576 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
this legal consecration to enjoy the largest liberty. She comes and 
goes, visits her distant friends, is absent for long periods without 
anyone’s concern. She has all the right and authority to take care 
of herself and this care is completely devolved on her. 
Order of descent.—Among the Lolos as among most peoples, it is 
the male line of descent that ranks first. Inheritance is thus trans- 
mitted to the son or in case there is no offspring to the nearest rela- 
tion in the male line, never to daughters or females, not even to the 
mother or the wife. 
Marriage.—The Lolotte family is based on a formal union con- 
secrated by the parents alone. There are certain traditions on the 
choice of a fiancé or fiancée which have nearly the force of law in all 
the tribes, one is that a young man should by preference seek his wife 
from his maternal grandmother’s family, although the young girl 
can not make her choice in her own clan; the marriage is thus 
exogamous. The marriage consummated, the young wife returns 
to her family near her mother. So custom demands. She may 
remain there some days or weeks or months before returning to her 
husband’s home. The wife is highly respected; if she is ill-treated 
she flees to her own home, and the husband is severely censured by 
all the clan, and if he pushes his companion to suicide he may pay 
for his brutality with his own life. 
Social life—Feudal system.—The constitution which governs the 
clans much resembles the old feudal system of Europe. The tribe is 
ruled by a seignor, who has his vassals and serfs paying him rent and 
compulsory service. Each vassal is further required to furnish in 
time of war a certain number of armed men, the number being deter- 
mined in advance. 
It would seem as if this system would be burdensome to the 
majority of the people, but itis not at allso. The serfs enjoy a liberty 
that in the Middle Ages was never known by Europeans. Although 
they are really slaves, yet when once settled in a clan by marriage, 
their condition becomes difficult to distinguish from that of a serf 
properly speaking; they enjoy nearly the same independence. Feudal 
power is hereditary; election in any degree does not exist. 
Castes.—Socially, the different members of a clan are divided into 
three classes or castes: (1) The Hé Y (Os noirs), which represents the 
aristocracy; (2) the Os blancs or middle class; (3) the slaves. The 
Os blanc remains such through centuries and the slave can never 
attain his freedom. As to the Hé Y, there is no social decadence 
possible for him, he can never fall into the middle class. It is proper 
to add that a marriage under any circumstances can effect no change 
in caste. 
Justice and penalties—There is no written criminal code no more 
than there is a civil one. It is tradition, custom, certain ancestral 
