CVIII KEPORT OP THE BUREAU OP ETHNOLOGY 



each other "brother" and "sister," though the term used always 

 has a further siguificauce in that it designates relative age, so 

 that there is no single term for brother, but two, one signify- 

 ing elder brother and the other younger brother; there are 

 also two terms for sister, one signifying younger and one elder. 

 Now, it is a law of savage society that one person must address 

 another in the clan, in the tribe, and in the confederacy b}' a 

 kinship term, and as superior age always gives authority, to 

 adikess a person as elder is a symbol of yielding authority, 

 and to address him as )'ounger is a symbol of claiming author- 

 ity. There is a curious modification of this custom which is a 

 legal fiction. If any individual in the group of brothers exhib- 

 its superior ability, the clan or some other constituted authority 

 takes him out of his kinship rank into a higher rank. Thus 

 his kinship name is changed; younger brother becomes "elder 

 brother," and elder brother becomes "younger brother" by a 

 legal fiction; or the son may become the legal "father" and 

 the father the legal "son." 



A promotion in kinship is always attended with much tribal 

 ceremony. Among the Iroquoian ti'ibes it is called "putting 

 a spike on the horns." In some tribes it is called "adding 

 a feather to the bonnet," in others it is "adding a Stripe to the 

 war paint." There is often a preliminary course of instruction 

 for the ceremony, which is performed by the priest. Impor- 

 tant promotions may be revoked, and a man who becomes 

 unworthy in his office may have his "horns" knocked off, or 

 his "feathers" plucked out, or his "paint" washed away. In 

 all such cases he falls back to his natural kinship name and 

 state. 



Every clan in a tribe receives a special name, which has 

 come to be known as its totem. Thus in a tribe there may be 

 a buffalo clan, a beaver clan, a cloud clan, a Avind clan, an 

 eagle clan, and a parrot clan, with others. Sometimes the 

 clan name is the common name for all persons in the clan, but 

 more often there is a group of names signifying some real or 

 mythologic characteristic of the animal or object taken as the 

 totem. For example, in the buffalo clan there may be a name 

 signifying "sitting bull," another "standing bull," still another 



