THE ALKATCHO CARRIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 363

sat opposite him with legs spread. The man could not attend
properly to the game, which involved some skill in recognizing
cues from facial expression, and invariably lost. Informants were
emphatic in their claims that an ordinary woman would not do
this because of shame. But a noble woman was all the more re-
spected for her dominant behavior. Women as a rule never gam-
bled with men.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Formal political authority was at a minimum. Within the
sadeku the headman regulated economic activity and attempted
to settle disputes. His success as a leader depended largely upon
his personal prestige, but his authority grew when matters of
potlatching were at stake. At that time, as the spear-head of the
potlatch he received the willing economic codperation of the
family group, for the potlatching success of any chief reflected
upon his family. Furthermore, since no single person of the
family could potlatch alone, codperation was essential. Where
the headman was the leading noble and his siblings lesser nobles,
they all had the opportunity of participating in the joint pot-
latch in their own right. Each could distribute property and in-
crease his own status. The potlatch in this case involved re-
ciprocal benefits.

When a number of sadekus occupied a village, the family chief
recognized as the greatest noble was a village chief. And here
again, the authority vested in him was only by virtue of his
position as the potlatch spear-head in the inter-village potlatches.
And the sanctions supporting his authority rested in the recipro-
cal benefits between the village chief and the supporting nobles.
The authority of the village chief did not usurp that of the
family chiefs. Outside of the potlatch realm, chiefs had relatively
few special privileges. Still, these few were of some importance
economically. In portage, before the coming of the horse, the
family chief made but one trip with a load, while the others
made three or four, or as many as necessary.

Disputes between individuals of different sadekus over prop-
erty and over women were settled, if necessary, by force, the
sadeku usually supporting its own. member. There are no case