THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 335 



maternal laws by a tribe wbich was on a paternal stage. 1 can not 

 imagine that it is a transition of a maternal society to a paternal soci- 

 ety, because tbere are no relics' of the former stage beyond those which 

 we find everywhere, and which do not prove that the transition has 

 been recent at all. There is no trace left of an inheritance from the 

 wife's brothers; the young couple do not live with the wife's parents. 

 But the most important argument is that the customs can not have 

 been prevalent in the village communities from which the present 

 tribal system originated, as in these the tribe is always designated as 

 the direct descendants of the mythical ancestor. If the village com- 

 munities had been on the maternal stage, the tribes would have been 

 designated as the descendants of the ancestor's sisters, as is always 

 the case in the legends of the northern tribes. 



Names and all the privileges connected with them may be obtained, 

 also, by killing the owner of the name, either in war or by murder. 

 The slayer has then the right to put his own successor in the place 

 of his killed enemy. In this manner names and customs have often 

 spread from tribe to tribe. 



It remains to substantiate what I have said by telling the legends of 

 a few clans. I shall give a fuller account of these legends later on, 

 while at this place I will merely refer to such passages as are of impor- 

 tance in our present consideration. The clan O'manits'enox of the 

 L'a'sq'enox derive their origin from Ts'i'lqoaloLEla, the husband of 

 L'e'sElaqa ( = Sun woman). The former came down from heaven while 

 his wife stayed there because she had to attend to the moving sun. 

 He was accompanied by his children Se'paxaes ( = Shining down), 

 Ya'q'Ent'Emae (=First speaker), G-e'xdEu, and Da'doqanaqesEla 

 ( = Seeing from one corner to the other). From these the clan origi- 

 nated (Appendix p. 605). 



The following genealogy of the clan La/la-uiLEla of the La'Lasiqoala 

 is a still better example : 



NomasE'nxPlis (descended from heaven). 



LExx*a'lix-ila'yU(^ E'k*auayuqoa9 L()'LEmaqa9 



Omalixste ^ Wa'lixona or Tse'sElaso <? Lasoti'wa'lis ^ 



Walas NEmo'gwls,? G-a'lqamlstal <? Ha'taqa 9 



TsEpa'x'ioala ^ , Ya'nEmq'ana ^ , T'koa'yu ^ , Ale'xoatus. 



A great number of examples of this kind might be given. It is true 

 that these traditions are probably not very old, and have been modified 

 with the changing social life of the people; but from what we know of 

 the development of myths we should expect to find in them traces, at 

 least, of the old maternal institutions, if they had ever existed. The 

 fact that they invariably and always are explained by genealogies, such 

 as the above, seems to my mind conclusive proof that a paternal 

 organization of the tribe preceded the present one. 



