nnected with these institutions
is their coincidence with those of the North American Indians, which are
thus stated in the Archaeologia Americana:*

Independent of political or geographical divisions, that into families or
clans has been established from time immemorial. At what time and in what
manner the division was first made is not known. At present, or till very
lately, every nation was divided into a number of clans, varying in the
several nations from three to eight or ten, the members of which
respectively were dispersed indiscriminately throughout the whole nation.
It has been fully ascertained that the inviolable regulations by which
those clans were perpetuated amongst the southern nations were, first,
that no man could marry in his own clan; secondly, that every child
belongs to his or her mother's clan. Among the Choctaws there are two
great divisions, each of which is subdivided into four clans, and no man
can marry in any of the four clans belonging to his division. The
restriction among the Cherokees, the Creeks, and the Natches, does not
extend beyond the clan to which the man belongs.

There are sufficient proofs, that the same division into clans, commonly
called tribes, exists among almost all the other Indian nations. But it
is not so clear that they are subject to the same regulations which
prevail amongst the southern Indians.

(*Footnote. Volume 2 page 109.)

...

A similar law of consanguinity seems to be inferred in Abraham's reply to
Abimelech (Genesis 20:12) And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the
daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became
my wife.

FAMILY NAMES AND SIGNS. ORIGIN OF FAMILY NAMES.

The origin of these family names is attributed by the natives to
different causes, but I think that enough is not yet known on the subject
to enable us to form an accurate opinion on this point. One origin
frequently assigned by the natives is that they were derived from some
vegetable or animal being very common in the district which the family
inhabited, and that hence the name of this animal or vegetable became
applied to the family. I have in my published vocabulary of the native
language, under each family name, given its derivations as far as I could
collect them from the statements of the natives.

But as each family adopts some animal or vegetable as their crest or
sign, or Kobong, as they call it, I imagine it more likely that these
have been na