PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 131 



(b.) Law of membership. A child belongs to the gens of the 

 father ; hence, half-castes have no status in the gens. 



(c.) Law of marriage. A person must marry outside of the 

 gens, and under certain restrictions which cannot be given in this 

 paper. 



(d.) Law of things prohibited to be touched or eaten. In some 

 cases this governs the whole gens, in others, each sub-gens has its 

 €special taboo. Thus, the Elk people cannot touch or eat any part 

 of the male elk or deer. 



(e.) Religious ceremonies peculiar to each gens or sub-gens — 

 Among these are the naming of an infant, and the worship of the 

 thunder-god. 



In the Deer-head gens, the first ceremony is conducted as follows : 

 All the members of the gens assemble on the fifth day after the 

 birth of the child. Those men belonging to the sub-gens of the 

 infant cannot eat any thing cooked for the feast, but the men of 

 the other sub-gentes are at liberty to partake of the food. The infant 

 is placed within the circle of the gens, and the privileged decora- 

 tion is made on its face. 



Taking some red-clay paint, two parallel lines are drawn across 

 the forehead, two down each cheek, one across the face over the 

 mouth, and one under the mouth ; then, with three fingers of the 

 right hand, red spots are made down the back of the child, at 

 short intervals, in imitation of the fawn. The child's breech-cloth 

 is so marked. On its arms and cbest are rubbed stripes as long as 

 the hand. All of the Deer-head people in attendance, even the 

 servants, decorate themselves, rubbing the rest of the red paint on 

 the palms of their hands, they pass their hands backward over 

 their hair ; and they finally make red spots on the chest about the 

 size of the palms of their hands. 



The members of the Pipe sub-gens, and those persons in the 

 other sub-gentes who are related to the infant's father through the 

 calumet dance, are the only ones who are allowed to use the privi- 

 leged decoration, and to wear fine feathers in their hair. If the 

 child belongs to the Pipe or Eagle sub-gens, charcoal, blue-clay 

 and the skin of a wild-cat are placed beside him, as the articles 

 not to be touched by him in after life. Then they say to him 

 " this you must not touch ; this too you must not touch, and this 

 you must not touch." The blue clay symbolizes the blue sky. . 



