PIP: This article analyzes the experiences of 2 cohorts of Lebanese emigrants who departed from 2 dissimilar villages, a large agricultural village called Kfar Rumman with a tradition of significant migration to Kuwait beginning in 1950 and a small village called Kaakour located 30 km from Beirut in which agriculture is secondary to stonecutting and emigration to Saudi Arabia has assumed importance more recently. Among 168 current or formar migrants to Kuwait from Kfar-Rumman, 125 are still in Kuwait, almost all with their families. Members of the same village and family have shown great solidarity over 30 years in helping new migrants find jobs, and their network of friendships and alliances in Kuwait has allowed them to diversify their employment opportunities. Transport and construction were the dominant employment of the 1st 75 migrants who entered Kuwait between 1950-60; they were adroit in building up small businesses in Kuwait and in departing for Saudi Arabia or elsewhere when the construction boom slowed in Kuwait and better opportunities arose elsewhere. Among other jobs, migrants in Kuwait worked in plumbing, furniture making, interior decoration, printing, administrative and other salaried employment in the public or private sector, and iron working and transport. The history of Kfar-Rumman in Kuwait depended greatly on the solidarity and collective life of the village, which greatly reduced the external constraints of the labor market and applied internal economic capacities to the most promising situations. Villagers from Kaakour began migrating to Saudi Arabia in 1958; by 1973 the pace had accelarated greatly due to the oil boom. Until 1974 they had little difficulty establishing themselves as stonecutters and in related trades, but competition increased thereafter with the arrival of stoneworkers from other Arab countries and especially after 1978 with the entrance of Asian workers. Village migrants showed great mobility; most workers were single or left their families in Lebanon, with only a minority staying continuously in Saudi Arabia for many years. A large proportion worked in the stone cutting business developed by an early migrant who had the advantages of knowledge and experience in stone cutting, business acumen, and the ability to attract influential patronage. 2 other stonecutting enterprises in Saudi Arabia were also successful at different times, 1 of them largely as a source of employment and income for workers displaced by the war in Lebanon. Characteristics common to the migration streams of both villages include great mobility in time and space, and adaptability to changes in the labor market due in part to the networks of village relations. Access to employment has been more assured to the villagers of Kfar-Rumman with their longer migration history. In both cases the migratory process is likely to undergo profound changes in the coming decade.