MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



power in the hands of the few, and the organization of the gentile 

 family 1 ." Then the phratry is described as a system of groups 

 sometimes found in savagery (a group of clans), and always in 

 barbarism (a group of gentes). "There may be many clans or 

 many gentes in a tribe, and two or more clans or gentes may 

 constitute an intervening unit which we call the phratry." With 

 the Muskhogean there are four phratries, one each for the east, 

 west, north and south ; with the Zunis there are six, that is, 

 besides the above, one for the zenith and nadir. " Thus the 

 phratries are organized by mythologic regions ; and this method 

 of regimentation finds expression in the construction of the 

 Council Chamber, in the plaza, and in the plan of the village. 

 Here in the phratry we have the beginning of district regimenta- 

 tion, which ultimately prevails in civilization 2 ." 



Such are the now current views resulting from almost ex- 

 haustive studies of the tribal systems prevalent amongst the 

 North American Indians. As the views of serious and perfectly 

 competent observers, they are entitled to every consideration, 

 and to adequate presentation in all ethnological treatises. They 

 may even be accepted as perhaps approximately correct for the 

 ethnical groups in question ; but they cannot be taken as of 

 universal application, and we have already seen" that matriarchal 

 have not necessarily preceded patriarchal institutions everywhere. 

 Consequently the distinction here insisted upon between the clan 

 and the gens is purely local, while for practical purposes the 

 phratry may for the most part be taken as identical with the 

 tribe or group of clans. Even in North America there would 

 seem to be some hesitation about clan and gens, and Mr McGee 

 writes that "at the time of the discovery most of the Siouan 

 tribes had apparently passed into gentile organization, though 

 vestiges of clan organization were found 4 "; and again : "Like 

 the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were 

 organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of 

 tribal society. All of the best known tribes had reached that 



1 Fifteenth An. Report, Introduction. 



Ibid. Introduction, passim. 



:J p. 180, supra. 



4 Fifteenth An. Repoit, p. 177. 



