344 
The Kwakiutl, followed by other tribes on the Pacific coast, 
changed the doctrine much more radically. Prom causes still obscure 
they selected a certain number of supernatural beings as the heredi- 
tary guardians of their clans, made the right of seeking their pro- 
tection subject to the laws of descent in the same manner as names 
and real property, converted the actual acquisition of the “ blessing ” 
into a complicated ritual, and t)anded together into a powerful secret 
organization the men and women who took part in it. Thus came 
into being, apparently, the secret society of the Pacific coast, which 
then underwent much further elaboration, slightly different in differ- 
ent localities, through the incorporation of features that properly 
belonged to potlatches and other ceremonies. Even among the 
Kwakiutl it varied from district to district. In the southern villages 
the members groui)ed themselves into fraternities according to the 
supernatural being that had taken them under its protection, or, 
viewed from another angle, according to the type of dance and 
dramatic performance for which they had qualified ; and all the 
inhabitants of a village separated themselves into two groups, initi- 
ated members or Seals, and uninitiated and superannuated individuals 
called Sparrows. In the main, however, the Kwakiutl society had 
almost the same organization, and performed much the same dramatic 
dances as the Bella C^oola society just mentioned, which indeed had 
been derived from it. 
Practically identical with that of other tribes, also, was the pot- 
latch system of tlie Kwakiutl, except that there was more rivalry 
between the heads of clans, and, consequently, more extravagance 
and wanton destruction of both food and property for no other pur- 
pose than to enhance the prestige of the potlatch-giver. Another 
outcome of this rivalry was the development of a more or less fixed 
rate of interest on all “ gifts ” ; for every recipient of a gift, unless of 
definitely lower status, had to return it later in double quantity — i.e. 
100 skins if he had received 50 — or else acknowledge his inferiority 
and either submit to the scornful taunts of his rival or blot out the 
disgrace by defeating him in war. Yet the potlatch, even as it existed 
among the Kw-akiutl, w^as not an entirely harmful institution. It 
consolidated all the members of the clan, for only by the united 
efforts and contributions of every individual could the chief maintain 
his dignity and the clan its prestige; and it w'as a powerful spur to 
