HINTS AND EXPLANATIONS. 39 
named, or some portion of it, was held sacred by its members and could not 
be eaten by them. In some tribes it is customary to say that a man isa wolf, 
a bear, a rabbit, or a hawk, as the case may be, meaning that he belongs 
to that gens; and the gens as a body of people are spoken of as the descend- 
ants of the bear, the wolf, the rabbit, or sometimes as relatives of the bear, 
the wolf, or the hawk. 
Sometimes gentes are subdivided, a part of the rights and duties remain- 
ing with the gens and a part being transferred to the sub-gens. Where the 
gentes are divided, the sub-gentes should also be given. Sometimes two or 
more gentes constitute a higher group—the phratry. The phratries as 
organized societies usually control the great “medicines,” the dances, festi- 
vals, &c. It seems probable that these phratries were originally gentes, 
and that the gentes of which they are now composed were first divided as 
sub-gentes, but the differentiation has extended so far that the bond of 
union between the ancient gentes has been lost except in its mythologic 
and religious elements. If gentes are grouped as phratries, the system of 
grouping should be given in detail. 
The tribal organization is universal. Itis usually composed of a number 
of gentes. Primitively, each tribe claimed a district of country as its home, 
and usually took the name of that country as its tribal name, so that its 
name was its title deed to its land. But many sobriquets or nicknames 
were used; as we call an Illinoisan a Sucker, an Ohioan a Buckeye. So- 
briquets were given to indicate customs or peculiarities of the people, as 
dog-eaters, acorn-eaters, fish-eaters, &c., white-knives, reed-knives, long- 
knives, &c. Usually tribes were known by different sobriquets among dif- 
ferent people. In many instances the names by which tribes are known to 
white men are corrupted sobriquets. Much difficulty will usually be found 
in obtaining the true or land name of a tribe, from the fear that it may be 
used to the disadvantage of the people through methods of sorcery. And 
again, where Indians have been removed from their ancient homes, these 
names rapidly become obsolete, but they should be obtained when possible. 
The sobriquets which they recognize should also be obtained, and the names 
by which they designate surrounding tribes should be recorded. 
Tribes, especially those speaking the same language, or kindred dia- 
