381 
bands frequently (luarrellcd and startcfl blood feuds. There was no 
name for the entire tribe; the term Sekani applied to one band only, 
the band that controlled McLeod lake and the headwaters of the 
Parsnip river. In the early nineteenth century this and a neighbour- 
ing band that controlled the lower Parsnip tried to adopt the phratric 
system of the Stuart Lake Carrier; but they abandoned the attempt 
as soon as they found that pliratries did not aid them in the fur trade 
with Europeans. To-day they remember only that the strongest 
phratry was the Heaver, and that the Carrier of Stuart lake, who 
have not yet given up their phratries, still class as Beaver any 
i\IcLeod Lake Sekani who happen to attend their feasts. Two other 
bands of the Sekani, which have made Fort Grahame their head- 
quarters. attempted to establish phratries similar to those that pre- 
vailed among the Carrier of Babine lake and the Tsimshian of the 
upper Skeena river; but they too failed to assimilate the system 
fully, so that to-day it functions only at petty feasts. At no time 
did it affect the ownership of hunting territories, which remained the 
property of the bands, although in recent years families have been 
selecting and claiming individual hunting and trapping grounds after 
the fashion of white trapj)ers. 
The Sekani regulated marriage solely by the degree of consan- 
guinity. They permitted polygamy, favouring especially marriage 
with two sisters; but they disclaim the wrestling for wives that occur- 
red so frequently among tlie Beaver and ^Mackenzie River tribes, and 
assert that there were few' instances of polyandry. The bridegroom 
had to hunt for his parents-in-law until the birth of his first child, or 
else for a ]:ieriod of from twelve to eigliteeii months, but he and his 
bride maintained the dignity of their new' status by abvays building 
a separate lodge for themselves. Babies, who w'ere carried in bags 
of groundhog or rabbit fur, received names associated wdth the dream 
guardians of their fathers or relatives, “ Moose-antler,” for example, 
if the dream guardian happened to be the moose. Girls uiulerwent 
the usual jieriod of seclusion to ]irotect the community from harm, 
and boys of corresponding age fasted and dreamed for guardian 
spirits. Every boy obtained a guardian spirit, always from an animal 
or a bird, but he could count on its aid only in great emergencies. If 
he were fortunate, he might obtain through rlreams in later life other 
guardian spirits, cither from the animal w'orld or from such forces as 
