TRIBAL SOCIETY 239 



were known as cognati.^ Among the Hindoos tlic <lan is 

 called the Gotra and among llic Arabs the //«////. Among 

 tlie ancient Irish the clan was variously called llio Tnath, 

 Clnel, or Clann}'^ 



As only incomplete records come down to us of social 

 life among those historic peoples in the period when 

 they were organized in clans and tribes— on the pattern 

 of ethnic organization in general— we shall find it more 

 ])rofitable to study primitive society as it exists to-day, 

 and from this study, attempt to reconstruct a picture of 

 what social relations were among the men of the pre- 

 historic period. 



Certain American Indian tribal groups, especially the 

 tribes of the Iroquois confederacy and certain North 

 Pacific Coast tribes, and the native tribes of Australia, 

 are fairly typical of important characteristics in the life 

 of primitive peoples. We will, therefore, study these 

 ]irimitive groups to gain a picture of social organization 

 among uncivilized peoples. 



The Iroquois tribes inhabited a region including the 

 greater part of the present states of New York, Penn- 

 sylvania and Ohio, and portions of Canada north of 

 Lake Ontario.^ It is thought that they originally came 

 from beyond the Mississijipi, making their way to the 

 valley of the St. Lawrence and thence into central New 

 York. The five tribes of the Iroquois people were the 

 ^[ohawks, Onoidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. 

 They resided in villages which were usually surrounded 

 by stockades, and subsisted upon fish and game, and the 

 products of a limited horticulture. In numbers they did 



9 Justinian, Inslifutes, Lib. I, xv. i, Cf. naius. i. 15G; also Morgag, op. 

 cit., pp. 285-308. , * \r- 



loGinnell, The Brchon Laivs, pp. 102-100. ^^v."" 



