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ness of kin. The fouiulations of society, like those of the hunting 
tribes in eastern Canada, were the family and the band, the latter 
a group of families more or less related by blood and marriage. 
Every band had a chief whose son generally succeeded him, but the 
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( liiffs of the Thompson Uiver Imlicins. (Photo hij ’fames Telt.) 
real authority resided with an informal council of the elder men. 
The warriors elected a special chief to lead them in their war excur- 
sions, but his office terminated with the conclusion of the raid. Only 
women and children were taken prisoners, as a rule, and they soon 
mari'ied and became absorbed into the tribes of their captors. The 
