The Sisala are a patrilineal group of horticulturalists living in the savanna-zone of Northern Ghana. 1 Their villages are widely scattered throughout the scrub brush, which is cleared on a rotating basis, for subsistence farming. There are two climatic seasons: rainy and dry. The Sisala cultivate crops of millet, sorghum, guinea-corn, maize, yams, rice and a variety of lesser crops. Cattle are kept for purposes of bridewealth payments and sacrifices. Social organisation is based on the principle of agnatic descent. Residence is patrilocal. The Sisala are united by a loose-knit association of patri-clans which are sub-divided into villages, maximal lineages, lineages, compounds, houses and single rooms. The village is the most important political unit, while the lineage, normally comprising a patrilineally extended family, is the corporate unit of production and consumption. It is also the most important ritual unit, in terms of the frequency of ancestral sacrifice and the function of this institution as a means of social control. The compound-family, several of which comprise a lineage, is made up of either an extended family or a joint-fraternal family. Either the lineage or the compound may be the unit of production, depending on the stage of the group in the developmental cycle. The Sisala are governed by a paramount chief who, for a threeyear term, heads a five-man council of chiefs, after which time another member of the council is elected by council vote. This council has under its jurisdiction several divisional and village chiefs. Chiefship was created by the British and today exists in this form along-