n in the same sex organization. The
descendants of the sons are transferred to the gentes of the new
mothers. What becomes of this group of kinship when it constitutes
itself a separate group, distinct from similar groups in the same tribe?

As the classical form of this original gens Morgan selects that of the
Iroquois, more especially that of the Seneca tribe. This tribe has eight
gentes named after animals: 1. Wolf. 2. Bear. 3. Turtle. 4. Beaver. 5.
Deer. 6. Snipe. 7. Heron. 8. Hawk. Every gens observes the following
customs:

1. The gens elects its sachem (official head during peace) and its chief
(leader in war). The sachem must be selected within the gens and his
office was in a sense hereditary. It had to be filled immediately after
a vacancy occurred. The chief could be selected outside of the gens, and
his office could even be temporarily vacant. The son never followed his
father in the office of sachem, because the Iroquois observed maternal
law, in consequence of which the son belonged to another gens. But the
brother or the son of a sister was often elected as a successor. Men and
women both voted in elections. The election, however, had to be
confirmed by the other seven gentes, and then only the sachem-elect was
solemnly invested, by the common council of the whole Iroquois
federation. The significance of this will be seen later. The power of
the sachem within the tribe was of a paternal, purely moral nature. He
had no means of coercion at his command. He was besides by virtue of his
office a member of the tribal council of the Senecas and of the federal
council of the whole Iroquois nation. The Chief had the right to command
only in times of war.

2. The gens can retire the sachem and the chief at will. This again is
done by men and women jointly. The retired men are considered simple
warriors and private persons like all others. The tribal council, by the
way, can also retire the sachems, even against the will of the tribe.

3. No member is permitted to marry within the gens. This is the
fundamental rule of the gens, the tie that holds it together. It is the
negative expression of the very positive blood relationship, by virtue
of which the individuals belonging to it become a gens. By the discovery
of this simple fact Morgan for the first time revealed the nature of the
gens. How little the gens had been understood before him is proven by
former reports on savages and barbarians, in which the differe