Just as several genres form a phratry so in the classical form several
phratries form a tribe. In some cases the middle group, the phratry, is
missing in strongly decimated tribes.

What constitutes an Indian tribe in America? 1. A distinct territory and
a distinct name. Every tribe had a considerable hunting and fishing
ground beside the place of its actual settlement. Beyond this territory
there was a wide neutral strip of land reaching over to the boundaries
of the next tribe; a smaller strip between tribes of related languages,
a larger between tribes of foreign languages. This corresponds to the
boundary forest of the Germans, the desert created by Caesar's Suevi
around their territory, the isarnholt (Danish jarnved, Latin limei
Danicus) between Danes and Germans, the sachsen wald (Saxon forest) and
the Slavish branibor between Slavs and Germans giving the province of
Brandenburg its name. The territory thus surrounded by neutral ground
was the collective property of a certain tribe, recognized as such by
other tribes and defended against the invasion of others. The
disadvantage of undefined boundaries became of practical importance
only after the population had increased considerably.

The tribal names generally seem to be more the result of chance than of
intentional selection. In course of time it frequently happened that a
tribe designated a neighboring tribe by another name than that chosen by
itself. In this manner the Germans received their first historical name
from the Celts.

2. A distinct dialect peculiar to this tribe. As a matter of fact the
tribe and the dialect are co-extensive. In America, the formation of new
tribes and dialects by segmentation was in progress until quite
recently, and doubtless it is still going on. Where two weak tribes
amalgamated into one, there it exceptionally happened that two closely
related dialects were simultaneously spoken in the same tribe. The
average strength of American tribes is less than 2,000 members. The
Cherokees, however, number about 26,000, the greatest number of Indians
in the United States speaking the same dialect.

3. The right to solemnly invest the sachems and chiefs elected by the
gentes, and

4. The right to depose them, even against the will of the gens. As these
sachems and chiefs are members of the tribal council, these rights of
the tribe explain themselves. Where a league of tribes had been formed
and all the tribes were represented in