Wyandot Government: A Short Study of Tribal Society | Page 4

of the gens. As the children belong to the mother, on the death
of the father the mother and children are cared for by her nearest male
relative until subsequent marriage.
_NAME REGULATIONS._
It has been previously explained that there is a body of names, the
exclusive property of each gens. Once a year, at the green-corn festival,
the council women of the gens select the names for the children born
during the previous year, and the chief of the gens proclaims these
names at the festival. No person may change his name, but every
person, man or woman, by honorable or dishonorable conduct, or by
remarkable circumstance, may win a second name commemorative of
deed or circumstance, which is a kind of title.
_REGULATIONS OF PERSONAL ADORNMENT._

Each clan has a distinctive method of painting the face, a distinctive
chaplet to be worn by the gentile chief and council women when they
are inaugurated, and subsequently at festival occasions, and distinctive
ornaments for all its members, to be used at festivals and religious
ceremonies.
_REGULATIONS OF ORDER IN ENCAMPMENT AND
MIGRATIONS._
The camp of the tribe is in an open circle or horse-shoe, and the gentes
camp in following order, beginning on the left and going around to the
right:
Deer, Bear, Highland Turtle (striped), Highland Turtle (black), Mud
Turtle, Smooth Large Turtle, Hawk, Beaver, Wolf, Sea Snake,
Porcupine.
The order in which the households camp in the gentile group is
regulated by the gentile councilors and adjusted from time to time in
such a manner that the oldest family is placed on the left, and the
youngest on the right. In migrations and expeditions the order of travel
follows the analogy of encampment.
_PROPERTY RIGHTS._
Within the area claimed by the tribe each gens occupies a smaller tract
for the purpose of cultivation. The right of the gens to cultivate a
particular tract is a matter settled in the council of the tribe, and the
gens may abandon one tract for another only with the consent of the
tribe. The women councillors partition the gentile land among the
householders, and the household tracts are distinctly marked by them.
The ground is re-partitioned once in two years. The heads of
households are responsible for the cultivation of the tract, and should
this duty be neglected the council of the gens calls the responsible
parties to account.
Cultivation is communal; that is, all of the able-bodied women of the
gens take part in the cultivation of each household tract in the following

manner:
The head of the household sends her brother or son into the forest or to
the stream to bring in game or fish for a feast; then the able-bodied
women of the gens are invited to assist in the cultivation of the land,
and when this work is done a feast is given.
The wigwam or lodge and all articles of the household belong to the
woman--the head of the household--and at her death are inherited by
her eldest daughter, or nearest of female kin. The matter is settled by
the council women. If the husband die his property is inherited by his
brother or his sister's son, except such portion as may be buried with
him. His property consists of his clothing, hunting and fishing
implements, and such articles as are used personally by himself.
Usually a small canoe is the individual property of the man. Large
canoes are made by the male members of the gentes, and are the
property of the gentes.
_RIGHTS OF PERSON._
Each individual has a right to freedom of person and security from
personal and bodily injury, unless adjudged guilty of crime by proper
authority.
_COMMUNITY RIGHTS._
Each gens has the right to the services of all its women in the
cultivation of the soil. Each gens has the right to the service of all its
male members in avenging wrongs, and the tribe has the right to the
service of all its male members in time of war.
_RIGHTS OF RELIGION._
Each phratry has the right to certain religious ceremonies and the
preparation of certain medicines.
Each gens has the exclusive right to worship its tutelar god, and each

individual has the exclusive right to the possession and use of a
particular amulet.
_CRIMES._
The violations of right are crimes. Some of the crimes recognized by
the Wyandots are as follows:
1. Adultery. 2. Theft. 3. Maiming. 4. Murder. 5. Treason. 6. Witchcraft.
A maiden guilty of fornication may be punished by her mother or
female guardian, but if the crime is flagrant and repeated, so as to
become a matter of general gossip, and the mother fails to correct it, the
matter may be taken up by the council women of the gens.
A woman guilty of adultery, for the first