ABSTRACT
The associations just described have been characterized as contexts in which men aspired to leadership in the settlement. It is now time to focus on these men, and to show the ways in which they extended their influence through their membership of the cane-harvesting Gang, etc., as well as through their formally ‘non-political’ affiliations to a kin and cultural group. A few leaders were at the centre of each settlement’s political configuration, and their rivalries and alliances created groups of adherents. People supported them for various reasons, and remained with them for different lengths of time. The groups they formed will be called factions, and what follows deals mainly with the factions in each settlement. Over what issues were factions formed and maintained, what proportion of the settlement’s population was involved, and what were the social and personal characteristics of the leaders? Answers to these questions will indicate, the structural significance of factions, and the importance of political activity as a way of gaining prestige.
