The Rukuba live in central Nigeria, on the High Plateau at some 30 kilometers west of the town of Jos, capital of Plateau State. They are one among the numerous small groups inhabiting the region. These groups are, by African standards, demographically small. The Rukuba believe that the prosperity and the well-being of the land and people rests in the physical person of the village chief, who is a scapegoat. 1f prosperity fails, or if drought, locust invasions, plagues, defeats in war, or deep dissensions between the villagers occur, the chief is deposed and replaced to remedy the situation. There is no art in the Western sense of the word. The Rukuba decorate their village ritual hut, their village sacred pots and drums, and, in one village only, there is a septennial private display of decorated objects.