56 REPORT— 1890.

SocIAL ORGANISATION.

The social organisation of the Kwakiutl is very difficult to under-
stand. It appears that, in consequence of wars and other events, the
number and arrangement of tribes and gentes have undergone consider-
able changes. Such events as that of the formation of a new tribe like
the Ma’tilpi, or the entering of a small tribe into another as a new gens
like the Tlaa/luis, seem to have occurred rather frequently. On the
whole the definition given in my last report of a tribe as being a group
of gentes the ancestors of whom originated at one place seems to be
correct. The tribe is called gyduklit =village community, or lé'lk olatlé,
the gens nem’é’mut =fellows belonging to one group. The name of the
gens is either the collective form of the name of the ancestor, or refers to
the name of the place where it originated, or designates the rank of the
gens. In the first case it appears clearly that the members of a gens
were originally connected by ties of consanguinity. In the second ease it
would seem that historic events had led to the joining of a number of
tribes, as mentioned above. For instance, in going over the list of the
gentes of the Nu’mk«ic, it would seem very likely that the Ne’nelky’enoq,
the people of the land at the head of the river, who used to live in the
interior of Vancouver Island, originally formed a separate tribe. In such
cases in which gentes of various tribes bear the same name, the name
being that of the ancestor, it seems likely that they formed originally
one gens, which was split up in course of time. This seems most likely
in cases in which the gentes refer their origin to a common mythical
ancestor, as, for instance, that of the Si’sintlaé. This opinion is also
sustained by the tradition that the gentes were divided at the time of the
flood, one part drifting here, the other there. The various gentes named
Gyé’qsEm, Gyi’gyilk‘am, &e., which names merely designate their rank,
may have adopted these names independently, and are probably not
branches of one older gens. Changes of names of gentes and tribes
have occurred quite frequently. Thus the name K"’d’méyué of one of
the Kwakiutl tribes is a recent one. The name Wa’litsum has been
adopted by the Qaqama’tses only twenty or thirty years ago. The tribes
Ma/malélék‘ala and Wi’ wék‘aé bear the names of their mythical ancestors,
Ma/lelék-a and We’k‘aé. They have gentes bearing the names of
MaJélék‘a’s and Wé’k:aé’s families. It seeins probable that the other
gentes joined the tribe later on. The impression conveyed by the
arrangement of tribes and gentes is that their present arrangement is
comparatively modern and has undergone great changes.'

According to the traditions of this people the K-osk’é’mogq, Gua’ts’énogq,
Ky0’p’énoq, and Tla’sk’énoq drove tribes speaking the Nootka language
from the region south of Quatsino Inlet. The K-osk*é’moq are said toa
Lave exterminated a tribe of Kwakiutl lineage called Q6’éas who lived
on Quatsino Sound.? The Kwakiutl occupied the district from Hardy
Bay to Turnour Island; the Nimkish the region about K-amatsin Lake
and Nimkish River, and the Lékwiltok: the country north-west of Salmon

1 After the above was in type the interesting descriptions of the Apache gentes,
by Capt. J. Bourke, and of the Navajo gentes, by Dr. W. Matthews, appeared
(Journ. Amer. Folk- Lore, 1890, pp. 89, 111). Tkeir conclusions regarding the gentes
of these people closely agree with the views expressed above regarding the Kwakiutl.

2 See also Dr. G. M. Dawson, Zrans. Roy. Suc. Canada, 1887 ii. p. 70.