354 ACCULTURATION IN SEVEN AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES

power never lost at gambling and soon became chiefs. Such per-
sons made the circuit of the villages and came back loaded down
with wealth.

In general, economic activity was stimulated by the drive for
potlatch surpluses.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The basic sociological constellation was the sadeku, the ex-
tended family unit of siblings and their descendants. Under con-
ditions of stress, individual family groups could leave the sadeku;
but for the most part its members were held together by bonds
of common economic and social interest. Sadeku members form-
ing an exogamic group defended one another’s interests in feuds,
hunted together over the same hunting territory, utilized com-
mon fishing sites, co6perated in potlatches, respected the limited
authority of the eldest of the line, and frequently constituted a
house group. The term sadeku, though its etymology is still in
doubt, appears to mean “group of my house.” The sadeku com-
prised all individuals descended through the line of grandfather,
while beyond that was the sadekwka, “distant relatives,’ descend-
ants through the line of great-grandfather. In theory the sadekuka
was also an incest group; but in practice marriage of third cou-
sins was condoned. The closeness of sadeku ties is reflected in the
relationship terminology, a man referring to all individuals of
his own generation as male or female, older and younger siblings.

Inheritance of non-material property, names, honorific pre-
rogatives, songs, dances, crests, etc., was bilaterial; and in that
sense the individual belonged to the sadeku of his father and of
his mother. But because residence was predominantly patrilocal,
membership in an economic unit was in practice patrilineal.
The relationship terminology, however, expressed no distinction
between maternal and paternal lines. Functionally, nevertheless,
the individual was much more a part of his paternal than of his
maternal line, particularly if his mother came from some distant
village. But if the mother’s line were the more distinguished,
that not infrequently influenced his kinship behavior.

The individual family—man, wife, unmarried daughters, sons
—was by no means submerged as a functional unit within the