POWELL] A STUDY OF TRIBAL SOCIETY. 65 
PROPERTY RIGHTS. 
Within the area claimed by the tribe each gens occupies a smaller 
tract for the purpose of cultivation. The right of the gens to cultivate 
a particular tract is a matter settled in the council of the tribe, and the 
gens may abandon one tract for another only with the consent of the 
tribe. The women councillors partition the gentile land among the 
householders, and the household tracts are distinctly marked by them. 
The ground is re-partitioned once in two years. The heads of house- 
holds are responsible for the cultivation of the tract, and should this 
duty be neglected the council of the gens calls the responsible parties to 
account. 
Cultivation is communal; that is, all of the able-bodied women of the 
gens take part in the cultivation of each household tract in the follow- 
ing manner: 
The head of the household sends her brother or son into the forest or 
to the stream to bring in game or fish for a feast; then the able-bodied 
women of the gens are invited to assist in the cultivation of the land, 
and when this work is done a feast is given. 
The wigwam or lodge and all articles of the household belong to the 
woman—the head of the household—and at her death are inherited by 
her eldest daughter, or nearest of female kin. The matter is settled by 
the council women. If the husband die his property is inherited by his 
brother or his sister’s son, except such portion as may be buried with 
him. His property consists of his clothing, hunting and fishing imple- 
ments, and such articles as are used personally by himself. 
Usually a small canoe is the individual property of the man. Large 
canoes are made by the male members of the gentes, and are the prop- 
erty of the gentes. 
RIGHTS OF PERSON. 
Each individual has a right to freedom of person and security from 
personal and bodily injury, unless adjuged guilty of crime by proper 
authority. 
COMMUNITY RIGHTS. 
Each gens has the right to the services of all its women in the culti- 
vation of the soil. Each gens has the right to the service of all its male 
members in avenging wrongs, and the tribe has the right to the service 
of all its male members in time of war. 
RIGHTS OF RELIGION. 
Each phratry has the right to certain religious ceremonies and the 
preparation of certain medicines. 
Bach gens has the exclusive right to worship its tutelar god, and each 
individual has the exclusive right to the possession and use of a particu. 
lar amulet. 
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