XXVIII BUREAU OB^ AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



office being a man of parts, an orator of ability, and a 

 leader of much shrewdness, commonly known as Pablo 

 Colorado. Now, naturally (and necessarily for the main- 

 tenance of tribal integrity) the dispersive factors are 

 counteracted and balanced by connective factors; and 

 while it is probable that some of these remain undiscov- 

 ered, a few of no small significance were detected by Mr 

 McGee. As has been mentioned, the mortuary observ- 

 ances include sacrifice of all the immediate belongings of 

 decedents, for immediately after the death of a tribes- 

 man his personal possessions — horse, saddle, weajions, 

 implements, apparel, grain and other food stuffs, bed- 

 ding, dogs, etc. — become public and are distributed 

 among nonrelatives in the order of arrival, while any 

 unclaimed residue is burned with the body and house. 

 Several social consequences attend this industrially 

 improvident procedure. In the first place, the largess is 

 an incentive to maintaining connection between the scat- 

 tered families and clans and to lively (albeit morbid) 

 interest in the state of health of invalids, thrifty pro- 

 ducers, and other members of the tribe; again, the actual 

 mortuary distribution brings together scattered tribesmen 

 and their families and unites their interests in ceremonies 

 of affecting if not imposing character; and finally the 

 material sacrifice commonly leaves dependents (widows, 

 children, and perhaps agelings) to be supported by the 

 informal pu.blic bounty of tribal life, or jDerhaps to be 

 distributed among scattered families in such manner as 

 to strengthen sentiments of communality and to keep 

 alive the sense of community in interests. This factor is 

 prominent in the cvistoms of the tribe, and its influence is 

 direct and easily traceable. 



A less direct factor of similar tendency is found in the 

 marital customs, or rather in the observances preceding 

 and preparing the way for marriage. The girls' puberty 

 feast is, indeed, one of the most imposing and widely 

 heralded of the tribal ceremonies; commonly it brings 

 together representatives of all the subtribes or clans ; and 

 the j)roceedings are conducted with extreme formality 



