ABSTRACT
IN this study considerable attention has been paid to the ways in which the Samburu cope with problems created by their particular type of social system. The principal problems which have appeared in one form or another in every chapter have been related to marriage and in particular to polygamy. Biologically, human societies are well adapted to monogamy: there are approximately equal numbers of each sex, and each sex reaches maturity at about the same age. But the Samburu prefer to practise polygamy, and as a result there is a large number of unmarried men, and a large number of women married to men many years older than themselves. These are liable to cause resentment and even open rebellion unless the strains can be contained within the institutions of the society. The egalitarian principle which pervades the whole society ensures that every man – even the stockless immigrant – can marry if he waits long enough. Clearly, not every man can have as many wives as he might like, and the rate of polygamy is ultimately determined by the extent to which the older men can retain the monopoly in marriage over the younger men, which in turn is determined by the means at their disposal.
