78 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
food, has been to show, firstly, that the household of the Indian tribes was 
a large one, composed of several families; secondly, that their houses were 
constructed to accommodate several families; and thirdly, that the house- 
hold practiced communism in living. These are the material facts, and they 
have been sufficiently illustrated. The single family of civilized society 
live from common stores, yet it is not communism; but where several fami- 
lies coalesce in one common household and make a common stock of their 
provisions, and this is found to be a general rule in entire tribes, it is a form 
of communism important to be noticed. It is seen to belong to a society 
in a low stage of development, where it springs from the necessities of their 
condition. These usages and customs exhibit their plan of life, and reveal 
the wide difference between their condition and that of civilized society; 
between the Indian family, without individuality, and the highly individu- 
alized family of civilization. 
