-?- inbrez society whose wembers nad only iimite+ ayperience of foreign trade, adminiztration, and mission activity. The following hypothesis is advanced for comparison with modifications in che paver atructure at later dates: In a state cf relatively Jitt‘e change. the traditional authority represents aa approximate solution to the leadership requiremenzs of economic, social, and political interaction within the community. At the suggestion of American administrators the ten slabs organized / <2sash as a Council, headed by a Magistrate, to which post the Bikinians elected ~ Ax their iroij. Resettlement on Rongerik Atoll brought no attempt to subdivide eo the new land among the several lineages because all believed their stay on 1Sie Rongerik was w only temporary. Two years of subsistence exploitationon time being set aside. hypothesis: Under cond’ .ons of extreme deprivation threatening group.‘survival, ae the traditional authority at the commnity level will assume the normal functions welfare of the communityas a whole. Ex-Bikinians, resettled on Kili Island in late 1948, adjustment to what is now their permanent home. the island In 1954 they final osse . se ‘ ao eS y kd, Partitioned Owing to the small size and different topography of KL Island” they could not replicate the landholdings on Bikini Atoll. Instead ‘the Council “Re devised a plan by which it allocated Kili acreage according to the nunber of now they represented bilateral households in respect to land. upot f