608 REPORT— 1890. 
SoctaL ORGANISATION. 
The social organisation of the Kwakiutl is very difficult to under- 
stand. It appears that, in consequence of wars and other events, the 
number and arrangement of tribes and gentes have undergone consider- 
able changes. Such events as that of the formation of a new tribe like 
the Ma’tilpi, or the entering of a small tribe into another as a new gens 
like the Tlaa’luis, seem to have occurred rather frequently. On the 
whole the definition given in my last report of a tribe as being a group 
of gentes the ancestors of whom originated at one place seems to be 
correct. The tribe is called gyduklit =village community, or lé'lk'olatlé, 
the gens nzm’é’mut =fellows belonging to one group. The name of the 
gens is either the collective form of the name of the ancestor, or refers to 
the name of the place where it originated, or designates the rank of the 
gens. In the first case it appears clearly that the members of a gens 
were originally connected by ties of consanguinity. In the second case it 
would seem that historic events had led to the joining of a number of 
tribes, as mentioned above. For instance, in going over the list of the 
gentes of the Nu’mk«ic, it would seem very likely that the Né’nelky’énoq, 
the people of the land at the head of the river, who used to live in the 
interior of Vancouver Island, originally formed a separate tribe. In such 
cases in which gentes of various tribes bear the same name, the name 
being that of the ancestor, it seems likely that they formed originally 
@ne gens, which was split up in course of time. This seems most likely 
in cases in which the gentes refer their origin to a common mythical 
ancestor, as, for instance, that of the Si’sintlaé. This opinion is also 
sustained by the tradition that the gentes were divided at the time of the 
flood, one part drifting here, the other there. The various gentes named 
Gyé'qsrm, Gyi’gyilk‘am, &c., which names merely designate their rank, 
may have adopted these names independently, and are probably not 
branches of one older gens. Changes of names of gentes and tribes 
have occurred quite frequently. Thus the name K-’d/moyué of one of 
the Kwakiutl tribes is a recent one. The name Wa’litsum has been 
adopted by the Qaqama’tses only twenty or thirty years ago. The tribes 
Ma/malélék-ala and Wi’ wék-aé bear the names of their mythical ancestors, 
Ma‘lélék'a and Wé'k-aé. They have gentes bearing the names of 
Ma'lélék-a’s and Wé’k‘aé’s families. It seems probable that the other 
gentes joined the tribe later on. The impression conveyed by the 
arrangement of tribes and gentes is that their present arrangement is 
comparatively modern and has undergone great changes.! 
According to the traditions of this people the K-osk-é’moq, Gua'ts’énoq, 
Ky6'p’énoq, and Tla’sk’énoqg drove tribes speaking the Nootka language 
from the region south of Quatsino Inlet. The K-osk’é/moq are said to 
have exterminated a tribe of Kwakiutl lineage called Qd/éas who lived 
on Quatsino Sonnd.? The Kwakiutl occupied the district from Hardy 
Bay to Turnour Island; the Nimkish the region about K-amatsin Lake 
and Nimkish River, and the Lékwiltok: the country north-west of Salmon 
1 After the above was in type the interesting descriptions of the Apache gentes, 
by Capt. J. Bourke, and of the Navajo gentes, by Dr. W. Matthews, appeared: 
(Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, 1890, pp. 89, 111). Tkeir conclusions regarding the gentes, , 
of these people closely agree with the views expressed above regarding the Kwakiutl. 
? See also Dr. G. M. Dawson, Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, 1887, ii. p. 70. 
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