ON KINSHIP AND THE CLAN. 



In tribal society the tribe, or body-politic, is divided into 

 groups of brothers and groups of sisters. One form of the 

 brother-group includes not only the sons of one women, but 

 also the sons of her sisters; and not only the sons of her natal 

 sisters, but also the sons of her collateral sisters; i. e., the broth- 

 er-group includes the natal brothers, together with all of the 

 male cousins of the first, second, or n lh collateral line, reckoning 

 always through females. Sister-groups are constituted in like 

 manner. 



Another form exists in which to the natal brothers are added 

 all male cousins to the n th degree that come through paternal 

 uncles, reckoning always through males. Sister-groups are 

 constituted in like manner. 



With some tribes the brother and sister groups arise from 

 male descent; but a much larger number of tribes have these 

 groups constituted through female descent. The two systems 

 of kinship are at the base of two distinct systems of clan organ- 

 ization. 



When the brother and sister groups arise through female de- 

 scent, a larger group is constituted, reckoning kinship through 

 females only. The constitution of this larger body, a group 

 of groups, must be clearly understood. Every brother-group 

 has its correlative sister-group. Take, then, a brother-group 

 and a sister-group that are thus correlated and call them the 

 Ego group. The mothers of the Ego group constitute another 

 sister-group within themselves, and the brother-group to which 

 they are correlated are the avunculates of the Ego group. Call 

 this brother and sister group the first ascendent of the Ego 

 group. The mothers of the first ascendant group constitute 



