The clan had the right to adopt into it any outsider it pleased, and this right of adoption was frequently exercised. In this manner white, or other prisoners, or friends, were incorporated into the clan and therefore into the tribe, taking the place perhaps of some deceased son or brother, daughter or sister. The adopted men not infrequently rose to positions of importance, even to that of head chief. These officers were usually chosen because of personal qualifications and achievements, but it was not uncommon for the title of ordinary chief to be bestowed on a visitor as a sort of honorary degree. There were many chiefs of varying power and importance, mostly military; the office of sachem, a purely civil position, was more difficult to attain, as it was generally hereditary within the clan. Because of the law of maternal descent, a man's son in most tribes could not inherit his father's office. He might be adopted, however, by the clan. [Illustration: Umatilla Woman and Child. From _Wonderland, 1904_—Northern Pacific Railway.] Children were seldom whipped, yet they were carefully trained and were obedient and respectful. Their parents loved them just as white parents love their offspring and in later days when the Indian Bureau compelled the children to attend the agency schools, there was many a heart pang and copious tears all round at the parting. But the usual theory was that these people had no human sensibility. Several families of a clan often occupied a single structure. Each clan had a sign, a sort of coat of arms, called a totem, to represent it, and this was often used as a signature. Combined with other pictures it indicated the occurrence of certain events. It was generally an animal from which in far past times the clan was supposed to be descended; but there were also personal totems. The clan took its name from its totem, Bear, Hawk, etc., and its members frequently held names which indicated their clan title. The clan controlled its members, settled disputes, and if one were murdered or committed murder, the clan prescribed or accepted punishment or settlement as the case might be. It also argued its case when necessary by means of representatives before the council of the tribe. To know a tribe well it was important to know the workings of the clan system, yet this has generally been overlooked by all but the ethnologists. A tribe was usually spoken of by its members as "the men" or "the people," and these terms were often understood by white men to be the names of the tribes, and accordingly were so used. [Illustration: Mandan Village on the Missouri, 1832. Drawing by Catlin, plate 47. vol. i., Catlin's _Eight Years_. Reproduction from _Smithsonian Report, 1885_, part ii.] [Illustration: A Group of Crow Chiefs. Photograph by U. S. Government about 1875.]