Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/126

 114 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920

On the other hand it is claimed that two divisions of one sept of the Kwag'ul which are assumed to be descended from two brothers and whose names are found among many tribal groups, were scat- tered among the different tribes. Since their names are honorific names (G'ig'ilgam, i.e., the first ones and G'exsEm, i. e., chief's group), it may be doubted whether any historic meaning attaches to this tradition. This is more plausible for the division Ku- kwaklum which is found among two septs of the Kwag'ul, which, according to tradition, are assumed to be derived from the same place of origin. In some cases we find in a tribe a subdivision which has for its name the stem of the tribal name with the ending -Em, as in the division just mentioned, the SenLlEm and leqlErn and outside of the Kwag'ul proper, the Mamaleleqlam. The meaning of this ending is "the real ones." According to the state- ment of the Indians there was, in former times, in almost each division a noble family that bore a name of this type, while the rest of the people were designated by the ordinary name of the division. Mythologically this is explained as meaning that the select group, called "the real" members of the division, were des- cended from the ancestor, while the other families at an early time became associated with the ancestor without being descended from him.

We may therefore say that in the concept of the Indians, the tribe consists of a number of divisions, each of which is derived f from one ancestor, but which includes also individuals of different descent who at an early time joined the ancestor. In a number of cases, the ancestors of the various divisions are brothers and the divisions represent elder and younger lines. In other cases there is no such relation, the lines representing disconnected local groups.

Although in the present period the concept of the tribe is very clear in the minds of the Indians, there seems to be little doubt that the tribes have undergone many changes in number and composition. There are some indications of this process even at the present time. Thus one sept of Kwag'ul proper (the Q!omk'!ot!Es) are generally grouped with the Valas Kwag'ul, and the tendency is such that within a short time the consciousness of their separate existence

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