The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-11-02
Curious Habits Of Indians.


Among the Wyandots the female sex
is more socially important than the
male The head of the family is q
woman; kinship through the female
line constitutes the gems" as it is
called by indian ethnologists; in each
gems there is a council, composed Of
four women, who, with a male chief
selected by them, form the gentle
council. The aggregated gentle
councils form the tribal council, so
that tribal civil government is in
trusted to a body composed of four
women for every man. This system,
however. is departed from upon special
occasions, when the leading men of the
tribe are added to the council The
sachem, or tribal chief, too, IS chosen by
the chiefs of the gentes from among
their number. Lastly, the military
government, which is sharply distin-
guished from the civil, is earriedon by a
council consisting of all the able-bodied
men of the tribe. The nomenclature of
an Indian tribe is no haphazard arrange
ment but regulated upon strict princi-
Piles. Each gems among the Wyandots
has the name of some animal, and each
individual in the gems is named from
some special characteristic of that
animal. Thus the eleven gentes of the
Wyandots are the Deer, Bear, Striped
Highland Turtle, Black Highland Turtle,
Mud Turtle, Smoothe Large Turtle,
Hawk, Beaver, Wolf, Sea Snake, and
Porcupine. A man of the Bear gems,
then, for instance, is called by such a
name as LONG Claws; q women ofthe
same gems ''Grunting for her
Young" man of the Mud Tur-
tie gems Hard Skull; a woman
of the Smooth Large Turtle
gems SLOW Walker" woman of the
Wolf gems always Hungry man of
the Snake gems Sitting in Curled Posi-
tion;" and SO on. These picturesque
names have become by long usage less
vivid to the Indian than they appear to
us when literally translated. The same
is, of course, true in any language, our
own included. Once a year, at the
green-corn festival, the CONDITIONER
Of the gems select the names for the chill
dren born during the previous year. Nc
person may change his name, but every
person, man or woman, may win sec
ond name by honorable behavior or by
incidents in his career. We have said
that the gems is a collection of persons
related through the female line. Strange
to our idees, man may marry blood
relation, provided she is not member
of his own gems. Thus he may marry
his aunt or his cousin by the fathers
side, but not by the mothers side, be.
cause these last belong to his own gems.
He may have several wives, but they mus
belong to different gentes. In the rule
that every man or woman must marry
within the tribe we see some likeness tc
the eonnubial laws of early Rome. If 9
man wishes to marry outside the tribe
he must get his intended bride adopted
into some gems, so as to get over the
| difficulty. In the event of the death o.
a mother, the children belong to hel
sister or to her nearest female kin
Each clan or gems has distinct method
of painting the face. 1t has allotted tt
it a regular place in the tribal encamp
HuCuts WHICH Is III luc lOIll VI a ClTcle Vi
open horseshoe. Throughout North
America the tenure of landed property
| among the Indians is communal. Within
the area occupied by the tribe each gen.
has an allotment of its own, determined
by the tribal council. The gentle allot
ment, again, is parceled out by tht
women councillors among the house
holders every two years. Cultivation i,
usually carried on by the women. TIT
mans province is to fish the stream OF
to scour the forest for game. The wig
wan and all articles of the household
belong to the woman, who is the hea(
of the household, and at her death il
inherited by her eldest daughter O
nearest Of female kin. Here is anothe
remarkable instance of the woman's po
sition in the social scale The hus
bands property consists of his clothing
and weapons of the chase, and sucl
articles as are used personally by him
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