368 ACCULTURATION IN SEVEN AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES

stream, weirs had to include an opening for fish to pass upstream.
Failure to do so was a frequent cause of trouble. Fish traps also
descended in the line of primogeniture or along the collateral
line. A series of basket traps suspended from a waterfall repre-
sented different forms of ownership. One trap belonged to a crest
group, one to an individual, two to the village, and one had no
claimant and fish could be taken from it by anyone. The bridge
over the waterfall that made the traps accessible was built by
the entire village.

Berry-picking grounds did not form property.

Certain animals, as the beaver and otter—for a long time the
most important fur-bearing animals—were hunted and trapped
as a collective sadeku enterprise. Each sadeku had its traditional
beaver route that stretched for miles along the waterways. The
natives refused to speak of this as “owned” property; but each
fall when the beaver and otter hunts began, a family line an-
nounced that it was going on a particular route. Outsiders were
often invited to accompany the party. If a sadeku in any par-
ticular season did not go beaver hunting, some other family used
the route. These beaver hunts lasted for months, until the freez-
ing of the streams made further canoe travel impossible. All
members of the party contributed some useful labor. The women
helped smash the beaver dams, the men speared the beaver, the
children, depending upon their age assisted around the camp
or helped in the actual killing of the beaver. At certain points
where a stream made a hairpin bend, deadfalls were set to trap
the beaver crossing over to the next bend. At the conclusion of
the trip all the beaver were divided in the following fashion:
children were given a small beaver each; all married men re-
ceived an equal share. However, the “equal” division was not
standardized according to our own legal concepts. As one in-
formant put it, “Suppose I catch lots of beaver and the other fel-
low has only a few, then I give him some of mine.” Efforts to
elicit a more precise statement of the division merely met with
a condescending smile.

Food was shared not only within the sadeku but within the
village. A hunter, having killed a caribou, announced the fact
to the village and invited people to return with him, and to