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Show i9oo] INDIAN SOCIETY 207 N)\ mong the Algonquian and Iroquoian Indians the phratry appears most prominently in such social affairs as public games. xIn ball- games, for example, the phratries are pitted against each other and the clan disappears in the united enthusiasm, ^ n councils of the tribe the sachems and chiefs sat by phratries and not by clans, but this arrangement was purely formal and without real significance. Among the Iroquois the influence of the phratry was sometimes invoked by a constituent clan to arrange the condonation of a murder or other offence, and often with a successful result which might not have been reached had the clan acted independently. At the funerals of important persons the phratry also appeared prominently. The members of the phratry of the deceased were the mourners, and the opposite phratry took charge q£ the ceremonies. NIn matters of government the phratry had the right of confirming or rejecting an election of sachem or chief made by the clan. Following such an election among the Iroquois, councils of both phratries were called and each acted upon the choice. If either phratry refused to acquiesce in the nomination it was thereby null and void, and the clan was obliged to proceed to a second election. If both phratries approved the choice it was regarded as final. In Mexico, among the Aztec, the phratry seems to have had a distinct military function as well as |
