perty of the members of
a gens belonged to the gens. At the death of an individual, his personal
property would be divided among the remaining members of the gens.
"Practically," says Mr. Morgan, "they were appropriated by the nearest
of kin; but the principle was general that the property should remain in
the gens."<22> That this is a true statement there is not the shadow
of a doubt. This was the general rule of inheritance among the Indian
tribes of North America. As time passed on, and the tribes learned to
cultivate the land, some idea of real property would arise--but not of
personal ownership.

This is quite an important topic; because, when we read of lords with
great estates, we are puzzled to know how to reconcile such statements
with what we now know of the nature of Mexican tribal organization. Mr.
Bandelier has lately gone over the entire subject. He finds that the
territory on which the Mexicans originally settled was a marshy expanse
of land which the surrounding tribes did not value enough to claim.

This territory was divided among the four gentes of the tribe. As we
have already seen, each of these four gentes subsequently split up into
other independent gentes until there were twenty in all. Each of these
gens held and possessed a portion of the original soil. This division
of the soil must have been made by tacit consent. The tribe claimed no
ownership of these tracts, still less did the head-chief. Furthermore,
the only right the gentes claimed in them was a possessory one. "They
had no idea of sale or barter, or conveyance, or alienation." As the
members of a gens stood on equal footing, this tract would be still
further divided for individual use. This division would be made by the
council of the gens. But we must notice the individual acquired no other
right to this tract of land than a right to cultivate it--which right,
if he failed to improve, he lost. He could, however, have some one else
to till it for him. The son could inherit a father's right to a tract.

We have seen that the Mexicans had a great volume of tribal business to
transact, which required the presence of an official household at the
tecpan. Then the proper exercise of tribal hospitality required a
large store of provisions. To meet this demand, certain tracts of the
territory of each gens were set aside to be worked by communal labor.
Then, besides the various officers of the gens, and the tribe, who, by
reason of their publ