ABSTRACT
The unilineal tendency itself contains the alternatives of patrilineal and matrilineal reckoning and these are not, as was once assumed, mutally exclusive. The Yako are of importance in this connection, for their kinship systems afford an instance of full and simultaneous development of both patrilineal and matrilineal groups. Systems of double descent or double unilineal kin-group organization have long been encountered in Africa. The rights and obligations which derive from matrilineal kinship do not formally conflict with those derived patrilineally. Close matrilineal relatives will be in touch with all important events and circumstances in each other's households and will give mutual support within the framework of the accepted kinship obligations. The matrikin are given the emotional satisfaction of restitution but the patrikin are not, while in economic terms the matrilineal kin are over-compensated and the patrilineal kin remain without recompense.
