ABSTRACT
The Lele seem to have entered their present territory in small bands composed of men of several different matrilineal clans with their wives and children. In each band one of these clans was the acknowledged leader and the members of the others their followers. The clan structure of present-day villages has kept a similar form. In a group of related villages the descendants of the clan which led the migrating party remains dominant in the parent village, and descendants of its original followers remain also represented there. Subsequent fission makes no difference to this pattern of clans in the parent village. In the new village which has broken away the same pattern is repeated with different emphasis. The clan whose members led the breakaway becomes its dominant founding clan while descendants of their companions or wives count thereafter as founding clans of that village. Since a system of preferred marriages continued to link the members of the separated villages in ensuing generations, the pattern of founding clans tended to be unchanged, so that they continued to form the permanent core of a village, while members of other clans also tacked themselves on at different times.
