> Driftwood.
Members of lineages only a generation or so removed from arrival in the village may be referred to with this term. A rather more frequently applied term is "omengdakl," which probably derives from the word omengd, "to lean against." Whether emphasis is on "drifting into the village" or "leaning on another clan," the term applies to low-status newcomers who are commonly adopted by one of the existing (generally high-ranking) clans of the village and who have, more or less, the status of servants. The more common term omengdakl has come to have the meaning, among younger Palauans, of "slave," and something of the servitude of slavery was doubtless often present; however, the lineage members so termed, by serving the interests of their clan, could anticipate the gradual betterment of their status, generation after generation. The difficulty that an anthropologist may encounter in trying to determine the ancestry of a particular lineage should be evident in the meanings of the above four idioms. It was best to be considered "old lineage," and origins outside of the resident village were matters of secrecy within the clan. Until recently, however, such origins were not simply forgotten, since the history of a clan, including, for example, prior residence of one of its lineages in another village, formed the justification for wide reaching inter-clan federations through which villages might form alliances or individuals might find hospitality. Such clan federations, termed klebliil, sometimes take on some of the meanings of the clan (kebliil) with the granting of clan titles and with incest prohibitions.
