610 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



[b. a. e. 



ership in ceremonial matters, though not 

 in war. According to Hill-Tout many of 

 the larger Salish tribes recognized the 

 paramount authority of one among the 

 various local chiefs. 



The Nootka tribes of the w. coast of 

 Vancouver id. were subdivided into septs, 

 or gentes, each possessing a single crest 

 and ruled by a head chief. A council 

 formed of these head chiefs determined 

 the action of the tribe, and the chief of 

 the sept that was highest in rank exer- 

 cised some influence over the rest. Mem- 

 bership in the septs did not involve mar- 

 riage proliibition, which was confined to 

 real blood relationship, marriage within 

 the sept being otherwise permissible. 

 Chieftainships are said to have descended 

 from father to son, but when persons of 

 different septs married, the children be- 

 longed to the one higher in rank. 



Although related by language to the 

 Nootka, the Kwakiutl system differed 

 considerably. Each division composing 

 a Kwakiutl tribe was thought to be de- 

 scended from an ancestor who had set 

 up his house at a definite place, and it 

 is probable that these divisions were 

 originally local groups like those of the 

 Salish, though some of them have now 

 spread among several different tribes. 

 Descent appears originally to have been 

 paternal, but a man might obtain new 

 crests and membership in a different gens 

 for his son by marrying the daughter of 

 another man who had them. This, how- 

 ever, may have been due to the influence 

 of the more northern tribes having 

 maternal descent. 



The tribes possessing a well-defined clan 

 system are divided into three groups — 

 the North Pacific, Southwestern, and 

 Eastern. All of the first group had two 

 or more phratries, each named after some 

 animal or bird and subdivided into a 

 number of clans ruled over by chiefs. 

 Unless there was a more powerful clan at 

 the same place a family chief was also 

 chief of his town. In some cases a clan 

 was divided, having chiefs in different 

 towns. The lowest unit was the house 

 group, consisting of a family in the Euro- 

 pean sense, including remote relations 

 together with servants and slaves over 

 which ruled the house chief or house- 

 holder. As among the tribes farther 

 s., there were also low-caste groups, 

 which formed a large part of the servant 

 class. The principal power rested with 

 the town chiefs, but depended on their 

 ability to maintain their superiority in 

 riches. A house chief might displace a 

 family chief, and the chief of a different 

 family could supplant a town chief. 



The Pueblos had a large number of 

 small clans, organized on a theocratic 

 basis with special rituals and special lead- 



ers in the rituals, and in some pueblos, 

 as Zuiii, Laguna, Acoma, and the Hopi 

 villages, there existed also phratries. In 

 some towns, at least, a man was not per- 

 mitted to marry into either the clan of 

 his mother or that of his father, but since 

 the advent of missionaries, in consequence 

 of the reduction in numbers which has 

 taken place and as a result of their teach- 

 ings, this law has been often set aside in 

 recent years. 



The Zufii are divided into a large num- 

 ber of clans, and many offices are always 

 filled with reference to these. A boy or 

 a girl is regarded as belonging to the 

 mother's clan, but is spoken of as a 

 "child" of the father's clan, and mar- 

 riage into either of these is practically 

 prohibited. Land, along with most other 

 kinds of property, is owned by individ- 

 uals and passes to the daughters in prefer- 

 ence to the sons. The government of the 

 entire state is hierarchic, the supreme 

 authority resting in a body consisting of 

 the rain priests of the six cardinal points — 

 N., s., E.,w., zenith, and nadir — the priest- 

 ess of fecundity, assistant of the priest of 

 the N. , and the two head war priests. The 

 priest of the n. is first among these and 

 may be considered the high priest of Zuiii. 

 Each of the male priests above enume- 

 rated, except the priest of the zenith, has 

 assistants who usually succeed him and 

 one another in regular order, but whose 

 original appointment as assistants rests 

 practically with their principal, although 

 ostensibly he was appointed by the body 

 of nine. The civil governor, his lieuten- 

 ant, and the four assistants of each are 

 nominated by the six rain priests and two 

 war priests, though outside pressure may 

 be brought to bear for or against this or 

 that candidate. Although the governor 

 attends to most civil matters, the appoint- 

 ing body acts as a final court of appeal in 

 matters of extreme importance. Hia 

 term of office is for one year, but he is 

 eligible for reelection. War expeditions 

 were formerly in the hands of the war 

 priesthood under control of the two priests 

 just referred to (Stevenson). _ 



Sia is governed by two priests, with 

 their vicars or intended successors. One 

 priest has control over civil matters, the 

 other over war and hunting. These 

 offices are elective, the choice being 

 limited to members of certain clans. 

 Although the determinations reached by 

 the two head priests and their vicars are 

 referred to the heads of the ceremonial 

 societies for confirmation, this is a mere 

 matter of courtesy. They hold their 

 positions for life and have the appoint- 

 ment of the subordinate officers who 

 carry out their instructions. In Taos and a 

 few other pueblos descent was patrilineal. 



Like their neighbors, the Pueblos, the 



