258 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE 81BGENTES. 



Were it not for the institution of subgentes a man would be com- 

 pelled to marry outside of his tribe, as all the women would be his kin- 

 dred, owing to previous intermarriages between the ten gentes. But in 

 any gens those on the other side of the gentile " unef,e," or fire-place, 

 are not reckoned as full kindred, though they cannot intermarry. 



REMARRIAGE. 



§ 79. A man takes the widow of his real or potential brother in order 

 to become the stepfather (if ad ijiiiga, little father) of his brother's chil- 

 dren. Should the widow marry a stranger he might hate the children, 

 and the kindred of the deceased husband do not wish her to take the 

 children so far away from them. Sometimes the stepfather takes the 

 children without their mother, if she be maleficent. Sometimes the 

 dying husband knows that his kindred are bad, so he tells his wife to 

 marry out of his gens. When the wife is dying she may say to her 

 brother, " Pity your brother-in-law. Let him marry my sister." 



