POWELL] SOCIOLOGY XCVII 



Sometimes the elder-man or patriarch or chief becomes old 

 and imbecile; or tlicre may be another man in the clan whom 

 they suppose to have greater ability, and the}' decide to 

 make him the chief. In such a case the law is obeyed by a 

 plan which lawyers term a legal fiction. The new chief is 

 promoted; and then he becomes the grandfather of the clan. 

 If his father is still living, he is compelled to call his chieftain 

 son "grandfather"; if his elder brother is still living, he is 

 compelled to call the chief "elder brother"; if his uncle is still 

 li^•ing, he is compelled to call the chief "uncle." So, by this 

 legal fiction, the cliief is still the patriarch of the clan. Not 

 only can a chief be promoted to the head of the clan, l)ut 

 from time to time thrferent individuals in the clan are promoted 

 over their fellows. A young man who proves himself to be 

 skillful in fishing and hunting, or a brave warrior, may be 

 promoted over his fellows, who thus become persons younger 

 than himself and must address him as if he were older. Every 

 year adds a new spike to the antlers of the stag. Some 

 Amerinds call such a promotion the adding of a spike to a 

 man's horns; other tribes speak of it as adding another stripe 

 to his paint; and still f)thers, as adding another feather to his 

 bonnet. Sometimes a chief luay prove to be a coward; then 

 he will be deposed. Or an individual mav disgrace himself, 

 when he will be reduced in rank. AVhen a man is deposed 

 the Amerinds will say that his horns have Ijeen knocked off, 

 or that his paint has been wiped oft", or that his feathers have 

 been jtlucked. 



In a similar manner tribes and confederacies are governed 

 by reckoning kinship in dift'erent waj^s and' making kinship 

 by legal fiction. All such g(ivernments are patriarchal. It 

 will readily be seen that such government is not possible in 

 civilized society. What man can know the names of all the 

 persons living in a count}' or a state, or who can learn all the 

 names of the people who live in a city, and how can one trace 

 out the kinship of the people <»f a city into clans? Tribal 

 societ}', or kinship government, is therefore impossible in 

 civilization, and is possible only where the group of people 

 thus united in goA^'mment is very small and the members 

 know one another as kindred 

 20 ETH — 03 vi^ 



