CII ADMINISTRATIVE BEPORT [eth. ans. -20 



liouse for all its members, when the households will lie rele- 

 gated to distinct sections. It is curious to see the people dis- 

 solved into households at one time, and at another ao-o-reo'ated 

 in clans. If the clan moves temporarily to a favorite localitv, 

 where roots or fruits are abundant in their season, it mav dis- 

 solve into households which pi-ovide for themselves I'ude 

 shelters of bark, brush, and leaves; but if the clan wishes to 

 change its habitation permanentlv, it is likeh" to construct a 

 new comnninal dwelling for the joint use of its members. 

 Thus, the clan seems to be the most permanent and most 

 fundamental unit in the organization. 



In the stud}" of North American tribes it is always found 

 tliat the purjjose assigned and recognized for the organization 

 of that unit is the establishment of jieace. Two or more bodies 

 go to war, and finally agree to live in peace, and make a treaty; 

 and the terms of the treaty are invariably of one character, if 

 the bodies unite as a tribe. The fundamental condition for the 

 organization of a tribe is, that the one party agrees that its 

 women shall be the wives of the other, with a reciprocal obli- 

 gation. This is the characteristic which distinguishes tribes 

 from confederacies. A body of people organized for the pur- 

 pose of regulating marriages is a tribe. A body of people 

 organized for war is a confederac}*. 'i'hus the organization of 

 a tribe itself is the first recognition of the principle of peace in 

 the origin of constitutions. The confederacy is always the 

 unit of war organization. It is doubtful — in the present stage 

 of investigation, at least — whether a tribe, as such, ever 

 engag-es in offensive war. Confederacies become tribes b)- 

 customary intermarriages, esijecially when the tribe becomes 

 the tabu unit of intermarriage. It is thus that the three units — 

 the clan, the tribe, and the confederacy — are variable from 

 time to time, although at any particular time these three units 

 can be distinguished as well as the family or household unit. 



There are peculiar circumstances under which the household 

 unit is variable. This variability depends upon customs which 

 sometimes spring up among tribes, and are known as ])olyandry 

 and polygamy. Sometimes the man who marries a woman is 

 entitled to marry her sisters as they become of age. There are 



