ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the integrative function of Islam in welding the tribal groups into one unit and provides local and tribal divisions within the various tribal groups in so far as they bear upon the structure of tribal administration in Freetown. A highly placed government official reported in 1937 that the Protectorate immigrants settled in the rural areas of the Colony had become 'quite detribalized'. The chapter discusses some of the results of the sample social survey that clarifies a number of differences between Creoles and tribal people, and between different tribes. The economic difference was most sharply revealed in the details of income: twenty Creole household heads out of sixty-nine earned £15 per month or more, but only two out of 186 tribal household heads. The chapter describes the growth of a Creole society out of many heterogeneous groups and points out that social esteem became linked with the profession of Christianity and with membership of particular churches.
