then was: a group of families forming a gens or clan, two gentes being represented in each family; the “father must belong to one gens and the mother and her children to another,” descent being commonly in the female line, and marriage within a gens being forbidden; a group of gentes formed the phratry, and a group of phratries formed the tribe, while a group of tribes formed the confederacy, probably the highest form of government the Amerinds reached. The phratry as an organisation was often absent, and the tribe was then composed of the gentes without any further grouping. Powell seems to use “phratry” in a different sense from Morgan and some other writers. Morgan described a phratry as a group of gentes, whereas Powell defines it as simply a brotherhood or society. Each gens governed itself so far as its internal affairs were concerned; that is, it had home rule, just as we have it to-day in our towns, counties, etc. It sent delegates to the council of the tribe to represent it, and it elected its own officers. There was sometimes no tribal or head chief. I never could learn of any among the Navajos, and the Iroquois had none. When, as was frequent, there was a sachem, or tribal chief, he was chosen or elected by the chiefs of the various clans or gentes forming the council, but in some tribes he inherited the office, or at least the right to hold it. I understood this to be the case among the Kaivavits Utes of southern Utah. A gens had the right to take into its ranks any alien it chose to. Such a person was then a member of that gens and partook of all the benefits or disadvantages, as the case might be. He was a son or brother or husband, or the corresponding relationships if a woman, and on all occasions was treated as if he had been born into the gens or clan instead of adopted into it. He was therefore eligible for all offices in the tribe, and white men in this way sometimes became chiefs. Beckwourth,[370] who, however, was really supposed by a Crow woman to be her long-lost son, became head chief of the Crows, and held the office with distinction for a number of years. He began by being fifth councillor. “In the Crow nation there are six councillors, and by them the nation is ruled. There are also two head chiefs, who sit with the council whenever it is in session. The office of first councillor is the highest in the nation next to the head chiefs, whose authority is equal. If in any of these divisions, when a matter is brought to the vote, the suffrages are equal, one of the old pipemen is summoned before the council and the subject under discussion is stated to him, with the substance of the arguments advanced on both sides; after hearing this he gives his casting vote, and the question is finally settled.”[371] [Illustration: PLENTY-HORSES, A CHEYENNE Photographed by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geological Survey ] [Illustration: NORTH-WEST COAST BASKETRY HATS Made of grass and spruce roots