ANTHROPOLOGY LHIRAftY UC-NRLF -X) ■i /rr/i^ /at-/"-^*' ON r PRIMITIVE INSTITUTIONS, J. W. POWELL, Director ok the Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution. Read before the Section on Legal Education of the American Bar ociation, Saratoga Springs, New York, August ?/, 1S96. PHILADELPHIA : 1'ANI'o PRINTING .v PI BLISBINO iUTH HUM - G/i ON PRIMITIVE INSTITUTIONS. MAJOR J. W. POWELL. Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. The first civilization was rocked in the craddle of the Medi- terranean. The knowledge of how the institutions of this civilization were developed from antecedent barbarism is already the acquisition of scholarship. We have learned of the origin of the city — states or nations as they were constituted by the consolidation of tribes. The Hellenic tribes gave us Greece with Athens as its central city. The Roman tribes gave us the Roman nation with Rome as its central city. Other nationalities srathered about other cities and cities were involved whose sites were beyond the Mediterranean basin. In all of this region we learn how tribal barbarism was developed into national civilization. It is also more or less thoroughly known in what manner tribal culture developed into national culture among the Anglo Saxton tribes of western Europe through the agency of feudal straggles. There comes to as from other quarters of the globe many facts which throw light ujk.h the development <»f civilized institutions from barbarism. We now know that it cannot be rightly understood without a consideration of the origin of the institutions from which the civilization sprung; thai is, we cannot clearly understand the evolution of barbarism into civilization until we understand the nature of barbarism itself, while we cannot understand barbarism until the origin of bar- barism is understood. Barbarism Bprings from savagery. The institutions of barbarism are not primordial, but they must be discovered in savagery. Thus we are compelled to go back to a culture period or phase more primitive than that revealed in MI60959 the literature of Greece and Rome; more primitive than thai revealed in the history of western Europe* and more primitive than thai revealed in Asia and northern Africa. It is this more primitive form of institutions which is discovered in savagery. Primitive institutions, which is my present theme, are revealed only in savagery; we have, therefore, to deal with the institu- tions of savagery. An attempt will be made to characterize primitive institu- tions by explaining the plan of regimentation and the concepts of justice which they involve. Regimentation in sociology is the analogue of organization in biology. The accomplishment of justice in institutions is the analogue of function in the biotic realm. Often the terms organ and function are trans- ferred from biology to sociology. This double use of the terms is a very general device of speech, and is both legitimate and useful when properly understood ; but organ and function are tropes in sociology, and must be so understood lest the terms should lead astray. By regimentation is meant the grouping of people by institutional bonds, while the accomplishment of justice is the social function or office which a confederation or group of people performs. Two radically distinct methods of regimentation are found extant in the world and recorded in the history of the past ; these may be known as the tribal system and the national sys- tem. By the tribal system men are organized on the basis of kinship, real or artificial. By the national system men are organized on the basis of territory. Thus kinship groups are found in tribal society, territorial groups in national society. In history, transitional forms are found, the most important of which are feudal. Thus, feudal society exhibits both methods, and forms a connecting link in the evolution of tribal into national government. In savagery, families are organized into clans, and clans into tribes, and tribes into confederacies. Sometimes, intervening units are discovered, but the family, clan, tribe and confederacy are always discovered. In barbarism families, gentes, tribes, and confederacies are organized into a hierarchy of units; and there are sometimes intervening units. The difference between the elan of Bavagery and the gens of barbarism is important and fundamental. The clan is a group of people reckoning kinship in the female line, while the gens is a group of people reckoning kinship in the male line. Tribes reckon kinship in the male and female line together with affinity and consanguin- ity, and adopted members of the tribe are given artificial kin- ship. When tribes unite in confederacies, artificial kinship is established as a legal fiction, and the members of one tribe knew the members of another tribe and address them by kin- ship terms. The manner in which this kinship organization is elaborated, varies greatly from tribe to tribe, but radical differ- ences exist between the tribes of savagery and the tribes of barbarism. In barbarism, patriarchies are found as concomi- tant with nomadic tribes, but in savagery the patriarchy does not exist, nor are savage peoples properly nomadic, as nomad- i-ui begins with the domestication of animals and higher agriculture. Thus the plan of organizing states into units of different orders so as to form a hierarchy of groups is denominated regi- mentation ; and I desire to explain primitive regimentation. You are already familiar with the plan of regimentation as it exists in national states and I need but briefly to call your attention thereto. With national states, territorial organiza- tion obtains. People are divided into bodies or groups by districts. No two nations are organized in precisely the same manner; though the general plan is the same, i. e., by territo- rial boundaries, the specific manner in which the organization is worked into detail is ever variable. It is impossible within the limits here prescribed to set forth all these various methods. It will be sufficient to take some one nation and explain its tization as a type, and for this purpose the government of the United States is chosen. The grand unit, or the nation, is divided into states and inchoate states or territories. States are divided into counties, and counties are divided into townships sometimes called towns. In addition to the hierarchy of units thus enumerated there are cities and villages which are again divided into wards, and these again into polling districts, while other districts are sometimes found. The various units thus set forth are estab- lished for executive purposes. This regimentation is that which obtains for executive pur- poses. There is also another system of regimentation for judicial purposes. In part judicial districts coincide with executive districts — but only in part — and there are national courts, state courts, county courts, and municipal courts. Again, judicial functions are differentiated, as criminal and civil, and special courts are organized therefor, while other courts are organized, as railroad commissions, warehouse com- missions, etc. A third system of regimentation is used for legislative pur- poses, and in this system the districts correspond only in small part with those established for executive and judicial purposes. A fourth system of regimentation is established for opera- tive purposes. The general government carries on works, states carry on works, counties carry on works, and cities and towns carry on works. Still a fifth system of regimentation is found, namely, that for school purposes. By the district system thus briefly and imperfectly elab- orated the people are organized or regimented into bodies, and special functions are relegated to the several units. These functions are legislative, judicial, executive, administrative, and educational. It is by regimentation that specialization is accomplished. This specialization is carried on to such an extent in the United States that much of government is local self-government. Every school district has special functions, every township special functions, every county special func- tions, every State special functions, and every municipality special functions ; while general functions are exercised over all by the Federal government. Thus, the people of the United States are regimented into a congeries of hierarchies of units all woven into one complex system as the govern- ment of the United States, and so adjusted in interdependent parts as to secure a high degree of specialization. In addition to the governmental regimentation there is a vast congeries of societies or corporations organized for religious, industrial, educational and other purposes, all of which consti- tute a part of the state or nation. The regimentation of all people is founded upon natural families, for there are husbands and wives, parents and chil- dren, but such families have lineal and collateral lines of kin- ship involving both parents. A larger group than that com- posed of parents and children is organized in the crudest society known. For this purpose all of these persons reckon- ing consanguineal kinship through the female line are regi- mented or organized into a clan. The term clan should always be used to designate this group, though it is sometimes improp- erly used to designate other groups. The husband and wife do not belong to the same clan, but the husband belongs to the clan of his mother while the wife belongs to the clan of her mother. It is thus that the first constitutional unit of organized society is based upon kinship reckoned through the female line. The next unit recognizes kinship by affinity and a number of related clans that intermarry constitute the tribe. The term tribe should always be used in this manner. Curiously enough all of the terms which are used in defining the units of regi- mentation are often used promiscuously, so that clan, gens, tribe and confederacy with many other terms which are synonymous have a vague meaning in popular estimation but in science we are compelled to give a definite meaning to fundamental terms. A clan, then, is a union of persons who reckon consanguineal kinship in the female line; a tribe is compounded of clans whose members reckon kinship by consanguinity and affinity, while a confederacy, which is more or less ephemeral, is a union of tribes reckoning kinship as a legal fiction. In the clan the group is ruled by an elder man. But this elder man may or may not be tlie oldest living male in the clan ; to understand this it becomes necessary to understand the method of kinship naming in vogue in savagery. In the clan the children of one woman are not only brothers and sisters to each other but also " brothers " and " sisters " to such of their cousins as reckon kinship in the female line. Thus if there be three sisters their children call one another by recipro- cal kinship names, as " brothers " and " sisters," but if there be three brothers their children do not call one another by common kinship names, but by the kinship names determined through their mothers, that is, they call one another cousins. Among the collateral descendants through the female line there are thus a number of persons of varying ages calling each other " brother " and " sister," but the term used always has a further significance in that it designates relative age, so that there is no single term for brother, but two, one signifying elder brother and the other younger brother ; there are also two terms for sister, one signifying younger and one elder. Now, it is a law of savage society that one person must address another in the clan, in the tribe, and in the confederacy by a kinship term, and as superior age always gives authority, to address a person as elder is a symbol of yielding authority and to address him as younger is a symbol of claiming authority. There is a curious modification of this custom which is a legal fiction. If any individual in the group of brothers exhibits superior ability the clan or some other constituted authority takes him out of his kinship rank into a higher rank. Thus his kinship name is changed ; younger brother becomes elder brother, and elder brother becomes younger brother by a legal fiction ; or the son may become the legal father and the father the legal son. A promotion in kinship is always attended with much tribal ceremony. Among the Iroquoian tribes it is called putting a "spike on the horns." In some tribes it is called, " adding a feather to the bonnet," in others it is adding a "stripe to the war paint." There is often a preliminary course of instruction for the ceremony which is performed by the priest. Important promotions may be revoked and a man who becomes unworthy in bis office may have his "horns" knocked off or his "feath- ers" plucked out or his "paint" washed away. In all such cases be falls back to bis natural kinship name and state. Every clan in a tribe receives a special name which has come to be known as its totem. Thus in a tribe there may be a buf- falo clan, a braver clan, a cloud clan, a wind clan, an eagle clan and a parrot clan with others. Sometimes the clan name is the common name for all persons in the clan, but more often there is a group of names signifying some real or mythologic characteristic of the animal or object taken as the totem. For example, in the buffalo clan there may be a name signyfying sitting bull, another standing bull, still another mad buffalo, and names taken from the mythology of the buffalo may be used. The clan name or totem is used to distinguish the mem- of one clan from the members of another. It is never used in the first and second persons but always in the third person. In direct address the kinship name expressing rela- tive age must always be used. Uncles in the clan are ad- dressed as ••fathers," cousins in the clan as " brothers " and ters.' If two or more tribes unite in a confederacy the first thing to be considered in the council by which such a confederacy is the kinship terms by which one tribe shall address another. Where two unite one may be called father and the other a son," while with the females "mother" and " daugh- ter " are used. One may be called elder brother, and the other younger brother, with elder sister and younger sister. In com- pounding many tribes in this manner curious complications arise. We thus see that a savage tribe is regimented by kinship through devices of naming, especially for the clan, tribe and confederacy and these names are so constituted that relative age is always expressed, for the elder has rights and the younger duties. As in territorial organization special functions are relegated to the several units, so in kinship regimentation special func- tions are relegated severally to the hierarchy of bodies thus constituted ; that is, certain offices are performed by the clan, others by the tribe and still others by the confedercy. The possession of property which is exclusively used by the indi- vidual is inherent in the individual, such as clothing, ornaments, and various utensils and implements. Individual property cannot be inherited, but at death is consigned to the grave. That property which belongs to the clan, such as the house, the boat, the garden, etc., inheres in the corporate person. No article of food belongs to the individual, but is the common property of the clan, and must be divided by the authorities of the clan, often according to some rule by which some special part is given to the person who provides the food. Thus when a hunter despatches a deer a particular portion is given to him ; other portions may be given to those who assisted in its cap- ture ; all the rest is divided according to the needs of the indi- viduals of the clan. The women gather fruits, seeds or roots ; that which is consumed at the time is divided by like methods, but that which is preserved for future use sometimes becomes the property of the clan. The elder man of the clan is re- sponsible for the training of children and it is no small part of his duty daily to exercise them in their games and to instruct them in their duties. Thus he who enforces clan custom is the same person who instructs in clan custom, and when councils of tribe or confederacy are held he is the representative of the clan in such councils. The chief of the confederacy is usually the chief of one of the tribes, and the chief of the tribe is usu- ally an elder man in one of the clans. There are clan councils, tribal councils, and confederate councils, chief councilors and elder men. Another organization, which involves all civic relations, must now be explained. There is a body of men, and sometimes women also, who are known as medicine men or shamans or sometimes as priests who control all religious ceremonies and who are diviners. As disease is supposed to be the work of human or animal sorcery, it is their function to prevent, or thwart sorcery. They have the management of all ceremonies relating to war, hunting, fishing and gathering the fruits of field and forest. It is their office to provide with ceremony for abundant harvests, to regulate the climate and generally to divine and control good and evil. The principal shamans are men but all the people are united into shamanistic societies. illy there is some determined number of these societies over each of which some particular shaman presides, but he has subordinates, each one of whom has some particular office or function to perform in the societies. Sometimes a person may belong to two or more of these societies, usually he has the privilege to join any one and a revered or successful shaman will gather a great society, while a shaman of less skill will preside over a society more feeble. Let us call these ecclesi- astical corporations and the shamans priests. The only cor- porations in savagery are ecclesiastical. The way in which they are regimented and controlled differs from tribe to tribe and there is a great variety of ceremonial observances. In all civic councils the ecclesiastical authorities take part and have specified functions to perform and introduce into civic life the ceremonies which they believe will procure good fortune. Per- haps the ecclesiastical authorities may be more powerful than the civic authorities, and the hereditary line of special ecclesi- i! governors may gradually overpower the civic constitu- tion and absorb il as a sec lary element in the ecclesiastic constitution, for it must be remembered that the chief pr are men ; the women play a very small part in ecclesiastic affairs. Now as the men manage ecclesiastic affairs as chief priests so civil affairs are managed mainly by men as elder men and the conflict which sometimes arises between the two forms of government is mainly between men and men — between able elder men and able shamans: but sometimes both offices are combined in one person and the great elderman may als the great shaman. 10 There are five fundamental principles of justice: that is, to secure justice five fundamental purposes must be considered. Justice is the establishment of peace. Justice is the the estab- lishment of equality. Justice is the establishment of liberty. Justice is the establishment of equity, and justice is the estab- lishment of truth. In all law, primitive and modern alike, these principals are recognized and all institutions are organ- ized for these purposes. Let us see what is the first recogni- tion of these principles in savagery. In the study of North American tribes it is always found that the purpose assigned and recognized for the organization of that unit is the establishment of peace. Two or more bodies have come to war and finally agree to live in peace and make a treaty, and the terms of the treaty are invariably of one character if they unite as a tribe. If they unite as a confed- eracy it is for other purposes. This fundamental condition for the organization of a tribe is that the one party agrees that its women shall be the wives of the other with a reciprocal obliga- tion ; and this is the characteristic which distinguishes tribes from confederacies. A body of people that is organized for the purpose of regulating marriage is a tribe, and a body of people organized for war is a confederacy. Thus the organization of a tribe itself is the first recognition of the principal of peace in the origin of constitutions. The principle of equality is recognized in the method of distributing the spoils of the arrow, the fish-net, and the fruit basket, which is an equal division to all the members of the clan. The principle of liberty is first recognized when slavery is established and the means of obtaining freedom are provided. and that is always the case in savage society. Slaves are cap- tured enemies, who, therefore, deserve to die. They are not all killed, but sometimes, and even quite often they are adopt- ed into the tribe. A captive cannot become a member of the tribe without some kinship position, therefore he must be adopt- ed by some woman as her child, and adoption in savagery is often called new birth. Now, he takes the kinship name as 11 legal fiction; that is. he is the younger to every living persou of the tribe at that time, and all persona subsequently born an younger to him : this is not yet slavery. 11' the captive belongs to a tribe of hereditary enemies who have from time immemo- rial been designated by some opprobrious term as cannibals, liars, snakes, etc., then it may be that the captive is doomed in perpetual younger brotherhood, and can never exercise author- ity over any person within the tribe, though such person may be born after the new birth of the c iptive. This is the first form of slavery. Usually, though not invariably, the captives adopt- ed are children. Now such children may ultimately become useful members of the tribe and by their virtues even win rank in kinship, and a captive may thus pass from slavery to free- dom. The many methods adopted for conferring freedom would be a long and weary story, but they are practically the same as those conferring rank in kinship ; this must be briefly explained. 1 have already shown this in part. Thesuccesful warrior, hunter, or food gatherer is rewarded by a special por- tion of the spoil as an equity. Now he who has for a term of years been successful in any of the activities of tribal life and who exhibits skill and wisdom therein is promoted by giving him an advanced kinship designation. One or more grades may be climbed at one time and promotions may follow one another rapidly, so that a brilliant youth may become an elder man. and gray-haired men must address him as ••father," and he must even call his natural grandfather " grandson ". By Mich methods primordial equity is established. That which in modern civilization is the highest function of the COUli and best exhibits the talents of the advocate is the discovery of the facts ; but ready methods for discovering the truth prevail in savagery. This is the function of the priest who by some form of divinitioii discover- the fact. Thus it i-; that justice is distributed in its live elements of peace, equality, liberty, equity and truth. Justice is not always performed m Bavage society, and it even goes awry in civilized Bociety, hence we have remedies is aav- 12 ugery and civilization alike. But sometimes there is no remedy, then punishment is executed. We have already shown how exogomous groups are organized. A man cannot marry within his clan, because already the clan has promised its women for the wives of another clan, yet the marriage may be accomplished and crime is done. This is incest. Often nom- inally the punishment is death, and sometimes the law is exe- cuted, but there are many ways by which justice may be done without inflicting the ultimate penalty. The crime may be condoned and a price paid, and this often done may ultimately result in a custom of marriage by purchase. The clans of a tribe may prosper unequally, and there may be more men in one clan than there are women in another, and men may quar- rel or even fight for wives, and such contest may ultimately be regulated by law ; this results in marriage by wager of battle. If the woman is unwilling it may also require capture, and this may be legalized under certain forms and ceremonies, and we have marriage by capture. But young men and young women form mutual attachments which are sometimes stronger than tribal law, and they may abscond and live together as man and wife. If they can successfully maintain themselves in the wilderness until a child is born, the child becomes the certifi- cate of marriage and the wedding is thus legalized, and with this certificate the crime is atoned. This is the only marriage by choice. Now, in all of these extra tribal marriages, crime is committed, and the peculiar methods and ceremonies of mar- riage by purchase, marriage by wager of battle, marriage by capture and marriage by choice results in the re- establishment of justice as it is conceived in the savage mind. We have already explained much of personal law in the explanation of the law of marriage and the law of promotion and reduction. Yet there are other subjects worthy of present consideration. Murder is punished with death. The crime is against the clan and any member of the clan may become the avenger, though often some particular person is delegated to that office. The murderer may also be defended by his clan ; in such case the 13 death of any of the murderer's clan atones for the death of the murdered man, but the murderer may l>e declared an outlaw by hia clan, and any man of any clan may despatch liim with impunity. In some cases murder may be atoned by substitu- tion, that is, the murderer, may be expatriated, driven from his home and clan, and thus become dead to Ids own people and then be adopted by the injured family to replace the murdered person. Thus the wife of the murdered man may adopt the murderer for her husband; in so doing he loses his own name and all relations of kinship and adopts the name and relations of kinship of the murdered man. A quarrelsome man may embroil clans, and this may be carried on to such an extent that the clan will declare him an outlaw. 'Sometimes murder is atoned by the payment of a stipulated or customary i and usually blood barter is graded by rank. Maiming j s also avenged by the clan, "an eye for an eye and a tooth tor a tooth;" but it may be compounded by common agreement between the belligerent clans. A belief in witchcraft is universal. A person suspected may finally come to be universally recognized as practicing black art. Such a wicked person is killed as an outlaw. The wizard may not have such a reputation in his own clan but may be accused of witchcraft by another (dan ; if ti wish to preserve him his witchcraft may be compounded. We have already explained the equal division of property in the clan, the equitable division made to the successful hunter, and that personal properly i- inherited by tl while clan and tribal property belong to a perpetual pel Theft sometimes but rarely occurs ; when it does the object stolen may be restored : when it cannot he restored the theft is compounded in some multiple proportion. The only corpo- ration in -avagery is the ecclesiastic, and crime- against the medicine societies are those which resull from the divulgil secrets of the teaching of rites by unauthorized persons or the exercise id' such rite- by persons incompetent therefor. I 14 ceedings for witchcraft are conducted by the ecclsiastical bodies. Such is an outline of the plan of regimentation and the fun- damental principles of justice recognized in the most primitive tribal states found among mankind. This stage of society is known as savagery. Savages are primitive sylvan men; they are denizens of forest and wold without the skill necessary to clear away the forests and establish higher agriculture and domesticate herds of animals. When these feats are accom- plished then men are said to have reached the stage of barbarism. Savagery gradually develops into barbarism and barbarism itself is represented in the plan of regimentation which involves a change in legislation, adjudication, execution, administration and instruction. The change of regimentation is represented by the extinction of the clan and its replacement by the gens. The term gens is here used to mean the unit of government herein described as a group of persons w r ho reckon consan- guinal kinship in the male line. We have already described the double organization of every savage tribe as civil and ecclesiastic and noted the conflict which arises between the groups as thus organized. A power- ful ecclesiastical organization will sometimes absorb the civil organization, especially when the priest and eider man is the same person. Quite often the sacerdotal office is hereditary, descending from father to son, and thus grows up a method of reckoning kinship in the male line as fundamental. Now there are many circumstances in primitive life which reinforce this tendency. When the men of the clan have to go to the annual fishing grounds for the summer catch they take with them their wives and children. Such wives and children are no longer under the power of the elder men, they are geo- graphically separated from them, for the men of the clan w 7 ho work together are distinct from the men of the other clans where each group fishes by itself. Hunting is often managed in this manner by clans. Such annual hunting and fishing excursions weaken the authority of the mothers, brothers and 15 uncles and strengthen the authority of husbands and fathers. But there are two agencies which seem to be even more potent. Agriculture is born in arid lands where irrigation is necessary and the men of the clan unite to manage the stream which is used in irrigation and to protect the crops which lie under the canals, though the crops themselves may be cultivated chiefly by the women. Here again there is a geographical segrega- tion of the women and children under the immediate super- vision and control of husbands and fathers. Finally animals are domesticated and there are flocks and herds under the con- trol of the men. The pasturage for one clan flock is in one val- ley and for another clan flock in another valley, for the property is thus kept apart ; and this also serves to segregate the women from the men of their clan kindred and place them under the authority of husbands and fathers. By all of these methods clanship is broken down and a new fundamental method of reckoning in kinship is developed through males ; this is the gens. Much time may be taken in making these changes while the authority of the clan is gradually weakened and the authority of the gens established. Many of the tribes of North America are in the transitional stage. When the change is made, councils as well as ecclesiastical bodies are still centrolled by men. but the regimentation is rad- ically distinct. Perhaps the most fundamental change that comes is the right of the father over hi- own children, especially in deciding their marriage relations, for this right is not trans- ferred from clan to gens, hut from clan to father. With this change comes another of fundamental importance. With the acquisition of herds, farming lauds and stores of graiil, wealth is accumulated, and this wraith is controlled by the gentile patriarchs. It i.- no longer clan property, but gentile property in the possession ami under the control of the patriarch, who wields a power never known in savagery. The patriarch now is always chief ami priesl and the practical owner of tin' wealth: he thus beCOmefl the master of the de>tiny of his retainers. A particular effect i> noted in the council. The 16 number of persons who compose the council is gradually reduced, and these chiefs and councilors are regimented into patriarchies for war and public works, while instruction falls mainly into the hands of husbands and fathers, and the wife is no longer controlled by her clansmen, for she is no longer under their protection. Thus the husband becomes the master of the wife and children. In the clan the head is an elder man and is an " uncle " or " great uncle " because kinship is reckoned through females. This is expressed in Indian tongues by the aphorism that " the woman carries the clan," but in barbarism " the man carries the gens." This is the first great revolution in tribal society ac- complished by the consolidation of power in the hands of the few and the organization of the gentile family. The gens is ruled by the patriarch who represents the family in the councils of the tribe and the confederacy and holds all the property in trust for the gens over which he rules by civil law with civil sanctions and ecclesiastical law with ecclesiastical sanctions. In savage society there is no written language, hence the laws are classified and expressed in terms of kinship, but in barbaric society an additional mnemonic and classific method is devel- oped, which must now be delineated ; it arises out of ecclesias- tical functions of government and ultimately becomes dominant so as to modify the kinship system. In savagery the world is divided into regions : the east, west, north, south, zenith, nadir and center. This is continued into a more highly developed form in barbarism until it finally becomes the dominant system. Rarely the regions are but four in number : east, west, north, and south ; sometimes the regions are six ; east, west, north, south, zenith, and nadir, but more often the seven regions are recognized. Sometimes the number four, sometimes the num- ber six, but more commonly the number seven becomes the sacred number. This division of the world into regions is naturally born in the usages of language and at last becomes as deeply woven into society as language itself and the reality of the regions becomes sacred, as language is held to be sacred. 17 The theory of the regions is not only woven into their Bpeech and into their institutions but it becomes one of the principal elements of picture writing and is represented by some form of the cross signifying the east, west, north, and south, to which are attached some other devices for representing the zenith, nadir and center. These world symbols often govern methods of architecture. The theory of worlds is of vast extent and of profound influence. It is found to pervade tribal society not only in America but elsewhere in the world. I am tempted in this place to go to the Orient for an example to show how laws and the maxims of laws are formulated in age and barbaric society, but I must premise the statement bv explaining one other method of formulating laws. The par- ticulars of law are often represented by numbers; one number for each finger of the hand and the reciprocal rights and duties by the five numbers represented by the five fingers of.the other hand. Thus by pointing in the direction of one region with the proper finger of the right or left hand any particular law or maxim can be expressed in gesture speech. I '(iiote from the Sigalowada Sutta, a table of aphorisms published by Rhys-Davids in his book on Buddhism, which might be duplicated as a method of classification in many of the tribes of North America: The Teacher was staying at the bambu ■j.i-'^i- Dear Rajagriha ; and going out as u^ual to beg, Bees the householder Sigala bowing down, with stream- ing hair, ami wet garments, ami clasped bands, t" the four quarters >>( the heaven, and tin- nadir, ami tin- zenith. < ta tin- Teacher a-kinu' the ■• why, Sigala says that he does this, 'honouring, reverencing ami holding i the words of his father.' Then the Teacher, knowing that thi ■ ii evil from tin- -ix directions, point- out u< bim that the best nay to guard the -ix quarters i- by good deeds t" men iround him, t.i hi- p a- tin- east, his Teachers a- the south, his wife and children as the west, his friendl ami relative as tin- north, men devoted t" th lit"- 1 (whether Brahmans "r Buddist mendicants) as the zenith, and ami dependents as the nadir. Then in an orderly arrangement evid< intended t>> assisl tin- memory, after -mi.- genera] precepts and tion of true friendship, th'- chief duties men "«<■ t le another an- thus enumerated under th heads: 18 1. Parents and Children. Parents should 1. Restrain their children from vice. 2. Train them in virtue 3. Have them taught arts or sciences. 4. Provide them with suitable wives or husbands. 5. I rive them their inheritance. The child should say 1. I will support them who supported me. 2. I will perform family duties incumbent on them. 3. I will guard their property. 4. I will make myself worthy to be their heir. 5. When they are gone, I will honour their memory. 2. Pupils and Teachers. The pupil should honor his teachers 1. By rising in their presence. 2. By ministering to them. 3. By obeying them. 4. By supplying their wants. 5. By attention to instruction. The teacher should show his affection to his pupils 1. By training them in all that is good. 2. By teaching them to hold knowledge fast. 3. By instruction in science and lore. 4. By speaking well of them to their friends and companions. 5. By guarding them from danger. 3. Husband and Wife. The husband should cherish his wife 1. By treating her with respect. 2. By treating her with kindness 3. By being faithful to her. 4. By causing her to be honoured by others. 5. By giving her suitable ornaments and clothes. The wife should show her affection for her husband. 1. She orders her household aright. 2. She is hospitable to kinsmen and friends. 3. She is a chaste wife. 4. She is a thrifty housekeeper. 5. She shows skill and diligence in all she has to do. 19 4. Friends and Companions. The honourable man should minister to his friends 1. By giving presents. •_'. By courteous speech. 3. By promoting their interest. 4. By treating them as his equals. 0. By sharing with them his prosperity. They should show their attachment to him 1. By watching over him when he is off iiis guard. 2. By guarding liis property when he is careless. •">. By offering him a refuge in danger. •1. By adhering to him in misforture. •"). By showing kindness to his family. 5. Masters and Servants. The master should provide for the welfare of his dependents 1. By apportioning work to them according to their strength. -. By supplying suitable fond and wages. :;. By tending them in sickness. 4. By sharing with them unusual delicacies. 5. By now and then granting them holiday-. They should show their attachment to him as follows: 1. They rise before him. •_'. They retire later to rest. 3. They are content witli what is given them. 4. They work cheerfully and thoroughly. I 'hey speak well of him (or perhaps properly to him.) 6. Layman lnd those Devoted to Religion. The honourable man ministers to mendicants and Brahmans 1. By affection in act. •_'. By affection in words. ■ '.. By affection in thoughts. 1. By giving them a ready welcome. 5. By supplying their temporal wants. They should show their affection to him 1. By dissuading him from vice, ■J. By exorting him to virtue. :;. By feeling kindly towards him. I. By instructing him in religion. 5. By clearing up hi- doubts. 6. By pointing the way to heaven. 20 We have spoken of phratries as a system of groups, some- times found in savagery and always in barbarism. We are now able to explain the meaning of the phratry. There may be many clans or gentes in a tribe and two or more clans or gentes may constitute an intervening unit which we call the phratry. With the Muskhogean, there are four phratries, one for the east, one for the west, one for the north and one for the south. With the Zuni, there are six phratries, one for the east, one for the west, one for the north, one for the south, one for the zenith and one for the nadir. Thus the phratries are organized my mythologic regions. And this method of regi- mentation finds expression in the structure of the council chamber, in the plaza, and in the plan of the village. Here in the phratry we have the beginning of district regimentation which untimately prevails in civilization. The fabric of primitive society is a web of streams of kindred blood and a woof of marriage ties. This tapestry is wrought in wonderful patterns, for on it can be traced the outlines of primitive mythology. Some scholars have seen in the fabric only the mythic patterns enwrought and fail to discover the real institutional foundation. The Bureau of American Ethnology was instituted in 1879 as a branch of the Smithsonian Institution and has since been maintained by Federal authority. Its function is the collec- tion of data relating to primitive people, primarily the Ameri- can Indians. Much material has been collected, a part of which has been published in the fifty odd volumes of its reports. A still larger body is in manuscript and is constantly used by the collaborators of the Bureau. The categories of informa- tion pertain chiefly to the arts, institutions, languages and beliefs of the Indians. The second of these categories embraces the subject of primitive law. The manuscript records relating to this subject are voluminous, occupying many thousand pages. They have been made by various persons and relate to many 21 tribes. Sometimes the records are incomplete and fragmentary, but there are somewhat full records of the institutions of thirty or forty tribes. In addition to the special records there is much information concerning primitive institutions in a manu- script work now nearly ready for publication to be entitled, "An Encyclopedia of Indian Tribes," which is arranged in such a manner on several hundred thousand cards as to be readily available. J. W. Powell. 7 DAY USE RETURN TO ANTHROPOLOGY LIBRARY i This publication is due on the LAST DATE j and HOUR stamped below. SEP 30 1975 JAN 6 1976 1 RB17-30m-10,'73 (R3381sl0)4188 — A-32 M160959 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY k.