III. TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 

 Social Organization 



Divisions and Clans. — The Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian have a 

 similar social organization. They are divided into exogamic groups. 

 Descent is reckoned in the female line; that is, every person belongs 

 to his or her mother's group. Since, however, the positions of social 

 leadership and many kinds of property are held by men only, it 

 follows that among a group of brothers and* sisters, position and these 

 kinds of property are held by the brothers, and descend by inherit- 

 ance to the sister's sons; in other words, every man inherits from 

 his maternal uncle. So far as property of females is concerned, 

 every girl inherits from her mother. 



The exogamic groups of all these tribes have names, some of 

 which are taken from animals. The groups of the Tlingit are com- 

 monly called Raven and Wolf, but the latter group is sometimes 

 called Eagle among the northern Tlingit. It does not seem quite 

 certain whether these two names are used by the Tlingit themselves 

 as names for the two exogamic groups, or whether they have been 

 transferred by outsiders from the important crests of the groups to 

 the groups themselves. It may even be that the Ravens have no 

 group name. 1 



One group, theNex'A'di of Sanya, stands outside of the two groups, 

 and its members are allowed to intermarry with members of either. 2 

 They evidently occupy the same position as the T,oendji-dha?ttset- 

 kpe't, the middle people of the Loucheux, who could intermarry 

 with the two other divisions of the tribe — the Etchian-kpe't ("the 

 people of the right") and the Nattse'in-kpe't ("the people of the 

 left ") — while the people of the left must many the people of the right. 3 

 The statements made by both Petitot and Swanton are not clear, in 

 so far as the third group is either co-ordinate with the others or can 

 not be an exogamic group. It is quite impossible that, as Petitot 

 states, the two groups last named are bound to intermarry, while 

 the third may intermarry with them, since these two statements are 

 contradictory. 



Hardisty 4 gives the following account of the Loucheux organization : 



With reference to the story about caste it is difficult to arrive at a correct solution of 

 the matter. The fact, I believe, is that they do not know themselves, for they give 

 various accounts of the origin of the three great, divisions of mankind. Some say it 

 was so from the beginning; others that it originated when all fowls, animals, and fish 

 were people — the fish were the Ckitmh, the birds Tain-gees-ah-tsah, and the animals 

 Nat-singh; some that it refers to the country occupied by the three great nations who 



• Swanton 4, p. 407. * Ibid., p. 398. > Petitot, p. 14. < Hardisty, p. 315. 



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