powEi,!,] SOCIOLOGY XCV 



fathers and sons, or even as uncles and nephews. AVhere 

 niaiiv tribes unite to form a confedej-acy, reUitionships are dis- 

 tributed to the members of the confederacv, but only after 

 long conferences, where such (juestions are considered in 

 detail. Tlius we see that in tribal society men are not reffi- 

 mented or g-rouped territorially, as in national society, but are 

 regimented b}' kinshi}), real or conventional as the case may 

 be; the same end, however, is accomplished in full, that is, the 

 people are grouped in a hierarcli}' of units. Thus in tribal 

 societv men are grouped or regimented by kindred, and each 

 person belongs to at least four groups of different grades in 

 the hierarchy. Certain things are regulated by the confed- 

 eracy, certain things b^' the tribe, certain things by the clan, 

 certain things by the mother of the family. In national society 

 there is local government. In a democratic nation this is local 

 self-government; and in a monarchical nation it is local gov- 

 ernment through officers appointed by the monarch. In tribal 

 society there is group government, the questions of govern- 

 ment being relegated to the several grouj)s, and the elder man 

 of the group having- authority. 



In the course of generations some clans may die out, and 

 the children be left without parents or grandparents: they 

 must then be adopted into some other family. If they are 

 adopted b\' a mother's sister they are still in the same clan; 

 but if they are adopted by a father's sister they are consid- 

 ered as belonging to his clan, which is the same as that of his 

 sister. It is thus that it sometimes happens that childi'en 

 change clans and, consequently, their totemic names. 



When the men of a clan go out to hunt or fish, to make a 

 boat or build a house, or to do any other work together, the 

 oldest man of the clan is the director of the enterprise, the 

 chief All Indians hold that superior age gives authority; and 

 every person is taught from childhood to oljey his superiors 

 and to rule over his inferiors. The superiors are those of 

 greater age; the inferiors, those wlio are younger. It is the 

 law of tribal society that superior age gives authority, and 

 that inferior age imposes a duty. But the jjeojde of a tribe do 

 not know their age, for they do not keeji a record of time. 



