234 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 196 



elderly widow, had all her land surveyed and distributed among her 

 heirs. Several days later she returned to the Agency and took it 

 back again. During this period she put a son and daughter off her 

 land and had the former "lawed" so that he could not come on her 

 land for 6 months! A land sale was recorded dming this period of 

 fieldwork in which $30 was given as a downpayment for a piece of 

 bottom land costing $50. But the informant said that the owner had 

 not signed anything over, and in the meantime had sold 4 acres from 

 the same bottom to a mission group. The first purchaser was worried 

 that the owner had sold the same land twice. However, on a later 

 visit, I found that the foundation for the informant's new home was 

 being erected on the plot. 



In 1929 Henry M. Owl (ibid., p. 136) said, "It is very remarkable 

 and a credit to the tribe that there has been absolutely no misunder- 

 standings and disagreements among individuals about boundaries and 

 ownership of the individual tracts." This may have been the situa- 

 tion at the time of his work, but our field notes include several cases 

 of disputed boundaries. Moreover, one of the routine responsibilities 

 of the Tribal Council is arbitration of land disputes. 



THE PEOPLE 



In 1960 the population of the band was enumerated at 4,494. 

 Since the 1924 roll listed only 2,540 members, it is evident that the 

 population has nearly doubled in 36 years. At the time of the 1924 

 count the genetic composition of the roU was analyzed, and the data 

 are available. Unfortunately we have no comparative figures for 

 1960. However, Gulick (1960, pp. 16-17), using figures based upon 

 the composition of the school enrollment for 1956-57, suggests that 

 some notion of the inheritance of the population can be estimated. 

 Nevertheless we must keep in mind that, in the case of children with 

 one-half or less Indian blood, there is the possibility that the child's 



Table 1. — Comparison of Indian blood degree in 1924 roll call with that in school 



figures in 1966-57 



