OP THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XXXIX 



of daughters, a group of grandsons and a group of grand- 

 daughters. 



In the use of the terms "brother," "sister," "father," 

 "son," "mother," "daughter," "grandfather," "grandson," 

 "grandmother," and "granddaughter" in this manner, it must 

 be clearly understood that in every case the term applies to 

 every one of the members of a group, only a part of whom 

 bear the relation which that term implies among civilized peo- 

 ples, who classify by degrees of consanguinity. 



Thus, the father-group embraces the father and all his own 

 brothers; but as the father calls all his male cousins brothers, 

 it also includes the father's male cousins. The father-group 

 therefore includes the father and all of those persons whom the 

 father calls by the name of "brother." 



Ego calls all the sons of his father and mother brothers; he 

 calls also all his father's brothers' sons, and his father's sisters' 

 sons, and his mother's brothers' sons, and his mother's sisters' 

 sons, brothers. And if there be male cousins of the second, 

 third, fourth, fifth, or any other degree, he calls them all alike 

 brothers. The brother-group, therefore, may be very large. 

 In like manner the mother-group, the sister-group, the son- 

 group, and the daughter-group may be correspondingly large. 

 The grandfather-group and the grandmother-group include all 

 collateral kindred of that generation; and in like manner the 

 grandson-group and the granddaughter-group include all the 

 collateral kindred of their generation. Under this system all 

 kinships may be thrown into a very few groups, and each one 

 of these groups is designated by the kinship term properly be- 

 longing to the person in the group nearest of kin to Ego. 



The essential principle of this method of reckoning kinship 

 is that collateral kinship is not recognized. All of the kindred 

 are included in the lineal groups; and in every generation a 

 group of brothers is constituted, including all of the males of 

 that generation, and a group of sisters is constituted, including 

 all of the females of that generation. 



That such a kinship body has ever existed is a matter of in- 

 ference; its discovery as an objective fact has not been made. 

 However, it is predicated upon very strong inferential evi- 



