Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/134

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

The names and privileges belonging to the line of primogeniture and those that may be transferred by marriage are of the same character, excepting only a number of offices like that of the Keeper of the Order of Seats in a numaym. There is no reason that would compel us to assume that the two sets have distinct origins. It may rather be assumed that certain privileges and names that have been transmitted in a family for a long time, were considered as the inalienable property of the family. There is an unsurmountable contradiction involved because the Indian theory requires that from the very beginning there must have been these two classes of privi- leges, a condition that does not seem tenable. If, however, we project modern conditions into the past and assume as an early custom, the arbitrary assignment of a child to one place or another according to the wish of the parents, and according to the right which the child holds by reason of his descent, then the present order is quite intelligible. We must assume that certain privileges were given away, while others which were considered more valuable were retained in the line of direct descent. In this manner, a division between the two groups of names and privileges may have developed. We may perhaps compare the conditions to the European Majorate and to the transmission of family heirlooms as against free disposal of other property. The law is not so rigid that we could speak of an entailment of certain names and privileges because it is sometimes broken. The transfer by marriage may be compared to those cases in which jewelry is handed down in a family to be worn by the eldest son's wife.

I do not see any reason for a change of my opinion in regard to the relative antiquity of the transfer of names and privileges through the male or the female line. It is, of course, impossible to obtain historical data that would prove the actual development and we can only discuss the probable course of events. I base my argument largely upon the general cultural assimilation between the Bellacoola and the Kwakiutl tribes and the Nootka on the one hand, and their northern neighbors on the other hand. Linguisti- cally, the Bellacoola are closely associated with the Coast Salish. Vocabulary and structure prove that at one time the two groups

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