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Show i4o BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1700 are many addresses, initiations, and other less formal functions of a purely social character. \ Jhe social organization of the Sioux1 is characterized by kinship groups, with inheritance, as a rule, in the male line. Traces of female descent are, however, met, and in the lodge the woman was to a certain extent autocratic. ^ Marriage was arranged by the parents, and polygamy was common where the man was capable of supporting more than one wife. \ Exogamy with respect to the clan was strictly enforced, but marriage within the tribe or between related tribes was encouraged. There can be no doubt that the marriage relations between tribes of Siouan stock did much to strengthen the feeling of unity which marked certain confederations among them. The regulations with regard to property were fairly complex. \ The ownership of land was vested in the group which occupied it. ^ Food was shared in common, with certain privileges reserved for the individual who had procured it. NLodges, dogs, weapons, etc., belonged to the individual, and strictly personal property was usually destroyed at the death of the owner. It has been held by some that the purpose of this destruction was to avoid future disputes as to ownership;* but while this lDorsey, " Siouan Sociology" ( Bureau of Ethnology, Ft/- teenth Annual Report). 2 McGee, in Bureau of Ethnology, Fifteenth Annual Report, 178. |