The Lhota tribe may fairly be said to have an exogamous system which is in the process of breaking down. There are three phratries divided into clans (chibo) which are in some cases further split up into kindreds (mhitso, lit. “tail”). Strictly speaking a man ought to take his wife from a phratry other than his own. On this Lhota opinion is quite clear. On the other hand, marriage between members of different clans is allowed everywhere and is especially common among the Southern Lhotas, though it is viewed with a certain amount of disapproval by the conservative members of the tribe. In some villages, again, chiefly among the Southern Lhotas, marriage between members of different kindreds of the same clan is permitted. The reason for these innovations—for innovations of the last three or four generations they are believed to be—is that a man’s choice of a wife is limited, for he is almost forced by circumstances to take one from his own village, or at any rate from a neighbouring village. A man in search of a bride naturally thinks first of marriageable girls whom he knows of near home. The parents of a girl, too, usually much prefer that she should marry a man in their own village, sometimes because they are fond of her, but more often because they want her to come in and give a helping hand in the house or look after them when they are ill. The Lhota marriage-price system is another potent factor in reducing a man’s field of choice. The bridegroom naturally does not want to go and work for a father-in-law in a distant village where he will have to live among strangers, with no chance of keeping an eye on his own fields and those of his parents. The money part of the marriage price too is always paid in instalments and never in a lump sum, for a father fears that were he to take a lump sum he would be regarded as selling his daughter, as indeed he is to all intents and purposes. It is therefore convenient to have a son-in-law close at hand, where his memory can be conveniently jogged when instalments get overdue. The following are the phratries and clans of the tribe, the clans which are regarded by Lhotas as having an extraneous origin being marked with an asterisk:— PHRATRY. CLAN. Tompyaktserre. Kikung. Ovung.* Tsangsükikung.* Pathong. Chami. Worore.* Chongyichami.* Tsoboi. Kuwang. Izumontserre. Nguli. Sempinguli.* Sityingonguli.* Mozoi.* Rangpang.* Shetri. Humtsoi. Kithang.