ex REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY 



other portions may be given to those who assisted in its cap- 

 ture. All the rest is divided according to the needs of the indi- 

 viduals of the clan. The women gather fruits, seeds, or roots. 

 That which is consumed at the time is divided by like methods, 

 but that which is preserved for future use sometimes becomes 

 the property of the clan. The elder man of the clan is responsi- 

 ble for the training of children, and it Is no small part of his 

 duty daily to exercise them in their games and to instruct 

 them in their duties. Thus he who enforces clan custom is the 

 same person who instructs in clan custom, and when councils 

 of tribe or confederacy are held he is the representative of the 

 clan in such councils. The chief of the confederacy is usually 

 the chief of one of the tribes, and the chief of the tribe is 

 usually an elderman in one of the clans. There are clan 

 councils, tribal councils, and confederate councils, chief coun- 

 cilors and eldermen. 



Another organization, which involves all civic relations, must 

 be explained. There is a body of men, and sometimes women 

 also, who are known as medicine-men, or shamans, or some- 

 times as priests, who control all religious ceremonies, and who 

 are diviners. As disease is supposed to be the work of human 

 or animal sorcery, it is their function to prevent or thwart 

 sorcery. They have the management of all ceremonies relat- 

 ing to war, hunting, fishing, and gathering the fruits of the 

 iield and forest. It is their office to provide for abundant har- 

 vests, to regulate the climate, and generally to divine and 

 control good and evil by means of ceremonies. The principal 

 shamans are men, but all the people are united into sliaman- 

 istic societies. Usually there is some determined number of 

 these societies, over each of which some particular shaman pre- 

 sides, but he has subordinates, each one of whom has some 

 particular office or function to perform in the societies. Some- 

 times a person may belong to two or more of these societies; 

 usually he has the privilege to join any one, and a revered 

 or successful shaman will gather a great society, while a 

 shaman of less skill will preside over a society more feeble. 

 Let us call these ecclesiastic corporations, and call the sha- 

 mans nriests. The only corporations in savagery are ecclesi- 



