Occasionally, during the spring, a marriage takes place in Cliff Palace. When this happens there is much excitement and activity among the two clans affected. The clans are social divisions within the tribe. Each individual is born into a clan and that remains his social group throughout his life. In Cliff Palace, with its large population, there are many clans while in a small village there may be only one or two. The clans have very little to do with the religious life; they are a part of the social organization. The pueblo society is matrilineal which merely means that the line of descent is through the women, not through the men. A child is born into its mother’s clan, never into its father’s. Property also belongs to the women and inheritance is figured through the female line. The husband lives with his wife in her house and his children belong to her clan. Marriage can never take place between two members of the same clan. This is a rigidly enforced taboo and the boy and girl must belong to different social groups. All of the members of a clan are considered as brothers and sisters, consequently there is little temptation to overstep this rule. When a boy reaches the age of seventeen or eighteen and seems to be growing into manhood, his family begins to think of marriage for him. It is the responsibility of his elders to arrange this for there can be little happiness for a single person in a society of this type. The boy himself has little opportunity for active romance. For some time he has been sending highly expressive glances in the direction of a certain young lady of a neighboring clan, glances loaded with question marks, flattery and many other signs from that most universal of all signal codes. Now and then an answering message flashes from her warm, brown eyes. In a very short while, and without a spoken word, an understanding grows up between them. Each would like to slip away to some quiet nook in the cliffs to take the matter up somewhat more directly but it is virtually impossible and decidedly unwise. The girl’s mother and her aunts have not missed a single one of those expressive glances. They do not disapprove in the slightest but they never give the girl a chance to slip away into the twilight. They may not distrust the girl but they certainly do not trust the spring moon that bathes the canyons in its warm, yellow light. Sometimes a young couple, unable to resist the call, does slip away into the night but it is very foolish. There is no secrecy in this crowded community and a twilight tryst never goes unnoticed. The juicy morsel spreads for Cliff Palace, being full of human beings, has its gossips. The marriage value of the young lady is lowered.