced women in the tribal area (75% of all divorced women live in the tribal villages). Although there may be a slight tendency for tribal men to migrate after divorce our data indicate that a large number of divorced men remain unmarried for a long time. The determining factor, in this regard, is the different economic roles of the sexes in the tribal and coastal areas. In the tribal area the economic roles of men and women are complementary. Almost all activities which belong to the sphere of money are the domain of the men. Each year the men will spend some months on the coast for wage labour. However, despite this income the household economy is largely based on subsistence activities. A large part of all food is provided by the gardens. Within the subsistence domain itself, male and female activities are interdependent. The man's task is particularly important during the phase of burning, felling and clearing. While women perform the majority of activities in all other garden work. In view of the complementary tasks of men and women, marriage has become a highly functional contract. According to marital histories in the past both women and men did not remain unmarried long after divorce. Presently, as a result of sex selective migration man women remain unmarried, in particular after divorce. The maintenance of an independent household for single women is facilitated by the fact that she may insist on the help of her male relative in the preparation of a garden (see p. 77). Moreover nowadays the Surinamese government provides a small stipend quarterly.

In the city the situation for single women is quite different. Here women are dependent on an income in money and therefore on their husband's wage labour as work for unskilled women is especially difficult to find. Although about 50% of all women residing in the coastal area maintain a garden somewhere along the highway to Zanderij, along the railway to Kwakugoon, or even near the tribal villages, the importance of these activities is limited compared to the subsistence activities within the tribal area. For housing as well the woman in the coastal area is largely dependent on her husband who owns or rents the

[p. 437]

the dwelling. As most of the Matawai women in town are not legally married, a woman has no rights if the couple divorces. Consequently, she will often return to the tribal village.

Turning now to the men we find that almost all adult men in the tribal area are married, this is particular true for the upriver area. After divorce they remarry rapidly, a process which is facilitated by the surplus of relatively young women. In fact, in the tribal area it is the men who are dependent on their wives because of the women's large contribution to the subsistence economy. Migration has caused a shift in the power balance between male and female partners.

We will summarize the main features of Matawai migration.

1)	Seasonal and temporary migration of males has a long tradition in Matawai society.
2)	Permanent migration only emerged as a mass phenomenon in the last few decades when men became involved in the coastal labour market and when subsequently an increasing number of women began to join their husbands in town. As a result the sex ratio of the migrant population in those areas where migration started earlier is quite in balance.
3)	It seems that migration in this small-scale society is destructive for the life in the tribal villages. Some villages have lost almost the entire population and until now return migration has been limited. Recently it has been been argued that the mass character of urban migration in less developed countries is largely an illusory phenonmenon (Lipton 1980: 5). This is evidently not the case in Matawai society. The mass migration among the Matawai emphasizes their particular situation in which possibilities for rural agricultural development have been restricted by the tropical forest horticulture and by the distance from the market. Migration movement tends to concentrate on the only urban centre of Suriname, Paramaribo and its immediate surroundings.
4)	The Matawai migrant relies more heavily on occupations provided by the government than do the total Surinamese working population, although they too are already highly dependent on these kinds of jobs.