Bureau of American Ethnology 3 8 9 



tal distinction brought to light was that between tribal society, 

 which is organized on the basis of actual or assumed kinship, 

 and national society, which springs from altruism and is com- 

 monly organized on a territorial basis. As the researches 

 progressed it was ascertained that tribal society, as exempli- 

 fied by the American Indians and other primitive peoples, 

 comprises two stages : in the earlier stage, commonly styled 

 savagery, kinship is reckoned in the female line, and the 

 kindred are grouped in clans ; in the second stage, which 

 corresponds with barbarism as properly defined, kinship is 

 reckoned in the male line, and the customary group of kindred 

 is a gens. Both clans and gentes are grouped in tribes, and 

 these groups may be combined in confederacies. 1 



Nearly all of the American Indians belong to the tribal 

 stage of society, though it would appear that the germ of 

 feudal organization existed among some Mexican and Cen- 

 tral American peoples, and was fairly matured in Peru at the 

 time of discovery. Circumstances have thus far prevented 

 detailed study of the most advanced social organizations, but 

 the lower types have received much attention. Most of the 

 tribes of the United States have been found to follow the clan 

 system, though many are gentile ; it has been ascertained 

 that the chieftaincy is usually hereditary, in clans or gens, 

 and elective or selective among the individuals of the group 

 on the basis of actual or assumed seniority. The greater 

 part of the material accumulated and used in these studies 

 is incorporated in a manuscript " Cyclopedia of Indian 

 Tribes," now in preparation for the press chiefly by Mr. 

 Hodge, though memoirs bearing on the subject have been 

 published in several reports. 



Soon after the researches among the Rocky Mountain In- 



1 The earlier results of this work are summarized in the Third Annual Report of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, 1884, pages xxxv-lxii. 



