The traditional pattern of Yoruba land tenure differed little from other forms of tribal land tenure found in Africa. The lineage was the basic land holding unit, legends telling how an immigrant and his kinsmen, on arriving at a town, would be given by its ruler a block of land to be used by his descendants in perpetuity. This land became divided between the segments of the lineage to a degree determined largely by the local density of population. One's obligations to one's elders, chiefs and ruler in respect of one's land were almost inseparable from social and political obligations. The scale of migration increased with the civil wars of the 19th century. Some immigrants put themselves under the protection of one man but received land from another; political obligations and those in respect of land thus became separated. Originally the tenant made a token payment in kind but with an increasing shortage of land and, still more, with the introduction of cocoa growing, these payments were made in money.