178 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



was originally the same ; and that it has been advanced, by development, from this 

 lower to a higher stage. 



The system of consanguinity and affinity of the Missouri Nations is one and the 

 same among them all. They also agree with each other in those particulars in 

 which they diverge from the Dakota form. It will be sufficient to present the 

 system of one of these nations, and that of the Kaws will be taken as the standard. 



It AviU be understood hereafter unless the contrary is stated, that each nation has 

 special terms for the relationships of grandfather and grandmother, father and 

 mother, brother and sister, son and daughter, and grandson and granddaughter ; 

 and that the fraternal and sororal relationships are in the twofold form of elder and 

 younger. 



First Indicative Feature. My brother's son and daughter, Ego a male, are my 

 son and daughter. AVith Ego a female, they are my nephew and niece. 



Second. My sister's son and daughter. Ego a male, are my nephew and niece. 

 With Ego a female, they are my son and daughter. 



Third. My father's brother is my father. 



Fourth. My father's brother's son and daughter are my brother and sister, elder 

 or younger. 



Fifth. My father's sister is my aunt. 



Sixth. My mother's brother is my uncle. 



Seventh. My mother's sister is my mother. 



Eighth. My mother's sister's son and daughter arc my brother and sister elder 

 or younger. 



Ninth. My grandfather's brother is my grandfather. 



Tenth. The grandchildren of my brothers and sisters, and the grandchildren of 

 my collateral brothers and sisters, are my grandchildren. This merges the several 

 collateral lines in the lineal line.^ 



The other relationships follow as in the Seneca and Yankton, until we come to 

 that which subsists between the children of a brother and sister, where the prin- 

 cipal deviation from uniformity in the system of the Ganowanian family occurs, as 

 has elsewhere been stated. It is very necessary to understand the several forms 

 of this divergence, since the knowledge Avill tend to explain some part of the inter- 

 nal history of the system. It also has a direct bearing upon the question of the 

 stability of its radical characteristics. Among the Iroquois and Dakota nations 

 as has been seen, the children of a brother and sister are cousins to each other ; 

 but among the Missouri nations they arc uncle and nephew to each other if males. 



' In the Omaha dialect, there are two terms for son and two for daughter, one of which is used by 

 the males, and the other by the females. It is probable that there are two sets of terms in the other 

 Missouri dialects, although I did not discover them. She-me-she-ga in Kaw signifies mi/ girl. It 

 is formed differently from the corresponding term in the other Missouri dialects, e. g., Kaw, 

 Be-fihe' -gd, my son ; She-me'-she-ga, my daughter ; Osage, We-she'-kd, my son ; We-shon' -ka, my 

 daughter, which is analogous to the Yankton ; Me-chink'-she, Me-choonk'-she, and the Winnebago, 

 E-neke', E-nook'. Where a term originally in common gender takes on a masculine and feminine 

 form, the latter retains the original form. 



