MORGAN.) PHRATRIC ORGANIZATION AT FUNERALS. 13 
phratric organization manifested itself in a conspicuous manner. The 
phrators of the decedent in a body were the mourners, and the members of 
the opposite phraty conducted the ceremonies. At the funeral of Hand- 
some Lake (Gii-ne-o-di’-yo), one of the eight Seneca sachems (which 
occurred some years ago), there was an assemblage of sachems and chiefs 
to the number of twenty-seven, and a large concourse of members of both 
phratries. The customary address to the dead body, and the other addresses 
before the removal of the body, were made by members of the opposite 
phratry. After the addresses were concluded the body was borne to the 
grave by persons selected from the last named phratry, followed, first, by 
the sachems and chiefs, then by the family and gens of the decedent, next 
by his remaining phrators, and last by the members of the opposite phratry. 
After the body had been deposited in the grave the sachems and chiefs 
formed in a circle around it for the purpose of filling it with earth. Each 
in turn, commencing with the senior in years, cast in three shovelfuls, a 
typical number in their religious system, of which the first had relation to 
the Great Spirit, the second to the Sun, and the third to Mother Earth. 
When the grave was filled the senior sachem, by a figure of speech, 
deposited ‘the horns” of the departed sachem, emblematic of his office, 
upon the top of the grave over his head, there to remain until his suc- 
cessor was installed. In that subsequent ceremony “the horns” were said 
to be taken from the grave of the deceased ruler and placed upon the head 
of his successor. The social and religious functions of the phratry, and its 
naturalness in the organic system of ancient society, are rendered apparent 
by this single usage. 
The phratry was. also directly concerned in the election of sachems 
and chiefs of the several gentes, upon which they had a negative as well as 
a confirmative vote. After the gens of a deceased sachem had elected his 
successor, or had elected a chief of the second grade, it was necessary, as 
elsewhere stated, that their choice should be accepted and confirmed by 
each phratry. It was expected that the gentes of the same phratry would 
confirm the choice almost as a matter of course, but the opposite phratry 
also must acquiesce, and from this source opposition sometimes appeared. 
A council of each phratry was held and pronounced upon the question of 
