ABSTRACT
The division of Agbaja into Agbaja-ama and Agbajaowere and of Umueke into Umueke-ama and Umueke-owere has already been described. We have seen that Umueke had modified the facts though not the principle of this division. It had happened with the passage of time that Umuekeowere had gready outgrown Umueke-ama in numbers. It had, therefore, been decided to take the large extended family of Umu Nwa £bodim out of Umueke-owere and include it in Umueke-ama so that numbers should balance in the doing of communal work. This in itself plainly showed the practical part played by this dual division principle. It also showed that the village recognised it and would take steps to keep the balance. This was perhaps the chief move so far towards the differentiation of political from kinship organisation. The needs of the village as a whole had overridden the kinship principle of division into two IImlllllle. One noticed, however, that though Umu Nwa £bodim now belonged for practical purposes to Umueke-ama, its heart was still with Umueke-owere, its co-children of the same original mother. It became evident early in my stay in the village that there was considerable community of feeling within each division and marked rivalries and jealousies between the two; but it was not till the time came, at the end of the rains, for the annual path clearing to the central Agbaja market, at the time of the annual religious rites, that I had a clear demonstration of the positive aspect of this dual arrangement.
