88 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



Kwakiutl, also a Salish tribe, likewise reckon the kin 

 on both sides. Prof. Boas describes their marriage 

 customs as " of peculiar interest on account of the 

 transition from maternal to paternal institutions that 

 maybe observed here." The suitor pays for his bride 

 in blankets by two instalments, namely, one half at once 

 and the remainder in three months. After payment of 

 the second instalment he is allowed to live with his 

 bride in her father's house. He gives a feast to the 

 whole tribe, during which his father-in-law returns him 

 a part of the bride-price and fixes a time when he will 

 return the rest. The Kwakiutl are among the tribes 

 of British Columbia famous for their lavish gifts. 

 The potlatch, a byword of extravagance, is " the 

 custom of paying debts and of acquiring distinction by 

 means of giving a great feast and making presents to 

 all the guests. . . The foundation of the custom is the 

 solidarity of the individual and the gens, or even the 

 tribe, to which he belongs. If an individual gains 

 social distinction his gens participates in it. If he loses 

 in respect the stain rests also on the gens. Therefore 

 the gens contributes to the payments to be made at 

 a festival. If the feast is given to foreign tribes the 

 whole tribe contributes to these payments." During 

 the wedding feast the young wife demands for her 

 husband her father's carvings and dances. These are 

 his crest and privileges. The father is obliged to 

 give them, though they are not actually given at the 

 time. In fact they are only descendible in this way, 

 and the bargain for a wife includes the privileges and 

 crest, which are thus acquired not for the son-in-law 

 himself but for his successor. Moreover the son-in-law 

 buys not merely the possession of the girl but the 



