498 



GOVERNMENT 



[b. a. e. 



they were extensively made into rattles, 

 those E. of the Rocky mts. being almost 

 universally of pyriform gourds, while the 

 shape of the Pueblo gourd rattles is glob- 

 ular, lenticular, and pyriform. The 

 Pueblos also made of gourd-shell heads 

 for certain effigies, noses for masks, the 

 bell ends of flageolets, ornaments for para- 

 phernalia, and resonators for the notched 

 rattle; and the Hopi imitate with a gourd 

 trumpet behind a ceremonial altar the 

 supposed sound made by the mythical 

 plumed serpent. Gourd rattles for cere- 

 monial use by various tribes were some- 

 times painted, burnt, or etched in sym- 

 bolic designs. A Navaho specimen bears 

 the outlines of several constellations 

 scratched on the surface. Among the 

 Iroquois gourd rattles were the special 

 sacred objects of the medicine societies. 

 The Cherokee, according to Mooney, fast- 

 ened hollow gourds to tops of long poles 

 set up near their houses so that the black 

 house-martin might build their nests in 

 them and frighten away the crows. Some 

 of the Pueblos have Gourd or Calabash 

 clans. See Dishes, Rattles, Receptacles. 



(w. H.) 



Government. Government is the basis 

 of the welfare and prosperity of human 

 society. A government is an organic in- 

 stitution formed to secure the establish- 

 ment of justice by safeguarding rights 

 and enforcing the performance of duties 

 in accordance with the experience and 

 the established customs and rules of con- 

 duct of the governed. The superlative 

 measure of justice obtainable by govern- 

 ment is found in the care and protection 

 of the young and the aged, the ready 

 assistance rendered to comrades and the 

 unfortunate, the maintenance of peace, 

 the preservation of the equivalency of 

 rights, the recognition of the equality of 

 persons, the liberty of judgment and per- 

 sonal activity, and the substitution of 

 mercy for vengeance in the punishment 

 of crime. Among primitive folk rules of 

 conduct, formulated by common consent 

 or by customs derived from high ancestral 

 usage, are observed, and these are en- 

 forced ultimately by corrective punitive 

 measures. But justice is not secured 

 thereby, and so some other method 

 whereby causes in contention may be 

 more promptly adjudicated is devised, 

 and governments are organized. 



Among the Indians of North America 

 there are found many planes of culture, 

 every one of which is characterized by 

 widely differing forms of government— 

 from the simplest family group and vil- 

 lage community to the most complex con- 

 federation of highly organized tribes. In 

 this area there are scores of distinct polit- 

 ical governments, all differing widely in 

 degrees of structural complexity. These 



differences in organization are determined 

 largely by the extent to which the func- 

 tions of government are discriminated 

 and by the correlative specialization of 

 organs thus made necessary. For most 

 of the tribes of North America a close 

 study and analysis of the social and polit- 

 ical organization are wanting, hence the 

 generalizations possible may as yet be 

 applied safely only to those peoples that 

 have been most carefully studied. How- 

 ever, it may be said in general that kin- 

 ship, real or fictitious, is the basis of gov- 

 ernment among the Indians of North 

 America, for the fundamental units of 

 the social structure are groups of consan- 

 guine kindred, tracing descent of blood 

 through the male or the female line. 



The known units of the social and po- 

 litical organization of the North American 

 Indians are the family, the clan or gens, 

 the phratry, the tribe, and the confedera- 

 tion (q. v.). Of these the tribe and the 

 confederation are the only units com- 

 pletely organized. The structures of only 

 two or three confederations are known, 

 and that of the Iroquois is the type ex- 

 ample. The confederation of tribes was 

 not usual, because the union of several 

 tribes brought together many conflicting 

 interests which could not be adjusted 

 without sacrifices that appeared to over- 

 balance the benefits of permanent con- 

 federation, and because statesmanship of 

 the needed breadth and astuteness was 

 usually wanting. Hence tribal govern- 

 ment remains as the prevailing type of 

 social organization in this area. In most 

 tribes the military were carefully dis- 

 criminated from the civil functions. The 

 civil government was lodged in a chosen 

 body of men usually called chiefs, of 

 whom there were commonly several 

 grades. Usually the chiefs were or- 

 ganized in a council exercising legisla- 

 tive, judicial, and executive functions in 

 matters pertaining to the welfare of the 

 tribe. The civil chief was not by virtue 

 of his office a military leader. Among 

 the Iroquois the civil chief in order to go 

 to war had to resign his civil function 

 during his absence on the warpath. 



In tribal society every structural unit 

 has, so far as known, the right to hold a 

 council. The ohwacJiira (q. v.) can hold 

 a council, the family can hold a council, 

 and the united ohwachira councils with 

 their officers form the council of the clan 

 or gens. The clan or gens has the right 

 to hold a council. The chiefs of the clans 

 and gentes are the tribal chiefs, who 

 form the tribal council ; but on occasions 

 of great emergencies a grand council is 

 held, composed of the chiefs and sub- 

 chiefs, the matrons and head warriors 

 of the ohwachira, and the leading men of 

 the tribe. Besides, there is the council 



