the cattle closer to the rivers. Extended family groups work together in communal cattle camps. The Nuer build only temporary houses, which in the wet season consist of circular mud walls over stick frames and thatched roofs. Grass is harvested and dried on temporary scaffolds. In the dry-season, the men sleep in shelters made of local grasses close to their cattle. The women often remain on the higher ground in the wet-season huts.
Clan lineages descend through the male line from a single ancestor in parallel to territorial divisions (Jenkins). The lineages play an important role in the control and distribution of resources, and coalesces with the territorial sections. Marriages must be outside oneÆs own clan, and are made legal by the payment of cattle to the womanÆs clan by the manÆs clan, shared among various people in the clan. Marriage takes place in stages, and is not considered finalized until
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