ON THE NOUTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 829 



ring to birth, marriage, and death, all of which have reference to the 

 social organisation of these tribes, and which help to gain a better under- 

 standing of this organisation. It will be sufficient to mention a few facts 

 gleaned from these customs which have special reference to the questions 

 under discussion. 



The members of a gens are obliged to assist each other on every 

 occasion, bnt particularly when heavy payments are to be made to other 

 gentes. Instances of this kind will be found later on in the description 

 of the proceedings at the occasion of the building of new houses and at 

 buj'ials. It is a very remarkable fact that the gens of the male line has 

 to do certain services at such opportunities which are not paid by the 

 individual but by the gens. Thus a gens is not permitted to touch the 

 body of one of its members ; the burial is to be aiTanged by the gens to 

 which the deceased's father belongs. This solidarity of the gens is princi- 

 pally found among the northern tribes, which are in the maternal stage. 

 Among the same tribes mothers' sisters are considered and called 

 mothei-s, fathers' brothers, fathers, while there exist separate terms for 

 mothers' brothers and fathers' sisters. 



It is a noteworthy fact that the Heiltsnk- and the Kwakintl, who speak 

 dialects of the same language, diifer fundamentally in regard to their 

 social organisation. I am inclined to believe that the matriarchate 

 of the Heiltsuk' is due to the influence of the Tsimshian, with whom 

 they have frequently intermarried, and upon whom the Heiltsuk- have 

 had a considerable influence. But the marriage ceremonies of the 

 Kwakiutl seem to show that originally matriarchate prevailed also 

 among them. The husband always assumes, a short time after 

 marriage, his father-in-law's name and crest, and thus becomes a 

 member of his wife's clan. From him this crest descends upon his 

 children; the daughters retain it, but his sons, on marrying, lose it, 

 adopting that of their wives. Thus the descent of the crest is practically 

 in the female line, every unmarried man having his mother's crest ; but 

 still we cannot call this state matriarchate proper, as the father 

 is the head of the family, as he gives up his own crest for that of his 

 wife. This law is carried so far that a chief who has no daughters 

 marries one of his sons to another chief's son, the latter thus acquiring 

 his crest. By this means the extinction of gentes is prevented. It seems, 

 however, that the father's gens is not entirely given up, for the natives 

 frequently use carvings of both gentes promiscuously, but certain parts 

 of the father's gens, to which I shall refer presently, are excluded from 

 this use. The following instance, which came under my personal obser- 

 vation, will show the customs of the Kwakiutl regarding this point. 

 K'omena'kula, chief of the gens Gyi'gyilk-am, of the tribe Tiatlasikoala, 

 has the heraldic column of that gens, and the double-headed snake for 

 his crest. In dances he uses the latter, but chiefly the attributes of the 

 raven gens. His mother belonged to the gens NuuEmasEkalis, of the 

 Tlau'itsis ; hence he wears the mask of that gens. He had an only 

 daughter, who, with her husband, lived with him. She died, and her 

 husband is the present owner of the heraldic column of the gens. The 

 son of this daughter, at present a boy seven years of age, is the future 

 chief of the gens. 



Among the Salish there is no trace of matriarchal institutions. The 

 child belongs to the father's gens, the eldest son inheriting his rank and 

 name. 



