INDIAN RULE OF DESCENT. U 



locally separate, but are mingled throughout the nation. 

 All the members of each clan are, or are assumed to be, 

 intimately joined in consanguinity. Hence it is held an 

 abomination for two persons of the same clan to inter- 

 marry ; and hence, again, it follows that every family 

 must contain members of at least two clans. Each clan 

 has its name, as the clan of the Hawk, of the Wolf, or of 

 the Tortoise ; and each has for its emblem the figure 

 of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from 

 which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem by 

 the Algonquins, is often tattooed on the clansman's body, 

 or rudely painted over the entrance of his lodge. The child 

 belongs, in most cases, to the clan, not of the father, but of 

 the mother. In other words, descent, not of the totem 

 alone, but of all rank, titles, and possessions, is through the 

 female. The son of a chief can never be a chief by hered- 

 itary title, though he may become so by force of personal 

 influence or achievement. Neither can he inherit from 

 his father so much as a tobacco-pipe. All possessions 

 alike pass of right to the brothers of the chief, or to the 

 sons of his sisters, since these are all sprung from a 

 common mother. This rule of descent was noticed by 

 Champlain among the Hurons in 1615. That excellent 

 observer refers it to an origin which is doubtless its true 

 one. The child may not be the son of his reputed father, 

 but must be the son of his mother, — a consideration of 

 more than ordinary force in an Indian community.^ 



1 "Les enfans ne succedent iamais aux biens et dignitez de leurs 

 peres, doubtant comme i'ay dit de leur geniteur, mais bien font-ils leurs 

 successeurs et heritiers, les enfans de leurs soeurs, et desquels ils sont 

 asseurez d'estre yssus et sortis." — Champlain (1627), 91. 



Captain John Smith had observed the same, several years before, 

 among the tribes of Virginia : " For the Crowne, their heyres inherite 

 not, but the first heyres of the Sisters." — True Relation, 43 (ed. Deane). 



