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Show 168 BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1600 The dominant tribe was unquestionably the Creek, and we may regard them as the type of the stock for purposes of description. 1 They were organized on a clan system, with descent in the female line, but had a remarkably large number of clans, twenty being still in existence and a number of others remembered by the people. Several of these clans with their constituent families united to form a village, where they lived under one chief, or'' miko''; and, being independent, such a community in reality formed a tribe by itself. The miko was elected for life from a certain clan, and was preferably the next of kin, on the maternal side, of the miko just deceased. If the miko became incapacitated from age or illness he chose a coadjutor, who was subject to the approval of the village council. This council, composed of the leading men of the group, exercised great power, but mainly by persuasion or moral influence, for the lack of an executive is typical of Indian government everywhere and has already been noted in the case of the Iroquois. At the same time insubordination was infrequent, possibly because of the conservatism of the council. It seems that among the Creek every man felt himself more bound by the action of his own particular clan than by that of his village or tribe, a state of things which emphasizes the importance of the kinship group as the fundamental factor in the political organization of these Indians of the east. 1 Cf. Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creek Indians. |