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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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polygyny of chiefs ; a chief with 26 wives |
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The implied sexual prowess of some chiefs was remarkable. Nyekpong, the chief of Niaunu, who in 1962 was a handsome slender middle-aged man of great dignity and charm, had two wives of aristocratic birth. In addition, he had taken twenty-four wives of commoner status, twelve from his own village and twelve from the tributary village of Niausa, but in 1962 only seven of these commoner wives were alive. His father had had twenty wives, two of whom were the daughters of ruling chiefs of other villages. |
