CHAPTER III 



SOCIAL LIFE AMONG INDIAN TRIBES 



T ^ VERY boy is familiar with the arrangement 

 i~J of Boy Scouts, who name themselves the 

 &quot; Beavers,&quot; &quot; Lions,&quot; &quot; Bears,&quot; or &quot; Eagles &quot; ; and, 

 strange to say, there is a similar practice among 

 many savage peoples in America, Australia, and the 

 Pacific region, though primitive tribes have many 

 strange beliefs which we do not hear of among boys 

 who take animals as their emblems. 



One of the Dene tribes is divided into halves, the 

 people of one division being &quot; Bears,&quot; while the 

 others are all &quot; Birds.&quot; Now it is so ordered that a 

 man or woman of the &quot; Bear &quot; division may not 

 marry any one from his or her own half of the tribe ; 

 a person belonging to the &quot; Bears &quot; must always 

 marry into the &quot; Bird &quot; clan, and an individual in 

 the &quot; Bird &quot; division must select a partner from the 

 &quot; Bears.&quot; The Indians cannot explain how this 

 order originated ; they say it always has been so 

 and must remain. Some go so far as to declare that 

 animals, who were their ancestors, ordered this 

 tribal division, and laid down the rules for marriage. 

 The missionary, Father Morice, tells us that among 

 another Dene tribe named &quot; Carriers,&quot; there are 

 four of these animal clans, namely, the Grouse, 



