clan are, or are assumed to be, intimately joined in consanguinity.
Hence it is held an abomination for two persons of the same clan to
intermarry; and hence, again, it follows that every family must contain
members of at least two clans. Each clan has its name, as the clan of
the Hawk, of the Wolf, or of the Tortoise; and each has for its emblem
the figure of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from
which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem by the Algonquins,
is often tattooed on the clansman's body, or rudely painted over the
entrance of his lodge. The child belongs, in most cases, to the clan,
not of the father, but of the mother. In other words, descent, not of
the totem alone, but of all rank, titles, and possessions, is through the
female. The son of a chief can never be a chief by hereditary title,
though he may become so by force of personal influence or achievement.
Neither can he inherit from his father so much as a tobacco-pipe.
All possessions alike pass of right to the brothers of the chief, or to
the sons of his sisters, since these are all sprung from a common mother.
This rule of descent was noticed by Champlain among the Hurons in 1615.
That excellent observer refers it to an origin which is doubtless its
true one. The child may not be the son of his reputed father, but must
be the son of his mother,--a consideration of more than ordinary force in
an Indian community.

[ "Les enfans ne succedent iamais aux biens et dignitez de leurs peres,
doubtant comme i'ay dit de leur geniteur, mais bien font-ils leurs
successeurs et heritiers, les enfans de leurs soeurs, et desquels ils sont
asseurez d'estre yssus et sortis."--Champlain (1627), 91.

Captain John Smith had observed the same, several years before, among the
tribes of Virginia: "For the Crowne, their heyres inherite not, but the
first heyres of the Sisters."--True Relation, 43 (ed. Deane). ]